Rome in a weekend

We arrived in Rome and OMG what a huge station that is!  People everywhere and way way too crowded. Gail had good written directions to the next BnB so off we marched.  Gail leading, Shirley in the middle and Bill bringing up the rear.  I watched a young guy that I swear had either a knife or a box cutter in his hand and thought he was going to go after Shirley's purse.  He did bump into her once but she shoved him away and I don't think he expected that so he ducked into a store and we never saw him again.  Made it to the BnB without further incident!

Chariot race track, no kidding

We weren't in the greatest part of the city but I think we were pretty safe as it seemed to have a lot of tourists.  There were several restaurants just around the corner and we tried a couple of them and were never disappointed. Street side cafes, table cloths, Italian food!  We were in Rome for the weekend so, Saturday we walked to the Coliseum and vicinity.  WOW!!  Pretty amazing!

Forum ground and whole complex

We didn't spend the money to go into the coliseum or surrounding tourist areas but did walk around the outside.  I think we saw plenty and got some nice pictures too.  No regrets about what we saw.  The trek took a lot out of us so we had to stop for Gelato on the way home.  Good Stuff!!  Had real Italian pizza, in Italy, for dinner.  Yup, it was good too!  Saturday afternoon Shirley showed us how entertaining it was to watch out the windows at the cars, buses, trucks, and motorcycles on the street below!  Even if there are lines on the street, they mean nothing!  Hurry up and get to the next stop light first!  Double parking, cars zipping in and out for traffic,
scooters zipping in and out of traffic, parking in the crosswalks.  The people who drive smart cars have discovered that they can back into the curb between the cars that are parallel parked!  It was really entertaining and of course lots and lots of horns and police sirens.

Sunday we caught the Metro to the Vatican along with several hundred thousand other people.  Go to St .Peters square (it's really a circle) in time to get a blessing from the Pope.  We were quite a ways away but fortunately they had jumbotrons so we could actually see him!  Still, quite a sight.  Spent a couple of hours walking around and shopping before catching the metro back to the Bn B.  Our place had a little washing machine but only a short clothesline to dry the clothes.

He is in there

We had discovered that right below us there was a laundry that would dry our clothes for 5 euros.  So, after we got 2 loads washed by late afternoon, we took the wet clothes down for him to dry.   Sunday is apparently his busy day as he was too busy to dry our clothes.  Crap,
a bag full of wet clothes, and we're leaving tomorrow.  Ok, so we scramble around and get everything hung around the apartment for the night and had an agreement with laundry guy that we would bring wet stuff to him when he opened at 8:30 am and he would dry before we had to leave.  Fortunately, overnight, most everything dried enough to pack away.

Monday morning and check out is 11:00 am and our flight didn't leave til 5 pm.  Well, really no choice but to head on up to the train station to catch the bus to the airport.  Short wait for the airport bus and no problems with thieves! Course, we are backed up to the wall in a corner, backpacks not visible and hanging on the suitcases.

Next little adventure is our first experience with Ryanair!  Not to the big airport in Rome but to a smaller airport on the other side of Rome, Ciampino.  The terminal was fairly modern but really really small!  2 hours before our flight time we headed through security and Italy's version of TSA.  They confiscated a partial bottle of tea from Gail and Bill's Swiss Army Knife.  (Checked my bag from Seattle so spaced that I'd even brought the darn thing)  They took my information from my boarding pass so now I'm probably on someones list.   Now, Ryanair is quite the airline.  Our seats from Rome to Crete were $35 each but we paid the extra $15 each to get a reserved seat.

This is really a cattle car operation!  We were all standing in line for the gate, no loading by seat rows. Gail got through the gate but Bill had to stop and check the size of his suitcase (We have identical suitcases!)  As I was fitting it into the "box" I didn't realize that the gate agent had kept my passport and boarding pass.  Once I fitted the suitcase in the box I headed for the bus (Yes, had to squeeze onto a bus to go across the ramp to the airplane)  After a few minutes I realized that I didn't have my passport or boarding pass so in a panic I bailed off and was headed back inside when another gate agent stopped me and gave them back.  PHEW!!!  Departing people don't load at the same gate the plane arrived, they bus you to it and up the stairs, onto the plane,  a 2 hour flight.  Because checking luggage cost extra, it was just like Southwest, lots of people, lots of bags stuffed in the overhead.  They did have a cabin crew and if you wanted something it was going to cost you.  The girls had water and Bill had a beer, a warm one, 8 euro 50 total.  Ryanair is an Irish airline but the whole crew was Italian?  This was the stripped down version of the 737... No padding in the seats, no seat pockets, the emergency instructions were adhered to the setback!  The cabin crew was up and down the aisle selling snacks, drinks, and duty free stuff.  What a way to run an airline!!  We'll see how Aegean Airlines compares when we fly from Athens to Venice later.

We made it safely to Chania, Crete and after a bus ride and a walk found our latest BnB. So far being back on island time is working for us.

It's a long way

Well, here we are, back on the road again.  Or should I say back on the go again.  We're crossing another adventure off of our bucket list and also helping Bill's sister, Shirley, with her bucket list.

We left Seattle on Iceland Air, 7 hours later landed and had only a 40 min layover. At 6:30 am the Iceland airport is teeming with people changing planes and a lot of Icelanders going to Europe. Passenger waiting lounges don't exist, just long lines  before the gate. So standing around in the hall, basically. Next flight to Frankfurt, GER was only 3.5 hours but worse for Gail than the longer flight. We now had no space between us, seats were uncomfortable and she hadn't slept on the way over and wasn't going to be able to sleep now. Finally, Germany. We tried to take care of some business, get cash, get a cell phone, get train schedules. Got most done, no phone though. Took some buses to another terminal for trains and shuttles to the hotel. Lots of construction and going in circles. Our hotel, Ibis, is a pretty generic chain, like Super 8, but it was a bed.

Luzerner Chugelipastete

Sleep was on and off and next morning we rode in circles again, back to the train terminal and headed for Zurich, Switzerland, about 4 hours. Nice train, pretty uneventful trip. Had to make a trek to the next hotel, again nothing special but a bed. Luckily, we were really close to several eating places and we stopped for beer and food at the Knob House, each tried something different.

Schnitzel with fries

Innerschweizer Bauernbratwurst

 Quaint little restaurant that had a 4 or 5 older (retirement age) gentlemen sitting around a table drinking a few beers.  One waitress and a chef and the place would only seat about 30 people.  Very quaint and when the waitress wasn't busy, she was sittin' with the old guys!  I just found that interesting and respectful toward men that were old enough to be her grandfather.

OK enough about that.  The next morning up and walk back to the Zurich train station where we had reservations to Rome with a train change in Milan.  We were on a Swiss train for the first leg and it was very comfortable, again in first class.  I think the only difference is that the seats may be a little softer.  Well, once we got to Milan, stuff hit the fan!  It's a very big station and we weren't sure where to go so found an information person and he looked at our ticket an sent us to the wrong train.  We were supposed to be on the train headed for Naples, then Rome and he sent us to the direct train to Rome.  Anyhow, found our seats on the Rome train and that's when we were told by other passengers that we were on the wrong train!  Well, of course the train we were supposed to be on started moving just as we got to the closest door.  Now what???  We were directed to another train to Rome but the conductor said we would have to pay an additional 8 euros to change our tickets and he didn't know if he even had enough seats for us.  We then went and stood in line at the railway representative desk to see about changing the tickets.  When it was finally our turn we tried to explain that her colleague
sent us to the wrong train and there was nothing she could do, just find the next train and get our tickets changed through the conductor.  Grudgingly we did that and after getting bumped from seats several times by people with reservations we finally got some seats and still ended up getting stuck with the 8 euro (  X 3 passengers) fee to change the tickets.  It was explained that the extra fee was because our tickets were issued by Switzerland, not Italy.  I THOUGHT IT WAS "EUR-RAIL".  Plus, we had to make reservations to ride the Italian trains at 33 Euro apiece.  So, we learned a couple of lessons.  1 - Make sure when you make a reservation you have enough time to make a connection. and 2 - always find a restroom before getting on an Italian train!  None of the toilets on the Italian trains worked!  Enough ranting for now, we made it, a few bumps and now the real fun will begin

Yes, even here

We're back! Did you miss us?

Wow, I looked at our blog the other day and saw that it has been over a year since we last posted. And many things have changed in that year. So let us catch you up.

Most of you know that we left our winter work/volunteer in Santa Cruz, CA and headed back up to the coast of Washington. We parked the RV and proceeded to house hunt. We looked at a lot of houses, made offers on three and settled on the best and last one. By July, we had moved in and proceed to work on the grounds a little before  heading to UT for one last volunteer stint. Our “new” house has 1.5 acres, a slough, large trees, lots of wild berries and foliage that needed trimming or taming. The inside is in decent shape, just outdated and those projects came later after returning from UT. We also got 4 blueberry trees and harvested 4,1 gallon baggies of blueberries before we left. They reside in the freezer and Bill loves them in the pancakes, I put them in the cereal, tarts. muffins. The thousands of blackberry bushes hadn’t quite ripened before we left and after trimming and thinning, we are hoping for a bumper crop this Fall. The original beach cottage is still here and will be a future project to redo and be a guest house

front "yard"

We spent Sept and Oct in Escalante, UT  for our last volunteer time. I really love it there and have some great friends and good times. I want to do more hiking but this getting older is making me slow down. When we left, we drove up through Boise and in one weekend traded the Rv and truck in for a motorhome, bought a mid size SUV and proceeded back to Ocean Park, WA. Wow, what a difference it is driving a motorhome. We drove a record 400+ miles in 1 day, and made it home in a day and a half. Our usual travel distance was under 250, due to the driving slower and the roughness of the big truck. We learned all the buttons and knobs, a small shake down cruise, on the way back and towed the new car. Our nomadic lifestyle came to an end. Not the end of traveling, just ending a chapter of living full time in our RV.

The last year has had joy and sadness. Gail lost her mother in April to Alzheimers, our youngest son, Kyle, got married to Brandi, on the beach in Oregon, at Hug Point and it was beautiful. They live in Portland, OR and it is nice being close. Brenton, our oldest came out for the wedding and it had been about 2 years since we had seen him. A great visit for 2 weeks. We all traveled to Challis, ID for a small memorial for Gail’s mom in Aug and mini reunion with family. The kids returned to Portland, and Buffalo and we went on to UT.

Our new home is on the Long Beach peninsula of the southwest WA coast. If you know where Astoria, OR is, cross the Columbia river on the large bridge and 20 miles later you are in Long Beach. It is known for razor clam clamming and the worlds longest driveable beach. The weather can be a bit rainy in the winter, although we didn’t find it too bad this winter. Typical dress includes light layers or sweatshirt, not too hot or cold, not too humid, no hurricanes or tropical storms and best of all, NO SNOW!

Spring flock

So this is a small return to the blog and we will fill you in on the changes. There are lots in store, redoing the inside, the cottage, the grounds, and Bill has a large shop/shed to build! And occasionally an adventure or two