May22

Sorry for the delay in posting update. I'll try to check up. We're currently on the train from Venice  to Rome. But let me back up.

We left Charmonix,  France on May 15 heading to Como, Italy via the northern route thru Switzerland.  Of course it was snowing so we still haven't seen an Alp.

We were headed the the town of Andermatt but we got to Obergoms and we found the Bear Notch Rd of southern Switzerland (road closed during the winter). We had to backtracked for a couple hours. (Note: Google maps doesn't indicate road closures in Switzerland).

Got to Como and the city was mobbed. It seems that certain rds become pedestrian only on Friday evenings. We just kept driving around until we found other cars. We did cross one park around the fountain and back out. 

We headed out of Como to find a hotel on the east shore of Lake Como. The road started to climbing and we ended up a couple thousand feet above the lake on a dead-end rd. Did I mention that roads are narrow?🤪

No hotels, motels, or B&Bs back to Como. Stopped at a parking lot and got on-line.  Found a hotel but it was in Varese about and hour away. At this point I'd been driving for 8 hours. We arrived at the address to find a house surrounded in construction fencing. There was a light on so I got to the door and knocked. After about 5 minutes a woman came to the door wondering who we were. Turns out there a 2 "hotels" on Bookings.com only differing by 1 letter. You got it we were at the wrong one. The right one was east of Como about and hour away. Even though she was closed for renovations she agreed to set of the rental apartment for us. She sent us out for dinner at La Vecchia Cantina Verese while she worked. At 10:30 PM we finally  got to bed. Definitely fits as an adventure. We drove 190 miles in 9 hr 48 minutes.  Thanks to the owner of Nicora Gardens Giardini in Verese. Sorry no photos. 🙃

Mat 14...

So I'm  having Blogger problems. I think I ran out of buffer space on my phone  so I'll try an add-on...

Lunch:

And dessert:

Apple tart and

Apricot tart.

We headed back to Charmonix to plan our next stops.

The weather forecast for the next 5 days in the Alps looks cold and wet, so we're thinking about heading south to Genoa, Pisa, and the over to Venice. STAY TUNED tomorrow's post will show where this adventure brings us next...

Chamonix, France May14, 2026

Yesterday was a long day. My bag showed after a couple hours wait. Then an another hour to get the rental car settled before driving 4 hrs. (About 30 sleepless hours).

And so it beings...

This is the view from our room at the PlanB Hotel.

We slept a little later than normal and had breakfast at 9 A. At 9:35 we were at the Mount Blanc cable to head up. Weather had come in over night and the mountains were not visible but we decided to head up anyway. Glad we packed warm clothes. It was snowing and there were no views.

Photo 1 what we'd could see.

Photo 2 what was there.

We had a great time just did see much.

After about an hour at about e 12000 ft the lack of oxygen started to bother us both and we headed back down.

We got back down the Charmonix at 1 PM and decided that a drive over to Trient, Switzerland for lunch would be next.

Elise Rose Chapel Trient, Switzerland.

The road to Trient is an amazing collection of switchback I'm convinced all the local drivers are Andretti's. We pull over to let a persistent tailgate pass and ended up at a small Cafe and decided  to have lunch.

jimbobadventures Italy

It's May 12th, Bob and I are beginning a new adventure. This time we're heading to Europe. 

Currently at Logan International in Boston heading for JFK in NewYork. The first stop across the pond will be Milan, Italy. Our scheduled arrival time is 9:05 AM CET.

There's a +6 hour time difference.  So it'll be 3:05 AM EDT. I promise not to call when we arrive.

 So we arrived in Milan but my bags decided to take detour to Philadelphia.  Rumor has it that my bag will be arriving later this morning

July 9, 2025 (Wednesday)

Another travel day... Left South Algonquin Roots RV heading east. Made it to Montreal South KOA. About 300 miles mostly on 2 lane roads with top speed at 55mph but mostly 40-45mph. Except when you get behind a line painting crew. We traveled for two hours at 5 to 10 miles per hour. They were very concerned that paint would get smeared. There were 3 vehicles: 1: the paint truck paint both the center line and right edge, 2: the first following truck to stop anyone entering the road in front of 3: following truck 2. If someone tried to pass following truck 2 that truck blocked the way. If  car came on to the road before following truck 2 following truck 1 stopped until truck 2 caught up. Truck 2 pulled in front of the car that Truck 1 stopped and we proceeded to move forward at 5-10mph again. A wonderful relaxing drive.

Gas is about $4.75/gal in Ontario. Typical fill up $150. ca.( About $120. US).

Note: McDonald's App issued in US does not work in Canada and you can't get a Canadian McD app. Same for Irving gas rewards card.

July 8, 2025 (Tuesday)

Today started with doing laundry in Bancroft. Once we had clean clothes for the next week we continued our exploration of the area. Our first stop was a Lakeside Gem. After checking out the "imported" stones, I asked the young lady if they had any local rocks; "Oh yeah, they're in those draws under the displays of the imported stuff"... we picked out a few pieces of beryl and headed up to pay. I asked her if there were any public access area nearby. She immediately pull out a cardboard box of beautiful specimens that she had collect yesterday.  Seems there was a guided tour an area called  Titanite Hill. She consulted with another employee to see if she could share the information. I guess we had spent enough and we were given the info. Next stop: Titanite Hill. During the info disclosure we were told the higher we go up the better chance of finding good stuff. Bob and I headed up the hill. ( I should mention that we had no plans to dig so we were in shorts, sneakers and golf shirts). I think we were a third of the way up the hill when we met Santana. She was digging a little to the right of out path. We asked if she was finding anything good. She told us she had spent 5 hours yesterday and found a lot. We must have looked like two old guys struggling up the hill and told us that there was a area further up that had good specimens. An without another word she took off up the hill. About 5 minutes later she came back with a handful of really nice specimens for us. A few minutes later her husband (Luke) and son (Aldon) joined us.

Aldon had a toad inside his mosquito head gear. Guess to get any mosquitoes that got through the netting. Great 🤔. 

After they left we of course headed up to the top. We spent another hour or two on the hill and collect an amazing collection of  minerals. Photos to be added later...

Later that afternoon two hurting old guys finally got back to the truck covered with mud but happy for a remarkable day. Thanks to the two young ladies at Lakeside Gem and especially Santana. 

July 7, 2025 (Monday)

We got an early start heading to the Princess Sodalite Mine. The "mine" is a gift shop with a rock dump in the back that you a pick thru and pay $2(ca)/ lb. We spent a few hours picking thru rock very large rocks. Some with Sodalite but required sledgehammer to break a piece off. We finally gave up and returned to the gift shop and bought some.

After leaving there we he

aded to the Beryl Pit in Quadeville, ON. In order to get to the pit you have to register at the Kauffeldt's Grocery and pay $20 ea. Bob asked if they had examples of what we'd find: " Nope! Don't know why people look for rock. If we find some don't bring them back here. Im not interested just take them and head down the road".

Got directions and headed "up the road". We hiked in about 3/4 of a mile and started the our search for beryl. Some of you may have heard of  blue beryl: aquamarine. We had a good time looking found some interesting rock but no beryl. After a few hours in the rain we headed " down the road" with our finds (not stopping at Kauffeldt's to share).

The last photo is Amazonite one of the finds at the Beryl Pit.