USA

 A week has flown by since I arrived! It was great to see the family again. Obviously both Ivy and Ben are taller - Benny always has to compare his height to me, he has a way to go yet!!!

I spent a day with Ivy - she gave up her horse riding! We had fun in the pool and she was explaining about hobby horses - look it up on YouTube! That's a whole different world! We had a great time.

I've had a day with Benny too. We spent most of the time in the pool! I don't understand why he feels a need to 'wrestle' me when were in the pool! He remembers things we did last year and so we play word games together. I also sat through some programmes on 'scary moments' which was on YouTube - his choice!

Went to see Ivy horse riding her beloved pony Dottie. She is really riding we'll and her love for Dottie is there for all to see.

Went to see Benny at his 'Golf camp' - it was a simulated course and he did very well when he concentrated!

Also went to watch him at soccer training - Justin still trains one of the teams.

 

At the moment Lauren, Ivy and Benny have gone to Chicago to visit friends so that leaves Justin and I to look after the chickens - there are 8 of them - we get about 4 fresh eggs a day! We also have Rooster, the dog, who hasn't been well, to keep our eye on! Lauren's dad was a vet so he's been checking on Roo.

The weather has been very warm but yesterday was horrendous - even I had to go into the air conditioned house! It reached about 42C!! A couple of dips in the pool didn't help! Justin and I went out in the car late afternoon and it was registering the temperature at 103°.  Thankfully thunder and lightening rolled in during the evening and has cleared the air.

You can still see remnants of where the hurricane came through last September. On the edge of their boundary is woodland - plenty of trees fell during the hurricane. Ivy, Ben and I were in the pool the other day when we heard a strange noise, maybe deer rooting around in the wood, when suddenly a tree crashed to the ground! 

As I sit here a friendly little fellow passes by 

Sometimes he's bright green sometimes brown!

Arrived USA!

 Our first day in London was seeing less touristy spots. Kerry and I had spotted various places, on instagram, that we'd never been to before so decided to check them out. We walked to Waterloo station where we visited the 'Graffiti tunnels'. This is a space where anyone can graffiti. Some of the art work was amazing!

We then walked towards the British museum to the Post building where a lift takes you to the 9th floor for amazing views over London. There are also planter boxes of flowers.

 

Even though the weather is a little cooler in London my feet are still getting a work out and I was relieved late afternoon to get my feet up!!

We are staying at Russell Square and found a lovely Mediterranean restaurant where we had a delicious meal.

We decided to do the tourist hop on/ off trip on Sunday  - our idea of being lazy! It was so much easier although we still did over 15000 steps!

On Monday it was time to pick up the pace and continue to visit unknown places. Our first stop was Leadenhall Market - not as we'd expected - no market now but there had been in the past!

Onward and upward to 120 Fenchurch street - a garden and amazing views on the 15th floor. The smell of the roses and Jasmine as you left the lift was lovely.

It is also free!!!

We wandered towards the Tower of London where a visit to All Hallows by the Tower church was next on the list. This is the oldest church in London and founded in 675AD. We ventured into the crypt where there was evidence of a second century Roman pavement. The church survive the Great Fire of London but did suffer bomb damage and some of it had to be rebuilt.

We then wander over Tower Bridge  to a pub which is under the bridge.

We caught the Underground to Covent garden and had a wander around for a while before coming across Mr Foggs Tavern - a Victorian tavern, rather eccentric but interesting drinks!

 

On Tuesday morning I headed to Heathrow for my flight to the USA. It was chaos at the line up for American Airlines because the site for the ESTA - US visa - was down. It took me over an hour in line to check in but once that was done life was easy. I was suitably impressed with the plane, staff and flight - so different to the internal flights I'd taken!!

Although we left late we arrived on time. I landed in Charlotte, a small hub, and perhaps that helped with the entry into America. The Border Force official was more interested in knowing about the Australian spiders than me entering America!

Justin picked me up and it was a long drive back. On arrival to his place it seemed like a year had never passed. Even Rooster, the dog, didn't get antsy with me! Ivy and Benny have grown ever taller - Ben says he's nearly as tall as me! I enjoyed my hugs.

Ivy stayed home with me the next day and we swam, played and chatted. Ben was out at all his activities.

Yesterday I spent time with Ben at his 'Golf camp'- he can really whack the ball when he concentrates. I then watched his football training in the evening.

The weather is 32C+, bright sunshine with thunder rumbling in the afternoon. My swim before breakfast today was lovely!

Venice and beyond!

 At the moment we are whizzing through Italy towards Paris. A 6am departure from Milan has us, at this moment, staring out the first class window at the start of the Alps, can see some snow at the top!

But I digress. Three days ago we took a train from Verona to Venice. Unfortunately , on arrival in Venice, we took, as we later found out, the wrong way from the station to our hotel and had to cross a 'zillion' bridges - not much fun with cases. Luckily we found the hotel and are next to a quiet canal.

We wandered around Venice seeing the various major sites. It was very hot - wouldn't like to be here in August! As always there were many tourists. We heard lots of German and Russian spoken but not much English!

It is very beautiful with so many little canals branching off from the Grand canal. You really have to try to stop taking photos!! So glad to see that the Italians have stopped allowing the cruise ships into the city area.

A day of constant walking led to Aperol spritz stops!

Our hotel provided breakfast and we sat in a lovely courtyard unaware of pigeon problems! There were no signs on the door to say 'Do Not Leave Food Unattended'! Unfortunately we did and they descended on our used plates causing a right mess!

As were no longer novices we only had to cross two bridges to reach the bus station.

A 90 minute bus trip took us to Lido de Jesilo. This was a bit of a reminiscing trip as as Kerry, Justin, Al and I camped here in 1990! We had a hotel right next to the beach and spent the day lazing and having dips in the Med. We had to go and buy a towel first!

It is a lovely area with plenty of restaurants. 

We caught the bus back to Venice on Wednesday  and once again walked our legs off! 

Thursday afternoon we were back on a train to Milan. And now we are on our way to  Paris and London.

Our train trip took 7.5 hours but it was fabulous looking at all the beautiful scenery! We passed areas we'd skied in years ago, beautiful lakes and mountain villages! The small additional cost for first class was well worth it with all the extra room.

Unfortunately arriving in Paris was a manic nightmare! We had to get from Gare de Lyon to Gare de Nord - could you find any one to help - no, get a ticket - no, machines had run out! Finally, through Kerry's  perseverance, we got tickets and arrived at Gare de Nord. We headed out of the station and across the road for lunch before joining the throngs for the Eurostar. That's when life became even more of a nightmare! We were herded and held in 33C heat with scanning machines breaking down, passports not being recognised, more herding, inadequate numbers of baggage screen areas and people getting more and more disgruntled! Finally we got to the train and St Pancras. 

The terrible time at the Eurostar check in etc in Paris has put us off ever coming back to the UK from there!

Finally arrived at our hotel and plan to have a lazier time in the next few days!

Verona

 After a good sleep we were ready to start the day. We were going to spend our time wandering around Verona. Our host, Gigi, gave us instructions on how to get to the old town but we must have deviated. Whilst standing in the street trying to work out our route a young man was sustaining his bike and asked if we needed help. Following a quick chat he decided he had time to walk some way with us. It appears that he is Australia/Englis, now living some time in England and some time in Verona, where he is learning Italian.

We finally entered the old town and proceeded to  zigzag from church to church, plaza to plaza before reaching the arena. We did go inside - it has the original features but has modern seating (in parts) and seems to be used for Operas etc. Kerry tried to venture to the top of the arena ( I wasn't game) and came back saying how scary it was - she found it very difficult to get up the high steps.

We sat and people watched for a while before the walk back to our abode - we found a quicker way back. We ventured to a nearby restaurant, which had some outdoor seating. The food was delicious- best gnocchi I have ever tasted! There was a downpour which left the locals scurrying indoors even though we were all under huge sunshade and grapevines. We stayed out and the staff had to deliver our food whilst holding and umbrella!

Saturday saw us venturing to Lake Garda.  We had to go to the Tabac to get tickets for the local bus - a bus stops metres away from here. Once we reached the train/bus station we bought tickets to Lazise with the idea of walking along the Lake to Garda. 

The bus trip took about 90 minutes going through little villages which were surrounded by vineyards.

Lazise was a lovely little place on the lake. The walls of a ruined castle were still present. We had been told that the walk from Lazise to Garda would take about 1.5 hours - we'll that's not exactly true! We called a halt at Bardolino, just over 5 kms away. It was very hot 32C, no shade,  and sore feet didn't help.

             

Finally got a bus back to Verona where I managed to get us on the right number bus but going in the wrong direction! We made it through by doing a complete loop, which took far longer than expected - lesson learnt!!

Yesterday we caught the bus back to Bardolino to continue our walk to Garda which, according to Google is 3.5km away. It was lovely walking beside the lake which was heavily populated by ducks, ducklings, swans and cygnets! We passed many campsites on both days - camping is really good over here - with amazing numbers of motor homes!

   

We were determined to have a swim in the lake and we actually did. The water was beautiful and actually quite warm but getting in and out of the water was another matter! Around the lake it is all pebble 'beaches'! You can't get into the water in a very dignified manner you just plunge in. Getting out was even worse! The pebbles were horrific to stand on but then the waves pulled you back as you tried to get in. We found the best way was to sit down with your back to the shore and sort of boost yourself backwards before trying to stand and the take a few steps on unsteady pebbles. Luckily we made it out! 

Verona