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The kids are grown, in college and beginning loves of their own. You’ve released your baby birds and have much time to travel and be with your sweetie of over thirty years. What a great way to spend a thirtieth wedding anniversary, or a “just because I love you” holiday for those in the middle years.

The surest way to get great travel advice: ask around. Many of the middle years peers belong to associations, leagues, clubs and guilds. Someone in that throng has to know of amazing travel plans made for them by their kids, gift from their kids and grandkids, if any, and they can inquire of the details not offered in the brochure of local customs, which waiter to ask for in the special café recommended to them and which little shop to browse in when done in the eatery.

Those over fifty need to get themselves checked out, health-wise, when traveling. While their bodies were meant to age up to and past the century mark, whatever airborne illnesses are easily contracted, they can get it and fall ill almost immediately.And, those over fifty can fall prey to crime if they’re not careful. Many American tourists have reported of being mugged, robbed, assaulted and victims of identity theft while traveling overseas, but many, many more still haven’t reported these cases out of embarrassment, fear, shame or resignation. Pre-seniors need to be aware, alert in their having a good time, but know that crime doesn’t take a vacation, even when travelers do.

That depends. Who’s one’s favorite artist? Which artist will be highlighted? And, how much time is one willing to invest in the Louvre—the largest art museum on the planet?

To find the best art museums in Europe is as diverse as the food. But, to start with the giants of the art world—van Gogh, Picasso, Da Vinci, Michaelangelo, Rembrandt—is to get an idea of museums one can visit for more unknown, but just as talented artists, besides (and it isn’t the Louvre).

The Musée d’Art de Moderne de la Ville de Paris houses a good deal of avant-garde faire, including a few Picassos, Léger, Matasse, and a German designer’s large scale model in tribute to electricity. If avant-garde isn’t your thing, there’s always the Musée Marmottan-Claude Monet and the Musée Picasso. Here, these museums offer antiques of historic relevance (Renaissance tapestries, First Empire furniture in the Claude Monet) and almost 3,300 chronologically ordered works of the estate of Pablo Picasso to dot the museum landscape in his name.

Of course the Louvre is mentioned in this collection. But the Vincent Van Gogh Museum and Church in the Netherlands is a wonderful place to visit the artist’s birthplace and painting destiny. And, well, if the more sexier side of life works for you, traveling through Europe offers sex and erotic art museums there, too. The Beate Uhse Erotik Museum in Berlin is one place to browse your steamier side, where the Eroticamuseum Barcelona is another place to visit for a Spanish flavored perspective of sex.

And that’s what it’s about, really: perspectives. Whatever one’s visit in Europe is, no doubt that’s the best museum for the traveler.

In addition to being roads that connect the various parts of the city, the bridges of Florence are real works of art in the open air. All of them have a long and complicated history made up of damage due to the flooding of the Arno and all of them, with the exception of the symbol of the city, the Ponte Vecchio, were destroyed by the Germans when they retreated from the advancing Allied army in 1944. Here is their history.

Ponte Vecchio: It is the most famous bridge of Florence, the symbol of the city. Renown for the goldsmiths’ shops that give it an even more romantic appearance, it was built in 1345 by Taddeo Gaddi and Neri di Fioravanti to substitute the ancient Roman bridge that had been destroyed many times by the flooding of the Arno. Its place in history was made even more secure when it was the only bridge that the Germans spared in their 1944 retreat. It is made of three arches and hosts a bust of Benvenuto Cellini by Raffaello Romanelli, and is crossed by Vasari’s corridor.

Ponte alle Grazie: This bridge was built in 1957 according to a plan by Giovanni Michelucci and other important architects to replace the old Ponte di Rubaconte from 1237, last rebuilt in 1876.

Ponte di San Niccolò: This bridge has a very interesting story. It was built in 1890 to replace the bridge named after San Ferdinando, which was from 1835. In 1939, after falling down several times, it was rebuilt in iron; the bridge we see today was built on a plan by Riccardo Morandi and completed in 1949.

Ponte da Verrazzano: This bridge was built in 1965 by C. Damerini, L. Savioli and V. Scalesse and is the newest bridge across the Arno; it connects the southern part of the city.

Ponte di Santa Trinita: In its long and complex history, this bridge has seen many collapses due to flooding of the Arno. The wood original was built in 1252. It was later replaced by one in stone, which collapsed in 1333. It was then rebuilt by Taddeo Gaddi, but this bridge too collapsed in 1557. Cosimo I ordered Ammannati to plan a new bridge; at the four corners are statues of the seasons put into place in 1628. It was destroyed by the Germans in 1944 and reconstructed in 1952 by R. Gizdulich.

Ponte alla Carraia: The 1218 original was destroyed by a flood in 1274 and was rebuilt, but it collapsed again in 1304 (according to legend, due to the weight of a crowd that was watching a spectacle). Its replacement was also destroyed in 1333 and again in 1557. Commissioned by Cosimo I, a new bridge was built by Ammannati which lasted until the German retreat. Today’s bridge is from 1948 on a design by E. Fagiuoli.

Ponte alla Vittoria: The original was called Ponte San Leopoldo and was ordered by Grandduke Leopold. Ruined in 1925, it was replaced by another which was destroyed by the Germans in 1944. Today’s Ponte alla Vittoria is from 1946.