Rome to Pompeii travel day!

Saturday, July 14th.  Travel day to Naples/Pompeii.

To alleviate some of the pressures and stress associated to travel, I had booked our train passage for all the "legs" of our journey for around noon.  This let us have a somewhat leisurely morning with lots of time to pack up and prepare for our train ride south.
We left the Casa Melinda, our wonderful apartment and home for our stay in Rome and with luggage

in tow, walked to our bus stop.  Not the 81, the 714!  The 714 arrived within minutes of us getting to the stop and being Saturday morning, was not packed with commuters on their way to work.  We had our original bus tickets in hand, but opted to test fate one more time and held off validating them!
11 minutes later we were at the Rome Termini Central station.
Our ride to Naples on the "fast" train was about 1 hour and 10 minutes.  The fast trains are fast, reaching speeds of 320kmph!
During the ride south, JT & Shannon were seated across from a devotchka (young lass from Russia) who they learned spoke impeccable english.  She was from Moscow and had a quick wit and some rather candid and farsighted views of her own country and the Russian society.  The Turgeon's enjoyed the chance encounter with this charming young lady with a maturity level that belied her physical years.
Munchie and I had the pleasure of meeting a young British couple from Manchester.  The young man was a journeyman carpenter and he and Munchie had an engaging exchange about the building industries in Canada and the UK.
When we arrived in Naples we had to walk over to another train terminal via an underground passage way to a regional carrier service to catch our train over to Pompeii.  The Campania Express train was a local train geared to moving tourists from Naples to Pompeii, Sorrento, and Salerno.  Unlike its
commuter counterpart, it has space, ac and fewer stops and only cost 6 euro (the commuter cost 1.50).  The 27 km ride took about 45 minutes (the 230km Rome to Naples took 70 minutes!).  Our station was across the road from the Pompeii archeological site and a 5 minute walk to our Hotel, the

Vittoria.  The hotel was a great old gem!  It had only 28 rooms.  It was a rather grand lobby area and from the exterior you would not expect it!  The wide marble staircase leading up to the rooms and art on the walls gave the place a touch of elegance.   As we walked up to the entrance we were greeted by a lady who it turned out was one of the owners.  She just happened to be walking by the entrance and escorted us to the lobby desk.  The staff at the Vittoria were awesome.  They were helpful, pleasant and accommodating!  When we had checked in one of the fellows at the desk insisted he show us to our rooms and help with the luggage.  At check in, we also met Nala.  This little dachshund had the run of the place and as we were to learn "was a princess, and knew it!".  Nala was the Vittoria's

"mascot" and even had postcards of an oil painting done of her by a friend of the owner!
After getting settled in our rooms we took a stroll around outside.  There was a small piazza next to the hotel and was full of vendors with trinkets and treasures for us tourists!  As it turns out the piazza and the Vittoria are rendezvous points for tours of the Pompeii excavation.  There were wall to wall people milling about waiting for their buses. 
We walked across the main road in front of the hotel and found a nice open air restaurant where we were able to sit down and enjoy our evening meal. 
The hustle and bustle of the days travel, combined with the heat and humidity had again taken its toll on us and we called it an early night. 
Our plan for Sunday was to visit the Pompeii excavations.  We had found a "skip the line" tour with an office at the train station right there and we would be catching the first tour in the morning.

Roma III

Friday July 13th.  Flavian's Amphitheatre.

This was our day to tour the Colosseum, the Palatine and the Forum.  We had opted for a guided tour called "the Gladiator's Gate" and included the colosseum, the palatine hill and the Roman Forum.  It
was a 09:00hrs start so we were up and attem' early again!
We walked over to the 81 stop and were able to hop on for the 2 stops.  The 2 minute bus ride saves steps and as we had learned already, conserving energy for the heat and humidity to come was a must.
We arrived early enough at the muster point next to a sidewalk cafe to enjoy a coffee and croissant.   Our guide was a animated fellow with extensive credentials in Roman history.  He kept the experience light and informative.  Colosseum, he explained is a "nickname" that has become the most recognized name for the structure.  My caption above is the true name after the emperor who began the construction.  We entered onto the arena floor.  Standing there looking up where the many spectators would have been only required a little bit of imagination to travel back in time and feel the excitement and fervor of the games!  The magnitude and design of this arena is amazing.  50,000 plus spectators could enter and exit within minutes!  The passages and rooms beneath the arena floor, which was made of wood and covered in sand, were an elaborate maze enabling the many animals and other

props to be quickly and efficiently moved into place on the floor above.  This was done through 80 trap doors in the floor.  Our guide had renderings of what the arena would have looked like in its full glory, before time, earthquakes and plunderers had taken their toll.  For any with an interest in ancient history this is definitely a bucket list item.
Our next stop on this tour was the Palatine hill.  This was the place the rich and noble would have lived.  It was a stone's throw from the arena and being on a hill had a good panoramic view of the city at the time.  From the Palatine, we walked down into the forum area.  This is where the masses resided.  It was also the meeting place for commerce and many of the temples to the gods were there.
This tour was a bit of a history overload.  There was so much to see and wonder at.

When our tour wrapped up, after over 3 hours, we were ready for some relief from the blistering heat and humidity.
This brings me to another sidebar about the 81!  We walked from the forum area back to the colosseum and the 81 bus stop.  We decided we would wait for the bus for the 2 stops as any relief from walking in the heat was a bonus.  According to the Rome transit online site the 81 should run about every 14 minutes.  At about the 25 minute mark of waiting, some of our group decided to walk home.  Wouldn't you know it, we were about 100 meters from the stop and the 81 rolled up.  With a burst of energy and blinding speed we bolted back to the stop, fortunately the driver saw us coming and opted to wait for us!  We didn't even try to validate our eternal tickets as we were only on the bus for 2 stops.
JT did figure out why we couldn't validate the tickets, we were putting them into the machine backwards!  I'm sure if the transit cops had of checked us they would have been sympathetic to our ineptitude and given us a quick lesson on how to us the machine, not!  So we ended up saving a few euro on transportation through our folly!
When we got back to the apartment, JT and I decided to walk up the street to a spot google said had a taxi stand.  It was only a few minute walk and our plan was to see if we could arrange for a cab to the train station in the morning.  We found the spot and there were some cabs there.  We approached a cab that pulled up.  The lady driving rolled down her window, I used my go to Italian phrase "Parla Inglese?".  Well we must have either caught her on a bad day or she is the most unfriendly cabbie in Rome.  She looked at me with a disgusted look and said "Taxi?"  I tried to explain we wanted to arrange one for tomorrow.  She turned her head forward, rolled up her window and drove up a few meters.  I though she may be moving to a parking spot as she again rolled down her window.  Taking this as a sign we walked up to the window again.  She basically looked at me with a very sour expression then looked forward and ignored us!  We saw another cab pull up.  We went over to this one and the fellow in this cab was very helpful explaining what we needed to do to secure a taxi for the morning.  As it turned out I was able to find a direct bus line to the station with a stop not far from the apartment so we decided on this, not wanting to trust to a cab maybe or maybe not coming in the morning.
This was our final evening in Rome and we went out to a local restaurant just around the corner.  What a wonderful place!  It was obviously a favorite spot of many locals and our meal was awesome.  Our server had a good sense of humor and her wit and personality enhanced the experience.

Pompeii tomorrow!

Roma Part II

Wednesday July 11th,  We explore!

We spent a leisurely morning with a catered breakfast (compliments of Munchie!) and then headed out again.  We walked about 400 meters to the bus stop, the 81.  In Rome, the buses run on a schedule, you just never know what it is!  We had only a few minutes to wait for this one.  We had opted for this

short bus ride as the walk to the colosseum was uphill (both ways!) and as we had been spending a great deal of time walking the ability to save a few steps was definitely a plus!
So far, we had not a had a day were the mercury had not been above 30 C with high humidity.  Having said that we were very conscious of trying to plan our routes to use the local public transit and our Ho Ho bus.
We jumped on the 81, and attempted to validate our tickets, the machine didn't appear to want to take our tickets so we took a chance and rode the 2 stops watching over our shoulders for the bus police!
From the stop to the Ho Ho location was a short walk and we again bumped the little fellow, Ali, who had sold us the tickets the day before.  He greeted us warmly and asked how our experiences had been so far in Rome.  Ali had a good sense of humor and was polite and respectful!
We walked over to the Ho Ho stop and waited for the big red bus to show up.  Our plan for the day

was to ride the Ho Ho to the stop closest to the Spanish Steps.  We had pored over google maps and a local map to have an idea of where we would be and our walking options from spot to spot.  We knew the Trevi fountain was not a long walk from the Steps so we would not be hopping back on the Ho Ho for the Trevi.
Our Ho Ho driver today did not have either the experience or abilities of the driver yesterday, as at the right angle turn through the arch, he had to take a couple cracks at it!  We hoped off at stop 7a and headed off towards the steps.  The walk to the steps was thankfully downhill from the 7a. After getting our bearings, with the help of a young couple from Edmonton who had google maps up and running, we found the steps.  What I  really liked about our
visit to the steps was we arrived at the top!  Walking down the steps
was definitely a more desirable option than climbing up!
Like all the historic sites of Rome, the Spanish Steps was a marvel.  I'm sure along with the "official history" of the Steps there are
endless stories with personal significance and meaning to many of the visitors who have been here.
After some photo ops we moved along to the Trevi Fountain.  Once you see it "in the flesh" you can understand why it has been the subject of art, literature, song and film!  On this very hot and humid day the flowing waters of the fountain were very tempting, but I understand cooling off in the fountain is frowned upon so along with the throngs of others taking in the splendor of this huge work of art we appreciated it visually!  We all tossed a coin into the fountain.  I can't tell you what each wished for as of course doing so prevents wishes from coming true!  I will guess for you what some of the wishes may have been, you see if you can see who I was attributing my guesses to;  "I wish I had a fan with a mister right now!", "I wish these people would get the #$@$ out of my way so I could see the fountain!" "I wish I could have a cold beer that didn't have to be GF!"
Anyway those would be my guesses at what my traveling companions were wishing!
We found a great sidewalk cafe in the piazza just down from the fountain and walked over to see if there was room for 4 more.  The place was packed!  Not a table to be had.  But no matter, the host barked out some orders in Italian and the bus boys jumped into action.  Faster than you can say "all the cheese in China" they put up another table and had it set a ready in record time!
Sidebar here: The expression above is a Munchie-ism.  Not really sure what it means and I'm not sure Munchie knows what it means either, but she felt it fit the bill for whatever she was describing!
We had a great lunch at this spot and JT had an outstanding GF pizza!  After lunch we walked over to the closet Ho Ho stop and hopped on!  Just 3 stops later we were back at the colosseum.  We made the up hill trek back to the apartment and the ice fiends immediately checked on their supplies!
It had been a long hot day and relaxing with our feet up was a welcome relief!  We had the Vatican scheduled for tomorrow.

Thursday July 12th  Vatican City!

We booked our Vatican guided skip the line tour with a 9:00am start.  This meant an early start on the 81 which would take us within a couple hundred meters of our meeting point.  So B&E (Bright & Early) we were up and attem' and ready to roll.  We walked over and caught the 81 (there was a bit of a

Our guide Nadia!

wait this time, but we had factored this into our travel time calculations!).  Again, we could not validate our tickets (still the first ones we bought as they are good until you validate them) so again we took a chance on being busted by the bus police.  There were a lot of commuters on the 81 at this time in the morning so it was standing room only!  The ride was about 25 minutes and we arrived at our rendezvous point with time to spare.  We were the first to arrive, our group was to have no more than 12 people.  Others soon began drifting in and at 08:45 our guide Nadia arrived.  After introductions, a young couple from Illinois, a pair from Cleveland Ohio, a mother and 8 year old daughter from Montreal/Chek Rep., and the four of us from the True North, for a group of 10!  Nadine gave us a pre-tour does, don'ts, and the basics of what we will see, talk and then we headed to the entrance.
I must say, the perks of the guided tour are well worth the cost over the basic entrance fees!  The information and knowledge the guide provided during the tour was very interesting and well received! 

The perk of the guided tour that topped the list for me was the "skip the line" feature!  As we walked past the millions of people lined up to get in, we could glance over at these budget minded and frugal sorts and some of us I'm sure thought "its too bad some folks just don't have the financial means to take advantage of this service" and others may have thought "suckers!, ya that's right, we're going right on in!"  Nadia had told us during her preamble that there was no way you could see everything there during our relatively brief visit so we would be focusing on the highlights.  Even then, the sensory and information overload was staggering!

A visit to the Vatican is definitely a bucket list event.  I will not even attempt to describe the majesty and awe of the place, all I can say is for me, the Sistine Chapel had the greatest impact!
Even with the crush of the crowds and the very warm day, it was a

great tour and experience!  If you ever have the opportunity to see this renowned historic site, do not miss out!  Being able to see things in real life that you have only read about can give you another perspective!
After the official tour was completed we headed off to see the Pantheon.  FYI Nolan, your mom did not spontaneously combust while walking the holy site!
We walked over to the HoHo stop (#6) just across the Tibre a few hundred meters from the Holy City.  Now the Pantheon is best reached from HoHo stop #5!  This meant we had another full tour to the city on the Ho Ho!  We were able to find some seats in the lower level of the bus right beside the AC, which at this point of the day's journey was a must (especially for "Flash" aka Shannon!) 
The Pantheon originally a pagan temple to the gods, is now a church, which is likely why it still stands today.  The current structure was built in 120 AD by the emperor Hadrian and in 609 AD it became a

church, keeping from being destroyed by the Christians purging pagan structures over the years.
It is an impressive structure, the engineering and construction again a marvel!  It still remains the largest unsupported dome in the world!
This was a long day.  The heat and humidity definitely took its toll on us and we were happy to call it a day and head for home in Rome.  However this was not to be a seamless return trip!  Our Ho Ho tickets had expired, but we had our tickets for the 81!  I had already located the nearest 81 stop to the Pantheon and the walk was only a few minutes.  Now, this is where it goes a bit sideways!  We arrived at the stop at around 17:30hrs.  Commuter time!  This stop had a number of different lines going by and  all of the buses were packed liked cans of sardines!  This did not impress Munchie or the Flash!  There is a happy ending to this little sidebar; we waited about 1/2 hour for the 81, and the decision was made to bite the bullet and cab it home!  There was a taxi point a couple of minutes away from the bus stop and we were able to get a cab right away.  The girls were much happier campers with this choice!  I must say, the idea of traveling like a sardine did not appeal to me that much either!
Back at the apartment, a cooling shower and putting our feet up was a welcome and much needed end to the day!

More to come.......

Roma!

Monday, July 9th.

Our final morning in Florence!  We had packed the evening before and as I had booked our train for 12:30 in the afternoon, we were able to have a fairly relaxing morning.  We were not rushed on our walk to the train station and met up with JT & Shannon there.  While we waited for our train, the girls took the opportunity to engage in My Darling Bride's favourite sport...shopping!  There were a number of shops in a mall below the station and I'm sure the gals made a good effort to visit most of them!
Our train was on time and we boarded without any glitches or mishaps.  We settled in for the 1 hour 50 minute ride.  We were on the Italotren line again and the coaches were comfortable and the a/c worked!  We were able to finish off a bit of red and white vino we had in our "carry on", a nice treat for the journey!
We arrived at the Roma Termini station in the heart of the city and were able to seamlessly hire a taxi to take us to Casa Melinda our apartment on Via Gallia 34.  The location was awesome.  The colosseum was a 12 minute walk from the place.  We were greeted by the apartment owner, Massimo, a very nice fellow who familiarized us with the apartment and what was around the immediate area.  The apartment was a spacious 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom with a large living room and full kitchen.  We had all of the amenities including a washer and dryer.
Once settled in, we made some preliminary plans about what we wanted to see and when we would take them in.
We walked to a local grocery store to stock up the larder for our stay.  We had one major priority (according to Munchie and JT), ice trays!  There was only one tray in the apartment freezer and it could never keep up to our pair of ice fiends!  Shannon came through and found some in a "dollar store" across from the Carrefour Market, which was just around the block from the apartment.  We returned to the apartment and stocked the shelves.  The immediate priority was of course to fill the ice trays and get going on the ice cubes!  Shannon washed up the new, deluxe, superduper, stackable trays, filled 'em up and into the freezer they went!
I think our "experience" on earth may be a greater factor on our stamina than we want to admit, as our journey from Florence to Rome seemed to play us out!  We opted to walk to the closest restaurant for our supper and called it a relatively early night!  Oh, yes, there was a pleasant surprise for the ice fiends.  When we got back from supper, Munchie checked the ice and the freezer had done its job!  Munchie emptied the trays and while doing so discovered the 3 trays we had were actually 6!  Now we were talkin' about making ice!  The chilly cheer from those who revere and desire copious quantities of ice for their libations could be heard for meters!

Tuesday July 10th.

On our first morning in Rome we had breakfast in the apartment.  Our plan today was to go exploring or as some say in the security business, do a "reckie" of our must sees while here.  We had discussed

both our wants and needs and headed out on foot.  We had a leisurely stroll, about 12 minutes to the colosseum.  We were met by "Ali" on the street corner across from the famous landmark.  He was selling tickets to the "Hop on Hop off" bus.  We opted for the 48 hour option and this turned out to be a rather convenient way to get around and close to many of the spots we had on the list. We had also researched the local bus system and the 81 was going to be our bus for getting to and from the Vatican.  There is more about bus 81 to come!  JT found out to buy the local bus tickets you just had to find a shop with a black T and you were set.  The shop JT tried, told him to come back in an hour as he was out of tickets.   We stopped a sidewalk cafe and had a refresher, then continued on

with a walk around the exterior of the colosseum.  The size of the structure is really quite awe inspiring, especially when you think of when it was built.  With the engineering and construction methods of that period it is of no wonder how long it took to achieve the final results.  I think when you say blood, sweat and tears, that saying must come from that time.
We found our hop on stop and "hopped on'!  We took the entire route on the bus to sight see and get our bearings.  At one point along the route the driver really had to showcase his skills as he eased the

big red bus through a narrow arch on a 90 degree turn with traffic and parked cars to negotiate!  He succeeded on the first attempt!  He must have been one of the more experienced drivers as later on another driver misjudged his turn and had to back up to complete the turn.  The total route with the stops was just about 3 hours.  When we arrived back at where we started, stop #3, we hopped off and headed back to the apartment.  With the temperature in the 30s (C), and abuot 75% humidity and being on an open air bus for almost 3 hours, we were ready for a bit of a break.

More to come!

Dragons in Florence!

Thursday, July 5th.

We greeted our first morning in the “la bella citta” or as some call it “the city of lillies” with a taste of the local cuisine from a cafe a couple of blocks away. The “mcmuffin di salsiccia all'uovo” hit the spot! We had not been to the grocer to stock the larder yet, so Micky D coffee & mcmuffin it was!

We had tentatively arranged to meet Shannon and JT at the train station around 09:30hrs this morning, so we headed out and strolled about the Duomo Piazza then made the short walk to the train station. We sent JT a text of our arrival. Well, I guess the walking tour the day before had taken its toll! The Turgeons were just rolling out of bed! We went to plan b walked over to their hotel. We took a bit of a detour and walked past the Hotel Lungarno just to see if Andrew and Tamara might be up and about. We walked into the lobby and they were at the front desk! They said they had been able to straighten out most of the details of the stolen pack including getting their prescriptions for their medications from back home! We chatted a bit then took our leave to rendezvous with Shannon & JT. Andrew and Tamara had places they had to go this morning as well.
We walked to the Hotel NH Firenze and met Shannon and JT in the lobby. We then headed out to explore. We walked along the river back towards the Duomo taking in the endless examples of the old architecture. At the Duomo Piazza we met “Luca”, he was booking sightseeing tours of old Florence by golf cart. We arranged for an 11:00hrs tour for the next day.


The weather was hot and humid! We often looked for the most shaded and breeze swept streets as we walked around. There were sidewalk cafes and restaurants everywhere. There were numerous street vendors, artists and musicians. Some with very much stereotypical tourist based merchandise, and some, especially the local artists, displaying wonderful pieces of original watercolours, oils, and pencil drawings and paintings. Some of the musicians were also very talented. I forgot to mention the fellow who had played a violin just a few steps outside the Le Botteghe Di Donatello. He was awesome. Munchie immediately started planning a “gig” for the Spurs, those talented retired mounties based in St. Albert, Canada. She sent off messages to lead guitarist and lead vocalist, Gerry, “Slash” Babin to let him know she was working on it! Gerry’s response was to tell Munchie not to wear out her knees praying at all the churches!


Shannon had “Breast Friends” team commitments in the afternoon and we arranged to meet up again later for dinner.
That evening, we met Shannon and JT at the Le Botteghe Di Donatello. This evening, the violinist was back and had his grandson with him also playing! We met the lad later on the street, kicking a soccer ball around, and learned he was 11 years old and had been playing the violin since he was 4!
This kid was amazing! His expressions while he played were really quite animated and you could see he really loved what he was doing!
Our dinner was quite late (for us old farts!) and we called it a night. We had a 2 minute walk to our apartment. JT and Shannon had to walk the 11 minutes to the train station then caught the tram

back to their hotel, a 3 minute ride. This cut out a good chunk of the walk for them. Shannon’s fitbit told her she had put on many more steps than she needed to for one day so could afford to jump on the tram!

Friday July 6th,

We woke again to a bright and sunny day! The forecast called for another scorcher! We had stocked up a bit with some basics for breakfast and had some toast, cheese, and fresh tomatoes!
We met up with the Turgeons in the Duomo Piazza for the golf cart tour. Our driver and guide, Charlie, was a very congenial and knowledgeable fellow! He was from Poland and had relocated to Florence about 6 years ago with his son to start a new life for them. The tour of the old city took us by the majority of the highlights and Richard had obviously made himself well versed in the local history. Richard showed us watermarks on some of the buildings about 3 meters up the wall! With was from a flood in the 1960s! After that, they added to the banks along the Arno and also deeped the channels to prevent any future flooding.


After the tour, Shannon had to meet her team to get ready for the formal opening ceremonies. This included a parade of nations from the Piazza Pitti to the Piazza Della Signoria. Munchie, JT and myself walked over to the the Piazza Della Signoria and found a spot in one of the sidewalk restaurants along the parade route and settled in to await the arrival of the teams. This Piazza is home to the famous statue of David, Michelangelo's masterpiece (this one, of course, is a copy as the original has been standing in the Galleria Accademia since 1873). There are a number of other statues here as well, the square is really a showcase for achievements of very talented artists. At this time the prominent statue of Neptune was behind scaffolding for maintenance and repairs. Scaffolding is seen throughout the old city as preventive maintenance is the only way to extend the life of these structures that have been here for hundreds of years.
There were supports for the dragon boat teams everywhere! Pink, of course was the predominant colour of shirts for team supporters. When the parade arrived in the square, lead by dragon dancers complete with drums and cymbals, I noticed there were quite a number of tourists milling around. They soon learned they were being displaced by the advancing teams who would be filling the square for the opening ceremonies! As the teams flowed into the the piazza, the tourists were pushed to the sides by the sheer numbers!

The atmosphere was electric and exciting! We cheered as they announced each nation as they entered the square. The cheer for the Canadian contingent, 32 teams, was amazing, showing just how many friends and family had come to Florence to support our loved survivors! Even our server, Fernando, was caught up in the furor! On a side note, we also met Brian. His wife, Karen was on the team from London, Ontario, Canada. Karen is paddles with good friends of JT and Shannon, Cathy Tardiff! What a small world! As it turns out Brian is a retired opera singer and teacher.

Fernando happened to be an ameteur tenor and he and Brian, who is a bass, gave us a little sample to the cheers of all around!
Once all 125 teams had made their way into the square, a lengthy endeavour to say the least, the formal opening ceremonies began. The majority of the piazza was in direct sunlight and I’m sure those standing out there were hoping the formalities would be short and sweet! I did notice there were a large number of participants who could not endure the stifling conditions and had to seek relief from the sun's rays prior to the end of the ceremonies. Shannon lasted much longer out there than I thought she would, and joined us at the sidewalk table, which was in the shade with a nice breeze!
After the ceremonies we wandered back up to the Duomo where Shannon got a slice of pizza from a great little pizzeria on the square. She hadn’t had anything since lunch!
As the hour was getting late, and our racer needed a good rest, we turned in for the night. Shannon’s first race was scheduled for the next morning at 10:46hrs and we were to meet up with JT in the am to take in the races!

Saturday, July 7th,

Race day 1 ! We hooked up with JT and headed over to the south bank of the Arno to watch our Shannon and her team take on all comers! The races were running a few minutes behind, but overall

the organizers kept things flowing! There were five lanes, so each heat (race) had five boats. There were 15 boats being used, 5 loading, five racing, and five moving into the starting positions. This system was very efficient. From across the river we could see Shannon and the rest of the Breast Friends (team b) moving to the loading position. Shannon’s bright turquoise ball cap helped us easily pick her out of the crowd! Once her boat was loaded and they pushed out onto the river they made the 180 degree turn to head down stream to the starting area. The turn brought them quite close to the bank we were on and as the boat passed we did the ole 3 person wave to encourage them and show our enthusiasm for the team!
We moved a good vantage point of the finish line and waited for the start. We watched as the boats moved into the starting position. 3 Canadian boats, 1 Aussie boat and 1 Italian boat. Breast Friends in boat 4, lane 4. We then saw the paddles raised in anticipation of the starters horn. Then they were off! 5 boats, 110 paddlers, gliding towards us at the finish line! All paddles moving in unison, each stroke propelling the 12 meter craft down the course! It was a tight race and as the boats came closer we could see lane 5, a Canadian team from the Vancouver area, would be able to hold off the other boats. Breast Friends surged in the last 20 meters of the race to pull past the hometown favorites in the Italian boat and take second place about .6 seconds ahead of the Italians!



Breast Friends raced again in the afternoon, paddling to a 3rd place finish in that heat.
We spent the evening again walking around the old city eventually finding a spot for our dinner. We were again treated to some local musicians playing in the square, a quartet with 3 violins and a bass violin. They were quite amazing! After dinner as we were walking we could hear someone playing drums! We soon discovered it was a young man playing on upside down plastic buckets! He was good! Munchie sent a picture of him to the Spus’ drummer, Christopher Carroll, telling him there was work for him in Florence! It wasn’t long before 3 fellows walked up to the drummer, had a brief conversation with him and he quickly packed up his stuff and left the area! JT and I agreed the 3 persons had been plain clothed enforcement officers of some type. We had noted when they arrived a number of the street vendors had quickly gathered their wares off of the cobblestones and melted away into the crowds! Like magic, they suddenly were back once the 3 “cops” had left!

Sunday July 8th,

Race day 2 ! We met up with JT at the same spot on the south bank of the Arno for Shannon’s first race of the day. Breast Friend had boat and lane #2 for this heat. This race was as exciting as the others, with a fight to the finish from the start! Shannon and the ladies in boat 2 were able to lead wire to wire and came away with a win! 1st place for this tilt, .8 seconds ahead of second place!
Her second race in the afternoon was another close one with an Aussie boat taking 1st and Breast friends edging out the Pink Ladies from the USA by .06 seconds for 2nd.
The races concluded in the late afternoon and there was a closing ceremony there on the river and both banks. 18 boats gathered in the centre of the Arno forming a pink island and the north shore of

the Arno was covered in pink as the competitors gathered for the ceremony. It is a tradition for the survivors to end these events by tossing a flower into the water to remember and revere those who did not survive. This ceremony was really quite moving as it seems we have all been touched by this awful disease, some of us directly and many through those we care about.
At the end of the day we left the the river, leaving the flowers to drift along, beautiful reminders of those souls no longer on this side.
We took a break to freshen up and relax and then met for a final supper in Florence. As this was Shannon’s time, she got to pick the spot! She chose a kobe steak house across from the train station. We all ordered the steak for 2, 1kg of beef! It came out on a sizzling cast iron tray and it was marvelous! So the 4 of us were able to finish up the 2kg of meat plus all the fixin’s!
Our server was a great young man with a quick wit and a very amiable demeanor! His attention to our dining needs truly enhanced the dining experience!

We headed back to our Florence abodes for our last sleep in Florence.

Off to Rome in the morning!

More to come.....

Florence!

Wednesday, July 4th.  (Happy Birthday USA!)

For those with “½ empty glass”

tendencies, this travel could be labelled “A trip from Hell !  With the track closure, we now had to catch the first train to Menton, 06:06hrs. I attempted to plan in as much extra time as I could to ensure we would not miss later connections down the line.  So, up at 05:00hrs, and over to the station to catch the train. I had purchased our tickets the night before, and we were able to find and board our train easily. At 06:05:59hrs, the conductor was stepping in to close the doors and I noticed he stood holding the door open.  He was holding the door for a couple with two large suitcases who came were rushing down the platform to catch the train. They made it on...hats off to the kind conductor for his consideration! As it would turn out to be, this lovely couple, from “Down-under”, Tamara & Andrew, were traveling to Florence and would be on the same trains as Munchie and me for the entire journey!  We discussed the situation regarding getting from Menton to Ventimiglia. They had been given advice about talking the short bus ride from Menton to Ventimiglia, this seemed a very good idea, I had attempted to find bus info online the evening before, but hadn't much success. I did find cab fares, ranging from 40 to 80 euro! Tamara and Andrew said the bus was 1.50 euro! The math works, we opted for this option.  Upon our arrival in Menton (which appeared to be a smaller, quainter, version of Nice), we were able to get directions from the train station to the bus stop. We even had some time to sit at a little sidewalk cafe and enjoy a coffee “americano” and a wonderful treat, nuts covered in a sweet glaze on a shortbread crust, that my Darling Bride found for me!

The 905 bus was scheduled for 08:00hrs and showed up on time. The ride to Ventimiglia was short and sweet! From the bus stop, the train station was down, up, over, back, up over again and, ta-da! We were there!
At the Ventimiglia train stations we were standing in line to confirm our places on the short train ride to Taggia Arma, about a 20 minute trip. Andrew and I went up to the agent who announced to us the train from Ventimiglia to Taggia was not running because of a strike (this is quite normal for trains in Italy apparently!). We were directed to take the bus, which was out, down, over, around, back and then up again! We headed out from the stations, luggage in tow. About 500 meters from the station, Tamara noticed Andrew was not wearing his backpack! Andrew raced back to the station, but unfortunately, to no avail. The pack was gone! As we had only a few minute window to catch the bus to Taggia, Andrew and Tamara decided they would make a police report about the missing pack at the next opportunity. Thank goodness they did not have any cash, cards, or passports in the pack. Tamara had also just removed their train tickets that morning to have in hand. They did lose all of there electronics, ipads, e-readers and other conveniences that help fill the down time when traveling. What was concerning was they had medications in the pack and they would have to find a way to have these replaced.
We were able to get to the Taggia and on the regional train to Milan without too great an effort. Andrew and Tamara were up in coach 10. We had tickets for coach 4, but were directed to coach 5 initially. The a/c was out in coach 5! We thought the 3.5 hour ride to Milan was going to be brutal as the interior temperature of the coach felt hotter than the +30C outside! Thank goodness the conductor came and announced we could move to our seats in coach 4 and the a/c was working there! Munchie passed some of the time playing 2 handed “spades”. My darling bride had the luck on this leg of the journey and was the overall champ on the train!
We hooked up with Tamara and Andrew again on the platform at the Milan station. They had befriended a wonderful couple from Milan who were kind enough to take the time to show us to our next train. A small gesture on their part, but it helped keep a bit of the stress of us train newbies away. Hats off to the welcoming and friendly spirit of the people from Australia, what a fabulous character trait to have!

Tamara and Andrew were in coach 10 again I believe, and we were in coach 5 this time. This train was with Italotreno, privately run high speed train service. We clipped along at up to 300 kmph on our way to Florence. How smooth this last leg of the journey had progress when compared to the events of the morning, but alas, this was not to be. I think the travel gods just wanted to remind us they were in control. Just outside of Florence, our trained slowed and then came to a full stop! There were problems down the line and we had to wait for a track to open before we could reach our final stop, Firenze Santa Maria Novella. We got into the station about 45 minutes late. Again thanks to our new Aussie mates, I was able to reach our accomodations host and let him know we would be late. I couldn’t reach him from Munchie’s cell.
We exchanged contact information with Andrew and Tamara and we all hoped we could maybe hook up later on.
Our walk from the train station to the apartment was only about 11 minutes. We found it with relatively little effort. Via Dei Servi 31 was just over 100 meters from the Duomo! Stefano was waiting at the door for us. He showed us up to the wonderful apartment on the 1st floor. It was great! Well equipped and very comfortable! For those who prefer a home stay rather than a hotel stay this is the type of place you would like.

Our great friends, Shannon and JT (Jean) Turgeon, were already in Florence, arriving on July 2nd. Shannon is a member of the “Breast Friends” dragon boat team and they had travelled to Florence for the international breast cancer survivors dragon boat races (http://www.florencebcs2018.org/) There were 125 boats of 22 paddlers in each boat entered in this event from Canada, US, Britain, Australia, New Zealand, France, Italy, Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Taiwan, Singapore, Ireland, Austria, Denmark, South Africa, Spain and Sweden!
JT had already reached us by text to let us know they were on an excursion, now let me quote my good friend JT, “the hike from hell!” I guess it was not quite what he had expected! So anyway he wasn’t expecting to be back to Florence until late, so we said we would see them in the morning.
After getting settled we headed out for our first meal in Firenze. We walked to Piazza Duomo and the first restaurant we came upon was Le Botteghe Di Donatello, which is in Donatello’s (not the ninja turtle) workshop. We sat outside and had a great meal. Munchie noticed they had a dedicated “senza glutine” (gluten free) menu! JT was recently diagnosed with celiacs and so now the GF on a menu means something! Munchie took a pic of the menu and promptly sent it to JT!
After supper, we headed back to the apartment and retired for our first sleep in Florence.
More to come.....

France!

June 29, 2018 (Friday) Our Italian adventure begins! We fly via Westjet from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and arrive in Paris (via Calgary and Halifax) at 10:00am on Saturday, June 30. This is our first visit to the city of lights! Our first task, getting from the Charles De Gualle Airport to our hotel, the Montpensier, about 140m from the Louvre. We spoke to a knowledgeable, pleasant, helpful, young lady at the Info booth at CDG. Not only did she provide the quickest and most economical transfer info to our hotel, but also we got "skip the line" tickets for the Louvre!

After a quick shuttle from terminal 1 to terminal 3, we boarded our first train headed into Paris. We sat opposite a wonderful young man from Paris who was friendly and again very helpful about managing our upcoming transfer from one train to another. His kindness and consideration allowed us a seamless transition and with very little stress, we arrived in the heart of the city!
A 10 minute walk from the train stop and we were at the Montpensier. The hotel was very economical for the location, having said that, let's just say, it did not have some of the conveniences of the big chains! We were on the 5th floor, the top floor of this building. The "lift" had a maximum occupancy of 3 (3 very small persons mind you!), once I stuffed two suitcases in, there was only room for one person, me! Munchie took the stairs. The first flight was a grand wide staircase, which narrowed as you went up. By the time you reached the 5th floor, the stair case was about 2' wide! Our room was quite spacious, complete with a toilet and shower, although these were not in the same location! There was a outer entrance door to our suite, with a hallway to the bedroom. The doorway to the bedroom was 5'11", I'm 6', needless to say, I was reminded of the 1" shortfall on more than one occasion!
After getting settled in the room, we headed out to find a cafe, our last real meal was breakfast at the YEG (Edmonton airport). Just up the street we found a sidewalk cafe and had a wonderful meal! The waiter was a pleasant and courteous young fellow. After the late lunch, we did a bit of exploring, however the journey getting to Paris was catching up to us and we opted for a bit of a rest back at the room.
We ventured out again at about 4pm (Paris time). As it happens, the “Gay Pride” parade was underway. Wow! There were thousands of participants and the Quai Francois Mitterand was the route. The crowd was generally joyous and boisterous and the music and celebrations were deafening! The whole thing was really quite spectacular (or a spectacle depending on your personal beliefs!) Regardless, the sheer magnitude of the event was something to behold.

Munchie and I wanted to take a walk along the Seine, but to do this we had to cross the Mitterand, which of course required us to briefly become part of the mass of bodies moving along the parade route. We made it through without incident and went on the the river.
We took a stroll onto the Passerelle Léopold Sédar Senghor (bridge). We sat on the benches and watched the river traffic for a bit. We noted some of the old river boats, now converted to floating homes. I sure they would make wonderful accommodations! This bridge also had the “love locks” attached to the barriers on each side. Although not as famous as the Pont des Arts Bridge, I’m sure each lock was placed there with the same intended sentiment and carries the same treasured meaning for the owner even if not on the more noted location. On our walk back to our hotel we stopped at one of the many sidewalk restaurants and had a great meal. After the meal, we headed back to the room to retire for the night!

Sunday, July 1st, Canada Day, happy birthday Canada!
Today we headed out and jumped on the “Batobus”, a hop-on hop-off water bus on the Seine. We “hopped on” at the Louvre stop and “hopped off” at the Champs Elysees stop. We walked up to the Arc de Triomphe taking in the wonderful history and architecture along the way. At the Arc, Munchie opted to take a seat at one of the sidewalk restaurants to wait for me while I headed up to the top of the Arc. There are 284 steps to the top (about 50 meters up). The view of the city was pretty good! It is quite impressive when you consider when this was built and how it had to be constructed. The ingenuity of the human race is really quite extraordinary!
Munchie patiently awaited my return from my little side excursion and we strolled back down the Champs, which had been closed to automobile traffic and was open only for pedestrian use, a local told us this was a regular monthly event for the summer. There was a very strong presence of security, an unfortunate necessity considering the nature of recent vehicle attacks by radical extremists. My hat’s off to the members of the security forces who put themselves intentionally in harm's way so you can safely enjoy the treasures of Paris!
We opted to take the 24 minute stroll from the Arc to the Eiffel Tower and walked down to this modern Wonder of the World! Standing below this truly amazing feat of ironwork almost takes your breath away once the significance of this iconic landmark sinks in!

The lines for a tour to the top of the tower were ponderous! As most know, my Darling Bride, does not do heights well (or enclosed spaces, or crowds, or boats, or planes…) so I skipped the enticing idea of queuing up for a few hours in +30C (90% humidity) to get to the top of Paris!

We jumped back on the Batobus and made our way back to the Louvre. We had our priceless “skip the line” tickets in hand and walked up to the gate, past the throngs of art lovers waiting in line to buy a ticket to get in, there were millions lined up! I know, I’ve been told a billion times not to exaggerate! We entered the pyramid, which at the top is like a greenhouse and the temperature must have been in the 40s! This is not an exaggeration! I don’t know how the ticket takers at the top were able to stand it! The main lobby of the museum was significantly cooler, but still stuffy and warm. The place was wall to wall people! I guess they didn’t get the memo Munchie and Johnny were there for a private visit! The magnitude of the Louvre is really quite astounding. We knew it was a big place with lots to see, so had already decided to take in just a few of the wings, of course our first stop was Mona! She is very popular! She sits there, alone on the wall, staring at the crowds gathered in her honor, to observe, get inspired, wonder, appreciate and to ogle! I found if you stand just in the right spot off to her left, you can see a twinkle in her eye that says “I need a beer!”.

I will not even attempt to describe this museum and its wonders, I don’t possess the talent or ability to adequately convey a worthy account of this amazing place. When you think about each piece on display, of its origin, who made it, why did they make it, and what type of journey it had to arrive at its location in the display case or on the wall, the mental effort is a momentous task! All I can say is you could spend your entire holiday exploring this place, and then risk overloading the artistic and creative side of your mind and end up spending years trying to mentally correlate all the data you gathered. It could lead to madness! So beware and choose wisely when deciding what you absolutely must see!
With the internal temperature of the Louvre pretty much matching the temperature outside, we cut our exploration of the museum short and headed out. A side note, when we left the Louvre, we walked around the back of the pyramid and could hear the wonderfully soothing strings of a cello! Seated beneath one of the archways leading to the east courtyard was a fellow playing the cello. It was really quite lovely!



The archways provided a fabulous acoustical backdrop and helped to provide an enchanting enhancement to the classical pieces the fellow was playing.
We found another great sidewalk restaurant and had our last evening meal in the “city of lights”.
We turned in after preparing for our departure the next morning.
Monday, July 2nd. We had decided we wanted to see a bit of the french countryside and had rented a car to drive down to Nice. We picked up the rental from the Thriffty rental at the Louvre parking garage. Our little chariot was a Clio (Renault).

We asked for a car with a GPS. The Clio did have one, however we could not get the audio to work on it! We even stopped at a Renault dealership to see if we were missing something simple in the instructions. The Renault salesman couldn’t get it to work either! Being somewhat “old school” I did have a backup plan, I had Google Mapped my route out of Paris the night before and jotted down a rough set of notes of the roads and turns I should take to get out of the city. Thank goodness for my co-pilot! Munchie was instrumental in keeping us on track and we were able to get out of the city relatively stress free! Our journey to Lyon was a bit of an ordeal. The GPS was showing a route different than the one I had scoped out on Google, and I decided to trust the GPS, again, who wouldn’t speak to us! The GPS route must have been calculating a route using the parameters “most obscure”! We ended up seeing some truly rural settings! We stopped for lunch in Nemours and then continued south. Again, foolishly trusting to the GPS for guidance!

Our next leg took us to the nuclear power plant near Belleville. The GPS took us into a petit village near the plant and down a lane ending at a barricade that converted the road to a pedestrian walkway! 

When we got back onto the main road I reverted back to my memory of the Google maps and after spotting a road sign pointing to the highway number I was familiar with we were able to get back on track. We arrived in Lyon after 8pm. So all in all, our road trip and GPS sightseeing sidebars, only took a couple hours more than I had estimated this leg would take.

Tuesday July 3rd. We had found an Ibis Hotel just off the highway and for a place to overnight it was just fine. We did have to ask for clean towels, housekeeping had forgotten to replace the use ones and they were still in the tub. Other than that, no issues with our stay at the Ibis. In the morning we had a quick bite at the hotel then headed south. This time the only thing I used the GPS for was to verify I was on my Google map route! We stayed on the major highways (about 50 euro in tolls!) and made it into Nice in about 4 ½ hours.
Nice! What a wonderful place! The weather was gorgeous, and this seaside city was awesome! We were able to locate our hotel with relative ease, the Interlaken was right across the street from the main train station. The car rental return was at the station. The Interlaken was an older place with


character! Our room was on the 1st floor and easily accessible with luggage. The room was quaint (meaning quite small!), but for one night it was just for a bed and shower so it met our simple needs!
Once settled in at the hotel, we went for a walk (about 15 minutes) down to the seaside. The rocky beaches were not deterring the sun worshippers! The beach was packed! We had dinner at one of the restaurants on the beach and then walked back up to our hotel.

Through that wonderful travel assistant, Google, I found a laundry just down the road from our hotel. So while Munchie was taking care of this domestic task, I went to the train station to familiarize myself with the layout and get information on our train the next day over to Ventimiglia,Italy. It was at this time I learned the train track from Menton, France to Ventimiglia was closed for service until July 5! I was able to find a very helpful station information personnel and she was able to guide me through what we would need to do to get to Ventimiglia to catch our train there.
Although our stay in Nice was only an afternoon and evening, we were really quite taken with the place! It is now on our list of places we’d like to spend some time at. This lists grows continuously as we get small tastes of different places!

More to come.....