semi-random flotsam
Also accurate and alliterative: Saturday, soggy, sodden
We get on the road at 7:30 am. The GPS thinks we could make it in 6 hours but I can only think it’s imagining it will somehow stay 7:30am on a rainy Saturday morning the whole way.
Continue reading “Scenic southbound”The trek restarts in the morning mostly with just trying to navigate the mess of traffic around NYC. Considering that not everyone has returned to work, this seems unfathomable.
Continue reading “Nostalgic northbound (2)”We head north for the funeral. I can say we, because the three of us are fully vaccinated, a safe(ish) bubble encapsulated.
The first part of the trip is my (old, soon to be again) commute to the office. The standard loops, the familiar stopping points. Good practice for the office reopening.
Continue reading “Nostalgic northbound (1)”Working my way through the virtual St Francis Way challenge, we start in Florence. Such a delightful city!
Continue reading “Florence, virtual and actual”I’m in the final twenty-odd miles of my trek around the Pacific Northwest. By the time this posts, I’ll be done.
Continue reading “Solo mission NW: concluding in the Columbia River Gorge”Most of my solo walking mission is, as I mentioned, based on an actual driving trip I made a few years back.
Most, but not all. Continue reading “Solo mission NW: Virtually veering off”
S is up in the small hours and creeps out to read for a while. I wait it out and go back to sleep.
The breakfast we ordered in arrives 30 minutes early. No worries, our jammies are company- friendly.
We can feel the ship making small adjustments for the docking procedure. Over coffee & hot chocolate we grin that of course they’d be extra careful – they hit a dock here a few weeks ago. The rear of the ship bears the signs of the repair.
After we arrive at our hotel in Florence, we both get the obligatory shower (airports & airplanes – ugh) then change to go out for a while. We had debated a nap – even without any significant traffic, the drive felt like eternity – but by this time it’s after 4pm and we realize a nap now will mean we don’t sleep at night.
So we pull ourselves together and explore the area nearby. We find the local tram station and ride down into the center of Florence, seeing the Duomo at night and strolling down cobblestone streets and having hot chocolate (warming the hands and the belly).
We only walk around for about an hour though, before we head back to the hotel and have dinner, and make our plan for tomorrow: Florence by day and a train ride to Pisa in the afternoon.
Back in our room, we settle in and are both out cold by a few minutes after 10:30pm local time.
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I stir at 7:30am. I could get up. Maybe.
I don’t.
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At 9:30, we both stir. Check the train schedules. Get ourselves ready.
A little after 11am we are training into Florence. We head for the Galleria Academia to see the David. We stop for our respective forms of morning caffeine, while we walk. Continue reading “Tuscany: Florence & Pisa”
My first trip to Asia came via a cruise over the Christmas holidays, courtesy of Princess Cruise Line.
Getting there would take 30+ hours, however, with connections through New York and South Korea Dubai, Continue reading “First post of the year, for first visit to Asia”
… under a big sky.
We don’t have to get up early today. Which is good. It’s been a lot of early mornings.
Except I forgot and left an alarm on. Rats.
Our only plan for today involves covering a lot of distance. About 360 miles in all. Continue reading “In which we cover a lot of ground…”
