A day to remember.....

We have arrived safely back at our motel.....tired....and very proud to have participated in an incredible event.  The crowd was amazing.....very large......very friendly.......very behaved.

We left the motel this morning at 6:45 and headed to the train station. Fortunately we were boarding the train at the end of the line, as we completely filled the train.....we could not take on any more riders at any of the other stations on the way into town.

We arrived at the National Mall at 8:30, and it was filling up quickly.  We were already too late to get a view of the stage, but we chose a strategic location with a good view of the Jumbotron and in front of one of the many speaker towers.  As the time got closer to the show, the crowd kept filling in tighter and tighter.  By Noon when the program officially began, the crowd was so packed that it was generally too crowded to sit.

Jon Stewart's speech at the end of the program was very good.......it was thoughtful, thought provoking, funny, tasteful and inspirational.  Several people said they wished he would run for office....I hope he never does because no one can take his place as a great satirist, pundit and educator.

Suffice it to say, the ride home on the Metro was brutal,  Trying to get 200,000 people out of a small area via the Metro fills lots of cars for a long time.  We are tired, our feet hurt, but it was a wonderful day.  We are so glad we decided to do it.

Closer to Sanity.....

We spent the day in Leesburg....playing Santa Claus at the outlet mall.  We got quite a bit of Christmas shopping finished today.  Traffic in northern Virginia is horrible......glad we are depending on the Metro for transportation tomorrow.

We have made contact with a couple friends that are attending, and will try to meet up with them at the event.  We are heading to the train station early, to make sure we get a parking spot, then heading to the National Mall for the festivities.  There are now 2 buses at our hotel, and all of the hotels around here appear to be full with several buses at all of them.

Arrived in Chantilly, VA

We had a beautiful drive here from Plainfield.....made good time on a clear day.  We are staying in Chantilly, VA, and plan to use the Metro to get downtown for the events.  No plans yet for tomorrow....probably shopping and sights in no particular order.

When we returned to the motel from dinner this evening, we ran into a foursome (one wearing a Colts t-shirt) from Indianapolis.  Comforting to know we are not the only crazies.  Latest estimate we heard was 230,000 attending the Rally on Saturday.  We promised Ginny that we would not chain ourselves to any monuments !!

Back on the road....

I apologize......I haven't kept my promise to continue to post.  After Europe, a few weeks to catch our breath......a 7 day moto-trip to Vintage Motorcycle Days at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham....and now off to the "Woodstock" of the 60 year olds........"Rally to Restore Sanity", hosted by Jon Stewart in Washington DC.  We leave Thursday.  I hope it is like Woodstock, but since I expect a lot of 60 year old folks, I hope they leave their clothes on !!

Home again.....

We arrived home last night (Wed 9/22) about 10pm.....exhausted.  We were able to get on both of the flights we requested, but the standby option is a little stressful.  Our flight from Washington DC to Indy was delayed 3 hours due to weather, but we were aboard.  Debbie, our friend who has been house-sitting, greeted us along with the dog and 4 cats.  Everyone was glad to see everyone else!  Thank you Debbie for being the perfect house-sitter.....the house was spotless, animals well-cared for and grand-daughter Preslee reached first for "Auntie Debbie" this morning when her Mom & Dad dropped her off !!  Fortunately, it didn't take her long to remember her Grannie & Papa.

I can't wait to watch some football this weekend...Ft Wayne Dwenger on Fri, IU on Sat and the Colts on Sun.  The Europeans truly could not care less about American football.  Aside from family & friends, football was the thing I missed most while traveling abroad in September.

Thanks to my sister Shirley, I started working on this blog, and I will say I am surprised at the amount of enjoyment I have gotten from it.  I prefer this forum over Facebook as it seems more personal.  Each day of the trip, we enjoyed trying to decide which events to write about....plus the act of getting connected to the internet everyday certainly presented some challenges.  And the feedback we received from y'all was wonderful.  We felt connected, even though we were a long way from home. So, now that I have begun, I will try to keep posting to this blog. Hopefully, some interesting things will happen that I want to share with you....otherwise....it will be pretty boring.

Stay tuned....you know.... not all excellent adventures take place a long way from home....

Perugia & Cortona

Sorry we missed an update, we have been out of touch for awhile.  We are now installed in the Comfort Inn near the airport in Roma, preparing for our attempt to get home tomorrow.

Yesterday we traveled to Perugia, looked at the sights and toured a wonderful museum.....then met up with another set of friends....David Miller, Tom & Diane Houlihan.

 We are pretty amazed that on a trip to the other side of the world, we were able to connect with so many wonderful friends to share our adventure.  Tom & David have been touring in France with another friend for the past 2 weeks, visiting WW-I battle sights.  After Diane joined them in Paris, they flew to Firenze, then drove to a villa they rented near Cortona.  The villa is beautiful with another incredible view, but the road to get there is a little scary.  We went into town last night for a great dinner and a good evening of laughter with friends.

Thank you David, Tom & Diane for sharing your home and your spirit.

We will attempt a quick sight-seeing trip to the ruins of Rome this afternoon, then tomorrow, we start the trip home.  The trip has been more incredible than we could have ever imagined.  We feel like we are completely saturated with memories of incredible people, sights, food, wine and bread.  If you do not hear from us, assume we are en-route.  Thanks to all of you for following along and all of your warm greetings.  We are looking forward to seeing our kids, grandkids, friends, neighbors and pets.

Scurrying in and scurrying out....

Today we made quick time visiting three villages from David Miller's list.  After 8 days of visiting Tuscan villages, we have this down pretty well.  We can arrive, park, see the high points, shop the shops, have a gellato or capacino, take 50+ pictures and be out of town in 2 hours.  All three of the villages we visited today were very interesting for different reasons.

Montepulciano featured an incredible view from every point in the city.  Panoramas so magnificent that photos do not do them justice....so I won't post one....

In Chiusi, we met a nice dog while enjoying a glass of wine, then discovered a very good museum of 2,500 year old Etruscan artifacts.  And admission was only 4 Euro....best bargain of the trip !!

In Pienza, we heard a street musician who was thoroughly entertaining.

Tomorrow, we go to Perugia to meet with two old fraternity brothers.....certainly another unforgettable day.

By the way, we are now around 1,000 photos.....if you ask to see our pictures, pack a lunch !!

P. S.  We just went up the hill to the downtown part of Terme -{ believe me you wouldn't want to drive those roads for the first time in the dark} to a little restaurant that we had found during the day when we got lost and drove on some roads that no sane American would drive!!!!!  Anyhow;;;;;;; we went to this little ristarante for dinner after 7:30 pm - it was just exactly like our friend Brenda said it could be.  The food was just wonderful, the owner and staff were even more so.  I would eat there every day for the rest of my life if I could.  Granted, I am a little tipsy from all the Casa Red but I can tell you it was delightful!!  Raymond said I am done so I reckon I am.....xome