Homecoming

The trip from London to St. Louis was uneventful -- Except the marathon we ran during our stop in Minneapolis.  (More on this in a moment!)

We headed to the airport with a heavy since of dread and even heavier suitcases. Linda and I were both afraid we would be charged for luggage that was overweight -- not to mention the gigantic cardboard tube I was carrying. (I could not resist buying a super-sized post of the city of London.) We decided that our best strategy was to arrive as early as possible and hope that the folks who checked us in were still blurry-eyed and might overlook the poundage of our bags. Lo and behold -- it worked! We somehow escaped through check-in with out extra pounds and carry-ons being legitimate. Next on our checklist was to unload any extra pounds we might have after our week in London. Fortunately there is an amazing array of opportunities in Heathrow -- they call it Duty-Free shopping! Linda and I are a dynamic duo when faced with any mission that requires shopping!

We made it on to the plane and even found room to stow our carry-ons in the over-head compartments. We were set to go! Our seats were close but not together. I set next to a young many from England who was on his way to San Diego for a wedding of one of his best friends. He and some others plan to followup the wedding with a two week camping trek through California.

A mere nine hours later we touched down at the Minneapolis airport. Much to our surprise we had to go through customs and through immigration and then retrieve our luggage and then recheck our bags for St. Louis -- in 40 minutes. We were a tad grumpy about this process so you can imagine how truly ticked we were to discover that our flight to St. Louis was leaving from the totally opposite end of the airport!

Linda was struggling with the weight of her carry-on bag so I had to become the Galloping Granny and lead the charge through the airport! We made it in enough time to even have a tall glass of Coke --WITH ICE! I never realized how much I would miss my icemaker and my bathtub.

One hour later we landed at Lambert Airport and headed out the gate to find my girls, Jenny and Katie and grandson, Alex. What a nice bunch of hugs and kisses! Poor Alex even awakened from his nap with a smile when he was grabbed from the car seat. Arriving home, I was met with not one but two Welcome Home banners the girls had posted. I was also greeted by two very startled dogs!

As Dorothy observed, "There's no place like home!"

A Farewell to London -- for Now!

After sleeping in this morning, We headed by bus to Westminster Abbey. We only planned to peak in and see where the big weddings had been but two hours later we exited a bit blurry-eyed from all of the graves of famous people we had seen. While the church is truly mega-sized, we both concurred that it does appear even larger on television than it is in real life.

From the Abbey we headed to see Churchill's Underground War Rooms from WWII. This was truly fascinating to see. It was an intricate maze of rooms below ground in downtown London where Churchill directed the British troops. One of the highlights was a reinacted conversation between Truman and Churchill. The museum also offered an intersting glimpse into assorted images of the Brittish lifestyle during WWII.

Exiting the War Rooms, we hoofed it passed the Household Cavalry headquarters on our way to the National Gallery. At the Gallery we watched the preparations for the ParaOlympics opening. Then we headed to the Drawing Room inside the gallery for high tea. We grossly overordered on high tea but we made it through all of the food. Following a brief look around the museum, we headed for Covent Garden -- again.

At Covent Garden we made one last contribution to the British economy.We paused to listen to a lively string quartet performing there. On our way out of the Garden, we stoped at Brown's Pasta for a bottle of red wine and some pasta.

We then headed down to the Strand and started for home. One last stop for a few souvenirs more, and we boarded the 176 Bus which deposited us right at the front door of the our hotel The H10 London Waterloo.  One more glass of red wine and we were off to the room to figure out how to get everything into two suitcases.

 We're going to miss this town!

Monday with the Queen -- Sort of!

After breakfast, we set out for Buckingham Palace. We were in search of tickets to tour the inside of Buckingham. Tradition is that the public is allowed to tour the State Rooms of the palace when the Queen is away in Scotland on holiday. We arrived early. (only because I yelled, "We've overslept! Get up! It's 8 o'clock! And Linda moved faster than the speed of light.) Turns out I misread watch and it was really only 7 o'clock. Even arriving that early we were only able to purchase tickets for the 3:45 time slot. What to do with ourselves in the meantime? We opted to purchase tickets to tour The Queens' Gallery which offered an exception exhibit from Leonard DaVinci and his study of human anatomy. This was more than you could really comprehened. The actual notebook of his studies was showcased in the gallery. The cover was dated from the 1500's. He learned about anatomy by doing autopseys in hostpitals. He was remarkable in his knowledge.

Queens Coach

We also got a ticket to tour the Mews -- this is the Royal Transportation Center. This is on the grounds of the palace. It houses all of the carriages, cars, and horses used by the royal family for ceremonial occasions. It was quite amazing to see them up close. We got to see a great deal of material here. Even Jasper, one of the greys used to pull the Queen's carriage. Truly worth the time and trouble to tour.

Following the Mews we went to watch the Changing of the Guard. We perched our selves outside the Wellington Barracks where the band and soldiers depart for the palace. We ended up with a couple of hours to kill so we decided to walk around the outside of the castle. Take our advice: Do not hike around Buckingham Palace. There is nothing to see. We must have walked fifty miles around that thing! Okay maybe it was only two or three miles -- but it was boring with a capital B! We finished off the hike with a glass of wine at the Bag of Nails Pub.

Then we managed to somehow get into the Palace fifteen minutes ahead of time. Linda was about to confess to our sin of cheating until I elbowed her in the ribs and said "SSShhh!!1" We toured 19 state rooms of the palace. This was awesome. The art, the furniture, the lifestyle was breathtaking.

 

The toured ended with a walk through the Queens gardens where she can host lawn parties for up to 8,ooo at one time. The only problem was we had to come home -- somehow. Cutting to the chase -- after searching for Harrods Department store which was way out of our league, we opted for a taxi!!!Linda would have stayed and still been there trying to figure it out -- I said, "Screw it! Get a taxi!!" Two glasses of wine later we are both laughing at our escapades here across the pond!

Ballroom Buckingham Palace

 

 

Speakers Corner and The Tower

We slept in a bit on Sunday -- again! We headed directly to Speaker's Corner in Hyde Park. It was a long trek. Exiting the Tube, we ran smack into an Official Olympic Souvenir Stand -- we had been looking for this since we arrived. Better late than never! Armed with our official Olympic Souvenirs, we started to walk -- again! Did I say walk -- I mean hike through Hyde Park in search of the Speakers. When we finally found the right corner there were maybe four or five speakers there. Moving on we went in search of The Tower! We had previously purchased tickets so no need to stand in the long line.  In fact the lines throughout the entire Tower were actually quite short. Nevertheless we opted to stop and have a cold drinks.

We opted to do the guided tour of the Tower with one of the Beef Eaters. This was a great choice. He was an excellent example of British wit and historical knowledge. He played the crowd like a five string banjo. We saw the major high points of the attraction: the traitors gate, the white tower, the chapel, and the crown jewels. The crown jewels while interesting were not the jewels we hoped to see. We were looking for the jewels used by some one from the twentieth century at least. We started to walk. Did I say walk? I meant hike, perhaps march -- a forced march to find a way out. Which ultimately became  a bus ride to the new Globe Theater. To our dismay they were sold out out the day after we leave London. With no theater options available, we opted to eat again -- at the Swan Theater.

 

Following dinner, we grabbed a double-decker to head to the hotel. Only to miss our bus stop and have to walk back. We were truly lost in our own minds -- it turns out they let us our on the side of Waterloo Station that we had never seen! Eventally like all good little lambs we came home dragging our tailes behind us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Great London Sunami

The day  began with our hotel breakfast. I would remiss if I did not complement the Brits on their bacon. It is truly excellent but in my world we call it ham. I can't say that I see myself ever becoming a fan of the bangers though. These are fat, juicy, somewhat slimy sausages.

We headed out for a Saturday morning Brittish flea market. We originally planned to go to Portobello Road but opted instead for Camdentown. Perhaps we should have stayed with Portobello Road where they specialize in antiques. Linda and I have a bit of a problem -- shopping. We both like to do it too much! We took the tube to Camdentown with no problems. Exiting the tube we stepped into the largest crowd we have seen so far. According to the folks who live there this flea market is the fourth largest toursit attraction in London I personally think it could move up the list based on the attendance we saw last Saturday. The place was packed with people up and down both sides of the street.

Camden Town Market

At first we were not too happy with what we saw. Linda actually paid full price for her first purchase. Then we started dickering with folks on the price. It ended up being slightly akin to buying a new car. I think we got some good deals -- but who knows.

Any way we exhausted our funds and headed for the tube and back to the hotel to dump our packages and find an ATM. While we were dumping the packages, we had a lovely video chat with Katie, Chris, and the boys. We then headed to Leicester Square in search of theater tickets for that night when the Great Sunami of 2012 hit London. We were at the bus stop waiting when the wind began to howl. Linda bravely opened our one umbrella to shield us from the rising waters while we hid inside the bus shelter. For a few moment our lives flashed before our eyes -- well maybe we were the ones doing flashing. Water, water everywhere! We were drenched! We somehow boarded the bus and made it to the ticket booth where we got tickets to Andrew Lloyd Webber's production of The Wizard of Oz at the world famous Palladium Theater.

The Wizard Curtain Call

We then had a  leisurely supper at a local Italian restaurant chain, Bella Italia. Both Linda and I chose the "Norma" dish from the menu in honor of you guessed it -- Grandma Norma.. We made a stop at a large bookstore on Charing Cross Road in the publishing district and also a stop at Hamleys, the world's largest toy store. Then we were off to the theater.   Developed from the ever popular MGM screenplay this new production containsed all the much-loved songs from the Oscar winning movie score, all the favourite characters and iconic moments, plus a few surprises along the way, including new songs by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. The show featured Danielle Hope, the 18 year old winner of the BBC talent contest Over The Rainbow in the part of Dorothy in the Andrew Lloyd Webber production of The Wizard of Oz, which began performances in the West End at the London Palladium in 2011. This girl is a real talent. However the concept of a white Toto was troublesome to those of us who are Oz purists.

This production had some amazing technical aspects. The wicked witch of the west, unexpected flew into the middle of the theater and began wise cracking with the audience. The monkeys even flew -- for a while. About ten minutes into act II, the curtain went down and it was announced that they were experiencing technical difficulties. Linda and I suspect the technical issues dealt with the monkey who was unable to fly away with Dorothy and Toto at the command of the wicked witch. All in all, we highly enjoyed The Wizard -- technical difficulties to boot!

We headed home via the bus to Waterloo Station. We were a tad nervous about walking home in the dark. Our fears were needless, the path was clearly lit and not at all intimidating. We went to bed straightaway intending to rise early and head to Speakers Corner!

Riding the Rails in London

Failing to find Picadilly Circus the night before, we opted to board a double-decker sight seeing bus. On our way to find the bus, we stopped for a chat with a local man wearing a t-shirt with the name Teddy Smith -- the name of Linda's father and brother. We should have recognized the omen when two agents from competing tour companies got in a fight while trying to lure us to board their tour bus. Things did not get too much better for while. We walked away from the two and discussed the issue -- finding both guys equally obnoxious, we opted to board the cheaper bus. Sadly it a multi-lingual tour bus with no live narration -- only earphones and a recorded tour that missed the mark -- literally. You were generally a block past the statue or point of interest when the narration played. However to distract from this inconvenience the bus was loaded with large (and I mean large in size and in number) families with numerous small children. These children were not too happy about being there and were quite vocal on occasion. When the kids weren't crying, the parents were discussing things amongst themselves. Did I mention that the parents were generally three rows away from each other in the bus. They shared their thoughts with all of us. And the "cherry on the cake of this bus ride" was the one child who was clearly covered with chicken pox scabs on her face! 
 

Finally common sense and a slight bus wreck led us to get of the bus. Another tour bus managed to knock off one of our buses rear view mirrors. Everyone had to leave the bus. We were more than happy to oblige. We stopped for a late lunch at Garfunkle's a local chain. We had a nice conversation with a father and young son from Canada who were on holiday in Germany. They had toured numerous auto manufacturers: Saab, Audi, and Mercedes. After lunch we headed to the pier to try our hand at a cruise down the Thames. The cruise was very nice and not nearly as crowded as the tour bus had been. Just when things were really looking up, we discovered it was a one way cruise and we were deposited on the shore by the Tower of London. Never  being two to let a gift shop pass us by, we headed through the store and did some more shopping. We exited the Tower with no idea how were were going to make it back to the South Bank. You would think we had learned our lesson, but when we saw another tour bus come by, we hopped on to ride it back to more familiar territory. Imagine our surpise to find a real live human speaking English and no screaming kids. It was so nice that we decided to do the tour over again! It's amazing how much more you learn when there is a live person leading the narration and you are not afraid of catching some kind of cooties from strange kids! We rode the bus through the entire tour again. We deboarded at our original boarding spot and hoofed it home tired and hopefully germ free!

Shakey in London

We awoke early and enjoyed a sumptuous "complementary" breakfast at the hotel. Then based on last evenings neigihborhood wanderings, we headed for Waterloo Station to take the tube to Leicester Square. We were in search of the TKTS half price ticket booth. We made it quite nicely. When confronted with our choice of plays we opted to see The Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Julius Caesar. The staff at the London TKTS could teach the NYC folks some lessons in customer courtesy.

Before the matinee of Caesar, we headed over to Covent Garden for a look see. We were immediately surrounded by stalls and merchants willing to bargain on most things. I found a large print that will ultimately hang over my family room sofa. We stopped for a light snack at Jamie Oliver's restaurant for a snack of crackers and cheese and Ginger Beer and Cloudy Lemonade.

This RSC production transported the play to Africa. This British all black cast had
African accents and dressed the senators and Caesar in the kind of safari suit favoured by Idi Amin. Lest anyone miss the point of politics gone awry, a vast head of Caesar loomed over the stage, the clearest visual allusion to Lenin, Saddam Hussein and others of similar dictatorial bent.

In one sense, the African republic setting – conjured by a simple assemblage of monumental stone steps – does bear dividends. And yet there is something vaguely insincere about all this fear and tension. While it undeniably infused the drama with urgency, it also lead me and I believe others astray from the play. It made it hard to concentrate on the words of the Bard. After the matinee, we headed back to our hotel for an exciting evening of laundry. I don't think we will wash Italy away completely until we return to the states.

Following the play, we decided to checkout Picadilly Circus. We checked out everything -- but Picadilly Circus. Most of the evening, we wandered through China Town and down Regent Street. We finally headed home determined to take a sighseeing bus the next day to figure the town out.




RSC Production of Julius Caesar


 

 

London Here We Come!

We all made it to the Ambra lobby packed and ready to roll at 6:15 in the morning. Dan had wisely scheduled us to have a private pickup to take us to the airport. However they seemed to have moved the airport closer to Rome than we anticipated. What we thought would be a 45 minute trip to the airport turned out to be more like a 15 minute trip. However once there we realized that the driver had dropped us at the wong terminal. Faster than a speeding bullet, Peggy sprinted out to the drive and nailed our driver to reload and take us to the correct terminal. Once again the transportation system seemed fairly efficient.. The worst snag was a long wait to board the plane with no explanation. Once aboard took off fairly seemlessly.. Linda and I were seated with a group of 15 Italian teenagers and their chaperone who were headed to England to practice their English. We willingly volunteered some practice time for them.

Once we landed Peggy and Dan grabbed a taxi for the rail station and Linda and I headed into downtown London for our hotel via taxi. I do believe our cabbie could qualify to be a driver in Rome. There were a couple of times that I wondered if we would make it in one piece. But arrive we did. We are at the London H10 Hotel. It is a relatively new hotel. In a nice area of the South Bank. They gave us a glass of champagne when we checked in. We have an expansive complementary breakfast every morning.

H10 Waterloo

We are within walking distance of the London Eye and the Westminster Bridge. After a quick lunch at the local pub, we explored the first night and found the Waterloo Tube Station. This station has a number of shops. You could practically live in the Waterloo Station. We bought individual miniature cheesecakes and sealed glasses of wine. I bought more deodorant. I highly underestimated how much I would sweat in Italy. I used my new travel bottle up in less than a week. However, since we all four smelled most of the time, I didn't worry too much.We capped off the day by doing hand laundry and I spent time organizing new classes. Tomorrow we are off to Leicester Square in search of theater tickets!

 

Tuesday on my own

Tuesday the others headed out bright and early for the Vatican Tour. I opted not to go. My only memories of that tour previously were some serious Museum Overload. I opted to sleep in and repack my bags. Then I took some time on my own in the city. I grabbed a taxi and toured the Pantheon. Then I spent the morning shopping in the less touristy shops surrounding the area. I watched the Italian police swoop in and shut down one street vendor. I think for selling knockoff merchandise. I continued my shopping and  had lunch watching the crowded begin to pour into the Panethon.

I felt very secure because I knew where the taxi stand was beside the Temple. However there were no taxis in sight at that time. I had to get across town to the Galleria Borghese and meet up with the others for our 3 pm tour. I decided to start walking for a main street to find a taxi. I ended up with the locals watch to police men argue over the fate of an apparent pick pocket. But I had to leave before I found out the fate of the fellow. I headed for the street and hailed a taxi -- only to have two other women jump in ahead of me and off they went. Fortunately another stopped right away and off I went to the Borghese.



Bernini's David

 

I did connect with the others and we entered the Borghese Gallery. I had been advised by my friend, Donna, that the work here could move one to tears it was so beautiful. As I was climbing a mountain of stairs, I kept thinking it had better be BEAUTIFUL to merit the work we were all exerting to reach the top and view the art. The gallery is truly quite nice in that they are very specific and let only a certain number of folks in at one time. You are allowed two hours and that's it -- out you go so another group may come in. Peggy, Dan, and Linda were a bit shell-shocked from the Vatican Tour. We opted not to do the audio tour of this museum. As I went from room to room looking at the various paintings, I began to wonder what was wrong me because I wasn't weeping at the beauty -- the only moisture on my face was SWEAT!  We were all under the impression that we had to climb to the second floor to see the remainder of the collection.
 Luckily we figured out that we had already climbed to the second floor and the only thing we had to do is go down the stairs to see the rest. Whereupon we headed down. Then I realized what Donna meant when she said the art was so magnificent it would move you to tears. There sculpture collection was truly amazing! The Greek and Roman pieces were humongous!! I kept wondering what it would be like to start on a piece of sculpture that large.

After the Borghese we headed back via taxi to the not-so-palatial-Ambra Palace Hotel. We had thus far avoided eating in that neighborhood because it was a bit creepy to be on the sidewalks after dark there. However, none of us were up for another night of hotel food so we opted to venture down the street to the restaurant recommended by the hotel bartender. Fortunately, we did! It was a small and delightful restaurant. Our meal was one of the best we have had on this trip. We called it an early night as we had to leave for the Rome airport at 6:15 am to head for London.





 

Meeting the Man! -- It's not Caecilius!

Monday morning and we were awake and waiting in the hotel lobby for our driver to meet us and take us to Pompeii to tour. I was more than a bit concerned that he might have trouble finding the not so palatial Ambra Palace Hotel -- but on the dot at 7:45 the yound man appeared in an extremely plush and extremely new Mercedes Benz SUV. We made a stop for him to gas up the car to the tune of 112 Euros! He introduced himself as Leo, our driver for the day. Off we went to Pompeii. Leo told us he was 27, married, and father to a 3 year old princess. His prior job had been in "Security Detail Work." When I asked who was the most famous person he had ever driven, he replied they were all politicians and I probably would not know any of them. He is now a private driver for a company in Rome. We cruized on down to the south of Italy. No one really wanted or needed to stop until he cautioned that this was the last stop in the area that would be safe for us to use. Suddenly like a car full of students, we all needed to go. We really never saw any traffic until we hit Naples. Leo explained that the road work had been in progress for the last 20 years. He further detailed the impact of the area was under the control of the Camorra -- a well This guy was more than anyone could ever have imagined. He is a third generation Pompeiian and tour guide. His knowledge and passion far exceed your wildest dreams. I was particularly impressed with his ability to take this story and make it relevant to today.

We began by studying the mountain and listening to him visualize and detail the magnitude of the explosion in AD 79 that destroyed the ancient city. It was not just an erruption but a major explosion that significantly decreased the land mass of Vesuvius. Then we started walking and climbing. (No, relax it was nothing like Sienna. Any way I would have followed him about anywhere just to listen to him talk about this city.) He showed us examples of all the major types of construction that existed in Pompeii: the brothel, the spa, the law court, the wine bars, the shops, the forum the temples, the private homes. I did not know that there had been two story building in the city and two stories in

some homes as well. He went into graphic detail about the Romans as engineers and how they were able to utilize the aqueducts and lead pipes to contruct a sophisticated system of water delivery to the city. He was careful to point out that still today nearly a third of the word lacks running water -- but the Romans had it in most homes in AD 79. As we walked and talked, he would bend down and pick up a clay shard or small scrap, examine it, and hand it to one of us with a detailed explanation that it was from a wine jar based on the curve of the edge, or a piece of a mosaic floor based upon it's square size, etc. You and I would never have looked twice at these things that he saw on the public walkway. I worried that the Archaelogy Cops were going to swoop down from somewhere and arrest us all. But I must say that Gaetano seemed very well connected with this site. He graciously tolerated my desire to see the home of Caecilius Iucundus a resident of Pompeii. He diplomatically pointed out to me that contrary to what the writers at Cambridge might say, Caecilius was probably not a very rich man in comparison to some others of his time. He made this deduction based upon the size and location of the home and the two shops attached to it as compared to the home of the truly upper crust of the town.

At the end of two hours and thirty minutes, we said farewell to Gaetano, He truly brought the city to life for us. I noticed others trying to follow us around just to listen to him. If we could not get close enough to photograph what we wanted, he moved the traffic along and told them to go with their own guide. He was the MAN! I litterally walked into a textbook.

When we rejoined the driver he said we would stop for lunch -- what he did not make clear is that we were going to the Amalfi Coast area to Positano. This is the area of all the pictures you have probably seen of small homes nestled into the sides of mountains and the clearest, bluest water of the Bay of Naples. He cautioned that it would take over  600 steep curves for us to descend to the restaurant and the beach and he was right. Parking in the area for those stopping for lunch goes for around 25 Euros an hour. At the restaurant we were told to wait while they made sure we had a table with a good view. There was no waiting to park and little to no wait at the restaurant. We placed our orders and sat
sipping the wine and viewing those on the beach. Suddenly the waiter arrives with a platter of bruschetta and said this was from Gaetano with apologies for the delay in our meal. Our heads probably spun around on our shoulders at that point. I had just made the statement that I felt like I was an extra on a movie set when the waiter informed me that this had been the location for most of the movie, "Under the Tuscan Sun."  Just as we were finishing our deserts the waiter reappeared with a tray of Limocello for us complements of the house. By now our heads were truly spinning. When we were leaving the waiter brought us each a print of the view from "The Pergola."

We then began our assent and completely retraced our trip to head back to Rome. We arrived in Rome tired and full around 9 pm. It was truly an amazing day. I honestly felt like I lived the "dream."



Positano Italy

Sunburn on Sunday

Sunday morning we breatkfasted at the Hotel and then headed for the Coloseum and Forum. We were part of a walking tour through the grounds. Our guide was a vivacious resident of Rome names Veronica. She was clearly knowledgeable and  also humorous in working with her clients. Her wit and passion quickly made forget that your skin was burning from the sun. Imagine what those gladiators went through.

The Colosseum, the Flavian Amphitheatre (Latin: Amphitheatrum Flavium, Italian Anfiteatro Flavio or Colosseo), is an elliptical amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, the largest ever built in the Roman Empire. It is considered one of the greatest works of Roman architecture and Roman engineering. Occupying a site just east of the Roman Forum, its construction started in 72 AD^[ under the emperor Vespasian and was completed in 80 AD under Titus,^.   Capable of seating 50,000 spectators, the Colosseum was used for gladiatorial contests and public spectacles such as mock sea battles, animal hunts, executions, re-enactments of famous battles, and dramas based on Classical mythology. The building ceased to be used for entertainment in the early medieval era. It was later reused for such purposes as housing, workshops, quarters for a religious order, a fortress, a quarry, and a Christian shrine.Although in the 21st century it stays partially ruined because of damage caused by devastating earthquakes and stone-robbers, the Colosseum is an iconic symbol of Imperial Rome.

Ninety minutes later we crossed into the Roman Forum. Many of the oldest and most important structures of the ancient city were located on or near the Forum. The Roman kingdom's earliest shrines and temples were located on the southeastern edge. These included the ancient former royal residence, the Regia (8th century BC), and the Temple of Vesta (7th century BC), as well as the surrounding complex of the Vestal Virgins, all of which were rebuilt after the rise of imperial Rome. Veronica explained that the Romans liked to rebuild utilizing the remains of previous buildings as their foundation for the new and improved temple or basilica of their choice. About 40 minutes later we climbed the Palatine Hill and visited  the excavated remains of the home of Augustus, the first emperor of Rome. 

We headed hot and sweaty to the Colosseum train station for a quick bite to eat. From there we hailed a taxi and collapsed in the hotel. I know the Midwest in the US is hot and steamy, but I can tell you that Italy is truly just as humid and steamy. This day was hot and not a cloud in the sky. We all came home with a bit of a sunburn.  The evening dinner was at an outside bistro in the shadow of the Panthenon. We turned in wondering what our chauffered trip to Pompeii would offer the next morning. (It turned out to be more than we ever expected!)

 

Touring Tuscany -- Climbng the Alps?

I've lost track of time and control of technology. I missed a night of posting because of a dead computer and dead cell phone. So I will try to catch up tonight:

On Friday we boarded a bus at the train station in Florence, we headed toward Tuscany. Our first stop was the village of Sienna.a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena.The historic centre of SieCna has been declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site.^] It is one of the nation's most visited tourist attractions, with over 163,000 international arrivals in 2008. Siena is famous for its cuisine, art, museums, medieval cityscape and the Palio, a horse race held twice a year.


Palio Track through Town Square

We may have missed the horses, but we saw the floor! The inlaid marble mosaic floor is one of the most ornate of its kind in Italy, covering the whole floor of the cathedral. This undertaking went on from the fourteenth to the sixteenth centuries, and about forty artists made their contribution. The floor consists of 56 panels in different sizes. Most have a rectangular shape, but the later ones in the transept are hexagons or rhombuses. They represent the sibyls, scenes from the Old Testament, allegories and virtues. Most are still in their original state. The earliest scenes were made by a graffito technique: drilling tiny holes and scratching lines in the marble and filling these with bitumen or mineral pitch. In a later stage black, white, green, red and blue marble intarsia were used. This technique of marble inlay also evolved during the years, finally resulting in a vigorous contrast of light and dark, giving it an almost modern, impressionistic composition. The uncovered floor can only be seen for a period of six to ten weeks each year, generally including the month of September. The rest of the year, they are covered and only a few are on display. We arrived just as the men were finishing uncovering the floor.

Cathedral Floor

 Our guide at  Siena was a fascinating local resident by the name of Donatella. Her passion and knowledge of history was memorizing to say the least. It was surpassed only by her boundless energy as she marched up and down some incredibly steep and narrow streets! That is putting it milding to say the least!

From Siena we head by bus to Fattoria Poggio Alloro an active organic farm and vineyard Where we toured the farm and did a three course lunch with wine tasting. All the food was grown and all the wine produced on this working totally organic farm. Did I mention the steep hills, more hills, and even more hills. But truly amazing scenery. I felt like I was walking through a movie set!



Fattoria Poggio Alloro

Leaving the farm, we headed for San Gimignano, a small Tuscan village. Here we climbed a few more hill. (Did I tell you how steep those suckers were?) This tiny village was crawling with so many people that I pitied those lucky enough (and strong enough) to live there. We had was was advertised as the World's Best Gelato. By the way did I mention this small mountains we were climbing to get that gelato?

We finished the day with a stop at the Leaning Tower of Pisa. I must admit that I had truly downplayed that portion of the tour. I
really remember this from my college days as being not worthwhile, but the Tower turned out to be much lovelier than I had ever remember from my first visit a few (okay maybe forty) years ago. Not lovely enough that I wanted to climb all 4 million steps to get to the top -- but it was a lovely site to see.

We spent an exhausting but very entertaining and did I say exhausting twelve hours on this day trip, but I would highly recommend it to anyone -- (with a love of wine and a slight death wish -- did I tell you how tired our feet were?)

We are now safey and warmly bedded in our hotel in Rome. We arrived via train late this afternoon. We did a quick tour of the Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain. Tomorrow morning we have a guided tour of the Colisseum and the Forum and the Circum Maximus. Must close as my feet need more rest! -- Another walking tour???!!!!

Love - The Second Time Around

This morning we toured the Accademia Gallery in Florence. I fell completely in love for the second time in my life with the same man -- The David. We had a guided tour of the museum with a charming women from Florence named Anna. Her passion for the art was completely contagious. We did brief preview of a couple of pieces but quickly got down to the reason for coming. Michelangelo's The David. It was every thing that I remembered it being from the last time I saw him circa 1970. He hadn't changed and of course I hadn't either! The sheer magnitude of this piece and the attention to detail are incredible. Even more amazing is the fact that the artist was in his 20s and allythe statue in only three years.(I stood there thinking how many pieces of paper I throw away trying to write one thing. Can't exactly do that with a chunk of marble!)  He was created in the early 1500s -- now there's an older man I could really go for!

In the afternoon we toured the Uffizi Gallery again with a local woman whose passion enriched her knowledge of the wide variety of artists represented in this museum. The building was originally a palace for the Medici family. It now houses a wide collection of world famous artwork including the work of DaVinci, Botticelli, Carravaggio, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Rembrandt. I don't think that 500 years from now anyone will have anything comparable to these pieces to view from American art. I think the most impressive piece here (but still a 2nd by far to The David was Botticelli's The Birth of Venus. One feature of interest was the portion of the museum that was originally built to be offices. It has been seen in numerous movies including A Room With A View. The decorated ceilings and walls were amazing.

Tomorrow we head to a tour of Tuscany!

Flying Through Florence

Florence Station

The day dawned early and so did our foursome. We were going to Florence! We dawned so early that we arrived at the Venice train station a full two hours before our train time. Actually, Travel Master Dan has done an amazing job of coordinating our transportation between cities, train stations, water taxis, and road taxis. As mentioned earlier, our first train trip had a few bug-a-boos, but this time we went from being the helped to the helper -- or at least Dan did. He very gallantly help a young lady hoist her bag into and out of the overhead bin on the train. He was somewhat amazed to find any person who had a suitcase heavier than Peggys. Our taxi driver was skilled and strong, SHE easily hoisted all four of our suitcases into her car without any help from Danno! Off we flew through the streets of Florence -- emphasis on the flew!
  

Our hotel, The Plaza Lucchesi, is right on the banks of the Arno River and within walking distance of the Uffizi Galleria! Since the restaurant had closed at 2:30 and we arrived at 3:30, we set out in search of food! Another slightly less exciting taxi ride followed to the nearby market. After a quick lunch at a local tourist establishment, we headed off to find leather -- lots and lots of leather! We had been referred to a local establishment at the recommendation of a friend of Dan and Peggy's. There we encountered Massimo and his friendly crew. We departed a couple of hours later and severa (and I do mean several) Euros lighter than anyone expected!

Then we wandered through the market area in search of a watch for Dan. His watch seems to have suddenly died. Near the Uffizi Galleria we finally found a Fossil shop which meant Dan had escaped buying an overpriced neon colored Swatch watch for the remainder of his stay in Europe. We found the Arno River and used it to guide us back to the Hotel Lucchesi. We capped off the evening we our first "gormet" dinner in the hotel restaraunt. While the food was excellent the courtesy of the Maitre'd was clearly lacking! I tried to post last night but as has been the case the Tech Gods were not smiling. Seems my phone had died and I could not access the net. Today we head to the Accademia in the morning and the Uffizi in the afternoon. We have purchased "Jump the Line" Tour Tickets to speed up our entry to these two fine art extravaganzas. 

Hotel Lucchesi

The Best Laid Plans . . .

Sadly as I suspected, I came down the "bug" that my roomie had. I fell ill during the night, but thought I could still make it this am -- no such luck! I did make all the way to The Isle of Murano to look at all that beautiful glass. However, it soon became evidence to me and those with me that I needed to be in bed. Dan came back with me while Peggy and Linda toured the Doges Palace and the Cathedral of San Marco. After a long trek through the streets of Venice we finally made it back to the hotel where I slept while the others shopped and went on line. Tonight I did make it out for dinner -- a bowl of vegetable soup. Well, at least it was Italian vegetable soup!

 Our hotel is right on the Grand Canal. The crowds in Venice are outrageous. I hate that I mis sed today, but I am determined to be ready for Florence tomorrow. I did get to do the gondola ride last night and a water ferry today. Traveling in a foreign country certainly drive home the feeling of those who landed at Ellis Island in the United States. The land and culture here is beautiful. However it does drive home how accustomed we become as individuals to our own surroundings.

Not much for tonight as I want to get to sleep and hopefully wake up refreshed for the trainride to Florence tomorrow. Tomorrow we check in and get accustomed to our surroundings. We will be in Florence for three days and then head on to Rome -- and Pompeii!

The View From Venice

After a large complementary breakfast at the hotel, we  left Milan literally holding the trunk of the taxi shut. The four of us and the bags were a bit much for this driver. Fortunately the station was a short ride from our hotel. We found the train and easily boarded and stashed our cavalcade of baggage in the appropriate spot. We had settled in and I was up and taking some picture only to discover we were in the right seats -- wrong car! A mom on holiday with her three kids was more than happy when we surrenedered her seats to her. We began treking through cars to try and determine our correct seat locations. Apparently we almost lost Danno in the process. Seems he lost control of a bag and lurched off the train only to be pushed back on by a gent who was standing on the station bank. Nevertheless, we did get seated and enjoyed a lovely 2 hour 30 minute ride through the countryside to the Venice stations. Once in Venice we boarded a water taxi to our hotel, the Realto. We quickly checked in and headed for the Grand Canal. The crowd was horrific. One young man attempted to help with my purse by trying to lift it from my shoulder. When I turned to grab it, he looked at me and informed me I was about to lose it. I informed him I with my elbow that I was not!

We first stopped for a bottle of chianti by the canal. Afterwards we wandered to the Cathedral of San Marco and the surrounding shops. After a light dinner, we went for a gondola ride. This was fun trying to get four seniors into one gondola. Paulo, the gondoleer, was knowledgable and well acquainted with all his colleagues. He spoke to everyone we met by name. He also shared that he and his gondola was actually in one of the Indiana Jones movies -- twenty years ago. We sauntered back to the hotel when I decided to go for my second helping of gelato today. I have a new passion -- lemon gelato! It is so perfect for the heat and humidity!  Tomorrow we are headed to the island of Murano. Hmmm, me on an island the specializes any making colored glass . . . need I say more. I had planned to post pics, but the Tech Gods are still frowning on us. I will try to do so tomorrow.

Musings from Milan!

Our trip to Milan was a breeze. I was a tad concerned about crowds at Heathrow and there were none. Interestingly the trip to the hotel in London was about 45 minutes or so while the return journey to the airport was a mere 20 minutes. Hmm . . .?I also thought customs could be a sticky wicket -- but is was not. We had a driver waiting for us at the airport. He drove us to the hotel very efficiently. The flight took an hour and a half.

Once at the hotel, we crashed! After a brief nap we strolled down the street outside the hotel. It is clearly the holiday season here. Many stores were closed for holiday. We managed to pass two or three Mickey Ds on this one street. Dinner was at the hotel that night. I opeted for pasta -- Italian pasta!!!  During dinner I began to realize how truly tired I was after our luggage-laden trek across London the day before. Peggy, Dan, and Linda opted to go for Gelato while I opted for SLEEP! I woke up this morning rested and feeling much better but Linda, my roomie, woke up too ill to go today.  She slept in all day while we headed out for the subway. We went to the Duomo Square here in Milan. It was very quiet and empty when we arrived. We had coffee and croissants at a sidewalk bistro. Then we met up with our tour guide, Margarita. We had a walking tour of the town cathedral, the third largest Catholic cathedral in the world. Many of the stained glass windows were from the 1400s. The cathedral was built over a period of 5 centuries! From there we walked through a nearby shopping area and over the the world famous opera house, LaScala. We toured the theater and the attached museum. Afterwards we boarded a bus and headed to the local Castle and on to view The Last Supper by Leonardo DaVinci. This was a high point of the day. The painting is housed in a monastery here in Milan. You must have an appointment to view the painting and are allowed only 15 minutes to do this. To enter and view the painting, you wait in line and pass through a series of climatically controlled waiting rooms. I was surprised to learn the original is not a fresco -- but is painted on a wooden wall in the local monastery. It has been restored to the original condition -- which is a bit faded as it took DaVinci 40 years to finish the painting. It ranks above the Mona Lisa in my list of famous art I have seen. I think the magnitude of size has something to do with that. The colors were truly inspirational and soothingat the same time.

From there we adjourned to the Duomo area to lunch on pizza and chianti. I am back at the hotel and going back to check on my sick roomie. More later -- the technology gods willing! Tomorrow we board the train for Venice!

Wheels Down Across the Pond

Just as I took my seat on the plane at JFK, I was thinking it was going pretty well. And then the pilot announced a one hour delay. We taxied around JFK for a while and eventually lifted off about nearly an hour late. All in all a pretty good flight with FREE food (dinner and breakfast) -- all of it edible and seemingly fresh. After the fact I discovered they were also serving free wine and beer on the flight. I sat next to a woman and her daughter from NYC who were doing a home exchange with a family from London for 10 days. She highly recommended www.homeexchange.com as a reliable site. I got a bit of sleep and tried to finish reading The Help. I was not too successful at either.

Harlaxton Interior

We breezed through Heathrow without any problems and took a traditional black London Taxi to our hotel. We dumped our stuff and headed out on the bus with four incredibly stuffed bags for Harlaxton College. We thoroughly alienated the local population with our bags. Several of the local mums expressed their annoyance with Dan's presence in the baby carriage portion of the bus. I don't know if they found Dan or the luggage so annoying -- but Dan at least had toes they could crush with their carriage wheels. From the  40 minute bus trek, we transferred to the Train to Harlaxton. We were in the Quiet Coach where technology is forbidden and voices are to be sushed. However this did not apply to the local conductor who had discovered a young man aboard the train. Seems this fellow had an abundance of tattoos and absolutely no train ticket. The conductor was determined to get this young chap to repent the error of his ways. This side show went on for nearly the entire ride. The young man was escorted off the train and turned over to the local authorities.

Harlaxton College

Once in Grantham, we toured the Harlaxton castle. This is truly an amazing place. I am envious of Peggy and Dan and the others who will do this fall semester here. We secured their luggage and toured the facility. Then we headed back to the train station to dine on a sumptious meal of chips and water and a tuna melt. The return to our hotel was a bit less harried. We had a peaceful train ride where we all dozed intermittently. Then we transferred to the tube and we able to retrace our steps homeward until we had to determine which bus we needed. Our ultimate solution was a taxi!

We returned to the Holiday Inn at Brentford to discover that the Tech Gods were not smiling on us. Dan could not make his ATT wifi package work on the Ipad, Linda was only able to text on her package, and I could make my hotspot light up but the laptop never saw it!

The solution to our tech nightmare was to adjourn to the lobby to drink and have appetizers where they also offered free wi.  Onward troops! Tomorrow morning we fly to Milan.

Grandma B Does NYC!

Here I am in the big city! I arrived yesterday afternoon and maneuvered my way through LaGuardia to the taxi stand and all the way to Tisha's apartment. Tisha then gave me a refresher in how to handle the subway here in the Big Apple. We went to South Street Seaport, where I got a ticket to see Gore Vidal's The Best Man on Broadway this afternoon. That was so slick and efficient we had time for a quick drink on the water. After drinks we joined Tisha's guy, Lawrence for dinner at Delmonico's Steakhouse. This is a gastronmic delight. The place opened in 1837 and invented Baked Alaska and Lobster Newberg. The food and the company was delightful.
Today, I slept in on Tisha's amazing memory foam mattress! I was awake but did not think Tisha or her dog, Duke would be awake that early, so I "forced myself" to lay there until 8 am! I did not know that Tisha was on the sofa trying to stay quiet because she normally gets up at sunrise as well!

I started my day with a trek to the Apple Super Store to discuss the problems I am having with my Ipod and trying to download free travel podcasts from I-Tunes. Needless to say I was truly a fish out of water in this Super Store. I was ambushed by four women each carrying Ipads wanting to know the nature of my problem. I of course opted for the more "mature" of the four. I began to explain the nature of my problem. I began to sense I was in trouble when she laughed at the age ." of my Ipod. She assured me that it could not be a problem with the Ipod -- it had to be me! I explained that I did not care what caused the problem only that it needed to be rectified. I was told to come back in 45 minutes for an appointment with an "apple genius." I cooled my heels by window shopping and returned early for my appointment. As I mentioned to some of you today, this Apple Super Store was a bit like 2001 Space Odyssey. I was probably the only person in the store who even say that movie. I was planning to run out if my genius had been named Hal. He was not named Hal and he was not a genius. He took 20 minutes laughing with some of his fellow geniuses about whether my Ipod would be new enough to download the desired podcasts. He finally returned after searching the computer to tell me it said this should work -- but for them to help, I have to bring my computer in as well. I don't know what they would think of my poor Acer! Might try it tomorrow for some more laughs.

From there I found the subway and headed to Times Square. I asked a woman with her young daughter if I was taking the right train. She said yes and asked if I was seeing a show. I sid yes and asked if they were as well. She explained her daughter is the only child on stage in "Once" the big Tony Winner this year! My first celebrity sighting! (Stay tuned it does get better.)

I had an amazing seat for the play. I was in the 8th row of the Orchestra. The cast was astoundingly good. The play revolved around a "dirty" campaign for president. One candidaTte, John Laroquette, wants to be ethical the other a far-right-wing "nut job," John Stamos, is down and dirty. They are played against each other by a retired President, James Earl Jones. The wives were played by Cybill Shepherd and Kristen Davis. I was also pleasantly surprised to see character actor, Dakin Matthews in the cast. It was not until after the play was over that I finally remembered Matthews played the principal in Gilmour Girls on TV. This play was 2 hours and 40 minutes long -- but it flew by. It was well worth my concerted effort to see this production. I enjoyed it so much, that I even waited at the stage door to snap pics of John Stamos and Kristen Davis.

Following the play I wandered around Times Square for a while hoping to find a souvenir that I could not live without. Happily, I was unsuccessful in my search. (One less thing I have to make space for in my St. Louis digs.) I managed to make it home on the subway by myself and rewarded myself with an over-priced but tasty spinach salad and glass of wine at a streetside cafe.

I am off to bed and to repack - tomorrow JFK and on to London!