retirement – Page 16 – Destination NOW

On your mark, get set…

Twelve days till the Asian Adventure starts. Phase One is in full swing!

I have benefited greatly from those that generously shared their travel tips and experiences, so this post is my attempt to do likewise. Future travelers journeying to Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, this is for you.

Road Scholar sends out a terrific information package, but I almost screwed up big time because I under counted the number of passport photos needed. As is usually the case, Mike was paying attention. (I always knew there was a reason I married that man!)

Getting In and Out of Countries

Get three passport photos; four if you decide on a “loose leaf” visa for Vietnam. Road Scholar takes care of visas for Laos and Cambodia, but we need to bring along the required photos. No visa needed for Thailand.
I finally figured out the only advantage to the loose leaf visa was you didn’t need to mail your passport to the service. The disadvantage was you had to keep track of that extra piece of paper. No loose leaf visa for me!
Send away for Vietnam passport include photo (one or two depending on type of Visa chosen) with request; pack remaining two to ensure they don’t get left behind. Did I mention that I tend to be absent minded?
The service recommended by Road Scholar was excellent, and from my quick scan of the internet, appeared to be attractively priced. I downloaded the application from their website and was pleased that sections that would have confused the hell out of me had been pre-filled for Road Scholar participants. The cost was $129 per person, including the Road scholar discount.
If the passport has less than 4 blank pages, request additional pages from the state department. It cost $82, and you DO need to send them the passport.
Both the visa and extra pages are more expensive if you need rush service, so it helps if you can plan ahead.

I dutifully copied the key pages of my passport and the Vietnam visa. I also scanned a copy of my passport and emailed it to me. (Hey, I actually lost my passport once–fortunately it was in Las Vegas. No further explanation needed or forthcoming.)

Money
For this trip, 3 lunches and 3 dinners (out of the 18) are not included, so we will need to have funds for those, for our before and after travels, plus any purchases we make along the way. Normally when we travel, we don’t bring cash, relying instead on ATMs and credit cards, but for Asia, that wouldn’t work well. Here’s the scoop for Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam:

Current Exchange rates: $1 US = 30 bhat; 7,941 kip; 4,000 riels; 20,840 dong
Credit cards are not accepted in Laos or Cambodia.
We get dollars in Siem Reap, Cambodia from an ATM, but not in Vietnam. Those machines only dispense dong.
Dollars are accepted everywhere but any change you receive will be in the local currency, so…
I ordered 7,500 Bhats from my local bank. That sounds like a lot, but it is only $250.
I’m not going to worry about dong. We’ll be in Vietnam for over three weeks, so I’m sure I will be able to spend any dongs I get from ATMs. Besides, my cousins are quite fascinated by that particular currency, so I might give them any leftovers.
Road Scholar recommended bringing about $300 in cash for 18 days on the trip, so we will follow their advice.

Security
Because Mike and I spend all of our discretionary income on travel, there is little in our house worth stealing–unless you are looking to stock up for a gigantic yard sale. Our concern is that anyone foolish enough to break into our house would completely trash it looking for non-existent valuables! So we take all of the usual precautions with police, security, mail, and newspaper delivery. Additionally, we always call our bank and credit card company to tell them when and where we will be traveling.

Health
The CDC website didn’t indicate any dread diseases were rampant in the Southeast Asia countries we’ll be touring, other than the usual mosquito warnings. Our booster shots are up to date, and our “health kit” has been stocked with bandages, neosporin, advil, Immodium, Z Pack, and for me–sleeping pills to knock me out on the flights to and fro.

Communications
Although I use Wi-Fi whenever possible, I like having my iPhone as an emergency backup, plus I use Trip Advisor and other apps when the need arises. I have read horror stories about huge phone bills racked up unwittingly because of roaming charges, so I had a very productive chat with Verizon Wireless. Their international data plan costs $25 per 100 MB per month. If you go over, Verizon figures you would want to buy another 100 MB, so they automatically take care of that for you. To avoid unwanted charges, you can turn off “cellular” (under settings-general) and turn it back on when you want to use the internet. That way, your phone will search for any available wi-fi.

Voice calls are $1.99 per minute in Thailand and Vietnam, but are prohibitively expensive in Cambodia and Laos, plus there is a “per use” charge in those countries when you access the data plan. The Verizon service rep was very helpful. She also taught me how to get to the + on my iPhone key pad. (That little + is needed for international calls.) Since my memory isn’t want it used to be, this is as much for ME as it is for anyone that doesn’t already know the trick: You hold down the “0” until the plus sign appears.

Attire
Asians are conservative dressers, so for this trip, I won’t be packing any shorts or tank tops, despite the heat. Surprisingly enough, Vietnam CAN be cool in March, so I will be bringing along a sweater and fleece. Next post will be all about the fascinating contents of my luggage.

Tourist or Traveler?

One of the blogs I follow, Where’s WiWi, recently posed the question “Tourist or Traveller: which are you?” I loved her conclusion–that our chosen style of travel is not what is important. She asks “isn’t what really matters is that we’re actually there: seeing, doing, interacting, contributing to local economies? Even the most sheltered of tours will teach you something of where you are.”

She got me thinking about my travel style and after pondering deeply, or drinking wine (I forget which, but then, whenever I drink wine, I always think that I am pondering deeply) I came to the profound realization that I am indeed both. In addition to places noble and noteworthy, I have been known to seek out the tackiest, cheesiest tourist traps (as proven during Greg’s and my cross-country odyssey this past summer) with unbounded enthusiasm, loving every minute of it.

Whenever I contemplate leaving any of the lower 48 however, I go into “traveler” mode. That is the essence of my Phase One: learning as much as I can about the country’s people, history, culture before I leave home. Not only does it make the experience more enjoyable, but it also makes my trips feel like they last longer.

One of the many reasons I love traveling with Road Scholar is that in addition to the trip lectures, the pre trip materials always include a suggested reading list. Additionally, their website now offers “social networking” features, such as trip blogs from prior participants. As I type this, my new virtual buddy, Nancy from Canada, is on the “Journey Into the Heart of Asia”, so traveling along with her, gives me a sneak preview!

So, in the spirit of doing likewise for those future Road Scholar Asian Adventurers, I will attempt to be as helpful in my posts.

For starters, here is my opinion of some of the books on the reading list. I didn’t buy any of them–fortunately I have access to an amazing library system here in New Jersey. (Okay, so we do have high taxes, but we also have access to fantastic services).

Mike and I will have some time in Thailand before the Road Scholar tour begins so although it was not on the list, I’m reading “The Bridge Over the River Kwai” just in case we decide to visit Kanchanaburi.

The Insight Guides (already back in the library) are a wonderful starting point, and provide a very useful overview of the countries we will be visiting.

I have finished “Culture Smart Thailand”, “The Gods Drink Whiskey”, and “A Traveller’s History of Southeast Asia”. If I only had time to read one, I’d pick The “Gods Drink Whiskey”. I won’t even attempt to do a review of the book–why bother, because I could never improve on what Mindy McAdams wrote.

While meandering through the library stacks, I discovered four books about Vietnam that were not on the Road Scholar list and are worth mentioning.

Graham Greene’s novel “The Quiet American”, set in Vietnam, in the early ’50s, during the war with the French, before American involvement. I also rented the movie, and as usual, found I much preferred the book.
“The Sorrow of War” a novel by Bao Nihn, a north Vietnamese who was one of the 10 survivors out of 500 boys that fought in the Glorious 27th Youth Brigade during the “American” war, as it is known in Vietnam. I skimmed through sections of this book, which was quite sufficient to get a feel for what it was like for the typical young Vietnamese during and after the war.

Two non-fiction books: “Seeing Vietnam” by Susan Brownmiller and “Vietnam Now” by David Lamb. Susan was on assignment for a travel magazine in 1992, which was when travel restrictions for Americans were lifted. David Lamb was first in South Vietnam as a journalist in 1968 then returned in 1997, to live for four years in Hanoi as a correspondent for the Los Angeles Times.

I’ll be spending two weeks in Hanoi, working as a Global Volunteer in a Vietnamese school, so I figured it would be very helpful to gain additional insight into the country by reading a few post war narratives.

So, three books and sixteen days to go. It feels like the best part of the college experience–the thrill of learning, with none of the pressures of exams! Sorry to disappoint you, if you thought I might be revealing some other college thrills. Hey, that was a long, long time ago!

Speaking of “exams”, here are the answers to the last blog’s Quiz:

Istanbul is split between the continents of Asia and Europe. Unlike the Four Corners in the USA west, however, you can’t put a body part in each continent, because the Bosphorus River divides the city.
Thailand is the only Southeast Asian country that was never ruled by a European power.
True, all males in Thailand are encouraged to become monks for at least several months so that they can gain merit for their families. King Mongkut, also known as Rama lV was a monk from the age of 20 until he became king at age 47. By the time he died at age 64, he had accumulated 32 wives and 82 kids. Talk about making up for lost time!
I’d rather have $50 US dollars. 1,000,000 dong currently equals $48, and 1,000 Bhat is worth $33
Thailand is the country formerly known as Siam, as in “The King and I ” fame, which by the way, was an unflattering and historically inaccurate portrayal of that very same King Mongkut mentioned earlier.

Asian Adventure – Phase One

Only three weeks until Mike and I embark on our Asian Adventure. This trip will be a bunch of firsts for us:

It is the longest trip we have ever taken, both in time away (6 weeks) and in distance (12 time zones).
It is our first real trip to Asia. ( I don’t count a couple of days in Turkey, back in 2001, as an actual visit to that enormous continent, although technically it was, for those that count such things).
it will be our longest flight ever–20 hours total, with only one stop, in South Korea. I am NOT looking forward to sitting on a plane all that time.
it is actually four different travel experiences wrapped into one trip. We will be on our own for four days in Bangkok until we join a Road Scholar tour. When that tour ends, Mike and I will explore Vietnam for five days, with a guide and driver. Finally, I spend the last two weeks working with Global Volunteers in Hanoi, and Mike heads home.

I’m not sure how easy it will be to get internet access, so I figured I’d created a trip map before leaving home. If you are really into it, you can click on the blue letters to get to the Travellerspoint.com site. You can then click on the different stops to learn more about each location and, as a special bonus, what the numbers on the map mean.

All of the tricky logistics are being handled by Road Scholar, during our Journey Into the Heart of Asia. (And yes, clicking on those blue letters will get you more information about Road Scholar AND the specifics of the trip.) Although I am enough of a control freak to want to do my own flight arrangements to and from the United States, I am more than happy to turn over all other transportation details to the pros.

The private tour that Mike and I are taking after the end of the Road Scholar trip is being arranged by Ann Tours. Ann Tours was created by Ann Tran in 1989 as an attempt to locate her two sons, from whom she had become separated in 1975 during the fall of Saigon. Ann hoped that her travel agency would bring her in contact with enough Americans that eventually someone would know something about Tony and Tim. In 1991 an American traveler found one son’s name in a California phone book. Mother and sons were soon reunited, with Tony now in Vietnam, arranging tours. I love a happy ending–isn’t it nice to know they don’t just happen in movies?

About the title of this blog:
Phase One is what I call the planning part of any trip we take. Once the logistics are squared away, it is time to learn about the places we are visiting. I’ve been reading books and blogs, checking out Trip Advisor and Fodors. Knowledge is meant to be shared. So sisters, mi hermana preferida, cousins, friends (and anyone else who wants to play along) here is a little quiz to get you started on this educational extravaganza:

1. What city is in two continents–Europe and Asia?

2. What country in Southeast Asia was never ruled by a European power?

3. True or false: In Thailand, all Buddhist males become monks for a period of time, to earn merit for their families.

4. What would you rather have: a thousand Bhats, a million Dongs or fifty Dollars?

5. What was the country of Thailand known as before 1939?

Memories…

Today’s snowfall looks like it could actually amount to something. The trees toppled by hurricane Sandy, lying every which way on the ground, might create some interesting sculptures.

Mr. and Mrs Cardinal are wisely loading up at the bird feeder. If the flakes keep falling, it might be a while before the feeder filler (otherwise known as Mike) gets back out there.

So, what’s a girl to do as she hunkers down for some serious indoor time? Why, start looking through photos of days filled with sun and fun. And, having just seen several of my Villa Buddies over Christmas –Diane, Karen, Denise, Emily, Wayne and Sandy– (We missed you, Greg and Sally!), I decided to take a trip down Memory Lane, all the way back to July, by reliving one of our day trips.

We had heard so much about Cinque Terra, we decided to venture forth from our villa to explore a couple of the five seaside villages.

The Lucca tourist office offers a series of regularly scheduled day trips, however the Cinque Terra trip wasn’t scheduled for the day we wanted. Instead, the tourist office helped us find a far better alternative: a private tour. Our driver, Wolfgang, picked us up at our villa, drove us to the ferry in Portovenere, got us our ferry tickets and an itinerary, then met us at the end of the day in Monterrosso, to return us to the villa.

Of course, we COULD have managed this on our own, but that would have meant driving in two separate cars, figuring out parking, the ferry schedule, taking a round trip ferry ride–nothing tremendously difficult, but the driving had fallen to the one person willing to brave the Italian roads, and it was time to give Diane a break.

We drove through La Spezia, the cruise ship port for those cruisers bound for Cinque Terra, on our way to Porto Venere, a cute little seaside town. We had just enough time for a cappuccino and pastry before boarding the ferry.

It was the perfect ferry ride: warm, with a cool breeze, clear skies, with spectacular views along the way. We could see the cultivated fields stretching up the side of the mountains.

I wouldn’t want to have to plant and weed THOSE gardens!

As you can see, stone was quite plentiful, and incorporated into the seaside buildings.

Why is it that even laundry looks picturesque in Italy?

P1040087_2 — Manarola’s bathing beauties

There was only time for a quick stroll up into the town, (and I do mean UP), then it was time to board the next ferry for our last stop, Monterrosso. We were told there is a hiking trail between the villages, but given that we were now in our lazy phase of the trip, decided to take the easy method of transportation. The trip UP into town may have helped us make that decision.

This village had an actual beach, with umbrellas and chairs for rent.

I, however, was more interested in this lovely alcoholic version of iced coffee. I got all of the benefits of the beach, without sand in my seat, or sunburned shoulders.

And since today is a day for looking through photos, I decided to include a couple from a trip Mike and I had taken in 2004 to Portofino, another seaside village further up the coast. Like Cinque Terra, the houses were sherbet colored, built tightly together.

It too was lovely, and for THAT trip, we actually DID stroll along the hillside trail. Take a look.

Come a little closer…

Although it lacked a beach, there was plenty to see on that day trip.

Ah, Italy– something tells me I’ll be back!

I Love a Parade

We were fortunate enough to be in Lucca during a festival. Several nights worth of parades with costumes, music, flags, scary weaponry…who could ask for anything more?

One question: What do you think would be more difficult–tossing and catching flags, or marching with a flag covering your face? These guys were masters at both.

True confession time: i just learned that WordPress will arrange photos into a collage, so I had to give it a try. Pretty cool, huh? And very easy–at least from my home computer.

Lucca Churches

I’m still thinking about Lucca’s amazing city wall. With a perimeter of approximately 2.5 miles, the interior space isn’t very big. I’ll leave it to the mathematicians to calculate the square footage within those walls. At times, though, it felt huge, particularly during the afternoon heat, when lost and walking in circles, for example. Not that I would have ever experienced anything like that..

So, what’s the point? Well, there is an incredible number of churches packed into that rather small patch of earth! The other walled cities I visited seemed to only have one or two churches within their enclosure, but Lucca had a whole overflowing collection basket load of them!

Fortunately, I didn’t feel compelled to photograph them all–just a few that caught my eye because to me, at least, they were rather unique.

I had never heard of San Frediano, and I still have no clue who he is, but he clearly was important enough to get a church named in his honor. The exterior wasn’t all that fancy, except for the beautiful mosaic balancing on that rather nondescript body.

It was particularly beautiful when the sun was directly shining on the gold, which it wasn’t when I took this photo, so you’ll just have to take my word for it.

This next church has been re-purposed as an art museum. We never got around to going inside to see the Chagall exhibit, but I sure did like those green stripes decorating the arches, and posters fit so nicely under an arch, don’t you think?

This last one, built on the site of the old Roman Forum was my very favorite–the church of St. Michael, named after my husband, I believe.

You’ve got to love a church that looks like a wedding cake is balancing on its top. Instead of a bride and groom, however, this one has angels, spreading their wings and blowing their horns.

That brown fist on the right was not a church decoration. It was part of a citywide art exhibit. If it hadn’t taken me three months to write this blog, I probably would remember the name of the art festival, how MANY sculptures there were–but all I can recall is that they were all totally made from paper. AND that tourists and the locals were invited to vote for their favorite. (There is another sculpture in the photo of the church of San Frediano. It looks like a bunch of space vehicles suspended from strings).

Anyway, back to the church. St. Michael is definitely deserving of a closer look. The sculptor must have had that century’s equivalent of ADD, because each of the wedding cake’s columns is decorated differently. (I know–my future as an art expert has just been vaporized by my clumsy description of these edifices.)

P1030801 — The fake front of St Michael church, with all the cool, different columns

Check out the detail on the Archangel’s robe. (Click on the photo to enlarge for a better view).

P1030891 — Close up of the Archangel. I’m loving my camera’s zoom lens

That was definitely a labor of love, because you’d have to have super vision to see those “jewels” from the ground level. A tour guide told us that Michael is wearing a gold ring. We couldn’t tell one way or the other until my camera’s zoom lens disproved THAT claim.

I was thinking that Lucca’s churches were old Italy’s version of Starbucks …there was one on every corner. Then I happened to take a look at one of the arches.

Look closer…recognize anything?

P1030893 — Do they serve Starbuck’s here?

Looks like the command to “go forth and multiply” was also heeded by a certain Seattle company!

The City Walls of Lucca, Italy

It’s a rainy day in New Jersey–the perfect time to indulge in Part Three of this summer’s trip to Italy. To me, travel is composed of three equally enjoyable segments. Part One is the planning stage. Part Two is the actual travel, and Part Three occurs when your mind leaves your body as you relive those travel highs.

Our villa was a few miles from Lucca, a short (but harrowing) drive to the city gates. It was close enough so that we could see Lucca’s towers from the patio outside my room. The photo at the top of this post (if the”featured image” application works, that is) was taken from that very patio. But just in case it doesn’t, here’s the photo again.

There are city walls, and then there are CITY WALLS. Lucca’s are the latter. We are talking big, serious structures.

One day, we rented a “bicycle built for four” and tooled around the entire periphery.

And yes, those ARE trees growing on top of the wall.

That photo doesn’t give you an idea of how big the walls are, or how high up that bike path is–so here are a couple more shots to put it into perspective.

P1030859 — Restaurant and bar on Lucca’s wall

In fact, the wall is big enough for a restaurant and bar (the site of my birthday prosecco celebration), and a sculpture garden.

P1030972 — The July birthday girls, after several glasses of that bubbly stuff

Lucca also has an old Roman amphitheater within its walls.

No, I didn’t hang from a helicopter to take that aerial view. That is a photo of a poster in the Lucca Tourist office.

The Italians, being masters of recycling, built houses out of amphitheater walls. Originally, poorer people lived in those structures, but now it is a very trendy locale, with great little cafes and shops.

That’s all for today–but that’s not all there is to Lucca!

A tale of two cities –Maglione and Capalbio

If you are thinking that I’d be tired of Italian hilltop towns by now, you’d be dead wrong. I love them! I love the walls, the winding streets, the little outdoor cafes, the cobblestones.

The prior post contains photos of the walls of Magliano, way in the distance, as seen from our Fattoria. Some of the more intrepid bikers actually rode into town during the heat of day, when all wise Italians were eating or snoozin’ and this American was cooling her easy–not moderate–biker body in the pool. They discovered there was not much to do in medieval Italian towns between 2 PM and 4 PM, other than sweat profusely and drink copious amounts of water.

My Best Biking Buddy Beth, and the rest of us wimps didn’t miss out though, because one night, we rode the van into Magliano for dinner.

P1030612 — A spectacular view of the countryside from one of the city gates

If a city has a wall, and said wall can be climbed, you’d best be believin’ I’m on it! My timing was perfect. I hustled to the top of the wall in time to capture the gorgeous sunset.

While peering through the slit, I found it easy to conjure up a brave knight of yesteryear. Can’t you just envision him on the wall, looking out into the countryside, ready to defend God, king and castle, while he rosined up his bow (or was that what the fiddler did)? Or maybe the Maglianese warriors dumped boiling oil on any invaders that attempted to storm the castle. If so, I sure hope it wasn’t the extra virgin stuff. Especially not after it had been cold pressed. (Hey, we learned all about that stuff on our tour of the olive farm).

Also while on the wall, girl scout songs kept running through my head, “the golden sun sinks in the west—something, something– calling girl scouts to rest… Day is done, gone the sun, from the east, from the west, from the sky. All is well…”. And it WAS.

Between the songs and my visions of manly knighthood, it’s a wonder I had the time or the energy to take photos, but I dug deep and managed to fire off a few shots for the folks back home.

I couldn’t decide which sunset photo I liked better, so I’m posting both. You get to be the judge.

For those of you that have had enough of the sunsets, amber waves of hay, old castle walls, here’s a change of pace. They DO hang colorful laundry out their windows, now don’t they?

On to the next subject. Talk about luck… We managed to be in town for the Soccer semi-finals, a very festive and exciting occasion. Big Screen TVs were strategically located in outdoor bars throughout the town, and it sure felt like the entire population gathered to root for the home team.

P1030624 — watching the soccer semifinals

Despite being the underdog, Italy trounced Germany. Unfortunately, a few days later they lost to Spain, but at least for that one glorious night, victory was oh, so sweet. Especially for sweet Angelo, our guide. Viva Italia!!

On our last biking day, we rode to Capalbio, another beautiful hilltop town with the requisite wall, castle and church. But this town had something that the others didn’t…a statue of Beth.

P1030670 — Beth, demonstrating how she modeled for the statue.

I can’t resist posting one last walled Italian city shot, so here it is. I’ll spare you the ones of the countryside taken from the wall. They look a lot like the other countryside photos. Beloved by me, but most likely boring to others.

And now it is time to end the bike trip saga. What better way, than to show the lengths to which I will go to get just the right shot. Here’s what I was photographing:

P1030579 — The grounds of Fattoria di Magliano

P1030581 — If I were good at panoramic shots, this would be on the right side of the photo above

And here’s what I had to do to make sure those wires didn’t appear in the photos. Thanks, Diane, for capturing my “good” side. See, Mike–I DO have one…

Although the bike trip has ended–Sally, Diane, Karen and I headed off for two more glorious weeks, sharing a villa in Italy, with yet another cast of characters.

Day Trippin’

If you are following this blog, you have probably guessed that this is not a day by day chronicle of the VBT bike trip. Our visit to Giglio Island occurred smack dab in the middle, and given how hot it had been, the timing was perfect. After all that pedaling along sunny roads, I was more than ready for some ocean breezes.

First stop, Porto Santo Stefano, where we had free time to wander thru the markets before boarding the ferry.

In addition to open-air meat, fish, cheese and flower markets, there were some clothing shops, where Becky made a purchase. She still hadn’t received her luggage–but somehow managed to always look great. And clean!!

P1030416 — Becky, wearing her favorite (and only) outfit.

P1030421 — Porto Santo Stefano, as viewed from the ferry

On the boat, I was captivated by this charming Italian, who waved and said “ciao, ciao” to me. Finally, someone whose command of Italian equalled mine! (Yes, I DO have a thing for blue eyed males…)

Remember that Costa Cruise ship that sank off the coast of Italy? The captain abandoned his ship and passengers died? I hadn’t realized that it happened off the coast of Giglio Island.

P1030441 — Tourist attraction? The Costa Concordia

What was truly amazing was how close the ship was to shore when it sank.

P1030469 — Costa cruise ship in the background

The port was lovely, with all the usual shops, restaurants, gelato stands, pastel buildings and clean, clear water.

Fortunately we didn’t have to walk all the way up to Giglio Castello, which, like all good fortresses, was built at the highest point of island, to protect the citizenry from invaders.

P1030505 — The well, an important water source when the castle was under siege.

P1030516 — One of the many winding paths within the castle

The staircases were built on the outside of the houses to save space within. Can you imagine an exterior staircase in northern New England? Try climbing stairs like these during a blizzard!

Ipads and iPhones were everywhere. I caught sight of this castle resident using hers. Maybe reception is better near the window?

P1030511 — modern technology in ancient castle

After our tour of the castle, it was time for lunch on Campese Beach. Ordinarily, VBT offers an optional hike along the Faraglione cliffs, but with the temperature hovering over 100 degrees, all agreed hiking under the Tuscan sun would not be a pleasant alternative. Some of the group hit the beach. Others (that would be me) found yet another great gelato stand and indulged, while enjoying the scenery.

Finally, we headed to our next lodging, Fattoria di Magliano, another beautiful agritourismo location, with incredible food and wine, a million dollar view, and a wonderful pool. Such luxury!

P1030527 — Magliano, as seen from the Fattoria

This was the perfect opportunity to see what my Lumix zoom could do. I probably should have manually adjusted the focus. Oh well. You get the idea.

Next post–the grand finale–our visits to Magliano and Capalbio

Bike, Sweat, and Drink a whole lot more…

I’m not sure why it is taking me so long to finish posting about our VBT bike trip. I can’t use a bad wifi connection as an excuse, nor can I blame the tediousness of blogging via ipad. It could just be those lazy, hazy days of summer have made me even lazier and hazier than usual.

This bike trip was far more than just peddling my bony butt through Italy. It was far, FAR more–it was a trip of self discovery. (Voyage of self discovery SOUNDS so much better, but alas–you don’t “voyage” on a bike. At least not intentionally. )

Here’s the big insight: I learned, much to my chagrin (an SAT word that I so rarely get to use) , that I am easy. I THOUGHT I might have moved on up to easy/moderate, but one very long trek up a very steep hill brought me to my senses. In fact, I got brought to my senses a whole lot faster than I got to the top of that damn hill (which in my mind, and probably my mind alone, was more of a mini mountain).

The true beauty of VBT however is that you are able to design the trip that YOU want to take. So, in keeping with my new philosophy of “if it’s not fun, I ain’t doing it”, whenever I encountered a steep hill I shifted — not gears, but from 2 wheels to 4. I was humming that Lionel Ritchie song “That’s why I’m easy, e-e-ZEEE like Sunday mo-oo-r-nING”, while waving to my sweating friends as we zipped on by them, en route to the pool.

So, the biking photos you will see are all of flat lands, yet still lovely in their own special way.

P1030564 — Yet another beautiful hilltop town

Here’s Angelo, on “granny” duty. Okay, so technically, I’m NOT a grandmother–I just ride like one. And yes, I am smiling, because of my recent self discovery, happy in the knowledge that I have nothing to prove and that the van will be there when I need it.

Yet another great feature of VBT trips was no matter what your skill level, there was always SOMEONE you could ride with. For me, on THIS trip it was my BBBB (that’s my “Best Biking Buddy, Beth” in text talk). Last trip it was sweet Victoria. Here we are, ready to toss down some wine before lunch, after biking all morning.

Beth’s daughter, Susan (the baby of the group) was a biking superstar, going the distance every day. She and Diane paired up and truly earned those serious biker outfits!

In addition to the biking, there are always special events. One day we visited an olive farm, where we had a tour, snorted extra virgin olive oil and then had a fantastic lunch, cooked by the owner. Best pasta EVER, fresh vegetables, beans–delicious!

The tour was called “Tuscany by the Sea”, so of course, there were more beaches to visit. The last beach had the “school locker” type changing rooms. THIS one had bushes. And driftwood. But the water was great–and the beach was not rocky.

I’m not positive what the sign meant, but I wasn’t going to mess with “waters not sured for unsafety service”! But hey, their English is far better than my Italian, or Spanish for that matter, so I’m not poking fun. I’m just reporting what I saw.

Our evening in Orbetello was great fun. First,a stop for what Franco insisted was the best gelato anywhere. And it was indeed quite amazing. The best part is you can get three different flavors at no additional charge So, of course I did. The next time you are in Orbetello, stop in at Le Logde and see for yourself!

Next, we experienced what the brochure described as a “romantic” cruise…see for yourself…are we not what you envision when you think of “romance”?

Finally, a whirl around the city then dinner at Tony’s on the waterfront, where we enjoyed great food and a beautiful sunset.

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