Trunk or Treat at AOSR

One of the traditions at AOSR is called "Trunk or Treat".  Decorated cars park on the tennis courts and hand out candy to trick and treaters. High school students set up carnival type booths and the booster club sells hamburgers and hotdogs. It had a nice carnival feeling to the event that was held after school on Friday Oct. 27.  - Nancy

Ron in Hawaii with Tasha

On Thurs., Oct. 26th, Tasha took a personal day from work and drove me to the North Shore where we had shrimp for lunch + an ice cream cone later on ... Pictures explain the trip, but while we both got in the water at the beach, Tasha "went way in." - Ron

Chocoholic Heaven

Every year there is a chocolate festival in Perugia. A friend and I took the train and spent two nights there. There were booths and booths of chocolate and also very crowded streets. Perugia is in the Umbria region. We enjoyed exploring the city a bit and spent a morning in the museum. - Nancy

Race Walking to the Train Station

We barely got on our train from Venice to Rome. We decided to leave our hotel at 3 pm to  be at the train station in plenty of time to be on our 4:35 pm train. All was going OK we had our tickets to get on the public water taxi and it was arriving in 4 min. It arrived but we didn't get on because it was already too full. The app for the public water taxis said when the next public water taxi arrived we would arrive at the train station at 4:26 pm. Tasha wisely suggested that we walk to the train station. Google maps said  28 min. to walk. So Tasha put out destination of the train station into Google maps on my phone. My colleague Marianna, Tasha, and I all hustled off through the very narrow winding paths of Venice. Up and over many bridges we went. Then we got to a very wide canal and the directions were to take the public water taxi to the other side. So we were dependent once again on a public water taxi.

There are private water taxis and  I offered to pay for one but how do you flag down a private water taxi? Not by standing by the side of a canal and waving while it speeds on by. My friend Marianna went into a hotel and they were calling a private water taxi for us when the public water taxi arrived. We took it one stop to the other side of the canal and off we were speed walking to the train station.  We got there at 4:25 pm and on the train with 10 minutes to spare. I was dripping with sweat. The train pulled out right on time at 4:35 pm.

Venice is a walking city. On my pedometer it recorded that I walked 8.2 miles on Saturday and 8.4 on Sunday. I think Sunday's miles must count for more because we were "booking it".

I don't think that  Marianna will ever want to travel again with me. Tasha did a great job of leading us through the maze of pathways through Venice. She and Marianna stayed calm and I of course was the panicked one.

I am sure that the decision to "race walk" to the train station was the right one. I don't think we would have made it via public water taxi.

Thankfully we got on the train and arrived in Rome as scheduled.

The adventures of travel! - Nancy

Gallerie dell'Accademia

The first Sunday of the month was free admission for state sponsored museums so we walked to the Gallerie dell'Accademia. It contains masterpieces of Venetian painting up to the 18th century, generally arranged chronologically though some thematic displays are evident. - Nancy

The Tempest by Giorgione in 1510

Views in Venice

There are many shops on the narrow streets. The gelato was decadent and the glassware was exquisite. Nancy

St. Mark's Campanile

Sunday morning Tasha and I went out before breakfast to go to the top of St Mark's Campanile. It is the bell tower of St Mark's Basilica located in the Piazza San Marco. It is one of the most recognizable symbols of the city. The tower is 98.6 metres (323 ft) tall, and stands alone in a corner of St Mark's Square, near the front of the basilica. - Nancy

View from the top