Day 14 Lucca We rented bikes today and rode around on the city walls (4.2 kilometers, and we went around twice...) in the warm sun....the city is very liveable...compact and with many no-car areas. They are beginning to take down the many, many tents that cover each of the plazas, put up for the giant comic/gaming fair over the weekend. Hopefully some will be gone before we leave. After our bike ride we walked around the city, looking at the major sights, wandering the tiny alleys and passages, walking through the old gates, strolling the ramparts, and just savoring this wonderful [View Full Entry]

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Day 11-12 Sanremo to Riomaggiore We efficiently zipped around Sanremo on Saturday morning, seeing the sights, and liking the town better in daylight. It was overcast, so we didn’t get in any beach time, and took the noon train back down the coast to Riomaggiore, one of the Cinque Terre towns. It was a five hour trip, but the scenery was just as great the second time…we got into Riomaggiore at dusk and found an apartment with a kitchen to rent for two days… We ate dinner in the small cove as it grew dark and the trick or treaters made [View Full Entry]

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Day 9 Florence We went to the city market this morning and bought food for breakfast and lunch, and set off for another day of walking...but we had little idea of just how far we'd end up walking... We visited several landmarks, and then decided to walk across the river and up the hill to the Boboli Gardens. Part way up, we met a Brit couple who were coming down (there was no one else walking) and suggested we go to another park that was free and had even better views. We walked up to the ridge line, and followed the [View Full Entry]

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Day 6 Padova After spending part of the day trying to use the free city wifi to no avail (but we now have a permanent membership card for the wifi and library cards from the city), we visited the park where the Chapel Scogvegni (1303) is located, along with the Ermitani Church (1276), which was heavily bombed in 1944. The Chapel has frescoes from Giotto, which we finally decided not to see since it would cost about $30, for 15 minutes inside. We did watch the introductory video from outside the waiting room windows. We then headed back to the city [View Full Entry]

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Days Five and Six Padova and Venice We had an uneventful trip to Padova by train, except for having to ride the Eurostar (which costs more than twice the price of regular trains). When we in, we checked at the tourist information in the station, since we had read that they could book rooms for you. this was a lucky move: the woman at the desk told us all the rooms in town were booked due to a big auto show (an the Venice marathon we found out later). When we said we were hoping to find a place near the [View Full Entry]

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Day 4, Saturday Verona to Padova We had a great night's sleep...it rained all night, but now the sun is out and we have had a great walk around Verona...had coffee and brioche at an outdoor cafe (three tables on a narrow street) next to the Dior shop.....bought cheese, roasted chestnuts, and a bottle of wine at the open air market....We are at the only internet cafe in town...no wifi here... The town was quiet when we headed out this morning around 9:30, but is jammed full of tourists now at mid day. We have seen very elegant locals...one woman in [View Full Entry]

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Day Two Milano to Bergamo (Forgot to say in last blog that we saw much marble being cut in the mountains coming in from Switzerland.) This morning, we walked in the light rain to the Duomo. On the way we stopped coffee and a chocolate brioche in very modern café where I got locked in the bathroom! We arrived at the Duomo, where we paid to climb the 250 steps to the wet marble roof, where one can walk around and view the stonework up close and look over the city of Milan. We took a quick look inside the cathedral [View Full Entry]

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Day One Geneva to Milan But now we're in Italy....and I can't yet speak Italian...frustration again! We started this trip with a late taxi, but that has been the only problem...and we still got to the airport in plenty of time...Everyone we dealt with has been extra nice from the United ticket agent to the train conductors. We've had no one bother us or ask us for anything! Not even one taxi driver has approached us! We were able to travel in business class from DC to Geneva, so that was quite wonderful...the seats moved to a completely flat position for [View Full Entry]

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Hello Everyone, We are off to Italy in a week...it will be a real change for us and a return to the travels of our youth. After having spent all of our travel time recently (except for the trip to Canada) in Hispanic (or in Lynn's case, Kenyan) cultures, this will be a different sort of trip. Of course, with the heavy Italian influence in Argentina, we have built in a bit of a segue.... Please unsubscribe if you are not interested! Here are few recent photos... [View Full Entry]

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We had a beautiful drive to Banff on Monday...weather was good and the roads clear and almost traffic free! The Rockies are higher and more jagged than the Cascades... The drive was beautiful...we saw a coyote, an elk, big-horned sheep, many deer...many parts of the road are fenced to prevent road kill, but you still have to be alert. We didn't see any bears...although we were in grizzly territory! We arrived in Banff in the late afternoon, and checked into our hotel, located across from the Bow River on a quiet street. (Quiet was important, since we had been woken by [View Full Entry]

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