The Silver Sightseer

 I never thought of myself as a hick but seeing so many things that the "world" knows about but I didn't baffles me.  The plane to Madrid was huge.  Steve and I sat in the last row so it took a while to get to our seats but when we landed there was a back door that passengers could leave out of.  Wow, a front and back door.  That's pretty smart.  A crisis almost occurred at baggage area.  Our tour directors luggage was not coming off the conveyor belt.  I don't know how long we watched the same bags go round and round.  I could tell Bennie was getting worried.  She made a couple of trips to the airlines office about it.  There was one suitcase that looked like hers but didn't have the pink sunglasses on it or the sticker, but as it turns out it was hers and those markings just fell off I guess.  I am sure Bennie was relieved.  Remember how I told you the ground floor is numbered zero.  Well, at this hotel, there is al...

 Tomorrow we fly to Madrid, Spain, but here are some of the highlights (good & bad) from Rome, Italy. Let's start off with the bad, well almost bad.  Two members of our group Ed and Pam took the subway (metro) on our day off.  Ed felt something and looked down and his wallet was halfway out of his front pocket. (That's how good these pickpockets were), he then looked at Pam and her purse was almost entirely unzipped.  Two guys working in tandem.  Once caught, they ran.  Man, that could have been bad! Now the good or just highlights.  In London and Paris it was filled with electric bikes.  In Rome, I saw motorcycles everywhere.  I think I already mentioned that elevators start on 0 with the ground floor.  That's hard to get used to.  We went to the Coliseum. Think Russell Crowe in Gladiator.  We saw where the free men fought for money and the slave men fought for freedom.  The loser for whatever reason, maybe he lost hi...

 Today is our day off in Italy.  Many of the tour group are going to see the Vatican or visit churches.  But Steve and I prefer a more low key off day.  We walked hand in hand around the neighborhood visiting different shops.  We greeted everyone with a "Bonjourno!".  The little neighbborhood is filled with mothers with strollers, women doing their shopping, men and women young and old walking their dogs.  It wasn't crowded like tourist areas, I felt at home just walking around enjoying the beautiful day in Italy.  We found a little cafe for lunch and had Cacio e pepe.  It's basically noodles, cheese and pepper.  Bennie said it's a must because it originated here in this part of Italy.  Then at the bakery we had Cannolis.  I noticed in London, France and now Italy that no one wears a T-shirt. I guess I was thinking about it because I mostly brought all T-shirts to wear.  I will admit a lot of people were wearing coats beca...

 We have arrived in Italy! First thing that happened at the airport is one of the women in our tour group had her phone stolen.  It was a very bad way to start in this city.  It is now 8:48 pm and she hasn't been out of her room all night.  It must be such a devasting feeling.   On to better news.  Bennie took us for Gelato, which I learned is Ice Cream in the U.S.  They don't have the word "ice cream" here.  Boy was it delicious.  Steve said the Pistachio is out of this world.  I think because the Pistachios are native to this part of Italy.  I had one that tasted like Butter Pecan and then another scoop was milk chocolate in a sugar cone topped with homemade whipped cream.  My oh, my are there some good tasting food around here. Our hotel makes me feel like I am Maria in West Side Story.  The motel is set in a neighborhood not a commercial area.  The large window opens and I feel like I could sing "I feel prett...

  Let's get the bad stuff over first.  I know, how can anything bad happen in Paris.  Let's start with the room.  Apparently they regulate temperate with summer and winter and the heat and cool comes on automatically.  We are still on winter time so the room was unbearably hot.  All the people in the tour group had hot rooms, some brought fans but said it didn't help.  We opened windows which made it bearable to sleep in.  Thankfully, we didn't spend a lot of time in the room.  The refrigerator didn't work, however, some people in the group said they had no refrigerator at all.  Just a hole where the refrigerator was supposed to be.  However, if that's the worst that can happen on the trip, I will take it.   I am extremely sore all over from all the walking, so the off day is my paradise.  Guess I should have gotten more in shape for this trip. Now let's get to the good stuff.  On the way over, Benny, our tour di...

 While on tour we were shown skyscrapers. We drove by the Globe theatre where Shakespeare wrote and acted with his group. Our tour guy told us more history about wars, kings, monarchs and anything we never thought we would want to know about England. We saw London Bridge and The Millennium Bridge which was beside the building where Daniel Radcliffe went to school.  Bennie our tour director said there is no violent crime in the US only pickpockets so beware, they are professionals.  However, someone from the group said although there are no shootings, there are stabbings.  I did find out that 95% London police do NOT carry guns.  That alone might make me think London might be safer than the US.   We passed by the House of Economics where Mick Jagger went to school, but of course he went in a different profession.  At St James Park the concrete is red due to their procession so it will look nice.  The house the Duke of Buckingham lived in was c...

 It is very disconcerting to be flying at 8:00pm then land 6 hrs later at around 7 in the morning.  With no sleep to be had I felt like a zombie.  I was playing catchup with sleep all day.  I did though enjoy the free movies and TV shows on the flight and the dinner and breakfast they provided. The airline also provided each of us with a pillow and blanket to use.  That came in handy.  Once we arrived and had adequate sleep, we did venture out by ourselves to find dinner and found a cute little diner called the Shepherdess Cafe where the locals go.   We did begin to understand the difference in language as we talked to different people.  Aside from accents, the bathroom is normally termed toilet or the loo.  But all the signs say toilet.  And aside from free toilets here in there most of them you have to pay to go when you are out and about.  The elevators are called lifts.  We ended up using a lot of lifts when we went to...

 To an onlooker or even one inside, it seems like the universe may be conspiring against us going on this trip.  It almost was the trip that never was. Two days before leaving Steve and I were at a restaurant and the floors were wet from all the water on customers' shoes and down I fell landing straight on my right knee.  Pain shot through me but embarrassment took over when I looked up and saw all the customers standing there staring at me.  I don't like people looking at me!  Look away!  I shouted in my mind!  Steve helped me up and we debated going to the ER as I stumbled to the car.  I was determined nothing was stopping me from this trip.  Although I couldn't walk the rest of the night, by the next day I was walking normally.  Or at least normal for me and no pain.  One crisis averted. It has been raining nonstop here in Kentucky.  Areas are flooding, some water levels reaching as high as 48 feet.  Our crawl space was...

 I believe the majority of us old folks have a bucket list, or at least have in mind some sort of things they would like to do before they die, or after they retire or maybe when they have saved enough money.  Mine was to go to other countries.  I can't say I have never been out of the US but when I went to Mexico and Brazil it was for mission trips, it was not for pleasure.  This time I just want to explore the culture, see new sights, and embrace the diversity in people.  My husband and I decided on GoAhead tours to help make this trip as painless and stress free as possible. They arranged travel, the hotels and the tours.  They have kept in constant contact with us.  Our journey will consist of London, France, Italy and Spain.   We leave next week and are already stressed about what to pack.  The stay is 14 days. Do we pack that many clothes?  Will we be able to do laundry? A friend said to be aware of pickpockets so we bought fa...