Adventures of John and Kim

waking up this morning the clouds had rolled in and it was raining , after another excellent breakfast put on by our hostess we were once again on the road head to Austria first ,again our views of the Alps were obscured by clouds we stopped for lunch at a gasthof (Kim says best one yet) where we ate wiener schnitzel then back on the road .To my surprise I noticed that the rain was turning to sleet checking the outside tempature it was only3 degrees but to our fortune we entered a tunnel but on exiting there was still a little sleet coming down but as we were heading down hill it quickly became rain again ,once reaching the German border we started hitting stau after stau which probably added about 2 hrs to our trip once reaching Hessdorf we decided to call it a day . After checking in we went out to find some supper we chose a Greek restaurant Kim having a Hawaii pizza and me eating curry wurst with fries,.Ahh what a life breakfast in Italy ,lunch in Austria and supper in Germany .

The Little Things - September 22, 2015

Today we started to wind up the little things as we prepare to leave for Frankfurt, Germany tomorrow.

I mailed off the postcards I promised to send.

We then went in search of a flower to take to my grandparents memorial where I said goodbye.

Then we had a lunch and took pictures at the bottom of the hill leading to Stregna. The first town is Postregna, the clearer higher up town is Stregna, and at the top of the mountain is the church bell tower of St. Paulo in Certineg. This is where nonna and nonno is.

We finished with lunch and have spent the rest of the day relaxing.

"Marco"..........."Polo"

After a fitful night and a pre-dawn awakening we endeavored to make it to the station for my first train ride. A quick transfer of trains in Udine found us on our way to Venice.

I was a little worried when there was no water to be seen at the first Venice stop but two stops later the station doors opened upon the Grande Canal.

Our first stop was breakfast. We then proceeded to walk the road less travelled as we took an obscur route where we encountered many University students and few tourists. At this point I wasn't taking pictures thus there will be more pictures to come when John downloads his camera.

After walking a couple of hours we decided an ice cream and beer were in order.

We then endeavored to find San Marco's square while enjoying the sites along the way. Lunchtime arrived and we had covered 1/4 of the city but had not made it to San Marco's yet.

While dining we met a two couples that came from Vancouver and Montreal. It was good to have some English conversation. They took pictures for us. After our energy was replenished we continued on our way to find San Marco's.

We were glad it was off season because the square and its side streets were packed with tourists. Although John had seen it in many a movie it impressed him none the less. We had the pleasure of being serenaded by musicians on the square.

After visiting some shops we took pictures of the "Bridge of Sighs" and then made our way to the wharf to hire a gondola for an hour. The gondolier pointed out many churches, statues, and homes of famous people including Marco Polo. All this while maneuvering traffic jams (who would have thought).

The trip neared its end passing under the "Bridge of Sighs" (Kathie, did you ever see the bridge from this angle?). where John's ego swelled as so many people wanted to take his picture.

After this we toured the city another hour headed back to the train station.

In summation:

Venice: 1/2 hour by car, 5.5 hours on the train, 6.5 hours walking, 21,372 steps (Dave), gondola ride, and no pickpockets Venice was a success.

Sorry Tony, Venice did not smell bad. And John continued to keep his promise of a photo of a new beer every time he sits down to dine.