Maybe without connection, so see you Sunday

A quick note that maybe I will be without internet connection from tonight. We are driving along Lake Coma today and then towards Freiburg, where we will stay two nights to see the area there. I do not have an internet stick for Germany so most probably I will not be able to write anything.

As it looks like now we will be back in Holland on Sunday, where I will update the site again.

Bye for now, see you soon again.

Ciaooooooooooooooo

Getting lost? No, just with our heads in the clouds :)

And so we left Bagni de Lucca, on our way to Lago di Como. I have been at the Lake Como many many years ago with my parents and still I was having this picture in my mind of a beautiful area, with all small villages around a lake. Ineke never has been or seen before Lago di Como so she agreed to drive along the Como on our way to Freiburg. Freiburg, why? Because some of my friends gave me the tip to stay at a hostel in Freiburg and they loved Freiburg and said to me there was enough to see for a few days.

When we told the Tomtom we wanted to go Como without using the Autostrada it was sending us along Modena. So, there we went.

Halleluja, we knew it was going to be a country road. What we did not know was that this road was taking us up, in and OVER the mountains, until a height of 1525 m. While driving this 'road' we were enjoying the views, stunning (sorry, not possible to catch a view like that with any camera), until we get that high that we were really with our heads (and car) IN the clouds. No view, ascending 13% and more with curves going completely backwards. A few times I thought that Tweety could not do it. Ineke said to me: you have to go into the first gear, but I was already!!!!!!!!!!! Luckily she did not need to get out and push , Tweety managed! But, to be honest, I had a few scary, worrying moments going up up and up again.whit no sight at all, just clouds ahead of me. I made a picture when we were at the top (1525 m.) and I can tell you I was very happy to see that from now on it was only going down, slowly, but down..........(pictures will follow later).

But, I would not have missed that road for a million. It was fantastic, the views, the area, the excitement. Stef, you would have loved it! Countrycrossing, ralley driving, etc. Only, no way you could have given me a CLEAR! There was no clear, just clouds and sometimes a white line along the road to show me where I was going.

From Modena it was Autostrada again, and that was good, so my arms good have a bit of a rest, not making turns over and over and over again.

Finally we arrived at Como. Not knowing where to go or where to find a place to sleep, but watching the Lago di Como was all worth it. For me it was as I pictured it, although that was many years ago, for Ineke it was the first time, but also she was like Wow, Look at that, Fantastic!

We did not want to drive too far till late, so we stopped at Urio, a small village along the lake where a hotel called Fiorino was situated. Actually, we thought it was above our budget, but the man of the hotel (look a like Graucho Marx) was so nice and so funny, so we decided to stay there for the night.

We had a lovely dinner in his hotel, sitting along the lakeside. After dinner sitting outside on the balcony with some nice wine, while listening to...........yep,.......... life music! Graucho Marx was playing the harmonica.............. But, he was clever. He was playing his instrument sitting in a corner and not going along the tables.

We have a nice room, looking over the Lake and tomorrow breakfast will be served on the terrace, overlooking the same lake. We have time until 11.00, after that we are planning to drive up along the Lake and then going towards Freiburg.

All I can say of this day is, it was a Beautiful Day. A strange drive, sometimes worrying, but I would not have missed it for a second, ending up in this wonderful hotel with a nice, funny owner.

More to come my dear Friends, not home yet!

By the way, I also got a call from NH hoteles. I applied for a job as receptionist in Austria and now I have made an appointment for next Thursday in Utrecht to have a job interview. It could turn out to be a job somewhere in Germany or Austria from beginning of December until end of March. Would be perfect, don't you agree? So, keep fingers crossed and speak to you soon again, hopefully with some pictures.

Now time to switch of the lights, sleep and tomorrow more of Lago di Como.

Buonne notte, love you all.

Ciaooooooooooooooooooo

P.S. I see I haven't written about Florence yet. Ooops. You will get that next time. In short: fantastic!!!! What a city. The buildings are amazing. I think the pictures will just see everything, as soon as I can load them, you can enjoy the views with us. After walking through Florence for about 6 hours we headed back to Bagni di Lucca, the rest you have read above.

Ciao ciao, bacci bacci, love you all.

Tuscany

Saturday we left around 11.00 o'clock Liguria to move on towards Tuscany.

First of course I had to say goodbye to Maritza and 3, 4, 6, 9 hugs later (she kept kissing me :) and to say bye to the demo team we actually were on the road around 11.15. Good timing.

Over the autostrada (22 euro) we arrived at Bagni de Lucca, where we booked Park hotel Regina.

It is a bit in the middle of nowhere, famous for the thermal bathes and spas. A nice quiet village, a very nice hotel with excellent breakfast. We booked it as a last minute, so we got 4 nights included breakfast for 125 Euro. Bagni de Lucca is about an hour away from Pisa, an hour and a half of Florence.

Sunday morning we drove first to Pisa, having planned to visit Lucca on the way back. This was good planning, because Lucca was a bit disappointing.

Pisa was fantastic. I never realized that the famous tower was part of a big complex.

U zult tot uw verrassing zien dat de toren in feite deel uitmaakt van een bouwkundige eenheid, bestaande uit nog drie andere bouwwerken midden op een groene weide (Duomo, Battistero en Campo Santo). De toren van Pisa is één van de beroemdste bouwwerken ter wereld. Hij roept onmiddellijk het beeld van Pisa op, zoals de naam Pisa dat van de toren oproept. In 1173 werd begonnen met de bouw van deze sierlijke en geraffineerde Romaanse constructie. Na de bouw van de derde verdieping (pas in 1370) begon de grond te verzakken. Twee grondwaterlagen die te dicht bij elkaar liggen, hebben ervoor gezorgd dat de grond te nat werd en zijn stabiliteit verloor bij klimaatschommelingen en overvloedige regen.

To your surprise you will see that the tower in fact is part of a unit, consisting of three more buildings, the Duomo, Battistero and Campo Santo. The tower of Pisa is one of the most famous buildings in the world. The construction was begun in 1174 from the architect Bonanno Pisano and finished in 1350 from Tommaso Pisano. The height is m. 58.36 (100 braccia pisane). The weight is t. 14.453. The vertical yielding is of approximately m. 2.36. The maximum slope from the top to the center or the base is m. 5.22. The increment of slope until 1993 was mm. 1.2 every year. After consolidation jobs durations 11 years the Tower reopens in 2001 with an inclination reduced of cm. 38.

In 1370 the ground started to sink. Two groundwater layers too close to each other made the ground too wet, together with climate changes and too much rain this made the tower to loose its stability. It is constituted from 8 shelves comprised the cell cell where there are 7 bells that reproduce 7 musical notes. The top of the Tower is caught up with a helicoidal scale of 293 steps. From the top of the leaning tower Galileo Galilei carried out its experiments around the gravity laws.

Trouwens, als u het eenmaal weet, ziet u dat de omtrek vanaf de vierde verdieping tot aan de top een fractie kleiner is dan die van de onderste verdiepingen. De architect heeft getracht zo de schuine stand van de onderste verdiepingen te corrigeren. De toren staat ongeveer 2,50 meter uit het lood en elk jaar komt daar een paar millimeter bij. In dit tempo zal de toren over tweehonderd jaar instorten. Aan de top wijkt de toren 5 meter af van de loodrechte as en bovendien zou hij nog een lichte spiraalbeweging maken ook. Dat komt doordat de zon de ene kant meer opwarmt dan de andere.

Vanaf de top voerde Galilei, een Pisaanse natuur- en sterrenkundige, de proeven uit waaruit hij de wetten der vallende lichamen afleidde. Al jarenlang zochten specialisten in het rechtzetten van torens naar een middel om de onvermijdelijke val toch te vermijden. Toen in 1989 de toren van Pavia instortte (en die was wel recht) kwam alles in een stroomversnelling terecht. In 1992 werd de toren letterlijk ingesnoerd met staalkabels om elke speling van de steenblokken te beletten. Het korset van teflon dat ze omringt, heeft dezelfde kleur als het marmer. Daarna werd de basis verstevigd met beton en werd er ook een tegengewicht van 750 ton lood geplaatst om de 15.000 ton stenen in bedwang te houden. Het grootste gevaar vormen de afbrokkelende stenen, vooral op de eerste verdieping, die het hele bouwwerk ondersteunt.

Pisa is not only worth a visit because of the Tower. Walking through the center with all it's narrow streets surrounded by majestic Pallazos, the shops, cafeterias, restaurants it is nice to walk, watching the people strolling along the streets.

After Pisa we drove to Lucca.

Lucca ligt 19 meter boven de zeespiegel op een schitterend plateau. De stad ligt ten westen van de Serchio rivier, niet ver van de Tyrheense kust. In de Romeinse tijd was Lucca een belangrijk kruispunt en tevens hoofdstad van de landerijen van de Hertog van Tuscia. Niet veel later, in de 8ste eeuw, werd het de zetel voor het Markiezaat van Toscane. In de vroege 12de eeuw werd Lucca een vrije stad waarna de stad al gauw begon te groeien in politiek en economisch opzicht. Wel was er in die tijd veel rivaliteit met de nabijgelegen stad Pisa. In de eerste helft van 14de eeuw werd de stad bestuurd door verschillende Signorie en in 1369 werd de stad een republiek en bleef zodoende onafhankelijk, afgezien van de periode onder de Guinigi Signorie (1400-1430) en de Napoleontische periode. In 1847 werd Lucca opgenomen in het Groothertogdom van Toscane en werd zodoende gedwongen om de rijkdommen te delen.

De stad wordt omgeven door 16de-eeuwse stenen muren. In de 19de eeuw werd besloten om de muren te behouden maar er werd wel een andere bestemming aangegeven. De nieuwe bestemming moest de karakterstieke middeleeuwse structuur blijven behouden en zodoende werd besloten om er een drie-baans avenue van te maken. Naast de beroemde stenen muur uit de 16de eeuw, kent de stad nog vele andere monumenten. Zo is er de Kathedraal van Lucca(11de-13de eeuw, Romaans) waar de Graftombe van Ilaria del Carretto, een meesterwerk op het gebied van de beeldhouwkunst van de hand van Jacopo della Quercia (1408) zich bevindt, de kerk van S. Maria Foris portam (13de-16de eeuw), Case dei Guinigi (een complex van 14de-eeuwse torens en gebouwen), de kerk van San Michele in Foro (12de-13de eeuw, Pisa-Lucca architectuur met een rijk interieur), de kerk van San Frediano (12de eeuw, Romaans, met een grote mozaiek van de Hemelvaart op de façade), het Palazzo Mansi (17de eeuw), het Palazzo Pretorio (16de eeuw ), de Villa van Paolo Guinigi (15de eeuw) en de overblijfselen van het Romeinse amfitheater.

Daarnaast is de stad rijk aan culturele instituten zoals de Academie van Lucca van Wetenschap, Letteren en Kunst, Nationaal Museum van de Villa Guinigi, de Nationale Kunst Galerie en het Giglio Theater. De economie van Lucca is grotendeels gebaseerd op de landbouw. In de omgeving vindt men vele olijf- en fruitbomen. Een groot gedeelte van de olijven wordt geperst tot olijfolie. Dit gebeurt in grote oliemolens die men veel in omgeving ziet. Daarnaast is er wat kleine industrie op het gebied van kleding en chemie.

As said, maybe because we are spoiled with having seen already so many old Italian villages, towns we were not particularly impressed. It was nice to see, but if you plan a daytrip to this village I think it could be a bit waist of time.

Monday: First it was our plan to visit Sienna and San Gimignano. But, already after Lucca and as said, so many old towns already, we only went to San Gimignano. This was sure worth the visit. Unfortunately we had a bit of rain, while walking through the town but nevertheless it was fantastic to see.

San Gimignano is de mooiste stad van Toscane, in de herfst zelfs nog mooier, wanneer de kleur van de paleizen van bruin in goudgeel verandert. Een bezoek aan dit stadje completeert een ontdekkingstocht door Toscane. Deze plek werd al bewoond aan het einde van de Etruskische tijd, dat bewijzen de graven in de buurt. In de 12de eeuw werd San Gimignano een vrije en welvarende gemeente, die haar buursteden, en vooral dan Volterra, bevocht. Jarenlang vormde ze ook het toneel van een bittere vete tussen twee rivaliserende families: de Salvucci's en de Ardinghelli's.

Doordat de stad zo verscheurd was, viel ze in 1353 in handen van Florence. In de loop van die jaren vol geweld onderging de stad verschillende artistieke invloeden (zowel Florentijnse, Siënese als Pisaanse), waarvan nu nog talrijke monumentale sporen te zien zijn. Het stadje, dat op een heuvel ligt, wordt omringd door een driedubbele muur. U vindt hier nog steeds de sfeer en uitstraling van de Middeleeuwen, toen alle rijke burgers een toren lieten bouwen zodra ze daar de middelen voor hadden. Het was in die periode dat Dante in de stad verbleef in zijn functie van ambassadeur van de Liga van de Welfen van Toscane (1353).

San Gimignano wordt ook wel de 'stad met de mooie torens' genoemd. Ooit waren het er 72, nu zijn er nog maar 13 van over. Er wordt wel verteld dat de stad tijdens haar economische bloeitijd meer vierkante meter aan torens bezat dan New York aan wolkenkrabbers op dezelfde oppervlakte. De hoogte van deze torens getuigde overigens van de rijkdom van de eigenaar, die zijn buurman, tot diens grote ergernis, in de schaduw wilde zetten. Ze waren dus niet bedoeld om het mooie landschap te bewonderen. Naar verluidt zouden de torens onderling met elkaar verbonden geweest zijn door bruggetjes. Je ziet de gaten nog in de muren. In geval van nood konden bevriende families elkaar dan snel bereiken. Dit alles leidde tot zulke excessen, dat men besloot een halt toe te roepen aan de bouw van dergelijke gevaarlijke constructies.

Because we skipped the Sienna-part we drove back to Bagni de Lucca over the provincial road through beautiful Tuscany. No way you can capture the beauty of nature with a camera.

Around 18.00 we were back in the Hotel, a bit of a rest and then later to the (one and only) Pizzeria in the village.

Tomorrow we are going to visit Florence and then slowly it will be time to start leaving la Bella Italia, on our way to Austria.

P.S. English description of the cities will follow, as well as some pictures. My internet is soooo slow here at the hotel, that has to wait till I have better connection.

For now ciao xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The job is done. Hello Holiday !!!!!!!!

Job is done!!!

Hello, long time no seen. The job is done, all the tents are ready to be transported. Henny, a colleague of Vacansoleil came over to help me with packing up the tents and together we did a nice job. In the meantime we have been for a weekend to Lake Garda where the demo-team of VS was and I visited some other campsites where VS is going. I was already very pleased with C'era una volta and now it is only confirmed for me that this campsite is for me the nicest one to work on.

We visited Sirmione at Lake Garda and that is a beautiful town.

Coming back totally refreshed we started to finish off the packing of the tents. After finishing the job we could move to a mobilhome and we had a few days to tour around.

Last Tuesday Henny left and on Wednesday morning I drove to Nice airport to collect Ineke.

Yesterday we drove to Noli, which many of you know already and on the way back we passed from Castelvecchio Rocca de Barbena and Zucarello. Beautiful old towns with loads of carrugis (small narrow streets) with shops.

Today we drove to Bussana Vecchia. This town is worth visiting. It has been completely destroyed by an earthquake and artists have rebuild it in the original way.

Soon I will give you some pictures, but like typically me: I have packed the cables of my camera to load the pictures on the computer and............yeh, where?????

I think I know where they are, but since we have packed my car already for our departure tomorrow morning I will let it be for the moment and as soon as we arrive at our next destination I will relocate them and upload the pictures.

Tomorrow we are heading to Bagni di Lucca in Tuscany. We have booked a hotel for 4 nights in this town, which is close to Firenze (Florence), Lucca, Pisa and Siena. Hopefully this will give us enough time to visit all those cities.

After 6 months wearing VS clothing it feels good to wear my own clothes again and to have some holiday. As you all know I loved the job and enjoyed the season with all of you and I am already looking forward to meet many of you again at C'era Una Volta next season.

I will continue to post my small adventures with pictures of Tuscany and then our touring through Austria on the way home.

Saluti de tutti and see you soon again.

Ciaooooooooooooooooooo

It's a different world!!!!!!!!!

Hello everybody,

As the titel says: it's a different world!

Friday I still had 31 tents occupied, today only 6!!!!

As every season ( as I was used to in Crete as well) suddenly it's over and done with!

From the day that Stef left I have been busy busy busy, every day departures, arrivals. In the meantime also of course time for a chat, a coffee, sometimes dinner with guests, just having a good time. Getting tired, but used to that. Looking forward to have a day off, so I could go to the beach or drive around or just something different than work, work work.

And then: yesterday that day came. It was beautiful weather, in the morning I checked a few more guests out and then........... I could have taken the time for myself, to go to the beach or whatever what. But......... I was too restless. Sitting in front of my tent, considering I could go the beach. Oh, well, let's first have a sandwich and a coffee. Again: shall I go the beach, to the swimming pool? No, first I will lay down for an hour for a little nap. After 20 minutes I gave up, could not sleep.

Again: what's it gonna be? The beach, the swimmingpool?

And guess what: it turned out that I started to pack up the first tents :). I worked until it got dark (around 18.00) and I finished packing up the small inventory in the boxes of 4 tents. Disconnected the gascookers and cleaned them from 6 tents!

By that time I was feeling a bit better, not so restless anymore: the start was made!

Treated myself on a pizza, have been sitting and reading a book a bit and went early to bed.

Today after another check out I went to the garage with my car. My window was not closing anymore and I thought it would be handy to get that fixed before another big rain was coming. At the garage he told me that he had to order a new motor for the electric window (yes Frans you could have worked on that window all day :)). Tomorrow morning the new motor will arrive and then they will fix the window. That will be a luxury to have a window that opens and closes again! Also straight away I ordered a new backlight. After all I am now in Fiat country, no where I will get parts of Fiat cheaper than here!

From the garage I went for shopping to get the materials I need to close down the tents. When I was heading back to the campsite I suddenly followed the road to Ortovero instead of going straight back to C'era una Volta.

Stef, we should have done that together! It is a beautiful road, Ortovero is a nice little town with some bars and a restaurant - which I will try out soon . I was following the road further up to Pieve de Tecco, but then I realised I had not my camera with me. At that point I decided to turn back and go to the campsite and I will save Ortovero and Pieve di Tecco for another time when I will bring my camera.

Back at the campsite for once I sat nice in the sunshine reading my book and really relaxing and enjoying the peace and beauty of the campsite. Tomorrow after getting my car fixed I will start again with packing up the tents, but now my battery is recharged :)

To all the guests of Vacansoleil this season I want to say a big Thank You for making my job a nice, pleasant one! Thanks to all of you I also had a good time while being courier here! Like I said in the beginning of this story: you are all missed and to be honest I feel a bit 'lost in space' at the moment, with all of you gone! You all said thanks to me for my hospitality and service, but I could only do that because you all were so nice to me: inviting me for a chat, a coffee, a glass of wine, a dinner............... Thank you and hope to see you again next season!!!

I will continu to use this site and will keep you posted about the trips I hope I will make in this area later, with some more pictures of course.

Take care, because I care

Ciaooooooooooo for now

Rita

10.000 Luci nella notte in Loano

When I was with Stef in Loano we saw a poster announcing the lightning of 10.000 candles as a remembrance to the fishermen and sailors.

Already in the beginning of the season I read somewhere that in July a festival is organized where the illuminate lights in the sea, but we missed that one. So you can imagine how happy I was spotting this announcement that they rescheduled this procession in the sea from the 15th of August (we could not leave the campsite then) due to the bad weather to Sunday the 22th. Together with Andy and his friends we went there and I would not have missed it for one minute. Many of you know how much I love candles, but to see sooooooooo many little lights floating into the sea............. you have to BE there to FEEL that.

The pictures are not of the best quality, as usual I could not hold the camera still long enough, but still I want to share them so you can understand a bit how it was to see this.

Almost full moon, the clouds and then the candles. A nice special effect isn't it?

Candles, candles, candles. I walked away from the crowd a bit, sat down and in my thoughts I dedicated each light to one of you xxxxxxxxx

A strange thing was that the candles didn't wash ashore but slowly went out on the sea.

I know, I know. I am 'famous' for my nightpictures

After watching the lights being put into the sea by children most of the time, we went into the old town for a drink. While we were just being served we heard a big fireworks, but we all were happy enough with the picture of the candles, so we did not get up to see the fireworks.

I have seen so many fireworks in my life already, I didn't want to spoil the images I had of the candles, so it was time to head home again to have a nice peaceful sleep.

Loano by day with Stef on his last day and Loano by night with 10.000 candles in the sea

For once we were lucky: on Stef his last day the arrivals were early, so we were able to jump in the car around 16.00 to go to Loano. Stef had never been there and I really wanted him to see this beautiful town. I like it much more than the overcrowded too touristic Alassio and I think Stef agreed with me on that.

Loano is a city of Roman origin. The Dorias were munificent and generous lords who embellished Loano with monuments and art works.

I have made many pictures in Loano again, so please go to Foto's and click on the album Loano.

Okay, I will insert a few on this page :)

(en ja Tea, ik heb een kaarsje opgestoken voor ons allemaal xxxx)

Miss Wet t-shirt competition at the Ippodromo

What an excitement! NOT!!!!!!!!!!!

The Ippodromo (horseracetrack) was advertising about a Miss competition, so Stef and I went there. What an excitement for........... not much. To be honest, the girl who won was the one and only one that did had a fantastic figure AND a nice face. The other women even scared me!!!! Nice body, but the faces could easily give you a nightmare.

Judge for yourself I would say.

The third from the right side was the winner.

We could not stay long. A few minutes after the Miss was crowned my mobile went off: the last arrival was at the campsite, so we had to jump in the car to get to the campsite to show them their tents. Like said, it was not sad at all, we'd seen it and that was it.

That evening there was a nice band playing live-music, so we had our well deserved drink at the bar.