Places

All aspects of trip preparation and planning. Wondering thorough Europe. Biking and Hiking.Sights and sounds. Travel journal.

Aug 12 SUN – First steps in Rome – Pantheon

2017/09/27
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Modified: 2017/09/16
100 Pantheon Window

  We arrived to Fiumicino Airport in Rome at 4:30AM on Sunday morning. Temperature outside was +28°C.  It is 83°F. We got our luggage at 05:18AM.  Lira’s first experience was a smelly bathroom at the airport.  We wondered around a bit, and found a train station. First train (05:31 €8×2 = 16 AmEx) was scheduled at 05:56AM.  We arrived at the secondary transportation hub in Ostiense at 06:30AM.  I had some €25 and change with me from our previous trip in August 2010.  So we bought 2 ATAC (Rome transportation) tickets (€1.50×2) from a machine at 06:40.  These tickets are good for 100 minutes after initial validation. While waiting for our…

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Aug 10-11 FRI-SAT – A two-day flight to Rome

2017/09/23
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Modified: 2017/09/16
Honda-Accord-99999-Miles

  August 10, Fri It is Saturday morning, August 11, 2012, and we are having our breakfast at OMNI hotel in Boston.  Why? We did not fly to Rome yesterday.  Our flight got cancelled. Friday, August 10-th turns out to be an extremely intense day.  As it happens, at work I had to an emergency code fix and test.  Plus, my domain account got switched to a new platform, and I had to do an emergency re-pointing and re-arranging all my domains due to upgrade at Service Provider.  Plus, the buyer for one of the domains suddenly woke up and deposited money on ESCROW.COM, demonstrating that he is serious about the…

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Italy 2012 August – Roma, Firenze, Napoli and between

2017/09/19
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Modified: 2017/09/16
Firenze Musei Reservation

  I am starting this narrative [2012-08-06 MO 15:40] a few days before the actual trip.  The idea is to place here all the itinerary materials that I prepared in Excel to be available online (instead of paper).   Gather your Things – Stiamo andando a Roma (we are going to Rome) First, let me present a sequence of preparatory steps: May 2012 – Picked a destination – Hot Rome instead of an Olympic London 5/21/2012 – Request a long vacation at work 6/15/2012 – Rosetta Stone Italian (Level 1, 2 and 3) 7/8/2012 – Bought direct tickets to Rome – kill me now! – $3,473.20 7/12/2012 – Rick Steves guide books…

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14 August 29, 2010: The End – From Zurich to Boston

2017/09/15
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Modified: 2017/07/22
Gas-Station-in-Chiasso

Last Day in Europe On Sunday, August 29, we woke up in Winkel, Switzerland. [09:47] A pleasant surprise – We paid 90CHF for hotel  Landgasthof Breiti, but I was expecting something around 130 CHF. [10:14] It is  Sunday, but Airport Gas Station is opened and there are no lines. Here we paid 79.55 CHF for 48.79 litters  (1.63 CHF/L).  Let’s compare this to some prices we saw 2 days ago on a Swiss-Italian border in Chiasso. I was making this picture to compare gasoline prices later. Only now I noticed that this picture actually captures a plaque stating “Guinness World Record in High Fuel” (nel risparmio di carburante).  I have no idea,…

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13 August 28, 2010: Seewen – Rapperswil-Jona – Winkel

2017/09/11
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Modified: 2017/07/22
Rendezvous with Swiss Police

Wake up in Airolo On Saturday, August 28 we woke up in Airolo.  I had all mine and Lira’s warm clothes on me to stop the cold. I was able to delay the actual cold till September 10.   Breakfast was included, so we eat along with all the bikers, who arrived here for their festival.  That is why all the hotel were completely booked for Saturday night. Hotel Alloggio Girasole doesn’t take credit cards, so I paid for two nights in cash: 68€ and 95 CHF. [08:46] We took a couple of pictures right from the car.  You can probably see a rainbow and  a slight traffic in front of the…

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12 August 27, 2010: St. Gotthard Pass and Lake Lucendro

2017/09/07
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Modified: 2017/07/22
Suvorov Memorial near Devil's Bridge

Next day, Friday, August 27 2010 we woke up in Swiss-Italian Airolo. During breakfast we met a Swiss couple, who traveled on the rail, because it was “free” for them. They pay over 3000 CHF per year each to use the rial system for everyday commute.  So they decided to cross Switzerland without a car – rails only.  She was originally from New York, and he was native Swiss and worked at some point back in 1990s at on factory in Krasnodar.  World is coming together at the breakfast table. The main attraction here is St. Gotthard Pass (over 2000m high) and we planned an extensive walk around all the lakes…

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Где Начинается Река Ока?

2017/09/06
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Modified: 2017/07/22
Source-of-Oka-River

На карте http://maps.yandex.ru/ ищите Дружовец Орловской области. Если вы будете искать “село Александровка Глазуновского района Орловской области”, то yandex покажет вам не ту Александровку.  Может быть в Глазуновском районе две Александровки?     Так же по теме: Description  Link  Схема бассейна Оки (приток Волги)  http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A4%D0%B0%D0%B9%D0%BB:Oka_basin.png  Река Ока  http://riverforum.ru/showthread.php?t=143  Фотографии и Комментарии http://yablor.ru/blogs/oka/822261  Ока Мистическая – инересно и непонятно http://www.geocaching.su/?pn=101&cid=2646

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11 August 26, 2010: Back to Switzerland – Airolo

2017/09/03
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Modified: 2017/07/22
San Gottardo - Traffic Just before the Tunnel

Next day – Thursday, August 26, 2010 – it was time to leave Bellagio and Italy and return to Switzerland.  First, we had to drive using the same narrow and picturesque road along lake Come and enter Switzerland through Chiasso.  Just a second ago we were driving on a busy Como street with buses and usual city traffic, and all of a sudden – the Swiss border – and we are driving on a busy Chiasso street. At 11:23 we couldn’t find a soy yogurt in Consorzio Agrario – an Italian supermarket in Bellagio, and at 13:08 we couldn’t find a soy yogurt in Coop Supermercato on via Maestri Comacini 10…

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10 August 25, 2010: Around Bellagio – Pescallo, Regatola, S. Giovanni

2017/08/30
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Modified: 2017/07/22
S. Andrea - Entrance to Impressionism

On Wednesday, August 25 we woke up in Bellagio in Albergo Giardinetto. We followed an interesting breakfast ritual here.  We bought croissants and fresh-cut cold cuts and thin sliced cheeses in the deli right on Via Garibaldi (MICHELE GILARDONI, Alimentari – Salumeria – Rosticceria, Via Bellosio,1) , but we got our coffee and tea from a coffee shop next door.  So it was (1) fast, (2) only 12€ and (3) very stylish. We started our “Walk around the Suburbs of Bellagio” tour, and we didn’t know, what to expect.  Very quickly we crossed the peninsula and discovered some open water on the other side.  It was a hot day, so we both…

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09 August 24, 2010: From Mediterranean to Lake Como and Bellagio

2017/08/26
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Modified: 2017/07/22
Bellagio - Salita Serbelloni

Next morning, Tuesday, August 24, 2010 we went to swim in Mediterranean Sea before breakfast. I didn’t swim.  Only Lira swam, and I was in charge or taking pictures from the pier. Out next point of interest could have been Milan, but as usual we decided to skip cities and continue for a tiny Bellagio (pronounced [belazhio] like in word “pleasure”) on lake Como.  As much I dislike prestigious and expensive places, 2 years ago I was pleasantly surprised by Venice.  And now, we were about to try even more exclusive and posh Bellagio. On the way there, we made a lunch stop at Tortona (Piemonte). This is so not a tourist destination. …

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08 August 23, 2010: Camogli – San Fruttuoso – Portofino and Back

2017/08/22
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Modified: 2017/07/22
Camogli - Eclectic View

On Monday, August 23, we woke up in Genova to proceed to the southernmost point of our trip – Italian Riviera. We took an advice of our host Stephan (75% sure the name is correct) to avoid more popular and more remote Cinque Terre.  We dropped our bags and started to drive further South towards Recco.  That was the exit we were instructed to take off a highway. Recco itself seemed a bit too crowded.  We only stopped here for supermarket and maps, and proceeded further on local road to Camogli. There is plenty of free parking along the winding road to the sea, but we could only find a fee parking…

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