Grandchildren European Trip: Driving to Charleston

Today Sandy and I started our trip to Europe by driving to North Columbia, South Carolina.  We are in the process of repositioning ourselves to Mt. Pleasant/Charleston South Carolina where grandchildren Elizabeth, Katharyne and Whit live.

Grandchildren European Trip: Pre-Trip Community Play

We had one last obligation to complete before leaving to pick of Elizabeth, Katharyne and Whit on our European Adventure.  This last obligation … performing in a community play.  The Garret Players perform several plays a year.  One of the unique features of the performance is that instead of practicing for months, we practice for two intensive weeks and during the play we have our scripts with us.  Oddly enough, the audience soon forgets that we have the scripts in our hands.  

Following are a few pictures taken during the dress rehearsal.

This is the entire cast, plus the director of our play, Four Old Broads.

The last scene in the play Sandy and I are about to leave with the other Old Broads on a Caribbean cruise on which we are to be married.  At last, I’ll be making an honest woman of her.

In the play Sandy and I are residents of Magnolia Place assisted living home.  Sandy is a classy lady who is mysteriously slipping into “memory lapses” and I am a lounge lizard-ish retired Elvis impersonator.

We get to do a little on-stage smooching

… and a little bottom pinching

Island Hopping 2024: Lancaster

 Saturday May 4:  This is our last Journal Post.  This trip that started about three and a half months ago now ends with a flight home where our neighbors picked us up.  We went out to lunch with them and then back to our house.  It was good to go, and now it is good to be home.

  

Home to Ohio

 

Island Hopping 2024: New York, JFK, TWA Hotel

Friday May 3: Today we start the long flights home.  We left Rome flying on LOT, the Polish Airline, which took us first to Warsaw and then, after a four hour layover, across the Atlantic to New York's JFK.  Our next flight isn’t until 10:00AM tomorrow morning so we decided to spend the night at the TWA Hotel which is the old TWA terminal at JFK airport. 

Flying into Warsaw we passed over the Świętokrzyskie Mountains

Staying at the TWA Hotel is like taking a trip back in time without needing a DeLorean. We found ourselves strolling through the TWA Hotel, feeling like we’ve stepped right into the golden age of air travel...where they've turned the clock back to the swinging '60s faster than you can say "Martini, shaken, not stirred." The place is the epitome of retro-cool, with its sleek lines, vibrant colors, and that iconic TWA logo plastered everywhere like it's going out of style (spoiler: it never will). Music from the sixties was always in the air, and don't even get us started on the Connie, that vintage Lockheed Constellation parked out front like it's waiting to whisk us away to some glamorous destination. So, dreaming of sipping a cocktail at the Sunken Lounge and catching some zzz's in a room straight out of "Mad Men," we buckled up, and enjoyed our ticket to a groovy blast from the past.  This was a very fun place to stay.  Though I found it a bit disturbing that what the hotel was displaying as historic kitsch, seems like just yesterday to me, and, by God, it wasn’t kitsch, we really were cool!

This is the Connie

Sandy at the 1962 mock-up beauty salon

The Ambassador Club was the first Airline Lounge

The architect, Erro Saarinen, just couldn't bring himself to design a straight line or a sharp angle

This tube was used as a passenger passageway between the ticketing terminal and the airplane gates

There were a number of vintage cars sitting in front of the terminal, now hotel

The TWA Constellations (Connies) set the speed record for commercial airplane transcontinental flights.  Howard Hughes said "We weren't trying to set a speed record, we were just trying to build the best plane we could.  It just happened to go fast!"

This is what our living rooms looked like in the early 60s

I forget what these were for

Here’s to that earlier version of Elon Musk … Howard Hughes (TWA’s founder).  And, here’s to our return to the United States.

 A mock-up of Howard Hughes' Idlewild Airport office, (now JFK)

Rome to Warsaw

Warsaw to JFK

Island Hopping 2024: Rome, Pompeii, the Amalfi Coast

Thursday May 2: Today Sandy and I took a group tour leaving from downtown Rome to Pompeii. Located near the modern city of Naples in southern Italy, is an ancient Roman city frozen in time by the catastrophic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. Once a bustling commercial hub and resort town for the Roman elite, Pompeii was buried under many feet of volcanic ash and pumice in a matter of mere hours, preserving its streets, buildings, and artifacts for nearly two millennia exactly as they were. Rediscovered in the 18th century, Pompeii has since become one of the world's most significant archaeological sites, offering a remarkable glimpse into daily life in the Roman Empire. We wandered through its remarkably preserved streets, and explored ancient houses, temples, theaters, and public baths, all providing insights into Roman architecture, art, and culture. The site continues to be a source of fascination and study for archaeologists, historians, and tourists like us, offering a vivid window into the daily lives of this past civilization and reminding us of the devastating power of nature.

Originally a Greek Theatre, later part of Roman Pompeii

Casa dei Vetti, the home of two wealthy bachelor brothers.  Best preserved residence in Pompeii

Fresco of the Hunt

Oxcart wheel grooves worn into the pavers

A large house

A bakery, most houses did not have a cooking oven, the community bakery supplied the bread.  The same with prepared foods.  Many residents simply went out and purchased already prepared meals to bring home.

It is easy to imagine this crowd wearing togas and speaking Latin.  With that adjustment this scene has not changed much from the day Vesuvius erupted

An erotic fresco in the brothel

When excavators discover a void where a body had been before it decomposed they will pump a special plaster/plastic into the void.  After the plaster has hardened the ash and pumice is excavated and there is the body just as it was during the eruption. 

At first interesting to think about, but it doesn't take long to appreciate and feel the anguish of these dying souls

A mother and child

Statues recovered from Pompeii

A statue that almost looks sad as she sees Pompeii, now a dead city

This is the best picture we could get of Vesuvius, the cause of all this death.

We also toured the dramatic Amalfi Coast on the way back to Rome.  Much of the time it was in a driving rain.

We stopped by this Lemoncella production facility

Destined for the Lemoncella bottle

Removing the pulp from the lemons, only the pith and zest are used

A break in the sky and a view of the Amalfi Coast,  towards Sorento

Another view down the coast

Today's tour

Island Hopping 2024: Rome, Monreal, Fly to Rome

Wednesday May 1:  Today Sandy and I have a plane to catch, but since it doesn’t take off until 7:00PM, we had some time to site-see on our way to the Palermo Airport.  About halfway between the winery and the airport is the grand cathedral of Monreale, so off we went. 

The Apses of the Church

Triton Fountain in front of the cathedral

The story of the Monreale Cathedral is a soap opera-like tale as tangled as a plate of spaghetti!  Twelfth century Sicily is where two architectural egos clashed like bumper chariots in a Roman circus. The Norman king of Sicily was the flamboyant William II, with a penchant for excess. Walter was a very independent advisor to William II, and at the same time his rival.  The seat of Walter’s power was Palermo and he had the support of the nobles.  William ruled from Monreale and was backed by the Pope.  Now the battle of the Cathedrals began.  William, with his royal decree in hand, unveils his grand plans for Monreale's cathedral – a dazzling display of opulence and hubris, and in his pocket a newly minted Bishopric ordained by the Pope. But wait, Walter storms onto the scene like a runaway chariot, proclaiming, "Not so fast, Your Majesty! Palermo deserves a cathedral fit for the gods, too!"  And, Palermo is already a bishopric, do we really need two Bishops only six miles apart!  And thus, the rivalry was born, with each  amazingly large ego vying to outdo the other in a game of ecclesiastical one-upmanship. Just about all agree that William II won the construction contest.  As for the Monreale Cathedral? Well, let's just say it's the architectural equivalent of a mic drop – a glittering gem in Sicily's crown, and a testament to the age-old adage: when in doubt, build bigger!  Monreale got its bishop and its cathedral.  And, William II reaffirmed that it is good to be king.

Gold inlaid depictions of bible stories.  These kind of read like a comic strip as you follow the theme clockwise around the Basilica.  This scene is where God created woman.

Then came the damn snake (correct use of the word damn).  The scenes went on and on with the story of Genesis and the Life of Jesus.

A mixture of many cultural styles

What looks to be gold is gold

Approximately two tons gold here

The Basilica of this cathedral is 335 feet long and 130 feet wide.  It is absolutely slathered with over 68,000 square feet of golden mosaics.  It is estimated that the cathedral’s walls hold about two tons of gold.  The building and its interior is a very Sicilian blend of Classical, Byzantine, Arab and Norman craftsmanship. 

The cloisters for the Benedictine Monks

The courtyard of the cloister

Every one of these romanesque columns have different capitals

The fountain area of the cloister

Note that some of the gold inlays have been "mined" out of the columns

No two capitals are the same

From Monreale we drove onto the Palermo Airport and took our relatively short flight to Rome.  

This is the area that we covered while on Sicily

Our last view of the island

A short hop to Rome