Geo: 35.4272, -112.318Have a few pictures of Hoover Dam, but unable to attach them to an email, so will do this.... read more

Geo: 50.3118, 11.7712Our last actual tourist day, although we may attempt to locate our old apartment in Viernheim (old is the operative word as it was 43 years ago) on the way to Frankfurt tomorrow.But today is Rothenburg, Germany. This place is much larger than we anticipated. We thought we visited it in the "old" days but likely not. In this walled city we drove inside the gates as our Gasthof was as downtown as possible. The mood was Christmas as it was chilly and the typical German overcast day. The decorations about town were Christmas colors. We entered many shops, especially devoted to Christmas. The ornaments were unfortunately outrageously expensive or likely made in China. Nonetheless, we enjoyed the town.Now for a tad of history we learned today. Rothenburg was actually a quite large and ... read more

Geo: 43.3187, 11.3305Today was Siena. A rather nice town, certainly better than San Gimignano but no Florence. Much bigger than we expected, yet again not close to Florence. New information for us Siena was a bitter rival and equal of Florence for 400 years, and defeated them in at least two major battles. Eventually Siena succumbed, thus it is a bit of a time warp for us today. Bad for them, good for us.We know this will profoundly surprise all of you, but the primary attractions here, this being a medieval town, are churches. We have seen better and worse. Bird is a bit more impressed with the churches than HP (suppose he is upset there was nothing Roman in town). Everything here was medieval. Even after the Renaissance, they continued to paint two dimensional in ... read more

Geo: 43.7687, 11.2569Seems like we have saved the best accommodation for last in the Tuscan town of Poggibonsi. It is a wonderfully restored historic building with tile roof and exposed wooden beams supporting it. Fireplace, silver service and Tuscan antique furniture are present. Price certainly not exorbitant as after all this is Bird and HP. We are well pleased.Okay now for Firenze (Florence). We have never been here before, resisting the place as little more than a pretentious stuffed shirt. Oh, what an error. The place is wonderfully beautiful. The Renaissance was born in Firenze, and more art from that period is here than anywhere else (at least we are going to say that).For us the highlight of the day was the statue of David. Seems folks consider Michelangelo's masterpiece to be the Pieta in the ... read more

Geo: 40.5509, 14.2429The weather cooperated, although a web site indicated there would be a deluge today. Only a bit of a sprinkle on the way home. So we took the train south to Sorrento, spent a bit of time there, and then a hydrofoil to Capri. The island is impressive, but we both doubt it rates the three stars everyone awards. What we have here is cantilevered houses and "streets" that are actually sidewalks. There is, however, a road, but we did not venture onto it. Our motors were leg power...again.The main sight for us was Tiberius' Villa (Bird is now complaining "it is not we"). HP is sure she is only kidding. Yet she continues, "the last picture is for me".After the last several of days, we concluded you folks deserve some mercy. There are ... read more