Venice - October 14-16, 2022

Venice is different from just about any other city we have visited. In any other city, arriving by train, the main station is usually in the city center and you walk out of the station to chaos, streets full of buses, taxi's, and cars. Walk out of the Venice train station and you are confronted by the Grand Canal, full of boats of all sizes and shapes. There are no cars, buses, or taxi's in sight. Cole and Kelsey were amazed and enthralled. We had directions from our host as to which stop to get off the water bus and Lynda had google mapped walking directions to our apartment. Unfortunately, Lynda could not bring up the map so we weren't sure where to go. Fortunately, we again found a local who was willing to help us. He even went so far as to call our host. The host was not happy with us as our email from earlier in the day indicating our arrival time in Venice did not make it to her inbox. Our apartment was just off a piazza which fortunately had several restaurants so we sat down for much need nourishment while waiting for the host's arrival. Despite her rather "snippy" attitude the apartment was very nice. Of course, it was in an old building, but a designer had done an exceptional job in giving the apartment modern updates while leaving evidence of the apartments origins. The only problem was the apartment was spread over three floors with no elevator. Tim's soon to be replaced arthritic right knee complainted constantly. After a week of travel we were all runnning on fumes so we spent a lot of time Friday afternoon relaxing and napping. We headed out for San Marco Square shortly before dusk. San Marco Square is a large piazza where San Marco Cathedral is located as well as the Doge Palace. In earlier times the Doge was the ruler of Venice. It is architecturally one of the most beautiful piazzas we have visited. It was another gorgeous evening in Italy to wander about the Piazza and the many small streets back to our apartment. The plan for Saturday was to visit Murano and Burano, two islands located very close to Venice. Venice is actually a group of islands that include Murano and Burano. Murano is famous for its many glass blowing furnaces/studios. We have visited Murano many times and have a favorite studio we always visit. Unfortunately the furnace was not operating so we were unable to watch the glass blowing artists at work. Later we did watch a fairly lame 5 minute demonstration of glass blowing. Burano is famous for its lace making. We were all very tired so Tim suggested to Lynda we call it a day and head back to the apartment. Lynda was adament that Kelsey and Heather should see the women on Burano making lace so went got on the boat to Burano. We stopped at the first shop we came to that had a woman making lace. Kelsey and Heather seemed less then enthusiastic about the demonstartion. Tim suggested we find gelato and head home. This suggestion was met with more enthusiasm. Unfortunately, the boat ride back to Venice was an arduous two hour trip. Saturday night we offered to take Cole and Kelsey to dinner so that Jeff and Heather could enjoy a romantic dinner by themselves, an offer they gladly accepted. Sunday was our last day in Venice but because we were all dead on our feet the only item on the itinerary was to visit the San Marco Cathedral. It is not as large as the Duomos in Florence and Siena but the interior in particular is stunning. It is filled with gold mosaics that left us all in awe. While Tim and Lynda went back to the apartment, Jeff, Heather and Kelsey went on a gondola ride. Cole was holed up in the apartment not feeling well. They were very excited when they returned from the ride. Sunday night we found a lovely little restaurant where we had a wonderful final meal in Italy. We spent much time talking about our favorite parts of the trip while enjoying sumptuous pasta and excellent wine. The plane ride home was rather bittersweet for us because we realized this was probably the last time we would take either Jilayne or Jeffry and their families on trip such as this. In the past we have taken Jil, Rob and the girls to England and France. Jeff's family has joined us in England and now Italy. As Heather would say, "We have created many precious family memories".

Florence October 10-14, 2022

Monday morning a two hour train ride landed us in Florence. What was suppose to be a 15 minute walk from the train station to our Airbnb apartment, according to our host, turned into almost 45 minutes. We knew our apartment was located close to Ponte Vecchio and we had an address. Unfortunately, we thought we remembered more about how to get to the Ponte Vecchio then we actually did. We finally wised up and started asking people for help. Ultimately we ran into a young couple from California that had an actual, printed on paper, map. What a concept. Five minutes later we were at our apartment. Lynda had arranged for us to drop off our luggage before checkin time, which we did, and then spent time exploring Ponte Vecchio. Ponte Vecchio is a bridge over the Arno River that dates from the 16th century. In 1593 gold buyers and sellers took over the bridge and it remains the location of very exclusive jewelry stores. Little one room shops line both sides of the bridge. Many of the stores require you to ring a door bell for admission to the store. The jewelry displayed in the windows was jaw-dropping beautiful. Unfortunately, so were the prices. Turns out our apartment is only a block from Ponte Vecchio. We have a stunning view of the bridge from the balcony off our living room. Tuesday morning we began our day at the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, also known as the Duomo. From the outside the Duomo is a stunning edifice. Inside, other then the alter, it is a bit austere. It is not as full of beautiful art work and sculptery as the other cathedrals we have visited. Still, it is impressive if for no other reason then its massive size. The much smaller Bapistry sitting across from the Duomo is a far different story. It is in the shape of an octogon and has four large entry doors. Each door is fitted with panels made of gold, each panel dipicting a story from the Bible. Inside there are ornate mosaics also featuring Biblical stories. Obviously the Medici's put all their money into decorating the Bapistry rather then the Cathedral. After lunch we visited the Central Market area. The actual Central Market building features many stalls containing butchers, cheese shops, produce stalls and fish markets. Several of the streets surrounding the Central Market are lined with leather shops. Each shop has displays on the street with leather goods from wallets and small purses to clothing, mostly coats and jackets. Particularly at the coat stands, if you show interest in a particular coat you usually are escorted to the main shop where more merchandise is on display. Bargaining over the price of items is an accepted practice. Jeff ended up buying a new leather belt, Tim a credit card wallet and Kelsey a new purse. That evening we enjoyed dinner outside in a lovely piazza on a beautiful, moonlite, night. On Wednesday we took the train to Siena, a large city located about half way between Florence and Rome. We discovered Siena in 2003 when we spent 5 weeks in Italy. Siena is famous for its enormous Campo. The Campo is big enough to hold a twice a year horse race. There are 16 districts in Siena and each enters a horse in the race. There is much pageantry involved in the holding of these races and great prestige for the district that wins the race. Siena also has a Duomo which is as beautiful on the outside as Florences, but is much more ornate on the inside. We ate lunch at a restaurant we discovered in 2003. It was every bit as good on this trip as we previously remembered. Two interesting stories from lunch. Lynda order Ribollita, a cross between vegatable soup and a vegatable stew. She loved it on the first visit to this restaurant and was looking forward to it again. Shortly after placing our order the waitress came back and announced that they were out of Ribolitta. Lynda has heartbroken and told the waitress that the Ribollita was why we came to the restaurant. Lynda accepted the waitresses heartfelt apology and order pasta. Two minutes later the waitress returned again and told us she had told the chef that the customer was in tears because there was no Ribollita so the chef said to tell the customer he would go down the block and get the ingredients he needed to make her Ribollita. Needless to say, Lynda was thrilled. Story number two. At the end of the meal Kelsey announced that the Pici Cacio e Pepe was best she had ever eaten. She is going to ask the Holt High School cafeteria to add it to their menu. We had time for some window shopping and gelato before taking the train back to Florence. The high point of any visit to Florence for us is a visit to the Galleria dell'Accademia to see Michelangelo's David. It is a sculpture of such exquisite detail and beauty that we will spend 15 or 20 minutes just sitting or moving about the statue to take it all in. We took the family there this morning (Thursday). We think/hope that they were equal enthrolled with this work of art as we are. There are lots of other sculptures as well as paintings in the Galleria as well as a small museum of music instruments. There were three and four hundred year old Stradivarius violins and cellos on display. But, of course all of these pieces of art pale in comparison to David. The Basilica of Santa Croce was our last stop. It is not as large as the Duomo but is equally as beautiful. It has two features that stand out over the Duomo. First, there of people of note buried in the Basilica; Dante, Michelangelo and Machevelli in particular. Second, there is a school of leather attached to the Basilica. This school was orginally started to give poor children a chance to learn a trade. Now, while still teaching students how to produce items made of leather, it also has a store that sells these goods that produces added revenue for the Basilica. Tonight we clean the apartment and pack. Tomorrow the last leg of out trip begins in Venice. Ciao.

Family joins us in Rome - October 6, 2022

Thursday was a travel day for us. We returned the car to the airport in Bari and then took the train back to Rome. It was again a long day as we got into Rome about 6:00. We were finally settled in our apartment about 7:00 and were very much ready for sustenance and wine. We are located just a very short walk from Piazza Navona, our favorite area of Rome. In the Piazza we found our needed sustenance and wine. Friday was arrival day for Jeff, Heather, Cole, and Kelsey. Their plane was scheduled to arrive in Rome at 11:00 a.m. Due to a strike of customs workers in Paris they missed their commecting flight. Eventually they arrived in the Piazza at 8:00. We had been gently harrassed by the Maitre'D of a tratoria on our way to the Piazza so we assured him when the adult children and grandchildren arrived we would be back. He greated us with open arms and a table for six already set up. It was a joy to see the excitement on our family's faces at being in Rome. Kelsey ordered a pizza and with her first bite her eyes became huge and then the smile on her face bigger as she exclaimed it was the best pizza she had ever had. Cole was equally excited over his Spaghetti al Bolgnese. We think that Heather was too tired from shepherding her 3 (!) children from Mason to Rome to enjoy her meal as much as everyone else. Saturday turned out to be a more exhausting day then we anticipated partly because we got a later start to the day then planned. Before leaving home we had booked a reservation to see the Sistine Chapel. At the time we booked the earliest time available was 6:30 in the evening. While at home we decided to visit the Colosseum and forum in the morning, come back to the apartment for a break and then head to the Vatican late afternoon to visit St. Peter's Basilica before our scheduled visit to the Sistine Chapel. We ended up taking a guided tour of the Colosseum which was not in the plan but which we thoroughly enjoyed. Lynda did not take the tour for lack of interest but thought she would join for a tour of the Forum. As the Forum was part of the guided tour she was unable to join. Tim was not particularly interested in the Forum so he ducked out of that part of the tour, met up with Lynda with the intention that we would go back to the apartment and meet Jeff, et al. there when they finished at the Forum. Long story short, we all ended up back at the apartment with little time before heading to the Vatican. We all found both the Basilica and the Sistine Chapel to be overwhelmingly beautiful. But we had forgotten how much walking was involved in visiting both sites. As we left the Sistine Chapel we were all famished and a bit sullen so we went to the first restaurant we could find which was conveniently across the street from the exit from the Sistine Chapel. Food and beverage revived us enough to be back on speaking terms so that we all were able to relive the beautiful sites we had visited over the last 3 hours. Lynda and Tim assurred the younger Crandalls that tomorrow would be a much easier day. On our first visit to Rome in 1984, we had pencil portraits done of Jil and Jeff by one of several artists located in Piazza Navona to do said portraits. It only takes about 20 minnutes for the artist to create the portrait and those portraits still hang proudly in our home. Years later when we took Madison and Jocelyn to Rome as a fourteenth birthday present we also had each of their portraits done. Madi's portrait was a surprise Christmas present that thrilled Jil and Rob and brought back pleasant memories for Jil. We assured them both that we would do the same for Jocey. So, today, Sunday, the first order of business was getting portaits done of Cole and Kelsey. As promised the night before, the first order of business did not start until almost noon. It was great fun to watch the artist at work, creating a beautiful likeness of our grandchildren in just 20 minutes each. From Piazza Navona it is a short walk to the Pantheon, another beautiful, much underrated structure in Rome. Unfortunately, since our last visit the powers that be have instituted a reservation system to visit the Pantheon on the weekends thus we were unable to get inside. Somewhat disappointed we walked on to the Trevi Fountain. As always, it was full of visitors but we were able to get fountain side seats so the younger Crandalls could throw coins over their shoulders into the fountain assuring that they would some day return to Rome. Not far from Trevi Fountain is a lovely restaurant that we discovered on our first visit and have returned to each succeeding trip. It seems the rest of the world has also discovered this wonderful tratoria. While the food was still wonderful, the wait staff seemed a bit harried so it wasn't the relaxing meal we had looked forward to. After eating, Tim and Lynda returned to the apartment for much needed naps while the rest of the family visited the Spanish Steps. Kelsey reported that it was an excellent visit enjoyed by all. Tonight we are looking forward to an exciting game of UNO.

The alter at St. Peter's Basilica

We are waiting in line in Vatican Square to enter St. Peter's

Jeff, Heather, Cole and Kelsey at the Colosseum

Kelsey's first bite of Italian pizza

Jeff and Cole enjoying antipasta at our first meal on them arriving in Rome

The Pieta in St. Peter's Basilica

Bari to Lecce

Lecce, Italy October 3, 2022 Saturday in Bari was a do nothing day. Tim figured out how to take the train to the Bari airport the next day to pick up a rental car. Lynda worked on packing and R and R, resting and reading. She probably did more of the latter. We did go out in the evening for dinner. It was a beautiful night and the locals were out in force. In Italy, evening meals in restaurants don't usually begin until 7:30 at the earliest and 9:00 is more common. As always people watching was great fun. Fashion is so different for both men and women. We left Bari about 11:30 Sunday morning. Our plan was to drive through Alberobello. Alberobello is home to a World Heritage Site of truilli, a 14th century construction. Truilli are rectangular huts made of limestone with conical limestone roofs. There are over 1500 of these in the Alberobello region. They are very striking to see. Most now are used as homes but we saw many less elaborately constructed truilli in the fields. Many are used as tourist accomodations. Getting to our AirBnB in Lecce turned out to be an adventure. Lynda was giving Tim directions. Her directions finished with "find a place to park, we have to walk from here". Our apartment is in a neighborhood of centuries old buildings. Our host told us our building was 4 hundred years old. This is in stark contrast to our apartment in Bari that was in a post WW II building and very contempary in design. We would have not located our Lecce apartment without Google maps. While it has been modernized with up to date kitchen features and bathroom facilities, there is enough of the original to make it very interesting. Our host told Tim he needed to move the car to a nearby street where parking was free for as long as you like. As Tim's cell phone was low on charge he did not take it with him and got terribly lost trying to get back to the car. Our neighborhood is a warren of little streets where one wrong turn can get you terribly lost. Tim took 45 minutes to finally find the car. He spent 15-20 minutes looking for a parking space without any luck and ending up back where we originally parked. He got lost again trying to find the neighborhood. Tim slept well Sunday night. Today, Monday, we ventured out to visit churches. Lecce became infatuated with the Baroque style of architecture in the 16th century to the point of remodeling existing churches in that style. This resulted in Lecce being known as the "Baroque city of Italy". We visited three of the most famous of the Lecce churches, the Duomo, the Basilica of Santa Croce, and the Chiesa di Santa Chiara. All were different but equally striking in the ornate Baroque style. The Basilica of Santa Croce was hosting a wedding in the afternoon but we decided that crashing one wedding on this trip was enough. We returned to our apartment for nap time and then went out for a lovely evening meal. Tuesday we took a day trip to Ortanto at the very heel of the boot on the Mediterranean Sea. It was a beautiful cloudless day but with a cool, fresh wind. The sea was reasonably rough and a gorgeous blue. The waves crashing against the rocks were exciting. As is Lynda's want, we took two different routes going and coming back. In both directions we passed kilometer after kilometer of olive tree groves. It was fascinating to see some groves with very old but still healthy trees as opposed to some that were old but well cared for. We also saw several places where new trees had been planted. The harvest typically runs from October to December. There are many factors that affect the time of harvest, too many to enumerate. We saw no signs of the harvest being under way yet. No trip anywhere is complete until we visit a cemetary. Our trip is complete. Fortunately, it was an interesting one. There were only several sections what we would consider traditional gravesites. The rest were family mausoleums. Many of these mausoleums were very contemporary in design. Most were for individual families. We saw one that contained the remains of a 24 year, obviously leaving lots of space for the rest of the family. Tonight we are snacking in our apartment and then later, after dark, will go out and join the passeggiata and stop for a gelato. Passeggiata is an evening stroll that lots of people join. In a city like Lecce everyone strolls on the main street that is pretty much a pedestrian zone. If the weather is as good as last night it will be a wonderful paseggiata.

Lecce Duomo

The Roman Amphitheatre in Lecce

Our kitchen ceiling in Lecce

Our apartment in Lecce