Jim and Terri hurl towards their grand vacation starting March 21, 2012

 Hello Everyone,

Thanks for looking in on our adventure!

After talking and talking, and talking some more, about a return trip (50 years ago for me), I finally got off the dime and booked a month long journey to Italy for Terri and I to celebrate our 35th Wedding Anniversary this year.

As Terri would say, "This marriage thing is starting to sound like a life sentence to me".  I sure hope she is kidding!

As you can well imagine, the logistics of planning a 29 day trip are staggering. Booking the airfare was the easy part, everything that follows is well,,,,,not so easy.  There are so many pieces of this jigsaw puzzle that have to go together just right, or disaster could ensue. Hotels, Train Passes, Ferries, Car Rentals, and Tours, arghhhh!

After putting this trip together, Terri and I have a new found appreciation for my daughters going to Europe a few years ago, and planning everything 1 or 2 days in advance and "on the fly"

I have found that type of planning which is basically, "casting all cares to the winds and just winging it",  is not in my nature!

So here is the plan, not cast in stone, but nevertheless a good start.

Fly into Milan, Italy
Spend 2 days exploring Milan,
Take the train to Nice, France spend 2 days on the French Riviera.
Stop in at Monte Carlo to try our hands at Baccarat (I had my Tux dry cleaned to fit right in with the beautiful people and in case I run into Daniel Craig)
Return to Milan and pick up a car for a drive up into the Italian Alps to snow ski and stay in the beautiful little village of Courmayeur, Italy, for a few days.
Back in the car and drive back to Milan.
Trade in the car for a train and head over to Venice for a few days of sightseeing.
Leave Venice and travel by train down to Florence for a few days.
After Florence we head down to beautiful Roma where we stay for 3 days near the Vatican (over Easter)
We move our digs to the ancient area of Travestere on the southern side of Rome for 4 more days.
After Rome, we head down to Naples, Pompeii, Sorrento and on to the incredible paradise Island of Ischia as well as a day visit to Capri.
After several days of unwinding and relaxing in Ischia, we head back to Rome, and after a month, finally come home.

I get tired just writing about it! Not really, we are so looking forward to our upcoming journey and glad that you could share it with us!.

Anyways, this is a start..my first blog ever......Wednesday 7am, we start the grand adventure!

Ciao Bello!