Bye Bye Buster

From the moment we brought this puppy home, our lives would never be the same......

Once he arrived, we would never lack for entertainment.  

We could dress him up as a pirate and have him walk the plank,

but he would rather jump.

He liked to hang out with bunnies

and turkeys

and, on occasion, he would even relax with Lily (when she let him)

and sneak in a nap with Marty on a cold Sunday afternoon

as well as relax in the sun with Amy.

We had fun adorning him with antlers

and scarves

although he obviously wasn't too thrilled about wearing them.

He was excited to meet Jack

and they had many a rumble.

And, when Stacey moved to Pittsburgh, he was ready to go along.

But those plans were quickly spoiled.

When the kids moved out, we still celebrated his birthday

and the holidays were always fun.

And when the grandchildren came along, they added to the fun.

Just look at that smile!

He was smart enough to know how to play cards

and he had a fondness for Margo Monkey.

As of late, Buster was an easy traveler, 

and he soon felt quite comfortable with gallivanting himself.

In less than a month, we would have celebrated Buster's 15 years on this earth.

But, it wasn't meant to be.

In the course of these past few days it became quite obvious to us that Buster was ready to leave us to begin a different gallivanting adventure of his own, without us.

So, it is with sorrow that we say good-bye.

He was certainly one fun dog.....and we are lucky to have had him be part of our lives.

Lessons Learned While in Italy

Just for the record, I do realize that I write ridiculously long blog entries on occasion.

Correction:  change "on occasion" to frequently.  But I just want to keep my readers in the loop.  (Perhaps this is why I have so few followers......I'll have to give that some thought.)

But really, don't you want to know the whole story?

Don't feel compelled to answer that question.

In any event, you may find this hard to believe, but there are actually a few items that I refrained from including in my daily posts simply because I ran out of time and energy.

So...I'm going to list a few of them here.

I'd like to entitle them "Lessons Learned"

1.  Jack Russell Terriers have the same attitude no matter where they live.

I'll admit that this isn't the best photo, but part of that is due to the fact that I zoomed in while walking along the walls of Cittadella,  in order to capture this ridiculous behavior. 

Is there anything funnier than watching a Jack Russell Terrier rush from the back of the house, plow through shrubbery, then stop and look up while barking his head off, attempting to let us know that our presence on the wall was not appreciated?  Even though we were nowhere near the property?

Obviously, the temperament of this breed is consistent no matter where they are bred.  And, they appear to be a favorite breed in Italy as well as in Scotland, as we saw many on our travels.

2.  Never presume that a mailbox marked Posta is a government mail slot, even though it may be the only one that you see in a 3 block stretch.

I spent 2 euro on an international stamp, popped it onto a postcard that I had written out, and stuck it in this mail slot.  I hadn't seen any others like it, so I presumed that it was an official mailbox.

I was immediately informed (after I slipped the card through the slot) that this was a private box for mail deliveries.

Lucky for me, the owner of this mailbox must have been kind enough to re-mail my postcard, as it was delivered in just about the same amount of time as the one that I did place in an official box.

It's nice to know that Italians can be helpful when an American can be "stupido"!

3.   Think twice about downloading a GPS app for the phone while in a different country, particularly Great Britain.  

I downloaded the navigation system for Italy while in Scotland.  The end result was  a woman's voice with a British accent who considered rotaries to be roundabouts and gave directions presuming that one was driving on the left hand side of the road.

In otherwords, what would normally be the 3rd exit on the rotary, was "make a left at the first exit" on a roundabout.  Luckily, most of the directions involved staying "straight on" which is the same in either context. 

4.  Be prepared to eat late in Italy.  Restaurants don't begin serving dinner until 8:00 p.m.

I don't know about you....but there have been times when that was darn near my bedtime here at home.

and, finally:

5.  Never presume that Italians speak English, despite being told that English is spoken just about everywhere.  I have not found this to be true in my travels.

It would be like me saying that I speak Italian.  I know just about enough to say good morning, toilet, and "allergic to peppers".  Does that make me fluent in Italian?

I think not.

And so...remember that most Italians speak only limited English.

My advice would be to always bring a pocket dictionary just in case you need to translate.

And.....forget Rick Steve's Italian pocket dictionary.  I looked in the index for "meal" and "gasoline" as well as some other necessary words, only to find them all absent from the listing in the back.

But, if I wanted to say "marijuana" in Italian, I was all set.

I really don't see the value in that.......and if you do.....kindly keep that info to yourself, because I really don't need to know.

Arrividerci!

The Long Way Home

We had arrived in Italy from Scotland, and so we needed to return to Scotland prior to coming home.  The plan was to fly from Milan to Edinburgh, take a taxi to the Bridge Inn, where we had stayed before, and leave in the morning for home.

Since our hotel wasn't too far from the airport, we were able to get an early breakfast prior to leaving.

Once again,  I could sip on my morning Cappuccino and admire the mural while, this time, Marty was memorizing the map.

Do you have the sneaking suspicion that he didn't trust Lassie GPS?

We did manage to make it to the airport without much issue, although Lassie did take us on one obvious circle which could have easily become an infinite loop, but by this time, we were wise to her ways....and there were signs clearly marked after this point, directing us to the airport.

We had quite a wait time, having arrived quite early, and I'm glad that we didn't go to the gate too early since Easy Jet doesn't supply seating in the area of departure.

The flight ended up being delayed an hour, but other than that, it was uneventful.  

Once we landed in Scotland and gathered up our luggage, we took a taxi to the Bridge Inn, and settled in until our morning flight home.

The view from the room was somewhat entertaining as we watched the boats that were floating down the canal being flocked by hungry swans hoping for a handout.

We had a scrumptious dinner in the hotel restaurant where we shared one last dessert

then did some walking to try to burn off at least SOME of those calories!

I must say that I have found Scotland to be an absolutely beautiful country, and the people there have consistently been friendly and welcoming.

Two years ago, I would have NEVER dreamed that I would have had the opportunity to explore so much of this fine land.  It has been an awesome experience for me.

And, I do hope that you have enjoyed following my travels as well.

I don't plan on stopping my gallivanting ways......I just have the feeling that future adventures will be closer to home.  But I'm willing to bet that I'll be able to find SOMETHING exciting to share.

What do you think?

Lake Maggiore and the Invisible Alps

The plan was to spend our last day in Italy exploring Lake Maggiore and the magnificence that it had to offer.

Shortly after we finished our delightful dinner on Friday night, we walked along the park that borders the lake to enjoy the night views.

The reflection of the lights on the water from across the lake led to excitement regarding what would be in store for us in the morning........until it began to rain......so we headed back to our hotel and hoped for better weather to arrive.....soon!

In the morning, we headed down to the breakfast room which offered a lovely view regardless of the weather.

Saturday's food options were quite substantial, and we even got to play with that machine on the right.

Pop in an orange, push the on button, and out comes fresh squeezed orange juice!

How cool is that?

I found the chandelier to be unusual, and wanted to share a photo of it with you.

I loved the bunches of glass grapes hanging from the lights.

Despite the brilliance of the room, we had the sneaking suspicion that the day outdoors was not going to be so shiny.

We once again headed down to the park along the shores of Lake Maggiore.   The boats lining the shore looked pretty cool, but you have to admit....you can't see much in the distance.

We passed the World War I memorial in the park

and we headed to the ferry terminal in the hopes of purchasing tickets for the day to see Santa Caterina and Isolo Bella.

I asked the young lady behind the counter if she spoke English and she did not.  Upon analyzing the available routes on the board, it was obvious that Santa Caterina was considered a totally separate trip from the island-hopping ferry.  

The young lady was more than happy to ring up separate trips.  

We were attempting to decide the feasibility of spending so much money when it was obvious that the day wasn't going to be providing any spectacular views while we were on the boat.  

And, of course, not understanding Italian, we must really have looked like lost souls.

Suddenly, we heard an intense conversation occurring between the teller and a man, and the next thing you know, we had a very affordable price that allowed us to see exactly what we had hoped:  Isola Bella and Santa Caterina, as well as the town of Stresa where we would make the transfer.

I asked the man to write the times down for me, which he was happy to do.  This way I had a list of arrivals and departures to be certain that we boarded the correct boat at the designated time.   It was important for us to keep an eye on the time, but we managed it all without any difficulties. 

The ferry took us across the lake to the town of Stresa

It was SO foggy that my camera had difficulty finding anything to focus on!

Once in Stresa, we had 15 minutes until the next ferry to Isolo Bella.

And that trip only took us about 10 minutes, as the island is located fairly close to Stresa.

Approaching the island was pretty awesome!

Once we landed onshore, we immediately set out to find the entrance to this spectacular Palace and Gardens.   You'd think it would be easy to spot the entrance, but the narrow streets and tall buildings made finding it a bit tricky.  

But once we did, we wasted no time in purchasing tickets so that we could tour the place.

No photographs were permitted inside (for those of us who chose to follow directions) so I have none to share with you, but I can tell you that it fit the Baroque decorating style accordingly.  

 We walked through the bedroom that Napoleon and his wife, Josephine, slept in in August 1797.  I found it amusing to see such a large bed with an extremely tall canopy, considering the man was known for his small stature.

The Music room hosted the Conference of Stresa on April 11, 1935 where Mussolini, Pierre Laval of France and James Ramsey MacDonald of Great Britain met in an attempt to stave off World War II.  We all know how well that worked out.

But the most spectacular part of this palace was its Italian Gardens.

Despite the dreariness of the day, we were able to explore this vast garden

Even the views from the terrace were pretty amazing.

Marty kind of got lost in all of the splendor.

Everywhere we looked there seemed to be a photo worth taking.

When it was time for us to leave, the sun popped out for a few seconds, giving me the opportunity to snap a better photo of Isola Bella with some foggy mountains in the background.

The ferry returned us to the town of Sestra, where we had a couple of free hours to explore, and the opportunity to have some lunch.

It seemed appropriate to be eating at a place called Mama Mia while in Italy, don't you think?

Marty got to enjoy a Birra.

and we both got to fill up on some delicious thin crusted pizza.

Mamma Mia!  It was great!

After lunch and a very brief walk around town, we headed back to the ferry

to board a boat for Santa Catarina.  This Hermitage can be reached via footpath down the cliff, but the view is far more spectacular when arriving via the lake.

as you can well see.

The history of the Hermitage stems from the 12th century when a wealthy merchant, Alberto Besozzi of Arolo, became shipwrecked here in 1170 and took refuge in a cave.  He vowed devotion to St. Catherine of Alexandria if his life should be spared, and constructed a tiny church in her honor in 1195.  Over the years, the hermitage was occupied by various religious communities, the latest being that of the Carmelite order.  Today the Hermitage is run by a community of Oblate Benedictines.

The first building that we entered was the Chapter house, where we viewed the 17th century painting of the Crucifixion with Saints Catherine & Ambrose.

a fresco painted in 1439 of St. Eligius healing a horse

and fireplace frontal featuring a Carmelite symbol.

Walking from the Chapter house to the Chapels, we passed an olive and grape press from 1671

as well as an outdoor nativity nestled in a recess in a cliff.

Upon entering the chapel, we were immersed in the echo of gregorian chants playing somewhere in the background.

Behind the High altar is a work by Giovanni Battista De Advocatis from 1610-1612:  The Mystical Marriage of St. Catherine of Alexandria with Jesus in the presence of St. Nicholas of Myra & Blessed Alberto.

Above the high altar were magnificent frescoes and stain glassed windows.

St. Nicholas Chapel features frescoes that were painted between 1300 and 1320.

Clearly, some of the original fresco has been lost, but what remains from that time period is amazing.

There was a small chapel in the back of the church which was adorned with frescoes from the 1600's of St. Catherine being carried off to heaven by the angels

and a preserved Adoration of the magi as well.

There was a chapel devoted to St. Catherine

and unbelievable preserved frescoes adorning the walls

Jesus and the fishermen

Jesus, the good shepherd

 and unknown scenes of saints

and angels

Who could have guessed that so much beauty was on display in a little church that is perched upon a cliff?

At this point, we had an hour to burn until the ferry came for our return to Angera, so we walked up the cliff to check out the view.  Unfortunately, due to the mist, it paled in comparison to what we had just seen.

The sun did pop out for a few minutes, but not long enough to break through the mist, so we never did get to see the alps that we knew were looming somewhere in the background. 

On the way back to Angera, we did manage to view the Rocco Borromeo up on the hill with some blue in the background.

With a bit of daylight left, we decided to walk up the hill to view the castle from a closer vantage point, even though we did realize that it was closed for the day.

And, of course,  Marty couldn't pass on one more photo with the castle in the background.

More than likely, our last castle for a very long time.

We enjoyed another superb dinner at Osteria Melograno, where the owner was so excited to see us that he gave us a complimentary appetizer

Sorry, but the photo doesn't do it justice. It was quite yummy, you can be sure of that.

And, as my last dessert in Italy, how could I refuse the Tiramisu?

Served in a coffee mug.....Believe me when I say....it was heavenly!

What a delightful way to end a super trip!