Athens, Rome, Abu Dhabi, Safari and Capetown, a set on Flickr.
Monday, January 6, 2014
Saturday, January 4, 2014
Down Under....Down Under
Believe it or not I'm still alive. Not sure how 3 months went by without a word from me. It has been action-packed and I'll try to get you up to date.
I'll just give you the latest and then we'll cover the fun stuff. I am currently in Sydney, Australia after a couple of attempts to get here. After 7 months of travel the worst thing I've incurred was a cold while in Italy and now this foot issue. I'm not sure how this happened because I was sober. I somehow badly bruised my foot and thought I had a stress fracture. After going to the Doctor and getting an x-ray it was determined that I had somehow badly bruised my foot. I think the flu would have been better since my journey involves a lot of walking and this just screwed everything up. Fortunately I found an apartment that was perfect. A supermarket just outside the door, pharmacy steps away and best of all a Blockbuster downstairs. The pain was unimaginable and I hobbled like an 80 year old man. I was so hopeless looking hobbling along that the homeless even felt sorry for me and didn't ask for money. Let's move on to all the good things that have happened in the last few months, since this paragraph is both digressive and depressive.
I left you in Mykonos. Off to Athens-Well I didn't meet my man in Mykonos, so I headed to Athens to see if I could find him there. Wow! I think the most handsome men are Greek. I'm not sure if that's a personal preference, but WOW! So I did all the typical tourist stuff; Acropolis, Parthenon, Monastiaki Flea Market, Hammam Baths, while staying in the Plaka neighborhood at the base of the hill topped by the Acropolis. Experienced a really fun food walking tour and was able to explore and eat at all the places the locals do.
From Athens I went back to Italy. Dearest Peggy was to meet me in Rome and I was excited to see her. Too many months had passed without us taking our long walks and enjoying one each others company. I have to say she was a trouper after a long flight and suffering from go ole jet lag she rallied. The best part of meeting up with someone is I leave to them to do the planning and I'm along for whatever is in store. Peggy was well prepared and brought her Rick Steve's Rome book, so we had a lot of ground to cover if we wanted to see it all. Peggy was kind enough to purchase tickets to the Borghese Gallery and the Vatican guided tour. Amazing! We were able to find our way around pretty easily with her map and my IPhone. We might have made up for all those months of taking our famous San Francisco walks. We saw it all and walked almost everywhere. I think we only caught a cab twice and it was because we needed to be somewhere at a certain time. Just to name a few; The Pantheon, Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, Sistine Chapel (on our guided tour), basically if it was in his (Rick Steve's) book we went there. Peg and I even got to hear the Pope give Mass. WOW! We had a blast!
Abu Dhabi was my next destination. I know Abu Dhabi? Why? Well an old friend from Phoenix is now living there and what the heck I'm on this side of the globe. I just have to say what a culture shock, religion is a way of life and all of the Islamic Traditions. We met up with a bunch of his expat friends who were really a great group of people who made me feel very welcome. We decided to go to Dubai because Chel's friend Jane needed to shop for 'bits and pieces'...she's Scottish. We went to the famous mall right next to the Burj Khalifa. We shopped and then left when Jane asked Chel if he had shown me the tallest building in the world. Little did I know it was right outside the mall. Nope I got to see it driving on the highway going 55 miles per hour. I could have shot him, but if you stay with me...he more than made up for it later. Really fun time going to great restaurants, lounging by the pool and catching up after not seeing on another for 17 years.
Abu Dhabi to Amsterdam to Kenya. Please don't look at a map. I know it doesn't make sense and I should have just flown from Abu Dhabi to Kenya, but my ticket was purchased back in April and it was non-refundable and couldn't be changed. So I fly in to Amsterdam the night before, get some rest, and then head to the airport to see Katie! We see each other in line for security and both of us are so excited to see one another. Once I get past security, located at the gate, we hug for the longest time. We are actually doing this! A safari who would have thought? We board the plane and there is a little black man sitting across the isle from me on the plane getting a great deal of attention, well it ends up being Geoffrey Mutai, of Kenya, winner of the New York Marathon. My first celebrity siting. Very nice and very humble and smiled the entire flight...even when he was sleeping.
Safari -Amboseli National Park, Lake Manyara National Park, Ngorongoro Crater, Serengeti National Park and Masai Mara Game Reserve...massively packed 14 days! We arrive at the Nairobi Airport and greeted by a very nice member of the Abercrombie and Kent staff. We are taken to the hotel and get a short nights sleep before heading off for our adventure. We find out in the morning that we will be traveling with a nice Jewish Family from New York. Steve, his girlfriend Cindy and her adult children Brett and Logan. Our tour director had 30 years experience. We head out of Nairobi and head to Amboseli National Park at the base of Mt. Kilimanjaro. Yes Katie I am now referring back to your diligent notes taken during our trip. Every day we would wake up and just pinch ourselves not really believing we are on this incredible Safari. If you haven't gone on one go and if you go with Abercrombie and Kent they are top notch all the way. Here is a detailed Itinerary if interested:
http://www.abercrombiekent.com/travel/?fuseaction=dsp_itinerary&tid=5834
I will sum up what we saw, as I said Katie kept impeccable records.
I'll just give you the latest and then we'll cover the fun stuff. I am currently in Sydney, Australia after a couple of attempts to get here. After 7 months of travel the worst thing I've incurred was a cold while in Italy and now this foot issue. I'm not sure how this happened because I was sober. I somehow badly bruised my foot and thought I had a stress fracture. After going to the Doctor and getting an x-ray it was determined that I had somehow badly bruised my foot. I think the flu would have been better since my journey involves a lot of walking and this just screwed everything up. Fortunately I found an apartment that was perfect. A supermarket just outside the door, pharmacy steps away and best of all a Blockbuster downstairs. The pain was unimaginable and I hobbled like an 80 year old man. I was so hopeless looking hobbling along that the homeless even felt sorry for me and didn't ask for money. Let's move on to all the good things that have happened in the last few months, since this paragraph is both digressive and depressive.
I left you in Mykonos. Off to Athens-Well I didn't meet my man in Mykonos, so I headed to Athens to see if I could find him there. Wow! I think the most handsome men are Greek. I'm not sure if that's a personal preference, but WOW! So I did all the typical tourist stuff; Acropolis, Parthenon, Monastiaki Flea Market, Hammam Baths, while staying in the Plaka neighborhood at the base of the hill topped by the Acropolis. Experienced a really fun food walking tour and was able to explore and eat at all the places the locals do.
From Athens I went back to Italy. Dearest Peggy was to meet me in Rome and I was excited to see her. Too many months had passed without us taking our long walks and enjoying one each others company. I have to say she was a trouper after a long flight and suffering from go ole jet lag she rallied. The best part of meeting up with someone is I leave to them to do the planning and I'm along for whatever is in store. Peggy was well prepared and brought her Rick Steve's Rome book, so we had a lot of ground to cover if we wanted to see it all. Peggy was kind enough to purchase tickets to the Borghese Gallery and the Vatican guided tour. Amazing! We were able to find our way around pretty easily with her map and my IPhone. We might have made up for all those months of taking our famous San Francisco walks. We saw it all and walked almost everywhere. I think we only caught a cab twice and it was because we needed to be somewhere at a certain time. Just to name a few; The Pantheon, Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, Sistine Chapel (on our guided tour), basically if it was in his (Rick Steve's) book we went there. Peg and I even got to hear the Pope give Mass. WOW! We had a blast!
Abu Dhabi was my next destination. I know Abu Dhabi? Why? Well an old friend from Phoenix is now living there and what the heck I'm on this side of the globe. I just have to say what a culture shock, religion is a way of life and all of the Islamic Traditions. We met up with a bunch of his expat friends who were really a great group of people who made me feel very welcome. We decided to go to Dubai because Chel's friend Jane needed to shop for 'bits and pieces'...she's Scottish. We went to the famous mall right next to the Burj Khalifa. We shopped and then left when Jane asked Chel if he had shown me the tallest building in the world. Little did I know it was right outside the mall. Nope I got to see it driving on the highway going 55 miles per hour. I could have shot him, but if you stay with me...he more than made up for it later. Really fun time going to great restaurants, lounging by the pool and catching up after not seeing on another for 17 years.
Abu Dhabi to Amsterdam to Kenya. Please don't look at a map. I know it doesn't make sense and I should have just flown from Abu Dhabi to Kenya, but my ticket was purchased back in April and it was non-refundable and couldn't be changed. So I fly in to Amsterdam the night before, get some rest, and then head to the airport to see Katie! We see each other in line for security and both of us are so excited to see one another. Once I get past security, located at the gate, we hug for the longest time. We are actually doing this! A safari who would have thought? We board the plane and there is a little black man sitting across the isle from me on the plane getting a great deal of attention, well it ends up being Geoffrey Mutai, of Kenya, winner of the New York Marathon. My first celebrity siting. Very nice and very humble and smiled the entire flight...even when he was sleeping.
Safari -Amboseli National Park, Lake Manyara National Park, Ngorongoro Crater, Serengeti National Park and Masai Mara Game Reserve...massively packed 14 days! We arrive at the Nairobi Airport and greeted by a very nice member of the Abercrombie and Kent staff. We are taken to the hotel and get a short nights sleep before heading off for our adventure. We find out in the morning that we will be traveling with a nice Jewish Family from New York. Steve, his girlfriend Cindy and her adult children Brett and Logan. Our tour director had 30 years experience. We head out of Nairobi and head to Amboseli National Park at the base of Mt. Kilimanjaro. Yes Katie I am now referring back to your diligent notes taken during our trip. Every day we would wake up and just pinch ourselves not really believing we are on this incredible Safari. If you haven't gone on one go and if you go with Abercrombie and Kent they are top notch all the way. Here is a detailed Itinerary if interested:
http://www.abercrombiekent.com/travel/?fuseaction=dsp_itinerary&tid=5834
We visited a local
Maasai tribe village and were greeted with a dance, singing and a
prayer for our safety home. Hint?? They explained how they make fire (no Bic
lighters), build their homes (cow dung is the new stucco), healed malaria
(bark of the acacia tree, admittedly not always...ever?...effective) and we met
their preschool teacher and class of 40 precious little uniformed kids.
High pressure for Katie to purchase trinkets ( I stayed as a casual observer) at the end dampened it a bit but she knows she will use these Chinese-made bowls, tongs and artwork!! It was well worth every
penny.
I will sum up what we saw, as I said Katie kept impeccable records.
1 Serval Cat
1 Albino Hare
2 Mating Giraffes
4 Mating Lions
4 Black Rhinos
4 Cheetahs
5 Leopards
50 Lions
100 Giraffes
300 Elephants
500 Hippos
1 million Gazelles, Zebra, Wildebeest (and other Antelope
family)
I know this is a lot of information on one post, so you have my permission to take a break.
From Africa to South Africa different countries on the same continent. I decided even though I had this round trip (non refundable ticket) that I wouldn't use the return to Amsterdam with Katie, instead I headed to Cape Town South Africa. From the advice of a very smart friend I decided to follow the sun and stay out of cold weather.
Cape Town was amazing. My friend Kimberly Stanier said it was one of her favorite places on earth and I can understand why. It reminded me a little bit of Hawaii with large mountains surrounded by the ocean. I found another great place to stay using airbnb. Just to mention a few highlights. Table Mountain was amazing, V&A Waterfront, but Robben Island and visiting Nelson Mandela's cell was probably most significant and moving parts of my visit. Even more important was that it was less than a month of my visit that he passed away. Just to get an idea the people are very friendly and in spite of the anti-apartheid movement there is still a great disparity between the black and white population. I was also invited out to Stellenbosch by a friend of Kimberly's to see the wine county and have an amazing BBQ at their home. Susan and her family were warm and inviting and fast new best friends.
Cape Town to Abu Dhabi - What??? Back again. Chel was kind enough to invite me back for Thanksgiving and a small party he was throwing, mostly for expats from the UK and locals, both who don't celebrate Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving for 50! No small feat! Thank God it was catered. Chel continued to work while another house guest, Franchescha from Italy, and I did a major set up and got the place in order to have 50 for dinner. Chel also was able to arrange another trip to Dubai and this time we went up in Burj Khalifa the tallest man-made structure in the world. Up we went 163 stories at 32 feet a second without throwing up. He sooo made up for my last visit and neglecting to show me the worlds tallest building even though it was right outside the door of the mall. This second trip was less of a culture shock and I didn't think twice about living among Islamic people.
Abu Dhabi to Sidney Australia and back to my foot. It has healed for the most part and I'm ready to do some on foot exploring. Not fun hopping on the hop on hop off and not be able to hop off. From here I'm heading to Melbourne, Tasmania, New Zealand, Fiji and Thailand and then working my way home. Stay tuned! Pictures to follow!
Rome Apartments-we moved since we couldn't find one available for our entire stay. Both very cool!
Airbnb Apartments: Each one amazing hosts and hostesses!
Saturday, September 28, 2013
dlhinsf's photostream
dlhinsf's photostream on Flickr.
Here are some more! I think I'm getting the hang of this!
Met My Man In Mykonos
I never thought it would happen. I check into the VOtsaLaki (means small rock..really rock no misspellings here) here in Mykonos. Costantinos is here to greet me. It is love at first sight. He is an architect and designed and owns the resort along with his family. I always thought I would meet my architect in my job selling into architecture firms, but this works! I have yet to meet his Mother and Father and can only hope they love me as much as I love their son. Will you come join us with our celebration? I'm picturing a combo of 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding' and 'Mama Mia'. I will be sending for a few things and we will winter in Athens and summer here at the resort.
There is only one catch...he doesn't know I love him it's unrequited love. I could only wish. He's real, but the Love Story isn't. Well it is, but only coming from my side.
Enough fantasy let's get down to what really has happened in the last month. It has been really busy and I'm here in Mykonos for some quiet down time after facing hoards of people every place I go.
We left off with me telling you I was heading to Copenhagen to visit with an old friend and co-worker Bianca Bruhn. I was greeted at the airport by Bianca and her lovely smile and a warm hug. How wonderful it was to see her after all of these years. She and her husband, Henrich, now have an amazingly bright and beautiful daughter Sofia. I had a wonderful, relaxing long weekend with them. Poor Sofia (she's almost 3) knows as much English as I do Swedish. She would chat away with me and get smiles, but no verbal response. At one point she just turns away and starts speaking to her Mom and probably thinking, "What's wrong with this guy? He doesn't understand a word I'm saying, I'm going to chat with someone who gets it" We finally got a little understanding with Ya Ya and Tack, which means Thank You. She was adorable, playing waitress, forgetting my drink. Bianca was great translating to her and I asked where my drink was. She just shrugged and said, "I forgot". Copenhagen was starting to get cold, but Bianca and I had a brisk walk along the lakes close to her house. We also toured around the city center and enjoyed catching up. I couldn't take the winters there since I was told there is very little sunlight. I would have to invest in one of those light machines or hibernate for the winter.
From Copenhagen to Italy. After my relaxing time I headed off to Sorrento Italy to meet up with Kyra and Chris, who I used to work with at InPro. Finding out on Facebook that Chris had proposed the evening before I was to see them was exciting news. We had a great time in Sorrento and headed down to the Amalfi Coast to Positano. It was the most amazingly tranquil and serene setting. Now I know why everyone said you have to go there. I would like to have continued on, but I had to head back up to Genoa to meet up with Sally Smith, my longtime friend from college. She's now Sally Shwartz, but she'll always be Sally Smith to me.
Genoa to the Cinque Terre. I met Sally at the airport and we then took a train down the coast to a picturesque town called Monterosso. We spend four days there and do a daily hike down the coast. Sally went alone one day because it really did kick my ass and she's a born hiker. On our third day we decided to take the trail, in Corngilia, a few towns down. Right as we are going to head up it starts to rain. We stop grab a couple of ponchos and make our way up. I mean up! I starts pouring cats and dogs. We aren't deterred and keep making out way. At one point I decided to look up to see how much further we had to go...big mistake! We finally made our way to a midpoint and there was an old church. We stopped, used the restroom, and headed further up only to be stopped by some woman who had made safe haven in the sanctuary of the church. She told us not to go any further because there could be flooding. Sally and I caucused and thought we didn't get this far to turn back. Up we went and as we reached the top the sky cleared and the sun shined. We were rewarded by the most amazing views of Monterosso below. We made it. Heading back down was trickier, but we pretty much made it unscathed.
So I caught this really nice cold and wasn't in good form for our next day hike which was going to be from Riomaggiore to Porto Venere. The night before at dinner Sally gave a sigh of relief that I wasn't well enough to do this. She was able to get up at the crack of down and make the journey and not have to wait for me since I'm slow moving in the morning. Off she went and I got it together to take a train to La Spezia and then a bus from there to Porto Venere. Long story short after trying to figure out where to catch the bus and getting off too early, then catching it again going the wrong way and then finally getting back on track and got to town. At check in I told the clerk I was expecting a friend to join me. He said, "She's already here.". WTF? She hiked 11 miles and got there before me? It was really funny. Porto Venere is a nice simple fishing village at the last point of Cinque Terre trail. It was all so quaint with great food along the way.
We head Southeast (yes I had to look at a map and yes this is a lot of work). I had days when I needed to ask Sally where we were and where we were going. That's the nice part about me meeting you somewhere. I'm along for the ride and love that I get a break from having to plan.
OK back to what I was saying...southeast to Sienna. We arrive in Sienna after a long train ride. Not thinking we just jumped in a cab and headed to another one of my great airbnb.com finds. We are welcomed by Giancarlo's very pretty daughter who shows us a sweet little apartment on their great spread of land. They have a wonderful setup with the parents in one house and each daughter having a place of their own. Mom watches and helps with the kids and prepares dinners. They have another building that houses about 8 apartments. Such a nice family. What we didn't think, when we jumped in the cab, we're way out in the country and it's not assessable to anything close by. We find a little restaurant down the hill and had a great dinner. The waitress knew enough English to get us through a meal. At one point she comes back to the table and I start talking and she has the pained expression on her face like 'please I can't take anymore of this..I know just enough English to get your food' Sally and I just cracked up...one of many great moments with my gal Sal. We see some touristy stuff, a great church, get confused about if Michelangelo did this or that. All of it is sometimes overwhelming.
You can take a break if you want...as I said this was an action packed month.
Sienna to Florence. David sees The David! I was going to title this blog entry with that, but liked what I used better. So Florence is, to use an expression from my Father,...' A Cluster Fuck!' There are so many people everywhere that you can't move. Sally had the foresight to make appointments for our two excursions. Thank you Sally! So we see the David in the morning. Wow! As much as you think the Mona Lisa is going to be larger this was on the other end of the spectrum. David was huge! Such an amazing sculpture. We then have another scheduled time late in the afternoon for the Uffizi Gallery where Sally is going to try and educate about art. We are so overwhelmed with the amount of people in Florence that as we were walking we both thought 'wait a minute there has to be a nice hotel lobby where we can leave this mayhem behind. We found it! Hotel Lungarno felt like you were sitting in someones very nice, large living room. We enjoyed our quite time with a cappuccino and some cookies.
We're off early that evening and take a train back to Genoa and Sally will be heading back to the States the next day. It was so hard to goodbye. After all these years we were able to pick up where we left off to some extent. I think the first night, Sally tired with jet lag, was trying to connect all the dots. I think I told her about everyone in my life. She needed a diagram since I'm fortunate to have some pretty great friends. We did laugh a lot and she is one of the funniest people I know. I had a difficult time being back on my own after she left. Getting back into the groove of traveling alone isn't easy.
OK enough about Sally Smith! It is your payback after she had to hear about all of you! Off from Genoa to Venice.
One motto we did adapt from when I traveled with my Mother years ago was to capture the moment see everything you can. My mother looked at me on our trip and said, "It's not like we're coming back". Sally and I kept that spirit alive.
Venice I'm not sure if you know this, but Venice has a lot of water! It was pretty amazing place, but going back to my Paris days...I've never been so lost. One night I decided I would find this restaurant that was recommended by my host and walked and walked and thinking around every twisted corner I would find my way back. Never did. Finally I asked a couple who was looking at their map where we were. I asked if they knew on the map where San Carlos square was and they pointed to the other side of the city. I have no idea how I got there or how I was going to get back. They pointed to the water bus and I thought good idea. Luckily there was a private taxi driver who was picking his wife up I think and along with this Asian Mother and Son he took us back through the various small canals that run throughout the city. This wasn't a gondola ride and I wasn't going to take one by myself so I asked if he wouldn't mind singing to us. It got a laugh. Thank God he was nice enough to take us there for 10 Euros each since the water buses take forever going every which way until you finally reach your destination. I will post links to all the places I've stayed most recently. The apartment was designed by the architect who owns it and it was the coolest thing I have ever seen. Something out of a magazine.
So now I'm in Mykonos and in love with an architect. It's amazing here, just like the pictures you see. I'm happy I'm not here during high season since I understand it's crazy. After this I head to Athens and then to meet Peggy O'Brien in Rome. So looking forward to seeing her beautiful face and hear her infectious laugh! After Rome I'm going to Abu Dhabi to see an old friend, Chel Seaborn, from Phoenix and then on to Amsterdam to meet Katie Skinner (Wiederholt)...again Katie Skinner to me. We are heading out on a Safari in Kenya and Tanzania. Wow, wow, wow. I do pinch myself now and then and think what an amazing journey this has been and will continue to be.
OK here is a link to pictures. Not sure this will work, but I posted some on here. I need tech help!
Also on the blog there is a link to Flickr. More to come!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/20179298@N07/sets/72157635920919954/
Link to apartments.
Axel's place in Stockholm. Click on his profile picture and he now has a video. He is adorable. Great place.
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/1187945
Sienna, Tuscany
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/577248
Genoa, Italy
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/81350
Venice, Italy Amazing
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/1590453
Mykonos even more Amazing!
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/1143159
There is only one catch...he doesn't know I love him it's unrequited love. I could only wish. He's real, but the Love Story isn't. Well it is, but only coming from my side.
Enough fantasy let's get down to what really has happened in the last month. It has been really busy and I'm here in Mykonos for some quiet down time after facing hoards of people every place I go.
We left off with me telling you I was heading to Copenhagen to visit with an old friend and co-worker Bianca Bruhn. I was greeted at the airport by Bianca and her lovely smile and a warm hug. How wonderful it was to see her after all of these years. She and her husband, Henrich, now have an amazingly bright and beautiful daughter Sofia. I had a wonderful, relaxing long weekend with them. Poor Sofia (she's almost 3) knows as much English as I do Swedish. She would chat away with me and get smiles, but no verbal response. At one point she just turns away and starts speaking to her Mom and probably thinking, "What's wrong with this guy? He doesn't understand a word I'm saying, I'm going to chat with someone who gets it" We finally got a little understanding with Ya Ya and Tack, which means Thank You. She was adorable, playing waitress, forgetting my drink. Bianca was great translating to her and I asked where my drink was. She just shrugged and said, "I forgot". Copenhagen was starting to get cold, but Bianca and I had a brisk walk along the lakes close to her house. We also toured around the city center and enjoyed catching up. I couldn't take the winters there since I was told there is very little sunlight. I would have to invest in one of those light machines or hibernate for the winter.
From Copenhagen to Italy. After my relaxing time I headed off to Sorrento Italy to meet up with Kyra and Chris, who I used to work with at InPro. Finding out on Facebook that Chris had proposed the evening before I was to see them was exciting news. We had a great time in Sorrento and headed down to the Amalfi Coast to Positano. It was the most amazingly tranquil and serene setting. Now I know why everyone said you have to go there. I would like to have continued on, but I had to head back up to Genoa to meet up with Sally Smith, my longtime friend from college. She's now Sally Shwartz, but she'll always be Sally Smith to me.
Genoa to the Cinque Terre. I met Sally at the airport and we then took a train down the coast to a picturesque town called Monterosso. We spend four days there and do a daily hike down the coast. Sally went alone one day because it really did kick my ass and she's a born hiker. On our third day we decided to take the trail, in Corngilia, a few towns down. Right as we are going to head up it starts to rain. We stop grab a couple of ponchos and make our way up. I mean up! I starts pouring cats and dogs. We aren't deterred and keep making out way. At one point I decided to look up to see how much further we had to go...big mistake! We finally made our way to a midpoint and there was an old church. We stopped, used the restroom, and headed further up only to be stopped by some woman who had made safe haven in the sanctuary of the church. She told us not to go any further because there could be flooding. Sally and I caucused and thought we didn't get this far to turn back. Up we went and as we reached the top the sky cleared and the sun shined. We were rewarded by the most amazing views of Monterosso below. We made it. Heading back down was trickier, but we pretty much made it unscathed.
So I caught this really nice cold and wasn't in good form for our next day hike which was going to be from Riomaggiore to Porto Venere. The night before at dinner Sally gave a sigh of relief that I wasn't well enough to do this. She was able to get up at the crack of down and make the journey and not have to wait for me since I'm slow moving in the morning. Off she went and I got it together to take a train to La Spezia and then a bus from there to Porto Venere. Long story short after trying to figure out where to catch the bus and getting off too early, then catching it again going the wrong way and then finally getting back on track and got to town. At check in I told the clerk I was expecting a friend to join me. He said, "She's already here.". WTF? She hiked 11 miles and got there before me? It was really funny. Porto Venere is a nice simple fishing village at the last point of Cinque Terre trail. It was all so quaint with great food along the way.
We head Southeast (yes I had to look at a map and yes this is a lot of work). I had days when I needed to ask Sally where we were and where we were going. That's the nice part about me meeting you somewhere. I'm along for the ride and love that I get a break from having to plan.
OK back to what I was saying...southeast to Sienna. We arrive in Sienna after a long train ride. Not thinking we just jumped in a cab and headed to another one of my great airbnb.com finds. We are welcomed by Giancarlo's very pretty daughter who shows us a sweet little apartment on their great spread of land. They have a wonderful setup with the parents in one house and each daughter having a place of their own. Mom watches and helps with the kids and prepares dinners. They have another building that houses about 8 apartments. Such a nice family. What we didn't think, when we jumped in the cab, we're way out in the country and it's not assessable to anything close by. We find a little restaurant down the hill and had a great dinner. The waitress knew enough English to get us through a meal. At one point she comes back to the table and I start talking and she has the pained expression on her face like 'please I can't take anymore of this..I know just enough English to get your food' Sally and I just cracked up...one of many great moments with my gal Sal. We see some touristy stuff, a great church, get confused about if Michelangelo did this or that. All of it is sometimes overwhelming.
You can take a break if you want...as I said this was an action packed month.
Sienna to Florence. David sees The David! I was going to title this blog entry with that, but liked what I used better. So Florence is, to use an expression from my Father,...' A Cluster Fuck!' There are so many people everywhere that you can't move. Sally had the foresight to make appointments for our two excursions. Thank you Sally! So we see the David in the morning. Wow! As much as you think the Mona Lisa is going to be larger this was on the other end of the spectrum. David was huge! Such an amazing sculpture. We then have another scheduled time late in the afternoon for the Uffizi Gallery where Sally is going to try and educate about art. We are so overwhelmed with the amount of people in Florence that as we were walking we both thought 'wait a minute there has to be a nice hotel lobby where we can leave this mayhem behind. We found it! Hotel Lungarno felt like you were sitting in someones very nice, large living room. We enjoyed our quite time with a cappuccino and some cookies.
We're off early that evening and take a train back to Genoa and Sally will be heading back to the States the next day. It was so hard to goodbye. After all these years we were able to pick up where we left off to some extent. I think the first night, Sally tired with jet lag, was trying to connect all the dots. I think I told her about everyone in my life. She needed a diagram since I'm fortunate to have some pretty great friends. We did laugh a lot and she is one of the funniest people I know. I had a difficult time being back on my own after she left. Getting back into the groove of traveling alone isn't easy.
OK enough about Sally Smith! It is your payback after she had to hear about all of you! Off from Genoa to Venice.
One motto we did adapt from when I traveled with my Mother years ago was to capture the moment see everything you can. My mother looked at me on our trip and said, "It's not like we're coming back". Sally and I kept that spirit alive.
Venice I'm not sure if you know this, but Venice has a lot of water! It was pretty amazing place, but going back to my Paris days...I've never been so lost. One night I decided I would find this restaurant that was recommended by my host and walked and walked and thinking around every twisted corner I would find my way back. Never did. Finally I asked a couple who was looking at their map where we were. I asked if they knew on the map where San Carlos square was and they pointed to the other side of the city. I have no idea how I got there or how I was going to get back. They pointed to the water bus and I thought good idea. Luckily there was a private taxi driver who was picking his wife up I think and along with this Asian Mother and Son he took us back through the various small canals that run throughout the city. This wasn't a gondola ride and I wasn't going to take one by myself so I asked if he wouldn't mind singing to us. It got a laugh. Thank God he was nice enough to take us there for 10 Euros each since the water buses take forever going every which way until you finally reach your destination. I will post links to all the places I've stayed most recently. The apartment was designed by the architect who owns it and it was the coolest thing I have ever seen. Something out of a magazine.
So now I'm in Mykonos and in love with an architect. It's amazing here, just like the pictures you see. I'm happy I'm not here during high season since I understand it's crazy. After this I head to Athens and then to meet Peggy O'Brien in Rome. So looking forward to seeing her beautiful face and hear her infectious laugh! After Rome I'm going to Abu Dhabi to see an old friend, Chel Seaborn, from Phoenix and then on to Amsterdam to meet Katie Skinner (Wiederholt)...again Katie Skinner to me. We are heading out on a Safari in Kenya and Tanzania. Wow, wow, wow. I do pinch myself now and then and think what an amazing journey this has been and will continue to be.
OK here is a link to pictures. Not sure this will work, but I posted some on here. I need tech help!
Also on the blog there is a link to Flickr. More to come!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/20179298@N07/sets/72157635920919954/
Link to apartments.
Axel's place in Stockholm. Click on his profile picture and he now has a video. He is adorable. Great place.
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/1187945
Sienna, Tuscany
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/577248
Genoa, Italy
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/81350
Venice, Italy Amazing
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/1590453
Mykonos even more Amazing!
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/1143159
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