MALE POSTSCRIPT:

Must be seen to be believed - the hike up was fun too.

Well - we returned Thursday.

Have you read the blog?  I don't blame you.  Pamela pretty well summed things up en route, and I pitched in with the pithy photo captions.  Here's my Classic Comic summary of our travels:

* Rhine River Cruise on Viking: si!

* Aegean Cruise on Odessey: no!

* Amsterdam: Si!

* Germany: Ditto.

* Switzerland: $i. (Fortunately, only 1 day)

* Prague: mas-o-menos. (See extended version)

* Athens: Si!

* Delphi: SI!

* Greek Isles: Si.

* Turkish Coast: mas-o-menos

* Istanbul: Not really

* Bologna: Bella!

* Florence: I thought Disneyland was in France

* Siena: Excuse me, excuse me (crowded)

* Montepulciano/Tuscany: Heaven on Earth

* Lucca:  Mark Knopfler's there next July 22. C u then.

* Pisa: Awesome!

* Schipol Airport (AMS): The Best overnight airport.

* Seattle: Beautiful in autumn this year.

* S.F Giants: unreal: http://www.csnbayarea.com/giants/giants-world-series-victory-coverage

If you must know: 

It was L-O-N-G.  Turns out we're too old for this kind of trip, and bit off more then we could chew.  Quite a few late mornings in bed, and blown-off guided tours (not necessarily a bad idea).  Interesting thing about travel is, you have all these fantasies about going here-and-there, and seeing this-and-that, but you forget that you bring yourself along for the ride (to paraphrase Alain de Botton - The Art of Travel).  You bring along your old feet and knees, your dislike of crowds, your misanthropy.  A trip like this can really make you despise tourists.  Heh heh. 

Firenze Boutique

But then Revisionist History kicks in, we look at the photos and forget the daily  miseries, and the myths and lies start to prevail - it's just what happens.  If you asked me if I'd do it again: nunca.  But, there's plenty that I'd recommend YOU do.  Heh.   

More random notes:

* I thought the first boat would be "bourgeois" and boring, and the second boat "intellectual" and stimulating.  Wrong on both counts.  [NOTE: travel is subjective!]  The Viking cruise up the Rhine was cozy, relaxing, and professional, staff could not be better, and we saw a lot of beautiful towns in​ Germany without repacking suitcases once.  Six nights was perfect, and I'd get on another Viking boat anytime.

* The Aegean Odessey WAS boring - poor guides (mostly), not a great itinerary, and about 6 days too long (12 nights).  AND they lacked good coffee (in Europe? say what??), charged for everything extra (how IS that $3 Pepsi?), and lacked WiFi.  ("We're out to sea, you know."​) ('However, you may want to purchase it for $6/hr, at dial-up speeds you haven't seen since the '80s.)  Since los Gigantes were in the middle of their relentless march to the World Series, this was Not Acceptable.  Next time, just ​take the Blue Seas Ferries that are ubiquitous around the Aegean.

* Just as peeps said 'Rome stinks' before I ever ​saw it, I heard 'Athens stinks' too - polluted, can't walk anywhere, dangerous, blah blah.​  Wrong on both cities.  We were only there 3 days, but to ​simply see the Acropolis up close is worth going all that way.  The day-trip bus to Delphi was a bonus (Pamela will attest), stayed in a cozy mountainside  B&B for all of $40, and walked thru mostly empty ruins.  Greeks are mellow, and seem like our Mexican amigos.  Viva Grecia!

* Well, our taxi driver in Athens said, "Everybody hates the Turks, all they care about is your pesos"- but he would say that - he's Greek.  The Turks are good peeps, but mostly we​ did no​t have good experiences in Turkey.  The modern coastline towns are ugly, and Istanbul is overrun with hordes of tourists, even in mid-October.  There were so many touts it made the beach in Vallarta seem quiet.  We avoided the Blue Mosque and Haj Sofia because of that, and stuck to out-of-the-way sights.  The bazaars - forget it.  Crummy restaurants too. The other small mosque (I forget) and Archaeological Museum were awesome, and so were the Cisterns.  But you've seen those photos. ​
 

​[​Remember,​ your mileage may vary!​]​

"I'm a Liar"

* I skipped ahead.  You may recall, we flew to Prague for a week after got off Viking boat.  Mixed reviews - Pamela wanted to leave early but we couldn't manage to get to Budapest - once we got used to our filthy hippie hovel I dug Prague.  As previously noted - tourist hordes - but a seriously beautiful city with so much to see.  I used to think Paris was the ​best​ city to walk around - now I'm not so sure.

​

* Florence - at some point on a voyage like this you just go, fuck it.  Too crowded, expensive, crummy museum interpretations, ​and really, kinda dirty.  Fleecing the hordes.  Maybe Pamela can remember something good to say about Firenze.

Suicidal Florence Tourists

* After Istanbul ​we flew to Bologna for the final 2.5 weeks of the trip in Italy. Bella Italia!  ​Bologna is a great city to walk around, old universities, monasteries, towers and arcades - not touristy at all.  Felt a bit like NYC - no b.s.  Even I noticed that the food was pretty good.​

Gratuitous Bicycles (Lucca) - and below (Pisa)

​

*​  The best part of our journeys were in Italy, moving on thru Montepulciano, Pienza, Lucca, and Pisa.  The photos pretty much tell it all.  Even driving was a breeze (pay for the extra rental car insurance - it saved me $800 bucks on a scratched bumper).  Roads perfect, and signage made it easy for an old Gringo.  As noted before, Tuscany is Napa Valley times 10 or maybe 100.  So bonita! 

* Have to say about the last two nights in Pisa (because that's where the airport is) - everyone says, 'go there for an afternoon and see the tower, that's enough.'  Uh, not so fast, Rick Steves.  I thought I was all domo-ed and tower-ed out, but Pisa has to be seen to be believed.  The "Field of Saints" including the Tower, Duomo, Baptistry, and Camposanto cemetery  is magnificent - photos don't approach its' beauty - and the Tower is huge, pristine white marble, and, well, LEANING.

More pix below.

​ (Sorry about the margins and captions - sometimes this blogging is for the birds.) 

Icarus

Baptistry

Goofy Pals in Pisa

Thanks for watching.  Adios!

Stop me if you've heard this before:

Bella Lucca

[21st Female Post]  Arrgh! Our time is nearly up, and we're now in my favorite part. In retrospect I'd have booked more time in Italy and Greece, less in Prague and Turkey—"but life is for learning." We have again lucked out in our last apartment, in Lucca, with another has-to-be-gay landlord. He greeted us with fresh flowers, a bottle of wine, little sandwiches, and some eclairs. And proceeded to thoroughly confuse us with detailed explanations of how this high-tech apt. works: it's way too smart for us, and the complexity of their recycling is a challenge even for moi, Queen of Recycling.

Hi-tech Italian Fridge

Former Moat

Lucca is spotlessly clean, with sweeping machines patrolling the streets, daily garbage pickup, and close to the least graffiti I've seen in Europe. Cigarette butts are visible until the sweepers arrive because, once again, everyone smokes. (Weird.) The streets—even in this medieval center—are well paved and reasonably spacious, as no cars (other than those of inner-wall residents) are allowed. Bicyclists weave around pedestrians, but there are none of the obnoxious motorcycles that made Florence hazardous and noisy.

Town perimeter

The old town is completely surrounded by high city walls, with a wide promenade on top for bicycling and strolling and picnicking. From all I'd read I had decided this was going to be my ideal future home, and nothing I've seen has changed my mind. It's a perfect size, and its lack of an airport (though Pisa's is less than an hour away by train) reputedly protects it from the worst tourism. Everything seems less expensive here than in Florence and Siena, too. One big drawback is the lack of kitties, as has been true of other Italians cities we've visited on this trip. I like to think they all have loving homes and are kept indoors as pampered favorites. We manage to make do with dogs, which everyone seems to be walking on harnesses (they pick up their poop, too!).

Wealthy Italian Doggie

One of the big draws for me in Lucca was a private medieval tower topped by trees--I just had to climb it. The Guinigi Tower belonged to a much-hated family who took advantage of the Black Death to scoop up property and power in Lucca--but they did leave behind a familial fortress tower with trees on top. Many families with towers grew veggies on their roofs, so not so surprising, but these trees have persevered in raised beds with shallow root systems. It was wonderful to be up there among the greenery.

Guinigi Tower

From Guinigi Tower

Pickpocket on Guinigi Tower

Shade: better than soft-focus

Enthusiastically waiting for her Driver

Another must-do in Lucca is walking or bicycling around the ramparts of the old city walls. Alas, we put it off until a Sunday afternoon, when the whole town and all its dogs and prams seemed to be up there. Our second mistake was to rent a tandem bike with excruciating Tour de France-type hard, skinny seats: ouch! Navigating was a bear in that traffic, and our hour ended in a walk after I took a shot to the coccyx over a bump, which I've since been treating with Vicodin. Great idea, to be tried again another year...

Puccini, having one of his 60-80 cigarettes/day

We took a typically helpful 2-hour tour of the city that oriented us well and made me more determined than ever to come back in a long-term rental. Maybe next summer, when an annual festival will feature Mark Knopfler??? It was so hard to leave, but we had to go on to Pisa, our last stop in Italy. Only half an hour by slow train...

... or small car

Heading for Pisa/AMS - end of the trail.

Gigantes done in S.F. - heading for K.C.  Vamos Chicos!

Catch-up on Tuscany photos - stop viewing if you're sick of looking at other peeps' vacation fotos -they all look the same. ;o)

Tuscany - Napa X 10

Obligatory Wine Casks

Gratuitous Apt. Shot (not my idea)

Last day in Lucca - best place yet in Italy (which is saying something) - more on that coming from the Queen Bee, no doubt.

Piensa Doorway

Ceramic Mailbox

Another Piensa Doorway - find the kittie!

 p.s.  Just because I can:

Seventh-inning Stretch - God Bless the Freak - I mean America.

In Lucca, Italy - bonita!  Mini-post:

Pamela's favorite car (Citroen)

Montepulciano from afar

Montepulciano Palazzo

Piazza at night

[20th Female Posting]  In Montepulciano, our second of three nights in a very cute apartment literally steps from the main piazza containing the cathedral, the city hall, and many old palazzos now rededicated as wine-tasting venues. I've just finished preparing one of my standard in-apartment meals: a salad of the world's best arugula and tomatoes plus a pasta of some kind with a sauce of some kind. Waiting for Paul to come home from the piazza, which we have to go to in order to pick up wifi.

Montepulciano Catedral, just like Mexico!

He will no doubt be out there tonight at midnight, watching the first World Series game all alone in the cold, sitting on marble steps.

Montepulciano - apt. to the right

Our apartment here is huge, darling, and again way cheap at 60 euros a night. Very, very old and oddly laid out but well stocked by our landlord, Stefano Terrosi, who must be gay to be so considerate. He drove us around town yesterday to show us where the grocery stores are, as we're in the historic center that has little of pedestrian value. Tourists are a blessing to people here trying to stretch their income. God knows what gets reported to the tax officials...

So today was a highlight of our entire trip. So good to be out in the country, and as everyone knows the Tuscan countryside is just one picture postcard after another. We drove through Pienza, a World Heritage Site that we'll revisit tomorrow, to Montalcino, where we wish we had set up base camp. These hill towns are a great workout for the legs, but thank God that lessens the number of us gawkers. And today, in late October, with overcast skies and temps veering from a bit chilly to a bit warm, is late season for tourists. We had the roads and towns mainly to ourselves. Driving has been a breeze—at least for moi, who's not driving! The views are just staggering, even though harvest is in and fields are empty and brown or golden, in the main. The grapevines are yellowing, but there's not much more fall color; still, Montalcino had wonderful urban gardens with colorful plants and plazas cared for by various citizens who petitioned (with photos of them tending their section) for donations of money or plants.

Sant' Antimo Monastery

Interior

Garden

Then we went on to one of my must-sees, a 13th-century working abbey that has Gregorian chants at all services, five times a day. Alas, we misjudged our timing and got there too late, but sitting in the empty pews and listening to a recorded Latin Mass with Gregorian responses was an incredibly powerful experience, whether spiritual or simply aesthetic. Almost made me want to be a monk. Maybe in another lifetime...

John the Baptist

Time to Go

Our exit from Florence to its airport, where we had to pick up our rental car, was made easy by a great cabbie who took us there for less than it would have cost to make three vehicle changes, as we had originally planned. Made up for the several times we've been "taken" by cabbies elsewhere... We had a nice farewell walk along the river in our 'hood on our last morning, and parted with kisses from our landlady. Paul now says he didn't like Florence; I did, but we both preferred Bologna. I've still got my money on Lucca, coming up, for the Italian city I most want to live in (at least for a couple of months).

Thank God our friends Lynne and Jim are holding the fort back home and tending to the cats, making all this possible for us. Our friend Josef will take over this week. Once again I have to say how lucky we feel to be doing this, and how I wish everyone could.

P. S. Italian bread sucks: made only to mop up plates with. But I don't mind those croissants filled with custard that they purvey! My pants feel rather tight; must be these Italian washing machines.

P. P. S. I totally forgot our day in Siena, which was pleasant though mobbed with turistas on a Sunday. We took the wrong bus to the train station, however, which cost us another 3 or 4 hours in the outskirts and delayed our arrival home until 10:15 pm, when we had to pack up for our departure south via rental car. Paul took all the photos of Siena, so I'll let him fill you in visually.

Siena Piazza

Anonymous Siennese Church

Siena Gate, Bored Tourist

[Male p.s.  Game 1 - Giants 7, Royals 1:]

Bye bye!