Mulling It Over

Here is our itinerary for Europe.

If you click on the links you can see where we are staying in each locale. We are doing a few side trips from main cities. From Siena we are day tripping to Volterra, a walled city in the hill country. From Florence we are technically day tripping to Pisa, although it's really a trip enroute to Vernazza-The Cinque Terre. On our way out of Italy, we are stopping in Milan for the day before continuing on to France. I'm excited.

I hope to post while I'm in Europe. We shall see how that goes.

European Excursion Itinerary
Date	Day	Travel/City	Lodging
31-Jul	Friday	Leave Boston Fly Into ROME	Night and Day Hostel
1-Aug	Saturday	Rome
2-Aug	Sunday	Rome
3-Aug	Monday	Rome
4-Aug	Tuesday	Rome/Siena	Hotel Alma Domus
5-Aug	Wednesday	Siena
6-Aug	Thursday	Voleterra
7-Aug	Friday	Siena/Florence	Katti House
8-Aug	Saturday	Florence
9-Aug	Sunday	Pisa/ Cinque Terre	Camere La Torre
10-Aug	Monday	Cinque Terre
11-Aug	Tuesday	Cinque Terre
12-Aug	Wednesday	Cinque Terre/Milan/Paris
13-Aug	Thursday	Paris	Hotel Amelie
14-Aug	Friday	Paris
15-Aug	Saturday	Paris
16-Aug	Sunday	Paris
17-Aug	Monday	Paris
18-Aug	Tuesday	Leave Paris to Boston

There are so many things to get done before we leave on Friday, not big things just lots of little things. Yesterday, we went to Bed, Bath, & Beyond and Walmart to get all the little odds and end things like quart size Ziploc bags, travel toothpaste, travel alarm clock (because we won't have cell phones) and some snacks for the flights. Our previous international flying experience was to Africa. I hated the food and thought I was going to starve both ways. I'm guessing this will be a better experience, but if it's not I'm prepared. We also had to get Jeremy a new money belt. We looked all over the house and couldn't find his anywhere. Considering we've moved about five times since the last time he used it, this is not a surprise.

So things to do:

• Laundry - Of course there is always laundry to be done.
  
• Clean the house - Luckily since I've been home all summer, its really not that bad. But still it needs to be done.
  
• Car Inspection - Hopefully, this goes off without a hitch
• Print all of our reservation stuff
  
• Copy important documents
  
• Pack
• Decide whether to mutilate the Rick Steves travel guide. He suggests it, but I'm not sure if I can cut up a book.

Now, I just need to get motivated and get all this stuff done.

And today is Jeremy's birthday; he's 26, finally! I'm exactly four months older than Jeremy. I like when we are the same numerical age better.

I'll post an itinerary soon.

For dinner tonight, I made a broccoli & spinach crustless quiche. It was quite good. I designed my own recipe, and we had leftover Parmesan Herb Bread. We also had turkey bacon. . .

Here's what I've decided: I hate turkey bacon. I would rather have just one piece of real bacon than eat whatever the equivalent of turkey bacon. It's just not worth it. Turkey bacon has no flavor; it is bland and boring. There are many things that are both healthful and delicious, turkey bacon is not one of them.

My advice to you is skip the turkey bacon; go ahead, have the real bacon. It is worth running an extra 10 minutes or only having one delicious, salty, crunchy piece.

Turkey Bacon = Bad

Real Bacon from a Pig = Good

This summer I've been able to work out tons. It's been awesome.

Early this spring, I got new running shoes. For the first time, I purchased New Balance shoes. I had always been a Nike person, but these shoes are awesome. New Balance shoes are great because there are so many options. I don't have the best feet; my feet are flat and wide. With New Balance I can get great arch support, wide width, half sizes. These are much better than Nikes.
Thank you New Balance for giving me shoes that work.

My gym is not the coolest and certainly not the cheapest, but it works. I hate working out outside, so I go to the gym even in the summer. I need consistent conditions, and I get that at the gym. It's great because not many other people are there in the summer.

Now I am by no means a runner. I think I can safely call myself a jogger. I'm not fast enough to be a runner, which is ok with me. I'm very picky about which treadmill I use. I feel like I formed a bond with this treadmill this summer. We've already logged a lot of miles together.
I hate when I get there and someone is on this treadmill. It makes me feel a little ticked off. It's my treadmill, not yours.

My goal is to be able to run 5 miles in an hour. Right now I can only do three miles in 45 minutes. Maybe someday.

Peace out.

I thought the last time I wrote in my blog it was maybe June or May at the earliest. Boy was I wrong; It was April. Oh well an update.

















July. . .
This month has been busy. I've been in a book club with some people from school. It's been easy summer reading, which has been enjoyable. First, we read The Girl Who Stopped Swimming and now we are reading A Reliable Wife. I've also been reading other books, of course. It has been a good reading summer so far.

One big event was seeing Gone with The Wind on the big screen. It was marvelous and spent the whole next day swooning.

Last week, we went to NY. We spent some time with Brazas family, fun as always. Then we went to Syracuse for Katie Owens and Will Powell's wedding. It was great to see them and lots of our other camp friends. Then Saturday night, after the wedding, we stayed with my brother. The beginning was fun, until I got violently ill. I was sick all night. Jeremy was great and stayed up with me. Then we had to drive back the next day. Cars + Severe Nausuea = one long car ride. Jeremy was gracious enough to drive the six hours back home. I'm feeling mostly better now.


Overall, I've been working out tons and eating the good food that is so plentiful in the summer. I haven't been working much on stuff for our trip to Europe the last few weeks, but I will be now that we're home for a bit. T-Minus 17 days until we leave, on what I'm sure will be the trip of a lifetime.