Carole A Lalor
Retired accountant who always loved to travel and now has the time to do it.onthegogirl
Travel Blog Posts
March 30th 2012
Today Mike is taking the group for a forced march to see the “hidden Rome”. I have begged off. Slept in and had a lovely breakfast at the hotel. Wandered around with my camera and toured the Castle San Angelo. The crowds are getting bigger as Holy Week is coming. Returned to my corner restaurant for sautéed clams and mussels and artichoke, Roman style. Yummy. Worked on my pictures and read for a while until it was time for dinner. Ten of us walked across the bridge, past the Spanish Steps and into a little cul-de-sac where a charming restaurant welcomed us. The vino flowed and the conversation was happy and the food was luscious and the service superb. Pam and I shared artichokes cooked Judea style, double deep fried in hot oil until the outer ... read more
March 29th 2012
Day from Hell Waking up at 3:00 am is not so much fun as staying up to 3:00 am. The phone rang and soon we were out of the room and in the lobby waiting for breakfast. At four the hotel provided coffee, tea, cereal, warm milk and packaged rolls with jelly. After a couple of cups of coffee I headed to the head and took a header as I missed a stair. The rating was 8 on a scale of 1 to 10. Once again I didn’t breaks or sprain anything but did get a nasty knock on the head from the door jam. At 5:00 we left for the airport but when we got there we were stuck in traffic. At check in they opened two stations to get us through. You see our ... read more
March 28th 2012
Wednesday – Mt Etna and the Murgo Winery We headed out for our trip to Mt. Etna at 9:00. At this time of day the mountain is clearly viewed from our terrace. Shortly, the mist from the sea will roll in and cover the summit. Since the road to our hotel is so narrow, we have to take a van to a parking lot where we meet the bus. Soon we are on the highway heading to the south slope of the volcano. The landscape is kind of barren and the soil light and chalky. The island here is mainly limestone but shortly we entered the volcanic zone where the soil was dark and rich. Here flowers bloomed, lemon groves were laden with fruit and the vines were beginning their spring growth. Etna wine is now ... read more
March 25th 2012
Sunday - Agrigento and Enno We left Palermo and headed south to the Valley of Temples overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. Driving south we followed the route Patten took when he was heading North with “recognizance in force”. He was ordered by Eisenhower to allow Montgomery to reach Messina first but Patten could do recognizance. Patten followed orders, sort of. He took his entire army north, doing “recognizance” on the way, met little resistance, reached Palermo and liberated the city. Another order reached him from Eisenhower. “Do not take Palermo”. Patten replied, “Should I give it back?” The landscape is dry and though it is green now, soon it will be brown. Now it resembles Ireland with emerald green grasses. Groves of flowering almonds and olive trees line the road. It is quite lovely. WE drove through ... read more
March 23rd 2012
New York to Palermo –Thursday and Friday Alitalia provided a great flight, really! We left on time, the plain was new, and the wine and food were fine and the flight smooth. Even got a few hours sleep. We had a long layover in Rome for our flight to Palermo but only ½ hour late in leaving. Was able to get a ½ hours nap. My first glimpse of Sicily was surprising. High jagged cliffs meeting the Tyrranean Sea resembled the Na Pali coast but were grey instead of green. The volcanic foundation of the island is apparent. We boarded our bus and planned to do a quick panoramic tour and then check in at our hotel. On the Autobahn from the airport we passed two obelisks that memorialized the murder of a judge who was ... read more
February 11th 2012
Understand that you didn't get the blogs. I didn't change your e-mail address. Me bad! On this page you will find a "previous" button. That will get you into all my blogs. Hope to see you soon.... read more
Just a test for Linda N.
Published: February 9th 2012North America » United States » Connecticut » TrumbullFebruary 9th 2012
You should find arrows pointing left and right. Click to read blogs that you missed... read more
January 24th 2012
EL CENTRO This was the first stop on the first day of my tour. It contains the Plaza de Mayo, the National Cathedral and the Presidential Palace and one of the two colonial Spanish building still standing in BA. The Plaza de Mayo is the traditional place where people go to protest government action. It is where the Mothers of the Disappeared launched their marches. It is where the crowds gathered to hear Eva Peron speak. Evita spoke to the crowds from a balcony of the Presidential Palace, called by Argentineans the “Pink House” and yes, it is pink. After she died it was decreed that the balcony would never again be used and so it was closed until the movie Evita was filmed and Madonna was given permission to use it. This raised a huge ... read more
January 24th 2012
THE DISAPPEARED During the reign of the junta, over 30,000 persons disappeared into the prisons and detention camps never to be heard from again. That is as large as the town of Trumbull. They were mainly college students or college teachers, activists for democracy and considered a threat by the dictatorship. They were imprisoned, tortured and finally drugged and taken for a final plane ride and dropped into the sea while still alive. Children born in captivity were sold or adopted by the soldiers. Their families never knew what happened. One day two women marched in the Plaza protesting the lack of information. The following week another woman joined them and soon the mothers of the disappeared were marching in large groups. They were incredibly brave. One of the original mothers “disappeared”. They continued marching until ... read more
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