first snow

The first snow arrived today and the ice is forming across the lake. It is now time to turn our thoughts to some downhill skiing and taking off in the RV to escape this winter wonderland. The snow is nice at first, but after a few weeks of shoveling and always having to dress in layers, I am ready for spring. Since winter last longer than a couple of weeks, we'll be heading to someplace warmer. After hosting Thanksgiving for our family members and after Christmas, I will post more ofter as we as we explore the SW part of the good old USA in our gas gussling RV.

Busy busy

It's been a busy summer, gardening, car shows, new boat, skiing nightly, some golf, camping trips, wow, it is tough, but someone has to do it. Looking forward to a winter in Tempe, AZ.

Time to come home....

What a fantastic trip, the nine weeks just flew by. We had a magnifico time visiting Christine, Andrea and the kids. We can not thank them enough for making our stay such an enjoyable experience, grazie Andrea and Christine. We were in three countries, Germany, Switzerland, and of course Italy. Of all the cities and sites we visited Rome and Amalfi were our favorites. We also just loved all the markets and being able to spend some time with the Christine and Andrea and the Grand kids, hopefully we did not impose upon them too much. We hope you enjoyed following along with us on the blog, and grazie to everyone who left comments, we really appreciated the feedback. If you like any of the pictures copy them to your computer because this blog will be deleted in four weeks. In addition to all the pictures and videos on the blog, we have over a thousand other pictures and more videos that your welcome to look at. It has been fun, Michelle and I enjoyed every minute of it and are already planing our next trip. All we can say is to cherish life everyday and get out there and enjoy it. Ciao, Mike & Michelle.

A few more pic's

Best Pizza in all of Italy can be found in Trento, we ate lunch here almost everyday...
Don't get between Giulia and her nutella.....

One of the many markets, just a small loaf please....

Another open market, with goodies, bread, meats, cheese, wine, snacks, fruit, etc, etc...

Ending the trip with a glass of wine and some fresh cheese.....

Update (translated)

Siamo tornati a Trento. (We're back in Trento). Spesa per la nostra ultima settimana con Andrea, Christine e ai bambini. (Spending our last week with Andrea, Christine and the kids). Il tempo è passato velocemente. (The time has gone by fast). Stiamo ancora trovare qualcosa di nuovo ogni giorno e sono ancora di accettare la nostra carta di credito sono I guess thats un buon segno. (We are still finding something new everyday and they are still accepting our credit card so I guess thats a good sign). Ciao, per ora . (Bye for now).

Pisa, home of the leaning tower

Pisa is a city in Tuscany, central Italy, on the right bank of the mouth of the Arno River. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. The city is known worldwide for its famous bell tower. When I was here about ten years ago with Dad, the entire tower was closed as they tried to stabilized it. Engineers at first thought they would straighten the tower, but the city planers calculated that their tourism would drop by 80% so the lean stayed. Today it has been stabilized and tourists are now allowed to climb to the top at 15 euro a crack, about 23 American dollars.

Fun at Pisa.

Pisa has the best gelato....

I even got Michelle hooked on the stuff...

What a brat, see what I have to put up with...

OH NO, I am stuck, pass up another gelato please....

Inside Pisa's Duomo, one of the more decorated...

Pisa's Field of Miracles

View of Duomo from the top of the tower...

Pisa's Baptistry......

Quick, I can't hold it much longer... (tourist)

Florence

From 1865 to 1870 the city was also the capital of the Kingdom of Italy. Florence lies on the Arno River and has a population of around 400,000 people. The centre of medieval European trade and finance, the city is often considered the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance and was long ruled by the Medici family. Florence, known world wide for a vast collection of magnificent art and architecture, is also a major manufacture of all types of leather products.

Santa Marie del Fiore, the main Duomo in Florence...

Santa Marie's Bell Tower..

The east doors of the Baptisery known as the Gates of Paradise...

Crist being baptised

David, by Michelangelo....

Pompeii history

Pompeii is a buried and ruined Roman city near Naples, about a two hours from Amalfi. Pompeii was destroyed, and completely buried, during a catastrophic eruption of the a valcano at Mount Vesuvius spanning two days on August 24 79 AD. (1929 years ago).
The volcano collapsed higher roof-lines and buried Pompeii under many meters of ash and rocks and it was lost for nearly 1700 years before its accidental rediscovery in 1748. Since then, its excavation has provided an extraordinarily detailed insight into the life of a city at the height of the Roman Empire. Today, it is one of the most popular tourist attractions of Italy.

Pompeii

One of the many Frescos that are still in good shape...

Their colosseum, in rather good shape, all things considered...
These are a couple of casts that were made from the cavity that remained.

Aaaaaaaaaaamalfi

Just the bus ride from Sorrento to Amalfi was worth the trip. The Amalfi Coast, named after the town of Amalfi, is just breathtaking and if you arrive by bus, as we did, you get one of the worlds greatest bus rides. We sat on the coast side of the bus and as you look out and down, you better not be afraid of heights. You quickly gain respect for the Italian engineers who built these roads back in the 1800’s, I kept asking myself, how did they do that, especially back in the 1800’s. The bus drivers drive these Chicago size buses through the twists and turns at 500 to a 1000 feet above the coast and through streets just barely wide enough for a car and never miss a beat. They may knock off a car mirror once in awhile, but that’s all part of the Amalfi lifestyle. As you look up the side of these mountains, you see casas, huge hotels, swimming pools, villas, castles and churches all clinging to the hillside like some giant just placed them there. The Amalfi Coast is known for it’s lemons and you see lemon groves everywhere, from the shore all the way up to the top of the mountains where they still use mules to service the groves. The town of Amalfi is very relaxed this time of year, but Michelle and I like it that way. We just took in the town, visited a couple of the surrounding towns, went to Pompeii one day, ate at some fantastic restaurants, and just relaxed. Amalfi’s busy season is between May and September. That’s when all the shops and hotels are open, the streets are filled with tourists, the beach is full of activity and the boat system is running for those who don’t want to ride the bus.
The people are all very friendly to us and more than willing to help out with directions or whatever we needed. We just loved it here and want to come back soon. We got to know the owner of Andrea’s & Christine’s favorite coffee shop. (now our favorite as well) He is opening a Geleto store and invited me back to help make and sell geleto, ( he does not know what he in for) Well, we’re heading to Florence now. Enjoy the pictures and videos of the bus ride.

Bus ride video to Amalfi 1 of 3

Bus Video to Amalfi 2 of 3

Bus video to Amalfi 3 of 3

AMALFI

The coast of Amalfi

From behind St Andrea's in Amalfi

Saint Andrea's

The main stree in Amalfi, beleive it or not, cars, trucks even buses travel on this street.

The lovely Michelle, enjoying another beautiful day in Amalfi.

AMALFI

We are in Amalfi now. Linited internet access. Will post once we can get to a solid connection. In the meantime, add your comments. Hope you all are enjoying the blog and don't check for spelling errors... The church bells are ringing so it is time to go to mass. Ciao.....

For two special people in our lifes

While in Roma, we took these two pictures with two people we know and love in mind. We came accross this monumnet and and looked up at the street sign to see where we were and saw the above...

The Lovely Isabbella

We spent six glorious days in Roma and now on our way to Amalfi . Chrisine, Andrea and the kids joined us for a couple of days in Roma also. We were able to spend sometime with them and Andrea’s brother’s family. While in Roma we toured the Colosseo, Basilica di San Pietro, Sistine Chapel, The Bocca della Verita, Fontana di Trevi, many Duomo’s, Piazza’s and stopped for 2 or 5 or maybe it was 8 Gelato’s. We can not thank our friend and generous Host Isabelle enough for welcoming us into her home. Thank you again Isabella for a wonderful time and delicious dinners. You are always welcomed in our home and we look forward to the day you come to visit us.

This was on the way to the Sistine Chapel, the works of Ralpael.

Michelle almost got arrested taking these illegal shots inside the Sistine Chapel, the works of Michelangelo.

Basilica di San Pietro

The Bocca della Verita

Colosseo

Fontana di Trevi

Guitar man, double click on the arrow below the pictures to hear them.

Here are some clips of the street entertainment.... Enjoy...

Fast Joe, drop a coin and watch him go

The Band, these guys are great..

the Band cont...

There's so much to see here, Day two in Rome or Roma, the sites, the food, ah the food, (our clothes are smaller here, I think it's something to do with the metric system) and even the street entertainment was great. Hope you enyoyed the clips... Ciao.

Carnevale di Trento cont.

Michelle is still getting confetti out of her hair...

The children dress like our holloween, but don't get candy, just beer and wine...

Giulia attacks Luca with spray string....

Grandpa finds gelato heaven.... it's fat free.... I have to find out how they make this stuff and bring it back to the states, we'll have a "Mike's Gelato" in every town....

Carnevale di Trento

Every town from Venice to Rome has a Carnevale this time of the year, considered their last celebration before Lent. The carnevale's last all week. The one held in Trento was rather large for such a small town. Their parade lasted a couple of hours and the confetti was flying everywhere. The amazing thing is that they had most of it cleaned up the next day.

They even fired the confetti through these air powered guns

The Smurfs are very big in Italy

The people were everywhere and somehow no one was run over.

You got to love this guy, what you don't see is the glass of beer he put down to throw some more confetti... yes beer, they don't throw out candy for the children, they hand out glasses of beer and wine.