Italy!

 Today was a travel day. So the morning was spent relaxing and resting up after a very active day yesterday. We flew Vueling (a German airline) and had a fairly enjoyable experience. It’s bare bones but was relatively comfortable, and fortunately the flight was just under 2 hours. Anyway, we landed at Marco Polo airport, outside of Venice, and caught the shuttle to our hotel for the night. We had a really good dinner at the restaurant that’s part of our hotel. Tomorrow we’ll take the train into the city and meet our tour group at the hotel where we’ll all be staying. 

That’s all for tonight folks. Ciao!

Sightseeing in Barcelona

 Wow! What a busy day! After breakfast our first event of the day was at Park Guell, where we had a guided tour of the grounds. Our guide was really interesting and knowledgeable. There was a lot of walking and stairs though, and my legs, already tired from yesterday let me know they weren’t used to that stuff!

Fortunately we had enough time for a quick nap at the hotel prior to leaving for the next tour at Sagrada Familia where we had another terrific tour guide. How they can remember all those facts and dates is beyond me, but they really make it look easy.

We even managed to go to the Block of Discord to see another Gaudi creation, as well as designs by a number of his contemporaries, side by side. Talk about an architectural display…wow! We followed that up with a wonderful Tapas meal and a glass of Sangria. Is it any wonder I’m exhausted? Hopefully another good night’s rest will have me rejuvenated. We fly to Venice tomorrow.

Barcelona

 So after a looong day of travel, we finally made it to Barcelona, cleared Customs, and figured out the Metro system enough to get to our hotel. A quick shower refreshed us and a quick sandwich from a little restaurant down the street and we set off exploring. Of course, the Ramblas was first on the agenda. This pedestrian only street is a real feast for the eyes, with fantastic old architecture, numerous shops selling everything a tourist could want, and people watching opportunities galore. 

Of course all that walking is thirsty work so we decided a little (?) Sangria was in order. Needless to say, by dark we were tired and hungry, so a small late dinner of Tapas was just what we needed. Then it was off to catch up on some much needed sleep. Today we have tours scheduled for Park Guell and Sagrada Familia…it promises to be a fun interesting day. Adios!

Test 2

 

Test

 Seeing if this is feasible to post with my phone

Portland!

We arrived in Portland about noon today and got settled into Elsie’s friend’s condo. Thanks Jean! We’re just kicking back a bit and enjoying not being out on the road this afternoon. I think I’m going to take a little hiatus from posting here for the time being also. See ya soon!

Last day of driving...

...for awhile.  We go to Portland today, less than 2 hours away, and we have use of a condo there for a couple of weeks before we have to head back to Michigan.  We drove as far as Eugene, OR yesterday, stopping in northern California to see some more redwoods along the way.  I am amazed by the size of those behemoths every time I see them!

We also happened along an "Elk Feeding Area" where we saw about 12-15 Elk feeding right up next to some cabins.  There were also 8-10 people standing around taking pictures, etc. and the herd of Elk was not the least bit concerned.  Evidently this is a pretty common occurrence there and they have gotten used to people being nearby.  There was only one small bull in the group, which I found odd; he seemed pretty immature to have such a large herd of females.  As we were leaving though, we saw another herd of 20 or so lying in the shade. so I can only assume that there were more bulls there.

So we made it safely this far...only a hundred or so miles to go and we can settle in for a couple of weeks.  I don't know how much I'll be on here, so if you don't see any posts for awhile, don't be concerned.  Bye for now.