Found a new blog you just haveta read......

You gotta check out this new blog

And don't forget to bookmark it so you don't have to keep asking all your friends for it.

See ya on the other side.

Kuhn Jerry

Home at last, thank God we are Home at Last

We arrived safe and sound at Pearson International on Sunday evening. The three of us had to stop ourselves from breaking into song and dance we were so happy.
Wow, it is delightful to finally be home.

Our jubilant airport experience had to be tempered of course. We had to get through customs! Because we had to tick the box at the bottom of the entry form that indicates we have goods to follow, stuff that is not accompanying us through customs.
Now I have been through Customs a hundred times if I have been through once. But a couple of things were different this time.

1. We had goods arriving later that had to be declared
2. We had 25 liters of wine with us.

When you exit the baggage area and hand your form to the customs agent sitting on a chair you always get waved right on through. Unless of course you are returning from Jamaica and seem to be walking sideways, if you know what I mean.
But we are a family returning from a whirlwind world tour style vacation. No Jamaica I might add, although Curacao is very close to Colombia!! In any event we were met by a very nice young fellow who started joking with us right away. THANK YOU! We went about our business nicely as we watched a chap next to us. The complete contents of his suitcase was stacked on a table. The suitcase itself only a shell of what it used to be. And we could here him making his case, "She never tellin me dat it was ok man, she just saying dis be all da stuff you be needin when you get to da Big Smoke man."

He looked to be begging for his life. And all ya got is fear. I think everyone has been there. It might not be the customs man. Hopefully not, ever. Most likely a shop clerk or store manager askin ya "So tell me, how did that package of Juicy Fruit make it off the rack and into your pocket then. Jump or just walk?"
And all you could do was stare and try to swallow. Yikes. But he be lookin at some hard time now man. No thank you. How stupid do you have to be.
A word to the wise here kids, Stay in school.

So we cleared the hurdles with the accompanying items. Only need to go and claim the contents when the sea container arrives in T.O. by train from Vancouver. Scheduled to be this Friday. Can't wait for a number of items in that shipment, least of which my golf clubs. Need em real soon. Please, please.
Oh and one little item to also mention about customs. We were such an engaging family, telling little jokes and the customs guy threatening to empty our suitcases like the table next door. He seemed to have missed the wine noted on the form and stacked high on our cart.
But I have to be careful what I say here cause with Stephen Harper at the helm you never know who is watching.

Our next adventures will be many.
With our many friends and family.
We have already received a large number of requests and invitations to hither and yaw.  We hope to honour them all and a few more that we have put on ourselves as well.

Now is the $64 question. What happens to the blog?

Well there are plans to copy and publish in hardback and then paperback, syndication to an adventure tv series staring the rugged adventurer himself. But all of that is in the future. For the present the blog will sleep. It may wake up one day, you never know. But me thinks it is time to say goodnight.

I want to thank all my followers for the encouragement. The comments. Barb and Steve probably published as many comments as I did blogs. Thanks.


A total of 120 posts not counting this one. Over 5,500 page views in the eighteen months I have been on the interweb. It is humbling, gratifying and most of all it has been fun.
Thanks for the idea, the support, for reading.
Keep your stick on the ice. Go Habs.
Jerry

Westward ho!

Hi y'all. We are now in the same time zone as most of our readers. Officially in AST. Which is the same time as EDT. So I get to watch the games at 7:30 pm. It's been two years since I have done that.
Deeds is off at work today and I just spent a couple of hours at the pool. Read, splash, read, splash, splash, splash, read. Hehehe. Some things are the same no matter where in the world you are.
Lena arrives tomorrow afternoon. She took a few extra days backpacking around Italy. Finished off in Venizia and is actually flying from there, thru Amsterdam to Curacao on Saturday. She doesn't know it but is booked into a business class seat in the upper deck of a 747. A very cool experience.

Of course Deeds and I could not make it here as planned. What else is new. We left Panzano in Chianti on Wednesday at 4 am to catch our 7 am flight. We were up at 3:15. We had a rental car to return which was enough to give both of us anxiety never mind the fact that we also had 25 litres of wine to check as baggage that we weren't totally sure was going to be accepted as is. So anxiety was high. My expert navigational skills got us from Panzano to Florence without incident. However, we did get a little lost right outside the airport looking for the rental return. Was as confusing as hell. We stopped and asked a friendly sort at a gas station within view of the control tower of the Peretola Airport. "Shoora, isa no trawble for you. You only hava to driva into da aeroporto. Isa righta dare ona da lefta side." Uhh, no. We picked this car up just 6 days ago and the cab driver told us it had moved. Is no longer on the grounds of the airport. You now take a shuttle to get back to the airport after you drop the car off. So it is on a different road and we can't quiet figure out were it is".
He flipped. "I finda outta for you." Into the espresso shop he went. Yelled over top of customers waiting in line for their morning fix. A great exchange took place. Many customers chimed in, an argument was eminent until a guy with a uniform of some kind said. "Hesa right (hesa being me). They mova".
More discussion ensued. Finally the barista set him straight. Much pointing and curving of hands. And yelling no, no, no or si, si, si. Finally the guy marches out to the gas pumps and says. "You follow me". And he begins to gesture as you all know Italians do. "Whena you geta to da traffica light, I go righta, butta you needa to follow da roada to da lefta, when it goes a righta you followa da roada again for the righta turn. Isa easy." So we figure what a great guy. He's going to drive us to the drop off.
And off he went, us right behind. The set of lights was only 65 feet from the gas station, he stopped on the right side of the left turn, a kinda round about sorta, and motioned for us to go left. He waved arrivederci and went right. WHAT?
So we went left saw nothing and 30 seconds later were back at the gas station looking at each other like Chip and Dale. Were did all the acorns go?
I can't remember how many times we did this, round and round. And how many times we said to ourselves, "you needa to follow da roada to da left, when it goes a righta you followa da roada" And then finally. Eureka, it dawned on us that there was a road hidden behind the round about somewhere that kinda went straight. So we went again and we did and we saw and we were saved.

We had made it to the airport and began to check in. A story here too. I don't want to say that there are some bad people at check in counters but there are some bad people, sorta odd ducks if you know what I mean, at these check in counters. Lucky for us we had to repack a carry on bag because the wicked witch of AlItalia was playing hard ball with every bag (this is the height of airline stupidity, they make you take some shite out of this bag and put it in your large shoulder bag that we will call a purse, true discrimination here lads, come back and we will reweigh it). Good now it is the correct weight all is well and you can have a boarding pass. Of course when you walk away with your carry on baggage where the beatch can't see you anymore you put it all right back into the wheely bag where it was in the first place. (Sheesh, so stupid). So the repack got us away from this wicked lady and to a lady who was much more lined up with getting us on the airplane. We got our wine safety wrapped cause they didn't like the binder twine and scotch tape job we had done. Imagine? Me and my mom have been sending packages to Saskatchewan on Greyhound buses since time in memoriam and they had the gall to question the pack job? So finally we head to the gate to begin the final phase of our journey home.
But wait.
The airport in Amsterdam was fogged in. We left a half hour late and even after running through Schiphol Airport (one of the largest airports ever) like a couple of idiots we still missed the flight. So Options. 

1. Fly to Madrid and onto New York. Overnight. Next day fly to Miami, 4 hour stop over and on to Curacao. Arrive at approximately 6 pm. Not likely folks
2. Fly to Madrid and on to Caracas. Overnight. Next day fly into Curacao arrive at 10 am. No fun for us - no thanks
3. Overnight in Amsterdam. It is only 10:30 in the morning when we are presented with this option. Take the same flight out tomorrow morning arrive in Curacao at 1:30 pm.

No brainer. We stayed in Amsterdam. Walked around, took some pics, drank some Heineken, Deeds went to the Anne Frank house, we had a number of great meals on the airlines dime. 

Amsterdam Central Station

The Anne Frank House. Line up went around the corner

Lots and lots of bicycles, everywhere. And the drivers of these bikes are fearless!

A cute little two seater parked up on the side walk, bike path is to the right

A great sleep and arrived here on Thursday. Fresh as a two day old daisy.


So I write this blog, looking out at the Caribbean. Trade winds wafting across the balcony.
Going to be a nice week down here. Then we are home.

 
Thanks for watching, talk soon
Diane, Jerry and soon Lena

Chianti Surprise

Ok so we were actually in Chianti, in a town called Panzano. Actually just 2km outside of this little villlage. And we are loving being here.
Here are some shots of the local terrain and vineyards.

The weather has turned for us. Actually did that in Athens on the 24th of April. Went into the 20's then the next day it was 27. Here in Chianti it is 27 every day now. Temp at night is very much deck weather for Canadians. Maybe going down to 12 or 15. Not too bad if there is no wind. Deeds and I had a bottle of Classico last nite. Was very very nice. So we will continue on our merry way here until we leave on May 2. Oh, did I forget to tell you that we have a little bit of a surprise. Yes the surprise is we are not continuing on in Europe and at this time we are not flying back directly to T.O. from Italy.
Diane has been asked to go and consult on a piece of work for one week in Curacao. So we have decided to end our Italy journey on May 2 and head to Wilemstead, Curacao for a week and a bit. Diane will be doing some work from 7th to the 11th. Rest of the time will be beach and sun. Something we know how to do. At this time Lena plans to join us on May 5.
We told you that we were going to just go with the flow once we had been through the major piece of the return trip and here is the proof. The chance to get to Curacao was just to big of an opportunity for us to refuse. So that is how the balance of our return trip is shaped.
We have scheduled our return to Canada for May 13, Sunday. Might even be considered as a week ahead of schedule. So that is our news I will update with all the pics from Chianti, tell you how much wine we are bringing home, where Lena is and what it looks like in Curacao.
Ciao for now.
Oh, here are a few pictures of the bed and breakfast in Panzano, just to whet your appetite.

Bon appetito

Ciao

More Greece from Chianti

Good afternoon folks. Sorry to put up that last post so late. I had actually forgotten that I had not posted it. Did it in draft and it just sat there waiting for me to click the button. Hahaha. So read fast cause you gotta catch up now.
We are back in Italy, in Chianti. Symbolized by the black rooster. We are in search of some good wine that we can cart back to Canada with us.

First a few more delights from Greece.
Katakolon, Olympia, home of the Olympics.

The gymnasium at Mount Olympia

Yes, this is the place every four years where they light the flame that goes onto the Olympic Games

There was a museum on the site as well, that had many of the statues from the ruins of the ancient city. Some are original dating back to the founding of the city and then showing the Roman influence on Greece. Here are a few that struck me.

From Olympia on to Santorini

Not snow, that is the houses up on the cliffs. Santorini is a rim of a volcano that sunk back into the sea

There goes Lena!

Houses glued to the top of the cliffs. Burrow is your best friend here.

The volcano in the sea, dormant now.

 Next Stop was Mykonos. That's our ride right up there. We decide no tour buses or taxis this time around. We rented this little Suzuki. Was a gas. And Mykonos is a rugged little island that is relatively spread out. No central village with great attraction. The key to this location is renting a little villa close to the sea and just kicking back and relaxing.

Happy Birthday Lena

Rent one of these

Next stop is Athens
The first group of pictures is taken from on top of the Acropolis looking back out over the city. And then some shots of the Acropolis itself .

Enjoy these pics folks.
I will try to update you on our travel status in the next blog. More about Chianti and pics of the surroundings.

Ciao

Our cruise has taken us down the coast of Greece. Corfu, Katakolon (Olympia), Santorini, Mykonos, now into Athens.
We arrived here pretty tired. Kinda late night, Lena's birhtday and all and then we had to pack our bags before we went to sleep because they come to remove then from the passage ways on the ship at 3 am. Then the want you out of the cabin by 8:30 so they can clean up and get ready for the next load of passengers to arrive that afternoon. The traffic into Athens was bad, then we came to the old city or Plaka and there is a demonstration, right down the street where our hotel is. So the driver took 35 minutes to get us around to the back side of the hotel. It still was a four block schlep up the street to find our hotel. And don't forget we packed for a 45 day tour. Each of our big bags checks in at 30 kg. Not fun I will tell you right now.

We did get to see a lot of the little places along the Greek coast. Not for long in each place but still a glance to see what it may be about. And did I mention at any time, either during Italy or here that it was cold. Well it has been. You can see here Deeds let her hair grow out to help with the cool temps.

A lane way in Corfu

Good local beer.

 In Santorini you have to go all the way up to the top of the cliffs to get to the village. Lena decided the way to do it was via burrow. Was actually faster then the cable car that Deeds and I took.

When in Greece you oughta look a little Greek, right? I might have taken it a bit too far here though

It's just like you see in the postcards folks. They white wash all the buildings. But I will tell you that you have to be part billy goat. It is always up and down hill and path.

We ended up in Athens. At the outset we did not know how long we were going to stay here so no further plans had been made. That was perfect. We enjoyed Athens very much and stayed on for another day. Seeing the sites, museums galour. And of course the Acropolis.
Here is some of what we saw in those two days. And a lot of good Greek food. Like gyros, and greek wine and greek yogurt, wow.

 We have hundreds of pics of Acropolis and a favourite site for all of us was anything to do with the Olympics. We went to the original site when we stopped at Katakolon, up to Mount Olympia. In Athens there is the original stadium that held the first Olympics of the modern era, in 1896. This stadium has be refurbished twice over the last century. It holds 66,000 spectators The Panathenaic Stadium. It is an awesome site to walk around as you think about the games held here in 1896!

Yeah we climbed to the top for this pic. 107 rows up. In the 2004 Athens Olympics the Panathenaic Stadium hosted the archery event and the finish to the marathon.

From Athens we flew back to Rome to continue our Italian journey. Lena pulled on her backpack and headed out for a week of hostels and meeting people. Diane and I left Rome that day and headed back to Florence. Spent a night there and rented a car in the morning and headed out into Chianti, looking for a comfortable place and some good wine and food.
That is the symbol of the Chianti wine region you see now at the top of the blog. More to come very soon.
Ciao