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.