Over, Up, Down, Over Up, Down and Repeat

May 8, 2023

If you don't already know this about me, I am a planner. Not so much so that I create a rigid itinerary, but enough that I have a good sense of what we might face. The higher the stakes, the more I want to be armed with options; the lower the stakes, the looser I am. Plan B’s are my secret weapon. They answer the question, ‘What if plan A doesn’t work?’

I learned their value when we landed at Heathrow Airport in July 2005, just minutes after the London Bus bombing. It was mayhem. We had planned to head into London to catch the Eurostar and make our way to Lille, France. On the off chance the express train was out of service, I had researched an alternate way to get into central London. Thanks to that Plan B, we made it to the Eurostar on an alternate route and skedaddled away from the horrific scene in record time.

Lucky for us, today Plan B’s we're not needed. The Air France flight from YVR to CDG was excellent and right on time.

This is a sculpture by Bill Reid, at YVR

Notice the Fraser River plume down there? The silt from the river spreads far and wide in the spring.

Boarding for our second flight, to Naples, commenced 25 measly minutes after we arrived at our gate at Charles de Gaulle Airport but I had memorized the route to our departure gate so we were able to bee-line it without missing a step. It was a combination of escalators, stairs, a train and corridors that went like this: up-over-down, over-down-over-up, over-up-up, and over-down, then run like hell. Or just follow the signs, like everyone else. After all that, we arrived to a crowded gate and were bussed out to the tarmac to board our plane.

The French Alps were poking through the cloud that blanketed the rest of France and Italy.

Finally saw this view as we neared Napoli.

Even more impressive was that our bikes made it to our Naples plane within that very measly transfer period. All we had to do on arrival in Naples airport was scoop our bikes from the carousel and walk straight up to our (ahem... very handsome) taxi driver, Giuseppe, who was holding up a piece of paper with my name on it. Twenty minutes later, we were checking in at our B&B. Thank heavens we didn’t try to use public transit as it looks like a nightmare.

This weeny door in an otherwise huge set of doors to the courtyard is the entrance to our B&B.

These ancient elevators are rather petite. Two trips with our luggage did the trick.

We are both feeling surprisingly good after the two flights. I am going to chalk it up to this being the first time our flights to the continent have departed just after lunchtime. Neither of us slept enroute, but we did cat nap for a few spells here and there. After settling in at the B&B, we were out like lights and woke up 2 hours later. Then it was time for a half hour orientation stroll in the colourful, decrepit streets of Naples.

Just one of many pedestrian streets in the maze they call Naples.

We both decided on Napoli pizza for dinner. In case you are wondering, yes, these are the best pizzas we have ever eaten and, yes, we each polished off a whole pizza. I can see that we are going to be spoiled with delicious food here in Naples.

One of my passions at home is growing tomatoes from seed and this year, I managed to source some seeds of the famous, local, San Marzano lampadina tomatoes. I have been looking forward to tasting them and seeing how they differ from our local tomatoes.

Tonight’s dinner presented the first of many tomato tastings and we both concur that these tasted utterly different from any tomato I have ever grown. Are they better? I can’t go that far, but they are delicious and so fruity! I can’t wait to see how mine turn out. I just might be tempted to pack some Vesuvius soil in my suitcase at the end of out trip. Can you imagine how the crazy tomato growers would go for that?

Tomorrow we do our ‘food tour’ and eat more pizza. It’s also bike assembly day.

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Anne AnastasiouHi David and Anne. It's great to hear that the start of your trip is going well. How exciting to finally be there! I love the blue colour of the bike. How great to have new ones. We're back in the land of internet, for now, after an exciting adventure in 1C and snow hiking in the mountains in yes, Australia, if anyone if wondering! Beautiful beaches now.
Happy travels to both of you. Looking forward to going along for the ride. Lots of Love, Anne
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1 year ago

Rachael AndersonGlad things went so smoothly! It’s nice to hear that I’m not the only one that likes to have options for when something goes wrong! Scott always assumes everything will be fine.
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1 year ago