March 2003
We picked up Beth's car in Stuttgart, Germany. Beth was able to get four big suitcases in the trunk of our little car. She is a miracle worker.
During our stay in Stuttgart, we got involved in the Stuttgart-Glasgow football (soccer) game -- a playoff game. Very big deal in Europe. There were 15,000 Scotsmen in Stuttgart, most of them drunk and very loud. They were wearing their team colors, and shouting and singing all over the town. Looks like lots of fun, but close to a riot. We enjoyed it.
We drove back south to get some of our luggage and computer in Florence. We stayed in Switzerland one night, then at an Army base in Vicenza, Italy. The computer was still not ready, so we stayed in rather palatial Army Colonel's quarters near Pisa/Livorno, Italy for three days of R & R. We had two bedrooms, two baths, living room, dining room, kitchen, patio, etc. It was a very nice base near the beach with enormous pine trees (over sixty feet high with great shade), named for Colonel Darby of WWII Army Ranger fame, I think.
In Pisa, we visited the leaning tower, and lots of nice hill and beach towns. The computer was never fixed, so we finally gave up, and moved along the coast to visit friends in Santa Magarita, Italy. This is a very nice town. We stayed in Menton, another attractive seaside community on the French/Italian border, near Monte Carlo.
We then went to Cadaques, Spain, a small, isolated fishing village that takes a long mountain drive to reach. We spent three nice days there. Today we moved down to a town that I can´t remember the name of. Just now someone threw a large cherry bomb into the internet cafe. I presume this is childish harassment, and not terrorism. We have noted a number of nice castles and hill towns as we move down the coast.
Some of them were build by the Knights Templar during the crusades. This is interesting to Beth and I, as we recently joined the Knights. We will check them out and get a few pictures. Our best to all. Adios!