My brother had this crazy idea about a year and a half ago. Lets go climb Mt. Whitney! Having not a clue what was involved with this kind of venture, we started doing research. Well, as luck would have it, actually "climbing" Mt. Whitney is more like a hike than a climb. No ropes & harnesses (good, because neither of us had any real exposure to climbing in the true sense of the word), but the 'hike' does start at an elevation of about 8,400 feet, and rises to the summit (11 miles later) at an altitude of 14,497 feet. That's [View Full Entry]

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Got up a little later than we planned. The hotel is very nice, but I just didn't sleep that well, and Charlene had a headache through the night (probably to very poor air quality in the area). Charlene and I went down to catch the last of breakfast, and brought back a few things for Rhiannon. We got our things packed up, Rhiannon finished getting ready, and we headed out to see Saint Peters. On Wednesdays, they do their Papel services at 8:30am, but all our research didn't indicate how long it lasted, and the Basilica isn't opened to the public [View Full Entry]

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Well, we made it to Rome.. The train ride this time was MUCH easier and more comfortable, and the Rome Termini Station much nicer. Having read up on all the pickpocket activity in Rome, we are on higher guard (back to money belt and safes). We were able to negotiate a cab ride to the hotel for $28 euro (the first guy wanted about $40 and Charlene told him to kiss off). The hotel is very nice, and it is right across the street from the North entrance to the Vatican (I mean RIGHT across the street - see the pic). [View Full Entry]

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Been a busy couple of days, so craming both into this entry... Yesterday was our day trip back into Florence. We got up at different times (I personally skipped breakfast to catch a little more sleep - Rhiannon did too). Finished collecting the line-dried laundry and packed up for our day in Florence. We got our bus tickets at the Villa office ($1.20 euro each way per person), and the bus stop was only a couple hundred yards from the Villa. We got on the bus without issue, and after the 50 minute trip back to Florence, we ended up right [View Full Entry]

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YES, we made it.... Wow, what a hassle getting out of Florence. The rental car fiasco, the torn up streets, yuck! OK, so this is what happened... Our train tickets did not specify that we had a transfer between Munich and Florence, but something must have changed between when the tickets were issued, and when the actual train trip happened. Our train trip started out very pleasant. Made it to the boarding ramp without any issues, and found our car and seats very easily. We were in a compartment car, so the four of us also has someone else (an Italian [View Full Entry]

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Hello all, Just a quick post from the Hotel Lobby to let you know that we made it to Italy, but some Train problems had us stuck in Florence overnight (not at our intended location south of Florence, but a hotel across from the Train depot). I cannot upload pictures from this PC, but just wanted to let everyone know that we are almost there... Have not been in contact with Bruce & Brandee yet (tried calling Bruce yesterday, but just getting voicemail). I should get an update up tonight that will be more detailed... Arrivederci, Doug [View Full Entry]

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Another great day in Germany. We all love this country, and agree that Munich is a great place to visit. When we initially setup this vacation, we thought 3 days in Munich would be enough, but there is way more to see that we were able to fit in. We leave in the morning for Florence by Train, and we are literally across the street from the train station (see picture from our hotel window).... We slept in this morning, and for all of us it was our best night sleep so far. We had a late breakfast (except Rhiannon who [View Full Entry]

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What a Fun Day!! We got up at 6:00am to have an early breakfast, and to fight the commuter traffic in Munich to get to Neuschwanstein Castle by 9:45am to check in for our tour. Charlene had purchased combo reservations back home for us to see this Castle, as well as the Hohenschwangau Palace. The location is about 1 hour 45 minutes southwest of our hotel in Munich, and the the rain was pretty heavy this morning. Our trusty GPS got us there without a hitch (and we had several road changes on the way - I would have been lost [View Full Entry]

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Well, we made it back into Germany... First of all, sorry for the lack of an update yesterday (Rhiannon borrowed the laptop to do an update, and ended up chatting with her buddies back home all night, and never got around to uploading our journey). We've done a lot since our last update, but I'm tired, and will try to keep it short.... We spent another partial day in Praque, and determined that we're not Prague people. The place is full of beautiful old buildings, but it's not all that English friendly, it's pretty dirty for it's size, and it WAY [View Full Entry]

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OK, just now getting time to catch up on our travels, and trying to get some photos uploaded. Rhiannon thanks you all for the nice compliments on her last post, and she will do more, but is worn out right now... On Saturday, I got up very early, and took an early dawn walking tour around Rothenburg. I was able to discover some things we'd missed earlier like the "Moat" and the Wall path being surrounds the town. It was different being able to look at the town during the early dawn when nobody was out, and I got a ton [View Full Entry]

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