Rome Adventures (delayed entry)

We actually arrived in Rome on June 25th and got settled in at the Mecenate Palace Hotel next to the Basilica Santa Maria Maggiore. As mentioned before there was a minor earthquake that night.

Santa Maria Maggiore is the papal Basilica, a lot of big functions and ceremonies of the Vatican big wigs take place there, but the most remarkable thing of all is that Bernini's mortal remains are buried to the right of the baldacchino. On the back of the left nave is a beautiful monument to his memory.

Our friends, Ken, Brenda, David and Sam arrived the next morning from New Jersey and Pennsylvania and got settled in.
We then went on a tour of the Colosseum, forum and more. Unfortunately, Europe is having an extreme heat wave this week so that made things a little uncomfortable, but it was a great tour. The tour guide was very knowledgeable and had many stories to tell.

The next day we went on a tour of the Vatican. The day was even hotter and the tour was very fast (not in time, but in walking rate). We saw much, but missed much also and since it was so hot, many people were uncomfortable.

On the third day... sound like a prayer (creed). Actually, that's what I was doing during our visit to the Vatican. Praying I wouldn't pass out or have a heat stroke.  The heat was horrendous and the crowd much worse. I have labeled this tour my Roman Via Crucis. Sorry about the blasphemous comparison.

The fourth day we went down to Pompeii and had a tour of the ruins. Weather was better and the tour guide was great, that is until she asked Lilia how her father (me) was holding up. Returned to Rome the same day.
Next entry will be our trip to Venice.

Our Saturday Evening in Bergamo at Lac Iseo

Saturday June 22nd.
We can’t say enough about how nice our visit was with Chiara, her friend Rosita, Martina, her mom & dad, and her grand parents.
Chiara and her dad picked us up and we went to their home and met Martina and mom. We then got a tour of the family business. One of Chiara’s friends, Rosita, had arrived and we all headed to Lac Iseo for dinner. What beautiful scenery along the way.

The mountains were awesome.

We went to an Italian restaurant next to the lake and enjoyed, not only the meal, but the company of a very nice family. And as a special feature, we got to experience a spectacular sunset. A terrific evening.
Off to Rome next.
Delayed by me. This was before we came to Rome.

EARTHQUAKE IN ROME

There was an earthquake the night before last. I was up and felt the building shake. Thought we were going to have to leave. We are on the 5th floor. It was of 3.7 magnitude.

Bergamo photos

Just a bunch of photos that are on my phone from Bergamo. We will leave for Rome tomorrow and meet the Schechters on Monday. Tonight we are going out with Chiara, her mom & dad and sister Martina.

Bergamo Citta Alta

We have been exploring the Citta Alta extensively

and what beautiful place. We took a second funicular to even higher (I didn't think that was possible). We found good places to eat and had much entertainment while here. Weddings, a funeral, singers, accordian players, guitarists, etc.

 The church bells are glorious! The quaintness and Romanesque styles are amazing. The little stores have some very unique items along with foodstuffs.

It is raining out right now (it waited until after we did the laundry at the laundromat) so I have this opportunity to put more stuff in this blog. I will attempt to add pictures to this entry.

The TRAIN Ride to Bergamo

On Tuesday the 18th, it was a nice day, a good day, and a traveling day. Perfect for a train ride. We had tickets that had one change; in Milan. So we arrive at the Basel train station, early of course. Well, we went looking for the accessibility office and finally found it hidden in a back alley. The lady said I should have called the station an hour before the train was supposed to leave and ask for assistance. I told her that I was not aware of that and I did not know what number to call if I did. BTW - we were talking with her about an hour before the trains scheduled departure. Anyway, we met her at the track and waited for the train to Milan. Well, first they announced that it was delayed 10 minutes because of a problem in another country. Then after about another half hour announced that the train had been cancelled and we had to go to a different track for a train that would take us part way.

Got on that train and at the first stop, the train broke down, so we had to go to another train and change one more time to finally get to Milan.

Well, that last change car had no A/C and it was very hot outside, so we sweated (or glowed) for that ride. We had the two large suitcases, the scooter and two backpacks. Many people helped us with the luggage along the way, but there was one young lady who helped us most of all, Sarah. If not for her we would probably still be in Basel waiting for the train.
In Milan we needed to catch a train to Bergamo. Well, we caught one and it was during rush hour and it was MOBBED. Lilia and I stood all the way. Now, if you have ever seen the NYC Subway trains that have been covered in graffiti and were older than sin, these must have been the leftovers.
In my opinion, those trains were leftovers from the Mussolini era. And believe or not the cattle car we endured for over one hour is labeled first class. I wonder what economy class is. Maybe the roof.
Needless to say, we arrived in Bergamo and Chiara and her mom were there to greet us and then drove and came with us to the apartment. It is in the high city (Citta Alta) and not accessible by car, unless it’s a taxi. We went on the Funicular (cable car) and our AirBnB was about 200 feet away from the cable car exit. We all went up and met the person with the apartment key. It is on the third floor and the person who met us helped carry the luggage. What an awesomely beautiful apartment and location!

On to Bergamo

Tomorrow, Tuesday the 18th, we will train to Bergamo, Italy. From the guidebooks, it looks like a great place to visit. We will stay at an AirBnB in the High City. The young lady who we hosted a couple years ago, has offered, along with her mother, to pick us up at the train station and take us to the place we are staying. that is so gracious and unexpected of them.
We have an apartment there and are looking forward to our stay and new experiences and explorations.

Basel Experiences

Hello there! We have neglected our blog for over a week now. In our defense all I can say is "lousy WiFi on the boat".
If I had to describe the river cruise in a few words, it would be eat, drink, sleep, repeat, but have to add the wonderful sights along the Rhine and many educational tours of the ancient cities we visited. What a learning experience!
Our dinner companions during the cruise were Tom and Norma. Lovely couple from Pasadena. They were on their way home after spending 3 months in Switzerland. She is a retired accountant and administrator of nursing homes. He is a distinguished professor of seismology at Caltech, but was lecturing at Zurich university. Fascinating fact about earthquakes and tsunamis.
Right now we are enjoying our 3rd full day in Basel. Going from cafe to cafe, slowly strolling medieval streets and alleys.

Almost forgot! The picture depicts the sculpture of a market table full of produce. It was commissioned by Zandoz labs in the mi 80s. In 1986 there was a tremendous accident at Zandoz plant, the burning of blue dye. The runoff from that disaster went to the Rhine, killing all life in it.
The artist refused to have her name associated with the company and gave it to the museum, together with a new empty table with a poem about life and death.
Very touching 😣

To be continued...

A lock - close up and personal

Been through a couple locks so far. Those are an interesting experience.

Got a new captain today. Also had a tour of Strasbourg & Alsace, France.

The Good with the Not so Good

Well, you can see in the photo, some days it rains so you can appreciate those sunny days even more.
This afternoon is supposed to be sunny in Strasbourg where we will tie up. We will soon go through the biggest lock on the Rhine.

Once in Strasbourg, we will take a walking tour.

Sun is trying to peek out already. More later. Jerry

Some Vinyards

They have a special machine to harvest the grapes on the slope. It goes up and down the slope, rather than across.

Today, in Mainz, we went to the Gutenberg Museum. He was the one who started mass printing. Since he couldn’t print in colors, the manuscripts were printed and the colors added by hand. He also started with parchment paper, but soon changed to paper he got from Italy, as it was less expensive and worked better.

Just Cruising

 Such a beautiful cruise along the Rhine River. Lilia is just relaxing and enjoying life. And the scenery as it goes by is spectacular.

 This is the first one from the iPad and it seems to be a lot easier, so maybe I’ll be able to get more of these out there. Seems like sometimes it will be out of order, but that will be all right as long as it is there.  This holiday’s been an adventure so far and I believe it will continue to do so.

I received an email from Chiara saying that she and her mother would like to pick us up at the train station when we get to Bergamo. That is fantastic. Here’s another castle.

 Hope you can see it. I couldn't zoom in so I’ll have to practice more. I would highly recommend the Rhine river cruise anyone who would like to see all sorts of life in Germany, the Netherlands, France, and in Switzerland. It doesn’t have to be on the boat that we went on, it could be be any one of the many cruises that go up and down the river. 

Windmills in the Open Air Museum

Went on a nice tour on Sunday. It is an Open Air Museum. They have many farms and windmills. A great day!

Starting the river cruise

Eau de Cologne

Hello there! Today is the 10th of June. Our third day of our Rhine adventure. We arrive in Cologne sometime in the early hours of the morning. After a quick breakfast we went for a walking tour while the ship continued to the next stop.
The tour took us to the historic center. Fascinating place. It deserves at least one week but alas, we had only two hours. Our guide was so good! One interesting story: An Italian perfume maker, Mr. Farina, created in 1701 the first perfume using alcohol and named it "eau de cologne" in honor of the city.
His product became such a success that all the big wigs of the times were practically bathing in it in order to avoid the ordeal of the yearly bath.
The only place we could visit for only a few minutes was the iconic cathedral, just before mass started.
One more thing: according to legend, the gifts/relics of the three kings are here. We couldn't find them. 😁

Azotando la chancla en Haarlem. What a beautiful place. 😁😁

Here is monsieur Thomas relaxing  on board of beautiful MS Douce France after all the excitement to get to the ship.
Our Uber driver got stuck in traffic before reaching our hotel.
When we finally found our boat and were sorting our luggage, a poor old man fell from his bike and hit his head pretty hard, he was bleeding!
We tried to help him and a young guy was calling an ambulance, but the old man refused any medical attention. Picked up his bike and left.
Hope he is ok. He looked strong.

This was our first morning on British soil. These children delighted the tourists with their young, beautiful voices.

Some things Jerry didn't publish because he is too nice and doesn't like gossip.
On or about Wednesday around midnight the captain made a public announcement regarding the noises near the Queens Room, that is the "dance and drink all night venue". Nothing serious, just a little case of domestic violence. 😂😂😂
Family court here I come!
The following morning another announcement came around 10 am. That unfortunately was serious. A passenger had to be evacuated due to a medical emergency. All passengers had to go inside and for the crew it was all hands on deck.
One of the waiters told me it is quite common given the demographic of most passengers, if the members of the greatest generation are pushing 100 the rest of us are not far behind.
Well, that's it for now. I have to go to the closest vending machine and grab some grub. No more cruise feeding frenzy.
TTYL 💖💖💖

Some photos

View from our room.

Ready to party!

Nice weather

We do

Signing -again

The Greatest Generation

About 16 retired and veteran military personnel are being sponsored by Cunard and “The Greatest Generation” foundation to be at the ceremonies of the 75th anniversary of D-Day on June 6th. These veterans had a public seminar everyday at 10 am, which Lilia and I attended. They had fascinating ‘war stories’ to tell and there were many tears in the audience at each seminar. They are from all the services, including the Coast Guard. They were from Pearl Harbor all the way to the parachutists after D-Day. All in their 90s, of course. One was 99. They were in different stages of health. We were so lucky to have been on this voyage and we got to meet many of them during the day and evening. I remember one of the gentlemen I chatted with was on an LST going to Normandy. He went to the beach on an LCVP. You know, like the boats with the ramp that actually let them off near the beach. We talked about what it was like being on an LST and how it rocked and rolled while at sea. He said that since he was assigned to the LCVP he had to only stand watches and not swab the deck. Another sad story was from another crew of an LCVP. His job was to drop the ramp when they approached the beach. He heard the bullets hitting the ramp and when the coxswain said drop the ramp, he didn’t hear him. Then the command “drop the ramp” was yelled again, he knew those bullets would come into the boat and kill people, so he didn’t. Well, the third time the command was given, it included a few expletives and he dropped the ramp. Immediately three men were hit and as the rest attempted to go down the ramp, most were gunned down. Of all the men who went down the ramp, only three made it. The coxswain needed to raise the ramp to depart the beach, but there were bodies on the ramp, so this man had to drag them back into the boat. Such sad stories.  Asked about videos of each seminar, but they were not available.

Aboard the Queen Mary 2 May 25th - 31st

I have decided to do two summaries. The first will be the QM2 experience and the second will be about the "Greatest Generation" experience.
On the 25th the seas and winds were very high. This made it a bit rough, but the QM2 handled it well. We were experiencing the 'high seas' of the North Atlantic.
After a good breakfast, we went out for a brisk walk (ride for me, this time). It was a bit invigorating. At the evening meal, we invited all the folks at the table to our renewal of vows that was scheduled for the next day. We were elated that they all said they would attend. Then off to the theater for another show. After the show we took another tour of the ship, then retired.
On the 26th the seas had calmed and it was another beauiful day. Went for a stroll around the deck, then off to afternoon formal tea. We then went to the board room and the Captain officiated our renwal of vows. All the folks from our table were there. It was beautiful. Had champagne and cake. That evening Lilia and I went to a specialty restaurant (Steakhouse on the Verandah) for a quiet dinner. They brought us a nice cheesecake of congratulations.
For the rest of the cruise, we enjoyed our newfound friends, and followed pretty much the same routine. We also went to the planaterium (largest on any cruise ship). Since it was not 'sitting around the deck pool' weather, we went to the 12th level and hung out around the glass enclosed pool. Later to the theater for other shows.
P.S. Hope I can get photos loaded.