New attempt for Oct 5 2012

Our Italy Trip: Southern Sicily Part 1

A church in Syracuse.  It is special because it is ancient.  It is a converted Greek Temple!  The original columns are integrated in the church walls.

Greek columns in a church wall

Another special site in Syracuse is the Greek theatre.  Extra special because of the theatre kitties, so friendly much like our Siamese home in Maui. 

Friendly Siamese at the Greek Theatre

A view of the Greek theatre in Syracuse.  An impressive sight.

The Greek Theatre

A well at the theatre, fed by an Greek viaduct, still intact after more than 2000 years!


The "ear" cave.  Because of it's special shape you can hear a whisper inside all the way outside the cave.

The "ear" cave

Our Italy Trip: Southern Italy part 2

Italian scene in the village of Noto.  Older man talking at a fountain with a beautiful church in the background.

Favorite passtime of older man?

Mainstreet, Noto in the in evening.

Gerrit in Noto at night

 Another Italian wedding in a beautiful church, this time in Modica

Italian Wedding Picture

 Our van parked under an arch leading to the main square in Ragusa

Our Van in Ragusa

 A view of Ragusa.

Ragusa

Our Italy Trip: Napels, Ferry to Sicily and Toarmina

Our next stop is Napels. Literally a complete stop.  Traffic is not moving most of the time.  Everyone knows Italian drivers are crazy AND the Napoli drivers are worse.  Seems like there is only one rule in traffic: If you have an inch of space YOU TAKE IT! No one there ever heard of the meaning of red traffic lights or lanes.  Lots of fun if you have 'nerves of steel' and do not care too much about having a perfect, dentless car. All Myia could do was laugh at the ridiculousness of it all.  And somehow it all seems to work for them!

Just a street in old Napels

In Napels there are also lots of weddings with beautiful brides in beautiful churches, sometimes even handsome grooms.  And often beautifully dressed bridesmaids.

At a Napels wedding

On the bay of Naples  we look back at the lights of the city of Naples at the bottom of Vesuvius.  Looks like the lava it once brought.

Looking back at Naples from across the bay

Arriving in Sicily via the ferry our first real stop is the town of Toarmina, a cute, very touristic mountain village.  Typically European, or is it Italian nightlife - families strolling allong squares and little streets in the evenings.  Busy and very nice with great views over the coastline.

Toarmina by night

Our Italy Trip: Heracleum

Heracleum and Pompei were hit by an eruption of Vesuvius around 2000 years ago.
Pompei is a very famous town, it is way bigger than Heracleum.
However, Pompei was basically distroyed, only fundations are left.  While Heracleum is still mostly intact.
Here are some pictures Myia has taken of this remarkable town:

 Even the more than 2000 year old wall decorations are intact in some places



A bench in one of the houses, look at the legs!



Courtyard with fountain

Overview of the excavations, still in progress.

Our Italy Trip: Luca and Pisa

A nice Italian Fishing village with the boats sitting on the boatramp in the middle of town.

This is Luca, very beautiful historic town, close to Pisa. Does not have a leaning tower but is nicer and has a great old center with beautiful buildings.

Of course we have to include the tower of Pisa, interesting to learn the history. It already started sinking while contructing. During renovations they decided not to put it up straight, but keep it at an angle, it was already a tourist attraction.

There is also a beautiful church on the same square in Pisa.

One of the gorgeous sunsets we saw in Italy, more to follow:

Our Italy Trip: The Black Forest and the Alpes

First 'destination' of
our trip:  The Black Forest.
       A German area with rolling hills,
       forests and cute towns,
       like the picture on the right.













A waterfall in the Alpes, coming for the top of the mountain, falling all the way down.

Some pictures of the "Jungfrau" Aerea, beautiful mountains and valleys as far as you can see.
We visited a little village there, Gimmelwald, not very known, only reachable by foot or cable lift.

Testpost

Planning European summer trip

Today, May 16 we started planning our European trip for this summer

Wednesday, October 14, 2009 Leaving California

Myia wakes at 1:30 am in anticipation of the 3:30 wake up call and starts to get ready. Our dear friend, Eric takes up to the airport shuttle and waits with us til it comes at 4am. We get to SFO before 6am and begin the 2 day or 20 hour journey to Amsterdam. It has been a long and complicated exit and now we are on our way. We get to SFO before 6am and begin the 2 day or 20 hour journey to Amsterdam. It has been a long and complicated exit and now we are on our way and glad of it. The time has come to leave. An easy trip follows and we arrive excited and refreshed to sunny warm beautiful weather! No pictures taken today. This is the end of our travels thru the Western United Sates. Keep your eyes open for more adventures of our stay in Europe and Maui on this blog.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009 We complete the sale of our van

The people who are buying the Van are wonderful and everything goes perfectly. And we have the money in our account so we can leave tomorrow with no worries. We take our hosts out to dinner at the favorite organic Chinese restaurant. They have been the best and growing friends. Truly what would we have done without the caring home base they provided? They are the best in our book! The picutres today show the abundance produce that California gardens produce.

Monday, October 12, 2009 Still packing and cleaning the van!

We start the day early with packing and getting EVERYTHING out of the van for delivery. There is so much more than we thought. Amazing how that is. And we thought we had plenty of room in the suitcases but, again surprisingly, it seems we do not. We have to leave all the extra, bulky and heavy things here. Sorry no presents! And there is a storm coming in! Our friend here, Caterina, warns of fog and possible problems with the airport departure. So we pray. That the people coming from Oregon to buy our van will be able to make it and that we can fly out! When I ask God he tells me that he has taken care of us very well so far and that everything will go well. So I guess I will buy that! We end the day, free of predicted rain, with a wonderful organic roasted chicken dinner prepared by our lovely and gracious host, Caterina. And celebrate the bounty of the Autumn California Harvest and our anniversary with the special bottle of homemade wine made by Myia’s niece, Kristin’s farm friend, Ken, from near Eureka. It had aged very well and was super delic!! And having a wonderful dinner with our friends and experimenting with our new camera and its self timer! But we did get all the family in one shot!

Sunday, October 11, 2009 Saying goodbye to Julie and Patrick

We get up early to attend Unity of Marin, where we have been before and we take our friends, Julie and Patrick there. A wonderful church and the people are so very genuinely friendly. It is located in an beautiful old Spanish style building that used to be part of an army facility, we find out. Our friends like it too. And with the service is a special guest – a mountain lion! Right on stage, to illustrate the fearlessness of Daniel in the lion’s den. Sure made some people scared!

Someone comes to buy our bike rack. And now it is time to return all the wonderful stuff our friends lent us for our journey. Thank you to all our friends who have made this trip so easy, fun and a joy for us. We say sad goodbye to our dear friends, Julie and Patrick. (Whom we find out are old dear friends with our friends, Tara, on Maui!) They have been such great gracious hosts to us and we have had the pleasure of calling their house our second home We were happy to participate in and witness the amazing progress they have made on their goals since the beginning of the summer. We look forward to hearing more good news in the future!

We arrive at our other “home” with Caterina and Eric for the night. After hello’s we stop over for a visit and movie at Myia’s old, friend, Suzanne’s,

Friday, October 9/10, 2009 Harbin Hot Springs, visit with Unmani and Dharma and John Lennon’s Birthday

Friday: Getting up early after a wonderful very dark and very quiet night FULL of magical stars, we arrive at Harbin early and attend a most amazing yoga class – perfect for us and what we need. We find our friends, Unmani and Dharma, at breakfast and then spend the day visiting, hot pools and wet saunas. A little lying in the sun to tan Gerrit’s face. He shaved!! He has to get a new passport and Driver’s License in Holland and he doesn’t want to look like a terrorist! It is John Lennon’s Birthday! Celebrated by movies about his life. So moving. He was such caring and committed man. So sad to loose him! Saturday: We awake early after another very dark and very quiet sleep at Harbin. We intend to go the fantastic yoga class in the amazing temple building, but decide the 4 hours yesterday was enough and head up to breakfast at the restaurant.

We decide to wake up our friends, Unmani and Dharma before we leave for San Rafael. They let us wake them up and we have fun in bed pretending to be John Lennon and Yoko Ono having a BED IN for peace!

Then for more breakfast for them at the restaurant. And who do we see? Our friend, Vision, from Maui whom we saw in Laytonville at Shanti and Bob’s! Nice connections. As they say, Harbin is where you see everyone!

We arrive In San Rafael in late afternoon and begin a closing visit with our dear friends and hosts, Julie and Patrick. We again do the John Lennon Thing and take Bed In photos again to remember these dear friends.

Thursday, October 8, 2009 Napa Valley

After the good day yesterday, in the knowledge that we are now sure of our car sale we can head up toward Harbin Hot Springs via Napa Valley and a much deserved rest and relaxation. We visit Berringer and Mumm Wineries on the way.

Tuesday, Wednesday October 6 and 7, 2009 Cleaning car day, Post Office Selling Van!

Tuesday: Getting ready for our Van to go to its new home. And sending packages of “too much to carry” home to Maui. Easy day.
Wednesday: Day of administration and taking care of business. And the new owners wire us most of the money. Yea!! And a big day as Gerrit cuts his beard! In preparation for new passport and driver’s license photos.

Monday, October 5, 2009 Our wedding anniversary

We arise early and head out for a great morning bike ride on the bay! We start from under the Golden Gate Bridge at Land’s End and ride almost to the Fisherman’s Warf. Such a great coastline and a great city which has kept so much of its natural beauty for all of us to enjoy. We look for a new camera in several places (our old camera broke, that's why there is no pictures today) and then up to San Rafael for a visit with our friends there. And then up to Santa Rosa, shopping and driving.We sleep in our friends, Caterina and Eric’s house we have come to call home in California. We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends. Thank you all.

Sunday, October 4, 2009 Third and last day of Hardly Strictly Bluegrass

Morning shower at our sweet friend, Eleesa’s. Then to Unity Church.

Then to the Festival to see the Cheiftans of Irish Music fame. They were there with Irish dancers and Mexican musicians and dancers too, as well as Scottish bagpipes and drums.

Then in the evening we saw one of the last acts to perform and the best one we had seen, perhaps ever – Little Feat. An amazing old, long standing, rock band who did what they said they would play the good old fashioned rock and roll. And with everybody in a great mood after 3 days of great music, fun and stoned, what do you think?!!

Saturday, October 3, 2009 Another day of Hardly Strictly Bluegrass at Golden Gate Park

We awake to people walking behind our van where we slept. It is “Breast Cancer Awareness Walk”! And lots of people mostly women wearing all kids of pink. We move for breakfast at the beach. Spend the morning blogging at Peet’s coffee shop.

Then take in Nick Lowe, Richie Havens, Rickie Scaggs, a great new group we did not know called World Party