Susan MacIver's Blog

Poseidon's Log

DAY EIGHT

Susan was not feeling much better the next day, but in true Columbus fashion (or Marco Polo) we forged ahead...San Marcos square, the Palazzo Di Doge.

The Doge’s Palace was where the eldest and wisest of the city merchants lived. Court was convened in many different rooms.

Today we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast,

However, criminal proceedings were conducted in the ”Senate,”

and the guilty found themselves walking from the Senate to the prison next door via the "Bridge of Sig...

Poseidon's Log

DAY FOURTEEN

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Today we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast,

and then began our tour towards Siena and the Palio! We took the autostrade to the historic citi, found parking easily as the town was not yet tourist-filled.

Duke led us straight to the Square del Campo; the site of the famous Palio horserace. I was amazed at how short the round was...I truly think the horses, raised from birth to face their Italian destino, have 2 shortened inside legs...because it is all...

Poseidon's Log

DAY THIRTEEN

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Today was a bust L I woke up and felt terrible. Apparently, since I hadn’t rested much and kept pushing myself to “go and do and be and see,” I’ve pushed myself into being sicker. Duke had to ask Andrea if there was a doctor available (on a Sunday, no less) and if so, could he provide directions. Imagine our surprise when he told us that he would lead us there! We followed Andrea over winding roads and through tiny towns to an out-of-the-way se...

Poseidon's Log

DAY ELEVEN

Happy Labor Day week-end...Bongiorno a tutti Monde (oh, we’re becoming so proficient in Italian…NOT!) Today we are following a hand-drawn map given to us by Andrea. He has suggested a route from the vineyard that encompasses going and coming by two different roads, which for us, is a welcome change from the highways. One of our goals was to find back roads through the Tuscan countryside so that we could fully enjoy the small towns, walled villages and the green vineyar...

Poseidon's Log

DAY ELEVEN

Our first full day in Florence, and the meds that Susan got from the doctor seem to be working. So, we started the day with a beautiful continental breakfast atop the hotel. Greeted with a gorgeous morning view of the center of Florence, we fortified ourselves and then headed out to see the sights.

First stop was the Galleria dell 'Accademia which is famous for its original statue of David by Michelangelo. The wonderful story we overheard was that this particular slab o...

Poseidon's Log

DAY TEN

The closer we got to Florence today, the more beautiful the view became, with sprawling farms and countryside manors dotting the hills.

And now! Meet Luiano! Our intrepid “it’s just Italian” tiny car…

Luiano was an automatic, but for some reason, undiscernible to us…it kept changing from automatic to manual and it seemed to do this pretty much whenever he felt like it…after some unkind words vented towards poor little Luiano…we just decided…Eh…it’s just Italian! So, we made...

Poseidon's Log

DAY NINE

Obviously, day eight is missing…so let us move on! We arrived in the beautiful city of Verona. I am feeling worse, boo hoo to me! So, Mi Duca is making sure that we are not trudging around a lot, however, like a homing pigeon, he guided us right to La Casa de Julietta!

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The brick bldg. on the left with the arched entryway

Leads to a wall covered with the infamous “Letters to Juliette.”

As you enter the beautiful courtyard, voila! A lovely statue of Jul...

Poseidon's Log

DAY SEVEN

Day Seven found us on our way to the famous Murano Glass Factory. The hotel provided a private boat to take us over,

and we were received by a tour guide named Daniele. A very pleasant man with whom we spent the next 2 hours talking about glass making, as well as family and values to live by.

First, we watched the making of the glass figures. Daniele explained that the ovens get as hot as 1,800 degrees to maintain the glass at a liquid state. The Maestro we were introduce...

Poseidon's Log

DAY SIX

Three legs to this trip: Santorini to Athens to Rome to Venice...ahh good to finally arrive at our destination. From the airport we took a Vaporetto (local water taxi) which took a long hour or so, and yes we are tired!

but we finally reached our stop at the Piazza de San Marco;

the huge central square, famous for its pigeons feeding out of the hands of those who like flying rats.

Hauling our bags through alleyways and over bridges,

we arrived at the Hotel Ala.

(Note the Muran...

Poseidon's Log

DAY FIVE

We began the day early with a charming al fresco breakfast by the pool. Perissa and Kamari Beaches were the goals today! Setting out with GPS working…or so we thought! We determined that our voice guide, Siri didn’t know where we were any better than we did because when we made any wrong turn, she’d start wailing, “EEEpsilon, Oopsilon, Epsilon, go right, go south, turn around, you're on the wrong roaderu!!!” We started laughing so hard…we could hardly drive! Need I say t...