A Month in Our Lives

I thought I’d write a bit about our lives for the past month.

The Canadian Cancer Society, as I understand it, is supported by donations. It is an organization to support cancer patients, both current and future. There are many programs within the umbrella supporting things like food, counseling and so forth.

The Society provides housing, across the street from the hospital, for patients from out of town that is free to the patients. Here at the lodge the patients are provided 3 meals a day plus snacks, housing, entertainment rooms and rides to and from the treatment center. There is a small daily fee for the caregivers.

There are not many rooms at the lodge so many of us are put up in hotels for periods of time. We came to the lodge for 1 week, then a hotel for about 12 days, and then back to the Lodge, where we are now. This is typical of many of the patients who we have gotten to know.

The Lodge is pleasant but the hotel was super close to Government St with Murchie’s Tea, and Monro’s Books, both being favorites here. Alas, we have added to our stack of books.

As far as activities during the day, I for one do spend some time on the computer, writing this blog for example, reading the NY Times, some of the Atlantic and playing Sudoku on the NY Times site. Also, I sometimes play some of the games on the Marian Webster site. Additionally, I read quite a bit. Have finished “Colored Television”, “The Secret War of Julia Child” and nearly finished the 500+ page book “Poisonwood Bible”. I was reading a book by Mary Beard “Pompeii”. This book I put down as I want to wait until I have some sticky notes to tab pages of places I want to make sure to visit on my 3^rd and maybe final visit to Pompeii.

I also started going thru photos for a calendar. Unfortunately, my good camera was stolen at the end of our summer trip so all of my photos were lost. I had planned to save them but my laptop died nearly immediately upon reaching Italy so now I need to get motivated quickly in finding my Oslo photos and then whatever else can fill the calendar.

Otherwise, we are like the old people at the old folks home, we wait for the next meal!

 

A Small Gift, A Big Heart

 

We are now on a journey of a different sort.

Before I go into our new journey, I want to just put it out there that we are not religious so don’t need any blessings poured down over our heads or to hear about prayers or about sympathy. We don’t care if this is what you do privately but we don’t need to hear about it. This is not a blog reaching out for anything, just simply a blog about our journey.

Today it is about the small things in life that make a difference. It’s about remembering to be a friend and reaching out.

We are at the Cancer Lodge for an extended stay. Needless to say, most of the people in here are without their family members, hence, support comes from within the group.

One person has a treatment that has damaged the exposed skin. It is terribly painful and causes other problems. I reach out to the person especially when they are in pain.

Yesterday at lunch, my friend was in obvious pain. A new patient in treatment came over to my friend and handed my friend a little handmade gift. It wasn’t much but it was just a sweet little gift that had taken some effort to make.

That exchange led me to tears. It was just a small gift but from the heart, one patient to another.

What have I given to lighten one’s day?

A Summer Prize, A Private Concert

While I wasn’t asked to start blogging again, I feel the need to write. And, as I’m asked about this and that of our travels, it seems easier to just write out what we are doing.

Dale and I have been doing lots of traveling, at least it seems that it is the case when we wonder where we were last week, or last month. If not traveling, then entertaining for sure.

I’ll start with the main event this summer and then tomorrow or so, I will discuss the trip we are about to embark on.

First, Dale and I enjoy classical music. We have traveled to Europe several times to enjoy concerts in several countries. We have since discovered the Victoria Symphony, and this past season enjoyed several symphonies.

The symphonies we have attended are usually on a Sunday afternoon. This means going down to Victoria on Saturday, attending the symphony on Sunday and returning home on Monday. We normally stay at “The Magnolia”, a small hotel near the harbor and within walking distance of most symphonies. And within walking distance of a wonderful bookstore and tea shop.

The Victoria Symphony, like many in the US, needs to raise extra money. For this, the symphony had a sweepstakes selling 5 tickets for whatever prizes they were. I bought 5 tickets.

I was in the eye Dr for a check-up when I got a phone call saying that I’d won 1 of the prizes. The prize? A private concert with the String Quartet. Wow!!! This was one of the prizes I hadn’t really paid attention to, but really, had just bought the tickets to contribute to the symphony. I had no idea what this prize would be. And to be honest, had no idea about what any of the prizes were except the big prize to hear Yo-Yo Ma.

We could have 10 people so 1^st we thought about who we’d invite. One friend, Rick Penner, had just asked, maybe 1 week before, if we had a string quartet in Victoria and we didn’t know. Well now we knew and we invited him immediately. We started to ask friends and neighbors who would like string quartets.

We also thought we’d have a “Downton-ish” type dinner. We knew that we couldn’t get friends up here to serve but we’d do the next best thing.

In the end, we turned our home into a symphony hall, seats in the front row (couch and grandpa chair) and balcony seating. The Quartet, http://emilycarrstringquartet.com was probably 10’ away from the front seats, right in front of the living room windows

Our guests all had their jobs. Kim Bergman made desserts, Marty Ediger and Rick and Wanda Penner helped with this-ing and that-ing. Marquise was to help with lots of stuff. We had instructed everyone on how to move the table to extend from dining room into living room, where to place plates, napkins, sterling and crystal. After the concert, everyone moved quickly and efficiently, and it was perfect. And, if not perfect no one noticed any problems nor cared. It was perfect for us!

Dinner was really based on Downton dinners we’d already had; Beef Bourgogne, potatoes, veggies, salad, mushroom Bourgogne, champagne to toast the quartet and our friends.

Wow, what a prize. Really great friends, a concert in our home and good food. It doesn’t get much better!!

A Walk in the Alpe di Siusi

 

We only had 1 day left in the Dolomites and the forecast was for a storm that afternoon. We wanted to get to the Alpe di Siusi. These are meadows and are part of the UNESCO World Natural Heritage.

We were not sure what to expect and didn’t have high hopes but, again, the walk was just beautiful. The meadow extends nearly as far as one can see. Dolomites surround with their jagged peaks, there are little farms, cows, and paths all over.

Dale and I chose to start walking and then finally came to a fork in the road. We decided to go to the right and turned out to do a large loop.

We stopped for coffee but noted that the storm clouds were moving in closer, so we hurried our coffee break and went on our way, taking a chair lift to the top of the hill.

The next morning, we had a rail ticket for a non-stop train to Rome from Bolzano, and knew we had to catch the 10am bus so we packed up and then went to dinner.

After breakfast we checked out of the hotel and of course it was pouring rain. Here we are with our bags and leaky rain jackets. Fortunately, we thought, the bus stop was right across from our hotel, so we didn’t have to walk far.

We waited in the hotel lobby at first but then moved outside just before 10. By then there were many people waiting as well so we were not sure that we’d get on the bus. The buses that did arrive were jam packed with people and not for Bolzano. This was not a good sign.

Our bus did not arrive, but more and more people were coming to catch a bus. Finally, it was close to 11am and our train was due to depart at 1pm. Bolzano was a good ½ hour away. We decided that I should find a taxi.

I asked some drivers in cars pulling up to the taxi line, but no they couldn’t take us. By then a guy came up and asked if we were trying to get a taxi to Bolzano. I said yes. He asked if he and his wife could join us and spit the fare as they also had a train at 1pm. Yes, it was fine.

We found a taxi; I think probably a private guy who just does this for extra money. But no matter, it was a ride to the train station and at ½ the price.

We made our train with time to get an espresso beforehand. All was well!

Next Stop Ortisei

Our next stop was going to be Ortisei. Now that we knew how to get around, after breakfast we asked the hotel to call us a taxi, no more messing around with buses. And as a point of info, for anyone going to the Dolomites, taxis are plentiful and will get you where you want to go. They of course are more expensive, but my-oh-my, are they a more efficient use of time.

Our taxi driver quoted us a price to get us to Ortisei. We packed in our bags, and we were off. He was so great, he even offered to stop if I needed to take a photo at no extra charge.

We got to Ortisei and found that we’d left our down sweaters back in Cortina. We could have them brought to us by taxi but that would cost over $400. We decided that we’d brave the cold with the clothes we had and buy new when we got home. Alas!

The taxi dropped us off at hotel in Ortisei, we dropped our bags and took off for Seceda. The gondola was close to our hotel and an easy walk. I carried my big camera and tripod for this. WOW, this was so amazing to see in real life!! I couldn’t get enough photos!

To get up to Seceda one must take 2 separate gondolas, but they are easy to access, changing from one to another part  way up the mountain. There is a trail up to the top, but we didn’t have time for that.

At the top of the gondola there is a walk to the top for views that are seen in many travel photos. Then there are walks around the area.

We didn’t think that we’d walk to 1 spot or another, but we ended up walking all over, somewhere over 10,600 steps before we were done.

We’d love to go back.

Getting into the Dolomites

 From Verona we wanted to walk in the Dolomites but had to take a bus. There is a bus system called the Flexbus that has buses that connect Verona to lots of cities. There is no station for the bus, only a small, covered stop by the side of the road. This was a real adventure!

We thought that the bus would go from the station located in front of the train station. We hurried down to the station, about a ½ hour walk. We were trying to beat the rain. We had several hours before our bus would arrive and thought that we could sit inside and keep warm.

We got to the bus station and went into the café when we realized we were not where the Flexbus stopped. We needed to walk another 10 minutes. In the meantime, it started pouring rain and, of course, we had leaky rain jackets. We caught a cab this time.

The cab left us at a gas station across the street from the bus stop, so that we could stand under the roof over the pumps. We joined a line of people standing between the gas pumps trying to stay out of the way of the cars getting gas. Standing between the gas pumps for 4 hours was not what we’d had in mind.

We saw a couple of flex buses arrive and many people left the little covered stop so we hurried over and were able to get a seat. The little waiting area was soon packed with people again.

A bus arrived close to the time ours was to arrive, so I went to ask about it. A woman translated for me, but it was not the bus. In the meantime, she looked up our bus and found that our tickets had been cancelled and the stop changed. It was pouring rain so I’m getting soaked, and it looked like we had to walk back to the train station.

After many discussions a different woman verified that the stations had been changed but changed to the covered stop so we were at the right place. I decided that we were just going to get on the bus, canceled tickets or not.

As it turns out, out tickets were fine, we got on, and off we went on a Mr. Toads Wild Ride up to the Dolomites.

We walked to our hotel, wet clothes and all, happy to find a warm room.

Our hotel was interesting. Over 100 years old, lots of beautiful wood trim, and features that are not in the new hotels. The night person said that the hotel had recently been sold so it is uncertain what will become of it. I hope they refurbish it and not tear it down.

As many trips go there are just times that one needs to change plans and go with the flow. This was one of them.

I’d wanted to go to Tre Cime di Laveredo but when I looked for hotels, I wasn’t sure about actually getting to the hotels. The hotels are not anywhere near a town, at least that is what it looks like on the map, however, there appear to be lots of bus stops. But where the buses originate from and the schedule was impossible to find. Not having good bus information, I didn’t have a clear notion of how everything would work. Hence, we went on the FlexBus to Cortina. I knew that we would at least be in the Dolomites and from we could figure the rest out. Additionally, bad weather was to set in soon after our day in Cortina, so we had to work around that.

The morning after arriving in Cortina, we went to the tourist office. There we found our info on getting to Tre Cime, we could take a cab, but unfortunately, we were running out of time to see the sites we wanted. 

Instead, we walked to the nearby gondola and went up to the local mountain where we had a stunning 360® view of peaks. The views were after a hike up a fairly steep hill, walking on an uneven path, but it was worth the effort. After our walk we treated ourselves to a bowl of steaming hot Goulash in the lodge restaurant.

On to Verona for the Operas

Moving on to Verona, it was about a 2-hour drive. As I’ve written before, I’m not crazy about Airbnb’s but hotels are hard to find near the plazas. So, we got an Airbnb overlooking the Plaza Erbe. This is a fun plaza; we have walked on it often during our trips to Verona.

We’ve been to the opera in Verona several times now. The opera is held in the Verona Arena, built about the same time as the colosseum in Rome. The operas are fun and spectacular.

The 1^st opera to see was The Barber of Sevilla. We saw this opera in Prague and knew that it would likely be fun. It didn’t disappoint!

We’d been moved from the seats we’d purchased; the opera had informed us that due to the G-7 our seats were upgraded. We suspected that the G-7 members would be at the opera, and we were not wrong. We looked for Trudeau but did not see him. We probably didn’t look close enough anyway as it wasn’t that important.

Dieter and Inge left us to return home so we were on our own after the 1^st day. We walked around the plaza, got food, coffee, and a few things we’d been on the lookout for. We left early for the Plaza Bra where the arena is located so we could have dinner and wine.

The 2^nd opera was Carmen. Carmen was good but it didn’t hold our interest. A guy in front of us kept checking his WhatsApp and taking photos. One singer was difficult to hear so we missed all of that. The opera was also filled with dancing when the acts were changing, which was fine, but we grew tired of it. But we’d wanted to see Carmen for years so now we have seen it.

It was time to move on.