Cinque Terre and Spluga Pass

As I mentioned last week, things are winding down. Gene has been promising to do a posting for at least a week. Perhaps I can shame him into finally getting it done. He usually writes when he gets angry about something but things have been pretty peaceful so he is lacking inspiration. So don't hold your breath waiting for his input, although he does get angry when the gelato person does not fill his cup to his specifications.

Pat and Leanne arrived last Tuesday and stayed overnight. We had a great dinner at Sottovento in Lierna and walked into Bellano and environs Wednesday morning, 4 miles in all. They left for the Cinque Terre late Wednesday afternoon. We decided to join them and the Browners on Friday to hike between some of the 5 villages. It was a 300K drive which took about 3 hours. We met everyone at the train station in La Spezia and took the train to Riomaggiore. We then did the first walk to Manarola. We continued on to Corniglia, a longer walk of about 45 minutes. Along the way Leanne got a splinter in her finger from the wooden fence and I was able to pull out my new Swiss Army Knife(purchased in Zermatt) and help with minor surgery on the path. When you arrive in Corniglia there are 400 steps up to the village. It's not a bad climb though as the steps are easy to walk on. It's just long. After much debate we decided to take the train to Vernassa after lunch. We finished lunch, checked the schedule for the next train which was in about 11 minutes and decided we could make it. We ran down the 400 steps and the street to the train. I barely made the train. I had been nursing a gimpy left knee for the last 2 weeks or so. All the steps we had been taking in Bellano and the hill towns were taking a toll on my poor knee. I was fine the rest of that day. We walked around Vernassa, had a gelato and decided we were ready for the 300K ride home. We took the train back to La Spezia, found our car and headed home. Gene and I both retired early that night. The next morning I could barely walk on my left knee. It was quite swollen and very sore. Linda, who is a personal trainer, arrived that day and told me it would help to get in the pool and get it moving, so that is what I have been doing. I'm moving somewhat better now but it is still painful and I think my hiking is over for this trip. Luckily we leave Italy on Tuesday.

On Monday Gene and Linda(I stayed behind) drove the Spluga Pass between Italy and Switzerland and also visited Chiavenna. They did some hiking but mostly just enjoyed the drive. Gene loves twisty mountain roads and is always looking for a new one to explore. When Gene does his post he will include his favorite photos from the Spluga Pass excursion.

Linda is heading for Mallorca on Thursday morning and Gene and I will be getting ready for our departure from Villa Wally on Saturday morning. We are then driving to Radda in Chianti for 2 nights and then back to Milano to catch our flight home on Tuesday AM.

Doug and Lori's Photos--Europe 2007

Doug and Lori, Dan and Annie were our first guests at Villa Wally. Take a look at Doug's photos.

http://web.mac.com/dx_dt/iWeb/Site/Europe%202007.html

Five weeks and counting.....

It has been a week of very warm weather in the 90s. Not hot compared to Phoenix but with more humidity. We seem to have overcome the "le zanzare" problem. No new bites to report. Last Tuesday Gene and I went to Olgiasca about 12K north of Bellano where we visited the Abbazia di Piona. It is an abbey on a headland perched over the lake. There is a church which dates to the 12th century. It is a very tranquil place, quiet and serene. The monks sell an herb liqueur which we did not buy but the setting was worth the trip.

On Wednesday Joe, Francesca and Monica arrived in the early evening. I made lasagne(using the measuring cups and spoons that Tiarra brought) and we had a pleasant meal and caught up on their European travels. (See www.brownersabroad.blogspot.com for more info.) On Thursday we walked down to Bellano to show them the market. We took them on a walk we recently discovered that goes down via steps to the road below. Very picturesque. We walked back the normal way. We toured the market, bought lunch stuff, had a coffee and walked up the hill towards LA WALLY. (We found out that Villa Wally is named after our landlord's Tizziana's mother whose name was Wally. The villa was built in the 1920s and restored by our landlords. They added a floor on the top which is their apartment.) We went to Gene's favorite pizza restaurant for dinner but his friend wasn't there so no limoncellos. On Friday, Joe and Francesca rented a motor boat in Dongo so we drove there, about 25k, and picked up the boat. It had a 40hp engine so was not too fast. We headed to Bellagio but on the way encountered a sailboat who flagged us down. Two Italian boys about 18 were stranded with no wind and had to catch a train. Could we give them a tow into Bellano? We said sure and turned around and towed them into Bellano. Their names were Marco and Luca. They spoke English very well and had a lot of questions about us. We then decided to change our destination to Varenna instead of Bellagio because the boat was so slow. We arrived in Varenna, had lunch and a gelato and returned to Dongo and turned in the boat. We returned to LA WALLY had a swim and had dinner in the garden. Francesca fixed bruschette and I fixed a pasta dish. Molte bene.

Sven and Graziella Becker and their two children, 7 year old Nicolas and 1 1/2 year old Charlotte arrived Saturday afternoon after driving down from Tubingen, Germany. Sven was an exchange student who lived with us in 1984-85 and attended Brophy with Peter. We have kept in touch over the years and were delighted to see him and his family. Sven is now a physician specializing in gynecological oncology. They did a lot of swimming and also took in a lot of the area. Graziella fixed dinner for everyone on Saturday and again we had a great dinner in the garden. Joe, Francesca and Monica had gone to Bellagio and Varenna that day but returned to swim and have dinner with everyone. On Sunday the Browners left for Venice and Sven and his family went sightseeing so Gene and I went to the grocery store and Gene had his nap. On Monday the Beckers left to return to Germany after a great visit.

Our next visitors are Pat and Leanne. They arrive tomorrow and will be here for a day or two before leaving for more adventure in Italy. Linda arrives on Thursday for a few days and then our 7 weeks are done. We have truly loved our stay so far and don't want it to end.
Ciao, from Joan

The Serpent has been banished

Insalada Caprese con salami e uova a la Pat e Kate

Command center travels with Gene

Basil from the grocery store

The weather is still warm and sunny and we didn't do much today. We drove to Lecco to shop at the big supermarket to look for mosquito repellent and other stuff. As we were leaving we ran into Tizziana, our landlord and asked her advice. "Zanzara" we said. We had spent some time this AM looking up mosquito related words in the Italian dictionary. She understood perfectly and told us she would get us some devices that plug into the outlets and get rid of the mosquitoes. Gene obligingly showed her his thigh with about 10 bites on it. He refused to take a photo for the blog though. We had also spent quite a bit of time looking for coffee pods for the espresso machine and we inquired where we could get them. "Oh you can't get them, I'll give you some" she said. Okay another problem solved. Off we went counting all the tunnels we drove through(12 in all) in order to give precise instructions to some guests arriving by car later in the week. We got our groceries and just in case bought our own repellent and zappers. We counted the tunnels on the way back just to make sure we had it right. 12 it was. Tizziana greeted us as we drove up with a bag full of zappers, repellent and citronella candles. Also a spray to use if we eat in the garden. Hopefully our problem is solved. Gene went to the Farmacia this afternoon and got some anti itch cream, another word we had looked up(anti-prurito) and we think order has been restored in Paradise.

The Serpent in Paradise

Today we went to Varenna, a medieval city south of Bellano. We have been there several times before, parking and using it as a ferry stop. Doug and Lori had ventured there a few weeks ago and suggested that we take a more in depth look. They were right. The place is beautiful. We walked along the lake towards the Villa Monastero, an ancient female Cistercian convent probably founded before 1200. In the 1500s the ownership passed in to private hands. There were several owners up to the present and it now belongs to the National Council of Research. They have restored it and now operate it as a conference center. The gardens extend along the lake with many varied plants and trees. We stopped for lunch at one of the cafes along the lake and Gene ordered a grande birra rosso (a big dark beer) along with his sandwich. He usually has a media birra but it was a pretty warm day and he was thirsty. I ended up driving back to La Wally. He is now taking a nap.

Lake Como is beautiful, the weather has been splendid, the cities charming. What could be wrong with this paradise? Mosquitoes! Thats what. We never see the things, rarely hear the whine of their wings but each morning we wake up with new bites. Or we will be sitting on the balcony and we come inside and there they are, more bites. We have taken to burning a citronella candle in our bedroom at night. Our guests have been bothered a bit but not to the extent that Gene and I have. And Gene never gets bites! You can imagine how outraged he is. We are going to try another insect repellent and see if we have better results.

Ciao, from Joan

Gene's Photos

St. Bernards in Zermatt


Snow in July


Bellano Gorge


A beautiful day

DON'T FORGET TO STAMP YOUR TICKET

Today is Saturday July 14^th and Joan and I have passed the half way mark of our stay at Villa Wally in Bellano, Italy. We have had such a great time here we want the clock to stop ticking. I was just out on the veranda reading in the morning shade thinking about how fortunate we are. Thank God the populace of Arizona liked good ice cream over the years!!

Yesterday was a fun adventure as we decided to take the train to Milano for the day. We caught the 10:08 and settled in for the ride through the countryside to Milan’s Stazione Centrale. This is the main train station in Milan and is housed in one of the most stunning and beautiful buildings in the city. The ceilings are at least thirty five feet tall and are very elaborate with glass and steel. It is incredibly busy with hoards of people scurrying in every direction, long lines at the ticket counters, vending machines and food stands. I watched one in particular and couldn’t help but try to calculate his profits. If he isn’t living next door to George Clooney on Lake Como I’d be surprised. On our ride in we passed through the city of Monza, world famous in racing circles for its annual hosting of the Italian Grand Prix. My brother Mark and his son, Jon, have tickets for this year’s race in September and I’m sure they will have an exciting time.

After exiting the train station Joan and I started walking towards the massive central square that contains Milan’s Duomo, the beautiful cathedral which took over 430 years to build. We had been in it years ago and the lines were long so this time we only admired it from the outside. It is the third largest church in the world!! Our walk was most enjoyable as the weather was mild and the scenery entertaining. We passed many retail stores that got more and more expensive as we got closer to the Duomo. We finally stopped for lunch at a small café and had a modest meal. The diet Coke, called Coke light in Europe, cost four Euros, about $5.50!! Wow, Safeway sells a twelve pack for $2.99. I refer to this as the “Milano Bump”, a phrase we use a little too often!!

Adjacent to the Cathedral is the massive Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, a shopping mall to end all shopping malls. A glassed in ceiling to only be appreciated by standing underneath it and gawking up in wonderment. We were only window shopping (thank God) but it was fun checking out the goods and the people. I can assure you there is only one of these in the world! After walking at least three miles we grabbed a quick cab ride back to the train station for the ride back to Bellano. The cab ride cost less than the Coke Light!! We thought we had plenty of time but after purchasing our tickets and trying and failing to purchase a couple of bottles of water (the line was too long at George Clooney’s neighbors little food stand) we barely made the train. Joan and I could not find two seats in the same car so we were separated for the one hour and fifteen minute ride back.

We found out the hard way how the ticketing process worked. Over the years when we had occasion to ride European trains it always amazed me how often the conductors never collected our tickets. Since we always had our tickets it really never made any difference to us. I often thought that many riders just got on and never bothered paying and got away with it. Well we finally found out how they counteracted that little ploy. As we were pulling into Bellano (I finally found a seat in the car Joan was riding) the conductor asked for our tickets. We handed them to him and immediately he started talking to Joan in an animated half English and half Italian way. I’m thinking what’s this? We have valid tickets. It turns out that after you purchase your ticket you must validate it! Now Joan noticed in the morning at the Bellano station that everyone was stamping their ticket at a small box before the train arrived. She said maybe we should be doing the same with our tickets we just purchased. I said why should we? We just got them five minutes ago. Anyway the conductor going to Milan looked at our tickets a little quizzically, initialed them and went on without comment. Anyway our short little Italian sh** conductor whipped out his violation book and wrote us a twenty five (could have been fifty) euro fine! There was no talking him out of it! I was afraid he wouldn’t let us off the train. This is the train systems way of not letting you use an unpunched ticket in case you got to your stop before the conductor got to you to punch the ticket. Oh well, we learned a valuable lesson and maybe they can use the 25 Euro to clean off the graffiti which is quite prevalent in all stations and on the buildings along the tracks!! We were very happy to get back to the friendly confines of Villa Wally.

It was actually a fun day (other than the fine) and we had a “leftovers” meal for dinner and another fine beer!!

Winding Down at the Villa (Tuesday evening)

Posted by guest blogger Denis

Departure time is in less than 12 hours, and I will be leaving the idyllic setting of Villa Wally (aka la Wally) overlooking the small picturesque village of Bellano on the northern shores of Lake Como. To say the least, the 10 plus days I have been here have been thoroughly enjoyable.

Visiting writers to this Blog have already spoken about the charm and beauty of the Villa and its surroundings, and I can certainly second their views. It took me only a few minutes to feel the magical effect of the place. While standing on the balcony over looking the lake and its shores, I very quickly became calm and relaxed, and that feeling has stayed with me the whole visit.

Some other highlights:

Let's start with the food. No one does Italian food better than the Italians. The anti-pastas, the pastas, the salads, the main courses, and the gelatos have been outstanding. I am treating Joan and Gene to a final meal at a local restaurant where I know they speak German. That should really help in ordering. Not to worry though, we ate there once and it was great. A number of times we ate at the Villa and enjoyed tasty Italian dishes prepared by Joan. I have never had a poor meal prepared by Joan. In fact, I have even learned some cooking tips that I plan to employ when I venture back into the kitchen. Finally, we ate a few meals in Switzerland during our visits to St. Moritz and Zermatt. Sorry, Swiss cooking in no way measures up to Italian.

So, after pushing myself away from the table, I managed several sight seeing ventures with Joan and Gene and with Tiarra and Kelli while they were visiting. The boat rides to Menaggio, Bellagio, and Como were most enjoyable. Again, food was at the top followed by shopping. I am hardly one to spend a lot of time shopping; but I did enjoy browsing through the pottery and silk shops. Heck, I even picked out a few items (with some help) as gifts for family and friends back home.

And then there were the simple walks around Bellano and through the town. Even the treks back up the hills weren't all that bad as long as no one was racing. There was only one exception and that was the walk that Gene and I took into Dervio, a town three miles north. The walk into town wasn't too bad as it was mostly downhill. However, as the downhill steps became more pronounced, I started to think more and more about the return trip. I quickly concluded: in no way am I going to walk back up the trail. While in Dervio, Gene and I were studying the train schedule to see if it went back to Bellano. Even with the help of a young man who was waiting for a train, we were not sure what we were doing. Finally, Gene said: let me call Joan and ask her to come and pick us up. She graciously did (thank God). While we were waiting for Joan, we sat and enjoyed a coffee. At the same time at a nearby table, four men were playing hearts, and six or seven others were watching. Without a doubt they played just like Americans – hollering if they got stuck with the queen, challenging their neighbor if they led with the wrong card, and reliving every hand "if only he did this or he did that." Gene and I could only laugh and smile.

Let's not forget Switzerland either. Twice I ventured there with Gene and Joan - a day trip to St. Moritz and an overnight to Zermatt. Switzerland is a beautiful country. The Alps are magnificent. I marveled at the engineering feats of the highway construction. The Swiss, as well as the Italians, know how to design and build attractive tunnels and bridges. Now, I can't say the same about the weather. Both times it was terrible – rain, wind, and even snow. However, this did not cause us concern since we knew that both places are destinations for the beautiful people. We fit right in.

Now all that I need to do is pack up and say good-by. I certainly have enough to pack since I will be bringing a great deal back with me thanks to United Airlines. The "lost and then found" luggage saga is a story for another time.

Arrivederci

Grazie Joan and Gene!

(photos to follow at a later date)

A DAY OF REST

Tiarra left for the U.S. this morning, Kelli left for Rome yesterday by train so it is just Gene, Denis and I. I should mention that Tiarra brought us some much desired wash cloths. None were provided here and I couldn't find any in Bellano or any where else so she came to my rescue. She also brought some measuring cups and spoons.
We had a busy week. When Tiarra and Kelly went to Venice on Monday, Gene, Denis and I drove to St. Moritz in Switzerland. We left Bellano in the pouring rain which continued the whole ride. Gene had said the trip would take a little over an hour. More than 2 hours later we were there. It was a beautiful ride through the Alps and we saw many waterfalls. It was raining so hard in St. Moritz that we just ate lunch there, then turned around and went back to Bellano. On Wednesday we (all 5 of us) took the ferry to Menaggio where we walked around then took a ferry to Bellagio. We had lunch there (Pizza as usual. I didn't think I could get tired of pizza but I am.) and spent several hours wandering around. On Thursday we walked down to Bellano for the market, purchased a few things and walked back up the hills for lunch. That evening we drove to Lierna (about 15K) for dinner at Sottovento, a restaurant recommended by our landlords. The setting was beautiful overlooking the lake and the food was pretty good. This was our first dinner in the leisurely Italian style. We were there for almost 3 hours. At the various restaurants in Bellano service has been much swifter. We have a favorite called Orrido(waterfall in Italian) which serves rustic Italian food. We have also been regulars at a local pizzeria. They know us now and last time gave us a complimentary limoncello at the end of the meal. On Friday, 4 of us minus Kelli took the Rapido to Como. We had lunch there(pizza, what else?) and spent some time shopping. Como is know for its silk so we all purchased several silk scarves. The weather was beautiful as it has been for most of our stay at Lake Como. We took the Rapido back to Bellano but discovered when we boarded that we had only purchased one way tickets. The ticket collector reluctantly sold us the return portion and we were on our way.
Today I slept in. Gene got up early to take Tiarra to Milan to the airport and Denis was up very early following the Dodger game on his computer. Gene and Denis decided to walk into Dervio and I chose to stay home and putter around. An hour or so later I got a call to come and pick them up in Dervio. They didn't want to walk back. I picked them up after driving for the first time since we have been here. I was dreading meeting a truck on the road because I didn't want to back up. Luckily I didn't have to although I had a girl on a motorscooter on my tail the entire way down. They just don't follow closely. They seem to be inches from your bumper. We had lunch and now Denis and Gene are taking long siestas.
We plan to leave tomorrow for Zermatt, Switzerland and spend the night there. Denis leaves on Wednesday so Gene and I will be alone for a few days. We have enjoyed all our guests and I hope we will not be too bored with some quiet.

DOUG'S PHOTOS

The first three photos are taken near Chamonix in the French-Italian Alps. The last photo is of Dan and Annie relaxing in the pool at LA WALLY.

NO ANONYMOUS PLEASE!

I made it easier to comment on the blog by eliminating a sign up, but that made it possible to comment anonymously. Please use the OTHER option and give your name. Thanks.

Beautiful Bellagio and Bellano

Posted by guest blogger Kelli Wilzoch

Wednesday morning the five of us drove into Varenna to catch a ferry ride to Menaggio. After a quick walk around the small town of Menaggio we boarded the ferry over to Bellagio. Bellagio is probably the most beautiful place I have ever been to. Bellagio sits along Lake Como with spectacular views of the landscape mountains and hillsides. There is also breathtaking views of the Alps. We went into a church which was built in the early 1500's. Inside of the church was amazing and there was no "dress code." After lunch and some shopping we headed back to Bellano. Gene took us to the local grocery store to buy a few things, however the store was closed, and would reopen at 3:30pm. I found out that many stores closes from noon until 3:30pm so the people can eat lunch and take a nap. This is a ritual that is very common to all the locals. (Gene and Denis also practice this custom starting around 2:00pm) We had to look in four different stores for bread. It is best to buy your bread early in the day because once the bread is sold there is no more until the next day.

Today we walked down into Bellano to shop at the local market. The streets are very narrow and we must share the road with cars and trucks. The vendors were selling produce, clothing, toys, bread and one vendor had a butcher shop right out of his trailer and the line was long to make a purchase. The butcher had some chickens on the rotisserie cooking. None of the vendors spoke any English so I had a hard time communicating with my purchase but I was able to get what I needed. As we made our way back to Villa Wally the traffic increased tremendously because it was noon and people had to get home to nap. The weather here has been gorgeous from the time we got here. Gene and Joan are so kind to let us come and stay with them and I am truly thankful for the opportunity.

What a magnificent town!

Venice: No Shorts, No Shoulders, No Praying...

Written by guest blogger Tiarra.

Kelli and I decided that we wanted to check out Venice, so Monday morning we boarded the local train for Milan. The local train is very crowded, hot, humid and smelled of pee. Our trip would take nearly four hours to get to Venice- one hour and 20 minutes on the intercity train to Milan, and then 2 1/2 hours on the EuroStar train to Venice. We bought our tickets online, but there are no printers here, so we took Gene's advice and "just got on the train". Long story short, don't "just get on the train" with no tickets. It's a good thing I don't speak Italian, because I don't even want to know what was being said about us. Kelli was getting "car sick" on the pee train and was getting worried about the trip from Milan to Venice, but the EuroStar train was much nicer. We sat in first class, it had air conditioning, and the bonus was that it did not smell of pee.

We got to Venice, and found the public ferry to our hotel without any problems. We had a very nice hotel a couple of blocks from St. Mark's Square. The first thing we did was walk to St. Mark's Basilica to tour the cathedral. We waited in this huge line with people and pigeons. The line moved fairly quickly. We were about to enter and an old woman who was selling shawls to cover any exposed shoulders for 1 euro that looked like scraps of material to me, said we could not go in because our shorts were too short. Excuse me? Now I'm not one for religious rituals anyway, but you can't go pray if your shoulders or knees are exposed? Wow. Kelli decided that we should sneak in anyway because we saw other people whom the woman did not stop that were in with illegally exposed body parts too. We walked through the cathedral without any problems and did not have to spend the night in church prison.

Our hotel offered a "complimentary" boat ride out to Murano Island to "tour" a Venetian glass factory. So the next day our private boat arrived and took us out to Murano. It was quite a nice little boat ride. Kelli and I were the only ones on the boat. We were greeted at the factory with our own personal guide as well. Stefano. Stefano had very bad coffee and cigarette breath. He showed us a little demo they had set up when we entered what we now know was a gallery. They had the glass blowers make a small vase for us and then proceeded to take us to room after room of very expensive pieces of glass sculptures, dishes and vases. When we said we were ready to go without buying anything at the "very special factory direct price", we were told that we could take the public taxi back to Venice. What a nice little scam that was. Where was the factory? For all I know that glass is made in China. The people at the hotel must be in on it too, because when we finally made our way back, there was definitely a different level of service. But even despite that, we had a very nice time in Venice. It is certainly a different way of life. It was extremely crowded and expensive. We found that if we walked to parts where the locals shopped it was much more pleasant and was not as expensive. The people are very friendly and you can usually get what you need by pointing.

Gene's Favorite Photos

Planes, trains and automobiles

It’s been a few days since my last entry so I thought I might bring my friends up to date on a couple of my Italian adventures. Today is Saturday June 30 and it’s another beautiful day. We have been so fortunate with the weather. Everyday has been at least in the low 70’s and partly to fully sunny. Dan, Annie, Doug and Lori have left for Chamonix in France to hike and will not be returning to our rental, flying out of Milano on Monday morning. Joan’s brother’s wife, Pat and their daughter, Kate arrived at the beginning of the week and Tom was scheduled to arrive Thursday night at 8:00pm. I volunteered to drive to Malpensa, the main airport in Milano to pick him up because he had been traveling on business non stop from London, to Brussels, to Paris, to Milan, back to Brussels, Paris and then to Milan again. Around 7pm he called to say his plane was going to be delayed and that he would call back when he was about to get on the plane. He was flying an airline out of Spain called Vueling Airlines. Big mistake!! We finally got the call around 11:15 and I headed out for the 120km drive. Full moon, clear night, no traffic, just flying. About 30 km from the airport there is a toll plaza where they extract 1.20 Euros for the privilege of driving on the Autostrade. After paying I looked up to start driving again and found the traffic at an absolute stand still!! The DOT guys thought it was a good idea to pave all but one lane of the freeway. Long story short: One hour to go 2km.! Yikes!! Still 30km away I blasted down the Autostrade and finally got to the airport after 1am. What a pitiful sight. There is poor Tom standing out on the curb of the completely deserted airport. I mean he is the only person at the second largest International airport in Italy. The place was closed down completely and if the police had cruised by he probably would have been arrested for loitering! Another hour and a half and we finally were home and in bed!!

On Saturday our friends Tiarra Goble and Kelli Wilzoch arrived to visit Italy for a week and have left this morning for a two day trip to Venice. Keeping with the continual screw ups by the airlines Tiarra’s luggage was left back in New Jersey! Fortunately I was going back to the airport on Sunday to pick up our old friend Denis who had arrived after a week of business in London. I had a full car going to the airport as Pat, Tom and Kate were with me as was Dan, Annie, Doug and Lori's luggage that they had left behind in Bellano. They were going to an airport hotel as their flight was the next morning. I dropped off the luggage to await Dan et al's arrival. Thank God Tiarra’s suitcases were waiting for me, kind of. There were two rooms full of lost luggage. The clerk helping me said they could be anywhere in the rooms. Some bags were so dusty they had to be sitting there for years. We looked in the non-dusty area and after about 30 minutes we located them. Calling Tiarra for better descriptions also helped. Do yourself a favor and get a non black suitcase. 90% of suitcases are black!!

Joan, Denis and I may take a drive to Switzerland today. We’re only about 30km from the border and it’s a beautiful drive although there is a thunderstorm hitting us at the moment. Joan and I have now been here two full weeks and still have five to go. As most of you know because of Joan’s travel business we have been to Europe many times. Without question this has been the most delightful experience of all. We look forward to five more weeks of travel, friends, relaxation, food and drink.Ciao for now.