Italy

ITALY

October 1998

           Marjorie had 1^st choice for a European trip (Ireland), so to be fair I get the next choice. Italy in the Fall works out because I’m on sabbatical this semester. This is my most complicated trip so far, mostly on my own (w/ some help from AAA) patching together flights, hotels (mostly found via a website, a new experience for our travels), trains, rental cars, etc. I’d originally thought to do an escorted tour, but our friend Karen insisted we would have more fun on our own  ̶  and that we could manage OK even w/ the language difference. Whew, lots to do, but even the planning is lots of fun!

Thursday, 10/1:

          A drive to JFK in the morning, car into long-term parking (guard towers, barbed wire, and security patrols, so it should be safe).  Burger King lunch with son Matt, then takeoff on Delta at about 6:30, sun setting over NYC & Long Island.  Screen periodically shows our position, speed, altitude, etc..  In-flight movie is “The Truman Show” (Jim Carrey).

Friday, 10/2:

          A pretty sunrise over Europe, arrive Rome about 8:30.  A quick “wave” through Customs, exchange money, catch a train to Termini Stazione in downtown Rome.  We pass our 1st ruins on the way, but Marjorie is taking a little nap.  5 blocks thru an Upper-East-Side-type neighborhood to the Hotel Romae.  Very friendly owners speak several languages (including English, thankfully).  A nice room and big key, which seems typical of hotels in Rome.  Like Ireland, bathrooms lack washcloths and sometimes limited pressure in the showers (which have emergency pull cords); different towels, not the fluffy ones we’re used to.  After settling in briefly, we head out to see Italy!  Despite forecasts of rain for the next few days, it’s a nice sunny PM, even a bit steamy.  A few language struggles in a bank, but I finally figure out how to use an ATM here, and buy a book of “Metrebus” tickets. 

Choir Tour #2: Central Europe

Choir Tour: Bavaria, Austria, Czech Republic

Summer 2011

It’s our 2^nd choir tour, a follow-up to the wonderful Italy experience in 2007.  We’ve held enjoyable and successful fundraising events (and thanks especially to Terry for her efforts on these events!): 2 “murder mysteries” (1 set in a 1920s speakeasy, 1 in the 1950s w/ Marjorie as a Catholic schoolgirl and me totally out of character as a nerd), and an Octoberfest.  Tour arranged again by Peter’s Way, flights on Air France (more on AF below), and we were delighted to learn that Elisabeth will again be our tour manager/guide.  We’ll be a smaller group than Italy – 24 choir members, 33  family & parishioners – so 1 bus instead of 2.  No priest with us, guess it lacks the cachet of Rome and the Vatican.  M & I have covered almost all the same ground on our own trips, but don’t mind seeing the beautiful cities and countryside again; and Marjorie missed the special Italy experience of traveling w/ the choir.  She helped arrange an after-Mass gathering of tour members to get acquainted and share information. 

We’ve dodged a couple of dark clouds.  The world-ending “rapture” prophesied for May 21 didn’t come to fruition; or maybe we’re all part of the eternally damned who didn’t get called.  And there was a nasty E. coli outbreak, but pretty much confined to northern Germany and the WHO website says new cases have declined significantly.  Plus, with reports that it’s due to green veggies, Director Charles says don’t worry, we won’t see anything but meat & potatoes (and pastries?).  [During the trip it’s reported that imported Egyptian seed sprouts are the source of the problem.]

Maine

Maine Weekend

September 2011

          We’ve done other trips to Maine. The 1^st was 1976 w/ Uncle Bill. A drive to Bar Harbor & Acadia NP, views along the coast and from Cadillac Mtn.

A very hot summer, even Down East, little wind and ocean like glass!; and Marjorie had a breast-feeding child attached.  At our motel on the ocean, a man in the next room stepped out and said loudly into his video camera: “Wow, what a view!”  This phrase became a shared joke for our travels.  Beautiful trails along ocean cliffs.  

Pretty views of fishing boats & sunrises from our room.  

Good blueberry pie. Other views of inlets, Thunder Hole, and various nautical scenes. 

A stop in Boston on the way home. Public Gardens, John Hancock Bldg., 

                                 Faneuil Hall area, 

following the Freedom Trail to Old North Church.  

Bermuda #2 + Hawaii & Bahamas

Bermuda Redux

March 2010

 Nearly 30 years ago, with kindergartner Matt in tow, our Bermuda trip ended under a bit of a cloud, when Marjorie was “arrested” for practicing witchcraft. We nonetheless vowed to return.  A deal on-line thru Bermudatourism.com was too good to pass up, so off we go for Spring Break.  We’ll try to not be too wild, in case Marjorie’s checkered past is still on record.  The timing seems right  ̶  we’ve had a cold snap, woke up to snow on the ground Thursday AM!  We don’t anticipate tropical weather; Bermuda’s about 900 miles due east of S. Carolina, expected comfortable temps in the 60s.  Heading into the Bermuda Triangle, maybe we’ll get some answers about TV show “Lost.”

Saturday., March 27:

As usual, Marjorie was up very late packing, then we hit the road for Queens in the AM.  It becomes more spring-like going south: yellow forsythia and buds on trees and bushes around NYC.  A brief visit w/ Matt & Anthea and grandsons William and Miles.  We admire Matt’s handiwork in assembling new bunk beds for the boys, William shows off his Taekwondo uniform w/ various jabs and kicks.  Matt & William drive us to JFK, William listening to fart noises on Daddy’s I-Pod (you can get an app for anything!).  Quickly thru self-serve check-in, swiping passports, etc.  There must be a lot of fat in the schedule, as we depart almost an hour late at 6:30 but reach BDA about on time at 9 (1½  hour flying time and we lose an hour).  It appears to be quite windy (an omen, it turns out), a very bumpy landing.  Marjorie swears last time we landed here in a hurricane!  Into Arrivals Hall where we’re greeted by a musician (a nice touch) and very friendly customs people.  A “Russell Ward” sign awaits us in the lobby  ̶  it’s Beeline Transport for our hotel transfer.  We share the ride w/ a family w/ young kids; daughter’s very chatty, announces it’s her Mom’s birthday, so we all serenade her as we dash along (on the British left side) of dark, winding, narrow, hedgerow-lined roads.

Florida To & Fro: Sarasota to Sanibel

Snowflakes in Florida

January 2014

           We seem to be moving inexorably more into “senior” status: a few (?) gray hairs, getting Social Security, and now I’m into my “semi-retirement” transition  ̶  not teaching this year, set to finish up w/ the Spring 2015 semester. Not being shackled to semester schedules, what could be more appropriate than a winter jaunt to Florida, tho Marjorie says we’re “snowflakes” not “snowbirds” because it’s a short stay. Long-time Wisconsin friend Kay, w/ whom we’ve done much traveling (as a hostess gift we’ve put together via Snapfish a photo book, Travels with Kay), invited us to join her at a January rental in Sarasota. Given the vagaries of winter air travel we opted to drive, allowing flexibility and visits w/ some good friends to and fro.

Headin’ South

Santa Fe

Santa Fe

July 2004

 Wednesday, July 21:

          We’re off to visit Diane & Jerry, good friends from the Wisconsin days; Diane was a college buddy of Marjorie’s at Oshkosh.  It’s our first trip to New Mexico, and after muggy/rainy weather here we’re looking for drier/sunnier. We rouse son Matt at 5 AM to drive us to the airport.  Marjorie’s former boss (and long-time friend) John shares our flight, so another chance to share Matt/Anthea wedding photos.  No meals or TV on these flights, but on time and free (thanks to “frequent credit card” miles).  Some Americans don’t know New Mexico is actually part of the US (the 47^th state in 1912), but this trip has no hassles w/ customs or exchange rates.  Pretty views coming in to Albuquerque of mountains & green irrigation patterns surrounded by very dry landscape.  Greeted by Diane & Jerry.  Our first real summer heat: low 90s with promised low humidity feels good.  First sight: the new “Big I,” a multilevel meeting of interstate highways w/ pretty desert brown & turquoise colors and designs on bridges; completed ahead of schedule and under-budget, stunning us New Yorkers.  Local note: Albuquerque has the National Atomic Museum (Los Alamos, site of the Manhattan Project, is nearby), its baseball team is the “Isotopes.”  

Into Old Town for lunch at a nice cafe and our first “New Mexican” food (basically Mexican w/ local spices and flourishes).  Marjorie manages to handle a little Art Auction business back home on her cell phone.  Over to pretty San Felipe Church on nearby central plaza.  A pretty drive about an hour north to Santa Fe, past pueblos w/ casinos, desert and mountain landscapes.  Also many dead piñon trees all over this area due to beetle infestation.

Netherlands & Belgium

Tulips and Windmills

April 2014

 

           We do love river cruises, such a relaxing way to travel! Had Viking River Cruises on the Rhine (2003) and Burgundy/Provence (2009), plus Marjorie & her sister Mary did a Rhine Christmas Markets journey (2012). My semi-retired status now means not teaching this Spring, enabling a VRC “Tulips and Windmills” trip in the Netherlands & Belgium.

Things are busy leading up to our travels. Much prepping for interior painting by friends Teralynn & Rich while we’re away, to be followed by carpet replacement upstairs after we return. This triggers one of Marjorie’s missions to reduce clutter  ̶  many boxes go out to donation sites. We enjoy visits from old friends: Annie & Thomas from our Madison days, Alan from Rochester & Madison. I’m battling sciatica in my right hip (hip issues seem common among our contemporaries  ̶  brings new meaning to “aging hippies”). I get help from physical therapist Nate, friend Betty lends a collapsible cane and student I-Hsin a “Biofreeze” roll-on that helped her. It’s progressed from hobbling to bothersome but manageable. Perhaps “medicinal” substances will be available in Amsterdam.

Thursday, April 3:

          It’s been a long snowy winter, but finally starting to feel like Spring; tho still some very dirty snow piles and Siena College radio played all Christmas music and seasonal greetings on April Fools Day. A pretty early Spring day for a drive down to JFK; we’ve gotten a good deal for parking at one of the private lots: “JFK Long Term Parking.” Some heavy traffic toward the end, but to parking and shuttle to the airport plenty early. First photo of the trip to loosen my shutter finger: a colorful M&M display near our gate. On-time departure at 8:40pm on Icelandair; good leg room, but no free food, not even snacks!