Hi Everybody,
I was excited yesterday to be here when the new baby was born and announced - no name just yet but they know that there will be another heir to the throne. The news showed Wills and Kate showing the baby and then putting him in the back seat of the car to go home. Kate got in the back seat with the baby and then Wills drove off - on his own. It reminded all of us about taking our babies home for the first time. We are part of a group that has our own lounge where we can eat breakfast and dinner, have drinks and newspapers and visit with each other.

I met a young man who is "Indian" born and raised in Nevada. He is starting UCLA's law school in a few weeks and he brought his mom and dad on a week holiday to London (His mom's dream vacation). They were great fun to visit with.

I am having a lot of fun introducing Mike as Michael Cain and seeing all the Brit's take a second look at him. I laugh and tell them we will return for autographs after dinner...or some such nonsense.

Tomorrow morning we leave London to head to Bath. Leora's daughter, Missy, and her wonderful husband Alan are taking time off work to go with us. Alan is picking us up and driving us to Bath. He is really a fun guy. We laughed and laughed at his funny comments during our visit to the national gallery....a FREE gallery of many famous artists. It was just enough and there were plenty of empty seats for me to get off my legs.

Yesterday it rained just enough to soak everybody and then cleared up. When we were on top of the double decker bus we were fine but inside was like a sauna. I think my body hated it most of all.

I have noticed that in European hotels you are given either no tub at all or the tub is six feet long. I have had good luck with the handrails being placed just right to put my foot on and keep me from being swallowed up by the tub - until this one. I think the tub is at least six feet long. I tip my toes and can just keep my chin from dropping into the water...until I fall asleep or forget and then I have a little water slide under the bubbles. In America our tub isn't even long enough for me to extend my legs full length. LOL funny little thing to talk about.

We do have a very posh hotel room this time and Mike can sit at this computer comfortably. We will be off in a few minutes to go to a set of museums close to our hotel. Then we are going to use the underground a bit to get used to it. We got a card for the tour bus and the underground that makes it all very affordable.

I wanted to find out where the zoo was from that movie, "I bought a zoo." but I just can't figure it out so I gave up. Well, time for me to post and get moving.

Love you all. See you in just a little bit of time. I can't believe we are so close to the end of our wild adventures overseas.

Sally

Health Care

Hello Everybody,
Michael thought I should blog instead of sending emails to everybody so this is my first posting. I love Italy. I keep trying to find something about this lovely country that would make me prefer home...but the only thing that makes my home more appealing is, of course, our families and jobs. Italy is a wonderful country, full of wonderful people who have gone out of their way to help us. (I am certain that a few people have gone out of their way to overcharge us and may have taken advantage of me in that way but if I lived here and understood Italian that wouldn't happen as everything is negotiable.)

Health care is amazing. One of the people in our group, while in Florence, needed a doctor for their son. The doctor came to the hotel to see him. Kyle (the young man's name) was very ill so the doctor made sure he was taken to the proper hospital. He and his mom missed a day or two of the touring but Kyle was feeling much better when he was back. Another member of the group needed to see a doctor for an infection in her blistered feet. Again, a different doctor arrived at the hotel and took care of her wounds. The hospital stay for our friend, Velvet, and medicine was less than one hundred Euro.

Mike got an ear infection and we were able to simply walk into a pharmacy and see a doctor there who sold us some antibiotic ear drops. Later while in our beautiful small village I needed a doctor for an infection and she came right to the hotel. We took her picture which I will add to the blog. The doctor took out a small pad of paper and one of those rubber stamps that self inks. She put her information on the top of the paper and wrote the prescription (with beautiful handwriting). She was very considerate of the expense of the medicine and told me to be sure to bill my insurance when I got home.

Mike took me to the pharmacy and I handed the script to the pharmacist who opened a drawer and handed me the medicine. She charged me....six euro seventy cents...I had my credit card out and was prepared to be paying over a hundred dollars like we would in America, but, it was only six euro...probably ten American dollars. I couldn't have been happier about the entire experience

At the grocery store I saw a young family who had two little boys with them, probably two and four years old. Both boys had glasses on. I wonder if the eye care and dental care are also part of the medical system. Those boys obviously needed glasses as the glasses were very thick.

I will say good bye for now. I think I will attempt another nap before Mike wakes up.


I wonder what the health care will be like in the UK and France.

Train Travel,

OK - well the good news is that we were NOT on the train that derailed but it did remind me of the time we were on one...It was me, kyle and david. Mom had given us a gift for Christmas of a train ride up in the mountains near Mount Shasta. The vintage train was called the McCloud Dinner Train and mom got two tickets. Kyle was, maybe twelve, and we decided to get a third ticket and take him along instead of trusting him at home until ten at night...good thing we did!

As we pulled away from the station - everybody was dressed for a big night out...you know those dinners that keep on coming. A group of Girl Scouts had not made the train on time so they raced to a place where the train could stop and let them on. The train master must have wanted to make up the lost time so he went a bit too fast around the corner right as we reached the turn around part. I have no idea what warned me but the glasses on the table started to shake and I grabbed all of them in my arms so we were the only group who had no broken glassware on our table.

The train shook and twisted and threw itself off of the tracks. Kyle was the only "kid" there (the girl scouts were an older bunch). The people had already fallen in love with him so the only deck of cards on board was given to us to play with. They served free drinks to all the adult passengers while we all waited for rescue.

Trains have a sort of track guide that allows the derailed train to be pushed back onto the track on a metal device that turns and eventually the train rolls into place. That was located in Weaverville - at least three hours away. The only other engine we could use to get moving was located in a small town I have never heard of in southern Oregon near Doris, CA. So, both were called and we were sort of waiting for whoever got there first. The Air Conditioner went out and it was a hot hot August day so we all went out into the rocks around the train.

The crew kept pooring soda and alcohol (ran out of water). They saved the last rootbeer for Kyle. Kyle had all of the staff wrapped around his finger, they let him help them serve people. He even had them sign the menu and give it to him to take home. Well, by the time we were rescued it was three in the morning. All the men on board had to help push us up the jack like metal thingy and back onto the tracks. I think Kyle got a real eye-full of behavior of drunk people. One woman was sitting under her table hanging on to the post and swinging and singing. It was pretty funny.

So, as we boarded the sleeper train in Florence, Italy I thought about that derailment and thought, "Please God, not now!" and we were lucky, we made it to Paris and out of Paris with little excitement. I would recommend that NOBODY take a train with huge luggage. I think I broke my big toe the fourth time the bag was roughly lifted and slammed down on it. Why always the left foot I wondered. The isles are too narrow to get through with a backpack on.

Then when we arrived in Paris we were at the wrong station and we had to hurry and pay a taxi. The next trip from Paris to La Rochelle started out rough...I forgot the train number and there were actually two trains going there. I have a lot of trouble with my memory with the meds I am on. I lost Mike and at one point I climbed on a pillar and just shouted for him. He finally found me and the trains were closing their doors. Mike had already checked in on the back train and was waiting for me. I had run the length of the two trains and was swallowed up in the crowd.

The nicest man sat with me on the wrong train and kept me from crying.

We talked about the trains this time of year. There are special cars for the kids who travel alone for their summer holidays...maybe to be with a grandparent while the parents work or maybe in case of divorce they go to live with one or the other parent for the summer. The trains run a few weeks of special cars only for unaccompanied kids. We happened to be near one and watched these kids go back and forth with sodas and food. They were lively and happy.

It was so sad to hear that one of these French trains derailed and killed so many innocent travelers. I would bet that the train was going a bit faster than normal or maybe a wheel was worn just too much. The small derailment I experienced was enough to keep me up in the air in a plane. I hope we can get refunds for the trains we are not taking that we paid for already - everything is a mess right now.

Today the traffic on this tiny island was horrible. Like rush hour in the city. Back to back cars all moving too slowly. Loaded busses stopping a bit longer then normal stopped traffic up. We want to go to dinner tomorrow night but I think we will need to eat early to even get a place.

Mike has been teaching me not to talk...major achievement that he is accomplishing it. We have found that if the French know we are American they jack us up. Two nights ago we ordered a pizza to go. I spoke so the pizza guy knew we were American. What we ordered was NOT the ANCHOVIES we were served.  The pizza we saw local French kids getting was nothing like the one we got. I think they put a few pieces of cheese on ours and piles on theirs. So, today we stopped at a little garden to buy some fruit and veg's. I kept my mouth shut. Mike tried to order without saying much but after he paid he said thank you and all the locals were so excited to hear him speak. The didn't come to get me from the car but I heard them pulling at Mike, asking him to speak. They practically grabbed other locals to hear him talk. It was so cute. All these little ladies, all ages, impressed with Mike's English.

Anyway. I will include some pics tonight of a ruined monastery we walked through today, an abby built in the 1100's. It was fun to take our time and just enjoy everything we saw. We also walked the walls that so often were built to keep foot solders from attacking. One even had a small drawbridge.

good night to you all, it is 11:32 here and I need to try to sleep. Crosby, Stills, and Nash tonight.
Hugs
Sally

  Well, I think that my camera lost juice at the monastary but this is the wall around the little town that shows how seriously they protected themselves. The wall is about five feet thick and drops off directly to the rocks hundred feet below.

The pic of the men playing "football" is an example of siesta time. The man in yellow was working with a yellow truck of some sort. He and his friends were taking their normal three hours off in the afternoon and picked up a scrimmage of "football".

The Tractor is interesting. That is a hundred feet or so from the sea wall where the high tide mark is. The farmers use boat launches to launch the backhoe because they need to keep the extra sand to a minimum. These were farms for clams we think.

The other pics are of the entrances to town in the old walls. Nothing "to write home about" really. But here things were redone in the 1900's after WWII. We have not really found out much history of the place, they talk about the one hundred year war...I think I learned about it in school but all that I really remember was it lasted a hundred years....long time.

Okay,
good night once more
hugs
Sally

The DONKEYS of Ile De Re

We are on an island in France that is famous for it's donkey's. Today we stopped and visited. I have put my pictures on the laptop before I can find the one I want to add...could take a bit as there are almost three thousand pictures. Out of that many I will probably get a few good ones and a ton of blurred. My camera broke right before we left home, the lense cover won't open or shut properly - brand new camera. Anyway when I can I will send some donkey pictures, they have so much fur. I even go to pet one. He was so dirty, messy long hair falling off of him and burrs all over his body. His ears were huge and full of stickers, and then to make matters worse I pretended I had food in my hand to tease him over for a pat.

The pool just closed and the kids yells and giggles have stopped. We bought the first three seasons of LOST because we never watched it so we have had something in English to watch on the computer. I thought I would be able to watch free television like I do when we travel in California but I guess the whole system here works off of foreign satellites so none of the shows in English will play.

All of the rooms have ants in them, the maids have been hollering about it and fighting them. I showed them how to get rid of ants...took a few small pieces of banana and tossed it near the ants so that they would stay out of our room and feed on them. I guess they are gone now as the ants seem to be sneaking back in.

We are saving the cherry seeds and nectarine pits so we can grow some at home. The chicken in the stores is so different from ours, it is probably what a real chicken would look like, no layer of fat, kind of skinny looking, but we think that the food here is free of all the chemicals our food conains at home.

We went to dinner one night at our hotel and I had sea bass and got to dissect its intestines and see its head on my plate. They are really into pate's of all sorts....I am a suspicious eater...found a jar of skippy peanut butter and have been cookiing for myself and just taking bites from Mike's more adventurous meals.

I think that all of you should plan to see Italy - put it on the bucket list but don't wait too long because you have to walk walk walk walk all day long to see anything. I kept thinking how much our kids would love this or that. From wind surfing to museums our kids would love it here. The people who go wind surfing around the island don't start until full tide which is about seven at night. They will be on the water until the sun goes down before giving it up. I think that France must export clams and all that stuff. There are privately owned farms along with the group owned locks where the ocean is kind enough to deposit food.

French Atlantic Coast Donkeys

Week in France

Well, we are almost finished with our first week of visit in France. We have been at a "hotel" for lack of a true description. The room we booked was supposed to be a separate bedroom and a kitchen/living area but we were given only one bedroom like a hotel room with a small two burner stove and very small refrigerator with a microscopic sink...no pots, no pans, not even a spoon to be used. They advertised as having a full kitchen...but when we asked about pots and pans we were told no.

This is the place where we had spa treatments. We were soaked and cooked. The best was the massage. At first I was afraid to have the massage because of my tender spots. I am battered on the inside. I think the only part of me that shows the wear and tear of this traveling is the deep dark circles growing under my eyes.  Anyway, I sent Mike to have the massages and he said they were so tender...barely a touch. The table was underneath three faucets that dripped salt water on your back. The masseuse spread oil on your back and legs, feet as well. Then she gently massaged if you can call it that but it didn't hurt me at all and by the third day I was hooked...problem was we only had three days of treatments.

The first day of treatment Mike took the massage and I did the next two things. One was a jaccusi that had jets stronger than any I have encountered. It was what hurt my sore spots. Then they smeared this mush of seaweed stuff all over my body and wrapped me in plastic wrap. Then they wrapped a heavy plastic heat blanket, like a cocoon and turned up the heat on my back. I only did those things the first day. Mike took the final treatment which was basically water aerobics. It was an experience we would never have given each other in Redding and it was pretty fun. Both of us were up for more massages when we were done.

The hotel has a pool..just warm enough not to make me gasp when I jump in. When Mike jumps in all the little girls giggle because he does a ...corkscrew? Is that what we called it? and splashes big waves. We have seen and heard more whining from kids here than we did before in Italy,. I guess the kids are pretty tired from all the beach time they are having.

 The children at the pool are sweet and fun for me to be with. When we were in Italy we saw wonderful families. We noticed that the families lived in groups with grandparents. The day is so different from our lives. They start their day later then we do and take almost three hours off in the middle of the day when they lock up the stores and I guess they go home. The schools get out around one in the afternoon and the families have time together before the adults go back to work until around seven...depending on the shop or where they work. The people eat dinner at around eight or later. We had trouble with that one as we were tired and ready for bed and hungry before the restaurants were even opened at night.

We have had a really hard time in France with the language barrier. The people here seem to have no desire to learn or speak English. At our hotel the staff has been great except for one woman who works the desk and is ... well the other people describe her has having her nose in the air. The stay was made bearable when  I was given a small fan to put in the room to stir the air...no air conditioning at this place. The snotty woman told us that it was being fixed but the maid (who had great english) told me that the place didnt fix the airconditioner. LOL what a racket. I thought we might try bicycles again..even though I knew from experience that the spots where you sit are some of my sore spots. We inquired and the hotel rents bikes for twenty five dollars a day...only fifteen dollars for half a day. No wonder everybody is leaving the place to get bikes from other vendors.

The beds here have been fabulous. They are all memory foam. I guess they have been slept in a lot as they sink on both sides but they are softer and more comfortable than the last place.

I will reserve my final judgement for when we see Paris but for now Italy is my kind of place. Oh, we are flying to London on Sunday - the tickets for both of us were just about four hundred but the train was over a thousand...unreal. Did I tell you all about the train rides? We burned the wheels out on one of our suitcases so we might end up shipping some of our clothing home. When we get on the plane there are strict weight guidelines so we are going to wear multiple sets of clothing so we can get the bags on the plane. LOL Our Friend, Ian Proctor from the UK will pick us up and he told me that he took his shaving cream in his jacket pocket once to avoid an overweight charge. LOL

So, tonight we are cooking from our room with the doors wide open and a nice cool breeze coming in. We enjoyed a much cooler day today - finally a small break in heat. We arrived to "unseasonable heat" and have been pretty much cooked every day since. Lots of sunscreen but my feet still have tan lines.

Last night...yeah, I am skipping around a bit, so sorry...last night we went to dinner at a well-known local place that was fabulous. I had a hamburger and actual french fries made in France...how about that. The hamburger was so great, fried and no bun...just how I would make it for myself at home. Then I topped it off with a hot fudge sunday that I forced Mike to help me eat. Mike had oysters on a half shell...raw oysters that he said were fabulous...a smell that is best eaten outside as we were sitting at a table in a very crowded restaurant. We must have been there for at least three hours. Nobody is in a rush...I finally had to request our bill so we could go home as the sun had set and we were tired.

I feel like I am talking a lot about food - remembering when Karen journaled when we went to Hawaii with grandmother...every day all she wrote was what food we ate. LOL

We are heading to the head of the island for beach time before we fly out on Sunday to London then to Nottingham. I am going to see Leora's daughter, Melissa, who now lives in London with her husband and son, Tyson. She is going to take a little time off and show us around a bit when we are there, so not for another week.

I am afraid our time is coming quickly to a close here and will feel all kinds of misery getting home to the heat and all the mail that must be piling up.
Love you all
Au revoir
Sally

Webcam Tryst

Trying something new. Since I can't find time to write, we're trying video to see how it goes. Here's the first try. Let me know how you think it goes....

And if you want to check out the "Wanted" ad on CL take a gander:

http://bordeaux.fr.craigslist.fr/bar/3920112598.html

AND LEARN A NEW WORD IN FRENCH! TROC=BARTER

AC Firenze

We’ve made it to Florence by way of Sienna and today we have walked, I would guess, 8 or more miles. I could tell you the exact amount if I had internet access. But the AC Hotel Firenze does not have free internet connections. No, this greedy corporation wants to charge 9 Euros for

24 hours of access that might cost them 10 cents. I’m not paying them anymore money. I will carry my laptop to a café to complete my blog post.

Sally from Loro Ciuffenna My First Post

Hi,
Well, we are just back from another day of driving through beautiful scenery and looking at churches and a few museums. We found that almost everything closes their doors at 1:00 and open back up around 3:30 - which is of course my prime time. It is kind of frustrating because even the tourist information place closes up. The squares are empty - basically we are the only few people on the streets during siesta times. It is usually too far for us to go to take a nap so we just drive or hang out in a square and watch the clock.

Today we went to a few amazing churches that still had original fresco's - a fresco is like the Sistine Chapel that Leodardo painted...the paint is mixed with the plaster and painted that way. It is pretty amazing that some of the churches were painted in teh 1300's and still have the perfect fresco pictures. The sun here is so much like home, any frescoe that even has a touch of sunlight has faded a lot compared to those that are protected from the sun.

Obviously as that I am not Catholic some of this is truly the first I have been able to view. The churches are fine with people taking pictures. We lit a few candles for our children and I got on my knees to pray a few times. I am touched that so much care was taken to create an atmosphere that reminds us all that Christ lived and died for our sins. I personally don't like that the churches have him hanging on the cross for us to see, I prefer to remember he has ascended to heaven ahead of us all.

So, enough of that for now.

I have made a new friend, Mouschi - my new kitten friend. I suspect that I am not the only one who feeds her but I think I might just be the only one who picks her up. I have to pin her legs so she doesn't feel vulnerable while I hold her - especially if a car parks or Mike walks near.

We have made a few friends with the staff. One of them is so funny. He is drunk a lot...or maybe always a little tipsy. He works hard though and has been a source of amusement for us. Last night - around five he was standing at the bridge while I went to check on the laundry. He ran to the kitchen and nabbed a piece of bread - he was waiting for me upon my return. He saw me coming and laughing he grabbed me to kiss both my cheeks - my face cheeks that is. Then he pulled me to the bridge and tossed the bread into the water.

Hundreds of small fish swam to the bread and ate with a frenzy...made you feel a little like they if they were piranha's we would all be in trouble. He was kind of holding onto me and gave me bread but I said, "Let me go get Mike, he will love this." so off I trotted (we have the best room in the place! close to everything but on  the edge for privacy) so Mike came and the man had already run in to get more bread for Mike to throw.

There we were three old people watching little fish eat bread...that should indicate the spead of things here.

Our place is very nice. This morning I opened my umbrella and sat outside organizing for the day. Right now I am swatting mosquitoes...I have to run, my dinner is prepared. I am joking with people that I brought alone my cheuffeur and chef - nobody else has one! I do the dishes though....but by then who cares the hard work has been accomplished.

I had word from Jessica. Lily is very happy. Jess brought her kitten over and now the two of them are best buddies. Lily needed to learn to be a cat - Jessica has done so many things to help me out...she has even checked our mail for anything important.

I missed Kyle on his birthday and Dan on his. If I were a rich woman I would bring all the kids here - Italy is amazing. It is much nicer taking it on my pace, the world-wind tour just about did me in!  I think that if I had to leave America I would choose Italy. We will see how I feel after England and France.

So, for now Caio!
Love, Sally

After Firenze And 12 Museums in 4 days, it's:time for a break in a little mountain village built in the Middle Ages.

OK. I might have some time this week to resume writing this blog.

It's June 29 and we made it to Residence la Ferriera in Loro Ciuffenna Arezzo, Italia. We just checked in about an hour ago. The setting is in a small creek canyon and the room is charming, spacious and has a kitchen. No bath tub for Sally to soak in, but there is an indoor, unheated pool. I love that unheated pool deal.

Bella bambolina Josephina at the front desk has welcomed us, taken our credit card and described for us the special meal deal consisting of "three-meal dinner and three breakfasts for Euro 100,00 each. The people in these little mountain villages are so nice, so charming, so ready to earn the Euros....

Hey, you want to see Italia and her bella arte e archetecture? Dummy up and put your dollars down.

A picture of our main room (above) and the view from our front door, so you can see what Residence La Ferriera looks like. There is a tennis court and a swimming pool up there behind the main lodge. It's a hike.

The Whirlwind Tour Continues in Baveno

Next we visited Baveno, a lake town near the border of Switzerland. I am now writing in the past-tense because I am actually sitting in Venice over-looking the Grand Canal. But I must tell about my experience in this lake town, staying at the fleabag Dino Hotel, before I go on about taking a couple of lake tours by boat.

The "Grand Hotel Dino" is a has-been and now is not a first-class operation. The place has seen better days and is fast fading fast into third-classdom. I'm being polite. There was hardly a smile on the faces of workers as we walked in the front door. The first thing we noticed when we walked into our room was dead bugs by the sliding door-- makes you wonder what else is lurking in the place, you know? Sally saw cockroaches scurrying about the lobby, and later, as we were checking out, saw a worker spraying insecticide in the hallway where our room was.

I could have more easily slept on my pool table as the bed in this room-- it was the hardest mattress I have ever slept on. I slept because I was exhausted. The king-sized beds in the Dino are basically two twin box-springs pushed together. At least the air conditioner worked-- for us. Other tourers on our Italian Escapade were not so fortunate.

We heard that one couple had a room with a leaking ceiling. Rather than moving them to another room, the hotel management ordered a towel and a bucket they had to step over to get to their bathroom. 

I naturally awaken around 5:30 am and since there is no coffee service in the room, I went down to the restaurant to ask for a cup of coffee. The first waiter I saw did not pause for one moment to ask me if he could help me, so I waved down the next person I saw. He hesitated but did not stop, then turned as if he knew better than to leave me standing there. I asked for coffee. He replied, "Now?" I replied, "Hmmm, yes, now." He brought me a pot of brewed coffee in a carafe with some cream. One redeeming flicker in an otherwise dismal stay.

Here's the hotel link so you will know exactly which place I'm talking about:

http://dino.zaccherahotels.com/en/

Yes, this same hotel rated 4stars on booking dotcom and 4.5stars on tripadvisor dot com. MORE Hmmm.

San Gimignano

I took an extra excursion to a small, hill-top city thirty minutes outside of Florence, called San Gimignano. Sally chose to stay at the hotel and rest. It really is a whirlwind tour, and I'm starting to feel it too. But I don't want to miss a thing, so I'm attending all of the tours. The vista of kilometers and kilometers of Tuscan Hills was spectacular. I climbed to the top of the piazza where there is an ancient cathedral, I bought a piece of original terra pottery art for 7 Euros, I enjoyed a “world’s best” gelato choccolate on the steps of an ancient building .Here is the entrance to San Gimignono:

Here's the view across Tuscan fields from a side street:

The people are very friendly here. I tried to speak some Italiano to this Grandmother as she was taking a leisurely stroll with her Granddaughter. They both smiled at me and pretty much went on their way. They may "sprocken ze Deutsch" or perhaps my Italian is so bad they had no idea what I was said.

Firenze Frenzy

I am too busy taking tours, busy taking in Firenze, to write a word here. What a wonderful city, full of arts and history, full of people going about their business and going about their serious sight-seeing. We visited the Statue of David in the Galleria dell’ Accademia. Michelangelo’s David stands 14 feet tall; his feet are bigger than Shaq’s; he is sculpted of imperfectly veined marble that was rejected by other sculptors. I did not know that the statue David carries his sling and a stone in his right hand as he prepares to slay Goliath. This was Thursday.

On Friday night we went to dinner at a reknown Tuscan restaurant, “A Tres Pini.” We began the evening with a memorable blue champagne called Blumond, tinted with Curasao and containing a secret ingredient that will not be revealed, and a serenade by a crooner and his guitarist companion. The owner of the eatery spoke to us assurances that the delicious foods are plenty and the wines shall flow, and he was accurate—all you can eat and all you can drink of Chianti, a delicious fine Blanco, and of course, my favorite, BLUMOND! Liked it so much the waitress brought me my own bottle, which I shared but dominated.

Siena

Sienna was slightly interesting. There is a huge “Duono” Church building with an impressive façade with sculptures depicting the Apostles, Angels and Jesus. The best part of Sienna for me was the Frutta da Boscos gelee I enjoyed in the Plaza. It was hot and a number in our party complained about all the walking—some even took a cab to save a few steps. Me? I walked to the top, then wondered why. Hmmm...

Walking To The Leather "Factory"

I feel like Chris Farley doing the "quotes" thing. The walking marathon did not end with our arrival in Firenze. It was a bit of a trick, or, as our Insight tour guide Gianfranco called it, “a surprise,” when we were led like so many sheep to the leather “factory.” In reality, we were taken on a 2 mile trek through Firenze’s back alleys to a leather retailer and there we were flogged by a skilled sales pitch attempting to sell us leather or jewelry at 1000% mark-ups. The “factory demonstration” was about 30 seconds of gold leaf appliqué—so totally lame. I walked away and sought to find the exit. We should have been given the option of going “shopping” or going straight to the hotel that charges for internet access.

Roma

We're staying at Kolbe Hotel Rome. Our windows face the back portion of the excavation of the Public Forum (the first picture below.) There are excavations of structures that are 2,000-2,700 years old all around this ancient neighborhood. Our tour guide says apartments in this neighborhood run upwards of 3 million Euros.

The picture above is our room with all-important king bed, and the cute girl is the maid who is from Romania. She's saving up to get her husband moved to Italy. She had a tear in her eye when she spoke about him.

We visited the Vatican and The Colosseum this morning. Magnificent. Three hours of touring with no waiting in lines-- definitely the way to go. We took an exclusive tour into the Estruscan Museum. We were the only group in the building, a rarity in itself, and the artifacts, sculptures, pottery, was nothing short of fantastic. Here are some of my favorites from The Vatican Museums:

Here is Sally and our tour guide at The Colosseum:

Delta Airline Blues

ARRRRG! Delta Airlines has me speaking pirate. THEY LOST OUR LUGGAGE! Our Delta flight was 20 minutes late landing in Amsterdam's Shiphol Airport. We only had 45 minutes to begin with to make it to our transfer to AilItalia for the flight from Amsterdam to Rome. We probably would have made the 1.5 miles trek across the airport from the Delta landing gate to the AilItalia loading gate-- except for the security check which took 30 minutes. The security kid wanted "all the cords out of baggage." The search was more more extensive, more intensive than the one Homeland Security check made on us in the USA.

For us, "all the cords" meant to we scour three bags and tear out of our carefully packed carry-on baggage about a half-dozen cords. Why they needed to see the cords is beyond me. It's silly.

Needless to say, we are very disappointed with Delta Airlines. Delta's website (nor AAA's website, our travel agency), made no mention of the mandatory cord search. Delta has failed to deliver our baggage to Rome and so we missed our scheduled transfer flight from Amsterdam to Rome. I spent most of yesterday afternoon searching for it in Leonardo da Vinci Fiumicino Airport. This searching experience was difficult-- the language barrier was evident and my frustration level was maxed out.

FORTUNATELY for us, Sally packed all of our essentials-- medicines, toiletries, even a change of clothes--in our pink, carry-on bag. I have my computer, We will survive.

UPDATE 6-12-2013 : Thankfully, our baggage has arrived, intact, this afternoon.

Portland PDX

We made it to Stan and Sue's like a breeze. It was fortunate that we caught up with a group between Ashland and Medford driving 85-90 mph. They had British Columbia plates. )One of the cars was a new, black, wide-body, Mercedes, sports car that looked like a Mazerati. As soon as they passed us, I gunned it up to 82-84, figuring that if there were a highway patrol or state trooper, those B.C.ers would get the ticket and warn me of such a hazard. The trip from Redding to Beaverton took seven and a half hours with two stops. Good times in good time.

We had a bit of a fright last night when we couldn't find our cash-- a big deal for this trip because the plan was to pay cash for some of our hotel stays. We searched every nook of every bag and suitcase and came to the conclusion that the money was left in Sally's other purse which is on the closet floor at home, 400 long, car-driven miles away. Well, we called Jessica, we called Mom, we called Emily, we would have called ObAma if we thought for one second he cared-- and Jessica, bless her heart for getting up after a tiring day at work, searched and didn't find it, and we came to the conclusion that we left our money at home. Turnsout, after a second search of bags and all, the cash is in Sally's new purse/backpack. We are set.

Now we're at PDX, the Portland, Oregon Airport. just checked in through the security. We're three hours early for our flight. Stan brought us to the airport and then he has work in Portland. Sally ordered some food and she's hardly eating it. Here I sit just a-blogging for something to do.

I feel like a kid! Not nervous, just plain excited. This is the most excited I've been in a long time, since, well, marrying up in caste and stature to my best-friend-soul-mate and all-around wonder woman, Sally Jane Cain.

Jordan and Jessica

Jordan and Jessica will be house-sitting for us this Summer. They are engaged to be married in August. Jordan is a fireman. Jessica is my niece and she is an excellent Hair Stylist; she works in Redding, California at www.attractionshairboutique.com   I love the way Jessica trims my hair.

European Tour Countdown

One week until we leave for the trip of a lifetime. We're going to tour Western Europe. In the entry way you see our modest, largest rolling suitcase-- the one with the backpack on top of it that's also going, and a smaller hard-shell case that's an easy carry-one. We decided on one large piece of luggage for both of us, to simplify AND especially to make certain we can fast-track the luggage just in case we're running to catch a train, plane or Automobile.

That's Lily slinking along the hallway. She knows something is around the corner, but she's certain that she's coming with us. NOT! It will be the first time in a year that we've been away from her. She will have Jessica and Jessica has a kitty friend she might bring for a visit.