Hello all...as I write this we are flying somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean. The trip has gone well so far. We have easily received seats on both flights. We started at 3:30 AM because I could not sleep. I finally got up around 4 and did some reading. My mind is turning on so many things. First hurdle...get on the Front Runner. Get on Washington DC flight with our baggage. Next hurdle, for me, was to make sure we had tickets to Rome and then book somewhere to stay for 3 nights. I used a website called airbnb that allows you to list your property for rent. I asked Denise if I could list our basement for rent...heck...nobody is ever there any more much. Why not make a buck! Anyway, I had to submit my request and get a response before I got on the flight to Rome. I was already speaking with a guy named Paolo about his place. So when I submitted my request to him, he was ready to respond and did. We have a 2 bedroom apartment near the Vatican for $500 for 3 nights. We'll see how it is! Photos looked OK.
Well...some funny notes so far....Dale has made friends with every person in the airport, got up to use the bathroom after we were told to stay in our seats because our flight was pulling away from the terminal..and a few other things that I will not share. Julee, after eating our dinner, decided it was bed time, pulled her suitcase down, got her pajamas out and went to the bathroom and changed...for the final four hours of our flight. I just shake my head...Denise wants to jump out of the plane.
We are about 30 minutes behind schedule and will touch down in Rome at 9:00AM. We will catch a cab to the apartment, drop our stuff off and head to the Vatican since it is close and is closed on Sundays (museum is closed). And since all other museums are closed on Mondays, the Vatican is overwhelmed on Mondays. So Saturday will be our day there. Once we are done there, I would imagine that we will come back and crash since we will be running on no or little sleep.
We love you all...day one is almost in the books. Keep us in your prayers! :-)
Well...some funny notes so far....Dale has made friends with every person in the airport, got up to use the bathroom after we were told to stay in our seats because our flight was pulling away from the terminal..and a few other things that I will not share. Julee, after eating our dinner, decided it was bed time, pulled her suitcase down, got her pajamas out and went to the bathroom and changed...for the final four hours of our flight. I just shake my head...Denise wants to jump out of the plane.
We are about 30 minutes behind schedule and will touch down in Rome at 9:00AM. We will catch a cab to the apartment, drop our stuff off and head to the Vatican since it is close and is closed on Sundays (museum is closed). And since all other museums are closed on Mondays, the Vatican is overwhelmed on Mondays. So Saturday will be our day there. Once we are done there, I would imagine that we will come back and crash since we will be running on no or little sleep.
We love you all...day one is almost in the books. Keep us in your prayers! :-)
An excited traveler.....
Italy...here we come!
Still happy!!!
Day Two.....
It is 3:00 AM in the morning. My body is still adjusting. We went to bed too early (6:30 PM)...but we were wiped out. But my body knows it got 8 solid hours of sleep and is ready to go. I will be tired again tonight as I slowly adjust.Whooh, we arrived into Rome about 45 minutes late. Customs....I have never seen anything like it! We came off the plane, walked to a place where we flashed our passports...and that was it! Easy! We then stopped to buy Roma passes which give us free entrance into a couple of sites, like the Colleseum. It also gives us access to city public transportation for 3 days. Once we had that, we hailed a taxi to our 'flat'. The drive was 40 minutes. The driver was a nice man who spoke English pretty well. Upon entering the city, it became clear why I am glad I did not get a rental car. Driving is a bit crazy...but where we are staying...no where to park!
The 'flat'....Paolo, the owner, quickly came over to welcome us into his flat. It is right on a plaza on one corner of the Vatican. The flat is big, nice sized bedrooms, kitchen and two baths. We gave Dale and Julee the nicer bedroom and bed to sleep on. Denise and I are on a sofa pull out. Not the most comfortable thing...but we could have slept on needles last night. We will see how it goes tonight. Paolo did give us some bad news in that there is some confusion for Monday night and he wants to move us to another apartment that he has nearby. We will see how that goes.
The Vatican....after getting settled in and taking care of a few hygiene issues (like brushing our teeth)... Off we went to see the Vatican. Has we headed towards St. Peter's square...a lady stopped us to sale us a Vatican museum tour. She rightfully told us that the Square and Basilica were closed because the Pope was doing something at 5:00 PM. And it was crazy how many 'pilgrims' were in this area already waiting to try and get in. A side note...as we drove in the taxi, we passed the queue of people waiting to get into the Vatican museum. The line was long and appeared to not be moving. Anyway, we bought a guided tour through this gal. The tour was 40 euros per person and we could skip the line to get in. Well...when we finally arrived at the museum...the line was gone...we could have walked right in! However, the gal that led us on this tour was ver catholic, knew her history and wanted to share ALL of it with us. Some of her stops were probably 20 minutes long...which to tired travelers with sore feet seemed like 60 minutes. Anyway, the guided tour was well worth the extra euros. It was about 5 PM when the tour concluded and we were hungry. Funny story....while waiting for the tour to start we went into a small market to buy water and such. Denise bought a banana for .5 euro. Dale came up to her and said, 'Why did you do that? I have bananas in the apartment.' Yes, they brought bananas and who knows what else with them in their luggage!
Food...food is everywhere. We ate at a nice little pizza joint around the corner from our flat. Very good food. We shared a nice sized pizza, Denise and I, along with some focaccia. But the focaccia is very thin...not like I would have thought.
Seeing Dale fall asleep at the pizzaria, we then returned to the flat, went to our respective rooms and crashed! Lights out at 7:00 PM.
Last note...it is October 13th...our 32nd anniversary! I just want to call out my dear wife who I love so much. I don't keep memories very well in my head. But I will forever remember the first time I saw Denise, in the foyer of the Ogden Institute building at a dance. Who knew what a wonderful journey would begin. It has been a great 32 years with this beautiful woman by my side. Love you Denise!
Tomorrow... Figure out the transit system, go to church, see a few sites! Love you all!
Our apartment in Rome by the Vatican....
A statue as we entered Rome by the Vatican....
Where the Pope comes to the window and waves to the crowd sometimes....
Statue in entrance of Vatican Museum....
Vatican plaza inside the museum...
Vatican Museum spiral staircase....
Our 'lift' to our apartment in Rome....
Day Three....
The day started early for me. I think I mentioned I was up pretty early writing and researching. However, I went back to bed at 6:30 AM and we did not wake up until 9:30 AM! Not good. Denise took a power nap sleeping from 6:30 PM to 9:30 AM. Wow.
Church...we wanted to go to church here. Church started at 11:20 AM. Like I said, we got up at 9:30....so we were over a barrel. We scrambled to get dressed and out the door. We left about 10:10 and headed to the metro. The metro process went quite well. But once we came out of the tube...figuring out how to navigate the streets to the church. We had to ask a store attendant and along with my IPAD, we found it. You need to see the steep steps we walked! It was just a normal building in a strip mall like place. No steeples...just a sign. Two wards were meeting together. I think they just split. It was the primary program. It was wonderful. They gave us translators. Apparently, there are enough expats that speak English to warrant the headsets. After church we headed back to the apartment quickly to change our clothes and head back out to site see.
Colleseum, Forum and stuff...the sites were awesome. Metro stop right there. The lines were very long...but with the Roma Pass...we skipped right by. That was worth the cost of the passes. Dale is the most unlucky man! We all buy an audio tour, which is this hand set thing. The tour starts on the top floor of the Colleseum...lots of very steep steps to get there. We get to station #1 and Dale's phone thingy will not work. So I grabbed it and took off running back to where we got the darn thing. But I could not find the stupid stairs. I think I did a half lap around that place, down the wrong stairs, back to the purchase place, back up the stairs and back to the family. Later, we find out that Dale can't get in the Roman Forum because Dale's Roma pass barcode has been partially erased. And as a result, Dale and Julee now go illegally together going hand and hand, lovingly through the turnstill. <Not!>. If they get caught and go to jail, well, we will let you you guys come bail them out when you come over for a vacation.
Fontana di Trevi...just beautiful! We went after dinner. It was dark, lights gleaming. Very pretty. Not too far from the metro stop.
Food...I am impressed with the food. Very fresh. Not too costly. For dinner, on the way to Fontana di Trevi, we stopped at a nice, informal place on the Piazza di Barberini. We all order Italian food...pastas, panini is, etc.. Dale...he orders an expensive hamburger. And while we wait, I suggest a coke. His burger shows up with no bun...just meat. His coke, turns out is 3 euros...if you take it out. It is 4.5 euros if you sit. It was a $6 can of coke! He was not a happy camper! To compensate for no bun, he ordered mor basket bread...that was the side of silver dollars and tried to make a sandwich. It was funny.
Well...nice anniversary day. One we will remember for awhile. Love you all.
Grounds of the forum as seen from the Colosseum....
The Roman Forum....
American Express helped restore this building on the Forum grounds....
More Forum....
The Rome Colosseum....
Lovers in the park....can't avoid them!
La Trevi Fountain....
Church going people....
....but one addict!
Day Four.....
The apartment is much newer, smaller, ONE bathroom, and quite nice. I will at least be sleeping on a much nicer bed. The pull out bed we were on was horrible. I actually moved to a small twin bed that was in the room in the middle of the night. This is a better bed at the new place. I hope I can sleep...which has not been the case yet. I wake up at 3AM...lay there then grab my Ipad for a few hours. Anyway enough about the flats.
Excursions...we went to St. Peter's square. We hoped to go into the Basilica since we could not do that on Saturday. But you should have seen the line! It filled the square almost! I looked into Dale's whimpering eyes and could see a tear as I thought about getting into line. So with a kind heart, I said, Let's keep walking.' This was music to Dale's ears as he is loving touring Rome on foot. Brings a peace to his heart <not!>. So, we headed to Bus 64.
Bus 64...this is a notorious pick pocket bus. I told them all about this...so all antennas were up as we waited for it to arrive. When it arrived, it was crowded like the buses in South America at rush hour. We still got on...Dale and Julee on one end...Denise and I on another. I wanted to ride this bus because it goes to Termini, cuts through the middle of Rome and passes the Pantheon. So at stop Argentina, I jumped off and ran to the back of the bus to get Dale and Julee off. Yes, they still had their clothes...the pick pockets did not get that! They were fine. So off we went walking, Julee eyeing every 2 euro item along the way, to the Pantheon. Only problem was that I went west...should have gone north. Well...we ended up at Rome's beautiful Municipality building. Pretty neat...but it was not the Pantheon. So I figured out what I did wrong...then off we went..me, Denise and our two happy campers. Sadly for Dale, the walk was not far to the Pantheon. It was amazing! Huge domed cathedral! Really neat. After that...we headed back to the stop to pick up Bus 64 again. The ride was still crowded...but less than before. We made it to Termini...although tonight Julee is telling us that her coat and hair dryer are missing! Could it have been the pick pockets on Bus 64? Nah...just Seniors who forget things in their rooms that we vacated. Oh well...we will blame it on the Pick Pockets!
Did I kill my In Laws?....at about 2:30, we returned to the apartment. It was a beautiful day here. The apartment was cool. I grabbed my laptop and headed into a sofa area to book a hotel in Venice and trains to get there. This took a couple of hours to figure out. It was lights out for our happy campers! At one point, I sent Denise into their dark room to see if they were still breathing thankfully. That could have been a real downer to our trip...you know!? We all got a nice period of rest. It felt good to get off our feet. And I got my reservations done. I just need to figure out Milan and then it is done.
Back to the square....after a nice dinner on a sidewalk...we headed back to St. Peter's Square to see it at night. It was dusk turning to night and was pretty. But I think it could be made to be prettier. After that, we came back to settle in and get ready for day 5.
I tease about Dale and Julee. But they have been troopers dealing with my pace, disgust with souvenir shopping, and love of walking. I hope they are enjoying it nonetheless!
PS...as I conclude this....Julee just came in to report that coat and hair blower have been found. So apologies to the Pick Pockets...and just one more old age item to laugh about.
Ciao....
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St. Peter's Square...
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Pilgrims at the square....
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Vatican City....
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St. Peter's Basilica at dusk....
Gelato is everywhere...so we partook often!
A pretty pilgrim....
Day Five....
Termini...we arrived here about two hours early. And to Julee's pleasure we walk in and there is the Golden Arches...Mcdonalds. Julee had been talking a lot about getting to a McDonald's and there it was. We all ate breakfast there while waiting for our train. Getting on our train was easy. The trip to Cornigula had one train change in La Sprezia. This little town is built in a crazy area on the side of a cliff that falls to the sea. It is quite old. As we
I am starting a new paragraph at 5:00 AM on Day 6. The paragraph above ended as is because I fell asleep while typing! I woke up quickly, took some of Denise's sleeping pills and crashed...big time. It was 7 PM, I woke up at 4AM having slept the deepest ever! 9 great hours! Back to Corniglia and Cinque Terre......
La Spezia to Cinque Terre.....we arrived to La Spezia in good order and had to switch trains. I did not purchase a ticket online for the train to Cinque Terre (Corniglia). So into the station we went. Lo and behold, another miracle for Dale...the Golden Arches once again! The fountain of Coke! He even pulled back the prize gimmick on his cup and he won a free refill. Life could not be better. Anyway, I decided to not buy the Cinque Terre walking and train pass there and bought regular train tickets. I remember reading that a train ticket is not good until you validate it at a machine in the terminal. If you don't do that, the guy checking tickets on the train can fine you 50'euros. Well...I forgot all about that. So when this fellow checks my ticket..he tells me it is not validated. We put on our stupid American faces, talked fast so he could not understand, and begged forgiveness. He took our tickets away and walked off disgusted. Whoooo...we lucked out there.
Corniglia.....Cinque Terre means 5 lands. There are 5 small towns that are connected by trails that you can hike. The Terrain is rugged and hilly. Corniglia sits in the middle and is highest in elevation. The scenery is quite breathe taking. The train terminal sits almost at sea level. When you get off the train at Corniglia, there is a shuttle that will take you up switch backs to a small plaza where you get off. 2 euros each to take this 5 minute shuttle ride. At the plaza, we got off and thought...what now? It looked to me like a bunch of old Italian homes built on a cliff over the ocean...but no commerce. I am going to starve! Boy was I wrong! It is probably the oldest 'strip mall' in the world. Lots of places to eat...souvenir shops, little markets, etc..in a really cool setting. And didi tell you how good the food is? It is good every where.
Our room...After getting off of the shuttle, we followed the instructions of the flat owner to "with your back to the ocean, take the path to your left for about 50 meters. Just past the shiny steps you will see the door of the flat. We did that. And it worked. This room is about one third the size of the others we were in at Rome. It does have a bedroom, very small kitchen, very small bathroom and a loft with another bed. It is designed for midgets. :-). We were met by Bepe..the owners father who must live somewhere here. He speaks no English at all. But that did not stop him from talking to me like I spoke Italian. He handed me a cell phone that had the owner on the line, He wanted to tell me that no one in Corniglia had natural gas (I wanted to tell him that Dale did.....) to cook with. I said no problem and hung up. Bepe said something and off he went. We were on our own. We went back down to the square and spoke to some young folks who were from Australia, US and Japan. They were hiking and said it was awesome. We plan to do some of that when the sun comes up on an new day.
More stuff...I could go on and on about the dinner we had, the food prices (I have been really pleased), gelato (which is everywhere)' the view, the people, etcetera. But Denise's snoring is impacting my thinking...so until day 6!
Arivaderchi...( doubt that is spelled right!)
The beginning of our trains, trains and more trains!
Corniglia in Cinque Terre....
A walkway in Corniglia....
One of the 5 cities in Cinque Terre....
Happy Gelato consumers (look who has hold of the gelato!)
Day Six.....
As we set out down the path for a 1.5 hour hike' that took almost 3 hours, Julee turns to Dale and asks, "did you bring our money?". You know the answer to that question. No worries...banker Tim is along. One of these times I will hear a wondering question like that and it will have been truly the pick pockets. Anyway so off we go anyway down the trail. The trail is on the cliffs over the ocean. We climbed out of Corniglia on this rocky trail, then down to Vernazza.which was at sea level. Corniglia is up on the hill. Once we arrived in Vernazza, we wandered down the streets looking at the shops and eateries....and looking for a coke for Dale. It was a tough walk for Julee and Dale...but he was tightening up. We found a coke and he was healed. They both did really good! The food was awesome there,,,have I said that before? :-)
Train rides....we bought Cinque Terre passes which entitled you to walk the trails and ride the trains between the 5 cities. As the day wore on the trains became fuller. These are regular passenger trains routed through this area. From Vernazza, we rode the train to Monterrosso al Mare. To hike there, it would take two hours at most. Too much. for our happy campers. Monterrosso has a nice beach. So we took our shoes off and got in the ocean a bit. It felt nice on the feet. After eating a gelato, we headed back to the train station to go to Riomaggiorre. I think everyone in the area was headed our direction. When the train opened its doors..it got real crazy. We got separated a bit...but got on the train. It was like being back in Colombia. Anyway, we made it to our destination ok. In short we visited all 5 towns, took wonderful pictures, enjoyed good food and had awesome weather. This is a wonderful place to visit. And we are learning about Dale and happiness....just give him an intravenous line of Coke and he is a happier camper. Julee thinks we should break him of this need. Our response...you can do that at home and not on this trip!
Money...at Manora, Julee decided to get money out of an ATM. After many ties, I walked over and told her to let the 'master' ATM guru help out. We tried a couple of more times..with no success. I was not surprised by my failures as I never use these darn machines, Later that evening, I took Denise to machine in the plaza in Corniglia. She said she could make it work with 'her' card. One try...bingo...money comes out. No wonder I have no money in the bank!
Well, we leave this area tomorrow. We are heading to Pisa in the morning to see the Leaning Tower. Then back on a train through Tuscany to Florence. Switch trains and then on to Venice. Once in Venice, we must get on a Vaparetto...a boat taxi, to take us to Lido..an island by Venice. We have a hotel reservation. Our first one on this trip! Should be fun.
Ciao
Corniglia...before our hike.
Our trail out of Corniglia...
A neat church in one of the villages....
A happy traveler......
The train tracks that lead from village to village....
A beautiful Corniglia sunset....
Looking back at Manarola....
Day Seven....
At about 2:00 PM, we got on a train to Florence, traveling through Tuscany. What a nice area that is. In Florence, we caught a high speed train to Venice. We arrived in Venice at about 5:30 PM to find out that tomorrow they are having a transportation strike tomorrow. Not sure what that will do to our only day in Venice tomorrow. We are not staying in Venice...but Lido...an island just away from Venice. It is very nice. We had a nice meal and we are now ready to go to sleep.
This is going to be short. I am sorry. I added a lot more to this but it did not save in my draft. I am not re typing. I will just add pictures. I just gave more comments on Venice and our flights home. We might have to go to Zurich, Switzerland to get on a plane. We will keep you informed.
Leaving Corniglia...
Leaning tower of Denise (Pisa). .
A neat cathedral on the grounds where the leaning tower is found...
A canal\river that flows through Pisa with housing that lines it....
Venice...what an amazing city.
Canals, bridges and more canals and bridges....
Day Eight....
Today started quite lazily. We slept in a bit. But we still made the breakfast laid out by the hotel at 9:00 AM. It was pretty good. After eating, we walked down to the water taxi stand to see how this strike impacted it. We were surprised to see a lot of taxis coming and going. So I am not quite sure what a strike really means here. It will be interesting to see what tomorrow looks like. Anyway, we headed into Venice on one that was ferrying people off of Lido over to San Marcos square. Wow....what a cool area. Tons of people. Shopping everywhere. Gondolas everywhere. Amazingly Venice.
Gondola ride...yes we pulled every last coin we had to ride in a Gondola (20 euros per person). Heck...that was about as cheap as the elephant rides at the Davis County fair! It was awesome doing something you never dreamed that you would ever do. Our Gondolier was 6'6" tall. He scraped his head on almost all the little bridges we went under. He shared basic facts about Venice and such as he rowed us around the canals. It was a nice tour. Dale accidentally referred to him as a 'rower'. He went dead silent. He is a Gondalier...which is passed down within families. Pretty cool.
Chocolate Surprise...there is a supermarket by our hotel. We decided to go in to check it out and get a few things. I grabbed some grapes, Denise some souvenirs. Dale...he went right to the Pepsi aisle and was pleased that for the same price he was paying for coke on the street, he could get almost two liters. So he grabbed one, kissed and followed Julee. Julee on the other hand went to the bargain bin. There she found some cherry chocolates in a box for 1 euro. Upon checkout, these chocolates rang up for 4.50 euro. It was so funny watching Julee trying to tell this Italian store clerk she was took! I finally told Julee to come on...she wasn't going to get her money back. But the funnier part of this story is that Julee, in her kindness, offered each of us a chocolate outside the store. Upon popping it into our mouths, I quickly realized the word of wisdom had been broken. Yes, they were full of liquor. Well, I swallowed mine. Denise spit the whole thing out. Julee slobbered her chocolate out getting it all over her face. Dale, he wanted seconds! We laughed hysterically and I know the Italians thought...crazy Americans.
Lido Beach....the late afternoon was filled with sea shell hunting. It is a nice beach with lots of shells. If you really want to see Julee more focused, yet very confused, than in a souvenir shop...put her on a beach with shells. She is never sure that she got the best deal...or in this case.... the best shell. She will search for hours and love every minute of it. We just sat and visited while she met her searching need. The ocean was still and beautiful.
Well, the day ended in a bit of a downer. The plane loads look horrible on Sunday and Monday from Milan. I am looking at Zurich...taking a train there...if we cannot get on Sunday. Keep us in your prayers...we need to get home. We might be like the Donner Party and start eating each other if we don't! :-)
Gondola ride...yes we pulled every last coin we had to ride in a Gondola (20 euros per person). Heck...that was about as cheap as the elephant rides at the Davis County fair! It was awesome doing something you never dreamed that you would ever do. Our Gondolier was 6'6" tall. He scraped his head on almost all the little bridges we went under. He shared basic facts about Venice and such as he rowed us around the canals. It was a nice tour. Dale accidentally referred to him as a 'rower'. He went dead silent. He is a Gondalier...which is passed down within families. Pretty cool.
Chocolate Surprise...there is a supermarket by our hotel. We decided to go in to check it out and get a few things. I grabbed some grapes, Denise some souvenirs. Dale...he went right to the Pepsi aisle and was pleased that for the same price he was paying for coke on the street, he could get almost two liters. So he grabbed one, kissed and followed Julee. Julee on the other hand went to the bargain bin. There she found some cherry chocolates in a box for 1 euro. Upon checkout, these chocolates rang up for 4.50 euro. It was so funny watching Julee trying to tell this Italian store clerk she was took! I finally told Julee to come on...she wasn't going to get her money back. But the funnier part of this story is that Julee, in her kindness, offered each of us a chocolate outside the store. Upon popping it into our mouths, I quickly realized the word of wisdom had been broken. Yes, they were full of liquor. Well, I swallowed mine. Denise spit the whole thing out. Julee slobbered her chocolate out getting it all over her face. Dale, he wanted seconds! We laughed hysterically and I know the Italians thought...crazy Americans.
Lido Beach....the late afternoon was filled with sea shell hunting. It is a nice beach with lots of shells. If you really want to see Julee more focused, yet very confused, than in a souvenir shop...put her on a beach with shells. She is never sure that she got the best deal...or in this case.... the best shell. She will search for hours and love every minute of it. We just sat and visited while she met her searching need. The ocean was still and beautiful.
Well, the day ended in a bit of a downer. The plane loads look horrible on Sunday and Monday from Milan. I am looking at Zurich...taking a train there...if we cannot get on Sunday. Keep us in your prayers...we need to get home. We might be like the Donner Party and start eating each other if we don't! :-)
San Marcos Square in Venice....
Alleyways in Venice....
The food market (where the Tourist is filmed).
Future gondola riders....
A great ride! Our Gondolier was 6'6" tall.
The Grand Canal!
Our hotel on Lido Island across from Venice.
A mermaid on the Lido Beach....
A baby being cuddled....a happy traveler.
Day Nine....
Water Taxi 1.....we had other options to get to the Venice train station but chose water taxi #1 because this taxi takes you through the Grand Canal. It takes 30 minutes longer than the fastest water taxi...but we had time. Cruising through this canal was amazing...beautiful old buildings, fancy hotels, markets, and people dining on the canal. Great way to leave Venice.
Train ride....we took a train to Milan's train station. Wow...by far the mast amazing station. Really neat...and very busy. We scrambled to catch a train to the airport. I reserved a room at a Holiday Inn Express near the airport. We arrived at the airport at about 4PM and ended up waiting for a shuttle to the hotel until about 5:15 PM. It finally came. The hotel is modern and nice.
Dinner....our hotel did not have food. But they referred us to another hotel 'just down the street'. We went walking. Turns out this hotel us not in a very clean area...kind of creepy. I chose Carbonara for the third night. It is always good....but I am sick of Italian food. McDonalds is starting to sound good. I am coming down to our happy campers standards! We walked in the dark home.
Planning to get home....we all huddled over my IPAD to look at flights. Getting out of Milan looks very, very doubtful. Our backup plan is to spend a few hundred dollars each to catch a train to Zurich. There is one train that gets us in at 9:00 in the evening...the other at midnight. Even though the earlier one is more expensive...I will push to take it. Going to Switzerland, we switch language, currency....the whole enchilada. And we have to take another train to the airport. All takes time. We will go on the early one if we have to. My head hurts.
We took nice pictures of the grand canal...but I will share them with you later.
The only happy camper crisis today was a lost credit card. The whole way to Milan...their Visa was gone. I was pretty sure they had it. Anyway, while sitting at dinner, the pick pockets put it back and it magically reappeared. Dale's soul continues to live on. By the way, Dale is still nursing his coca cola. He filled up 2.5 small bottles, put them in a plastic bag...fearful a drop would slip out and be wasted....and then into the back pack.
We head to the US or Switzerland tomorrow....wish us luck.
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Leaving Venice...cruise ship parked across the bay.
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Venice gondolas...some of the 400 licensed gondolas parked.
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Leaving Venice...pretty cool on the water that morning.
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Common 'street' in Venice.
We could be crying...but we are still smiling!
Day Ten....
Interrupted sleep....I was EXTREMLY tired last night after our travel day and researching options to get home. Lots to consider. Anyway, when my head hit the pillow, it was lights out. About 2:00 AM in the morning, I heard a knock at my door. I did not get up the first knock. The second knock woke my dear wife. She kicked me and said some one was at the door. Duh...so I staggered over to the door as Denise was telling me there was a peep hole to look through. I looked through the hole a couple of times...nobody was there. So I staggered back to bed. after 4 hours sleep, my mind struggles to go back to sleep. It just starts processing plans for the next day over and over. It took a good hour or two to fall back asleep. At 6:30 AM, we got up and started to get ready for our daily adventure. At about 7:15 AM, one of our happy campers sheepishly came into our room to confess that she had knocked on our door at 2:00 AM. She went on to say that at midnight, her alarm went off. They thought it was morning, and spent the next two hours preparing their beauty. They even went down and asked the clerk where the buffet breakfast was! Tears are coming down my cheeks as I write this...it is so darn funny! At that point the clerk told them that it was 1:30 AM and that breakfast was not until 6:30 and to come back then. So the next logical thing to do was to wake us up by knocking on our doors and running away. Do you think they were running down the halls and door bell ditching? Who knows what goes through the minds of seniors! :-)
Airport...we arrived in time via shuttle to the airport. It was one line after another. I think the process to check in and get to the gate took an hour plus! We met a younger lady who had flown in for the weekend to be with her husband who she had not seen in 8 months, He is an XO in the Navy and they had liberty for a few days in Italy. She described where his boat sails and it sounded like the same area that Dustin spent his time on the Winston Churchill. Anyway, we got down to the gate and they were already assigning standby tickets to people. It quickly became apparent that we were not getting on. This was about 9:30. There was an 11:10 train from central Milan...but we had a 50 minute ride to that terminal to make first. So we dashed only to find out that they did not have an exit for people who do not get on the plane. We talked to many people, a couple of police officers, etcetera to get out of there. We literally went in circles! We went back by our gate at least two more times. The last time, I found the 'secret staircase'. But by then...we were not going to make the 11:10 train. And the next one to Zurich was at 5:10 PM. So time was no longer an issue. So I went back to the gate to check one last time to see if there were some no shows. They said he plane was full....so officially off to Zurich we headed.
Annie (Mary Weekes)...the last pass at the gate there was a lady standing there who was bewildered by it all. She heard me say that we were going to Zurich. She asked where that was and why I was doing that. I told her that tomorrow's flight looked equally bad. And that in Zurich, there are two planes that go to the US tomorrow with over 160 unsold seats. She asked about the cost to do this. I said with trains, hotel, etcetera...about $250 for her. She said...Can I come? I said sure come on. I will help you...and off we went. We had to go back through passport control which seemed to take forever and confusing as to which line to get into. Now, I blame all this line and passport stuff on Denise as she wanted her passport stamped. It was stamped many times today. When we entered Italy, they did nothing which depressed Denise. So she is a happy camper!
McDonalds....upon arriving in Milan Central Station, which is amazing, we went right to the train ticket machines. Sure enough, tickets were available...first class only. This is about a third more in cost of a second class ticket..with not much difference in comfort or amenities. Anyway...we want to get home. The cost for a single ticket on United (or any US airline) this morning was $2500 per ticket! Yes...that is correct...I did not add a zero there. So this train process to a standby flight seems cheap. Anyway, once the train tickets were purchased...I needed to nail down hotel rooms. But I needed WIFI for this. The Golden Arches appeared and behold...free WIFI. Well, to get access, I had to register myself using my credit card. They promised no charges and it was only required to verify ID. I think we sat in McDonalds for about 2+ hours. We did eat lunch there and I have to say that the Big Mac which I ate tasted so good. We are a bit tired of pasta, pizza, panini, and focaccia. I booked hotel rooms easily. When I asked Annie if she wanted to list herself on the Zurich flight...she looked puzzled. It became apparent that someone else took care of her. So we now had to contact her cousin. Denise to the rescue...we opened the phone lines and text lines and the problem was solved. The rest of the afternoon was spent waiting for our train.
Well...the train has passed some beautiful country so far. Como seemed beautiful...a city on a pretty lake. Nice. Although today's adventure is still going for a few more hours, any unusual behaviors that are noteworthy from this group of happy campers will be noted in tomorrow's email...hopefully on a plane to Newark.
Pray for me! My sanity is about gone! :-). Love to all of you! No pictures again due to internet issues. Sorry!
The Milan Train Station...it is amazing!
I really can't believe she is smiling. We ended up waiting in this station for about 7 hours for a train to Zurich, Switzerland.
Day Eleven....
Well...our journey to Zurich paid off. We are currently passing over Ireland headed for Newark, NJ. There was a great relief when we were given our tickets this morning. The journey to SLC is in question still. But at least we will be back on American soil and turn all our devices on and communicate more easily with all of you! We hope the numbers on the plane loads do not play out as shown. We shall see. Getting 4 of us on anywhere will be a challenge. We will probably have to divide up. We hope to be going through Chicago and then to SLC.
Last night....we arrived in Zurich about 9:00 PM. I really wish that we had made that journey through the Alps in the daytime. I know it would have been a spectacular ride. Anyways, we had 15 minutes to figure out how to purchase tickets for the train to the airport where we could catch our shuttle to the hotel. The bad news was that the machines were in German. The good news was that there were a couple of young people there who understood our English and helped us buy the 5 tickets. Once we had them in our hand, we scrambled to the train and got on with two minutes to spare. I thought it would be colder in Zurich than it is. It is a bit cooler than Milan. But not by much. Once at the airport, we found the hotel bus stop. The bus came in about 15 minutes and we were at our hotel checking in by 10:00 PM. Dale and I went for a quick walk to McDonalds just down the street. It was the only thing open. I needed something to eat...Dale needed a Coke. He packs his two year food supply with him in his backpack..he just needed a coke...although he did buy some food. The funny thing was that he had 10 Swiss franks in his hand and he kept asking for the Big Mac...which cost 11.50 franks. If I do the math right....that is an expensive Big Mac! I kept telling Dale that he did not have enough money. I eventually got him focused on 'deal' area and we ended buying some stuff off of it. Still expensive though. The hotel was a Holiday Inn Express...only complaint from me was the internet. It was junk. We had a nice night's rest too...no door bell ditchers in this hotel!
Bell Hop?..... I am not sure where this started but at some point Julee started to get off the train and/or shuttle and take off leaving her bag for someone else to grab. She was just forgetting to get it. But we really teased her about it. But then, it happened to me and Annie! This morning after checking in, the lady handed me all the passports and I proceeded to walk away without my bag. Annie did the same thing with hers only I think she went through security or something and had to go through a lot to get it back. So Julee's madness rubbed off on us too.
Breakfasts....the last few hotels have had breakfast buffets included in the price. It has been interesting see the different foods on the buffets. This morning in Zurich, they had lots of yummy things...but one interesting thing was chicken and rice with mushrooms in a cream sauce. It was good...just a bit odd for breakfast. Maybe it was left overs from last night.
Well...this is my last trip note. We have missed all of you very much. Save your money so when you are old like we are, you too can travel to see other parts of the world. The world in which we live is a grand place. There are fun and great distinctions between cultures...but we are all human just trying to make a go of our lives. I am grateful to have the means to make such trips and see how others live and experience a bit of their lives. There will be many great highlights as we think back. But one of the highlights I will cherish is sitting in a small chapel in Rome watching the young primary children perform their annual program and feeling gratitude to God that we are his children and we have a great purpose to our existence. I was amazed we found this little chapel....more amazed at the feelings I felt of gratitude for the blessings in my life.
Arrivederci......
Last night....we arrived in Zurich about 9:00 PM. I really wish that we had made that journey through the Alps in the daytime. I know it would have been a spectacular ride. Anyways, we had 15 minutes to figure out how to purchase tickets for the train to the airport where we could catch our shuttle to the hotel. The bad news was that the machines were in German. The good news was that there were a couple of young people there who understood our English and helped us buy the 5 tickets. Once we had them in our hand, we scrambled to the train and got on with two minutes to spare. I thought it would be colder in Zurich than it is. It is a bit cooler than Milan. But not by much. Once at the airport, we found the hotel bus stop. The bus came in about 15 minutes and we were at our hotel checking in by 10:00 PM. Dale and I went for a quick walk to McDonalds just down the street. It was the only thing open. I needed something to eat...Dale needed a Coke. He packs his two year food supply with him in his backpack..he just needed a coke...although he did buy some food. The funny thing was that he had 10 Swiss franks in his hand and he kept asking for the Big Mac...which cost 11.50 franks. If I do the math right....that is an expensive Big Mac! I kept telling Dale that he did not have enough money. I eventually got him focused on 'deal' area and we ended buying some stuff off of it. Still expensive though. The hotel was a Holiday Inn Express...only complaint from me was the internet. It was junk. We had a nice night's rest too...no door bell ditchers in this hotel!
Bell Hop?..... I am not sure where this started but at some point Julee started to get off the train and/or shuttle and take off leaving her bag for someone else to grab. She was just forgetting to get it. But we really teased her about it. But then, it happened to me and Annie! This morning after checking in, the lady handed me all the passports and I proceeded to walk away without my bag. Annie did the same thing with hers only I think she went through security or something and had to go through a lot to get it back. So Julee's madness rubbed off on us too.
Breakfasts....the last few hotels have had breakfast buffets included in the price. It has been interesting see the different foods on the buffets. This morning in Zurich, they had lots of yummy things...but one interesting thing was chicken and rice with mushrooms in a cream sauce. It was good...just a bit odd for breakfast. Maybe it was left overs from last night.
Well...this is my last trip note. We have missed all of you very much. Save your money so when you are old like we are, you too can travel to see other parts of the world. The world in which we live is a grand place. There are fun and great distinctions between cultures...but we are all human just trying to make a go of our lives. I am grateful to have the means to make such trips and see how others live and experience a bit of their lives. There will be many great highlights as we think back. But one of the highlights I will cherish is sitting in a small chapel in Rome watching the young primary children perform their annual program and feeling gratitude to God that we are his children and we have a great purpose to our existence. I was amazed we found this little chapel....more amazed at the feelings I felt of gratitude for the blessings in my life.
Arrivederci......
They still love each other....
Ditto from above....
Beautiful flowers lined the Venice homes.....
Day Twelve....
Well...I did not think I would be writing a day 12. And if a day 13 appears, just know Denise wrote it because I slit my wrists!
We got on two different flights from Newark to Chicago. Denise and I went first..Dale and Julee an hour later. Denise and I almost got on a 5:30 flight to SLC...before Dale and Julee had even arrived at O'Hare. But naturally we were next up when the plane was full. That has been our luck getting to SLC. While watching seats being handed out to others, Denise noticed a young, cute girl waiting to get on also. She reminded me of a blonde Makensie Merback...Travis' girlfriend. She was a student attending Utah State and was coming from Cincinnati. She was even lower than us on the pecking order. There was one more flight to SLC at 8 PM. This flight, however, was delayed until 11:00 PM. We all decided to wait for it thinking that others may have jumped ship to another flight. Well, the board looked good until about 15 minutes before the flight was to leave. Everyone, for the most part, showed up then and were left in the cold literally. Denise noticed Kim, the young girl she had spoken to earlier. Her Mom had bought a flight for her the next morning...but she did not know what she was to do all night. So Denise invited her to come with us. I had been a busy beaver hunting down a reasonably priced hotel as a contingency plan if we did not get on. We chose a La Quinta Inn. So Denise called at about 11:30 PM, once the plane doors shut, and reserved a couple of rooms...1 for Dale and Julee, the other for Denise, Kim and I. Kim was so relieved to be along with us. Anyway, the next obstacle was to find the Hotel Shuttle bus pickup area. You would hope it to be close. Nope...we probably walked a good quarter mile outside to get to it. And it was cold! We found the area and probably waited 30 minutes for the shuttle. Bottom line,,,it was about12:30 AM once we got our room assignments. In the morning, we had to be up and ready to catch the hotel shuttle back to the airport at 6:00 AM. Upon entering our room, we could hear the fan of the heater going...only it was blowing freezing air. Our room was COLD! The heater did not work. So I just shut the darn thing off. We climbed under the covers of our respective beds to get warm and to go to sleep. But5:00 AM came quickly for all of us! We are all pretty tired.
End of tunnel light. I am writing this on the plane as we head for Oklahoma City. From there, we plan to go to Denver, getting in at 11:30 AM. I have rented a car to drive the rest of the way! WE WILL GET HOME TODAY! I hope I did not jinx myself by saying that. We are one day past our arrival home goal. Denise had to make sure her preschool partner could get a helper. I asked one of my colleagues to let my boss know that I will need one more PTO day. So I think we are ok.
I have joked and teased about Dale and Julee. I hope that I am fit and nimble enough to endure what I just put them through when I am 70+. I think we are pushing 50 public transportation methods/connections over the course of this trip. It is somewhat of a miracle that we have not eaten each other and continue to have strength to push on with little sleep, strange eating situations, not lost anything (including one another) and then to have unknown people tag along. It has been a tiring but rewarding adventure!
This is my last writing. Denise takes over from here if the journey is prolonged! I will be buried along the trail.
We got on two different flights from Newark to Chicago. Denise and I went first..Dale and Julee an hour later. Denise and I almost got on a 5:30 flight to SLC...before Dale and Julee had even arrived at O'Hare. But naturally we were next up when the plane was full. That has been our luck getting to SLC. While watching seats being handed out to others, Denise noticed a young, cute girl waiting to get on also. She reminded me of a blonde Makensie Merback...Travis' girlfriend. She was a student attending Utah State and was coming from Cincinnati. She was even lower than us on the pecking order. There was one more flight to SLC at 8 PM. This flight, however, was delayed until 11:00 PM. We all decided to wait for it thinking that others may have jumped ship to another flight. Well, the board looked good until about 15 minutes before the flight was to leave. Everyone, for the most part, showed up then and were left in the cold literally. Denise noticed Kim, the young girl she had spoken to earlier. Her Mom had bought a flight for her the next morning...but she did not know what she was to do all night. So Denise invited her to come with us. I had been a busy beaver hunting down a reasonably priced hotel as a contingency plan if we did not get on. We chose a La Quinta Inn. So Denise called at about 11:30 PM, once the plane doors shut, and reserved a couple of rooms...1 for Dale and Julee, the other for Denise, Kim and I. Kim was so relieved to be along with us. Anyway, the next obstacle was to find the Hotel Shuttle bus pickup area. You would hope it to be close. Nope...we probably walked a good quarter mile outside to get to it. And it was cold! We found the area and probably waited 30 minutes for the shuttle. Bottom line,,,it was about12:30 AM once we got our room assignments. In the morning, we had to be up and ready to catch the hotel shuttle back to the airport at 6:00 AM. Upon entering our room, we could hear the fan of the heater going...only it was blowing freezing air. Our room was COLD! The heater did not work. So I just shut the darn thing off. We climbed under the covers of our respective beds to get warm and to go to sleep. But5:00 AM came quickly for all of us! We are all pretty tired.
End of tunnel light. I am writing this on the plane as we head for Oklahoma City. From there, we plan to go to Denver, getting in at 11:30 AM. I have rented a car to drive the rest of the way! WE WILL GET HOME TODAY! I hope I did not jinx myself by saying that. We are one day past our arrival home goal. Denise had to make sure her preschool partner could get a helper. I asked one of my colleagues to let my boss know that I will need one more PTO day. So I think we are ok.
I have joked and teased about Dale and Julee. I hope that I am fit and nimble enough to endure what I just put them through when I am 70+. I think we are pushing 50 public transportation methods/connections over the course of this trip. It is somewhat of a miracle that we have not eaten each other and continue to have strength to push on with little sleep, strange eating situations, not lost anything (including one another) and then to have unknown people tag along. It has been a tiring but rewarding adventure!
This is my last writing. Denise takes over from here if the journey is prolonged! I will be buried along the trail.
Pasta....
Lasagna....
and more PASTA!!!
