The Smart Way to Go

Well next item on our bucket list is Glacier NP. Goal is to get there early and enjoy warm sunshine and avoid snow. John and I left Willow Lake CG in Woodstock, Ontario on August 28th and headed west. At some point Kathie & Greg and Chuck & Ruby will meet up with us to take their first RV road trip.

First stop for John and I is Hickory Hollow CG, Utica, Illinois. Nice area and nice cg. Chuck and Ruby were delayed re motorhome problems so after a few days, John and I head for the Heartland RV Resort, Hermosa, SD. John and I have stayed there before and we are fine with it. We passed Wall Drugs in the Badlands of SD where we had once stopped on a previous trip Believe a tourist trap but a ‘been there done it’ thing. After an overnight stop at the KOA, Sioux City North, SD., we arrive at Heartland Sept 2nd to meet up with Kathie and Greg who are already set up. Chuck and Ruby arrive the next day and the touring begins. After our exciting train ride in Keystone SD, we stopped at Ruby’s Tavern to drink and settle down from the wild ride thru the back woods. Then buffalo medallions, elk and venison at the Powder House Lodge and Restaurant in Keystone. Picnic lunch at a roadside stop while we toured Mt Rushmore, Crazy Horse and Custer State Park. We were happy we had been advised to tour the Ellisworth Air Force Base near Rapid City. It was interesting to go down in the 80 ft deep silo to see the nuclear warhead missile, one of 1250 in the U.S. during the Cold War. This Minuteman Missile in the silo made of reinforced concrete with a steel plate liner could be launched in seconds. Great tour of the base and to learn of it’s contributions to the defense of our nation. Great stop enjoying the company of good friends while exploring this area of the U.S. in our RVs.

Well September brought about our one month trip to Rome with Nat and Candy. What an awesome adventure that was. Will add some of the 2200 pictures we took over the next few weeks.

ROMA

Arrived in Rome Wednesday after an easy flight from Toronto. Surprising that this was the cheapest flight comparing Detroit and Buffalo. We had gone to the local TD Bank and bought €1000 and had obtained credit cards with no foreign transaction fees letting our bank know that we would use our credit and ATM cards in Italy. Took taxi to Congregation of Resurrection for €48. Father Andrew met us. We were very pleased with the rooms. We paid €60 per person per night which included 3 meals per day, all the wine and water you want. No soap or shampoo in the rooms. We enjoyed our stay. Rooftop terrace where we could sit at night and enjoy the view overlooking the city center of Rome. The seminary was originally an inn just outside the gates of Rome. If visitors arrived late when the gates to the city were closed, they could stay in the inn until morning. Now the seminary is in the center of Rome . We had our ipad mini so found a mobile store nearby and purchased a prepaid data card (7 Gb for 30 days) for €35 which included a SIM card. Unbelievably easy. We only had to wait 2 hrs, pop the sim into the mini, turn it on and, voila,,,, had Internet.

Went on a Vatican tour Thurs for 3 hours. Glad we booked as was well worth it. Our tour guide gave us a lot of history on the Vatican, the Sistine Chapel and St Peter's Basilica. We wandered around the city center of Rome. The seminary we were staying in was at the Spanish Steps so we were right there. Friday we took the subway to the main terminal to buy our train tickets to Florence. A young man helped us getting tickets from the machine. As we were traveling on a Saturday we got 2 for 1 first class on the fast train €52. Felt pretty good with our first subway adventure. Went on booking.com to find a bed and breakfast, hotel, convent or seminary in Florence and Mestre. Booking.com became a valuable friend throughout our trip.

FLORENCE

Saturday was an easy trip by train to Florence. While there we purchased our train tickets to Mestre. We went outside and got a taxi to our hotel. The driver looked a little puzzled when we gave him the address. If we had come out the other door from the train station we would have crossed the street and walked in the door of the hotel. He only charged us €10 basic and the laughs were well worth it. Then when we got to Club Hotel, we gave our name to check in. The desk manager gave us the details in English. Nat immediately translated into English for us going a little overboard on his job as interpretor. We laughed anther 3 yrs onto our lives. We wandered the streets of Florence to see all the sights.

Sunday was more sightseeing. We went to an amazing restaurant that we found on trip advisor for a Tuscan dinner. illatini.com. There was a crowd at the door to get in at 7:30 when they opened. We did not order off the menu and they brought us Italian dishes for the next 2 hours. Some of the items were

1. Crostini di Fegatini (antipasta) beloved dish consisting of chicken liver with finely diced carrots and onions, enlivened with the addition of wine broth or marsala reduction and mashed with anchovies & capers.

2. Bistecca Fiorentina (looks like T bone steak) from large white oxen called Chianina. Served grilled rare.

3. Cannelli beans

4. Biscotti di Prato dipped in wine santo (holy wine) sweet dessert wine or coffee.

5. Ribolita prepares pallet.

6. Agnello fritto (fried lamb) with aplomb.We were stuffed. I had rabbit and lamb. I would have had beef if I had known it was oxen. We were all so stuffed. The cost was €45 each which included various wines, many different dishes, desserts and coffee.

We enjoyed Melita beer to cool down as still very hot out. (In the 80s since we arrived in Roma).

We saw a number of churches, basilicas etc. beautiful to walk thru the streets and enjoy the ancient buildings.

VENICE

Monday

Bello, Angela and Lydia met us at the train station where we had a coffee and Nat got to know his cousins. McDonalds charged 80 cents each to use the restroom. The money is easer than Canadian or US currency. €20 is one size and one color, €10 is a different color and slightly shorter, the €5 is yet another color and shorter yet. Loonies and toonies had the 1 and 2 much larger on the coin and the coin weighs much less than it's Canadian counterpart. Nat's cousins left and we walked to our hotel which was quite nice. We caught the bus into Venice to get something to eat and see Venice at night. We decided to stop at St Marks Square to get our bearings and to have a cold beer. Well, beer was €14 each. But we enjoyed and had a lot of laughs. We saw a HardRock Cafe and decide to go there for dinner. Getting to it was easier said then done. We spent over an hour lost in the alleys (the blue dot on the Maps App on the mini became another valuable friend on our trip). When we finally arrived, there was a 40 min wait. So we spent another hour lost in the alleys finding our way to the bus stop before 11 pm to get back to our hotel in Mestre. In hindsight we should have enjoyed the streets and got a taxi back to Mestre regardless of the cost. In Mestre we got a cold beer for €3. John got some fries and I munched on something Italian. The next morning we wandered around Venice for the day enjoying the sights and having a Gondola ride. Great time. The following day Bello, Lydia, Angelo and Giovanna met us for the day taking us on a boat around the island. Saw so much. We did fnd that the Muran crystal was cheaer in Venice than at the factory.

MONTEBELLUNA

Thursday

Bello and Angelo met us at the train station and took us to the airport to rent a car. Bello (last name Martignago) took us to our B&B up on a hill. He had gotten us a discount from €70 per room per nite to €50 per nite. Beautiful villa. General Fiorone. Then we followed Bella to his home for lunch. Beautiful home with salt water pool in back yard. Goldfish ponds surround front of pool. Bello says sometimes they have weddings in his backyard. His wife, Atelio (last name Conounda) served a full meal including soup, fish, veg etc. We met Martignago, Lydia's husband, Mauricio, her brothers Stefano and Mirco, Stefano son Andrea, Mirco wife Marissa and children Stella (age 6) and Sara (age 13).

After lunch, we went to villa for a nap and then to the home of Nat's family, Elena and Armando Pizzolatto, for a visit. We were suppose to have dinner there but all stuffed from lunch. We met Giuliano, Mirco and Laura Leporatti (their children).

Friday we went to visit Arnello at their store in Trevino. We met her daughter, Chiara who took us to their sock factory for a tour. There we met her sister, Alexdra and their father, Fernando. The machines knit socks which are shipped to Croatia to be boxed and shipped all over the world. They gave us 9 pair of Aasics socks to bring home. Our grand kids snapped them up pretty quick.

The we went fora visit with Peter and Eridina (ages 94&93) Tonellato. Brief but heartwarming. Aunt Eridina never thought she ever see Nat again.

Then we went to lunch with Angelo Duante and his wife Geovano.We met their son, Renato, his wife Antonella and his children Anna, Georga, Geordano and Tomaso. Little lighter lunch and had really nice time. Have Anna on Facebook.

After a nap we went to Mirco's and his wife Loretta for dinner. Looked like a restaurant with all foods grown by Mirco. It turned out to be a wonderful party and didn't leave there until midnight. We drank some of Mirco's bottled wines and spirits. We went into his wine cellar (man cave) to enjoy more wine,spirits and food. Laura and Giuliano speak some iEnglish. We met Mirco's daughter , Egle her husband Ricardo (Remo) (who speaks English ) and their baby. Met his son Demetro. Met Mirco sister Antonietta. Met Giuliano wife Rosettta. son David. Met Angelo ( Fernando brother) his daughter Maria Electra (who travels, just back from Israel) sons Jacbo, Nicola (studying English and Italian literature). Nerina and Adelchi (speaks english) were there. Many of Nat's family keeped dropping in until the rooms were full.

On Saturday we went to the home of Nerina and Adalki for a wine tour and lunch. Beautiful home in the foothills of the Dolomites surrounded by vineyards and wineries. The grapes are made into Procecca (white sparkly wine). We got lost so stopped into a vineyard for directions. Lucy came out to meet us, gave us directions and gave us some clusters of grapes. She and her husband will start harvesting next week. The acid has to be exact.

Saturday nite, Bello, Atelio, Lydia, Mauricio, Mirco, Marrissa, Stella, Sarah, Angelo, Geovano came to the B&B for dinner. Orgnello (Angelo sister) and her friend Filemno joined us.

Sunday we headed to Verona with Bello, Atelio and Lydia.

We enjoyed a stroll thru Verona stopping at the Coluseum/Arena. They have refurbished the arena where concerts are now held to crowds of up to 20K.

Parking under the town center was easy. A short drive to Lake Garda and then a long long drive while Bello searched for the boat dock to take us on tours Monday. He ended up having his friend come to the hotel Monday morning and he took us to the dock 1/2 mile up the street. We took the ferry from our hotel to Simoine, a small town at the end of the lake. Spent 2 beautiful hours there before coming back to the hotel to do laundry.

Laundry was interesting. You needed exact change of €5,50 to get a machine token. You put the token in the washer, choose the temperature and press start. The cost includes the soap and softener and the machine puts it in automatically. The washer weighs the clothes to gage how long to wash. Very easy.

Back to hotel for a nap and then hamburg, fries and beer down the street.

From Lake Garda we drove to Lucca just outside Pisa. When we arrived we went on booking.com to find accommodations. We found the summer home of Napoleon Bonipart's sister, Villa La Principessa. Beautiful and reasonably priced.

After touring Pisa we moved on to Siena, built on a hill (as are most of the towns) with escalators to take you up to the town. Then Assisi where we toured St Francis of Assisi's Cathederal, stayed for mass and paid to have a mass said for John's mom on our anniversary, Sept 24th.

Candy suggested going to the coast. As we were going to Sorrento in a few days, we decided to drive to the east coast. Ended up in Martinsecura on the Adriatic Sea. Booking.com got us two rooms at a resort overlooking the sea. Absolutely beautiful. We bought bathing suits and lay on the beach in lounge chairs provided by the hotel. It was the end of their season and the hotel was closing or we would have stayed longer than 2 nights.

When we left there we drove toward Sorrento planning on stopping for a night or two along the way. As it turned out, we were here in less than two hours so toured the ruins at Pompeii. At 3 pm we went online and booked a convent in Sorrento for the night. Beautiful, overlooking the Gulf of Naples. Very quiet inside but street outside and bars below were noisy. We booked a resort at St Agata for a week. Great price, accommodations, food and location. Took the boat tour to the Isle of Capri where we did the Blue Grotto, lift to top and good Italian food. Free shuttle from hotel to Sorrento so we turned in the car. We had had it 11 days and thought the cost was very reasonable. Gas was expensive but we got great gas mileage. John did all the driving and had no problem. Italian drivers are fast but courteous. When we need to cut in line they left just enough room for us to dart in. There were no horns except in Rome. We didn't do Naples. After Sorrento, we caught the train back to Rome and the subway back to the Seminary. John bought the subway tickets, gave us our ticket and shoved the change back in his pocket. At no time while in Italy had we felt threatened by pickpockets so he was careless. Just as the couple got off the subway at the station before us, he knew they had his money. Fortunately it was only €30 and his credit card was still in his zippered pocket. They obviously watched him at the ticket window. Part of the Italian experience.

While in Rome, we got the hop on hop off bus for a tour to see anything we missed. Shopping was easy as it included tax so the price you saw was it. Most restaurant prices included tax and tip and was still reasonable. When we got money from the bank machines there was no service charge. Everyone took Visa and MasterCard. There were lots of grocery store, pharmacies, clothing stores, hotels, restaurants wth American and Italian food and always someone to come to your aid if you needed help. We each had a carry on and washed our necessities at night when needed. Only did laundrymat once and did just fine. Very easy country to travel in.