Sleeping in a tin foil suit does the trick

A few of you were wondering how I was doing as the bug dish delight. The anti-itch cream seems to be doing the trick, although I have to reapply it all of the time. I woke up a few times in the night itching my knee or ankle and applied the cream from its syringe-like container to myself in the dark. The hardest part was figuring out how to keep from getting bit again. So, Mike and I settled on clothing from head to foot as a detrrent to the little critters. Unfortunately my loyal readers know how hot I get at night, so it was tough to find the right outfit, but I settled on long pants and a long sleeved shirt from my extensive wardrobe (which you know has to fit in my little suitcase). I wore the clothes that keep the sun off and they worked pretty well. All of the blankets and sheets ended up on Mike and he needed them because the window was wide open to keep me cool enough. The only new bites were to the ankles in the space between the top of the socks and the bottom of the pants and my neck. We had an attack of laughter this morning when we realized how noisy these clothes are and how every time I rolled around in the night the crinkly of the cotton woke both of us up. It was like sleeping in a suit of tin foil.

I have to end with just this short note. My husband bogarted the computer in the internet cafe so I didn't get much time.
Love to you all,
Deanne

Bugged in San Gimignano

I have written enough on Mike's accidents and disabilities. Now it is my turn in the spotlight. It turns out that there is some sort of biting bug in this beautiful Tuscan town that has decided to make lunchmeat (and breakfast, dinner and snack) out of me. I am covered in bug bites from neck to toe. The worst ones are on the palm of my hand which hurt to type. They are driving me crazy with itching, causing me to miss my precious good night's sleep. Trust me, very little in this world disrupts my sleep (especially now that the boys are grown up and I don't have to worry about 16 year old drivers). So, Mike and his spotted wife went to the Farmacia in search of sledgehammers to know the itching away. We ended up with cortisone cream (Susan-remeber that cream that I was allergic to? The one that made my face swell up?). I am so desperate that we bought it and I started using it today. Mike promises to take over the blog if my face swells up so bad that I can no longer see or if my bug-bitten hands get to the point they can no longer type.

We have discovered the 2006 winner fo the world's best gelato contest. This tiny shop is right across the courtyard from our hotel. We have decided to assure all of our loyal readers of the validity of their claim to being the world's best by trying every one of their thiry flavors before we leave so that we can make sure. So far, Mike still favors Crema Argentina, a flavor he found in Verona. I am partial to last night's cone- made up of half saffron cream (think eggnog gelato) and cinnamon (a most delightful, creamy and spicy gelato flavor). We have only two more days to make sure we have tried enough flavors. This place is so popular they sell cones starting at 9:00 am.

So long,
Your spotted friend,
Deanne

On the homestretch for our return

It is later in the day, and we have finally located an internet shop with two working computers. The last one was in a cafe, convenient for having a cappuccino while you work, but requiring serial efforts. Mike went first then got bored waiting for me to work on the blog, hence the short write-up earlier.

We are staying in a lovely hotel in the main square. After ending up here we found out from our well traveled next door neighbors that this is a favorite hotel of theirs. It is nice to hear that we didn't just miss on a better one. The views from the breakfast room are sensational- when we get to Florence and have free internet in our room I will be able to work on my computer and send the photos. This walled town is surrounded by rolling hills covered in vineyards planted in various directions depending on the hills and the sunlight, making a beautiful patchwork green.

We are enjoying our return to Italian food. The difference in weather since our last visit has provided an entirely different range of menu possibilities. We are starting at least one meal each day with a rich soup, mostly homemade minestrone, but sometimes lentil. Yesterday I had something called medieval soup which is a cream based leek and vegetable soup with saffron. It is fun to try the sous after all of those hot weather sandwiches. The Tuscan wines beat the Swiss wines by 100%. For about 10 Euros ($14) we had a wonderful bottle of local chianti. Great life.

We are here until Thursday then we go back to Florence. We have three nights in Florence. We will see Caitie art of that time, although she and her roommates will be visiting Venice for one of those nights. It is such a great opportunity for her to see these Italian cities on her weekends. School is going well for her. She has sent us by e-mail a couple of her essays and they are outstanding.

Our current internet outlet is a bookstore. Books have turned out to be one of our biggest costs on this trip. We both spend lots of time reading (on trains, evenings, etc). English books, in normal paperback format cost between $10-20. I can read four or five a week, which adds up. So, Mike likes to limit my access to bookstores. As it turns out though, the bookstore is the only location with two internet accessible machines in this town, so here we sit.

We fly back to the US on the 15th from Rome. We are planning dinner with Jonny the night we return, a day of doctor and dentist appointments the following day, dinner with Mike, Dana and Matt that evening, then a flight to LA and Sydney the following day. Another leg of the adventure!

Deanne

P.S. I just reread for edits. The keyboard does not accept the letter P unless you pound heard, so if there are misspellings it is not my fault!

San Gimignano- A "discovered" Tuscan village

We traveled all day Friday to reach San Gimignano, which lies about 50 km or 1 hour by slow regional train south of Florence. We had pounding rain, thunder and lightening and cold weather all of the way, but arrived to a beautiful Tuscan evening. Our hotel, Hotel La Cisterna is right in the center of town, but unfortunately the train doesn't come to this town. We asked a cab what the price was to take us the 10 km to our town, and after hearing his rediculous answer of 50£ we struck out for the bus stop. After half an hour the bus arrived, the driver jumped signaled to all of the Americans waiting for him, to put our luggage in the luggage comp'artment in the back of his mini-bus. We all did as instructed then boarded the bus only to find out we were to have purchased a ticket in advance. Lots of yelling in Italian went with that discovery, so Mike and another American went in search of tickets while the women stayed near the bus to make sure our luggage did not head off without us. The bar where he dicrected us to get the tickets told Mike they weren't selling any, so they came back to the bus. Meanwhile the driver is getting irritated by the delay. I told him we needed to get the luggage out before he could leave which further bugged him. So, in the end he signaled us in to the bus without tickets. The ride up the hill was through gorgeous vineyards with ancient stone farmhouses lined up on the top of hills. It was wonderful. The driver didn't want any money when we got to town, but Mike insisted he keep our 5 Euro tip, so we ended up trying to patch international relations between Italy and America by not mooching a free ticket.

We are taking turns using the internet cafe computer... the only one that works, so I have to log off now. We are in seach of another place where we can both work at once.

I will write further in a bit. Deanne

Final Day in Switzerland

We decided to move on. Mike is feeling good and the bruises have faded to that wonderful shade of yellowish green that is so attractive. We took a nice walk this morning along the Aare River. We tried to find a room for a few nights on the path between here and Tuscany where our next reservation lies, but we ran into a wall of full hotels. We decided to do one very long train trip instead, leaving here tomorrow morning at 9:30 and getting to San Gimginano four trains later at 6:30 PM. It will be a long day, but we know we have a room waiting. We will stay in San Gimginano (1 hour south of Florence by train) for five days then move back to Florence to see Caitie for a few days before we head to Rome for our flight home on October 15.

We have loved our time in Switzerland. Everything is so clean and beautiful. The Swiss are very proud of their country. Every morning we see shopkeepers wiping down the front of their stores, cleaning the windows and sprucing up the sidewalk displays. The people are genuinely friendly, unlike some of the places we have been like Venice where the people appeared to suffer from tourist fatigue.

The weather has been unpredictable. Mike ended up buying a fleece pullover because he was suffering from the cold. He now proudly sports his "Swiss Military" fleece, a beautiful red reminder of Switzerland. The weather report says it is 80 degrees in Florence, so the jacket will go back in the suitcase when we leave.

Today is Mike Jr.'s birthday. We are thinking of you, Mickicito. Have a great one. We will celebrate with you on the 16th when we get to Bellingham. We are looking forward to seeing you.

so Long from Switzerland. Next stop.... Tuscany.

Deanne

Mickey's the world over

Here we are, once again in the front window of McDonald's being watched by the tourists who walk by and point to the Mickey D's disquised as a real restautant. The Swiss Mickeys are pine lodge looking (Zermatt), modern sports bar (here in Interlakken) or historical landmark (Geneve). They all have outrageously priced food that is slightly better than home. They do take pains to try and blend in, though. No huge parking lots (well, there was one in Tomar,Portugal) or big golden arches. This is the subtle look. The free daily half hour of internet access is enough to pull us in every day. I drink a cup of tea, Mike has a coca cola light. 6.60 swiss francs, or approximately $5. Beats the internet cafe, though.

Today is raining, so we have been reading. I will write more this afternoon.

Bye for now.
Deanne

Cow Update

I talked about the cow concert, but that wasn’t the end of the cow story. Yesterday we were walking around town and we heard a loud clattering, banging noise. Thinking it was a parade coming around the corner we stood on the side of the city street to see what was happening. A herd of cows, complete with big cow bells around their necks and Christmas trees tied to the tops of their heads were walking down the center of town herded by some un-cowboylike folks with sticks. Apparently the cows spend their summers up in the mountains grazing then come down to town for the winter. Their twice annual trip up and down the mountain is called Alpsabzug and the timing of our trip coincided perfectly with the winter move. For the rest of the day we had to step around the piles of cow manure in the streets but today’s rain finished off that problem.

We never did hear why the cows are decorated with Christmas trees on their heads, but we will try to figure it out for the next chapter of the cow story.

I have written a little about how we have split up our responsibilities on the road to play to our strengths, but the more time we spend on the road the more clear those unique roles have become. I don’t mean things like laundry; we both wash our own laundry out in the sink every other day, or if we are in a town for several days, every day. The trick is to do the laundry with at least on complete day to dry. The real division of duties is in things like asking for help (Mike unless it is a little old lady- then Deanne), scanning the guidebooks and planning the logistics of the trains (Deanne except when Mike was excited about visiting Lungern, which he planned), managing the finances and tracking the budget (Mike, totally and completely). We spend all of our time together and talk about everything. Other than walks, which Deanne has taken alone while Mike heals, most of our day is spent together. We have our quiet times while we are working on individual projects such as blog updates or journals, but most of the time we are doing things together. We are very compatible travelers.

The more days we are in Switzerland the more German I am remembering. Those five years of German in high school were not completely forgotten. This morning I asked the kitchen helper to refill the coffee and I asked her for our bread basket. When the owner came in, I greeted her formally (and correctly) and earned a smile. She is an older woman who speaks English very well, but she is being very helpful with my stabs at German. Mike and I are both trying to improve our language skills as we move from country to country, but it is sometimes hard to remember where you are and what language to use. Over the past week we have both found ourselves thanking someone for our food with a quick, “Grazie”.

The weather is starting to get cold. It has been raining some nights, which is quite cozy in our fourth (top) floor room with the sloped, wood paneling ceiling. We hear the rain falling on the roof all night then wake to a chilly, but clear and beautiful day. We have been taking strolls through town each morning, then while Mike rests his foot, I take longer walks out into the countryside in the afternoons. Interlakken has been a restful stop for us.

We found the fitness club. It is "geschlossen". Not exactly sure why it is closed until October 5, perhaps vacation, but we aren't working out at the fitness club.

Deanne