Just re read my last blog. Sorry about all of the mistakes, misspellings, punctuation and capitalization errors. It is a mess. Can't seem to catch the errors as I am writing, so reading will be a bit of a translation process. Sorry.

Getting used to my little iPad

Later.....

Arriving in Rome

First order of business. A call out to gene and gene sr and Gloria for getting penny and I here. We loved the first class treatment with delta even if we were flying to different destinations:)  penny had a flawless flight over arriving in Rome as. Planned my trip was quite a bit more challenging because of a disabled plane in lax that shifted all those paying customers to every other New York flight and pushed me to grab a cab and head to OC to fly to Atlanta. Long story,  not sure a want to record it for the future. Then Atlanta to Barcelona got me close and a little flight with Vueling got me to Rome an hour after penny. However, the infamous assumptions. Got us booth in trouble. Penny assumed is would have to go through security when I arrived, wrong, I went through security in Barcelona. Thus i was at baggage claim 10 she was at 7. And I assumed she would have to exit the baggage claim in order to find out where my flight was going to land ( there are three terminals) but she got info from delta staff So didn't need  to leave security.  So she was inside and I was 100 feet away on the outside and it  wasn't until 3 hours later that we finally connected. All electronic systems of communication failed us. We had a few more things that happened throwing stones In our path but in the end we found each other got the train and settled in our lovely little oasis away from the busy streets of Rome. We began our adventure with a pizza and wine dinner and hot showers. Then exausted with the travel day, we went to bed. Now it is 3 am and I am having the predictable difficulty sleeping. So my little iPad is keeping me entertained with the Kylie at the zoo photos and now this silent conversation with all of you. We have a bit of a Rome plan for tomorrow but with the pope doing a special service. We are avoiding the Vatican tomorrow. Sticking to the ancient sites. Our location is pretty idea, thanks Rick. We have a grocery store across the street and the bus station also a Ross the street, so we have breakfast and lunch in our litte frig and will catch a bus tour in the morning and get an overview of Rome. Still cant believe we made it on our first try. Thanks again gene for suspending your day figuring out how to get me here. I owe you big time.  Penny and I are having lots of laughs.

Love to all, back to bed.

Carol

Hi this is Gene. I am testing Carols new iPad. These are pics she took on her on her new iPad. I had to upload them to picasa web albums and then choose them for the blog. Hopefully she will do that in Europe.

Walking, writing and wine-ing 2013

Penny and I complete our final preparations. We leave early Monday morning and arrive (we hope) in Rome on Tuesday. Our 4-week trek is nearly all planned, leaving a wide margin between where we are going and how we will get there. Neither of us had the space in our lives to do a thorough planning, so we will enjoy the leisure pace and hope to do lots of walking, writing and tasting along the way.

I hope to post on this site a few times as we travel, but I refuse to commit to a daily entry. This trip is for reflection, taking in the scenery and edging away from the race against time that we find ourselves.  It has been quite some time that I have felt the need for a retreat, and the beginning is only a few hours away.  I have books to read and write, boots to soil, and a picnic set in my suitcase that I hope will see many sunny days and hunks of cheese.

I will miss Kylie terribly, sorry, she is the only family member that will make profound changes in one month. And I will be keeping a close eye on the Johnson blog.

Back real soon,

Carol

Walking, wineing and writing 2013

Testing from phone. 9 days before departure.

Walking, wineing and writing 2013

Testing from laptop, 9 days before departure. Reread the "things I learned from my last trip" and yes, I am repeating most of them this trip. Why is it so hard to change habits?