Italy: 23 Days By Train
By Tom Blake
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About this ebook
Author and columnist Tom Blake has written more than 3,200 newspaper and online columns titled "On Life and Love After 50." While his specialty is writing about finding love after 50 and 60,many of Tom's columns have included articles on travel to many parts of the world. Tom's "Travel After 55" website documents 20 trips he and his partner have taken over 17 years. He has appeared on Good Morning America,Today and Fox and Friends.Tom is the author of four printed books and several ebooks. He is based in Dana Point, California.
Tom Blake
Tom Blake is an author and syndicated column in Southern California. He has written more than 4,379 columns and email newsletters on finding love after 50. Tom's website, www.findingloveafter50.com, has articles and videos. Tom is a columnist for the Dana Point Times, San Clemente Times, and The Capistrano Dispatch in Orange County, California. He is the author of five printed books and several ebooks (on Smashwords.com and Amazon.com) John Gray, PhD, author of "Men Are From Mars. Women Are From Venus," says Tom is an expert on dating after 50. Tom has appeared on the Today Show and Good Morning America. Each Friday, he emails the complimentary "On Life and Love After 50" Newsletter to several thousand subscribers across the USA, Canada, and other foreign countries. Sign up at www.findingloveafter50.com, or email Tom at tompblake@gmail.com
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Italy - Tom Blake
Italy: 23 Days by Train
Published by Tom Blake at Smashwords
Copyright 2020 Tom Blake
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Published by:
Tom Blake Publishing, Dana Point, CA. 92629
Italy: 23 Days by train
Tom and Greta’s Personal Travel Journal to Italy in 2008
Table of Contents
Planning a trip to Italy
Part 1 - The trip to Italy
Part 2 - Northern Italy
Part 3 - Lake Como
Part 4 -Southern Italy
Part 5 Tuscany
Trip Summary
About the Author
Other Books by the author
Author websites
Author’s note regarding the Table of Contents above. By hitting control click on each book part, you will go directly to that part. To get back to the Table of Contents, you will simply hit control click on that part title and it will return back to the Table of Contents.
Planning a trip to Italy
My partner Greta and I are in our late 60s. We love to travel. Our planning for a trip to Italy began in September, 2007, with a dream to spend a week in Portofino, in Northern Italy, considered by many travel experts to be the jewel of the Italian Rivera.
Portofino has only four hotels. The cost of staying in a hotel there was prohibitive--except for one possible opportunity. Greta owns a RCI timeshare in San Clemente, California. In the RCI catalog, the Piccolo Hotel in Portofino is listed as one of its exchange properties.
Knowing that our chances of getting a week at the Piccolo were slim, Greta nonetheless made the request to stay there for a week in the spring of 2008. All we could do was wait and hope.
A few days later at my Dana Point, California, deli, I told Ted Bowersox, my State Farm insurance agent, about our hoped-for trip. He mentioned that he and his wife would be traveling to Italy in May, 2008, highlighted by a one-week stay at a 16th Century villa in Tuscany with nine other couples who were friends of theirs.
The ten couples had spent a similar week together at a French Chateau the previous year.
Only half-jokingly, I said, Need another couple?
Sorry, the villa has only ten rooms and all 10 couples have committed.
Let us know if anyone drops out,
I said.
Two months went by; the reality of a 2008 trip to Italy was melting like a dish of gelato, while the cost of the euro vs. the dollar was rising.
One day in November, Ted came to the deli for lunch. One of the couples had to cancel; we’d like you and Greta to take their place. It’s for the week of May 24.
Ted said.
I told Ted I’d have to run it by Greta but it sounded wonderful. I couldn’t wait to share the news with her that night at home.
I stopped at Trader Joe’s, picked up a bottle of Chianti, and opened it before dinner, saying to Greta, I’ve got a surprise.
And I’ve got one for you,
she replied.
I excitedly relayed the news about Ted’s villa invitation.
For what dates?
she asked.
May 24 to 31 (2008).
She could hardly contain herself. Then her news: "The Portofino timeshare reservation was