Topless....

Before we left home, our friends Jan & Mike recommended that we try to check out the small town of Cadaqués, not to far northeast of Barcelona, Spain. They told us that Salvador Dalí had made his home there and that the seafood was great so we took their recommendation and here we are...and how sweet it is! Unlike so many other small towns on beautiful coves by the sea ( read Los Cabos or Los Angeles), this one remains it's simple beautiful small fishing village self. Yes, there are the usual tourist amenities and tourists, but it has managed to keep it's character and soul and we, along with the other visitors here are deeply grateful. It is Catalonia, a province of Spain, and the locals consider themselves Catalonians, not Spaniards. A Vespa's bumper sticker (not that a Vespa has room for one) states "Catalonia is an oppressed nation". The small beaches in hidden coves are topless or naturist (the European term for nudist) and there is a free and easy feeling everywhere. We wonder if it is just because people are on vacation or if it is this way all the time...no matter, we are living in the moment and it is good for us at this moment. The campground is nice with the usual hot showers, private and clean restrooms, free washing machines, market, cafe and pool. The wi-fi is down though so we will send this later on tonight from a bar downtown with free wi-fi. There are young and old from all over Europe camping here and the company is excellent. The snorkeling is outstanding!

Salvador Dalí was an iconic artist whose work I'm sure we are all familiar with. He stated that "The only difference between a madman and myself, is that I know I am not mad." He studied art at a prestigious university in Madrid but never graduated because he would not take his final exams; he deemed his instructors insufficiently qualified to judge him. He lived in Italy during the Spanish Civil War and fled to New York when WWI broke out. He died in 1989 and is buried not far far from here.

Our time for this trip is running out and it is the perfect metaphor for our lives as well. We need to spend our last 2 weeks here (Europe) wisely just as we need to spend the rest of our lives wisely. We have had lots of time to talk and dream and plan and look forward to putting thoughts into action.

P.S. Did the subject line get your attention? :)

Long Shadows and Butterfly Kisses

We know how blessed and fortunate we are. To have a complete love and belief in our understanding of life, as we know it, is a joy that we hope we can share with every person we love, know, meet and hope to know in the future.

We climbed 2,000 ft above the valley floor for a lunch near a babbling brook just before it became airborne and plunged over a cliff. As we talked, a Blue butterfly landed on Bobbie's hand. It stayed for a long while as she admired it's beauty and the fact that no matter what she did it was not flustered and didn't fly away. We broke out the magnifying glass and marveled at the intricate pattern and design it bore. We know that there is no coincidence. We quit believing in coincidence a long time ago so it was easy to marvel and enjoy the experience of this beautiful creature. The butterfly stayed with Bobbie the whole time as she packed up and laced her boots, only flying off for seconds before coming back and communing with her.

Another butterfly, this one a type of Skipper, then landed on my hand and we had the same experience all over again. He stayed on my hand for a long time and only when I hoisted my pack did he leave for a few seconds only to return and land on my shoulder where it rode with me down the mountain. It did not leave until we entered shady woods, flew around a little and waited on a rock until we left.

Fall has come to the high mountains and our shadows are noticeably longer. It came very quickly, the night before last, on North winds, and brought snow to the mountains and heavy rain to the valley below. As we hiked up along the moraine of the Glacier Noir the air was crisper, the grasses were browner and the Marmots were busier. The campground has suddenly become more empty and as we warm ourselves by a small campfire we can hear the strains of guitar and flute coming from a group not to far away and our conversation turns to the warmth of the Mediterranean and our journey back to Paris and home and family and friends who we miss dearly.

French Alps

Tiring of crowds we chose a blank spot on the map (literally) and ended up in a place almost to beautiful to believe. Ailefroide is a tiny village at the end of the road and is situated within one of the nine National Parks in France, Ècrins National Park. If you have time, check it out on Google Earth, as well as Camping Ailefroide On the web. For the past two days I have been wondering how I would compare it to Yosemite and I have to say it is Yosemite's more beautiful sister, if that is even possible. We are camped in a glacially carved valley with mountains rising thousands of feet all around us. We are free to camp and have a campfire anywhere we want within a 20 acre area of woods, meadows and streams. There are no rangers with guns and ticket books, signs saying no (fill in the blank), no corporate concessionaire, no mobs of tourists or any of the signs of being a National Park except the occasional gentle reminder to treat the place nicely. There are young rock climbers, hikers of all ages, happy families, older couples like us and one is greeted everywhere with a happy "Bonjour!". This will be another one of those hard to leave places but we intend to stay a few more days to prolong the ecstasy of the mountains bring. There are fresh baguettes and pastries in the little store every morning along with fresh fruits and vegetables of which we have enjoyed many, and a couple of little restaurants should we want more than camp cooking.

The hiking is nothing short of awesome. Think Alaska, Glacier National Park and Yosemite all rolled into one and you will begin to get the picture. We took an all day hike and "mountaineered" up to Refuge Sèlè. The last section of trail was aided with cables, not Bobbies favorite, and was not for the faint hearted. If one dared to look down, terra firma was 500 feet straight down just past your toes. The Refuge's access is so difficult it is supplied by helicopter drops to the roof.

French drivers are very courteous if compared to the Italian drivers. As far as driving goes, it is a pleasure to have crossed the border into France. The autostrada drive into and out of Genoa, Italy, was one of the most harrowing yet. We came to countless toll booths but thankfully they were all manned by humans. If you are considering driving here your vehicle must be in excellent condition. Traffic is fast and roads are narrow, often with no shoulder. Tunnels can be over 1Km long and breaking down inside of one would truly be a nightmare.

Sweet Monterosso

We could not tear ourselves away from Cinque Terre so have stayed another day, and are happy we did. On a whim we decided to check out Monterosso which is only a 15 minute trin ride from our camp. It turned out to be the most delightful of the 5 Terre! Small, winding, pedestrian only, streets with buildings piled on top of each other in wonderful pastel colors with laundry hanging everywhere, and our noses, led us to Trattoria Oscar where we saw local diners having some wonderful looking seafood dish with risotto served in the cooking pan. We ordered the same and had a wonderful long Italian style lunch before heading back to the beach where we had rented beach chairs and an umbrella. The water is warm (80+?) and swimming is easy. We hate to leave this idyllic spot on the Italian Coast but tomorrow morning we will break camp for some fun in the French Alps.

Cinque Terre (chink-way tay-rah)

I think we like to press our luck sometimes. Yesterday, we drove directly into the town of Deiva Marina, on the Cinque Terre coast, hoping to get a room for the night as we have been camping for the last 16 nights. When we got off the autostrada there was no person in the toll booth, only computerized instructions in Italian on how to pay. I inserted a €20 bill but got a computerized scolding for an unknown reason to me. I was not about to insert my credit card because here in Europe their cards have a chip in them, different from those in the U.S. And I was afraid I wouldn't get it back. The computer kept scolding me so I pressed the "assistance" button, big and red. When I did an alarm went off and the gates went down in back of me locking in me and and another vehicle. Eventually a worker came down and manually opened the gate so I could go park and work things out. Luckily, the worker didn't speak any English and just waved me through to save himself the trouble and we ended up saving €4. The embarrassment and delay was not worth it. We drove down to the coast and found the beautiful Hotel Celia with only one room left and that was available for only one night and only if we had a small car (EXTREMELY limited parking!!). Perfect! The room was beautiful and it was nice to recharge our batteries, so to speak. We ate an awesome seafood anniversary dinner on the waterfront and after a sumptuous breakfast buffet we left and found a campsite nearby here at Camping Valdeiva. These European campsites are something else. They all have hot showers, dish washing areas, clothes washing areas, wi-fi, cafe, market, and this one even has a swimming pool. The cost for this one is €26 per night (about $37) and worth every cent. We are among Europeans, their families, and they are very courteous and always helpful. Tonight our neighbors are Dutch and German.

We rode the train into true Cinque Terre this morning and ended up spending the whole day walking, eating, swimming and just enjoying this incredible Earth. The water is crystal clear, warm and inviting. There are mobs of people but since most of them are beautiful tanned bodies in skimpy bathing suits it's not to hard to take.

The sun has gone down, it's cool and we are going to cook up another variety of pasta before crashing one more time in our trusty REI backpacking tent.

Mother and Child

As we tour a museum of art from the 5th-17th centuries we are struck by the worship of Madonna and Child...these paintings and frescoes were commissioned by the wealthy and powerful for the benefit of all beneath them in worship and respect for the Madonna and her baby Jesus. But shouldn't, and isn't, every Mother and Child union be just as magical as the one that changed the world so drastically 2000 years ago? Isn't every birth a miracle? Isn't every child a child of God? Is not every mother Madonna? Isn't every newborn child worthy of worship?

Verona was a bastion of civilization during the middle ages, even though it was ruled by maniacal despots at one time or another. Inside the walls of Verona was safety from a brutal, uncivilized world outside. The V shape you see in the fortifications were to protect archers as they rained down a hail of arrows on those not welcome inside the gates. The museum held the other weapons of defense and offense too. Swords and lances which I'm sure have inflicted more than enough misery and pain stand shining in museum cases as a permanent testament to man' inhumanity to man. Speaking of which, we visited the Roman's 3rd largest coliseum here in Verona today. One of the special feelings that come with travel is placing one's feet on the very place or stone which you know has seen the feet of civilizations for 2000 years. This same coliseum has seen Gladiators fight wild beasts, mid-evil executions, army parades, operas and rock concerts.

It is still oppressively hot here in Verona but our campsite is shady and cool. The great European holiday will lessen starting on Monday and that is when we will visit Cinque Terre, if all goes well. Tomorrows plan is simply to get in the car, turn on the AC and iPod, head south and stay in a comfortable hotel. Tomorrow is our anniversary and those goals are good enough....

We Found Them!

The tourists I mean. Thousands of them and they are all in Verona Italy. Along with temps in the 90's and a high pressure system which is keeping the air heavy.

Bobbie and I often say we must have Angels watching out for us. After doing the hop on-hop off bus tour of old Verona and wondering if we had made a mistake in coming here, we climbed up to our camp for the night which is in an old castle overlooking the old city but on the opposite side of the river. This castle was built by the Austrians when they controlled all of the land on the North side of the river while the Italians controlled the city and the lands to the south. Our tent is pitched within the old castle walls on an old cannon emplacement from which the Austrians shelled the Italians below. The walls still stand and now the campsite is covered with grape vines, ripe with red grapes, and cool breezes blow while we sit here on a shady terrace with a cold lemon soda.

While we were in the old town we visited Juliet's house and stood beneath her balcony. The walls leading into the courtyard are covered with the graffiti of thousands of lovers and it was heartwarming to see couples kissing and girls posing with Juliet's statue. If you happened to see the movie "Letters to Juliet", the club really exists! If you have not seen it yet we both heartily recommend it!

Who knows what tomorrow will bring. Shortly we will pull out the map and talk about what is next. Cinque Terre is on the list but the numbers of tourists here are making us wary. Shall we push our luck with our Angels? We probably will but stay tuned for what actually happens.

Ötzi

Today finds us in the Öztal Alps which separate Austria from Italy. We hiked up 4,200 vertical feet to the ridge (the border between Italy and Austria) where Ötzi was killed and talked about what our own theories were as to the circumstances surrounding his death. There is no definitive answer but it was revealing to experience the same hike he did. It is incredibly inhospitable territory. Talus, weather, incline and altitude make for difficult terrain to say the least. After hiking the 4,200 ft up, we had to go back down and needless to say, tonight we are exhausted. This is a great area of Süd Tirol. There are no cable cars or chairlifts so the the only "tourists" we see are fellow hikers, and they are only hardy ones. Most use the greeting "Grüss Gott" but there is still the occassional "Bonjourno". Technically we are in Italy, but it sure feels like Austria. Farmers are cutting their meadows by hand and preparing for the winter ahead. This is apple country in the valleys below and they are delicious. Space is tight so the apples are espaliered and planted only 4' on center. There are thousands of acres planted in red an golden delicious apples.

We have now noticed a complete absence of rodents (except Marmots in the high country). There are NO squirrels, mice, rats or rabbits to be found anywhere. We can leave our food out at night, on the ground and it is not touched. We wonder if after the
Great Black Plague of the middle ages Europe went on a vermin extermination movement. When we think about how horrible the plague was we can't blame them.

Assumption Day

This is Assumption Day, a national holiday in the most Catholic of Catholic countries, Italy. It was proclaimed a national holiday by Pope Pius XVII in 1950 to celebrate the day the Virgin Mary ascended into heaven body and soul. In case anyone should argue about it he also declared it "infallible dogma"...

We awoke to heavy rain on the tent this morning so we slept in listening to the pitter patter and wondering how we were going to make our exit in any semblance of a dry way. The rain wouldn't let up so we just went for it. I thought I had told myself a long time ago I was not going to camp in the rain anymore but I guess it's just not true. As I write this around 4 pm (7 am back home) the sun has come out and we have things spread out to dry. The forecast for the next few days is sun! This has been a relaxing easy day and we really needed a rest day. Over the last few days we have hiked over 30 miles with thousands of vertical feet up and down. Tomorrow we are going to drive to another region of the Dolomites and hike to the spot Ötzi was found, right on the Austrian/Italian border, if all goes well.

Even though we are in Italy and Italian is the predominant language, most people speak German and the architecture is Tyrolean. Pizza and bratwurst are served side by side and we have enjoyed both.

Good wee-fee!

Tonight finds us near Val de Gardena, Italy in a mobbed campsite. It is the perfect location for lots of hiking as we are not going to move the car for the next three days. This section of the Dolomites is incredible!! This is one of the biggest holiday weekends of the Italian year and it shows! It is like the 4th of July in the States, everyone is on the road and in the mountains. But it's OK, we have a private little site and tonight cooked Cordon Bleu, gnocchi and had it with a big fresh salad. The wi-fi here is free and works great.

Today we saw Ötzi, the Iceman in the Bolzno Museum of Archeology. He lived 5,300 years ago and his body, tools and clothing were preserved because he died in a crevice which later glaciers passed over. He is the only human remnant we have from the copper age. It was a fantastic visit and Bobbie loved it too. Bolzano is a great city with no cars in the old town downtown. We ate street food of pizza and bratwurst and loved very bite.

Love to all back home, we miss you and look forward to seeing you soon.

Dolomiti Heaven

OK...because of technical difficulties I can not upload any of the hundreds of photos we have taken at this public terminal,so please allow me to paint a picture this way.... (Italian keyboard so I will keep it short, it takes a while to find the keys. The @ symbol required help from a local kid!

Tinkling cowbells on happy cows in verdant meadows; limestone spires thousands of feet high; sunshine; cable cars; tired feet; cheese, bread, salami, bread and chocolate lunch; fun campground; Italian food!;nice people; crazy twisty mountain roads; awesome waterfalls; lost rainpants at rifugio; sleeping with 28 other people shoulder to shoulder at high mountain hut; awesome meadows of alpine wildflowers; more alpine wildflowers; and more....

We are healthy and happy and hope each reader the same. We are still in the Dolomite range of the alps in Madonna di Campliglio (google earth) Italy. We have hiked high and low and everything in between and are getting skinny in spite of eating a ton of delicious food. Tomorrow we head to Bolzano to see Oetzi the Iceman,remember the 3000 year old guy they found in a glacier a few years ago, and then to the western side of the Dolomites.

When I have a good wee-fee connection we will post photos and more. Italy is wonderful and a total joy...

Love and Peace to all...

Sporadic wi-fi

Heading to Switzerland from Dijon via a peaceful drive through the countryside of France brought us to the delightful wine town of Arbois, about 3 hours from Dijon. We couldn't pass up a farmers market and for $3 loaded up on still dirty farmer fresh vegetables. We found the world's best coffee and pastries at an outdoor cafe on the town square in quintessential French fashion while perfecting the discreet art of people watching.

We did find chairs and stove in Lausanne, Switzerland, as well as a nice campground on the shore of Lake Lausanne. Switzerland has not joined the EU (European Union) and have their own currency, the Swiss Franc (ChF). The dollar is not doing to well against the euro (€) but it is miserable compared to the ChF and prices in Switzerland are incredibly high. We were shocked to pay $50 for a campsite and $2.50 for a bell pepper not to mention the fact we could have practically bought a new sofa for what we paid for camping chairs. Thinking this was just a city phenomenon we headed for the hills only to find Switzerland really has become the playground of the über wealthy from all over the world. Still, it felt good to finally be up in the mountains and hiking. The wildflowers are out in force and meadows are a rich green. Cowbells tinkle and we greet and are greeted by other hikers with the traditional "Grützi!". We realized again why it is so green here, it rains a lot! Sure enough, the sound of rain on the tent all night long was a harbinger to even heavier rain the next day so we used it as a travel day enroute to the Dolomites and arrived here at the little town of Managio on Lake Como to dry out. Tonight finds us in a sweet little hotel in a room with a terrace above the lake and we fall asleep with full bellies of pizza to the sound of waves gently lapping at the shore.

This iPad has been disappointing in that it does not pick up wi-fi very easily. We can be somewhere there is a good wi-fi signal and the iPad can not find the network. Am not sure what is going on, but the tech part is frustrating.

Dijon T & B Style

Wouldn't you know it, the digital gremlins came out in force last night...We were out all day and did not get back to the hotel until around 10pm. We tried to check email, could not, tried to check voicemail, could not, tried to get valuables out of room safe, could not. Short story... finally got online, finally got safe opened, and with help from tech support in NY got voicemail up and running. Unfortunately we did not get to bed until after 1 am. We woke up early this morning, picked up the car and made it to Dijon, home of the Dukes of Burgundy. This campground is nice, but we need some camping equipment like chairs and fuel, so the plan is to walk old Dijon (no vehicles in old city) and then head down to Lausanne and prep for Alps camping there.

The drive was beautiful. No billboards or overt signs of commercialism and rest areas every few km. Occasional glimpses of Roman structures made us think about how things were 1500 years ago at this very place and the amount and kind of history that has happened on the very soil we stand upon.

Since we have no stove fuel or chairs we are headed to the campground restaurant for dinner and wi-fi to send this update. If all goes well the next time we send a campground photo you will see a stove and chairs!

Tired but happy to get off the plane, we took an uneventful shuttle ride into Paris. After settling into our hotel on beautiful little Rue Cler, we walked over to the Eiffel Tower and then across the Seine along with thousands of other tourists from all over the world. The crowds were as happy as we were to be in Paris so it was just not a problem. Exhausted from being up for 36 hours straight, we enjoyed our picnic dinner of fresh baguette, delicious cheese, jamon de Espagna and a bottle of excellent Bordeux on a park bench sheltered from light showers by the overhanging branches of one of the hundreds of trees in the park. Parisians as well as tourists flock to the park for picnic dinners every summer evening and we felt right at home. The next day (today) we are on foot and have walked from Napoleons tomb, to the Arc de Triomph, to the gardens of the Louvre where we are writing this in the shade of an allee of trees. This is a beautiful park designed by the famous landscape architect to the kings André le Notre in 1664, and has wonderful gellato stands and crepe eateries along with ponds, rides for the kids, and plenty of benches and chairs in addition to the beautiful, well tended plantings everywhere.

We have not been able to check our voice mail yet as we get a "network busy" message every time we try. Not sure what is going on with that but we'll work on it.

Here we go!

This is our first Trip out of the new international terminal at SFO. This Beach Blanket Babylon display is full size and makes us want to put BBB on our list of things to do when we get back. Again, this is good practice taking a picture with the iPad and then posting this message.

So far everything has been smooth and easy. We have done our jet lag program pretty religiously and this is a light day so no more food until breakfast destination time. That jet lag program is a real pain but is so worth it. If you want to know more about it it is from a book called "Overcoming Jet Lag" and you will find it on Amazon.

We board in a couple of hours and will be on our way.

Thanks, Lynn, for driving us to the airport!