We're going HOME

It is the evening of November 22 and we are planning our trip to the airport tomorrow. We had a guided tour of London and Westminster today and had a ride in the eye. We are winding down now and are looking forward to sleeping in our own bed. The place we have now is like a bachelor suite - with a pullout couch to sleep on. It is nice to speak the same language - we can read basic instructions but there are still things on the menu that we don't know what they are. And it is still difficult to understand people because of their accents - British, Italian, French - we've had to deal with them all here in England. And it is cold. I'm wearing 4 layers on top and leggings under my jeans and I'm still cold. I know it won't be much better at home but I know I don't have to spend as much time outside when I'm at home. And I have a gas fireplace to warm me up. And different clothes will be a very welcome site.
Did I mention how difficult it is to type with long fingernails? Guess what I'm doing when I get home.

See you all very soon. Thanks for sharing this adventure with us.

Ah, Paris

Well, we've done 2 days in Paris. The night we arrived we walked down to the Louvre and had a look around. I got my first glimse of the Eiffel Tower! It was 8 pm by that time so we didn't go in to the Louvre. We walked around a lot looking for a place to eat but we didn't know what a lot of things on the menu were, even when they were in English.

The first full day we went to the Louvre in the morning, planning to stay 3 or 4 hours, leave for the Arc de Triumph and then be at the Eiffel Tower by 4 to see it during the day and at night. We didn't leave the Louvre until after 3. We passed on the Arc and went straight to the Tower. The cold and rainy day continued and the clouds were so low that you couldn't see the top of the Tower. Which meant that if we went up, we wouldn't be able to see anything. We took lots of pictures because it kinda looked neat with the top all fogged in. (Did I mention how difficult it is getting to type with long nails? - I don't know how Peira did it) We took a boat tour of the Seine and then went to the Arc.

Today we went to Notre Dame. All the buildings so far have been collosal works of art, including this one, but the stained glass windows were amazing in Notre Dame. We then headed for the Eiffel Tower. It was a cold but sunny day with clouds moving in as the day progressed. This meant that we had a wonderful, unobstructed view of the Tower. Last night it had been so pretty all lit up and every hour for 5 minutes it sparkled. I had been a sight to behold. We even got to see it sparkle from the top of the Arc de Triumph. So today we spent 2 very cold hours to get to the top. The view was spectacular. I never realized Paris was so big. And there are so many modern buildings - way far away. After enjoying the view, it only took us about half an hour to get down. We then headed for the Avenue Des Champs Elysees. We got a look at the Arc in daylight and then walked the Avenue Des Champs Elysees. And shopped.

I can't believe it is almost over. Tomorrow we head for London. I really am looking forward to not trying so hard just to get through the day. One last thought: We have been chastised 3 time so far in Paris.

Paris - Finally!!

We just arrived at the Hotel Caron - room 42. It was a long train trip. It was raining when we left Nice, sunny along the way and raining again in Paris. Can't wait until I see the Eiffel Tower.

Just so you know, it's getting really hard to type with these long nails. And these foreign keyboards are a challenge.

By the way, the countryside was beautiful. It was nice to see more than dark and dingy tunnels. And the toilet on the TGV was a real toilet and didn't empty onto the tracks. But it was still nothing like the movie French Kiss.

November 17, 2010

I,m working on a foreign keyboard and some of the letters and symbols are in different places. My finger nails are getting long and it is difficult to type.
We spent 2 nights in La Spezia and visited Cinque Terre. Only the first trail was open so it was disappointing. Dale and I crashed and burned halfway through the trip so we went back to the hotel and slept the rest of the afternoon. We are feeling better now. It was a whole day of train travel to get to Nice. The weather has been cold and rainy.
We have 2 nights in Nice. Dale wasn,t feeling well this morning so he slept while I walked along the beach. The sun was out and it was so hot I had to go down to my tank top. This afternoon we had a tour of Eze, where they make perfume, and Monaco. Tomorrow is a train to Paris.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Florence and some exiting news

We made it to Florence without too much trouble. Our hotel is close to the train station so that was convenient to find, if the streets had names on them. We had a wonderful dinner last night. Don,t know what we had but it was all good. We toured the city today. Guess what - lots of old buildings. The weather was much warmer than Venice and the sun came out in the afternoon. I,m a little stressed about the next few days and how we are going to work things out but I think I have a plan that will work. I hope.
I talked to John David this morning/last night. Seems I,m going to be a grandma. Mom and Dad, if you are reading, I guess that will make you Great Grandparents. The baby is due in July. I have to say that I am pretty exited about the news. I have been wanting to be a grandma for awhile now.

.. and gondolas.

The weather was cold today. We walked around Venice. There are no vehicles. You walk or you boat. We had a ride on a gondola. It is a really interesting looking place. Like Rome, all the buildings are connected. There are some really narrow walkways. The tide was so high that some of the streets were flooded. When we got in last night we saw all these tables in the plaza and I thought that they were for a market but turns out that they are walkways put in place when the streets flood. There are lots of beautiful glass trinkets and masquerade masks. Interesting. The architecture is spectacular but there really isn't much to do. We are sort of taking it easy tonight and catching up on relaxation. Tomorrow we catch a train to Florence.
I have to say that I am getting a little tired of this traveling thing. Every new place is a new thing to get used to. Figuring out the light switches and toilets and faucets....
Be it ever so humble...

Planes, trains and automobiles - and boats

We ended up taking a ferry to Crete after the tour finished. We rented a car and drove to the south side of the island. There were a few wrong/missed turns but we eventually made it. We sat on the beach and ate some of our accumulated snacks. Dale went swimming again but I just couldn't face the cold water (although it might not be that cold to others). We then drove to the north side of the island to find a beach there. We found a sandy beach (the others were fairly rocky) and enjoyed the warm sun and surf there. We ferried back to Athens where we caught our flight to Rome.
We had a big "incident" trying to find our hotel. It seemed everything went wrong that day and by the end of the day I was tired and cold and so was the shower!! And they didn't have shampoo in the hotel. The next day was better. We took a bus to the Vatican and toured that on our own. We toured the Vatican Museum and it seemed to take forever to get to the Sisten Chapel. The ceiling was much different than I expected! We walked back to the hotel hitting different sites along the way. We had a wonderful dinner in a restaurant recommended by the hotel clerk. The next day we toured more sights throughout the city including the Colosseum and the Pantheon. More ruins! But the Pantheon was spectacular!
We were back at the hotels to pick up our baggage by 4 pm and headed to the airport for our 50 minute flight. We arrived at our hotel at 11:30 pm. It was a long day. We are just trying to figure out what to see now.
A few thoughts: In Rome, the buildings are all connected. There is only a space between buildings when there is a street. Cars are double parked all over the place (there are no parking lots). Traffic is unbelievable! Motorcycles just scoot in and out of traffic. Almost all the restaurants have tables on the sidewalks. Some of the streets are barely 2 cars wide and they have cars parked in them. The sidewalks, when they exist, are often very narrow.

November 5, 2010

Yesterday we went to a few places that I can neither pronounce or spell. Any guesses what we saw? More ruins. We saw the best preserved beehive tomb in Greece. We crossed over the Corinth Canal which is a man made canal that is 4 miles long. And again we were completely exhausted when we got back to the hotel.

This morning Jeff Galloway took us on a hike to a hill near our hotel. It was a spectacular view. I ran back and it felt great to run again. My big toe still hurts. We went into Athens shopping again and booked our trip to Crete. We are taking an overnight ferry there tomorrow night (Saturday) and arrive at 5:30 am. We will sleep on the ferry. Then we spend the day in Crete and take the overnight ferry back for our flight to Rome. I'm hoping the weather will be as nice as it has been the last week. It was another beautiful day. When we got home from the Plaka, we went for a dip in the Aegean Sea. Ok, I dipped my feet because it was cold, but Dale swam. Then we sat on the beach until the sun went down. Tonight we have our farewell dinner.

I have tried the moussaka here and I have to say that I prefer Leo's vegetarian moussaka. All the food is very tastey. We have tried most of the local dishes. I quite like their yogurt with honey.

We will miss the tour because it was so much fun getting to know the group and hearing about so many different running experiences. We sat with different people at almost every meal. Almost everyone was wearing their various running shirts from different races. I should have brought mine! It is going to be quite different from now on since we will be on our own.

Amby Burfoot

Ok, 2 words - Amby Burfoot. As if chatting it up with Jeff Galloway wasn't enough, my husband arranged for Amby Burfoot to sit next to me on the bus tour today. That was so great. We heard from Jeff Galloway, Amby Burfoot and Chris Tripp on the 3 hour bus trip to and from Delphi. This was the best day yet!

Oh, yeah, we saw MORE ruins.

November 2, 2010

Had a tough day on Monday with my sore toe. We went to Agora and then did some shopping in the Plaka. We were so tired when we got back that we shared an orange and went to bed.

Got up at 5 am today to do a boat cruise to 3 different islands. I'm glad we did it because I finally saw the Greece in the calendar in my office. On Hydra Island Dale went swimming. It was an overcast day so I decided to decline. On the last island, Aegean (?), we had a bus tour ending in a pistatio plant. It was another long day.

I need a run!