Staying connected

The first time I traveled to Europe with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in 1995, I had a suitcase full of "Agent 007" gadgets, such as an acoustic coupler (remember those?) clips and clamps to attach to a hotel phone for my "dial-up" connections. It was always iffy whether it would work, whether my stories would beam back to 312 Elm Street for you to read in the morning paper. All of them did.

By the 2004 European tour, cities had gotten much more sophisticated, of course, but I found to my surprise that Vienna only had about six "hot spots" for wireless. My hotel had an old, clunky computer in the lobby (dial-up) and it was only by kicking the thing finally, that the story went, and you read my review of the Vienna concert in the Enquirer the next day. I also had a daily blog on that tour.

This time, I'm loaded down again with gadgets -- although much more high-tech, of course. I'm hoping that my three-year-old laptop, antique by techie standards, will be sending you stories almost daily, as well as blogs and photos too. Each day -- in a new city, a new concert hall and a new hotel -- will be a new musical adventure for the orchestra, and a new Internet adventure for me.

Stay with us as we leave today for Frankfurt, Germany, visiting other cities in Germany as well as Austria, France, The Netherlands and Spain.

And be sure to visit the interactive map and see interviews from symphony musicians at each city, an interview with music director Paavo Jarvi, hear musical clips and much more.