Germany/Turkey
TUESDAY, 8/30/88: Wake at 1:30, up at 7:45 to get Jean-Jacques on phone! Make plans to meet at 1PM on September 2nd in Genoa, with a "message plan" at Hotel Brignole, near the station. Still no Edgardo answer. Back for breakfast and fuss with packing and planning till 10:30. Buy tour ticket and get to 10:41 #5 bus, which is late, to Merkur Bergbahn at 11, to top at 11:10. #2 11:30 over Baden-Baden (baths, casino, Brenner's Park-Restaurant, Lichtentaler Allee) from Merkur. The built-up area above is Sudwest Funk (radio), the twin-towered church is the Evangelical Church, and Fremersberg is the town on the hill. #3 to left are the twin-windowed-towers of the Lutheran Church, then the Lichtental Cloister, then a side view of Boniface Church, and go far left to Scherrhof. #4 to right, including PLANE in upper-left corner. #5 is farther right to Ebensteinburg ruin on left, lots of NORTH (?). Huge curved-limb spruce. Smooth-barked lichened Brecia, my brombeer are blackberries. White FIR has very FLAT needle-bunches. Thunder-loud JET noise. JUST get on the 12:45 bergbahn as it does down. 54 degrees feels STEEP, and it starts at 23.5 degrees. TOTALLY AUTOMATIC, no driver. I'm ALONE. EGAD! Get out bottom door and hear a distant PSHT! And a bus is going! I shout "Hey!" and it stops and opens its door for me. #6 Europaischer Hof at 1:15. Trinkhalle giving Traubenkur---Traubensaft for 3D: grape juice. #7 from Trinkhalle. #8 Trinkhalle entrance. #9 Actual BACK of Trinkhalle. Reserve for dinner at 7PM at Stahlbad, menu at 98D! And discover I need CASH! Dash up for check and try many places to find they're closed 1-3PM! Oh oh. Finally a BANK cashes for 177.5D/$ ripoff. Probably 150D for restaurant. Have quick lunch-beer for 3.80! On bus as usual at 2:15. Visa needed by me (complicated process!) for Strasbourg, so I can't go! Europa-Park? 28 on bus today. ONLY English/German today, rather than the English/German/French of yesterday. Rich green, deep green, black green! #10 Mummelsee at 1032 meters altitude at 3PM. It's not NEARLY as nice as the Adirondacks, but then Germany isn't the US. Walk around, stare at a thick chest surrounded by pushup-built triceps, look at cockchafer SWIM for shore, drawing my attention to a tadpole in the oxygen-poor, fishless waters. Buy a salty pretzel for .7D and find 100 grams of candy are 2D here, rather than 1.30-1.80D in Wildbad. Woman props up bloodied ankle as bus leaves at 3:30. Hotel Boh has been reconstructed by Grundig for 150 million D. RHENISH PLAIN separates the Vosges from the Black Forest hills, which were connected 150 million years ago. #12 old versus new in Sasbechwalden at 3:55. #13-15 Vosges across Rhenish Plain, over Sasbechwalden. #16 grapes with ROT at 4:35. Grapes, apples, pears, plums, compost heaps. #17 mushroom and puffball. #19 THREE mushrooms, tiny one in upper right. #20 BEES on goldenrod. #22 people in WHITE on grape-hill! #24 flowers are LIGHT BLUE AND PINK. Erdnuss is PEANUT and chocolate ice cream that HAD to be followed by grapefruit ice. To bus TIRED and HOT. LOTS of photos for this blase tourist. LOUD passengers here, too, as on tower on Merkur. Town BUILT around Wassertretanbogen: waterfall-steps---even in back of hotel-parking workshops. Off at 5:22, prompt! Direction sign for "Forces Francaises." Red/blue flower, blue/green plum trees, red/green apple trees. 600-foot TV tower on Mt. Harnishfager, highest in North. Lovely trip, but I'm tired as I dash from Theatre to hotel at 6:15 to shower and dress and get across street to Stahlbad at 7:10. Guy across drinks rosé and smokes aromatic cigar before menu. Mrs. owner surprises by brightly SHAKING HANDS. Germanic smiling headwaiter and cute blond waiter. Smoked salmon OK, bread warm, delicious lobster in dill/sour cream sauce and mediocre Russian dressing, then WARM salmon with salad on plate, with Riesling for 5D/glass (!) and then guinea-fowl brought, for which I had to REQUEST more sauce, though he knew that was what I would have STOPPED him for. Red wine "from same country." Mrs. owner gleefully places my desserts: white chocolate mousse balls, raspberries, one blackberry, and a dessert with a peacock-tail design on a honey-colored BASE, then chocolate, then white, then RICH BERRY RED on top: four layers! Out at 8:50 to Casino: I need passport! Debate, get passport, return, present passport, pay 5D, get card "for return," get 20D in four white five-pieces. Red is 10, green 20, etc. Plaquets are 20 of the colored chips. Central roulette is VERY high rolling. Klondyke has centrifugal balls that spin onto rotating horses. Bet odds twice and lose. Then try horse #9 and lose. See that a table has had ALL evens and bet odds and lose. So goes 20D. I mope around and return to room about 10. Read Baden-Baden book till 10:55 and get to sleep, taking five Vitamin C tablets against what I feel to be a cold coming on---from the baths?
WEDNESDAY, 8/31/88: Wake at 1AM, with odd dream fragment [drawing] eyes or beetle wings (or now that I draw it, GARFIELD) that "should be kept secret.” Something of Egyptian scarab about it. Up at 7:15 and dress and shit FULL and down to get OK for LAST night, then out at 8AM to phone Jean-Jacques and say I lost Visa card. "Sounds familiar," he says. HE has little cash, but will pay hotels and gas with card and bring whatever cash he has. Back to pay bill and get ready for day and to bank for 185DK exchange rate. You can NEVER tell. Just miss #3 bus, get three tickets for a 10D note split for two five-coins, and to banhof at 9:15 to buy Europa-Park ticket for 33D and then price Genoa for 125D and GLAD to have money left OVER. Buy ticket and plan for 10AM, but figure on return to ask for earlier time AND for seat assignment! Get on train immediately, Vosges clear even in AM, and off at Lohr to ask for bus and get general direction and get on bus #113 JUST as it's pulling out! To Europa-Park with crying babies and rush inside for 3.5D map and start plotting FABULOUS day. #26 Europa-Park at 11:50. #27-28 water show at 4:07PM. GOOD day! #29 this year's rainbow. Notes taken IN book. Out at 4:10 to wait for bus, take it to Orcshweir, then take a too-early train and have to change AGAIN at COOLER platform at Offerburg. AND it leaves at 17:34, not 17:21. Oh, well. Another IDIOT roams platform---reminding me of all the CRIPPLES in Baden-Baden! Train comes and I board at 5:25. Lots of bummy-looking guys around, and LOTS and LOTS of old-, middle-, and young-aged who smoke constantly. UGH! BUT lots of sexy legs and tanned arms and pretty faces to make up for it. 27.61D left! And WHEN do I get ITALIAN money tomorrow?? Seems it's HOT again; thank goodness it wasn't hot in PARK. To town and bus (FREE seat-reservation on train, saved 3.50D!) and Lichtentaler Allee: roses! Brilliant! Then the river with ducks and trout. Then dahlias: solids, colored with white tips, parti-colored, rose-petalled and spiky-petalled. Extraordinary! Walk back through dusky shadows to 8PM thoroughly delighted with Baden-Baden and myself. Directly to Da Pietro for Pizza Atomica I, same as Vivaldi WITHOUT anchovies but WITH salami, but I don't detect salami and he charges me 18D, not 19D. Valpolicella is dry and PEPPERY, opposed to Lambrusco's SWEETNESS. Now Bardolino? Talk to three Melbournians out for six months! WOW. They saw Bruges but not Ghent. To room at 9:15 and jerk off quickly and bed 10:30.
THURSDAY, 9/1/88: September at last! Up at 7:40, the feeling "I'm getting a cold" is quite gone. Shower, pack neatly, having packed Italian guides last night. Breakfast at 8:50, leaving key at last, and to bank to get 131,000L for $100 and 900L for $2 cash at 7.??D/$. Left with 1.95D and she said ONLY service charge was 3D for check. 187 for check and 181.5 for cash? So about 1300L/$. Also look at Genoa map and decide to exit at Brignole. Wait for bus and to station at 9:50 to recheck 10:02 train and buy tic-tacs---getting last of white mints instead of awful-looking ORANGE ones---to replace broken pillbox for .70D, leaving 1.26D for "emergencies." SOME announcement at 10:01 about track 5?? I'm up to date and LOOKING FORWARD to meeting Jean-Jacques tomorrow. Maybe HE can buy MY airplane return with HIS Visa card? Don't see why not? Agent MIGHT see why not, however. 10:03, train arrives. 10:04, departure! Morning-misted hills of Schwarzwald move past "for last time." Look at TOTAL open-stone lacework of Freiburg munster at 11AM. 11:40 cross river and go through BLACK (lights out in car) tunnel and station signs say "Schweiz.” About four sets of "security" people passed through in last twenty minutes, but none LOOKED at me. BACKWARD out of Basel at 12:10PM. Move to different car: perfect window but in front of a PAIN of a dad (standing, moving about, talking) and a pair of like kids (babbling, jumping on seat-arms). Draw into STATION at Lucerne and I find that the train-schedule says that we turn again, and I move back into car 266. #31 ONE BIT of Alps south of INCREDIBLE Fluellen!!! at 2:10PM. Rain and fog south of St. Gotthard at 2:45. CROSSING waterfalls, (they literally form an X!) at Biasca railroad station! Have 7100L omelette and 2800L beer and it's 14,000L. Charge almost as much for butter (at 2.10) and two pieces of toast (at 0.40) as a beer (at 3.15)! Grumble, but it's ON the bill and I MUST pay! 65 cents for a double pat of butter! Foggy, and noisy train, and try Edgardo IN Milan during 50-minute stop. Put 500L in gitone machine and get out 2, saying "100L credit." LOST! I try to tell a guy with a Russian accent (or he just CAME from there?) but he can't understand "Put in 100, get a gitone, give me 100L." Finally he puts in his ONLY 100L and GIVES---INSISTS---me the gitone. Try Edgardo again and still no answer. Change seat about fifth time, this time for LAST direction-change in Milan. Getting DARK EARLY from clouds. Into Piazza Principale after ENDLESS tunnels, then quickly to Brignole. I check into Brignole Hotel for 32,500L, and out for walk along XX Septembre to Plaza to West and then up to NEXT plaza to North and back to Brignole WITHOUT finding a decent restaurant. Back down to Ferrari and see green, second-floor restaurant and spend $8 on soup, white wine from spigot for 1500L, fruit, and yogurt for 1500L each, plus 1500L COVER. Some cute eaters and walkers. Back to hotel at 11 and fall instantly to sleep.
FRIDAY, 9/2/88: Wake at 6. Dream 6:10: Pretty former Actualism student, activist, Elaine H.? and I am among 3-4 guests in ARCTIC, donning heavy costumes to sample military life, running across tundra and I only have three photos left but it's getting dark anyway. Up at 7:20 to pack and try to get laundry done and down at 9 in rain to Via Garibaldi to find WHITE museum, and get SPECIAL ENTRY to Van Dykes, closed except when I ASK. Then to Red and rooms of DARK paintings in DARKNESS. Lunch in Casalinga Trattoria 12-1, dash to Jean-Jacques, who's not there, to hotel, to wait, and he comes at 1:45, having been waiting at Piazza Principale, then knowing to come to Brignole. Lovely coast, stop at San Rocca for his lunch and my dessert, to Cinque Terra for MOST EXTRAORDINARY EVENING. He's intrigued by my article and we drive down narrow road to Monterossa al Mare, but it's jammed with people and he says it's "nothing interesting." I see NEW road (as his 1978 Green Guide seems to describe) going SOUTH, and we go down that VERY expensive toll-road to find it goes to NEW section of same TOWN, cars parked on BOTH sides of road and we JUST avoid being caught with one-way narrowness. Get to top and see a sign to Vernazza, described as one of the BEST of the five towns, and we start about 7:15 down a DIRT road that turns PAVED and then back to dirt and then paved as we approach town at 8PM and park on road almost TOUCHING stone parapets that extend up the hills in old stone terraces (reminding me strongly of Andorra) supporting scraggly grapevines and other crops. Town is busy with tourists and as I joke about "New Holiday Inn" sign, we pass Pensione Sorrica on the way to boats parked in the middle of Main Street, a side inlet of great waves UNDER houses to LEFT, and a tiny rock-lined harbor against whose mole the waves dash 20-25 feet high and the little boats remaining in the harbor bob around like special effects from When Worlds Collide. Great narrow streets and old piled-up buildings. We like the look (and it's now totally dark at 8:30) so much we try Sorrica upstairs, told to ask at the bar; bartender comes away from pinball games to point to empty key-board, but then thinks of "nice room with big matrimonial and two side beds" and gives us KEYS. We enter door next to the "Post" and push on first-floor door to dog's barking, and old woman opens, says, "Sorrica?" and shows us room (we MUST use large bed!) and bath. Great! To dinner at La Biretta for his fritto misto and my achiughe ("small fry") that I choke down tails and all---they DID seem to have been deheaded and degutted. Great Cinque Terre DOC wine for 8000L and bill of 39,000L, though Jean-Jacques says he supposes hotel doesn't take Visa! Up to Castello and find terraces over DARK spreading spume, Milky Way, one falling star, and two glittering satellites, not to mention the pair of lovers. Try another path up more stairs and find Restaurant Castello open to viewers and higher Castello entrance closed at 8PM. Spotlights illuminate extraordinary spectacle of waves crashing laterally across ribbed slabs of rock at dramatic angles, concatenating into scene-filling sweeps of water that every seventh wave sends clouds of spray circling up to our forty-foot vantage point. People crowd three sides of the balcony, looking to higher balcony on the left and lower balcony on the right. I survey narrow "dry" walkway until a 49th wave TOTALLY inundates it. Truly one of the wave spectacles of the entire world: Cozumel, Rio rocks, Maine coast, California coast, Hawaii. Jean-Jacques's tired (coughing fit once) and at 11:10 we're up for bags from car (still TOTALLY no room in parking lot and streets are still FULL of tourists through train sound with bullet-fast lights over bridge between two tunnels every 15 minutes, magically stopping as we go to bed and still not started by 8:20AM) and get to warm-enough room for sheet only, and brush teeth and bed at 11:30, Jean-Jacques saying he'd like to sleep to 8AM. Fine.
SATURDAY, 9/3/88: Sleep quick and up at 7:30 to people banging upstairs. 7:40 bath and back at 8 for Jean-Jacques's leg exercises and bath and he's dressed and ready as I finish this at 8:25. Lovely seaside road above all cinque Cinque Terras. #6 View down into Riomaggiore at 10:30AM. Into busy La Spezia and drive along harbor and "Promenade des Anglais" and onto autoroute A12 to All to Lucca. Park and walk walls and see church AS it closes till 3. #7 Lucca Cathedral facade at 12:25. See other churches, Lippi and Ceramics in St. Michael's before IT closes, then other plazas and facades and old amphitheatre-market, then walk to Da Giulia at 1:45 to put our name on long list. To john, read photos, but get seated only at 2:30! Out by 3:10, having had good "soup” of verdura (SOLID, and cut with OLIVE oil), roast pork (with lots of fat), and good fruit compote---he ending with herb tart, real Luccan speciality. He has coffee so he won't nap, and we're up Guignini tower for lovely view, #8 Lucca from Guignini Tower-top at 3:45. Then down to cathedral for Lippi and HUGENESS, though it doesn't seem so big from outside. Back to car at 4:45 to take small road to Volterra, but it IS slow (50-60 km/hr compared to 110-120 km/hr on highway) and we agree it looks like it could be ANYWHERE in Europe: no special taste of Italy about it. Confused into Volterra, and out from north to south and in from south to pass HUGE walls and park in Plaza XX Septembre. Decide to try Visa-National hotel and get room 409 for 60,000L. Out to Plaza di Priori where they're setting up for CONAD Supermercati tonight, and into Priory for art exhibit of photos and videos of one tomb in the cathedral, then to cathedral for HUGE blue ceiling "heaven" and paintings and stations and ivories and mosaic floors and general darkness save where WE switch on the lights, as in sacristy with fresco remains. Baptistry is closed for "falling ceiling." Wander roads and
get to top bare archeological park at sunset, and down for alabaster shops, and get bags from car and move car to safer place and to hotel to look at view of countryside from window, then out to dinner at Porcellaria at 8:30 for cold ham and green salad, filling after still-filling lunch, and 1500L of half-bottle of raw red wine---Jean-Jacques has only water, and panforte is STRONG (tough) fruitcake, and I have TINY macedoine for lots of money. Again Visa is good, and I wake thinking if I have LITTLE money I can just stay in Italy for Florence and Rome and then go to Frankfurt ONLY for bags and trip home! Bed at 11PM.
SUNDAY, 9/4/88: Wake at 7:40 with memory of dream of having a bit of input data on plastic lens-like disks that slip apart and MAY have gotten out of order. I can input them and get format errors or try to LIST them with a special program, or just feed in each in turn and see which one works. I worry about the time and effort involved in this until I "recall" that it's only a dream and go in for shower till 8:15 and Jean-Jacques finishes about 8:50 as I finish with this. Leave Volterra by "green" road to follow varied directions to San Gimingnano. #11 San Gimingnano at 11AM. We park "for four hours" outside in paid lot and walk up VERY touristy main road to Plaza della Cisterna and to Plaza del Duomo. Mass in church at 11:30, so we only see side frescoes. To Civic Museum and climb PAST barriers to bell-tower with screaming kids, then down when it closes at 12:30 to Anticheta Mare for self-serve lunch of melon, soup, fig, beer, and red-headed cop. Back up to Duomo (closed) and the Museum of Art Sacre is closed also. Walk through town to San Agostino for PLAIN outside but its choir is covered with Gozzoli frescos. VERY hot in town and back to car at 2:15 (not waiting for 3:30 museum) and down road, highway in part, to Siena. Get TERRIBLY lost and frustrated driving around a town that doesn't agree with map's one ways or even streets for DRIVING. Finally OUT of gate and around HUGE valley to Porto Tufa and find Duomo Hotel full, and around to large parking area and find Pensione for 129,000L in Palazzo Ravizza in a huge room that Jean-Jacques adores (I wave from window as he parks car) and then we're out to Duomo for INCREDIBLE interior of Picolomini Chapel and etched-marble floors and paintings, then after buying book I hear DRUMS and go out to see black-and-white-dressed boys parading past with flags! Photo of Palio costumes and back into church for bit, then to side museum that's supposed to be closed at 6 but at 6:15 it's open till 7:30! Luck! In to fragmented 1250 statues from old facade, then LOTS of paintings, and to "Panorama," which turns out to be FLAT TOWER overlooking ALL of town. Fabulous. Entice Jean-Jacques up (he's exhausted) and leave at 7:20 at closing. AGAIN drums sound in Plaza del Campo and the black-and-white group ENCIRCLE square and go off to Tolomeo Plaza for finale. We're back to hotel but sidetracked by yellow-and-blue flags (fewer guys) and look and dine at 8:15 with Smithsonian group in hotel, good pasta, good pork roast, large meal with delicious final peach to make up for skimpy lunch. Out into lovely garden with night view and to comfortable bed at 11, shutting windows against morning street-noises outside.
MONDAY, 9/5/88: Wake before 8 and shower by 8, breakfast at table 2 of self-serve rolls and two glasses of juice and tea. Out to Palazzo Publico, actually FOREGOING tower (1) and entrance is switched from Mappomondo room, but there's a lovely Sodoma through chapel grille. #30 Chapel in Palazzo Publico at 8:30. Lots of great frescoes, and though paintings are moved, they're mostly there and interpretable through book of "good government and poor government." Upstairs to find Sodomas missing, down to basement at 10:45 for "Painting" of last century's romanticism for a bit, and Jean-Jacques searches till noon for bank for cash, then we find Baptistry UNDER back of cathedral, lovely marble, and out across valley to San Domenico and "only portrait" of St. Catherine, and her HEAD, and Sodoma frescoes, and other niceties. It's hot crossing the valley to the hotel. We'd checked out earlier and I return to pee and he's waiting with car and AGAIN we go around and around trying to get OUT, and follow BAD signs to Arezzo and finally return to START and get on road and stop in Ambra at 2 for GREAT melon and prosciutto and liver with sage and good tap-wine and chocolate cake for me and fruit cake for Jean-Jacques, all VERY GOOD. Jean-Jacques fills with 72.63 liters of gas (at 1345L/liter) for 97,700L! About $71! Arezzo then easy to find about 4PM and we get parking place on street (illegal, but cop waves us on afterward). To constructed END of San Francisco church, but Piero della Francesco frescoes are fresh in tiny choir enclosure, though Jean-Jacques complains about the huge crucifix misplaced. Look and look, and at paintings on side, then up to Santa Maria della Pieve that Jean-Jacques likes the facade (plain) of, and in for polyptich. #32 Arezzo, inside St. Maria della Pieve at 4:30PM. #34 Arezzo Library facade emblazoned with placards. Around to Piazza Grande for sweeping out of knight-joust from LAST night, and to Duomo for "works of art" and up STEEP steps to San Domenico for Cimabue crucifixion and HOT and tired back down for tonic in plaza and leave in sunset to go south past hilly Cortona and past island-filled (but dull) Lake Trasimene to Perugia, absolutely the WORST town to drive around and around and up and down and finally find tunnel entrance and park at base of STEEP climb to town and find room at the Rosetta, and back to drive car back up and out at 8:45 to wander town and eat at Restaurant del Cambio, good pizza Fantasia (ham and spinach) for me and LITER of beer for thirst (and stomach) and Perugia pizza for Jean-Jacques (mushrooms and sausage) and look at PEOPLE on street and at hotel Bradford at edge of town-top, and bed exhausted at 11, again shutting window against loud people in alleyway below.
TUESDAY, 9/6/88: Breakfast with affectionate, cute father spoiling his skinny son across from us, then I try to phone Paris travel agent and Milan to no answer, and we enter Palazzo dei Priori for 8-10 Peruginos in entry room and in Room 32, where we at least see ONE Pinturrichio, and LOTS of Italian primitives, all starting to run together. #36 Perugia San Bernardino facade at 11:25AM. Jean-Jacques checks out as I try again with no luck to phone, VERY hot, and piss and drink water in hotel john and leave at 12 to get VERY lost going out of town, driving NORTH till I insist he ask at gas station, where they say to turn south, and we're actually BACK into Perugia to get to right road to Assisi. There at 1 in heat and start in crypt, sterile, and lower church, dropping coins for lights for Giottos on ceiling, and to upper church for LIT (by sun) frescoes and CROWDS of Catholics. We walk around and around; I buy slides at 3PM across from the place where we buy sandwiches and beer and a nice peach ice-cream cone. #0 Assisi, Basilica from restaurant at 3:50PM. Down hill to return near Perugia and find way up to Gubbio, past lovely (though smoky and hazy) hills
and park in plaza after AGAIN going around and around and getting lost and finding no parking, as usual. Walk up to find tower-room in Gattopone Hotel for 45,000L and up to Funivia for convent and drink on terrace. #1 Gubbio Funivia view at 5:45PM. Down at 7 to try to park near hotel, but fail miserably. Back up and lose way to Alla Fornaci di Maestro Giorgio for 8:15-10:15 mediocre meal of decent parts (but too much), and terribly long waits for service: thin wine, awful-meat spedino for me and mushy veal for Jean-Jacques but GOOD macedoine of fruit at end. Up again to Piazza della Signoria for loud woman singer. VERY tired to hilltop room for sleep at 11:30.
WEDNESDAY, 9/7/88: Wake at 7, up at 7:30 to brush teeth and shower by 8. Jean-Jacques up and I repack bag, and catch up with this from SUNDAY by 9:05AM, GREAT at last!! Out at 9:15 and to Cafe del Lupo for BAREST (one butter, one jelly, TINY cup chocolate and one sugar, pannier of bread) breakfast for 4500L till 9:45. 45,000L for hotel, and get passports back. Up hill to Palazzo dei Consoli for DREADFUL art but good terrace and seven strange, bronze tablets of Etruscan, Paleo-Umbrian, and New Umbrian characters. Up more to Palazzo Ducale for 2000L to awful modern "space" art in reconstructed castle. Cathedral for more Nelli paintings. #3 Gubbio at 11:25AM. Down to car at 11:30 after seeing frescoes in San Francisco at base of town. Up pretty mountain road to Urbino, parking in town at 11:45. Find Palazzo Ducale open till 7PM, so I ask for charter flight and get told "see Lisa" and we're down to Vecchio Urbino for GREAT lunch: salami on mozzarella, tagliatelle with funghi GREAT (Jean-Jacques'
gnocchi pasty), and fritattina con tartufo more mushrooms than truffles. Out at 3 to Ducale and GREAT stuff, taking pictures: #4 3PM from Urbino's hillside. #6 Urbino: Piero della Francesca Flagellation, about 1480, in Palazzo Ducale at 3:45. #7 Luciano Lauriano “Ideal City" 1470. #8 Giovanni Santi (Rafael's dad) "Madonna in Tree," the "Pala Buffi" about 1480. Stare long at "La Muette." Down and quick archeological exhibit, then wait for 5PM for long boring underground (oh, before, we looked at Duomo and crypt underground, TOO) and out at 5:45 to tacky Raphael's house at 6:30 and down to search for Strada Panoramica and find views. #10 Ducal Palace of Urbino at 6:40PM. Drive north to Pesaro by dark at 8:15 and find Hotel Savoy for (I jewed him down from 120,000L) 100,000L/night for two nights! Out to look for place to eat and end at American pizza for 13,000L for pizza and beer and fruit, then up to room at 10 to wash socks and shorts, then do this to 11:15 and bed.
THURSDAY, 9/8/88: Wake in night to cough and cough, and think to return IMMEDIATELY to Frankfurt and NYC. But at 7:30 I go to john and talk to JJ and he was NOT kept awake by my coughing and my "error" that our room faced AWAY from the street. I asked, "How much could you lend me?" and he agreed $600-700. I feel better! Breakfast at 9:15 after I shower, and to travel agent, who says I can go by PAKISTAN Airways to NYC for $340! But he can't get my ticket to Florence. We go to Museo Civico for Bellini and Majolica till 12:30, then to closed churches, and to closed Sandina restaurant. We get opera tickets at Rossini Theater, seeing interior while they construct new set, and I take a photo of Jean-Jacques "conducting." To post office for him to buy stamps, and to Nuova Carlo restaurant for staggering 96,800L bass and beer and appetizers till 3:15. Then to bank for limit of 400,000L, told to go to National Bank, then Jean-Jacques is told on his "classic" Visa the limit is STILL 400,000L; if he had a PREMIERE card it could be 900,000L, as I want for $700. Jean-Jacques strikes up a conversation with a Black with a sister who married a Frenchman AS I WRITE this at 4:05, glad that tomorrow, Friday, he can get ANOTHER 400,000L for me. #15 tiny me at Pesaro door. To car and drive way past Gradara to exit for vastly over-touristed castle with phony labels and suggestive layouts. Pay 500L to walk walls and 3000L for castle with squalling kids; #16 Gradara at 5PM. Out at 6 and back NOT along coast to get lost AGAIN in the city, coming this time from SOUTH to hotel. Up to shit and lie to relax from 7:15-8, then down in wrinkled suit and walk to one-act Scala di Seta in Auditorium in Rossini Conservatory nicely decorated with flowered glass panels that slide to reveal bed and hiding areas. OK opera, Jean-Jacques more engrossed than me, though both tenor and soprano reaching up to what may be C above high C is impressive. Nice staging and conducting but INFURIATING audience: woman to left talks over program with friend in front, girl in front of Jean-Jacques fluffs hair and kisses date and makes pest of herself. Opera 9:10-10:46, and we go to Big Ben Pub for pizzas and beer for 16,000L. To hotel to bed at 12:15.
FRIDAY, 9/9/88: Wake during night to slight fear as I feel lungs getting wet and rales starting. Viral pneumonia again? But I wake again at 7:40 and shit at 8 and can report to Jean-Jacques at 8:20 that I slept well and feel pretty good. Thinking positively of spending a few days in Florence for galleries. Finish this at 8:25 and start packing. Breakfast and to bank to get me 400,000L. Jean-Jacques gets to desk at 9:30. He can only get 100,000L, less than half today's hotel bill! To car to Strada Panoramica of hills and Gubbio Mare and Monte and shops and gas stations of Adriatic to road to San Marino at 10:45. #18 San Marino at 11AM. Up and park just off map and climb to Garto Rock for lots of people and panicked, sobbing boy. Feel FAIRLY OK as we leave the San Marino parking at 11:30 and start walking up, 300L to pee. Jean-Jacques said that's all for him, so I leave him at 12:25 and climb to Rock 2, #22 Rock #1 from Rock #2 at 12:30. #23 Rock #3 from Rock #2 at 12:31. I dash to Rock 3, #24 Tower #3 at 12:40, at "Entrance," and #25 Tower #1 and #2 from #3 at 12:42. Back to meet him at 12:50 for tiny awful "toothpaste" pizzas and beer and chocolate at GREAT-view place. Down through winding roads, getting lost and debating right and wrong ways, and at 4PM go up road to La Verna, a two-star convent where St. Francis got his stigmata. Come upon sweeping boobies who say the basilica is closed. Down to shop and ask for "ingress" and she points to dining room upstairs. German tourist points out that the chapel is closed, the signs confusing, and the basilica is being swept. I storm basilica and see two beautiful Della Robbia plaques. Have shouting match with keeper who keeps talking about MY house and I shout it's not HIS house. English couple is pushing in as he slams and locks doors. Up to woods for two stone buildings and many long paths in nice woods off steep, rocky-cleft cliffs. Out at 5 and drive narrow crowded roads, taking #27 of La Verna at 5:15, to Florence area at 7:30, turning off wrong way and returning to turn OK the second time around low city for good sunset and cypressed hills and two highways and tolls and to Pistoia at 8 to park fast and find Patria Hotel instantly and repark car and around to Cavillo ala Mantegna for antipasto and rebollito oil-soup and good soup and porcini and lots of sauce, and heavy desserts. Out at 9:45 to try to find life, and find none but in gelateria on next corner, none in Duomo Square, impressive. Back to TV and bed at 11:10.
SATURDAY, 9/10/88: Wake at night for coughing PAROXYSM and desperately sit up propped on pillow against cloth-covered wall rest of night till 7:15. Awful. Shit at 7:45 and dress in cold room without showering as I catch up with this at 8:15. Jean-Jacques showering, and figure I NOW have $1190 for rest of trip if Jean-Jacques can get MORE today. #28 Duomo of Pistoia at 9:35AM. #29 Della Robbia on Hospital at 9:45. #30 Pulpit at St. Andrew's at 9:55. All banks closed. We see sights (and closed market) described above to 10:30. Jean-Jacques buys wine and we're off to A11, then to A12, and off at 70 kilometers from Genoa to phone for Moneglia, but get lost in Locanto and have lunch of BREADED clams on shell, TINY, WHOLE octopus---WHOLE, pickled anchiugi, mixed shrimp and LARGE octopus pieces, small sardine-like herring and anchovies, tuna-like slices, lovely filleted sardines with fish. #33 Lunch at Bonassola at 1:45 at La Guette Ristorante. We're FULL (forgot "Parle a bass voix: Please speak SLOWLY." So we talk of loud people as "speaking VERY slowly." Branzino = Dorade? Blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, and vanilla ice cream for dessert! Leave at 3:15 and get through more tunnels than open road to Genoa South at 5PM and RIGHT down to Brignole. I give him check R99 for $1020 for 1,378,000 lire---and we say goodbye. I go to Brignole Hotel and negotiate for Room 43 ONLY from 8:30PM to 8:30AM! Wash and leave bag and out to hot climb to Funivia to Casella, getting to station at 5:55 and see guy going to "in partenza" train and board and pay 3050L to disgruntled conductor used to seasoned passengers. Spectacular ascent OVER tunnels and highway bridges on which we arrived, and WAY up into smoky mountains and scattered villages. But at Narisci at 6:45 (30- kilometer trip in all, I had no idea) the train STOPS. They try to start but it seems like a brake's jammed. Try and try, everyone out and I write this to 7:10. When will I get back to Genoa? Nine passengers and two conductors and two passersby wait. At 7:20 a replacement train arrives from Casella and we go at 7:21. Drop off malfunctioning car and get to Casella at 7:32. Supposed to have left Casella at 7:09. People going to be late! Leave at 7:36. Back at 8:25 and get into room at 8:40 and sort through stuff---LEFT Edgardo's CARD at the PHONE this morning, though I have the subway stop and his address still. Out at 9:10 to look for cough syrup: down to fountain by CENTRAL plaza I MISSED twice already, down to old section and left to DOCKS, along docks to FAIR, and down stairs to sea level and in free for wall dividers, books, bars, concerts, people, kiddy carts, bodies, screamings, and more people. Out about 10:30 to walk up main plaza (people talk in large groups at CARS) and try STATION for cough syrup, but NOTHING is open. Dine Burgy. To hotel and bed at 11:10PM.
SUNDAY, 9/11/88: Wake at 4:20 to cough, then up rested after dreams at 7:35AM: 1) I'm an "expert" on the trip to South Africa with only four tourists, and it looks to be a luxurious great trip. 2) I'm a houseguest of a wealthy playboy who MAY be gay. I play on a 20-octave piano for four and entertain "Peaches" Mangin, the fabulously wealthy widow "who WAS Auntie Mame." In a fragment I step into icy water and wake unblanketed with cold feet. There's time to shower and brush teeth and pack and get out by 8:30 EXACTLY. Buy Milan ticket for 10,000L and write this to 9:54. LOTS of people (and female tramps) waiting for train! It's on time and JAMMED. All aisle seats taken by the time we get to Pavia and people STANDING between seats for last twenty minutes. Into Milan at 10:45 and try for information booth but they're closed, get Mucosalvo for cough for 8000L. Take one. To Mordan line of green to Place Agostino and FIND Numa Pompilio on map OK. JUST miss train and one comes JAMMED at 11:30 and to Agostino at 11:40. Up to third floor and Edgardo gives me a Campari as he deals with Eugenio's teachers trying to set up a painting course with the Brera Museum. Eat risotto (I say fine, he says overdone) and meat and "mustard" of marinated fruits and banana and grapes. I show them map and talk of my travels. He says maybe he'll spend five weeks at Austin-Riggs in Stockbridge, West Massachusetts in 1989 and take long trip with whole family to Western US in 1990. We found in dictionary that Branzino in Italian = bass in English = bar in French; Orata in Italian = dorade in French = dory in English (though I recall an AMERICAN write-up saying that the BRITISH use the term John Dory as the FRENCH use the term St. Pierre). We walk to their "studio" to fix things up (he got back from the country on Wednesday, Marina back from the summer in Sardinia, Ischia, and Dolomites with the kids only on Friday!) after their vacation and we walk and talk and eat ices and talk and back to apartment to read magazines and at 7:30 he says we leave for restaurant in 15 minutes. Giovanni "Kiko" is a cute bespectacled therapist who introduces the American couple from DC and Laura joins us at restaurant at 9. Good antipasti, wine, zuppa di verdura, and veal in porcini/truffle sauce, with zabaglione (hot) for dessert. Full for 45,000L each. Before, he gave me "inhalation," throat exam, and homeopathic pill for cough. "I'm a DOCTOR." Back long way because of concert traffic in streets and leaving Kiko at station and home to fall exhausted into bed at 12:10, coughing slightly.
MONDAY, 9/12/88: I calculate I've written 41 days in 141 pages, less than 3.5 per day. Cough some but not bad, sleep then till 8:10 and Edgardo comes in for something he forgot. Up to meet their Eritrean help ("Put pants on for the woman") and plan day and get inhaler refill and they leave at 8:50 and kids dissolve into screaming brats. I brush teeth after Muesli breakfast and shower and put stuff away and out at 10 to Archaeological Museum for interesting Etruscan digs in Italy's instep: mosaics, vases, and photos of villas, theatres, and statues. #0 Archaeological Museum in Milan at 10:45; #1 Hercules torso at noon. Out at 12 and St. Nazarie (recommended for choir) is closed! Walk to Michelangelo Buonarotti Street for Burgy and chocolate (better than banana) shake for 4900L at 12:45, finish at 1, and catch up with this at 1:20. Nine more days and six more cities (Milan, Frankfurt, Prague, Dresden, Frankfurt, NYC). Starting to get itchy for home. Sit on bench on Via Domenichino and watch Passing Parade: People and Pigeons---is there really THAT much difference? Eastern Museum at 2PM: X-rays show Padaung woman's neck after elongation: four spinal disks supported and three LOWER ones pulled UP so that RIBS SLOPE DOWN: "le clavicle e le costela sono state spinto in giu. Risultato ... mentre in effetto non lo e." #2 at 3:10 Chinese Kwanyin, stone, Ming (1368-1644). Out and think to see Last Supper again, but it was only open Monday MORNINGS. Try for books for boys but Iliad and Odyssey are too adult, Mondodari books can be given through Luca, others too expensive or too trite or too Disney. Back at 4:25 to read magazines and talk to Marina, having orange juice and cookies and another inhalation session. Baby-sitter can't come till 9, so I fix bed and pack and talk and pass time until she comes, and at restaurant there's Sandra and her husband Stefan and his son Luca, and good wine and cheese appetizers and Sandra stutters her English and Stefan's is better and Luca talks. Marina and Edgardo look on Sandra with such LOVE that I melt. They wished they'd known I was at Vernazza, so close to THEM. I have minestrone and mixed grill, great, and order wrong sherbet dessert but Marina insists I trade with HER and I love her more. Out at 11:30 after Geejo arrives at 11 and talks, and brush teeth and bed at 12:10.
TUESDAY, 9/13/88: Wake at 5:20 and feel depressed. Piss and remember a few fragments of dream, now forgotten. Lie and doze and cough and "decide" to go home Thursday to care for cough, which is wearing. Up at 7:50 as Edgardo knocks and have breakfast of Muesli and then bath, coughing at change of temperature. Pack and take photo #3 of them and kiss goodbye and out at 8:45 for quick train to Central FS at 8:55 and wait on NATIONAL line and get told to go to Window 20 at 9. Wait and get ticket and supplement for 110,000L, about $81, or $9/hour, more expensive than German cost? To track and get left window seat, and move out promptly at 9:30. Leave Milan with 757,000L = $560 + $760 = $1320. $520 air leaves $800 for 8 days: Tuesday through Tuesday. Cloudy, misty day and I cough and feel listless. Pass cloudy Como quickly and get into Chiasso at 10:13, ahead of 10:19 schedule, and backpacker across from me whips out bread and cheese and tomato and wine---late breakfast or early lunch? Write this to 10:30, realizing I have NO marks! Must change lire at station. Leave at 10:34, no one looking at passports. Again north seems CLEARER at 12 noon than does south. But it's RAINING in Arth-Goldau at 1:15! Food-wagon man takes my 7,000L reluctantly. At 4:10 the SUN comes out! Clouds up again. In at 6:15 exactly and go to exchange-line for 128, not 138, 8% loss for 962D. At 6:30 get on shortish line for information on Prague, which is 110D, at 7:50AM for the ONLY direct trip. Others change, probably at Bayreuth. To Hotel Bristol at 6:45 and it's FULL. I get bags and only FEW books and many stubs are wet, the saddest stubs those from Bayreuth. The worst book is the one from the Museum of Anthropology---maybe I can get a replacement? "Worm-eaten skeleton" is DISSOLVED. Mainz is main casualty, and two Marburg slides destroyed. Wipe off film CASES and find film dry, thank God. 7PM reservations are "in the parking lot" and 8PM chance is next. I beg space and he takes me to bar floor and I separate MOLDY tickets. (I check them NOW, 11/3, and they're all OK!) At 8 THAT room is gone (oh, at 6PM I'd gone to the information booth at the station to find a LINE waiting because there were NO rooms available; I tried 5-6 hotels in the neighborhood, but they were all full; uh-oh!) and next that 11PM reservation has been extended by his boss until 2AM. He then phoned the Diplomat Hotel near the zoo (!) for a room and they have one. He calls cab, I pack stuff up that's already DRY; now have open bags JAMMED with books; and 8:15-8:30 WIND through city on cab for 25D. Hotel is loud and 130D for a DOUBLE, only one left. I spread stuff out and separate MORE pages in four main problem books and get out at 10 for dinner. Look into Michelin and head for Kikkoman, going wrong way first, and reverse and it's CLOSING. Try huge Weinstube and they're not serving, but "Chinese Restaurant is only 6-7 minutes away." I walk and walk and find NOTHING in Queens-like streets. Down curve and see "Alte Munz" (coin). Poke head in: "Essen?" "Ja.” Guy at bar (owner?) smiles, bartender is plump; only guys at bar and one chatty woman---I've found a gay bar! Order "Forester" menu for 14D and beer and warm apple strudel while they play "USA" songs and "Opera-by-jazz-band" cassettes for me. I almost cry. Bill is 24D and I leave 5D tip. Out STUFFED at 11:30 and find LONG way back to hotel: I debate jerking off but I'm TOO sleepy, so sleep 12:20.
WEDNESDAY, 9/14/88: Wake at 5:05, coughing---phone doesn't ring as I THINK it did at 12:25AM. Pee and can't shit. Up at 7:40 and re-air books: going VERY well, and start to repack. Down to breakfast at 9, get phone numbers, up to shower, but there's no free LINE. At 9:45AM, I find I left my UMBRELLA somewhere! With Jean-Jacques in Italy? Try at 10:45, try outside (no lines), and finally OWNER (Mr. Schnabel) gives me a line and I dial. #1901 busy and I get information: IBERA and FAG. Schnabel DRIVES me to station, and I get 3.30D train at 11:53 to terminal. Get no help at information desk #15, so I ask at GERMAN Travel Agency which points me to FAG: only 990D flight on SATURDAY. Try IBERA, who may have a 680D flight TOMORROW 10:45-1PM. I must come back at 1:30 with money IF they have room. Check at change booth and don't like to get $95.42 for $100 check, so I cash $40 for 72D and end up with 40D for two meals! Hello Burgy! Write to 1:15. This notebook will JUST FILL with trip! Home in 24 "earth" or 30 elapsed hours! Back to her at 1:35: "It's booked, you have luck" and I don't even have to pay the $20 messenger charge. On train at 1:45, bus #11 at 2:11, and at zoo at 2:30. #18-22 long-legged, MANED wolf from South America, only World Zoo to have one. The humanoid, LITERALLY "creepy," green-immy-eyed, slender loris undoubtedly inspired Tolkein's Gollum. #23 Red Howler monkey at 4:30. I wonder if animals, like the Pygmy Marmoset, that establish priority by STARING DOWN inferiors, end up hopelessly inferior being stared at in zoos. Start to leave at 5:25. I counted 45 exhibitions, 7 not in use, but those CHANGE as I return! THEN find sign for Exoterium! Fish and reptiles and insects! GREAT! Into "free birds" and "jewel birds" as they close at 7PM. 24 hours to go. To hotel, pay 130D, leaving 5D for fares and 21.35D for dinner. Close! Books drying OK save for Dom Treasury. Pack till 10 in GOOD space! Out to ITALIAN place for 6D salami pizza and 3D beer and TAKE 11D change from 20D. Back at 11. Bed at 11:25, feeling cough-y.
THURSDAY, 9/15/88: Wake at 2:20, then before 7, lying and recalling two bizarre dreams: man on TV staring at his blood-red arm as his SHIRT is pulled off, thinking he's just been FLAYED. Then a very thin, "Jewish type" young man is flailing his shoulders, saying he doesn't WANT his arms. Then a soldier, teeth clenched against the sight, chops up underarms with a flash and a fountain of red blood and the arms are off as the victim gives two tremendous screams. Ugly dreams! Wake to piss and shit at 7:10 and decide to cum, cumming quick and full by 7:30. Then pack again and shower to 8:15 and pack and to breakfast just before 9, phoning to find that flight is on time. Drop key off and it's RAINING. Greek bag on head for wet, I lug three bags to #11 bus as #14 bus passes. Get ticket and bus comes at 9:20, to station at 9:30 and I rush off with two bags---(!)---and wave at driver and dash back ON for Trafalgar bag that I'd left behind! THANK him and almost SLIP going down wet STEPS. WHEW!! Down escalator and look around frantically. Up to find Track 21 left at 9:33. Try track 6 for IC at 9:47 but it's late. Back to Track 21 for 9:53, sweating in jacket. Rest and fret about being LATE for 10:45 flight! To Airport at 10:01 and dash up to man at the IBERIA counter: NO ticket. "Don't worry." But I DO! He calls TWA counter and it's busy. His customer excuses him and he takes me to TWA---and ticket! LOTS of people ON LINE for TWA flight 791 at 10:20, and so I go through security questions and get told I CAN carry all three on board, he gives me LEFT front window seat (at least it should be SMOOTH) and says I have 15 minutes to write postcards. Write 11 to LAST people and departure from B48 is announced as I finish last one. Stamp and "Airmail" sticker them and drop them in the slot at 11AM. Long haul to gate B48 and I'm one of the LAST aboard. Captain announces 7:45 flight and delay "Due to extra security checks and controller slowdown from 11:20-11:45." He estimates an hour's delay into NYC. I push out woman and two babies (who get center seats) and put two bags in STURDY overhead rack and sit at window (after pissing) to write this till 11:40. Left hand little finger cramping today, and it did a bit YESTERDAY, too. TENSION. Captain asks for "the Smith party in row 48, party of 4, to identify themselves." Did the terrorists get caught and stopped from getting on? WHY extra security? Took one tranquilizer before breakfast about 8:45 and SECOND one at 9. THIRD one taken now at 11:41. But I'm reasonably calm! 11:55: we take off at 12:05. Move at 12, home at 2PM! 3.65D left, about $2. One drink? Off at 12:17. Frankfurt clouded. I try to relax but kid behind bangs and screams. Try to move, but my seat is best. Watch clouds, clear, then total obscurity. Polaroid sunglasses change view; and I feel panic a few times. Good snow in Newfoundland and coast of Maine. Bit of Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket. Then snips of Long Island shore, Fire Island Pines and Jones Beach, and land from SOUTH at 2:09, snapping photos. Off onto T-rising bus and race through customs and out at 2:35 and into cab. SAFE HOME! Even though I go the wrong way, take taxi to bank for money when Dennis and John don't answer, and pay him $40. Make out list of people to phone: Susan, H&R, HBJ, Dick S., Bob R., Marck S., Regina, Alice, Gene C., McGraw-Hill, Tony D., Brooklyn Motor Vehicles, Robin for games, Mitch, National Academy Press, Barbara Lea, Valda, Dr. Lu, BMI/Joan W., Marj, Garland/Ruth A., Dorothy D., Russ T., and Elliot L. Essentially, by NOW (up to date at LAST), I've still got the license to get, resumes to send out to H&R and HBJ, and enough jobs that I don't feel panicked for more. And this finishes ANOTHER phase of ANOTHER enormous trip! Just have to figure out what to do NEXT!
TRIP SUMMARY PAGE
Jul.19: Take car service after subway-to-plane never comes. Fly to Frankfurt.
Jul.20: Train to Berlin 8AM-4PM through dreary East Germany; hotel off Ku'dam.
Jul.21: Get Prague visa. Visit Egyptian (Nefertiti!) and Antiquities Museums.
Jul.22: Folksmuseum for India/China/South Pacific/European art; modern exhibit.
Jul.23: To East Berlin for Bode/Pergamon/Modern/Classic museums; Tower &Memorial.
Jul.24: Gropius and Art Deco Museums; Zoo; Kranzler coffeeshop on Kufurstendamm.
Jul.25: Buy 16-day Rail-Pass; train Berlin-Nurnberg, big touristy/colorful town.
Jul.26: Nurnberg Museum; train Nurnberg-Bayreuth;Parsifal opening-night opera!
Jul.27: Margrave's Operahouse; Wagner's Villa Wanfried & grave; Das Rheingold.
Jul.28: State Museum; New Castle;Die Walkere; great dinner in Frankischer Hof.
Jul.29: Ulm for world's tallest steeple; Stuttgart & dine in Graf Zeppelin Rest.
Jul.30: Schwabisch Hall for monastery; Bayreuth for Siegfried & dine in hotel.
Jul.31: To Munich for world-class Art and Sculpture Museums; dine WeinhausSchwar.
Aug.l: Munich Paleontology & Toy Museums; Tower & Plaza;Bayreuth Gotterdammerung.
Aug.2: Get ticket for Lohengrin tonight! Visit Ermitage Castle near Bayreuth.
Aug.3: Tour Bayreuth parks & zoo in rain; Festival-dinner after Meistersinger.
Aug.4: Bamberg for churches, tombs, & castles; Frankfurt to Steinbrenner Hotel.
Aug.5: Marburg Castle; Mainz Cathedral & Gutenberg Museum; dine at Brukekeller.
Aug.6: Frankfurt Paleontology Museum; join Trafalgar tour: Frankfurt to Munich.
Aug 7: Munich Hofbrauhaus; lunch in Villach; Lake Bled; Ljubljana in Yugoslavia.
Aug.8: Rijeka for Adriatic Highway; lunch in Karlobag; Split fascinating town!
Aug.9: Diocletian's Palace; Archeological & Mestrovic Museums; Dubrovnik & TV(!)
Aug.10: Dubrovnik tour & cablecar; lunch in Metrovice; pilgrimage to Medugorja.
Aug.ll: Titograd; Moraca Canyon; flat tires so wait for new bus to Skopje:awful.
Aug.12: Earthquake Memorial; to Greece & south to Kalambaka & incredible Meteora!
Aug.13: Accident on way to Delphi: 2-hour delay;lunch in Amfissa;to Athens Hotel.
Aug.14: HOT! Boat-tour of Egina, Poros,& Hydra;Acropolis Sound &Light;dine Plaka.
Aug.15: Acropolis & Museum; Makrigiani Museum; Athens tour; wonderful food:Plaka.
Aug.16: Long hot bus-ride from Athens to Kavalla; Leonidas Monument; Amphipolis.
Aug.17: Into Turkey: Eceabat ferry & Troy tour;great swim in Asiatic Dardenelles.
Aug.18: Gallipoli Peninsula and ANZAC Cove; Lone Pine Memorial; Istanbul Ramada!
Aug.19: Hippodrome;BlueMosque;SantaSophia;GrandBazaar;TopkapiPalace;BosporusBoat.
Aug.20: Edirne Mosque & Bazaar; to Bulgaria, Plovdiv Novotel, wander night-town.
Aug.21: Plovdiv City Tour; Sofia churches (wallet taken), museums, castles, tomb.
Aug.22: Rila Monastery; lunch in Hotel Riletz; ethnic dance and dinner in Sofia.
Aug.23: Bulgaria-Yugoslavia Border problems; Nis Gorge; Belgrade tour and hotel.
Aug.24: Novi Sad; Subotica; spectacular Budapest and Hyatt Atrium Hotel Dinner!
Aug.25: Budapest Tour;churches/museums/zoo/amusement park/riverboat/ethnic dance.
Aug.26: Hungary-Austria border; 1-hour tour of Vienna; Salzburg walk and dinner.
Aug.27: Salzburg Tour;jammed German highways;farewell dinner in Heidelburg RedOx.
Aug.28: Trafalgar Tour ends; train to Baden-Baden; Caracalla Baths; Forest Walk.
Aug.29: Friedrichsbad; bus to Wildbad; Caracalla Baths; Da Pietro pizza dinner.
Aug.30: Merkur Tower; Trinkhalle; bus to Forest; $$$ dine in Stahlbad; Casino.
Aug.31: Europa-Park Amusement Park; Lichtentalen Allee (roses & dahlias); pizza.
Sep.1: Train from Baden-Baden to Genoa; wander town; dine in Italian cafeteria.
Sep.2: White & Red Museums (in rain); meet Jean-Jacques;to Cinque Terra:Vernazza.
Sep.3: Riomaggiore;LaSpezia;Lucca;Volterra: unbelievably picturesque medievality.
Sep.4: San Gimingnano plazas & museums; Siena Cathedral, Panorama, &PalazzoHotel.
Sep.5: Siena churches and Palazzo Publico;Ambra;Arezzo sights; Perugia overnight.
Sep.6: Palazzo dei Priori; Assisi Basilica & Crypt; Gubbio tramway/hotel/$dinner.
Sep.7: Gubbio & Urbino Palazzos; lunch at Vecchio Urbino; Raphael House; Pesaro.
Sep.8: Pesaro sights; Nuovo Carlo lunch; Gradara Castle;Rossini's Scala di Seta.
Sep.9: Strada Panoramica to San Marino for cliffs & lunch; La Verna; Pistoia eve.
Sep.10: Pistoia sights;Bonassola lunch;leave Jean-Jacques in Genoa;Casella;Burgy.
Sep.11: Jammed train to Milan; visit Edgardo & family; dine with American couple.
Sep.12: Archeological & Eastern Museums; dine with Edgardo's family and friends.
Sep.13: Train Milan-Frankfurt; retrieve books; Diplomat Hotel; dine at Alte Munz.
Sep.14: Frankfurt Airport for return flight; Frankfurt Zoo; dine in Italian Rest.
Sep.15: Fly TWA Frankfurt-NYC;direct taxi long way home; 40 pounds of books back!