2006 ITALY TRIP

Hi !!!!!!!!!!!
We got home about 4:30pm today, Tuesday, June 13th. Kevin had to remind me I would just be getting home from W_ _ K at this time. That has not been in my vocabulary for 2 weeks and I still can't say it. Anway, the shuttle dropped off Billy & Kathy at their home first and then us.. yeah.... we made it and we had the time of our lives, and got to experience so many things. Billy and Kathy and us were a team that could handle just about anything, and we have some stories to tell.

We woke up this morning at 3:45 from our St. Marcos Hotel in Venice to catch a water taxi at 4:20 to take us to the Venice Airport to catch our 7:20am flight. (this is Italy time). Now mind you we in the US are 9 hours behind; so as I'm typing this from home, it is now 7:00pm, California time and we are still up. So it would be 4:00am in Italy right now, which means we have been up for over 24 hours. Yikes!

It was still dark when we checked out this morning from Venice and as the 4 of us walked through St. Marcos Square (you know the famous square where people feed the pigeons) there was not another soul in sight, not even a pigeon. This square has been so busy while we have been in Venice. We've seen 3 to 4 cruise ships come into port to drop of the daily tourist, so you can imagine our smiles being the only 4 living souls standing in the square this morning. No pictures, cameras were packed away. We weren't sure where the water taxi would be, and finally spotted him in the dark at one of the docks.

Yesterday our hotel arranged for a free boat ride to Murano Glass factory on Murano Island which was really cool to watch one of the masters at work. He has several apprentices that help him. We walked through the gallery of beautiful, unique glass pieces that are also for sell. Billy & Kathy purchased a dolphin and it will be shipped to their home. It is really cool!

To top of our last evening and meal in Italy, Kevin and I, on our own decided to go to........ McDonalds in Venice. Yes we were craving a burger and fries and it was GREAT! You cannot get a burger anywhere that we had been and we were finally getting tired of Italian food. Got home tonight and we went to Jalepenos for mexican food! Now were home..... in the land that you can buy any type of food you want, speak the language, read the signs and drive in traffic that is sane by our standards now that we've driven in Italy! It's really insane there and we made it 7 days with a rental car with not a scratch to the car. How lucky are we. We've driven going the wrong way, down narrow streets that we had to pull the side mirrors in, back up going up and down a hill on a single lane. We missed our window to return the car in downtown Genoa and found out they were closed for the day. This was our most challenging day of the whole trip. Kevin made the desicion to drop the car off at the Genoa Airport at the Hertz desk. I was with him navigating through the streets of Genoa, while Kathy and Billy were waiting for us with all our luggage at the Genoa train station; waiting for our train departure to Venice. We had no way to communicate with them. We were able to drop the car at the airport, hale a taxi and make it back to the train station with 20 minutes to spare. Phewww... we learned that lesson. Read your travel vouchers the night before, don't thinkk you know it by heart.

We really did have a great time, I just have to let you know about the hard times too!
Love you all for sharing this blog with us! Pictures coming sometime soon

Colleen

Ciao!

Its a beautiful day in the Tuscany Hills and we are leaving today for Cinque Terre on the coast for two nights.

We drove to Lucca on Tuesday and walked inside this walled city of shops, ristorantes and homes. Shops open early and close right at 1 oclock. Then everyone goes upstairs to their homes to eat lunch and rest for 3 to 4 hours. Shops open up again around 4 oclock. We took this time to drive to Pisa, and had to park outside of the Piazza. Lots of tourist go here so be sure to park a distance away and just walk and walk past all the street vendors that sell everything related to the Tower! It was nice inside the piazza and we took lots of pictures of the leaning tower of pisa. We were laughing at all the people that pretend to hold up the tower while friends took their pictures.

Thursday, June 7th we drove into Florence. This is an amazing city, so cool and very old world. We took a tour inside the Uffuzi museum and walked over the Ponte Vechhio bridge then walked down Florences many narrow streets of shops, etc. There is so much to see and do here we only had a day and it was worth it.

Off to the coast we put our feet in the water in the Mediterranian sea in Viaraggio. The sand was soft and fine and the water warm. Very nice weather this time of year, not real hot yet and not a lot of tourist.

Gotta go and so much to tell, but Id rather be out by the pool for a bit before we leave!

We are not having luck with downloading photos and Lucia has an older computer with no usb port. Sorry...

Take care and chat with you soon.
Colleen

Hi everyone,
We loved getting your messages, its fun to share this with you. Rome was very fun and our last full day we left the Vactican after visiting the Sistin Chapels. Words cannot describe the fresco paintings that cover every inch, wall and ceilings of this amazing chapel and its many many rooms. At the end was the famous Michelangelos ceiling frescos. It is just unbelievably beautiful. We got a down pour of rain afterwards near the collisuem. We had to laugh because we were dummies that forgot to bring rain gear with us that morning, so we had to buy umbrellas for 5 euro and still got soaking wet. We ran for cover in the metro staion. Sunday after check out from Rome we took a train from Rome to Florence, about an 1 1-2 hour ride. Renting a car in Florence and finding the rental place was an adventure. We finally got our little ford focus just big enough for 4 people and luggage. Kevin was elected to drive while Billy navigated our decent out of town. Almost getting rear ended by a bus is only the beginning of our driving experience in ITALY. Dont worry though, Kevin is a proffesional driver! Take this advise, get the car insurance, which we did. About an hour down the autostrada we got to the town of Montecantin Terme, and we are staying just outside this lovely town at a B&B, Villa Lucias.Yesterday was the BIG MOTO GP (Motorcycle race)too much to tell about this adventureous day. Valentino Rossi won 1st place. (He is Italian he had to win).Ill see if I can bring him home for you Alley! Today at Villa Lucias we woke up about 11 o clock. Lucias helper put out a spread of fresh fruits, cheese, breads and cereal for us and she also offered to do our laundry, bless her heart! There are other guests in the main house which we met the first night at the wonderful dinner Lucia and George made for all of us here. I helped peel the potatoes! This place was restored from a 1400 year old farm house. Lucia and her husband George are so nice. We are staying in the restored Chicken and Rabbit coop. (no worries, they are out!) Just outside our door is the pool, with olive trees all around and a view of the countryside below. There are 3 or 4 doggies running around. 2 Dashunds, Alley! No photos to upload yet as I need a way to reduce file sizes. Till next time I can find a computer! Ciao Baby!
Colleen

<Hi everyone that is checking in on us. We made the flight into Rome just fine. Everything has gone well and we are out walking near the Vatican this morning, june 1st. i stumbled on this internet store and just shooting a quick e-mail for now. maybe photos later. Foods good, Weather is good,just some light rain and we are having a wonderful, adventurous time. please reply so we know someone out there is getting our message. Ciao, Colleen

Buon Giorno!
After all these months of planning, I can't believe it is only 4 days away before we leave! I am typing this blog for a test and hoping if we have a chance to upload some photos and a short blog you will be able to access our blog.

Arrivederci!