Greetings from Dubai

February 14, 2023 We flew out of Detroit Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. on what we knew would be an arduous two day journey to Dubai, United Arab Emirates that included 13 hours of flying, a 5 hour lay over in Paris, across 9 different time zones arriving in Dubai at 11:30 p.m. on Wednesday. There was actually one highlight to the two flights we were on. Many of you know that Paris is one of our favorite cities in the world. We don't feel like we are in Paris until we see the Eiffel Tower. As we were landing in Paris at 7:30 a.m. Paris was shrouded in a light fog but there rising elegently above the fog was the Eiffel Tower. We were excited. Thursday morning while Lynda was preparing for the day Tim went to the rooftop of our hotel, the Canopy by Hilton Al Seef, to get his first daylight view of the Dubai sky line. We knew it was going to be spectacular and Tim was not disappointed. The first order of business was meeting with rest of our tour party. This tour is run by AHI which also ran the wonderful tour that we took to South Africa. That trip was nearly all MSU grads. This tour is a mixed bag with grads from the University of Michigan, Notre Dame, University of Chicago, University of Missouri, University of Chicago, Iowa State University, Stanford University and San Diego State University. Everyone introduced themselves, there are 21 of us, and our tour director outlined some basic protocals that we are to follow during the entire tour. After this meeting we headed for the first stop of Thursday's itinerary. At this point a brief history lesson is in order. The United Arab Emirates did not come into existence until 1971. Before 1971 the land that became the U.A.E was mostly inhabited by bedouins who lived a nomadic exsistence in the desert. Dubai and Abu Dhabi were nothing more then fishing villages. Everything changed in the late 1960's when oil was discovered. After this discovery the sheiks of 7 tribes/emirates met to form a new nation and government knowing this was the only way they could peaceful exist together. Fortunately they elected Shiek Zayed bin Al Nahyan as the first president/prime minister. He was a visionary who deftly led the 7 Emirates through the difficult job of forming this new nation, investing oil revenue into healthcare, education and infrastructure. Dubai had gained some prosperity in the early 1900 hundreds with a thriving pearl industry. When the Japanese came up with a way to make cultured pearls the rug was pulled out from under the Dubai pearl industry. Today Dubai's main industry is business and tourism. During the 2000's Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum has been responsible for the rapid expansion of Dubai. Archtects have been given free reign in Dubai resulting in the amazing skyline mentioned earlier. All of this history means that there is an old section to Dubai and a new section. Thursday was our day in the old section. The Dubai Creek seperates the two sections. We first visited an area along the river where the style of the old Dubia was recreated. This recreation included a display of what a typical Bedouin campsite would have looked like. From here we were bused to the Dubai History Museum where we saw a well produced film of the development of Dubai from its very humble origins to the amazing city that it is today. We also saw interesting exibits of historical artifacts. Our next stop was the Center for Cultural Understanding. This is where we had lunch and had a Q&A session with a young Islamic women. Our private dining room had no table. An open area had a large rug in the middle with all the food layed out for our buffet. We were asked to take off our shoes and sit on the pillows surrounding the rug. Our guest speaker was intrducted and she took us through a typical dinner that her family would host in their home. We were served a small cup of arabian coffee, a much lighter coffee then we usually drink. This was followed by each of us being given a date. This is the traditional welcome. She then described each of the dishes on the buffet, all of it traditional Arab fare. Our children and grandchildren would have enjoyed watching us trying to fill our plates from serving dishes sitting on the floor. After our wonderful meal she talked briefly about her culture including the woman's place in an Islamic family. That was followed by the Q&A session. Interestingly most of the questions were asked by the women in our group, asking further questions of our guest about the treatment of women and her personal views. Our guest was very open and honest in her responses and showed no resentment in regard to this issue. Nor did she dodge any questions. It was a calm, open discussion about how women are treated in two very different cultures. Quite refreshing for a change. Our finally stop was to take water taxiss across the Dubai Creek where we visited spice and gold souks and then were given free time to wander about the souks. Lynda bought a beautiful pashmina after bargaining the clerk down from his initial asking price of 185 dirhams to 70 dirhams. Our granddaughter Jocey would have been proud. We also walked through a utensils souk. We were a bit disappointed as it was mostly cookware and utensils much we use now. We were looking for something that reflected the Middle Eastern culture. Thursday evening we had a welcoming banquet in the hotel which featured a set menu served familiy style. It was all Spanish cuisine, the seafood paella probably being the highlight of the meal. The true highlight of the evening was getting to know our fellow travelers. Friday was devoted to the new Dubai. Our first stop was the Palace of the President of the Emirate of Dubai. We are sure it was quite palacial inside because all we saw was the spectacular entrance where we had a group picture taken. Our next stop was at "The Dubai Frame",a structure built for the 2020 World Expo. It literally looks like a picture frame standing up. It is 492 feet high and 311 feet wide. The entire frame is covered with 3500 square yards of gold plating. Two sides of the frame contain elevators, one side up and the other down. The top of the frame is an observation deck. Down the middle of the deck is glass thick enough to walk on that shows the ground below. We both did walk on the glass although we were a bit timid at first. Obviously, the views from the observation deck were spectacular. From "The Frame" we took a 2 hour panoramic bus ride along the coast of the Arabian Sea. It was an interesting drive seeing many different businesses and enjoying the different type of archetecture. We stopped at a public beach where we could take pictures of the Burj Al Arab Jermeirah Hotel. This hotel is shaped like a sail and is probably one of the most expensive to stay in in the world. It is built 200 meters off of the coast. At the top on one side is a heliport and n the other is a restaurant that sticks out of hotel like a folded newspaper. It really is quite stunniing. Further down the coast we came to The Palm. This is an island that was manmade; the road that goes over the causeway and through the middle of the island is the trunk of the Palm tree. The roads that go off this road are the fronds of the Palm tree. At the top of the trunk is the Atlantis Hotel that we are sure you have seen pictures of. The hotels and homes on the island scream money. From The Palm we drove back to the Grand Sheraton Hotel Dubai for an over the top buffet lunch. There were stations for Chinese, Indian, and Italian food plus a carving station with chicken and salmon. The bread station was fabulous. Unfortunately, the dessert station was just so so. After dinner the scheduled stop was the Dubai Mall which contains over 1000 stores. We are not mall people so we got permission to leave the tour and booked a trip to the top of the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. Burj is Arabic for tower and Khalifa is a famous Emirati sheikh. In addition to being the tallest building in the world, 2,716.5 feet, it is the tallest free standing structure, has the highest number of floors, the highest obsevation deck and the tallest elevator in the world. There are two observation decks, one at the 124th floor and the other at the 169th floor. We opted for the 124th deck. We didn't think the view be much better 45 stories higher plus it was more expensive. The 125th floor has windows completely around the building plus a gift shop. The views were unbelievable. Buildings that looked so tall from ground level were dwarfed by the Burj Khalifa. There was a winding stairs that took us to the 124th floor where there was an outside terrace on one side of the building. There was a railing plus a very high glass wall that keep us from tumbling to the street below. It was an amazing experience. The Dubai Fountain was right next to the Burj and was advertised as a spectacular dancing fountain show with music. We found a bar with an excellent view of the fountain for a drink while we watched the show. What a disappointment. It lasted two minutes. The fountain show at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas is way better. After the brief show we took a cab and turned in for the night, both of us too tired to do anything else. . Saturday was a free day so we relaxed, had a late breakfast before taking a cab to The Miracle Garden. This garden was unlike a Botanical Garden where the flowers are all growing like they would in your garden and all properly identified. When we first entered we were greeted by two gigantic topiary's green plants in the shape of horse's heads. There was a peacock hanging off of the neck of each horse with it's tail featheres, completely done in flowers, hanging to the ground. There were also two larger then life Elephant topiarys and an actual Emirates Airlines plane also covered in flowers. Like everything else in Dubai, it was over the top. The colors were breathtaking. We took a cab back to the hotel where one of us is relaxing while the other is composing this blog. Tonight we take our bus out into the desert for dinner and a belly dancing display.

Florida - January 18, 2003 - January 29, 2003

We spent the 18th and 19th driving as far as Gainesville, Florida, overnighting on the 18th in Knoxville, Tennessee. On the 20th we made the short drive to Palmetto, Florida where Lynda's brother, Gerry, and his wife Cathy reside. While visiting Gerry and Cathy that weekend we stayed in a nearby Airbnb. Actually we had a room in a lovely house in a gated community not far from the Brown's. While there we also had dinner with Ryan and Anna and the kids, Olivia and Austin. Sunday, the 20th we caravaned with the Browns to Bonita Springs where Lynda and Gerry's cousin, Karen Hubert and her husband, Butch live. We visited for an hour in their high rise condo and then had a wonderful buffet brunch at the clubhouse in their gated community. After lunch we drove across Florida to Singer Island, near Palm Beach. Our friends, Lyn and Don Johnson, invited us to join them at their time share condo. We spent the week with them. Their time share was part of a vacation condo run by Marriott. We participated in Bingo (Tim won the Grand Championship!), trivia and a wine tasting and cheese party. Much time was spent playing Wizard (Tim was the Grand Loser!) and just generally sitting around visiting and drinking. We did take a drive into Palm Beach one day. Two highlights of the trip were driving by the iconic Breakers Hotel and driving by Mar-a-Logo, former President Trumps compound. The main entrance was blocked by a SUV with an armed Secret Service agent along side. Not very welcoming. While with the Johnson's we celebrated our 54th Wedding Anniversary. We also called Jilayne who was with Rob in Aruba celebrating her **th birthday. We left Florida on Saturday, January 28 for home. Overnight was spent in Ashville, NC and we arrived home on Sunday evening. We had a great time on a much needed vacation. The weather was good; temperatures mostly in the 70's. The only bad weather was Sunday coming home. It pretty much rained constantly from Ashville to Toledo. Unfortunately, we were greeted at home by six inches of snow and temps in the 20's. Oh well. We will always have memories of a nice time in Florida.

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

Buon Giorgno from Bari, Italy

Bari, Italy, September 29 We are now luzuriating in the lovely city of Bari, located on the Adriatic coast at the top of the heel of Italy. We left Mason Tuesday morning, the 27th, on what turned out to be the most exhausting two days of travel in our memory. We were booked on a 2:05 p.m. flight on the 27th from Detroit to Atlanta with an overnight flight from Atlanta to Rome that would arrive a 11:00 a.m. Wednesday morning. Our plan was to arrive at Detroit Metro at noon. Our usual plan was to take the Michigan Flyer, a bus service from East Lansing to the airport. Unfortunately, to be at Metro at noon we needed to take the 9:15 bus from East Lansing. We were enjoying lunch around noon at the airport when we received notification on our cell phones that the Atlanta flight had been delayed by 30 minutes, only a minor nuisance at the time. However, 15 minutes later we received another notification that our flight had been canceled and Delta was in the process of rebooking us on later flight that would result in our missing the flight to Rome. The ever resourceful Lynda immediately got on her cell phone and rebooked us on a Delta flight departing Metro at 3:00 but would route us through Amsterdam and then on to Rome. Additionally this would get us to Rome at 9:30 instead of 11:00. Good news. We arrived in Amsterdam on time but encountered our first problem when we deplaned and discovered that our arrival gate was as far away from our departure gate as possible. Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport is one of the largest airports in the world consisting of 5 different terminals. It was a very long walk that included passing through passport control. Those experienced travelers reading this know that you can sleep during a 7 hour flight but it is not a particularly restful sleep. Your body, particularly old bodies like ours, are not prepared for the grueling traversing of an airport especially at 5:00 in the morning. Our 7:15 flight to Rome was on time and blah, just the way you like plane travel. Kudos to Delta Airlines because despite the change in itinerary our checked luggage arrived with us in Rome. We purchased our train tickets at the airport for the shuttle train into Rome and then the train to Bari. We had another hour and half layover at the train station in Rome before we left for Bari. In spite of our train being delayed by 30 minutes it was a smooth ride, albeit 4 hours, to Bari. Traveling by train all over Europe we have found to be an enjoyable experience... but not after 9 hours of flying and 6 hours of sitting in airports and train terminals. The next hiccup in our plan was our inability to get on the wifi on the train. We are pretty sure it was not our fault but poor wifi. Consequently, we were unable to communicate with the hostess of our Airbnb regarding our arrival time. As our apartment was only 4 blocks from the station we walked, only having to stop twice to ask(confirm!) that we were headed in the right direction. Still not sure how to contact our hostess, we fortunately arrived at the same time as a young couple who were residents in the same building. Bringing this long tale of woe to a merciful end, 20 minutes later we were finally in our apartment at 7:00 Wednesday night. We had spent almost 30 hours traveling. The evening did have a happy ending. We ate at an upscale pizzaria where we had a very friendly waiter. Italian pizza is much different from the excellent american pizza. We love it. Pizza, wine and a beautiful evening in Italy. Who can ask for more. This morning, Thursday, we did not stir from bed until 11:00. That is how tired we both were from 2 days of traveling. It is a 4 block walk to Bari Vecchia, the old town of Bari. We found a deli just at the entrance to old town. We had calzone type dishes with a glass of wine sitting outside. Heaven! We started to walk about old town but quickly discovered we were both too exhausted to do much exploring so returned to the apartment. We were so tired we had to stop half way back for another glass of wine. Once back to the apartment we both napped. We won't bore you with details but we had another wonderful meal tonight. One of our great joys in traveling is sampling local cuisine. Like the United States each region of Italy has its own particular cuisine. This is true of pasta as well. We are in the region of Puglia and this region specializes in orecchiette, also known as "little ear" because its shape somewhat resembles a, well, little ear. It is a small, round cup shaped pasta not often seen in the States. We memtion this because we went back to Bari Veccia this morning (Friday). Our first stop was Strada Arco Basso, a street that is not much wider then 5 yards. On a short section of this street women set at tables making the orrecchiette. The women roll the pasta into a solid tube then, useing a paring knife, slice a small section of dough off of the tube and with a quick flick of the wrist form the iconic shape of the orrecchiette. They are so fast at this process that it almost seems like a slight of hand. The street was overflowing with tourists mesmerized by the speed with which these women produced the distinctive shape of this particular pasta. We both have tried this pasta since arriving in Bari and have made two observations. 1. The cup like shape of orecchiette allows it to hold a bit more of the sauce that is put on the pasta. 2. Because it is a thicker pasta in comparision to noodles (spaghetti, fettucini, etc.) it has a different consistency, slightly chewy. We've both enjoyed the orecchiette dishes we have eaten. Our next stop was the Bari Cathedral. Compared to the many other Cathedrals we have visited in Europe this cathedral was quite plain. There was very little ornamentation in the design of the church and not much art work hung on the walls. Archetecturally, its most distinctive feature was its ceiling. We believe it is the original timber roof. From the Bari Cathedral we walked along another narrow street that consisted mostly of souvenier shops. Our destination was the Basilica of St. Nicola. Some believe that St. Nicola was the inspiration for Santa Claus. The Basilica was a bit fancier then the Cathedral, its most notable feature being the ornately painted ceiling. We were surprised when we entered the Basilica to find a wedding taking place. With time to kill before our luncheon reservations we discreetly sat at the back of the church and enjoyed the nuptuals of Daniella and Francesca. We were fascinated to watch tourists and tour groups visit the Basilica as if there was no wedding occuring. Not having an invitation to the wedding reception we went to the Osteria dei Arpie for lunch. Before our trip we happened onto a TV series on Amazon Prime entitled "A Taste of Italy". This restaurant was featured in one of the episodes. When we told the hostess this she became very excited and immediately yelled at the owner to come over to our table. The owner knew of the the visit by the TV program but was still thrilled to have a couple from the U.S. visit the restaurant because of seeing it on American television. Our meal lived up to the TV hype. Most all Italian shops close from 1:30 to 3:30 for siesta time so when we left the restaurant the streets were virtually deserted. We decided to join the rest in Bari in taking a nap. Tonight Tim will bring back some bruschetta from a nearby restaurant which we will enjoy on our balcony with a bottle of wine. Ciao.