Monthly Archives: November 2014

Europe 2014 – A Recap – Part One

Every trip regardless of its length requires some nuts and bolts to pull it off, some accounting to figure out how much it cost, and some reflection to put it all into perspective. We’ll do our best to cover all three in the posts to follow. Europe 2014 as is to be expected, took a […]

Europe 2014 – Antwerp – Our Last Day, Full of the Things We Like to Do

Timeline: October 29th – 31st After another fine breakfast we set out on our final full day in Europe, headed for a northern suburb of central Antwerp and the Red Star Line Museum. Opened in September 2013, this new state of the art exhibition shows the other end of the Ellis Island immigration experience. During […]

Europe 2014 – Antwerp – Where Did Those Six Months Go?

Timeline: October 29th – 31st After an easy drive to Antwerp, we ran into heavy traffic on the outskirts of town, then again just a few blocks from our B&B, causing us to give the B&B Alegria a call twice to let them know we’d be delayed. We arrived after dark at their location in […]

Europe 2014 – Montigny – The Last Time We Visit Francois Here, the End of an Era

Timeline: October 25th – 28th Up early for our long drive to Montigny (we’d reconfigured the car the day before, putting the bikes inside) we hit the breakfast room promptly at 7am and filled up for the road ahead. It was still a bit dark out as we backed the car from the narrow space […]

Europe 2014 – Milano – Our Last Night in Italy and the Last Supper, Literally

Timeline: October 23rd – 24th We left late morning for Milano with a three-hour drive ahead of us on toll roads. Starting just before the drive, and then throughout, I was in a foul mood, similar to those experienced from time to time throughout the trip. I think this one was brought on by the […]

Europe 2014 – Florence – Like Returning Home

Timeline: October 21st – 22nd The drive up to Florence took about six hours, but was manageable, as we’d made a reservation at Hotel Anna’s in the center of town, not far from the Basilica of San Lorenzo and the Duomo. That being said, once we arrived, the GPS wanted to send us down what […]

Europe 2014 – Amalfi Coast – Like Cinque Terre, But Different

Timeline: October 19th – 20th With just one day to see the area surrounding the Amalfi Coast, we opted to follow the recommendation of the Steve’s guide and use the bus and ferries to ride up and down the coast between Sorrento and Amalfi. We left camp mid morning and walked a mile or so […]

Europe 2014 – Pompeii – Ancient Ruins and Fast Food Joints

Timeline: October 19th – 20th We cleared out of Camping Village Roma early as we had a nearly three-hour drive ahead of us to get to Pompeii and our tour there. The journey went smoothly, driving on the toll roads at a cost of 15 Euros, and we arrived per the GPS in a crowded […]

Europe 2014 – Roma – We Visit Great a Big Cathedral and Big Ruins

Timeline: October 16th – 18th After we made a quick switch of our units the next morning we departed for town to get to St. Peter’s early. As we walked from the bus stop (didn’t have to use the metro for this leg) we noticed slightly less foot traffic, a good sign, which rewarded us […]

Europe 2014 – Roma – We Visit A Great Big Museum

Timeline: October 16th – 18th The next two days in Rome would be busy ones, with many sites of interest to be explored. We had purchased our tickets in advance for the Vatican Museum, scheduled to enter it at 2:00pm on Friday the 17th. We left for town on the bus and the metro planning […]