My Bag is Packed

Halloween and Free Travel

I am sorry to say that I will not use the word couchette in this entry.

Since I last had a free moment we have had a Halloween party at the villa and gone on our second free travel for the semester. The Halloween party was so much fun. My costume friends (MLD and SCP) came up with great suggestions for my costume but I ended up being a rapper. Long story but it was funny and the kids were amazed that I know a few phrases that a gangsta might use.



The kids are so creative and one even came as an African street vendor in Florence. He was hilarious and kept trying to sell everyone watches and belts! The Haunted Grounds was so much fun and the tacos were great!

So, the next day we went to Porciano. Martha was a wonderful hostess, as she always is and the kids enjoyed hanging out in a castle.



Barbara and I took a Thursday afternoon train to Verona and spent the night there. It was fun to stroll downtown with all the local folks and see the beautiful buildings that look like Juliet is going to come out on the balcony.

[Jeff Hopper has arrived here in Scandicci bringing copies of the Bison for this semester. No one told me that the three Moore ladies were featured in one of the issues!!!]

So, back to the trip…We left Verona on a day train to Munich. The trip through the Italian and Austrian alps was incredible. I think that I have been on that exact route in 2000 but at night. I don’t think that I will ever sleep through Europe again because the scenery that you miss is so dramatic. We saw so many castles on the hilltops.

Mark and Julie Ellis met us at the train station and took us to their really cool apartment in downtown Munich. As soon as we had put down our luggage Mark, the tour guide, led us out of the house and down to the street where he had rented bicycles for Barbara and me. Those of you who know me well, know that I have not been on a bicycle in 30 years! And besides that…I am no so coordinated. So we set off on a bike tour of Munich. We had not gone 30 feet when I started laughing and immediately fell off the bicycle and bounced my head off the curb! Julie and Barbara were already planning how they would get the body back to the states but having dense bones is a blessing and I got to my feet and back on the bike. We continued around the city for a while seeing all the cool places like the spot in the river where people actually surf on the rushing river, and a part of the English Garden, and the new government center.

We did stop for supper at a great place in downtown Munich. The sausages were great and I had a new beverage…part Coke and part Orange Fanta. I was amazingly good. We set out for home on the bicycles again and I was going pretty good until some lady opened her car door right in my path!!! I tried to swerve but lost my balance again! The poor lady was sooo apologetic because in Munich if a rider is on the bike path no one can get in their way. I had a couple of bruises and a huge case of lost dignity but I did manage to make it out of bed the next day!

On Sunday, we worshiped with the church that the Ellis’ attend in Munich. John Mark Hicks was there for a special workshop and he preached. It was really good. After a lunch at the KFC, we headed out for the Linderhof castle. That crazy Ludwig sure knew how to spend some money!

He didn’t want anyone to see him eat so he created this contraption that would lower his dining table down into the kitchen so that the servants wouldn’t see him eat but they could still put all the food on the table and then raise it up to where he was seated.

Monday Julie drove us out to the Neuschwanstein castle. It really does look like you enter an amusement park. We also drove into the town of Fussen to shop around there. I turned the day into a “Bakery Day” and we did manage to taste several yummy treats.


Tuesday we took the one of the best walking tours I have ever been on. We took the Hitler’s Munich tour. The guide was from Ireland but we saw all the major locations were the Third Reich came into existence and where they ruled until the government moved to Berlin. I was amazed at the number of coincidences and the amount of plain dumb luck that fell into place as the Nazi party rose to power. I highly recommend this tour for those going to Munich! After the tour we had a kind of a picnic in the gardens downtown with sausages that MLD recommends, cheese, pretzels, and artichoke hearts. There was a kind of a pep rally for the soccer teams playing that night and the fans were marching through the streets beating drums and blowing whistles. It was crazy fun!

Wednesday was a train trip back to Florence with lunch in the dining car. It was almost like being on the Orient Express! We saw snow when we stopped for a few minutes in Brenner’s Pass and then found out that Munich was hit with a major snowstorm Wednesday night.

The cooler weather if officially here and I couldn’t be happier! The sad news is that we only have three more weeks of time for the semester. The happy news is that when the semester ends more of my friends begin to arrive. Tammie and Vivian then when they leave Julie is bringing a friend to visit and when they leave Gene and Reagan come!!!

posted by BW @ 4:16 PM