Assisi/ Corona - 29 May

Dawn patrol left the villa this morning at 4:30A and head back to Assisi but rather than stopping in the old city we continued another couple of thousand feet in elevation.  There are free range horse in the hills (About 100 or so) and it's  birthing season.

After a brief trip back to the villa we headed out to Cortona.

Many more photos ... from big camera...

San Gimignano, Tuesday May 26

I'll try to fill in. Since joining the photo tour it's been crazy busy. We start at 4:30 A to capture various sunrises and then visit small ancient town. Today is San Gimignano.

It's in the low 90s so I've stopped for a hydration break.

A few shots below of location along the way.

Fyi: all photos included are phone photos. I try to remember to take a few phone photo after composing images with my real camera...

Another stop this morning was Monteriggioni...

My bout with the sinus infection is in the past. Another story including Venice, later.

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.