Madeira Portugal

We arrived in Madeira Portugal late in the day so we really weren't able to see much of the island until morning, November 26. Using Booking.com we have been able to scout out accommodations suitable for families with active children. We've added FREE INTERNET and BREAKFAST included to our list of priorities.


So this hotel seems to fit, except we think we should add LAUNDRY facilities to the list next time.

The Sport Hotel Galosol (Ondamar) is part of a group of facilities that include a fitness facility, several restaurants, three swimming pools, and a spa. We're quite excited to be here and were pleasantly surprised to learn about all the fitness programs available to us here as part of our stay. This morning I joined a running group at 7:30 a.m. We boarded a van and drove to a nature park about 15 minutes away from here. The view together with the scent of the Eucalyptus trees were inspiring as we ran along a narrow path through a nature area. Tomorrow the rest of the family will join me (they promised). Other activities available today include: Aquafit classes (2 of them), aerobics, basketball, squash, turkish bath for ladies, abs of steel, body blast, body sculpting and hiking. There are also free times for lane swimming and weights, treadmills, step machines etc. Tomorrow there is even a kid's swim session for two hours! Dieter (the child with gills) is pretty excited about that.

Georg and Erik are watching the football game online. I'm keeping the results a secret until they finish watching.

We are looking forward to our two-week stay here on this beautiful island.

I'll post some pictures when I'm back on the Mac.

We don't recognize these people either

We've been travelling for a week since the cruise- wearing the same jeans and t-shirts day after day. Looking back at the cruise pictures, we're not sure who these people are anymore. We certainly don't look anything like this anymore!

Oh we'll sure be glad to get settled in for a longer stay in Madiera!

En route to Lisbon

We enjoyed our day in Chamonix France and have vowed to return one day to ski in the Alps. Our plan was to stop in Geneva to meet Martin and Doris, but we had to change our plans when we learned they were forcasting snow for the area. Our timing just hasn't been good - no snow when we wanted it and snow when we didn't want it. We stopped in Geneva long enough to call Martin (Georg was able to speak a little German) and continued our way on towards Lisbon. We were happy to have a chance to get to know Martin well enough to learn that his son is studying in REGINA SASKATCHEWAN. We hope we'll meet again one day.

Pushing on towards Lisbon with no particular destination for each day, we took time to enjoy the scenery and notice the many land uses along the way.

By 8:00 p.m. we arrived in Tulle where we stayed in a modest "room" for the night. We were grateful to find the hotel because our efforts to stay in Clermont failed when all rooms were booked at every hotel. In the morning we toured around this quaint little French community, sampling croissants and pastries and visiting the market.

The next day we drove to Bayonne France. This is a region rich with wineries (it's near Bordeaux) so we decided we needed to sample the wine and soak up the scenery during our one-night stay.

After a long day of travelling we arrived in Castelo Branco Portugal. I guess we were somewhat affected by the "highway incident" in October so we didn't really want to spend any extra time in Spain and opted for a long day of travelling to reach Portugal. The countryside is so diverse and, although we tried to take pictures, we realize the photos don't do justice to the life-size views.

Once in Portugal we found accommodations at the TRYP COLINA DO CASTELO. I've managed to figure out alot of Spanish and Italian but I'm finding Portuguese is a little more difficult. I can tell you that "Colina" means "Hill" and this hotel is, in fact, on a hill overlooking the city. The sunset was very impressive and this morning's sunshine has provided us with a tremendous view of the valley below. The trees are golden and the weather is about October-ish type weather in Saskatchewan. Chilly but not cold.

Today we will drive another 2 hours to Lisbon and catch our flight to London. Tomorrow we fly from London to Madeira.

Chamonix Mont-Blanc France

We left Venice and began our travel towards Lisbon: DESTINATION Geneva. We got off to a rough start, experiencing our first real traffic jam > we travelled less than 10 km in 2 hours! We managed to amuse ourselves listening to the radio in Italian and translating and singing along in our very limited (creative) Italian. Also, we had a nice picnic in the car and a couple of impatient Italian drivers provided additional entertainment for us.


We drove for about 5 hours before we arrived in Chamonix Mont-Blanc France. You wouldn't believe the excitement at the sight of SNOW in the mountains! We decided to bunk in the mountains and settled in to the Best Western for the night. After much discussion we agreed we should go skiing here, but alas the slopes don't open for another week.

Erik is extremely disappointed to be here in the French Alps sans skiis!


We have been in touch with Martin from Geneva and have an offer to stay there this evening. Thank you Wes for introducing us.

Rome how could we forget to post Rome?

We travelled from the French Riviera to a small hamlet 15km north of Rome called Tarquinia. Our hotel sat perched atop a hill providing a commanding view of the farmland and sea. What community wouldn't have a 13th century castle? This was one of those ancient "gated communities" complete with a huge stone wall. We don't appreciate the yawns from the boys "Oh yeah, another castle uh huh, seen a few of those already Mom and Dad."

We took the train into Rome (wow fast and very inexpensive) and once we arrived we hopped the metro over to the collesium. We stepped out of the metro and there it was! This prompted discussions of gladiators and we now need to see the movie again.

The sites/sights of Rome are permanently etched in our minds. It was a day to remember for sure.

Not much more to say other than WOW!

Venice Italy

We arrived in Venice on November 18th. The weather is fairly chilly (about 14 degrees) today but that didn't deter us from touring around this amazing city of canals and gondolas.

The internet connection is S L O W so the pictures will have to be added later.

We're heading for Geneva and on through Bordeaux and back to Lisbon in the next week. On November 24th we'll fly to London and on through to Madiera, a small island near the Canary Islands. We plan to spend two weeks there, enjoying the fitness facilities and nice weather before heading on to Hawaii.

We had a last minute thought to go to the Serengetti on a safari but after consulting with my Director at Sask Health, we've learned that this might be a health risk as we didn't have our shots for Yellow Fever. Thank you Mary for your help on this one.

Naples and Mount Vesuvius

We spent a day in Naples - chilly day - note the snow on Mount Vesuvius!

Georg and I walked for three hours exploring Naples. Unfortunately, we forgot our camera on the ship so we have no photos here.

This was the final day of the cruise. Next stop: Venice.