Thanks, Anne. The planning for next year is going well and our indoor cycle training begins January 1. Although, the way the weather has been, we could be doing our cycling outdoors! The Go Trailer is waiting in the driveway for it’s first trip. So much to look forward to.
Anne

Great recap Anne. It's interesting how so many of your reflections we can transfer to our walking experiences. I always say, even though the map makes it look flat, the earth is definitely not flat when you're on foot!
Happy planning for your next adventure.

I just realized that I ate at the same restaurant. And had the same seafood pasta. 😀. I’m off to Gallipoli today.

Hi Anne - best recap ever. I sometimes wish our bikes would get lost coming home so they would eventually be delivered to the house. You wouldn’t want that to happen at the beginning… it could ruin your trip. I don’t believe in detailed planning for our tours … just the beginning and end. Everything could change in a flash with a hiccup somewhere as you know. Looking forward to getting together… lots to chat about… will be in touch.
K2

Here is the JavaScript for scrolling to the top of the page: javascript:window.scrollTo(0,0);

And, here’s the one for scrolling to the bottom:
javascript:window.scrollTo%280%2C100000%29

I did not write these, but rather I found them on the internet. Just paste the JavaScript into a new bookmark (one for Top and one for Bottom), name it and save it to a convenient location.

Anne

It’s so nice to hear from you, Betsy. We will keep our eyes out for your journal entries. You have a great trip planned.

I will look up the code I used for the shortcuts. It's JavaScript that you can copy and paste. Will post it here.

As for the Roman history, when I read about all the heads being lopped off in the 3rd and 4th centuries, it reminded me of Monty Python. One of our friends is a big fan of history and he just loaned me the book you mentioned. It will be interesting to read Mary’s version.

Best wishes on your tour this fall.
Anne

Thanks for the recap! I'll have to figure out your shortcuts in Safari - they sound great.

I'm all booked for a fall trip now - looks like it'll be Rome, Sardinia, and Corsica. Happily, Westjet flies direct to Rome from Calgary, so I'm hoping that increases the likelihood that my bike arrives with me. That was quite a wait you had to get your bikes back.
I'm also a fan of plotting out the trip, but booking hotels for only the beginning and end, and figuring out the rest of the details as I go along. So far, only the Rome part is booked, and I've looked at the ferry schedules to get me to Sardinia. The hills of Corsica look a bit daunting - but have been a good incentive to train. And since I live in the mountains, hills are kinda unavoidable around here anyway :-)

Roman history-wise, I've enjoyed the Mary Beard/BBC documentaries on YouTube. And I've just bought her book 'SPQR', which is supposedly quite readable. I've got about a month to get through it before visiting Rome.

That’s even more exciting thn your bike trip!!!

Hope your bikes arrived! Thanks for the trip finale re-cap!

What an ordeal! And your bikes? When and in what shape did they arrive?

Thank you for the tour of Pompeii. Hoping to make it there one day. I am impressed of your detailed memory of your gr 6 school project! Wonderful

I think I could eat that dish every day! Looks delicious.

Isn’t it ever?! That cloud saved our bacon. We would have roasted otherwise.

I love to hear that these journals bring back memories of your travels. Driving wouldn’t be on my list, but then cycling wouldn’t be on many peoples lists either 🤪!

It really was. We couldn’t finish the platter, of course. The waiter wouldn’t take it away, telling us there was some very good food left to eat.