Author: Greg

Levonta is a pretty little seaside town and we took advantage of the location and the weather to have a relaxed, restful day after our travel day. We wandered and explored when not eating or resting and spent some time on the beach. Marley, Payton and I discovered a nice walk. An old railway bed…

We were sorry to leave Lucca but looking forward to continuing our adventures. Our next stop is Levanto, a city on the coast next to Cinque Terre. We decided to visit a castle and a lake on the way to Levanto. We relied on Google maps to plan our route. The driving was a bit…

We had travelled north to Tuscany and I arrived in Lucca knowing nothing about it. I was hopeful because of one YouTube video describing Lucca as “Tuscany’s Hidden Gem”. It had not made a good impression when we arrived in the rain the previous evening. But. it proved to be a real gem. Lucca is…

The next stages of trip required some last minute scrambling. After deciding to go to Lucca, we had to figure out how to travel. Using their phones (I really need to get better at this – if only to be able to find my way around the maze that the streets of these old cities…

We had booked tours of the Colosseum for today but decided not to use them. We all felt a bit better today – Brandon less so. In the morning Marley,Payton and I went on a good walk to get out and to get some fresh air. All feeling better in the afternoon, we taxied back…

Describing both this trip to Italy and my trip earlier in the year to Portugal and Spain to friends, I often get the sense (from raised eyebrows or a simple reaction like “oh”) that they are not sure that travelling with young kids to Europe is their idea of a good time. But, I think…

This was supposed to have been a relaxing poke-about day between the Vatican tour yesterday and a tour of the Colosseum booked for tomorrow. It turned out to be a health day! After the Vatican tour yesterday and overnight, Brandon became quite sick, suffering on the couch and wanting to be left alone. (I couldn’t…

Marley had booked a tour of the Vatican for 10:45 a.m. but was notified that it had been re-scheduled for 8:15 a.m. So we got up early and took a city bus somewhat near our meeting point. The tour was for a small group of about 10 and included a tour of the museum and…

Our primary goal for the day was to visit the Pantheon. The crowd there yesterday was big so we knew what to expect. Marley and Brandon had done some planning for the trip and booked tours in advance for the Pantheon, the Vatican and the Colosseum (sites which every other visitor to Rome has on…

Our plan was to try to recover from the travel and so we had very little planned for the day. We spent the day leisurely walking around the city trying to get a feel for the geography – how far things are apart, where the grocery stores are and where the attractions are etc. It…

Travel – May 13th and 14th Our itinerary called for a flight on the 13th to Calgary where we would connect with our WestJet flight to Rome. Originally, I was supposed to be on a separate flight to Calgary but Brandon, Marley and Payton were transferred onto my flight. So a good start. However, after…

On the trip to Portugal and Spain earlier this year, I was better prepared to start blogging right away; the blogging on this trip has hit a few roadbocks. First, I did not set up the website in advance for this trip – a big mistake because I have already forgotten many of the WordPress…