September 2012 - Week 1 - Tuscany

 After delays through Chicago, we finally arrived in Rome at noon, got our rental car, a standad transmission, and headed on a two hour drive to Montepulciano, our first stop in the Tuscany region.  First off, Italian drivers are crazy!  They weave in and out of traffic, 30 mph over the speed limit, using no signals.  Second, it was obvious to me that since I hadn't driven a standard in 20+ years, that poor Greg would be stuck with all the driving.   Montelpuciano is a great little walled city sitting high on top of a hill.  We stayed in a farmhouse located on an organic vineyard, which was charming. 



Long uphill walk into the city

 First glass of wine in the piazza



one of the many hills and buildings in the city



View from city

The next day we were off to Florence, which what should have been a 2 1/2 hour drive, but turned into 3 1/2 hours.  Our GPS tooks us right to the city, but when we tried to get to our hotel, the road was closed down due to constuction.  After driving around in circles for a bit, we ended up taking a road into the center part of the city, which is forbidden unless you have registered your license plate.  The fines are 70 euros each time you go in and out of the central part of town, which we did countless times.  The roads are super narrow and motorcycles, bicycles and pedestrians are weaving in and out.  It was extremely stressful.  We found a parking garage and then wheeled our suitcase through the streets to our hotel.  They claimed that for the price of 1 euro they would reigister our car so we wouldn't be fined.  When we eventually turned the rental car in, there were no charges, so hopefully it won't come back and haunt us.

We had a beautiful hotel with a rooftop sitting/dining area which viewed the duomo.  Florence is full of piazzas, historic buildings, museums, great restaurants and loads of people.  We were sorry we were only there 2 nights as there was much to see.  We took a walking tour and learned much about the city and then when to the museum to see Michaelangelo's David.  It was quite impressive and to have it explained by a well versed guide was fascinating.  We also did a food and wine tour, which had us tasting some of the local cuisine, wine and of course, gelato.

front of duomo

from our rooftop



from our rooftop

Greg and Neptune

Ponte Vecchio bridge crossing Arno River

Our next stop was San Gimignano, another walled city in the Tuscany region.  There is something very fascinating about watching how people live in these small towns.  Laundry hanging out their windows, stopping at the local cheese and meat stores for food every day.  Their life is very simple and they don't have extravagances.  As explained in Florence, the piazzas are their living rooms because their homes are so small.  At night you will find families sitting, drinking coffee while the children run around.  Dinner doesn't take place until 9:30 or 10:00 and the food in this area is fabulous.  I have set a rule for myself where I will eat pasta every day while in Italy.  My waistline may not like it, but my tastebuds are doing cartwheels.

Entrance to the City

view from inside the city

nice view



typical Italian street.  Imagine driving on here with cars, bicycles and motorcycles


 

The next stop is Siena which was one of my favorites.  Our hotel room was very small, but the view out our window was amazing.

Sienna has a huge piazza named El Campo Piazza and at a certain time of the year they actually bring in dirt and straw and race horses around it.  There is a Duomo here, as well as a museum, a baptismal place and a crypt, all of which we visited. The paintings in the museum and church were remarkable.  The history in these cities is just amazing.  Once again, food is awesome and I have fallen in love with chianti wine, which I never touch in the States.  And......gelato is a must almost every day.

Huge piazza



Steps up to Duomo and museum

One of the many churches

One of the many streets

Ceiling in one of the churches

One of the many walls in the church

Looking up at the Duomo

Outside the Duomo



View of the Duomo from other side of city

Our next stop is to stay in Lucca as we were invited to our friends Kristin and Bengt Morten's birthday/anniversary celebration.  We drove through the countryside instead of the highway and it was beautiful.  The fields have all been harvested, but the colors of the fields are really pretty.  We decided to stop in Pisa to see the leaning tower since it was on our way.  There is really nothing else in Pisa, just a large busy city. 



Are those bushes leaning too?

After lunch in Pisa, we arrived at La Principessa Hotel in Lucca.  Great hotel with beautiful grounds.  This would be the place where the party would be held the following evening.  We took an afternoon of relaxation by the pool visiting with Kristin's family.  The next day we drove into Lucca and wandered around.  Picked a bad time because we had forgotten that shops shut down in the middle of the afternoon for lunch and siesta.  Lucca wasn't as beautiful as many of the other Tuscan cities, but still had loads of history, churches, etc.

Our Hotel

One of the churches

Beautiful building



The party was on Saturday night and was wonderful.  There was a huge spread of food, the children were playing and having a wonderful time and we met lots of new and interesting people.  Many of the people spoke English so we were able to have conversations.  When it came time for the speeches though, that was a different story.  Everyone spoke in Norwegian and it was interesting to watch everyone while we had no idea what was being said.   Wonderful music all night long and eventually dancing started.   It was a great party and we were happy to have been invited.

 

 The family to my right are Steeler fans.  Maybe we will have company from Norway.

Bengt Morten and his daughter Josephine

Kristin's parents dancing the night away

 

We absolutely love Tuscany.  To just wander through the towns, viewing the life style, stopping for lunch or dinner or coffee or gelato is a great experience.  Most restaurants have English menus and most people speak some English so getting around has been easy.  The first week went by too quickly, but we know there are some exciting times ahead.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



June - Disney

The last several months have been busy with volunteer work, getting the yard ready for summer and a week long camping trip at a local state park.  The big June highlight was spending a week with our great niece and nephew in Disneyworld.  They are 6 and almost 8 years old and it was their first time away from home for such a long period and their first plane ride.  They were fabulous to travel with and a joy all around. 

They loved the Disney characters and had to get all their autographs.  They didn't like dark rides, but loved the roller coasters (although not the really big ones).  On our first day we let them swim all day and then went to Downtown Disney where they were amazed at the Lego store and display.  Of course we had to buy our first souvenirs of the trip. 

We planned a trip to each of the 4 parks for the next 4 days and then another trip to Magic Kingdom on the 6th day and let them choose where we went on the 7th day.  They chose Magic Kingdom again since we had been rained out of the electric parade the past 2 times.  The parade was worth the wait for them as they loved it immensely.  We were disappointed that we had as much rain as we did, but in hindsight, it was probably better than 90 degree weather.  Ponchos worked fine, although taking them on and off time after time got old.

Getting up and going to the parks in the morning and then heading back for swimming in the afternoon worked out really well.  We had a nice lunch in a sit down restaurant every day in the park, which was a good air conditioned break, plus we all got to eat a little better food than at the concession stands.   Sometimes we had dinner out, but we often cooked at the timeshare which was actually easier.


We planned family t-shirts for the first 4 days and it proved to be a lot of fun.  The best was our OHIO shirts as people called out to us all day "OH" and the kids would respond "IO".  They loved being the center of attention.  We had to make sure we walked in a certain order or would spell weird words and nobody would get it.  It was a lot of fun.

Another successful trip for us as we continue to enjoy retirement to its fullest.  We never believed our friends when they said they were busier once they retired, but it really is true.  Time is going so fast and we are enjoying every second.  We are off to Cleveland next week for a 2 night stay to enjoy a Food Tour and The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and then head to Las Vegas the first week of July.  The pressure is on Greg to make lots of money playing poker to pay for the trip!  Hope everyone reading this is doing well.

March - Riviera Maya

After being home from Florida for 3 weeks, we headed to the Riviera Maya, Mexico for a 2 week stay.  We love our timeshare there and hadn't visited for 3 years.  If it's possible, it is more beautiful than before.  All the trees and shrubs have matured, which makes everything look beautiful.  We did nothing but lay at the pool, drink tropical drinks and eat nice meals.  Our deck had it's own little pool, which Greg loved to sit in to cool off.  The weather was 80+ every day, which was fabulous.  We made several trips into the town of Playa del Carmen, which is always a fun time.

Florida - February

February ended up being much the same as January.  We continued to visit the Disney parks, some state parks and Cocoa Beach.  We feel we know the parks well enough that our trip in June with our great niece and nephew will be a breeze.

Our big highlight in February was a "swim with the manatees" trip.  We weren't able to take pictures since we were in the water, but it was a great day.  We put on wet suits and a boat took us to 2 different sites where manatees were living.  There were too many people at the first site and the manatees were not coming out of their protected area.  At the second site, it was only our boat and we had a manatee encounter.  They are much like cats in that they slide around you and when they have had their fill, they go on their way.  You had to just float on top of the water and let the manatee come close to you and then you could pet it.  There are laws against chasing and harming them, so you must do what the manatee wants.  It was really a great encounter and we were happy we went.

We ended up having to get a hotel for our last night since Greg continued having dental problems and there weren't enough days to fit in all his visits.  He has more work to get done now that we are home.

Florida-January

Our drive to Florida was uneventful, although our stop in Charleston on New Years Eve was very nice.  We spent the afternoon touring the City by taking a carriage ride and lots of walking around.   It's a nice, clean little town, but not nearly as grand as we had anticipated.  We had drinks at several nice bars before we had a wonderful dinner, and then walked around the City watching everyone celebrate.  There were First Night events going on in several park areas so we stopped and listened to music and watched fireworks.

We arrived at our condo in Kissimmee the very next afternoon and got organized so that we could start hitting the Disney parks the very next day.  Visiting the parks has become a major part of our exercise program as we usually stay for 5-6 hours and walk over 6 miles.  We've now been to each of the parks 4 times and have ridden or seen everything there is, except the rides that go around in circles and make me sick!  We spent 2 days at Universal Studios and really liked the Harry Potter section.

We drove to Tampa for a RV show and were amazed at the number of RVs on display - easily over 800.  The most amazing thing was the number of people that were pushing their dogs around in dog strollers.  It was an amazing sight.

We spent a day at Cocoa Beach soaking up the sun and enjoying being at the beach.  We plan to do this again before the next month is over.  We found 2 state parks not too far away where we were able to do long nature walks.  The only wildlife were birds and a lone armadillo.

We have friends who either live here or are snowbirds also, so we've been able to get together for some fun.  We have actually spent more time with friends in one month than we ever do at home.  The weather has been awesome.  It's been warmer than usual and we are loving it - high 70's and low 80's.

Our only stroke of bad luck is that Greg woke up with a swollen face and found he had to have a root canal.  Now that it's been taken care of, the dentist has determined he needs to have one of his crowns replaced as well.  Poor Greg! 

August - December

As a friend pointed out to me, I haven't updated the blog since we returned home from our 11 week RV trip.  Time flies when you're having fun.  August was spent catching up on everything we missed over the summer and getting the yard back in order, which was a disaster for us.  All came together quickly.

We love bluegrass music and there are many festivals in late summer, so we were able to spend 3 weekends traveling in the RV and listening to bluegrass.  We had to give up our spot for next year in one of our favorite places near Columbus Ohio since we will be in Europe next year - bummer.

We spent a long weekend in the Ohio Amish country and went to the Swiss Cheese Festival.  No pictures since it rained a bunch, but we came back home with our car loaded down with every cheese possible, cider, vegetables, pumpkins and wine.  Really fun trip.

In October, we met up with friends in the Smoky Mountains and also drove to Asheville to see the Biltmore.  Really fun trip and great catching up with friends.

On our way we stopped to visit a child we've been sponsoring for the past 9 years and who lives in the Appalachia area of North Carolina.   Really great spot and fun to finally meet her and her family in person.

November was a busy month with a weekend at the Cleveland Food Show where we got to see chefs like Bobby Flay, Robert Irvine, Michael Symon, etc. prepare recipes.  Fun trip.  Greg went to the Ohio State/Penn State game in Columbus with a group of friends.  Sad outcome for our Buckeyes, but a fun trip for him. 

For Thanksgiving, we went to Foxwoods Resort and Casino in Connecticut.  Normally we would go to Las Vegas, but thought we would try something new this year.  Really nice resort, except for the cigarette smoke.  Loads of restaurants and shops.  Greg absolutely loved the poker room.  I guess it probably helps when you're getting some good cards and making some money--well that, and the fact they served free milkshakes!

December started out with a trip on the Polar Express with our niece and her family.  Fun time and really got us in the holiday spirit.

Waiting for the train - Greg, Brody and J'Lyn

Cheers with hot chocolate

Christmas carol time

Next we were off to New York City for 3 days.  We love just walking around the City, looking at decorations, windows and smelling chestnuts roasting.  We were able to go on weekdays this year which was so much nicer as the crowds weren't nearly as bad as the weekend.



Next week we're off to the Nemacolin Woodlands Resort to celebrate an early birthday present for me and then we're packing our bags and heading to Florida for two months.  We've truly turned into snowbirds - hard to believe.  We'll be spending New Years Eve in Charleston and we are really looking forward to that stop.

Two months in Orlando will include many trips to Disneyworld in preparation for our June trip with our great niece and nephew.  We also have several other friends who have retired and moved to Florida, so we will take some time and visit with them.  I'm sure the two months will go by quickly, but no worries, because when we return, we will have two weeks at home and then off to sunny Mexico for two weeks.

Just so everyone doesn't think our life is all fun and games, we're doing some good for our community as well.  We have both been appointed as Guardian Ad Litems for our juvenile court system.  We are a voice for the children who have been either neglected or abused.  We are assigned cases and work with the children to make sure they get their say in court.  Lots of sad stories and it's heartbreaking work, but we feel we are helping.  I'm also volunteering at the Forever Safe Farm, which is a non-predatory animal sanctuary for exotic animals.  I get to prepare food and feed the camels, zebra, pot bellied pigs, etc. and also am teaching the numerous goats how to walk on a leash so they are easier to take to the vet.  I love animals so am enjoying this immensely.  Greg is working with our County in helping them accomplish goals with their ever tight budget.

Hope everyone is well and enjoying life as we are.