Beth's Blogs

Howdy All,

John and I were awakened by our alarm at 3:45 a.m. on January 5th. Our suitcases were already closed; we grabbed some coffee to go; our driver arrived promptly at 4:30 a.m. and we were off for our 7:00 a.m. flight to Miami. That was the only nonstop flight from Austin in time to make our departure from Miami.

John made me laugh out loud on the plane. He really, really hates eggs — doesn’t even like to discuss them. So he ordered a charcuterie plate for breakfast…..but it came with two halves of a hard boiled egg perched on the back of his tray. He fixed that the best he could, hiding them behind his cracker wrapper! Cracked me up!!!

And then it was on to our cruise. We were headed to a new cruise line that only began in August, Explora. Their first ship is Explore I and wow is it beautiful! We are headed on an Eastern Caribbean Cruise but one to amazing and different ports. We have been joined by Tomi and Bryan Storey, with whom we have shared lots of travel. We had requested rooms across from each other — instead we are far fore and they are far aft, quite a long way. We don’t visit one another, instead meeting wherever.

The suites were, of course, not ready so we went to have lunch. 

We got settled in our rooms and then we took a goodbye U.S. pic as we left the harbor.

The food on this ship has been truly amazing — the best cruise ship food I have ever had! You are going to see a LOT of pictures of the four of us either drinking or eating. Unfortunately, I poisoned myself on our first day — drinking all day then topping it off with two Bailey’s on the rocks. I haven’t done that in many years. It was fun at the time, but not so much that night later or the next day!!

We then had two days at sea to reach our first port. I think I slept a lot on our first “at sea” day, but I did wander around and take some pictures of the ship.

This is an infinity pool at the back of the ship.

Tomi and I think that chandelier looks like a bunch of HUGE diamond baguettes. It is really gorgeous!!!!!

On Sunday afternoon we watched the Cowboys vs. GreenBay game on John’s phone thanks to YouTube TV. The quietest bar is where we went.

Yes, it was a tiny screen, but it was better than nothing. We had a great time! We went to Sakura for dinner after the game.

On Monday, January 8th, we landed in Aruba — it was my birthday, double 7! It turned out to be fabulous and not so fabulous. It began at breakfast with me opening my card from Allan Hillman. Allan was John’s roommate at Columbia (not Colombia) and a member of the Columbia bridge team. After breakfast we went ashore.

We walked about a block on the main street. The sidewalk was tilted and John had moved the wheels of my scooter to a narrower setting so it could enter our suite. I was going along and, it seemed in slow motion, the bike and I fell over onto the walk. Many tourists and the shopkeepers all came out to help, offering me alcohol (hell no!), then hydrogen peroxide (she talked me into that) – it should have been another hell no! Anyway, many paper towels later with a lot of blood on the sidewalk, I ambled back to the ship with a 2″ x 2″ tear on my right arm. Welcome to Aruba.

Undaunted, we went to the butterfly farm. It was pretty cool!

We did enjoy our Aruba experience in spite of the fall. We enjoyed the French restaurant, Fil Rouge, for dinner. The waiters sang to me after dinner and presented me a special cake — after we had eaten our desserts.

I have no idea what’s wrong with my videos; why they only show half of the picture some of the time! 

Anyway, on to Santa Marta, Colombia, where brother Walt had sent us the name of a birding expert who referred us to an agency in Santa Marta. Sadam, the birding expert, was waiting for us on the dock and then we went on a 1 1/2 hour ride up the mountain. The last half hour on the WORST road ever! We arrived at a building with a long back porch and 3 or 4 hummingbird feeders, which is mostly what we saw — not the experience we were hoping for!

I did have a much better video to include, but it was 13 seconds and WordPress didn’t want to upload it. So it was back down the horrible road and back to the ship….and, later, dinner.

This is enough for now. On to the next stop, Cartagena, Colombia!

Bye for now,

Beth

Back again!

And so is the sun!!! On a side note, the clouds were not the only cause of limited viewing for the prior couple of days — the wildfires in Canada were a main cause. Didn’t know that until on the news.

It was a beautiful day and the Schoodic Peninsula was really special. This is a MUCH less visited part of Acadia that is nearly an hour away. It is not on Mount Desert Island, but on the Maine mainland (pun intended).

We could not believe that it was so different from the rest of the park — or that it was so wonderful. Take a look and see if you agree.

We drove by the building below. John D. Rockefeller, Jr. personally acquired and donated 11,000 acres of forest, shore land and scenic areas to the Park. He also financed, had constructed and then donated the 51 miles of Carriage Paths to the Park, to ensure that the automobile would not undermine its natural beauty and tranquility. Today the paths only are for bikers and hikers. The building is now a science and learning center.

And back to our driving, stopping and photographing.

Lobster traps and buoys below.

And I just thought this was a bizarre house. The back of the house faces the street.

Time for a very late lunch stop. More lobster!

By the way, the high today was 76 degrees, so we ate outside!!!

After an ice cream stop in downtown Bar Harbor, we went back to the room for the Cowboy game and some packing to leave Bar Harbor in the morning.

We drove south backtracking over some of the same areas.

I wanted you to see how much the color had changed over the last couple of days.

We passed a sign that made me laugh out loud. I had to turn around to get the picture. I never saw it four years ago, but think it still applies today…..even if I don’t agree!

We stopped in Belfast for lunch at Nautilus Grill on the water.

And then we drove into Augusta hoping to see a few things. But it was Monday so lots were closed. The state capitol building was a drive-by.

So we proceeded to Manchester to Fielder’s Choice Ice Cream. It was a home run by any standard. Then we went to Maine Cabin Masters headquarters and retail store. To prepare for the trip we had watched a few episodes of Maine Cabin Masters on HGTV.

I had seen Stonewall Kitchens products in lots of shops along our way, much to my amusement as it is from Stonewall, Texas. So I laughed as we drove by their headquarters in Maine!

John drove for awhile and I went on Hotwire to find a stop for the night on our way to Boston. I was looking for a motel, but John picked a resort in Cape Neddick, the Cliff House. It was fabulous!

And the view from our balcony.

We had a drink in the bar pictured above and met a nice couple from Pennsylvania. After chatting some and texting her one of my pictures of the fall foliage, she texted me back telling me that her name was Beth and she would love to get my blog. Figure the odds of that! She is now on the list with all of you :). Maybe we will get close enough to them in PA someday to get in touch.

The sky in the above picture went from blue to pink to light blue. I’m not sure it all comes through in the picture. It was really pretty!

In the morning we walked to the fire pit, ordered some coffees and a carrot cake muffin for me (which I ate that night on the plane) and basked in the sunshine, warmed by the fire and overlooking the ocean. Life was good!!!

We then walked around the property going as far as possible for me on the cliff walk.

And then it was time to start heading south. We had been to Essex in 1997 when our son Campbell graduated from Andover. John remembered that we had liked the clam strips back then but we had been educated on this trip that the whole belly clams were better. So we went back to the same place and ordered one order of each. We still like the clam strips as well — blasphemy!

We moved on to Salem to go to the Salem Witch Museum. It was interesting but no photos allowed inside!

One final note — at the airport John found yet another t-shirt that he wanted. Unfortunately they did not have his size!!!

So long until the next trip,

Beth

Hi Again!

I once heard that the then director of the National Park System was asked what his favorite park was. He answered that Acadia, unequivocally, was the best park! I have wanted to see it ever since then.

However, first we had to drive there…..passing some interesting things along the way. We passed a beautiful bridge.

Then Fort Knox, below the bridge.

Our next stop was for lunch — guess what? LOB-STAH! And it was the freshest, sweetest yet!!!

We passed this sign along the way. Mac-LOUD is what Carla (my sister-in-law) calls my very boisterous family 🙂

We arrived in Bar Harbor on yet another beautiful sunny day. We moved into our room for the next four nights at the Bluenose Inn.

The room was lovely…..but the view from our balcony was amazing!

Click on the video below to play.

We shopped and went by the waterfront on our way to our dinner restaurant — yet another delicious meal!

We awakened on Friday — our day to visit Acadia — and this was the view out the window. WHAAAT????

Actually it was worse when I first got up; I just didn’t take the picture right away!! Where did our sunshine go???

But it was off to Acadia anyway. We did have a lunch reservation in the park.

We went up the Cadillac Mountain Road; the views were wonderful.

We had made reservations for the Jordan Pond House restaurants about six weeks or more before we left and the earliest time we could get was 2:30 pm. The restaurant is famous for its popovers…..so we each had a popover to start, then I had a lobster filled popover and John had a salad and then ordered a dark chocolate fudge over vanilla ice cream filled popover. All were wonderful!!!

We had spent most of the day but had only done a portion of the park. And then it was getting colder and so we headed back to the hotel.

The next morning we headed back to the park to see the remaining portion of the park and then some.

We had downloaded an audio tour for the car when we entered the park and we had listened the day before but now took the normal one-way tour of the park. This side was even more beautiful so I will apologize now for how many pictures are in this blog. (Also, John takes a lot of pictures too….so I have to include some of his as well!). The much enlarged picture above is the Egg Rock Lighthouse — very different from the normal lighthouse — the viewing area and light emerge from the middle of the house!

In honor of Dianne Feinstein…..

It was a long walk down (and back up) so I took pictures from above and John went down to the beach.

Click the picture below to see the video.

John continued on to the Thunder Hole below.

Then out of the park and headed to Northeast Harbor for a quick look, lunch and more views.

And lots of fall foliage; the temperature had been lower the night before.

And that finished our tour of Acadia for that day!

We had a reservation at Gayln’s, probably the nicest restaurant of the trip. It was great and the blueberry apple crisp dessert was amazing!

We had one more day in Bar Harbor but this is enough blog for now.

More later,

Beth

An interesting tidbit about Maine: Dallas Metropolitan Area is approximately six times the population of Maine!!!

When we left Portland we went straight to the L.L. Bean Outlet in Freeport. John did a little shopping.

We continued on to Brunswick and went to the Bowdoin College Campus. Unfortunately, most things were closed since it was Monday, but we liked the campus.

The nearby wooden church was pretty interesting.

In Bath, our next stop, we saw the Marine Maritime Museum and the sculpture of the Wyoming, the longest wooden ship ever.

Inside the museum was a room dedicated to women photographers. I, of course, loved it!

Also, an exhibit of the Bath Iron Works:

We drove through Wiscasset and Damariscotta.

Our last stop of the day was at the Pemaquid Point Lighthouse.

And John’s pic of me taken from the lighthouse.

The Pemaquid Lighthouse is on the Maine quarter.

View of our dinner locale below:

And the bagpipes were played in the late afternoon as the sun got lower.

And after sunset!

In the morning we drove a short way for breakfast at Deb’s Bristol Diner in Bristol.

I didn’t come close to finishing and John ate a little of the blueberry pancakes.

We didn’t buy the sign above but would love to have it on our porch!!

We continued on north toward Rockland but stopped in Cushing to see more of Bernard Langlais whom we had seen earlier on the trip. We really liked his wooden sculptures. A docent at the Cape Ann Museum in Gloucester told us the name, the town & the address of where this was.

And my very favorite — Tricky Dick!

We passed this truck who had been put out to rest, but enshrined for all time!

We stopped at a lobster shack in South Thomason which was written up as having the best lobster roll in Maine…..but they were closed for the season 2 days before we got there! The views were nice though.

John said “Oh, man! I would have so bought that!!!” Maybe…..

We arrived in Rockland and went to the Farnsworth Art Museum. We first went to see the works of Louise Nevelson.

Then we were treated to a large collection of works by Andrew Wyeth. Some were well known, but the large collection was on loan from Japan and had not been shown in the US before. They were works done in and around the area of Cushing, Maine. Here are both ones in the museum’s collection and those on loan from the Japanese collection.

The painting below is Christina’s World, one of Wyeth’s most famous. The house in the background of it is the Olson house where Wyeth lived for some time and was the subject of many of his works.

The following is a photograph of Wyeth and Olson, the owner of the Olson house where Wyeth lived and painted for an extended period. The house is in Cushing and is currently being restored but not yet available for viewing.

There were other fun things:

Grandma Moses:

and Dale Chihuly:

We ended the afternoon with a stop by Rockport Marine Park. By the way, the weather forecast was for lots of rain. So far there was eight days with no rain and mostly bright sunshine and low to mid 70’s in the afternoon. WOW!

We checked into the Camden Riverhouse Hotel for the next two nights. More beautiful weather! And in the hotel lobby there are big glass jars full of candy and in the evenings, there are the fixings for s’mores and a fire just off the lobby where they can be roasted. We did enjoy one each night.

The lighthouse below was way out this jetty.

And just around the corner, more views. I love the Canadian geese basking on the swim island.

We drove into downtown Camden to shop for awhile and then have lunch…..and shop some more! Fun afternoon!

A park downtown had an interesting statue.

Next stop, Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park.

Beth

Portland, Maine was the predominant reason we decided to come to Maine. John’s mom, Mildred (aka Billie) Rosenberg Bromberg was born and raised in Portland. Her dad died when she was about 8 years old. So we decided to come to Portland to learn about her and her ancestry.

After we finished our shopping in Kennebunkport we drove north to Portland. We had to wait a couple of hours until our apartment was ready, but it was worth the wait. We had been upgraded to a 2 bedroom apartment and we used the second bedroom to store stuff…..but it was a nice, large apartment belonging to the Docent’s Collection.

We were tired so we ordered Chinese food delivered. It was nice to sit and watch TV and eat.

In the morning we went to Deering High School from which John’s mom graduated in 1939 as salutatorian of her class. He got her transcript and screen shots of her 1938 and 1939 yearbooks. In her senior year in interscholastic debate she was voted the outstanding speaker in the State of Maine. She graduated Wellesley College as a Wellesley Scholar in 1943, married John’s dad, and spent the balance of her life in Dallas.

Now it was time for a food stop…..or two! More lobster, more clams and some awesome gelato.

John next stopped at the Portland Room in the Portland Public Library while I stayed in the car. He copied info about the Rosenberg family from a bunch of books.

Next we drove by the offices of the Rosenberg Brothers real estate business. (Samuel and Jacob Rosenberg, John’s grandfather and great uncle), 85 Exchange Street.

Okay, that is enough family history for a moment. Since it was another sunny and beautiful day, we had booked passage on a sailing trip on the schooner Windjammer. It was great!

Smaller but similar.

We decided afterward to go check out the home of Samuel and Ida Rosenberg at 50 West Promenade. At first no one answered and John took some pictures. Then I waved down a car getting ready to turn in and it was one of the owners. David Fenton (nee Finkelstein) and partner Kathryn have lived there for 10 years and were thrilled to visit with us; they learned a lot and so did we! Plus they were fun and interesting to talk to.

David was 86, a high school dropout, Brown University magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, a race car driver, owner of Ferrari dealerships. He has a residence in New Zealand, 2 former wives and, by his account, numerous girlfriends. He was an interesting and entertaining guy.

Wonderful sunset as we left!

We went to dinner at High Roller Lobster Company……where we ran into a bride who was having her reception on the back patio!

That finished off a full and fun day! John decided in the morning that he had to go to Standard Bakery……where there was a long line. He waited.

Now it is Saturday, and we then went to the Victoria Mansion. It was built in 1858 to 1860 at a cost of $100,000 for the Robert Morse family, farmers from rural Maine who made a fortune managing hotels in New Orleans and retired in Portland. It is a fabulous and well maintained home.

I couldn’t go upstairs but I took lots of pictures from the iPad furnished to me.

We stopped for lunch at Bite Into Maine located in Allagash Brewery. Yet another lobster roll and a lobster BLT.

We went to see the Portland Museum of Art. It is a lovely, small museum. The first image was on the back door of the restroom; I had seen various versions of this several times in Maine and think it’s interesting that the state is so focused on this — interesting and good!

And the outdoor sculpture garden:

We stopped for one more ice cream. And then picked up salami and cheese to eat in the room.

We did one more bit of research. We had discovered the day before that Samuel had had four homes built together. One for his eldest son Jesse, one for his brother Jacob and one for Jacob’s son Julius. They are in a row with one across the street. The builder was John Burroughs who was a prominent builder of the time.

We had one more day in Portland before heading north. We drove by the old synagogue downtown(which was no longer in use) and then new synagogue in the suburbs hoping maybe we could learn more about John’s maternal grandfather who was instrumental in founding the old synagogue in 1904 — but it was closed. So we took pictures, including one of a hostel next to the old synagogue that amused me.

Our last landmark to visit in Portland was the Portland Head Light. It was bustling with visitors. And it was a beautiful sight on a beautiful afternoon.

One more wonderful and ridiculous clam dinner. And then a photo of the art in the lobby of our building.

On Monday morning we set off for points north.

See you there,

Beth

Howdy!

Welcome to Maine!  Lobster roll and fried clams to share for lunch and 1 ½ pound lobster and lobster roll for us for dinner!  Life is soooo good, but I am getting ahead of myself.

Yesterday, John and I flew to Boston; we got my bike (scooter) immediately up to the jetway, the luggage was already there when we got to Baggage Claim and the rental car came quickly.  We then made the easy drive to Gloucester, MA – all was going GREAT.  However, the phone rang….and we had left our carry-on (with our laptops, medicine, etc.) at the Boston Logan car rental center.  When the call came, we were one mile from our hotel and it was 11:15 pm.  We turned around and drove the 45 minutes back to Boston Logan and then made our way 45 minutes back to Gloucester.  In addition, when we called the hotel to tell them how late we were going to be, they said we didn’t have a reservation.  WHAT????

It turned out that I had made the reservation for 9/20 instead of 9/19.  The front desk guy told us over the phone that they had ONE room left and we could have it….and they kindly cancelled the one for the next night.  We finally got to bed at 2:15 a.m. and had tickets for the next morning at 10:00 a.m.  I did make time for two pics, one looking through our screen.

Things picked up in the morning.  We went to the Cape Ann Museum to see an exhibition of Edward Hopper paintings.  These were all paintings that he made in the Gloucester area.  It was a lovely small museum that was dedicated to the artists from that area.  The Hoppers were different from others I have seen but still interesting to see.  We stopped to look at a great sculpture on the coast dedicated to all those who had died at sea from 1623 to 1923 – a great sculpture!

The above by Hopper.

Our next stop was in Portsmouth, NH.  There is an area of old houses called Strawberry Banke; we didn’t get out and walk around but enjoyed looking at the historic homes.

Our next stop was for lunch in Kittery at Robert’s Maine Grill; we shared a lobster roll and fried whole belly clams – all yummy!  Kittery is home to LOTS of outlet stores, so we looked in a couple but didn’t find anything we had to have.

Onward north to York and the 1876 Cape Neddick Nubble Lighthouse on a rock outcrop in the Atlantic.

Afterward we continued to Ogunquit to the Ogunquit Museum of American Art; it was a very interesting museum.  We especially enjoyed the sculptures on the grounds.  

Afterward we stopped into one of the most photographed and visited places in Maine – Perkins Cove.  Let me tell you; it is NOT undiscovered.  The place was teeming with people.  By the way, the day was full sunshine, low 70’s and beautiful!  People were walking around or sitting and watching the surf.

We kept going and ended up in Kennebunkport at the Breakwater Inn and Spa in a truly lovely room on the ground floor (no elevator – so they guaranteed ground floor).  We had a wonderful back porch with Adirondack chairs looking at the junction of the Kennebunk River and Atlantic Ocean.  We sat on the porch and enjoyed the late afternoon sun on the water and the sunset – we had earned a rest!!!

 

We ended the day with dinner at Nunan’s Lobster Hut which has been around since 1953.  It was absolutely fabulous.  I had a 1 ½ pound lobster caught nearby earlier that day (which I shared) and John ordered another lobster roll.  We topped it off with homemade blueberry pie a la mode.  WOW!  What a decadent day….….with plans for lots more lobster to come!

We were lazy finally the next morning, awakening whenever it happened. Our first move was to go look at the Walker’s Point Estate, otherwise known as the Bush Compound, the summer home of George H. W. Bush.

We decided to do some shopping in Kennebunkport. We had a bunch of luck and landed a parking place right in the middle of all the shopping area. Then we walked around for a couple of hours…..ending with lunch at Ben & Jerry’s — more decadence!

And my favorite spotting amid all the Bush/Reagan/Cheney goodies in the shops!

And I thought the sign below was reserved for B & J, Beth and John — no, Ben & Jerry!

We then drove through Kennebunk and our favorite sight there was the Wedding Cake House.

And then we were off to our next stop…..on the next blog!

Later,

Beth

On August 19th we arrived in Kotor, Montenegro. Actually Kotor is on a deep bay and has been inhabited since antiquity. We docked at Kotor but walked around both there and in Perast. There are LOTS of churches there.

Susan and Jeff walked around town on their own and then decided to hike up to the top of the mountain — no small feat!!!

And back on the ship John shows the wall of the elevator with our floor selected

On our next to last day of sailing we stopped at another town in which I have spent time in 2005 — Split. Our guide absolutely made it come alive, It is the home of the palace of Diocletian. It was built at the beginning of the 4th century.

The Unesco Symbol

You can tell that I really enjoyed the palace. Outside of Diocletian’s Palace, is a statue of Gregory of Nin. He was a medieval bishop, famous for defying the Catholic church in Rome and insisting they introduce the national Croatian language into Catholic services throughout Croatia. (Wikipedia)

Now we had to get back up a few stairs!

We saw a funny carving on the side of an old building. The man is shaking his fist at the woman who is flipping her middle finger back at him!!! That long ago

The next stop was to the museum that housed the art of Ivan Meštrovi, (15 August 1883 – 16 January 1962) He was a sculptor, architect, painter, and writer. He was adopted at age nine by a patron that recognized his genius from early wood carvings. He studied with Auguste Rodin in Paris and became a prominent modern sculptor. He later in life taught at Notre Dame.

Mastrovi designed his own home with 2 wings-one for his wife and one for the mother of his children. He divorced his first wife because she couldn’t give him an heir and married his second wife. After his death, his home became a museum.

Some of his works are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Here is a sampling.

We were then taken on a boat cruise through mountainous and wooded areas to a restaurant featuring all local food. Let’s just say the food was interesting….

It was hot, hot, hot…..and very humid — can you tell by looking at me?

That night we gathered for drinks in their interesting bar, the Salt Lab. There was an entire menu of interesting alcoholic creations….and a few non-alcoholic ones that they created for John.

Our last stop was in the town of Rovinj, Croatia. We were tired of guided tours and so opted just to take the shuttle from the ship to the town and to walk around and shop some. Amazingly, I only bought some walking shoes and a purse — NO trinkets. Susan and Jeff opted to take a swim in the Adriatic off of the rocks at the point of the town.

I have to give Susan credit for most of the pictures above. We were too lazy and hot to take a lot of pictures. Wouldn’t you know we escape the Texas heat only to get to Croatia in a heat wave with higher humidity as well.

Anyway, back on board we cleaned up and headed back to our favorite bar before dinner. The bartender there was so much fun to watch; he really put on a show all the time while making drinks!

And that was the end of our cruise. In the morning we were in the van and headed to Italy.

That’s all folks!

Beth

Another trip — this time with Susan and Jeff — cruising from Venice down to Dubrovnik and back….then three days in Italy.

We flew from Austin to London to Venice and didn’t even go into the city — straight to the ship, Silversea’s brand new ship, SilverNova. It is the premier cruise for this ship, so it’s shiny and new. We splurged for a larger room to accommodate the occasional visits from the Crumpleys…..at least that was my excuse 🙂

Our first stop was at Piran, Slovenia. Then we had a bus ride to the capital of the country — Ljubljana. That’s pronounced l00-blee-ana — we had no idea. It is famous for its triple bridge; however, absent an elevated vantage point, I was unable to get a great picture. Ljubljana is Slovenia’s largest city. It is home to a large university. The city center is pedestrian only.

Time for a cocktail! And dinner…..

The next day we arrived at Zadar, Croatia. It is the oldest continuously inhabited city in Croatia. It, like all of this area, has been under the rule of many countries:

We walked around the center of the old town and saw the church, baptistry and tower.

The we learned that the area was well known for its salt flats. John posed scraping the salt.

And we finished up with a lovely wine tasting and some food.

And we were back to the dock.

Susan and Jeff finished the night with some c0cktails. Susan ordered one that was a surprise!

The next morning brought us to Dubrovnik — an exciting stop, but one I had been to before. Only this time there would no longer be a wall climb for me…just for the others! I did ride around in the city.

The Spanish Steps of Dubrovnik…..not of Rome! Also, a familiar site for Game of Thrones devotees.

Meanwhile, pictures from on top of the wall around the city.

John was walking by himself (since I had left) on the walls at the top of the city and ran into Susan and Jeff headed the other way….so he turned around and joined them.

We dressed up a little more for dinner that night.

This seems like a good time to end this blog and move onto the next.

See you soon,

Beth

As I said, this was an exciting day — at least for the other three.

On our way to Maranello, Italy (home of the Ferrari factory), we drove by a Calatrava designed train station and bridge.

The others began the day test driving a Ferrari 488 spider convertible, each for ten minutes with a “co-pilot” assisting them. THEY LOVED IT!!!

Next we visited the Ferrari Museum a short walk away, some still supercharged with adrenaline. Lots more cars and information about Ferrari — great!

The Ferrari cafe had a great lunch. And it was quick and easy, so we stopped into it before proceeding to the Galleria nazionale di Parma. First stop was in the Library.

Next we went into the Farnese Theatre.

And into the art gallery area…..

And back to the hotel for me. The rest ventured onward.

John, Susan and Jeff went to a rural salumeria (a facility where various cuts of meat from pigs are cut and cured) and containing a Michelin-starred restaurant. Following a tour of the facility and living quarters we had a tasting of cured ham and salami with wine on the patio of the restaurant.

Meanwhile, I sat in the room and worked on pictures and this blog. Then we went to the neighborhood restaurant for yet some more pasta. This part of Italy is known for its food!

Next morning we slept in and were ready to take off at 10:00 a.m. — a nice late start for a change! We went back to Parma to see its spectacular cathedral. So beautiful!!!

And the Baptistry into which we did not go. There is a legend that if you enter the Baptistry before graduating from the University, you will not graduate. Our driver, Paolo, told us that his sister never entered it while in school 🙂

The next stop was the Palace Te in the town of Mantua (also known as Mantova). It was the palace of the Gonzaga family and it is yet another quite beautiful building. Each room around the perimeter of the main structure was decorated by a different artist during the period 1527 to 1532-one more spectacular than the next.

And the most spectacular room — every inch covered in murals, The Kingdom of the Giants.

Back in the car we drove to Al Re del Tortellino, The King of Tortellini. It was all excellent. Paolo knew the restaurant from his sister’s husband. Many consider it the best tortellini in all of Italy. We certainly thought so-lovely place, great service and food in a charming small village outside Mantova.

And off to another small and beautiful little town, Borghetto, for some world-class gelato.

And then off to the Venice Marriott Courtyard adjacent to the Venice Marco Polo Airport for a short night followed by an early short shuttle before our early flight home via London Heathrow.

An exciting last 3 days following our seven day cruise to four of the six former countries comprising Yugoslavia since 1991-Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro and Bosnia.

Thanks all,

Beth

Well, since I lost everything I had added to my blog while on the ship, I decided to do it backwards…..meaning this is the last three days of our adventure. Once we disembarked from the ship we met Paolo, our driver, with his Mercedes van for a two plus hour trip from Venice to this area of Italy.

Our first stop was to find our about the creation of Parmesan Reggiano cheese.

Our guide explained the process to us. There are four different types of cows used in making Parmesan; this factory has Holstein cows. The label on the wheel has lots of meanings: date created, where, etc. The vats after that go two feet below the surface and are used to mix the ingredients — milk and salt. And then the cheese is placed in containers in the third picture that are containing a ring that has all the printing on it. The cheese is covered in cloth that is changed every twenty minutes as it becomes wet with the fluid. This is where the milk comes out and the cheese if formed. You can see it bulging out of the top of the circle, then it will become more dense and shrink down.

There is another process where it is submerged in vats, then it is placed in a warming room and finally stacked in a room to age. The second picture with the circular stripes shows the second best cheese and the pale one below that is the unacceptable cheese.

There was a hurricane in 2011 that took out the entire factory and their whole “cheese production.” However, they were able to sell the cheese as “Hurricane Parmesan” so recovered much of their loss.

Lastly, the tasting of the different ages of cheese: 12, 18, 24 and 60 months. All were great!

Then we were off to the Enzo Ferrari Museum in Modena (there is another one in Maranello). There we saw a bunch of the older Ferraris as well as one from 2022. There was lots of information and a beautiful video on the wall of the museum. Great stop!

Our next stop was in the old part of Modena, the duomo and piazza.

Our last stop of a very full day was on top of some mountains at a 300 years’ old building that had been owned by the same family for six generations. They made balsamic vinegar. I was only able to go to the bottom floor but I was able to taste all of the different types of goodness! To be designated “Traditional” the balsamic vinegar must be aged either 12 years or 25 years in multiple different types and sizes of wood casks. Without that designation it can be aged for only a short period and sells for a fraction of the cost of “Traditional.” In the

We were pretty tired now so we headed to Parma. Our hotel named The Cube was in a suburb from Parma. We ordered pizzas which we ate in our rooms and fell into our beds.

The next morning was the exciting day for the other three-but I’m getting ahead of myself and you’ll have to wait.