NATIONAL ARCHEOLOGICAL MUSEUM

Saturday, October 20^th, 2007 Athens’ National Archeological Museum

Jim was awake about 2 am and by four I was also awake; we both finally went back to sleep about five and woke at 8:30 am. Immediately checked email and found a message from Brian that he had to stay overnight in Venice but would definitely be on the plane today. After breakfast we headed for the Metro and a trip to the National Archeological Museum. By noon we were headed back towards the hotel to check messages and also get our rain gear as it was sprinkling by the time we arrived at the hotel. Decided to rest a bit and then the rain really started to pour which negated any plans for touring the Acropolis this afternoon as there was also lightening and thunder.

For more information about the National Archeological Museum see:

http://www.greekhotel.com/sterea/attica/athens/photos/archaeological-museum-photos.htm

About 4 pm we decided to brave the rain and headed out for a walk. By the time we’d reached the bottom of the street…about six blocks…we were soaked and looking for a dry place to stay. Went to dinner early at Vitro’s Restaurant across the street from the new Acropolis Museum that is nearly completed; the restaurant came highly recommended by our desk clerk as it is owned by a friend of his. I had eggplant pizza and Jim ordered Greek spaghetti plus fried cheese. All delicious and well presented. The rain continued to come down in buckets.

We headed back towards the hotel, dashing from awning to awning (or as the Greek say “tent to tent”) and waded through ankle deep rushing rivers of water and mud at nearly every corner. Arrived at the hotel and called Brian’s hostel…he had not arrived yet; but being on first name basis with their clerk by now…because of calling multiple times; he promised to have Brian stay there when he arrived and call us or I would call again at 7 pm rather than his braving the elements to get to our hotel. Brian called about 6:30 and let us know that yes…he had finally arrived and would come to our hotel tomorrow morning to begin his adventure with his grandparents. I said I’d let his parents know that he’d arrived in Greece safely.

We later discovered that he joined a group of young people at the Hostel and braved the storm to explore Greece for most of the night. Ah…to be young again! But we were also happy that he’d gotten to see Athens, even though it was at night, since our scheduled time with Brian in Athens had vanished! We will be coming back to Athens at the end of our trip and we will see the things we’d saved to see with Brian at that time; he’s young and has years to come back to really explore Athens!

And so another day in Athens has ended. Tomorrow we head out by car about noon for two days of traveling south and west with Brian. His ferry boat leaves on Monday evening to take him back to Italy from the port city of Patra.

TEMPLE OF POSEIDON

Friday, October 19^th, 2007 Athens – Temple of Poseidon

Woke up at 6:30 am refreshed and ready to go; turned on the computer and called family in California on the Internet system called Skype; works great but you both have to be online for it to work. They were still up…it was nearly 10 pm in California so we had a nice talk. Enjoyed breakfast in the hotel and then headed out to Syntagma Square and the #5 Tram to Gadfaya where Julie will pick us up in her car. Julie is the oldest daughter of old friends at home; she has lived her adult life in Greece and is a dual citizen of both countries. She works as a travel agent and plans to share her vast and expert knowledge with us today.

Purchased a telephone card so that we can call Julie to tell her what time we are getting on the tram; it will take about an hour to get there due to frequent stops. Arrived about 11 am and there was Julie in her car for our adventure. Due to plans at 6 pm we won’t be able to do everything that she’d planned; we decided we’d like to drive south to the Temple of Poseidon. We stopped there and over refreshments explored places and things that she thought we should see during the rest of our trip. She is in the travel business and brought books, maps and brochures on things that we should see and do.

We then headed north along the coast before stopping at a restaurant along the beach for a wonderful fish lunch compliments of Julie. She ordered calamari (whole ones not slices as we see in the USA) red mullet fish, fried zucchini, French fries, fried bread and a Greek liquor called Ouzo. We watched her select the fish before it was cooked. The Ouzo is about 40 proof and very good over ice; all of this and a view of the water. We made plans to come back to see her later in the trip when we have the time to visit her home for a BBQ and meet her significant other, Demetrius.

Soon it was time to head back into the city but this time she took us further north where we could pick up the Metro for a very fast ride back into Athens.

Walked to the hotel and arrived about 5 pm. Checked email about 6 and found a message from grandson Brian who had missed his flight and won’t be arriving between 6 and 7 for dinner after all. But, he is still coming so we’ll wait. Don’t mind resting up a bit and finally getting a start on my journal. Tomorrow will be a busy day.

ATHENS, GREECE...at last!

Thursday, October 18^th, 2007 Athens, Greece

Hard to believe we’re on our third day of our trip and we’ve just arrived in Athens! Watched the baggage carousel go round and round and no black bags with bright green straps. Missing luggage we soon found out was extremely common between Heathrow and Athens. Filed the necessary reports and then headed for the Airport Bus to the city. Arrived in Athens and found ourselves on the street at 4:30 am at the Panepistimio Metro Station. But, that didn’t open until 5 am. So we found the ubiquitous McDonald across the street and ordered coffee. Looked at the maps and decided we needed to stretch our legs so we started off towards our hotel located next to the Acropolis. Pulling suitcases and stopping for directions from street cleaners several times (our last directions were obtained from an Embassy guard who seems happy to talk with someone at that hour of the morning) we rolled into the hotel at about 6 am. The night clerk unlocked the door of the Acropolis View Hotel and let us in. We had some problems because of making changes early in the scheduling; they didn’t show the new one only the one we cancelled. But all is well; we won’t get the “view” room but will have a nice room with bath. And, most importantly breakfast at 7 am (part of the room fee) and we were able to get into our room by 8 am. We’re seriously tired by this time.

Cleaned up and went to bed but set the alarm for noon. Refreshed we headed out to walk to the Travel Agency office to complete our cruise plans and pick up tickets, etc. Several weeks before leaving the cruise plans changed from seven to four days; eliminating the Istanbul portion. But the agency had put together a flight and hotel for three nights so we’re still going to Istanbul in November. We did take the Metro for a portion of the walk.

From there we walked over to check out the Hostel that our grandson is staying in and then continued on to the Metro for our ride back to the Acropolis area. Walking up the hill we stopped at a rooftop Travina for lunch; Greek beer plus soup for Jim and a Greek Salad for me while we enjoyed the view. Back in the hotel Jim catnapped while I sorted luggage and kept busy instead of sleeping. After two hours I got him up again and this time we walked around the base of the Acropolis hill; climbed up to view the city from the hill that St. Paul preached from and then down for a stroll through the Monastiraki Bazaar. Before leaving the hotel we called the airport and learned that our missing luggage had been found and would be delivered before breakfast tomorrow.

Continued walking north through the city all the way to our bus stop from the airport. Then after stopping for some light dinner we continued walking all the way home (our hotel) …arriving after dark. We estimated that we’ve walked a minimum of ten hours since arriving early this morning. Julie (the daughter of friends back home) lives in Athens and is a travel agent; she called about 9 pm for tomorrow’s plans and then we tucked in about 10 pm for a full night’s sleep after washing our undies!

GREECE & TURKEY...here we come!

Greece and Turkey….unfulfilled travel dreams for Jim…became a reality this year. Shortly after returning from our tour in China we started to put together a loosely knit trip for the fall in Greece and Turkey. We decided to travel footloose and reservation free for some serendipity traveling in the land of antiquity.

By mid summer we had our plane reservations, a car reserved for eleven days and a seven day cruise that would include Istanbul and Kusadasi (Ephessos) in Turkey. Reservations at an inexpensive hotel in Athens for the first three days completed the core planning for our trip that would span from October 16^th to November 29^th. Our last two nights were scheduled for London so that Jim could visit the British Museum to see the current exhibit of the Terra Cotta Soldiers from China. The same exhibit will be at the Bower’s Museum in 2008 where he is a docent. Is this curiosity or being one step ahead? Either way it’s a chance for me to spend a day as a tourist in London; I think I’ll ride the on/off tour bus all day!

Tuesday, October 16^th, 2007

Our plane didn’t leave until 8:35 pm so we had all day to make those final preparations for closing the house and getting many of the Christmas decorations completed or at least started before leaving. Daughter Jennifer drove us to LAX airport about 4 pm so we were there in plenty of time for check in and the security gauntlet. Had a small detour on the way and got to see the back side of the airport from Imperial Highway because of a major road closing; but we still arrived about 5 pm. Jim sailed through security but they opened my plastic bag for liquids and took away my shampoo bottles…yep I kinda thought they might as they were 4 oz instead of 3 oz. But, to my surprise they also took the jar of peanut butter…hadn’t thought about that one. I’d added it at the last minute as a surprise gift for my grandson who is meeting us in Athens; he’s on mid-semester break from his college semester in Italy. Oh well! Not an earthshaking loss.

Met a couple of sisters traveling together while we were still in LAX; they were also headed for Athens but then going on a cruise ship. Flight to London was half hour late in leaving but we were pleasantly surprised at the short time between loading and take-off.

London is eight hours ahead so we were actually leave LAX at 9pm + 8 hours = 5 am. We arrived at Heathrow Airport in London at 3 pm on Wednesday.

Wednesday, October 17^th, 2007

At Heathrow we transferred from Terminal 3 (arrival) to Terminal 4; went through security which was a breeze…almost no one in line. Then we found out we needed to go to Terminal 1. Transferred to the bus for the trip over; bad sign: the bus was packed. Sure enough this security line was huge and it took nearly half an hour plus to get through the line….then the long wait began. Found seats in the lounge; four across with no arms and EMPTY. Stretched out and tried to nap a bit. The No Jet Lag pills are helping but it’s a very long trip because of the layover in London. Arrived about 3 pm and our flight to Athens was scheduled to leave at 9 pm. Loooonnnnngggg wait!

We finally took off after a long wait on tarmac and added two more hours to our clocks. Greece and Turkey are ten hours ahead of California. So now it was 11 pm; easy flight over with everyone trying to sleep but difficult with passengers talking and watching movies. Arrived in Athens at 3 am on Thursday morning! That’s 5 pm on Wednesday. If my math is correct that was twenty hours from start to finish!

Idaho, Oregon & California: 3 days of driving

BLOG THREE OF MONTANA TRIP 3 days of driving

Sunday, July 26^th, 2009

It was a struggle to leave early and not watch the Tour de France head into Paris for the final day; traditionally a day of friendship and celebrating except for the sprint riders who will be chasing that one final stage victory at the end of the Champs-Elysees in Paris. But we knew that the program was being recorded for us back home so we left the house at 7 am after making sure we’d removed all traces of our visit to a fabulous log house!

One of the rewards for leaving early was a herd of antelope quietly drinking the rain water left in the cracks down the center of the highway; so glad that we were able to stop as we rounded the corner instead of having a hood ornament for the car! I took some photos while we waited for them to finish crossing the highway and then continued on our way knowing that all was good in our little corner of the world.

Heading south we soon reach the North Fork of the Salmon River and continued to follow that into the Sawtooth Mountain Range along the Lewis and Clark Trail. The river was a series of rapids perfect for kayak sport and hundreds of fisherman using their skills to fly fish along the banks, in boats and standing in waders in the rush of the river. I finally gave up taking photos; just too many opportunities! The day varied from broad vistas, green fields to narrow gaps between shear mountains….generally with a river flowing rapidly along side us! Did I mention the horses ….. seems to be as many horse ranches as cattle ranches; they definitely love their horses in the Big Sky Country.

We kept to the two lane highways as we drove for ten hours across Idaho and finally into Oregon where we found ourselves in the high desert. Arrived in the town of Burns before dusk and found a cute little hotel called the Silver Spur Motel. Population of fewer than five thousand and Sunday evening; not much open! Shopped at the grocery store for some picnic items and enjoyed our picnic in our room while we watched the summation of the Tour de France and posted my Blog with the final results! I enjoyed the challenge of posting the Tour results each day, but I’m glad that I will only be posting my regular Blog every few days during the balance of our trip.

Monday, July 27^th, 2009 Brookings, Oregon

After an early breakfast at the motel we headed west in the desert towards the Pacific Ocean. Soon we could see the Cascade Mountain Range that said to me; we’re close to the city of Bend. I called my high school friend and he met us at a Starbucks Coffee Shop where we spent an hour catching up; we haven’t seen him since he stayed with us back in 2007. A nice break in the drive; Bend seems like a great place with many things to do and see but not on this trip. Our goal tonight is to reach the coast and head south to the border of California, and we still had many miles to travel. We were hitting more four lane highways but still not the major freeways or interstate highways, so it’s slow going at times.

We’d considered stopping by to see Crater Lake today but as we neared the area decided to continue west towards Roseburg. There we followed the Middle Fork of The Coquille River towards Coos Bay. A beautiful trip through the coastal mountains where the outside temperatures reached a high of 108° in the canyons and back down to 66° nearly sixty miles later as we crested over the peak and rushed down the mountain to the Pacific Ocean and Highway 101 just south of Coos Bay. Less than two hours later, another ten hour day, we drove into Brookings Oregon where we’d made reservations earlier in the day. Enjoyed a lovely dinner out and then back to our beautiful little Motel called Wild Rivers Motor Lodge because it is walking distance to the Rogue River just before it merges into the Pacific Ocean. We enjoyed a stroll along the highway and walked across the bridge with views of the Harbor below before calling it a night.

Tuesday, July 28^th, 2009 Redwood Forest and Highway 101 South

Our day began early as we were taking the slow way south on Highway 101 through the ancient forest of the Giant Redwoods in the northwest corner of California. The highway was full of bicycle riders, many with camping gear strapped on to their bikes. We went in and out of fog banks all morning as we meandered in and out of the forest and ocean front roads. Sometimes the roots were so close to the edge of the road that you could feel the root systems below as you drove the road, especially on the avenue of the Giants.

Along the ocean highway it was interesting to note that they had posted signs whenever you entered or left a “Tsunami Zone” between Crescent City and Eureka. The beaches are very wide and shallow in these waters making it easy for them to roll inland if generated by earthquakes in the ocean; as they witnessed in 1964 and 2006.

We stopped at the Klamath River to take photos of the golden bears on each end of the bridge that we crossed over just south of Crescent City and continued on through the stately redwoods saved from the sawmills by the creations of many National and State Parks along Highway 101.

We decided to stay on Highway 101 instead of Highway 1 when we reached the split at the town of Legget; we were traveling slowly but steady and we still had an afternoon of driving before we reach our destination of Pleasant Hill, a bedroom community near Walnut Creek for San Francisco and Oakland. The weather was blistering as we traveled inland and south towards Napa Wine Country. That is another adventure we took about ten years ago; lots of great memories.

We said goodbye to Highway 101 at Petaluma and headed east across the top of the San Francisco Bay. On our way we saw the Petaluma Adobe and decided to take a break for a short visit. It was closing time, nearly 5 pm, but we enjoyed the outside of this magnificent old home that is one of the oldest preserved buildings in Northern California, reputed to be the largest and richest privately owned Mexican estate north of San Francisco in the 1800’s. Build by Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo in 1834; it has been an historical home since efforts were begun in the early 1900’s to preserve what was left of the Adobe.

We pulled into Pleasant Hill just after 6 pm for an evening of fun with our two youngest grandchildren after a wonderful dinner prepared by our son and his wife. We’ll be spending two nights here before going into the city.

Wednesday, July 29^th, 2009 San Francisco area

Today was all about the grandkids! They are members of a swim club and at ages 9 and 6 are actively competing in swimming competitions. We spent the morning at their practice and then in the afternoon their aunt arrived (our youngest daughter who lives in the city) and we all went to the swim meet to cheer them on and eat our dinner around the pool! It was a much needed day of relaxing with family after three very long days of travel.

Thursday, July 30^th, 2009 San Francisco

This morning we headed into the city by way of the Oakland Bay Bridge. San Francisco has always been one of my favorite cities and we’ve many fond memories of our visits over the years. We had the morning to ourselves and after a bit of trial and error we found our way to the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. It is very near City Hall in the old Library building. They have a “Samurai” exhibit at this time that was excellent.

At noon we met our daughter outside of her office building and headed towards her apartment on Russian Hill. There we unloaded our suitcases and walked to a local restaurant for lunch. We decided on the French café La Boulange de Polk around the corner; a delightful touch of Europe in this very cosmopolitan city!

Our evening was spent with young friends at the newly renovated San Francisco Natural Science Museum in Golden Gate Park. The Museum has a “Nightlife” opening every Thursday evening for adults only…..it’s become quite the rage in San Francisco! Check it out at http://www.calacademy.org/events/nightlife/ .

What a fun evening: strolling through a rain forest, an aquarium and a planetarium show all in one evening! And, we were able to enjoy a drink as we strolled and also purchased our dinner about half way through. And, did I mention….dancing! Yes, great music everywhere and at one point we actually did some twinkle toe time!

Friday, July 31^st, 2009 Home at last

Up early we headed east to Interstate 5 and the long road home. Our daughter came with us and we made a detour through the desert to drop her off at a Religious Retreat house near Palmdale. Yes…we came back out and took her to the airport on Sunday afternoon. We pulled into the garage just before 5 pm, tired but happy to be home. We had driven 3,423 miles in eleven days, averaging 48.57 mpg.

Thanks for joining us on our short tour of the northwestern U.S.A.

Tune in again on Friday, August 28th for our Tour of Greece....

Yellowstone Park & 2 days in Darby

BLOG TWO OF MONTANA TRIP Yellowstone Park, and 2 days in Darby

Friday, July 24, 2009 Montana

We awoke just before dawn, about 5 am; we’d both slept through the night pretty well considering everything. In the mad scramble to reach the door handle we set off the car alarm resulting in a ear piercing alarm clock for our neighbors asleep in their tents.

A fast trip down to the rest rooms and we rapidly threw everything in the back and headed out of the campground as fast as possible. Today’s drive was slow because of having to stop several times for road work; sometimes up to half an hour each time. Soon we were in Yellowstone National Park. We’d arrived so early that the gates were wide open without any attendants to collect fees. Its beautiful country but we also noted in addition to the tree damage from the bark beetles, there are many acres showing the results of wildfires over the past several years; most of which are started by lightening strikes. My husband and I spent our honeymoon in the summer of 1960 working in a lookout tower in Sequoia National Park charting those strikes….another story.

We found “Old Faithful” and hot coffee at the same time. The rain had finally arrived after days of “dark clouds” that never produced the needed drops. Old Faithful Geyser is only one out of hundreds of geysers spraying throughout the Park. But, this one has earned its name and viewing platform because of keeping fairly regular hours; enough so that they post the next schedule eruption…give or take ten minutes either way.

Old Faithful was having a sluggish day and didn’t produce quite the display that we’d expected; maybe the rain had dampened her spirits. But while waiting we saw some of the other geysers give some awe inspiring clouds of steam into the sky in the distance that gave me some great photo opportunities. We also visited the famous Old Faithful Inn, one of the largest log structures in the world. There was a long yellow bus parked outside just like in the movies! She finally blew and we ambled off to continue our journey into Montana; our destination for today was in Darby.

We headed out of the park from West Yellowstone and continued north into the western part of Montana. We had to cross the Continental Divide again near Butte; we’d crossed it once already in our drive through Yellowstone National Park. As we approached the down side of the mountain, I looked up to the east on top of the mountain and discovered a snow white statute of the Virgin Mary perched on the crest of the mountain. At first I didn’t believe my eyes but then I got out the trusty tour book and sure enough, there it was:

“Our Lady of the Rockies is a colossal 90-foot statue of the Virgin Mary that overlooks the beautiful city of Butte, Montana from her lofty perch on the East Ridge of the Continental Divide. The statue itself was built as a monument to honor not only Mary, but also all women regardless of race, religion, or creed. (This goes doubly so for mothers.) She stands at an elevation of 8,510 feet above sea level, which is also approximately 3,500 feet above the elevation of Butte itself.”

By this time we were also back on the Interstate System and moving rapidly along our route towards Missoula. There we stopped for an early dinner before heading south on the smaller roads for another hour towards Darby where we will spend the next two nights with our friends who are celebrating their 50^th Wedding Anniversary.

In Darby we turned off of the main street and soon found ourselves on a dusty drive down the gravel roads just before we arrived at their large two story log home in the Bitterroot Mountains. All four of their children had arrived from California and Washington. Their parents were at a neighbor’s home we found out; and we were expected to also attend. There we found a group of eight waiting for us to start dinner. Not having expected this meal we sat with the group while they enjoyed dinner and then we joined them for dessert. We found another of the old neighbors had also made the trek (by airplane) and so there were three of us for the occasion. After dinner we followed them back to their house; stopping along the way to observe a herd of elk grazing just off the road in someone’s yard.

Our hostess has arranged for her out of town guests to stay with various families as public lodging is hard to come by without driving many miles. We were assigned to an unbelievable log cabin house that has been built as a model design home by the builder for his family named “Almost Heaven”. Absolutely stunning; the owner is a wild game hunter and his trophies were displayed everywhere. A full bear in the entry way; a bison head over the living room fireplace, a moose head in our bedroom, and the downstairs family room was like a miniature natural science museum. The property is on the market for $1,800,000. as the family has decided to move back to Southern California. They are gone for the weekend so we had the place to ourselves…..just us and the zoo! Check out the website at http://www.hccbuilders.com for more information on this home.

After a long day of travel we were delighted with our lodgings and most importantly for me: the house had an unsecured wireless Internet so I was able to sign on and complete my Blog entry for the day!

Saturday, July 25, 2009 The Party in Darby, Montana

We had a leisurely “sleep-in” morning available in our private hide-away in the hills of Montana; but we also knew that the Tour de France was climbing Mont Ventoux in France this morning. We had sat on Mont Ventoux in 2004 to watch the Tour summit the mountain and that was the last time the race was on Mont Ventoux until today!

Couldn’t resist waking up early…booting up the computers….and watching the race live on Versus.com! There were televisions all over the house but we couldn’t get any of them to turn on. There was a power shortage the week before but for some reason their wireless network was alive and well!

After completing my summary of today’s race and posting my Blog we dressed and headed into town to pick up some groceries for breakfast and lunch. While there we explored the town and found the local library. Gossip at the dinner table last night was about the free wireless Internet at the library; it was turned off after someone brought down the whole town when someone tried to download too big of a file. But, there are still a few who are unaware of the problem and sit in their cars in the parking lot to access the web; totally unaware that they are actually on an unsecured site that belongs to someone in the neighborhood. Sure enough….we found one guy using his laptop propped up against his steering wheel. Small towns can be fun!

We arrived at the 50^th Anniversary Party about 2:30 pm. The priest arrived about 3 pm and we all walked into the woods for a beautiful renewal of their wedding vows. Their one and only grandchild held their rings for the blessing and the priest asked all of their children to stand beside them for the ceremony. There was hardly a dry eye in the group by the end of the ceremony. The remainder of the seventy plus guests began to arrive and the chef from Seattle started a huge wok on a specially built BBQ for today. He is the fiancée of the youngest daughter and truly demonstrated today why he is considered a Master Chef! He started with chicken and continued to add: spices, onions/garlic, rice, mussels, clams, prawns ………. plus everything else to create a main dish of Paella for eighty people! He worked with a fellow chef who now lives in Montana and came for the day to bring the cake and help with the preparation of the food.

The salad was a cascading waterfall down the center of the table of everything that you could think of to put into a salad. The dinner was served buffet style with guest sitting all over the decks on both levels. Finally, the piece de resistance arrived: a three-tiered wedding cake that was melt in your mouth…died and gone to heaven….a real feel good all over treat! Just after they cut the cake…the skies opened up and God celebrated with a thunder and lightening storm accompanied by heavy rain drops and hail! What fun! Other than moving the cake under an awning the party continued as though the storm didn’t exist. It was a short-lived storm that settled the dust on the gravel road for our way home just before dusk. The young folks continued to party into the night!

Las Vegas...Provo....Jackson Hole

BLOG ONE OF MONTANA TRIP Las Vegas. Provo, Jackson Hole

July 21^st, 2009 Las Vegas, Nevada

In June we received an invitation to attend a 50^th Wedding Anniversary party for some friends who were our neighbors from about 1967 to 1988 for July 25^th in Montana. We moved from the neighborhood in 1988 and they moved from sunny California to Montana in 1996. Over the years we’ve kept in touch and actually visited their new home build several miles down a gravel road up against the Bitterroot Mountains about ten years ago.

What a great excuse to plan a road trip! On Donner, on Blitzer, to the computer we flew; blazing a trail to the mountains we knew….. By July 1^st we had hotels reserved and the loose knit plan of our route for an eleven day road trip that would take us from California, through Nevada, Utah, Wyoming and Montana. After that we planned to drive from Montana through Idaho, Oregon and back into California with our final stop in San Francisco to visit with children who live there.

One minor detail created a concern … I would be in the middle of blogging daily reports on the 2009 Tour de France along with a Journal and photos that I’d made as we followed the Tour in 2004 on a three month trip to Europe. The Bradenton Newspaper in Florida was counting on my Blog for their Travel Section. I set to work preparing all of my Blogs and photos in advance so that I would be ready to put them in each day as we traveled. The reports on the 2009 Tour de France would have to be created daily and then everything entered as we find Internet access along the way!

We left this morning on our first leg that took us across the desert from Orange County to Las Vegas. Because we couldn’t leave until I posted my Blog after the race; it was a late start and we didn’t arrive in Las Vegas until about 5 pm. We got off the freeway way too early and inched along the Casino Strip for what seemed like an hour. The good news is that it was a perfect way to see all of the new Casinos along the Strip! And, our Prius automobile only uses gasoline when we are moving, so it didn’t take extra gas for the tortoise drive down Las Vegas Boulevard! Yes, we are very economical when traveling and average about fifty miles to the gallon.

Finally arrived at our Econo Lodge on the north end of the Strip; checked in and then headed back to the Strip for a closer look at some of the Casinos. We found free parking at the Bellagio Hotel and enjoyed reminiscing about previous stays as we strolled through the lobby under the gaudy but magnificent ceiling of two thousand hand-blown glass flowers designed by the world renowned artist, Dale Chihuly. As we pushed through the revolving doors into the heat of the night we watched a water show beginning in the lake in front of the Hotel. Moving around the walkways to the music of Frank Sinatra we watched the water dance and shoot towering jags into the night sky.

We joined the thongs of tourist in their brief outfits strolling along the Las Vegas Boulevard from Casino to Casino; the desert temperature was dry but hovering around one hundred degrees give or take ten. We finally found a place to cross the street and then came back on the other side through the Paris Casino; yes, we’ve stayed there before also when time was short and money was plentiful. Now we have lots of time and less money so travel is done more economically; but, we’ve found that it adds a bit of fun to find the bargains both here in the USA and in Europe.

Back across the street, stopped for another romantic interlude at the Bellagio Hotel Water Show before finding the car and heading home for the night. We have Wireless Internet here in the hotel so we’ll stay to watch the Tour de France on our computers before posting my Blog after the race. Tomorrow will be another hot day of driving as we head north into Utah.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009 Provo, Utah

Why were we watching the Tour de France on our computers? No cable network television that carried Versus at our little hotel; so computers were our only choice. I posted my Blog as soon as the race was over and we were on the road just before 9 am! It was another day of warm weather as we headed northeast on Interstate 15 into Utah after crossing over the corner of Arizona. Actually, Nevada had been cooler than normal for this time of year because of the overhead clouds that shielded us from the sun most of the time.

Beautiful drive along the edge of Zion National Park that we visited last year on our return trip from the Hot Air Balloon Festival in New Mexico; tomato colored high desert views everywhere we looked. We were headed for Provo about fifty miles south of Salt Lake City.

Arrived late afternoon; found our Econo Lodge Hotel on the edge of town .It has the right number of requirements: air conditioning, clean rooms, Wireless Internet and television…this time with Versus Network so we’ll be able to watch the bicycle race tomorrow morning!

We drove into downtown Provo, the third largest city in Utah and home to the Mormon’s Brigham Young University. I’d expected a large city but this is a very comfortable town with very wide streets. There is definitely a “Midwestern” feel about the town from the style of houses and the commercial buildings. There was a beautiful old church in the downtown area that has been converted to a private school.

Speaking of churches; they almost always have a white steeple and you can spot one in every neighborhood from the highway; not just in every town….in every neighborhood. Reminds me of the Catholic Churches in Italy….there’s so many of them they almost tumble onto one another!

Stopped in the Tourist Information shop for some advice and she answered all of our questions and was a veritable fountain of information about the city. Too bad we’re only spending one night in town. After we returned to our hotel we went for a short walk for some needed exercise after two days of driving. Should have walked longer but the sun was very warm even though it was almost dusk.

Thursday, July 23^rd, 2009 Jackson Hole, Wyoming

We enjoyed watching the Tour de France on the television this morning. Today was the individual time trials in Annecy so it would be a stretch after the leaders finished before they provided us with results. Deciding to get the results later in the day, we put the pedal to the metal just before 10 am as we had a long road ahead of us today; we’ll be driving along the Great Salt Lake around to the east of the city and then heading into cowboy country: Wyoming!

Our goal today is to reach the northern end of the State of Wyoming and the National Parks. Tonight we plan to camp in the Grand Teton National Park. Several hours into the day’s drive we left the Interstate Highway system and found the beautiful two lane highways along side of rushing rivers and sometimes in the canyons between mountains. It was another long day but with awesome scenery.

In the late afternoon we entered Jackson, also known as Jackson Hole and we knew we were in the Wild West! Stacks of antlers everywhere…arched over the road, on the buildings, in the parks…everywhere! Definitely attuned to the tourist industry, but well done with a western motif.

But what we were looking for was a “McDonald’s Restaurant”. Why? Because they just might have wireless Internet! So for the price of a sandwich, we were able to log into the Internet for one hour; confirm the results of today’s time trials in France and then post my Blog for the day! So much stress!

From Jackson Hole we were only about an hour or so from the National Park. But, because of the beautiful jagged Grand Teton Mountains…WITH SNOW ON TOP…it was a longer drive because we kept stopping for photos and to enjoy a view we haven’t seen for nearly fifty years.

Using our Senior Pass we entered into the National Park without additional fees. We drove to the northern edge of the park to Lizard Creek Campground. They don’t take reservations so everything is on a first come, first served basis. We arrived about 4 pm and were assigned the last camping spot in the campground! The site was an easy walk to Jackson Lake and views of the Grand Tetons. And, because of our Senior Pass we only paid $9.00; half the regular price.

Still warm, we fixed our dinner from supplies that we’d purchased in Jackson Hole and then walked to the lake and around the campground. No campfire program tonight as they only do them on the weekends. As the sun dipped lower we began to set up our sleeping arrangements for the night while we still had light. Big problem…large mosquitoes…didn’t dare leave the windows or car doors open.

Remember…we’re in a Prius…back seats fold down so we put the luggage into the front seats along with all the other extra “stuff”. I blew up the twin size air mattress that we’d brought from home and laid the sleeping bags on top. It was going to be a tight squeeze. We put on more clothing because of the bugs and went for another walk around the campground and actually saw a deer in the trees next to the road. Too many mosquitoes so we got back into the car and ran the engine for the air conditioner while we read our books and waited for the sun to set and the weather to cool down. Looooonnnnnggggg evening! But I’d agreed to try it once as he wanted to see if it would work. Maybe without the bugs…..but I’m so glad we’ve got a sleeping pill to take tonight so that we can get some sleep! I’m a Girl Scout and always prepared! Did I mention that I didn’t drink any liquids after 5 pm…I’m not walking down the road in the middle of the night to the restrooms.

MILAN & LONDON....

Tuesday, August 17^th, 2004 Milan to London

Today is another travel day, this time to Milan’s Malpensa Airport for our trip to London. In order to make the train connections we had to leave about 8:45 am. Arrived at the station by cab and found that Martha’s promise of track #1 was wrong and we had to do a down and up. Our one and only switch was again a down and up tunnel and then we were in Milan. Caught the Express Bus to the airport and arrived about noon.

Our plane was scheduled to leave at 6 pm so we had three hours before we could check-in. We’re anxious to see Tom Hanks’ new movie “The Terminal” because we sort of lived it today! But, at this point we really didn’t care. We were happy to read, eat and “veg” at the airport; lots of shops to brows when we got tired of reading. Turned out the plane was an hour late so we didn’t get into London until after 8 pm. Caught the bus to our hotel near the airport and plan to go into London tomorrow by the tube to see the British Museum and a few other sights. I’m happy that I’ve found out that I can sign on to the Internet in my room; so good to be connected again. Airport Hotels cost a bit more but generally have all the latest in technology.

Wednesday, August 18^th: Weather looks like rain so we took our jackets and umbrellas with us to the airport to catch the tube to central London. It took a little bit to find the tube that was down several flights of stairs. You’re in a tunnel for the first part of the trip and then above ground. We got off at the Tottenham Court Rd Station and by continuing to ask directions…everyone speaks English…. found the British Museum. The museum has always been free but they do request donations.

We spent most of the morning touring the antiquities sections. Jim was especially interested in Egypt because of the upcoming exhibit at Bowers on the Queen of Sheba. That was very interesting, especially when we got to the mummies. It’s a huge Museum and one could come for days and still only see a portion of what they have.

On the way back to the tube we stopped at a grocery store and purchased drinks and a sandwich. We took the tube to Hyde Park Station and then walked to Hyde Park to eat our picnic lunch on a park bench. From there we walked through St. James Park on the Princess Dianna walk to Buckingham Palace. Thought we’d found the new Memorial Fountain for Princess Diana but turned out to be the Canadian Memorial for war heroes. Took some photos of the palace and then walked back through the park to the Victoria Station for the ride back to Heathrow Airport. Arrived back at the airport about 5 pm and caught the Hoppa Bus back to the hotel near Heathrow Airport. We spent a week in London about ten years ago so today’s journey was reliving old memories.

Our best to you all…this is the last Journal for our trip. We fly to Los Angeles straight from London tomorrow morning.

Tune in on August 20th for the 2009 USA Tour that we took in July...only a few days but a fun journey!

CREMONA & STRADIVARIUS VIOLINS

Monday, August 16^th, 2004 Cremona, Italy

Must be a travel day; Jim was awake at dawn and by 7:30 am we’d paid the hotel bill and walked down the block to a Bar for coffee and a roll. Our first train didn’t leave the station until 8:35 am; we’d chosen that train because it loaded on track #1 and was going in the right direction. The train was in the station early so we loaded everything on and had to wait about half an hour for the start of the trip.

Heading west toward Milan we enjoyed a morning of farmland. Noticed that the vineyards are different here from France; in France they are only about four feet tall and here they are at least six foot plus. Took a little over an hour to get to Bologna and we were faced with a change of trains. Down and then back up the transfer tunnel; don’t know what the handicapped do as there were no hidden elevators; we looked. Got to the right track and when the train pulled in we headed for our car. It was so packed and running late that we decided to get on the next car (first class we found out) and then transfer into our coach. We did have seat reservations on this portion of the trip. But, after getting aboard we discovered the car we needed to go into was so packed that there was no way we could get to our reserved seats. Intercity trains like this one don’t require seat reservations so you have a lot of people standing and sitting in the aisles on the second-class trains. Regional trains don’t have any seat reservations and when on the Eurostar both first and second-class require seat reservations. Positioned our large suitcases against the wall and settled in for the hour ride to the next station, sitting on top of our luggage.

Actually other than having to help people open and close the door between the cars it was cool in the vestibule, we had easy access to a bathroom and we could be the first one off the train when we arrived at our next station. We only had a few minutes to make the next connection. Small station and the conductor actually came to help me with my luggage; yes we had to go down and back up again! One more station and we had a bit more time to make this connection but it did involve another down and up tunnel. Why you may ask were there so many different trains? Our goal today was Cremona, a town located in the middle of Italy, south of Milan; no direct train connections. This town’s claim to fame is the Stradivarius Museum; this was the home of the creator of the famous violins. Since we were near the area, we thought we’d take the opportunity to visit. Good sized town just not well connected by train.

Arrived in Cremona and didn’t have to go through a tunnel to get into the station. Jim took the hotel information and went to look for a taxi. No cabs but a bus driver felt sorry for us and took us to the hotel in the center of town. He wouldn’t take any money for the bus trip! He only had one other passenger, it was siesta time and everything, and I mean everything was closed including the shop where we needed to purchase our bus tickets! Neither of them spoke English but they thought it was great that they had passengers from California with them on the bus. Our weather has been great, not too hot but sunshine. Weather reports look good for the rest of our trip.

Being Monday we weren’t sure about the Museum being open and after our arrival we found out that it is closed today. But the home and workshop are located here and are open today and that’s what Jim really wanted to see. We’ve seen Stradivarius Violins before. Jim is off to see those and other sights while I enjoy the peace and quiet of my room. I went downstairs to use the Internet Point machine in the lobby; opps….not working I found out. But, the manager allowed me to use her computer to check emails. This was how we found out news from friends about Hurricane Charlie’s path in Florida. We’d not heard anything about it going over Orlando. So glad that one of our neighbors sent an email that everyone was ok. Do hope that their damage is not too bad. I also received an email from other friends in Florida that they were close but doing ok. It is so sad to hear of the damages and deaths in Florida from this terrible storm.

Looks like I may be sending this from home on Thursday unless I can get online in London. But will just keep typing until I’m able to send.

Note on expenses for those that travel; I averaged the cost of the car for thirty-seven days and it came out to about eighty euros per day. That included rental, gas, toll roads and parking fees. Second class on the train is working out to be about forty euros per day for eighteen days. That includes Eurorail pass, seat reservations, taxicabs and additional trains and buses to get around in the towns. But, as Jim would point out, that doesn’t put a price on the waiting for trains and struggling with luggage. Personally, second class has been a fun (for me only) experience but I would definitely go first class the next time. Also, fewer and smaller pieces of luggage are a must when traveling by train.

Jim returned and said I HAD to go see the Duomo (Cathedral)! So off we went to the center of the old town; this is actually quite a large city. The Duomo is one of the largest we’ve seen; comparable to St. Mark’s in Venice in size. Has one of the highest bell towers that we’ve ever seen. Also has a separate Baptistery; the whole layout of the buildings reminded me of Pisa except nothing was leaning! Built in the twelfth century, it is a combination of marble and brick construction. The interior was completed probably in the sixteenth century. Jim felt that the fresco paintings inside were influenced by the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican; a combination of fresco painting and oil paintings. As the Eye Witness said; it is the reason that tourists visit Cremona in addition to the violins.

On Jim’s exploration trip he had obtained a list of violinmakers and was amazed to find that there were a hundred or more carrying on the tradition of Stradivarius; creating violins for orchestras of the world. He visited many of their workshops where they had glass windows so you could watch the workers and also see the wood aging, some of it hundreds of years old. Many of these workshops were also closed for the traditional August vacation.

On the way back to the hotel we again noticed how quiet everything is; streets are empty except for bicycle riders. I have figured out that the cities in Italy that have level terrain use bicycles for basic transportation and the ones with hills such as Rome and Sorrento use motor bikes and/or scooters. All of this because of the cost of gasoline, when they do drive, the cars are all small in size. Rarely see an SUV type vehicle; and even those seem smaller than we have in California. About seventy-five percent of the businesses have signs on their doors that they are closed for vacation from August 1^st to August 22^nd; seems to be the magic date for return. Even the real estate offices and news racks! They literally shut down for about two weeks in August! Amazing!

We enjoyed a wonderful dinner in the hotel dining room; also recommended by Eye Witness travel guide book.

RAVENNA & RIMINI...northeastern Italy

Friday, August 13^th, 2004 Ravenna & Rimini

Today was definitely a travel day. It is also the opening day for the Olympics in Athens, Greece. That’s our television show this evening; of course with an Italian slant on one channel and a German slant on another station. We were awakened from a dead sleep at 5:15 am this morning; good thing that I set the alarm clock. We’d set everything up last night so that getting out the door by 5:45 am wasn’t too much of a problem. It was still dark outside; by six the roosters were crowing and we had some daylight as we stood at the bus stop. The bus arrived about 6:10 and soon we were whizzing down the mountain. There was only one other passenger; it was like a private limo ride except it cost only one euro each! Since no one else was standing at bus stops he passed them by as well as a few stop signs along the way. Arrived at the train station and missed the 6:30 am train by minutes; it was still in the station but they wouldn’t open up the doors for us. So we had to wait half an hour for the next “chugger” train to Naples. While we were waiting two Americans arrived, brothers from New York; they were doing eight cities in seven days. Today they were stopping to see Florence and Pisa on their way to Venice. They had lots of questions about the trains and Venice. We ended up giving them lots of advice and our train timetable book.

This train ride was a breeze compared to our trip into Sorrento. Not crowded at all and the passengers were business people on their way to work; a very quiet and somber crowd. The stairs going up into the main train station all had working escalators; no problems there. Found a pizza shop and had breakfast there in the train station. While we waited in the pizza shop for our train we had fun talking with two girls from New York who have been traveling together in Europe for about a month; on the trains and staying in Hostels. They had some wild stories including their experience in purchasing their Eurorail Pass in France. It cost them double the amount that they would have paid in America. We also had a young man from Chicago join our group. He has been traveling in Europe for six months and plans to stay another six months. His main mode of travel is hiking. He has already been to Egypt and surrounding areas. He was meeting a friend today who was coming in from the USA and they are going to hike through Italy together. All three were under twenty-five years of age. The girls were definitely ready to go home next week. The young man was still excited about his travels. The boy offered the girls a “baby wipe” when he walked up…they were thrilled! I offered the girls our small travel pack that we haven’t used but a few times. The one said, “I can’t believe I’m so exciting about getting baby wipes.” But they are wonderful in hot, sticky weather. We now know why the soldiers in Iraq enjoyed receiving them from home.

Our train left on time, an Italian Euro Star in excellent condition. This time we checked both ends of the car before getting on so that the luggage rack was easy to get to when we got on the train. The five hours went fast as we were both able to read and enjoy the scenery. Air conditioning on a train makes a huge difference. Also, the train only stopped in Rome and Florence before we arrived in Bologna. Once in Bologna we had to use the up and down stairs to get to the next train but managed to do them without too much trouble. Found a train headed to Ravenna that was leaving in only half an hour. It was a milk run, but also in good condition and not crowded.

Our hotel, the Hotel Ravenna, is only a block from the train station. No air conditioning but again, very nice and we do have a ceiling fan over our bed. I haven’t been able to get the Internet connection working yet so it’s a good thing that I gave it one more try last night in Sorrento. Jim talked to the manager and found out that I had to put an extra comma between the 0 and the number. Usually it only requires one “pause” after the 0 but the Italian phone lines are such that it needed that extra time to allow the number to connect. So it was “ 0,,02” …… Using electronics when traveling requires lots of patience!

Saturday, August 14^th: Up about 7 am we tried the Internet connection one more time without any success. So, you may not receive this until we get back to California depending on the last two hotels; Cremona, Italy and London, England. Talked to the manager on our way out this morning and she said, “no, no, no….it will not work!”

Purchased train tickets to Rimini; an hours ride south of Ravenna. Very crowded but we did have seats all the way there. Rimini is known for the longest beach in Europe and also some very good Roman Ruins; it was packed to the rim with tourists who are mostly Europeans enjoying their traditional August vacation. The campgrounds were full of trailers, motor homes and tents. They stretched from the beach to the train rails in several areas. We also noticed several fields of sunflowers while we were on the train; Jim said, “your girls are looking rather sad”. When I looked out the window they were hanging their heads and rapidly turning black as they are nearly ready for harvest.

After arriving in Rimini we ate “brunch” (this is the first hotel that does not offer a breakfast in the hotel) and then headed for the bus to San Marino, an independent country located about an hour away by bus. We had thought that it would make a great outing while we were in this area. Purchased our roundtrip tickets for the 11 am bus and then found out the bus was full and we’d have to wait for the next bus in another hour.

No problem, we decided to spend the time exploring Rimini; we walked to the Church, then over to the Shopping Market. From there we walked to the Roman Ruins of the Arc of Augusto, still in excellent condition and a great photo opportunity. We also walked along a bicycle path (dodging the many bicycles) in a park that borders the ruins of a Roman Wall and took us most of the way to the beach area. Finally arrived at the beach and walked along the broad sidewalks to find the hotel where the great Italian bicycle rider, Pantani (the pirate who had an earring, shaved head, and won the Tour de France and the Tour of Italy) committed suicide this past spring. Jim didn’t particularly like him but respected him because he was a great road rider and climber. Found the hotel, but disappointed that there was no mention or plaque or memorial of the incident.

We realized the time and turned around towards the bus station. Part of the walk back included a street of very old stately homes. More than likely summer homes for many of Italy’s wealthy families. Some had been converted to multiple residences but most were still privately owned. We checked the number of buzzers on each of the gates to determine how many families lived in each of the estates. Arrived at the bus stop about 1:30 pm and had missed two buses. The next one would not leave until 2:30, and then it would be an hour up and another hour back with very little time to really see the area. Also, we would be catching a late train back to Ravenna and that would probably mean standing with a group of sweaty bodies for another hour because so many would be headed home after a day at the beach. The locals make very good use of their train system in addition to all the summer visitors.

It was not a tough decision to make…. we caught the next train at 2:20 for Ravenna; arrived about 3:30 and watched the Olympics on television in the comfort of our hotel. Called my sisters who were in the path of hurricane Charlie; they are all fine and the storm came in south of them. It was a Level Four and did extensive damage. Other than spending a nervous night in the evacuation center, they are fine; having a cell phone with us so nice. We are a bit worried about our friends in Venice, Florida. We’ve tried to call several times and only get a busy signal. The word on CNN (yes we finally found the magic channel on our little TV) is not good about Florida. I’ve checked out the local Internet Café and it is closed until August 15^th for their vacation. I’ll walk over again tomorrow and see if they’ve decided to open on the 15^th or 16^th. We have found many shops closed for part or all of August here and elsewhere in Italy.

We picked up an English newspaper to get some news on Florida and the Olympic Games. There were three additional stories of interest: (1) The Pope is in Lourdes this week for the celebrations there (the Pope is big news in Italy); (2) Julia Childs died and (3) the Paris Beach rage; remember we visited the site while in Paris. Seems as though within three years this is catching on and a number of large cities all over Europe have copied the idea. Not on quite as grand a scale as Paris; but they are catching up fast!

We decided to go to the local McDonald’s for an American style fast-food dinner tonight. It’s located on the main square of town; but no “golden arches” in sight. The selection is not as big as USA and no breakfast type foods in the morning; otherwise it was good food and packaged to code! Also, you can eat at anytime instead of waiting for the traditional restaurants as those don’t open until 7 or 7:30 pm. Since we had dinner our first night in Ravenna at a great local restaurant we thought that we really should do a real McDonald’s meal at least once while we are in Europe this summer.

Sunday, August 15^th: Walked about ten minutes to the local church for 8:30 am Mass this morning. Very nice, not too grand, but large columns probably from Roman ruins somewhere back several centuries. The photo gallery on the wall showed the church after it’s restoration in 1920’s and then again after the bombing in 1944. Apparently it took a direct hit as over half of the church was in ruins. A color photo after they had repaired the damages was dated 1951.

Continuing our tour, we visited the tomb of Dante and then the church of San Francisco. Walked to the town square and had an Italian breakfast at Café Roma. After breakfast, Jim walked over to the National Museum and the church with all the Mosaics and I did a slow walk back to the hotel on my own observing local customs and people.

The cafés and benches in the squares were filled with men as the women were in church; very few men in Europe seem to attend Mass. The most popular mode of transportation inside this town seems to be bicycles. Several hotels have bicycles available for their guests to use during their stay. Most streets have bike paths, trains are marked as accepting bikes or not, they stand with them in the vestibule of the train car. There are racks all over the place. Some of them are special in that it has a locking device that the bike fits into and then the people take the key with them.

Clothes, young girls wear their hip huggers unbelievably low all over Europe. Sometimes the top is four inches below their navel that has a piercing in it. The chins, ears, navels and more have small piercing. Small tattoos are very common. They wear skirts and dresses more than shorts. The material used for women’s clothing is generally loose and shear. Shoes are extremely pointed; we see more “flip-flops” than actual sandals on men and women, both young and old. The levi’s are treated to appear aged and are generally about one hundred euros for that style. It is very apparent that they favor the thong underpants. Most of the women shave under their arms now but it is still not uncommon to see women who don’t. Hygiene standards are very different.

Young men almost always wear earrings; mostly only one but not uncommon to see both ears and/or several in one ear like the girls. The chin and eyebrow piercing is very common. Occasionally you’ll see the pants riding down on their hips but not very often. Shoes are generally flip-flops. Even waiters in the restaurants will have a sandal type slip-on style of shoe. Only tourist seem to wear shorts; very unusual to see Italian men in shorts except at the beach.

We walked over to the train station to check out the schedules for our train tomorrow. Returned to the hotel and did some repacking to start the process of getting ready for the airplane trips coming up this week. Weather wise we’ve really been fortunate on the entire trip. Last week this area had very heavy rains. We’ve had sun with light breezes that help keep one cool. We’ve also gotten very good at walking on the shady side of the street.

TRAVELING THE AMALFI COAST

Thursday, August 12^th, 2004 Sorrento & Positano

Long night; the American girls next door came home about midnight and their chatter until nearly 2 am was exhausting. Not loud just that everyone had their windows open and the sound carries so well at night. We had fireworks again for the second night at 9 pm. Then about midnight they set some more off but not as many as they had earlier. More noise from very loud firecrackers rather than the pretty burst of fire that we’re used to seeing. Some were so loud that they sounded like cannons being fired. At 9 pm we could also hear the church bells across the valley ringing for about five minutes. I don’t know about any special feast days so they must do it every night for fun! Reminds us of Disneyland in the summer back in California.

About 9:15 am we found the bus stop for the Positano bus; only waited about fifteen minutes before it arrived. Got aboard and found it already packed; we were lucky to find standing room near the front of the bus. At the next stop more people crammed in and everyone moved back as far as possible. From that point on the driver ignored everyone at bus stops, as we could not get another person on the bus. Jim said it felt like a three-hour ride but in reality it was probably about half an hour. But, if you’ve ever been on the Amalfi road you remember the hairpin turns around cliffs that are very steep. We swung from side to side as we careened up and down the mountain road. I watched a young woman in the seat to my right; (that’s on the steep side of the road) she was looking straight ahead and her knuckles were white as she gripped the handhold in front of her. We actually had a pretty good view from our standing position in the center of the bus; but no photos taken as we were all using both of our hands to hang on to the rack above our heads to keep from falling on each other and strangers!

We’d been told that the shortest route to the beach is from the second bus stop on the Amalfi side but when the bus stopped at the first stop we decided to get out and head down to the beach. We knew this trip was all down hill; we found the steps instead of the road that made hairpin curves all the way down to the beach. The steps wound in and out of residential areas and commercial areas crossing the road about every fifty or so steps. Probably took us about twenty minutes to get down to the beach. Lots of people had the same idea that we did today. In fact, on the bus Jim said to the young Italian man standing in front of him (after we realized he spoke English also) that we wondered why we were doing this…his answer was that, “it’s part of the Italian cultural experience, and we wouldn’t want to miss that, would we”.

It was about 11 am when we arrived at the beach. Found a nice space to spread out our bamboo mats and stripped to our bathing suits to enjoy the experience. Well, after about half an hour we were toasted and felt we’d had enough of this experience! Gave our mats to the Italian kids near us and decided to head for the bus as this would be our last beach trip before we leave for home. Another smart decision was to pay two euros and catch the Positano Intercity bus to the top of the hill where the bus stops were located. Once there we had about another half hour wait before we boarded the bus we thought was headed for Sorrento. Our plan was to get off at the bus stop near our hotel. Opps…we were going to Sorrento; but by a different route.

Arrived at the Sorrento bus terminal, fortunately they all end and begin at the train station/bus terminal. Purchased another ticket and boarded another bus that we knew was headed in the direction of our hotel. While we were there we also purchased our train ticket from Sorrento to Naples for tomorrow morning.

This afternoon we tried to fix Jim’s suitcase, he bent the pull out handle on the last set of stairs in Naples and although we got it down we are unable to pull it back out. He will have to pull it without the extension; so glad we are near the end of the trip. Don’t know why but when you’re a week from leaving for home no matter how long or short your trip has been; the days suddenly seem to be dragging and all thoughts are of home. Hasn’t helped that we’ve not been able to get online here and we miss the emails from home. Maybe in Ravenna tomorrow we’ll be able to sign on. Our trip starts early as we are catching the 6 am bus to the train station, then the “chugger train” to Naples. In Naples we are scheduled for the Eurostar that leaves at 9:30 am for the north. We may be going into rain per the weatherman. By the way, the weatherman on television is a general in full uniform, very distinguished looking with a white mustache and goatee. He has lots of medals and ribbons on his dress uniform.

I’m going to end this for now and set it up to sent in Ravenna; always the positive thinker! In fact, I think I’ll give it one more try here tonight in Sorrento.

THE ISLE OF CAPRI

Tuesday, August 10^th, 2004 Travel Day to Sorrento plus Capri

Leisurely morning as our train didn’t leave until 10:45 am for Naples. We took a taxicab over to the train station about 9 am; much cheaper and faster than the one we used when we arrived in Rome. He’d given us the scenic route and ran the meter up much higher than necessary. It makes a big difference when the hotel calls the cab for you.

Arrived at the train station and Jim went to check on his travel book that we’d left yesterday at the reservation desk. They were very nice and did look around; but the book was long gone. Hopefully, someone is putting it to good use for his or her time in Rome; one less thing to carry home. Found carts for our luggage, they’re free and located at several places in the station. Helped when we finally got our track number and being in second class, our car was about as far down the track as you could go. Got aboard and of course our seats were at the opposite end of the car. Everyone was trying to find places to store luggage; get their seats and settle in for the trip. We only had about fifteen minutes from the time the train pulled in until we left the station. People were getting off as we were getting on. Spotted space at the end of the car next to a single seat and I pointed to our suitcases and using hand signs and a grandmotherly look pleaded for his tolerances in allowing us to block him into his seat with our cases. He frowned and shrugged his shoulder as if to say, “I don’t like it but okay.” So I tucked them in and put the cable lock on to secure them together for the trip. This was an ES train, Italy’s Eurostar fast train; the trip from Rome to Naples was non-stop and only two hours. Instead of the usual clickty-clack of the regular train; we swooshed along very smoothly. The people surrounding us were all Italians. I thought the conversations were very easy to ignore and read my book most of the way. Jim had trouble concentrating because of all the talking around us, so he was in and out of his book and catnapping. It’s interesting that when you don’t know the language there’s very little reason to listen to conversations and for me at least it increases my powers of concentration to do other things.

The day is sunny and we were along the coast most of the day heading south. Arrived in Naples and then the fun began. We had to find the Orari Circumvesuviana; the little train that could between Naples and Sorrento by way of Pompeii and about twenty other towns between Naples and Sorrento. We had to do the bit with dragging the suitcases down the stairs into the bowels of the earth to get to the local train. Then the man said that our Eurorail Pass was not enough; “private…must buy ticket”; so we paid 3.50 euros each to get on this little chugger! It took a little over an hour to get to Sorrento; we stood for the first half and then finally got seats. We chained the two large cases in the vestibule and kept an eye on them from our seats. The perspiration was dripping off of us…the only air conditioning was the wind blowing in from the open windows. Oh, forgot to mention; I now have two mosquito bites on my arm to go with the two on my leg. I think we’ll put the Fabric Softener sheets out tonight and plug in the electric repellant.

Arrived in Sorrento, found the wheelchair elevator to go up to the street level and put everything into a cab. Had no idea where our hotel was located, I accidentally mailed the information sheets for the last third of our trip home when we boxed things up in France. All we have it my book that has just about everything we need except for maps to the hotels. So, we handed the driver a paper with the hotel name, Hotel Fiorita, the address and asked how much to take us there. He said twenty-five euros; Jim blanched; but it’s an even day and I said, “yes”. Thank goodness…it was up and up and up a hill. We’re at least three miles from the train station “as the crow flies”; the view is wonderful.

We’re sitting on our balcony overlooking the swimming pool. We can see the city of Sorrento, the city of Naples, Mount Vesuvius Volcano and the Bay of Naples plus surrounding mountains. We’re on the road to the Amalfi Coast. The bus stop is only a few meters down the road. So tomorrow we will take the bus, for only one euro each, into Sorrento to catch the boat to the Isle of Capri. Then on Thursday, we will catch the bus going the other way and be in Positano Beach before we know it!

This afternoon after catching our breath and changing from our travel clothes we ventured into the nearby town. The manager gave us very explicit directions for the footpath. First we had to walk up the hill about 300 meters on the highway (very narrow shoulder) to a covered bus stop. Then we turned down hill on another smaller side road. When we came to a “Y” we were directed to go right and start uphill. This was not a road; more of a very rough sidewalk. The only reason we kept going was that there were streetlights every once in a while. It was mostly high walls, weeds, trash, irregular stones and a house here and there. Finally decided we couldn’t be on the right path so we turned around. We’d gone about a block when an English couple came walking up towards us. They explained that yes, we had been going in the right direction. Turned around and sure enough we’d only gone about half way to the village. Once there we found a nice sized little town with stores, churches and everything. The mountain is laced with paths for people to walk between the villages; much safer than walking along the twisting two lane highway with people speeding by in their cars and the ever present tour buses.

Found the grocery store, purchased our water, checked out the local church and headed back towards the footpath. This time we encountered scooters and an Apia (sp) or the Italian word for “bee” so named because they are very busy buzzing around town I suspect; the bee is a three wheeled enclosed truck that is used for these small path/roads that Italy loves. We first saw them in villages on Lake Como years ago. Took turns carrying the bags and finally arrived back at the hotel where we decided to get pizza for dinner by way of room service. We enjoyed our dinner on our private balcony. Jim is rapidly getting bored with the television. It’s a small unit hung from the ceiling with just a few Italian channels plus it has rabbit ears! Will miss the air conditioning tonight…but we’ll go Italian and leave the windows open. Lights are coming on and I’m ready to shut this down. Tried to sign on to the Internet without any luck. Manager says it should work…will try one more time this evening. The cell phone does work well.

Wednesday, August 11^th: Other than the Cicada’s in the trees….we’ve had them all over Europe this summer; it was a quiet evening. Some of the tourist stalls sell ceramic Cicada’s that have a battery operated sound system that sounds just like the real ones; the perfect souvenir for the tourist who has everything and wants something different.

After breakfast we walked to the bus stop for the bus to Sorrento. Missed the closest sign and walked twice as far as we really needed to; but chalked it up to good exercise. About twenty minutes to Sorrento…all down hill so it goes faster that direction as it’s only a two-lane road with no passing lanes. The bus took us all the way to the train station. Jim wants to use the bus on Friday morning to go to the train station instead of a taxicab; it’s an “odd day” so we probably will. We will have to catch the 6 am bus.

By asking directions several times we managed to walk all the way from the station to the port area. Found the ticket seller for the hydrofoil boat to Capri; and boarded the boat within minutes. Sat outside on the top for the ride over; we managed to find a shady spot with a good view of the harbor.

In Capri we went straight for the Blue Grotto boat that circles the entire island before stopping at the Blue Grotto. The ride around the island was well worth the price of the trip. We thought we were going to the Grotto and back; so everything else was a plus for the money. Even went through the rock with the hole in the center.

At the blue grotto we were all off loaded into small wooden rowboats that looked at least one hundred years old. We teamed with a young American couple and the four of us had a rowboat to ourselves instead of the usual six. Our oarsman took us over to the money boat where we paid our fees and then we got into line to go through the hole. All of our boats were white; there was a gray haired man in a blue rowboat that directed the traffic in and out. I told Jim that he was the “Big Kahuna”. We all had to lie down in the boat while going under, very exciting. Inside all the oarsmen were singing (great echo effect). The water was extremely blue and it was all very beautiful. We lay back down in the boat to get back under the opening. By the way, there are no seats in these rowboats; you sit directly on the bottom of the boat!

Back to the harbor in Capri; purchased a postcard and we each got a double dip of Lemon Gelato before heading back to the hydrofoil boat and Sorrento. We enjoyed the air-conditioned interior of the ship on the way back to Sorrento. Walked all the way back to the train station (it’s a hike and a half all up hill on steps); recommend taking the bus to the main square if you ever do this. It would be well worth a euro each. We had to wait about fifteen minutes for our bus back to the hotel but we were back in our rooms by 3 pm. A good trip that was worth the time and expense; now it’s rest time for the travelers; they call it siesta time. We’re taking the rest of the day off to relax and recuperate for tomorrow.

EXPLORING ROME

August 8^th, 2004 Rome, Italy

During the night I got to thinking about the train trip coming up on the thirteenth and decided that the connections were just too close time wise. So today we are going to go back to the train station and change the reservations so that we come back through Rome from Sorrento and from here go on to Ravenna. More trains are available and we’ll be more comfortable with the schedule (I hope) and also we will be familiar with the stations. Can’t go until late this afternoon as I have jammed the lock on the room safe and I have to wait for the manager to arrive; he is the only one with a key to open a jammed lock. All of our passports and tickets are in the safe.

We left the hotel about 10 am for our walk to church. Arrived timely but found out at 11 am that the English Mass had been discontinued for August. But, we had an Italian Mass at the church next door, St. Ignazio, at 11:30. Jim used the time to go over to the see the Gesu Church; the headquarters of the Jesuits in Rome. St. Ignazio, founder of the Jesuit Order is buried in this church and he worked and lived next door during his lifetime. After Mass we walked back to the hotel and found that at 1 pm it was already hot so we tried to walk in the shade whenever possible. There is a reason the Italians head for the beaches in August!

I’m resting and doing my computer work and Jim is off to the Villa Borghese again to see their Etruscan Museum. He’s promised we can stop at the Cappuccin Crypt sometime before we leave Rome on Tuesday. It’s decorated with the bones of Monks; sounds depressing but interesting.

Jim returned about 4:30 pm and said he’d really enjoyed the Etruscan Museum. Glad he went without me, as that is really not my cup of tea. I received several emails this afternoon with information on some good restaurants so we went out to walk the area looking for them. Didn’t find any so we decided to enjoy a Roma Pizza and beer at an outdoor restaurant located at the foot of the stairs on the crook of the Via Veneto. So good and since we split one pizza we were comfortable but not stuffed. From there we walked across the street to the Cappuccin Crypt and found that it has been closed for restoration since December 2003. So…no monk’s bones on this trip. Continued to walk towards the Plaza Republican and found St. Susanna Church just before we arrived. We’ve been told that they have Mass in English at that church also, but it was closed for the evening. Walked back towards the hotel and finally found one of the restaurants that was recommended in our afternoon emails, Marcello’s; it was also closed. We will check tomorrow to see if it’s closed only for Sunday or for all of August; and also look for the other two tomorrow. We’re considering taking the “all day” double decked tour bus tomorrow. My feet are getting very sore from walking on the cobblestone streets. The Manager never arrived today so we are still unable to get new train reservations.

August 9^th: Manager was to arrive by 9 am so after breakfast we checked at the front desk; now he is due to arrive by 2 pm. Seems as though he is on holiday outside of Rome and is driving in to the city just to open the safe for me.

Left to go to the #110 Open Bus Tour; the stop is just around the corner but it was running late and opposed to only fifteen minutes we waited about forty-five minutes. Then we went to the next stop at the Termni Train Station. Had to get off that bus and get in line to wait about fifteen minutes in the sun for the next bus to leave. The train station is the beginning and end of the line. We decided to go the entire route as we had upstairs seats and could see everything really well. The entire tour is about forty-five minutes; it goes past the major sites and we had English in our earplugs giving an explanation of each site as we passed. Since we purchased the On/Off Pass for thirteen euros we will take it again this afternoon to the train station (after the hotel manager arrives to open the safe) to take care of our tickets and then get back on to go to the Colosseum. From there we will walk to St. Giovanni In Laterano; the Pope’s main place as the Bishop of Rome. There we will also take a look at the 28 holy marble steps; but only through a window. The tour book states that the relics are now in the Vatican and the chapel is locked but there is a special place for tourist to look in the windows? The stairs were the steps leading up to Pilate’s residence and were climbed by Jesus on the day he was sentenced to death. In AD 326 the steps were brought to Rome by the mother of Constantine and put in a special chapel built for them. (not true…see below…)

By noon we were beginning to toast and decided to take a siesta at the hotel. This afternoon I think we’ll be happy to sit downstairs in the cooler interior of the bus for our adventure. Also; on Jim’s morning walk after breakfast he walked over to the Restaurant Marcello and found the doors open; alas they are using August to paint the interior as it is closed for the month. Stock Market is not doing well we hear on CNN. But the ticket sales are going well in Athens.

Back in our little room for the night; busy packing, charging batteries and getting ready for our move tomorrow to Sorrento. The hotel manager arrived right at 2 pm and managed to get the safe open for us. I had caught the cord of my neckpak in the door as it closed. Got back on the 110 Tour Bus and went as far as the train station. We had to wait about forty-five minutes for our turn with the reservations clerk who not only spoke English but was very good to work with. He suggested we go from Naples to Bologna on a ESI train; no changes and its much faster. From there we will take a local train south to the coast and our hotel there in Ravenna. And best of all we will arrive much earlier. He exchanged our previous reservations so there were no additional costs involved; just time.

Took the 110 Tour Bus again and headed for another round of the same sights as we had this morning. Realized we’d left the Rick Steves’ Rome Book in the train station about half an hour later. We have decided that if we’re meant to carry it home it will still be there tomorrow morning.

We got off at the Colosseum stop and walked to San Giovanni in Laterano Church; about three-quarters of a mile each way. It’s a very impressive inside and out; the Pope uses this church for audiences and announcements; it’s his parish church. It was the Papal Palace before St. Peter’s. Very classic, goes back to Constantine in fourth century. Next door we found the Holy Steps from the residence of Pontius Pilate. They are actually still there, covered with Wooden steps with cutouts so that you can see the actual marble steps and the drops of blood from Christ when he crawled up these same 28 steps on the day he was sentenced. We decided to join the group and actually climbed up the steps. You must do so on your knees; no one is allowed to walk up these steps. Fortunately I had a scarf in my purse as the first thing the priest at the door told me was to cover my shoulders (I had on a sleeveless top). We’d been smart enough to wear long pants (no shorts were allowed in the building). It was the chapel at the top of the stairs that has been closed and must be viewed through a window.

Wow! That was tough. Many of the people going up were going very slowly and saying prayers on each step. There are separate stairways on each side that go up to the chapel for those who wanted to just walk up. At the top you could only peer through a grill at the chapel and the relics inside of the original chapel; there is a newer chapel that you may enter off to the side. A very moving experience; we had no idea that we’d actually be able to go up the steps.

Back to the 110 Tour Bus and completed the tour of the sights returning to our hotel area about 7 pm. Decided to have pizza and “water with gas” at another outside eating area on Via Veneto. Stopped to look at the little tractor that has a crane on it before returning to the hotel. Jim is fascinated with this machine. It’s relatively small with rubber tracks on the wheels and then there were four arms that helped to balance the machine; literally lifting the tractor off of the base when it was in use. It had the ability to go up about forty feet; you could call it a “cherry picker”. The operator was there this morning and spent some time with Jim explaining how it worked. It was radio controlled by him from the ground. The top had a platform that held two men who were working on the edge of a building. He approached Jim while he was taking photos and asked him if he liked his machine. I didn’t think we’d ever continue on our way!

Ciao…

AN AUGUST DAY IN ROME!

August 7^th, 2004 Walking for the day in Rome Italy

We enjoyed the best breakfast spread for many weeks; a wonderful buffet chocked full of everything you could want; eggs, meats, cheeses, fruits, and of course a broad selection of breads. Everything was self-serve and the only thing we had to request was tea for Jim. Had a very good sleep; beds are three-quarter twins and the window has a pull down metal shade (very common in Europe) so it was VERY DARK AND QUIET for as late as we wanted to sleep. The only sounds we hear are those that we make from within the room.

After breakfast we talked with the manager and he called the Galleria Borghese and made reservations (required for entry) for us at 3 pm to tour the recently reopened Museum. A former cardinal’s mansion set in the exquisite pine trees of Villa Borghese Park, it has been closed for approximately thirteen years for restoration. It opened just last year and the visits are very controlled; you must have an appointment and you are only allowed to stay for two hours. Rick Steves calls it “one of Europe’s most sumptuous art experiences….you’ll enjoy a collection of world-class Baroque sculpture, including Bernini’s David and his excited statue of Apollo chasing Daphne, as well as paintings by Caravaggio, Raphale, Titian, and Rubens.” Jim, our resident art expert on this trip, says it’s the best he’s seen. One of the extraordinary things is that this “home” was built to exhibit the art that had already been amassed by the Cardinal and thus blends art and décor throughout the building. The environment was sculpted for the art.

Heading out to the Via Veneto about 10 am, we walked to the Barberni Metro Stop; purchased tickets and squeezed into the next car for our standing room only ride to the Vatican. Off at Ottaviano Station, we had about a ten-block walk south to the Vatican past the line of people waiting to enter the Vatican Museum. It stretched from the entry all around the Vatican walls stopping just before the Colonnades surrounding St. Peter’s Square. That convinced us not to think about seeing the Museum again on this trip.

Then, when we arrived at the Colonnades, the line to enter St. Peter’s stretched from the church doors down and through the Colonnades all the way to the front of the Square. This was much longer than the lines we stood in to enter the church through the “Holy Door” in 2000. And, August is the month that everyone leaves Rome and heads for the beaches for vacations. Many of the restaurants and tourist services are closed; but apparently the hordes of tourists just keep coming anyway….so who are we to talk!

Having been here many times before it was not difficult to decide to enjoy the front of St. Peter’s without the ever-present stage for the weekly blessings and spend our time elsewhere in Rome. An email from our daughter Mary (who works for the Archdiocese in San Francisco) confirmed that the Pope is traveling right now from Assisi to France and there will be no audiences in Rome or his summer residence while we’re here.

From the Vatican we started our walking tour of about two miles back to the hotel; we walked along the route to Castel San Angelo, the fort built to protect the Pope during of wars, and arrived at the Tiber River. We had not noticed before that they have a very similar broad walkway along both sides of the Tiber River; very similar to the one in Paris along the Seine River. But, unlike Paris, we didn’t see any special beach creations for those who were unable to get out of town in August.

Our first destination was the fountains in Piazza Navona where they are still working on the restoration process. Now they are also working on the church; when we first visited this Piazza back in the 1990’s they were only doing the fountains. Restoration work on these archeological treasures is never-ending. Our second stop was at the Pantheon, one of the most complete Roman Temples that has survived from AD 118 to the present because the Christians converted it from a Temple to a church. This is the one with the circular opening at the very top of the dome that is the only source of light in the building. The floor has a series of drains so that when it rains; it drains! From the Pantheon it is only a short walk over to the Trevi Fountain, a must see and do for every Tourist in Rome. Saw a sign in a nearby bar that said: “skip the Trevi and have a bevi”.

We took turns tossing a coin in the fountain to ensure our return to Rome, seems to have been working well in the past as we keep coming back! In 1999 we witness the Monday cleaning crew for the fountain. They drain the water and scoop up all the coins from the previous week. We were told that the money is given to charitable organizations. Well, today someone was creating her own charity; she had a long pole with what appeared to be a magnet on the end and was picking up coins one at a time from the water and dropping them into her pocket. Several people tapped her on the shoulder and wiggled their finger at her but she continued to work at her job, one coin at a time, while the majority of people just ignored her.

Just prior to arriving at the Trevi we passed the Jesuit Cathedral and it advertised an English Mass at 11 am on Sunday; we decided to come back on Sunday for Mass. We also took time in the Trevi area to locate a restaurant that had been recommended to us as a great place to eat. Found the building but it was already closed down for the month of August. Met the owner who was supervising a cleaning crew and he suggested that we try his other restaurant around the corner. Tonight was their last night and then it would also be closed for the rest of the month. The owner is leaving for a vacation in Mexico. He made reservations for us at 7:30 this evening.

After the Trevi we walked on to the Spanish Steps at Piazza di Spagna. Crowded as always, most of the people were sitting on the right side in the shade all the way up to the top of the steps. There was a bride and groom standing for photos in front of the fountain at the base of the steps. After a few photos we started up the steps. There are well over one hundred steps to the top, all in the sun as the shade was filled with people. By now it was about 1 pm and hot. By the time we reached the top we were delighted to pay seven euro for two sodas!

From the top of the Spanish Steps it was an easy walk to the Via Veneto and then over to Via Emilia and our hotel. We were dripping as we arrived; being in Rome we had worn long pants and shirts with sleeves as we thought that we might be entering several different churches. Very few people wear shorts on the streets in the cities; but sleeveless tops are ok except for in the churches; they prefer to have the shoulder’s covered and they will sometimes stop people who have shorts on from entering the church. Dresses can be as short as they want however!

We showered, changed into cooler shirts and headed for our appointment at the Borghese Museum after a short siesta. The Villa Borghese is only several blocks from our hotel. Once in the park we had a long stroll under the pine trees by way of a broad street that is now reserved for pedestrians. You can see the Museum, a large white edifice, for the last half of the journey across the park. Beautifully restored to its original splendor, it is reminiscent of southern colonial homes in the United States. We both enjoyed the tour very much; they’ve done an excellent job of selecting statues and paintings for the narratives on the headphones that we wisely paid to have during our tour. You wander through at your own pace but the headset keeps one on course; we’ve been told that if you linger too long they will remind you of the time limits of your visit.

Strolled back to the main street and took the escalators down under the streets to the local grocery store for some drinks and water. It is so odd to find this open on Saturday afternoon. In years past, everything closed about noon on Saturday until Monday morning…but it’s been four years since we’ve stayed over in Rome and things are changing! Not everything is now open, but many more are open than in the past.

We are still looking for an open Tabac Shop to purchase some time for the cell phone. We’ve got it working finally, but the Italian voice on the phone says we need to put more time on it to get it to work for international calls. Didn’t find any open on Saturday afternoon. Rested for a while at the hotel and then headed by foot back towards the Trevi Fountain area and our restaurant about 6:30 pm. Arrived early and while walking around found a mini-department store that was open and had an electronics department. She had four of the TIM cards that I needed that had four minutes on each card. I purchased all four and she loaded the first one in for me before we had to leave for our dinner reservations.

Dinner was a good experience. Shared a spinach pasta roll filled with goat cheese and then Jim has spaghetti with fish sauce (mostly clams still in the shell) and I had an Italian specialty dish of lamb chops with braised vegetables. We asked her for a Kir before dinner and she didn’t know what that was so we settled for our “water with gas”. We both talked about gelato (Italian ice cream) for dessert on the walk home but decided to forgo the sweets and stick to our plans to shed a few pounds before arriving home. Did I mention that this hotel had bathroom scales in the room….it is a metric system but by multiplying by 2.2 we were able to weigh ourselves. Rude awakening after two months of no scales; not too bad, but we’ve gained more than we wanted on the trip.

Back at the hotel the night manager helped me load the additional minutes into the cell phone. Even though I don’t need it tonight it gives me a good feeling knowing that I do finally have it working.

TRAVELING BY TRAIN TO ROME

August 6^th, 2004 Rome, Italy

Awake early we were dressed before the 7 am bells rang. Watched TV until 7:45 and then walked over for breakfast. Sky is clear. A quick breakfast and then we pulled our luggage down the hill (thank you God for small blessings) to the train station in Manarola. Had to do a down and then up the stairs to get to the train platform. By 9 am we were on our way to La Spezia; arrived timely and pulled our luggage down the steps to go from the tracks to the station. As we started across to the stairs leading up, Jim saw a glass elevator! It had a wheelchair sign on it; Jim said, “we qualify, I’m using it!” He started limping! Bottom line….we used it to go up to the station level. Found the ticket counters and got the reservations for the final two train days that we were not able to get in France. Took quite awhile and she was doing a lot of talking in Italian. Finally, I realized that she couldn’t get us seats together. I said that was ok. I had pre-printed what I wanted on a sheet of paper that I gave to her at the beginning; that helped immensely as my Italian is pretty much non-existent.

Once we had the reservations, we then had to figure out the track number the train to Rome would leave from in two hours. You know me….I got him there early because I didn’t know what we’d face getting the reservations; and the next train from Manarola would have been at 11 am. That would have been cutting it a bit close for the 12:06 train to Rome especially since the trains along the Cinque Terre are known to be late. Jim likes to arrive just in time so he was not a happy camper. When we found our track number we had to cross back over to the center island and that meant another trip down and back up through the pedestrian tunnel. Jim went right to the wheelchair elevator and down we went; walked over to the other side and used another one for the trip back up! People just ignored us so I guess the gray hair qualified; oh yeah…Jim was continuing his “limp”! After we settled down I noticed that there was an asphalt paved crossing at one end of the platform between the three islands. I’m sure it was designed and designated for train personal use only; but people were using it also. I darted across once to use the restrooms while we waited.

Restrooms in train stations are the same all over Europe. The toilets are flat on the floor. This one had a community roll of toilet paper; you took what you needed on the way into your stall. Jim reminds me daily that we shouldn’t travel if we can’t adjust to things that are different.

We had a place to sit down and Jim even walked over to the market near the train station and purchased a soda and a bag of toasted bread for our trip. By 12:15 we were sure that the train was running late. It finally arrived about forty-five minutes late. Got aboard and discovered this train was compartments. Struggled to get to our seats and found American girls in them. They jumped up immediately and moved to the hallway that is about twenty-four inches wide. There are “jump seats” all along the corridor for people who don’t have reservations. We told the girls if they’d watch our big luggage in the corridor we would leave their backpacks up in the rack over our seats. Nice kids.

Enjoyed listening to them talk about their travel experiences with the young American couple also sitting in the corridor with them. They were all four getting off in Pisa for a quick look around before heading into Florence for the night. Our large suitcases really blocked the aisle but no one said anything so we left them there even after the girls removed their backpacks in Pisa. Four hours passed quickly as we read our books and nibbled on some of the extra cheeses that we’d saved from breakfast. At each station the passengers changed and people were moving from seat to seat when someone with a reservation arrived and requested their seat. I would say that at least half of the people on the train didn’t have seat reservations. As we clicky-clicked down the track we saw the Carrara Marble Mountains, a few villages and town as well as vast expanses of the Ligurian Sea and then the Tyrrhenian Sea as we neared Ostia before heading through the tunnels and in to the Rome Termini Station.

Wow…we were able to walk directly from the train platform into the station and out to the taxicabs without going up or down any stairs! The sun was still shining and the line for the cabs was not too long. Loaded the cab and as usual I think he took us the long way to the hotel; but at this point we didn’t really care. By 5:30 pm we were snug in our beautiful room at the La Residenza Hotel just off Via Veneto and south of Villa Borghese.

We’re going to enjoy the next four nights while we become reacquainted with Rome. We have several recommendations for restaurants and places to go from friends that we’re looking forward to enjoying; as well as our own favorite haunts from previous trips. Within half an hour after our arrival the sky opened and we had a full-blown storm with lots of thunder and heavy rain. I think we’ll stay in for the evening and enjoy the nice bowl of fruit that the hotel has provided for us.

Arrivederci from Rome

CINQUE TERRA....ITALIAN FISHING VILLAGES

August 3^rd, 2004 Cinque Terra

Out the door before 9 am, we walked to the bus stop in Nice, about a block from the hotel, pulling our luggage and wearing backpacks. The bus dropped us off right in front of the train station, just a little over a mile away. We located the track number for our train. We already had our tickets and reservations. We had to go down and back up a set of stairs to get to the track; Jim wanted me to wait for him to come back and help me with my luggage. But I started down on my own letting the suitcase bump down each step and sure enough a strong, young man took over before I was half way. Then he walked over with me and helped me up the other set of stairs. When we changed trains in Genoa and also when we arrived in Cinque Terre we had sets of stairs and sure enough each time when I started on my own someone helped me almost immediately. Must be the gray hair!

Immediately discovered one of the differences between first and second class trains…on first class they have a luggage rack for your large pieces…second class you’re on your own. As we were one of the first ones on the train, we were lucky enough to be seated near the end of the car and locked our two big suitcases together near the door. A little bit in the way, but no one complained and they stayed there for the longest part of our trip. Seventy five percent of the people on the train were under the age of thirty. They all had backpacks; sleeping bags and were very well behaved. A group of five Italian boys, all under the age of eighteen, had the seats next to us and across the aisle. Their pants were dropped as low as possible and we held our breath; but they were very well behaved for the entire trip. They ate and ate and ate…bottomless pits at that age. As the trip progressed they played cards and listened to their CD players.

The train left Nice at 10 am. We crossed the border into Italy after about an hour and the Italian police were very much in evidence; they even walked a dog through the cars sniffing for explosives per Jim. We each had to identify our bags for them. The train runs like a ribbon along the coast at the base of mountains. Lots of tunnels and in between there were homes with hues of red and yellow dotting the hillsides. One of the negative sides of traveling by train is the backyard vistas that you see beside the train. One needs to train the eye to look beyond that and to the vistas in the distance for a wonderful experience and an easy way to enjoy Europe.

We arrived in Genoa right on time at 1:00 pm; pulled our luggage over to the track for the train to La Spezia that was scheduled to leave at 1:36 pm. Suddenly, we realized that we were standing with lots of Americans. They were discussing the walking trails between the five towns of Cinque Terre and I could tell they needed some help…some thought that you could only take a boat to each town. We had two college girls from Michigan; a mother and daughter from New York, an Australian couple, a couple from L.A., a college girl from UC Davis and a college girl from Canada. We were the only ones that had been to Cinque Terre before and also had a book and details of the train trip. Some thought that they had to go all the way to La Spezia and then go back to the towns on a different train. I explained to them about the slow milk run that we were waiting for would stop at each town. We had lots of time to chat; the train was forty-five minutes late! Someone had a newspaper and we discussed the threat to Italy and also New York. We all agreed that one needs to be aware but no one talked about cutting their trip short because of the threats. By 2:30 pm we were all loaded aboard and headed south. It was another two-hour trip so we didn’t arrive at Manarola until about 4:30 in the afternoon.

Then we had a half-mile walk to the hotel…not far but all up a very steep hill. We were both panting hard and stopping every few feet but we did make it to the hotel under our own power! The weather was very hot and also humid; sweat from pouring off of both of us. Once we arrived we took showers and rested. Walked down to town…it’s either up or down any way you go in this town; level doesn’t exist…about seven for a delicious dinner of fresh swordfish steaks and grilled vegetables. Did I mention that these are fishing villages; the town is loaded with dory fishing boats all along the street. This particular town doesn’t have a beach so the boats are put in and taken out of the water with a huge winch. It definitely has lots of character and we will enjoy our three nights by mostly doing nothing; this is our third time here so we’ve done the hiking and touristy things already.

We’ve always stayed at Da Baranin when we come to Manarola; it’s a small B&B at the top end of the village. Very clean and friendly; they helped me replace my digital camera when it broke in 2002 by setting us up with a photo shop in La Spezia. We went with the “view” room this time. Much larger room with a queen sized bed, red tile floors and a balcony. The view is of the entire village and the Ligurian Sea. No air conditioning but we are going to leave the windows open all night and put our Downey Softener Sheets out around our bed just incase there are mosquitoes. (An Internet tip that works well we hope.) We also dug out the Mosquito tabs that plug into an outlet; we’d purchased them in 2002 when the Mosquitoes were really bad in the north of France. It works like the air freshener things that you plug in. We’re expecting some rain tomorrow according to the weather report on television….we do have CNN tonight. We’ve really been fortunate on the weather issues; even when it’s been hot and humid there is usually a breeze. And, best of all we seem to have missed most of the rainstorms this summer.

August 4^th: Our first Italian breakfast was on the patio overlooking our village in Manarola. We were hearing some thunder but never had any raindrops. Met a very nice young couple from Houston, Texas at the next table; any problems that we “thought” we had vanished when we heard their tale of woe. They missed their flight to Rome on Air Italia and ended up flying to Milan and then taking a train to their first scheduled reservation in Pisa. First, their luggage did not arrive with them. No problem, they figured it had gone to Rome and they requested that it be sent on to their hotel in Pisa. Then they got on a second-class train without reservations and had to stand for the two-hour trip, as it was jammed with young kids with backpacks. Try that on top of jet lag! Only one piece of luggage was delivered to Pisa. That was four days ago; they are still trying to find the missing piece. They’ve wasted hours on the telephone with Air Italia and also time trying to shop economically for some clothes for the wife as all her clothes were in the still missing suitcase. The airline has promised to reimburse them for expenses but has not told them how much. The saving grace in this story is that had the husband’s clothes been missing; he’d had more problems than she has right now if he had to wear her clothes! And unlike us, they only have two weeks to enjoy their first trip to Italy.

Spent the early afternoon reading and working on the computer. About 1 pm we put on our swimsuits and headed towards the beach by way of the vineyard paths high on the hill across from our hotel. Provided some great photo opportunities and was somewhat level most of the way. But, what goes up must come down and we found a series of very steep, uneven stone never-ending steps down to the main path. We survived and found the launch ramps for boats on the bay side of the village. It was very crowded with people but we found space to roll out our bamboo mats and gather about an hour and a half of sunrays on the concrete ramps; just enough to add to our tan but not burn our skin. I even used my rubber shoes that I brought with me from home and carefully worked my way down the ramp for a nice swim in the water; didn’t stay in long but did go back in for a second time during our stay on the concrete beach. There is no actual beach, neither sand nor rock, in this village; only ramps and boulders. Even so nearly everyone is in a bathing suit most of the day.

Ended our day by going back down into the village for a light dinner at one of the restaurants, Jim had scampi and linguini; and I enjoyed roasted chicken. Back up the hill for a nightcap of Pastis on the balcony of our room as we watched the lights come on in the village below. The Nativity Scene on the hillside across from us in the vineyards just lit up so it’s about time to go inside for the evening. Did I mention the church bells? The bells have a pleasant tone and are practically next door to us; fortunately, they stop after 9:30 pm and don’t ring again until 7 am. At 7 am they ring seven times; pause, and then they give the wake-up you sleepy heads ring and ring and ring and ring and ring….

August 5^th: Rained during the night. It was interesting after we went to bed about 10:30 pm we could hear the movie down in the village until nearly 11 pm. There is a restaurant across from the entrance to the train tunnel that has a large screen above the tunnel entry. During the summer they show old movies every night for free. Usually American made movies that have been dubbed into Italian. The echo caused by the steep incline seems to increase in volume as it nears our hotel at the top. They finally finished just before I went to sleep; Jim uses earplugs and had no problem. During the night I woke to the much-needed rain. We also had rain again this morning followed by a rainbow. Breakfast was outside but under the foldout awnings as it was still dripping slightly.

Spent the morning reading, working on my computer; A “do nothing” day for us; we both have books that we want to finish and tomorrow is a busy day with the train trip to Rome. About 2 pm we put on swimsuits and headed down the hill to our boat ramp concrete “beach” for some time in the sun; stayed for an hour before walking back up the hill to our home. We picked up cash at the ATM machine on the way home, as this is definitely an “all cash” town including the hotel. None of the restaurants will accept credit cards. Probably some of the shops might if you spent enough money on their merchandise. We are filled to the brim luggage-wise so that is not a concern of ours at this point in the trip.

About 5 pm the sky became almost black and the thunder with lightening filled the air; wind whipped up through the canyons and we could see whitecaps on the water below. Lost power at one point for a few minutes and then the rain arrived. Really heavy rain for a short time and then it has continued to drizzle for the rest of the evening. We used our umbrellas about 7 pm and walked down to the village center for dinner. Jim ordered fish soup; he was thrilled, it was chocked full of all types of fish; many still in their shells. It took him at least half an hour to work his way to the bottom of the bowl where he found the “soup” ready to be soaked up with bread. A quick walk back up the hill with umbrellas and we were tucked in for the evening!

RESTING ON THE FRENCH RIVIERA

Sunday, August 1^st, 2004 Nice…the French Riviera

Slept in and then walked to the train station in Nice to validate our Italian Train Pass and check on making the rest of our reservations in Italy. It was extremely easy as everyone spoke English with ease. They validated our pass and informed us that the particular reservations we still needed could only be obtained after we were in Italy. Now we understand what they were trying to tell us at the first train station last week.

From the train station Jim walked to the Marc Chagall Museum. Museums in France are free on the first Sunday of each month; he couldn’t resist taking advantage of this plus he really wanted to visit this particular museum as many of Marc Chagall’s works are based on the Old Testament. The Bowers Museum in Santa Ana, where Jim is a docent, will be opening a new exhibit this fall on “The Treasurers of Sheba”. The only written references of Sheba are found in the Old Testament. Today in the exhibit at the Chagall Museum; Jim found a picture of David and Sheba and also a large ceramic plate with their two faces entwined into one.

I walked back to the hotel, changed clothes and headed for the beach with my CD player. A very hot day and the beach was filled. Enjoyed the sun and was nearly ready to leave when a deep French sounding voice said in French: “madame” …it was Jim. He’d finished at the Museum and came to join me on the beach. Stayed another half an hour and then decided we were toasted enough as it was 1:00 pm.

We decided to go to the 2 pm show of “I’ Robot”. Since it is a very new movie we “assumed” it was a “V.O.” and would be in English. Opps…the ticket man asked if we knew it was in French? Oh well. He explained where the theatre that runs the English language movies in town was located. About two miles away but we had shade most of the way so it was a nice walk. The only new movie they had when we arrived was Spiderman II; since we’d already seen that in Paris we continued walking. By now we were back on the Promenade along the Beach. Decided to try the French McDonald’s (Quick) and had their chicken sandwich. Very good lunch especially since we were able to eat at a table outside enabling us to both enjoy the cool breezes and the views of the people walking back and forth to the beach.

Arrived back at our hotel and enjoyed the balance of the afternoon in the quiet and cool room that we now call home. I also spent some time on the managers’ computer reading emails. Not able to hook up my computer here in this hotel. Her computer had a French keyboard (letters are the same but located in different locations); so I used the hunt and peck method of typing. Once into the Internet, all of the instructions and buttons were in French. The only English was in the actual emails that I opened to read; but, still worth the effort as it’s always good to receive news from home.

Monday, August 2^nd:

A quiet morning of walking around town. Spent time shopping at the large Gallerie Lafayette Department Store across the street (it was closed as were most other stores on Sunday). Found some snacks for the train trip tomorrow. Then we went to the individual shops including several bookstores; one had an Internet so I took another stab at the French keyboard and did better than yesterday. I found the comma and some other punctuation marks that I couldn’t find yesterday. The number keys require the use of the shift key to work; only two euro for twenty minutes.

Weather is humid and slightly overcast but still in the high nineties. We decided to wait until after 2 pm to go to the beach. I spent some time working on the photos in my computer. Even though I’ve eliminated a lot of multiple shots, as well as fuzzy ones, I’ve still got several thousand photos. But, from those I have a “Best of Spain” and a “Best of France” that I’ve selected for printing and photo albums when I return home. There are about two hundred fifty photos in each of those albums. Today I put titles on each of those and eliminated some more in the process. These “Best” albums are copies so if I change my mind the original is still in the main album; just harder to locate. I did set the camera up to print the date on each photo and that helps immensely when trying to remember the details on each photo.

Jim went window-shopping after he tired of the television repeats and brought back an egg and cheese crepe that we shared for a late lunch before heading for the beach about 3 pm. Thought we’d have an easier time finding space but the beach was still packed with people. We were lucky and found a spot very near the water for our bamboo mats. Stayed for a little over an hour watching the boats pulling the parachutes, cruise ships going in and out of the harbor, sailboats in the horizon and the bathing beauties of all shapes and sizes as they paraded past our mats on their way to and from the water. Occasionally we’d get an eye full if we were on our backs and opened our eyes at the wrong time! We have to pack tonight and get ready for our first train journey tomorrow.

We’ve decided to take the city bus to the train station. The train doesn’t leave until 10 am so we should be able to have breakfast and make our way there in plenty of time. We’re doing this train thing on second class cars so will probably be with lots of young people. The area is full of American and British youths traveling for the summer.

About 7 pm we started walking and made it all the way to the port, about two miles before heading into the old part of the city for dinner. Found a great little restaurant called Le Romarin and enjoyed a wonderful dinner while keeping a watchful eye on the sky; raindrops were falling now and then and we were sitting outside. Made a fast dash back to the hotel thinking it was going to pour, as it was very humid, but never more than drops here and there for the whole evening. Packed our suitcases and set the alarm for an early start in the morning as we cross the border into Italy.