I was excited to visit Rome again, if for no other reason than to see if my memory of being there in the 80's matched what it was like today.  The first day we decided to go to the US Navy base in Naples.  I wanted to show Mic, who is Danish, what a US base is like and of course, to shop at the commissary and BX.  We bought the tickets the night before and the agent spent a bit of time finding us both the morning and evening high speed trains, about an hour each way.  The regular train was just over 2.5 hours.  We had to be in Naples at a certain time to catch the military shuttle to the base, so we got up at the crack of dawn and headed out.  Once at the central station in Rome, we looked on the board, but couldn't find our train.  We finally asked an agent who told us that train left an hour ago.  How stupid could we be, we both looked at the ticket which clearly said departure 0730 AM.  It was now ...

My new landlords are the sweetest people.  They are a 'mature' couple, Edwin is 90 ish I think and Mary is younger.  Edwin gets around great for a man his age, but he is hard of hearing and quite frail looking.  When I moved in, I noticed my refrigerator wasn't working right, so Edwin called a repairman, who said the thermostat needed replacing.  The next day I noticed a horrible noise coming from the freezer.  I took the back panel off and could see the fan scraping and the plastic blades being torn up.  And it still wasn't cold enough.  My ice cream was melting and the items in the lower portion, like the milk, were warm.  So I called Mary and explained the noise and the temperature, and soon enough Edwin came to check it out for himself.  The noise was so loud that it kept me awake at night and you could plainly hear it all over the apartment.  When Edwin came in the front door, I said "d...

A week after I got back from Barcelona I moved to a bigger apartment.  While I loved my last place, and especially my landlady, it was time to find something bigger.  And OMG is this place bigger!  It has 3 bedrooms, it's closer to the waterfront, and there is a large kitchen with a formal dining room.  The master bedroom alone is probably bigger than my last apartment.  It's very light and airy, with large windows in each room.  There is usually enough of a breeze that I have to prop the doors open or they slam shut.  I don't have air conditioning, which is the only disappointing thing.  The reality is, I only need it for two to three months out of the year, so it's not that big of a problem.  It is possible to get a portable AC unit, so I may try to get one for next year.    The move itself went very smooth.  I had more stuff then I thought; oh my how it accumulates.  I had 2 people helping...

Barcelona was wonderful!  One thing about Europe - they have such great public transport.  Using Google maps, you can put in your destination and it tells you which bus or train to take.  We walked out of the airport, hopped on the bus and were soon on our way.  It didn't take long at all for us to notice how smooth the roads were.  In Malta, every road you drive on is filled with pot holes; the kind that swallow a small car.  In Spain, not only were the roads great, but the ride itself was smooth.  Not once did the driver slam on the brakes, take a corner on two wheels, throw passengers and luggage to the floor or any of the other crazy driving that seems to be the norm in Malta. I found our hotel using Booking.com.  I chose one in a central area that had great reviews and a very good price.  After I made the reservation I took a closer look at the reviews.  They were all positive, but I noticed an in...