Once the stay-at-home order was lifted in Florida and Georgia, I weighed the potential risks of venturing outside my front door and becoming instantly infected by the Covid-19 virus and decided, that if I bathed in sanitizer, wore a mask, large sunglasses and stayed at least 20 feet from any human it was worth the drive away from the safety of our house.

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Okay, that was all made up except for the part about the orders being lifted in Georgia. Those being lifted allowed campgrounds and state parks to be opened up giving us the freedom to satisfy our growing wanderlust. And it just so happened that Sharon had shared with me a post she saw on Facebook about the very little-known, but awesome, Providence Canyon in Georgia that was less than a 4 hour drive from us. It is one of the “Seven Wonders of Georgia.” That was all the inspiration we needed. Within a few days after seeing that post we had the Ark packed and ready to head out.

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We drove to the campground in Eufaula, Alabama arriving around sunset. The pond next to the campground was surrounded by a fence around it because there were several large resident alligators. When we drove by one of them was lounging out the shore of the pond. On the drive we drove along the inlets of Lake Eufaula, which I had never heard of, but is a very large lake and a popular destination with boaters and outdoor enthusiasts. Worth coming back to the area just for it.

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We heard that the Providence Canyon State Park fills up quickly and officials close the gates to entry when it does. Additionally we learned that they had closed the gate at 10:00 am that morning. We planned on getting there when it opened at 8:00 so we would have no issues. But there was a tiny issue that I didn’t realize, while the Park was only 30 minutes away, it was in Georgia, which meant a different time zone. That put us an hour later than we wanted when we got there. It was now 9:30, but fortunately for us, the park was not full yet.

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Seems we picked a perfect day to visit the canyon. The morning was still somewhat cool and the skies were bright blue from low humidity. We found a shaded spot for the Ark and geared up for the hike. The view from the trail around the canyon rim was incredible. The red and orange colors of the canyon juxtaposed against the vibrant green trees with a backdrop of blue skies made for gorgeous scenery, almost surreal, especially since we were in Southwest Georgia and not in Arizona. And what was even more amazing is how this was all formed by erosion due to irresponsible farming practices.

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After a pretty long downhill trail we came to the entrance to the canyon. There were 7 different canyon trails, each leading to a dead end usually consisting of a canyon wall to climb up for a view, or several. It was this several walls that made my legs sore for a few days. According to my Apple health I climbed 379 floors that day! They probably would have been more sore had 2 of the canyon trails not been closed due to collapsing ridge lines.

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While there were people out on the trails exploring the canyon, we were able to have space to enjoy the outdoors. Nora became obsessed with picking up chunks of clay along the trails until she had enough to mold a cup from them. I will say, there was so really cool clay to be found, and some was even purple.

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We hiked and climbed for about 2 hours until we got hungry for lunch. In order to find a quiet spot to have lunch headed out on the longer back country trail for a bit where it didn’t seem many wanted to take on. Before this trail we hit a few wet areas, after all, this is a trail set along the floor of a canyon formed by water runoff.But none of those areas were threat to get Nora’s feet wet since she was the one that didn’t have waterproof hiking shoes on. This back country trail was literally a shallow creek for the first mile or so. Sandy and not muddy, so as long as water didn’t get over the top of our shoes our feet stayed dry. I carried Nora a lot of the trail until we found the perfect spot for lunch.

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We picked, for a lack of a better term, high ground. This meant it was a sand bar a few inches higher than the creek so it was dry. Perched up on found logs we pulled out our MREs. If you have never had the fun of having Meals Ready to Eat while hiking you really need to. We had not eaten MREs since Hurricane Ivan when the Red Cross was passing them out to the many homeless residents trying to salvage what little remained of their belongings in their ravaged homes.

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I find the best part of MREs is that they come with heater packs that cook your food with just a little water added to them. Sharon had spaghetti with meatballs, Nora had vegetarian taco pasta and I had chosen the chili with beans. They also come with treats such as Skittles or M&Ms. Nora got orange drink mix and Sharon got fruit punch. I was blessed with cappuccino, of course!

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We hiked back up the trail to the rim, got into the Ark and headed home. After a nice drive, we were home by 5:00pm. It was a very short trip, but went a long way to recharge our batteries. Our next Arkventure will most likely be to the Alabama Gold Camp to pan the streams for gold. Take a look through our gallery of images from this trip, and hopefully it will inspire you to get out and enjoy this planet again!

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So being stuck in one place is something I don’t deal well with. I crave adventure. And I have always been resourceful on finding adventure in places no one else would. Usually finances is my main limiter in adventure but this time it is a global pandemic. The Chinese Coronavirus has the U.S. in lockdown. Some affectionately call it the Kung Flu. Fortunately our local govt. has had the wisdom not to try and force us to stay in our homes. We are free to roam for exercise purposes. So I looked around on Google maps and found something I wanted to do.

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For a while now I have thought about this mini-adventure. It is a 4-mile hike starting at the Scenic Bluffs park to my house in downtown Pensacola. It involves walking the railroad tracks that traverse along the Pensacola Bay coastline with no crossings for most of the walk. The Scenic Bluffs park was at one time a hidden gem, but since this pandemic hit and the Florida’s governor forced all state parks to close, it is causing people to find other places to get outside. And the word is now out on this park. It has about a mile or so of boardwalks and stairs, along with a mile or so of trails that wind past large red clay bluffs. The real attraction is the narrow stretch of beach along the Pensacola Bay since all the other Gulf and Bay beaches are temporarily closed.

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The tracks are bordered by high bluffs covered with thick vegetation to one side and the expanse of the Pensacola Bay to the other, you feel somewhere remote from civilization when walking here. There are no crossings for the first 3 miles and is very peaceful. The walk in total took about 90 minutes. I listened to my Adventure Podcast which lasted the entire 90 minutes. n the end, nothing exciting happened. It was a very relaxing and enjoyable walk but I got to cover new ground, which made it feel like I was somewhere other than just a few miles from home.

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As a bonus I found and photographed several Lost Soles, and let me tell you, they were very weathered old Soles.

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During the trip I had wished I had started further north on the tracks at the base of the I-10 bridge where the train also comes across the bay on a bridge. This would allow me to traverse the entire Scenic Highway section of the railroad tracks. This would be another 4 miles.

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This time I parked my car at the Bluffs Park and had Sharon shuttle to me to the start of this leg of my route. Again, nothing eventful happened to write about. Other than walking passed a few back yards of homes, it was fairly the same scenery as the first leg I completed. However the tracks did veer away from the shoreline for a bit carving through a thick forest of trees for a mile or so.

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I did a side stop at Chimney Park, the only remnant of an old sawmill that was destroyed by a retreating Confederate army in 1862. Once back to walking I got to my destination of Bay Bluffs Park. Instead of following the tracks to the boardwalk and stairs that lead to the parking lot I opted to take a trail that winds up and over the sandstone bluffs. This area is tough as the steep hills are nothing but soft sand, but the reward is worth it as the red and orange sandstone formations remind me of somewhere in Arizona. Definitely unlike anything I have seen anywhere else in Florida.

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Like I had said from the outset, this adventure was nothing too exciting, just wanted to explore something new. To feel like I was not trapped. I cannot recommend this hike to others as I found out that I was in fact trespassing on CSX property. But not sure who would even say anything. Just wanted to point it out for anyone wanting to follow in my footsteps.

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I returned recently from my first trip to Europe and found myself enamored with the easy to use public transportation over there. I managed to go travel from Paris to Munich to the Alps, back to Munich, then to Rome and then to Naples all utilizing the train and bus systems they have in place. We even took night trains with sleeper compartments on two legs of the journey foregoing the expense of hotel rooms. And it was quite inexpensive. For instance, the tickets on a train with a private sleeper compartment from Munich to Rome were purchased for $129.00. That rate was for my daughter, my wife and I combined.

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Recently my wife and daughter were traveling to see family, and I had to stay home for work and planned to meet up with them mid-way through their stay in Tampa, FL. And if you follow my travels you know I don’t like to do things normally. I like to make things an adventure. And this opportunity was perfect to try and travel like I did in Europe via public transportation. I researched to see if this could even be done as most people here in the U.S. do not think  of public transportation. We either drive our own cars, rent a car or hire an Uber. We rarely think in terms of buses and trains. After looking I found some great options. So I made a plan and implemented it.

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I left my home around 7:00 am with just a backpack for luggage and walked to downtown Pensacola and grabbed the public express bus to the airport. I did feel a little like Forest Gump sitting at the bus stop waiting. Several different people sat down next to me and started up conversations and then, oddly got and left. None of them were passengers like I was. Just passerbys. The bus showed up just a minute or so late and I was the only one on it. Since it was the express bus with no stops, I got dropped off right in front of my gate within 15 minutes.

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My flight was taking me to Orlando because it was a lot cheaper to fly there instead of Tampa. I was not in a huge hurry so I decided to visit a friend for the night who lives just outside Orlando. Plus this made for more opportunities for transit adventures. Once I landed at Orlando I grabbed a city bus to a Sunrail train station where I hopped on the fairly new Sunrail train system.

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The Sunrail trains reminded me a lot of the European trains. It was very clean and modern looking. The ticketing was very efficient. I was impressed. I rode it to downtown Orlando. The time was just after 1:00pm and I was starving. Orlando has public bikes, both standard and electric. I grabbed a standard pedal bike and ventured to find the brew pub, Orange County Brewery, I found good reviews for online. After a beer and a delicious gourmet personal pizza I went for a walk around Lake Eola Park. I honestly had no idea downtown Orlando was so nice! Whenever you hear Orlando, you think theme parks, no one ever talks about the great downtown area they have. Time to get a bus to my friends house.

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The bus got me to within a short walk of his house where I got a great night sleep. The following morning I needed to pick up the Sunrail back to downtown, but instead of opting for a bus ride to the station I “bummed” a ride with him because he was headed past the Winter Park station on his way to dropping off his daughter at her school. I reasoned that by hitching a ride with him, I could keep my vagabond adventure still on track.

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Winter Park was another pleasant surprise. The small upscale community was really nice and quaint, very new and very clean. I ate breakfast at a sidewalk cafe before boarding. The Sunrail took me right to the Amtrak station so I could get my train to Tampa. After the train arriving right on time and me hopping aboard we were off for the 2 hour ride to Tampa. My seat was large, and I had plenty of space. There were charging ports and free Wifi aboard. Everything a traveler needs. Before I knew it I was pulling into Tampa station and reunited with Sharon and Nora. The agenda for today was the Tampa Aquarium.

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Originally I was going to hop on a bus once I arrived at Tampa and go to Clearwater Beach to pick up a free trolley to travel the final miles to the actual condo where Sharon was staying, However they wanted to go to the Aquarium and the Amtrak station was just around the corner from it.

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Overall my public transportation experience in Florida was exceptional. Everything I rode on was on time, clean and comfortable. The ease of getting tickets was great. I highly recommend it.

So there I sat. On the 50th anniversary of being born into this world, in the center seat on a full flight to Denver from Pensacola. Cramped is an understatement. In my attempt to do this expedition on a very tight budget, I packed everything I needed into a small, yet perfectly sized, piece of luggage known to airlines as a personal item. Since the bag was so small I sat there wearing a long sleeve undershirt, a heavy zip-up alpine wool sweater, a large down jacket, and an insulated outer shell. A mountaineering hobo is the best description that comes to mind. My toes were numb from my large hiking boots and three pairs of socks. Playing on my phone was a podcast which featured John Krakauer talking about a failed attempt to climb the north face of the Eiger in Switzerland. It put me in the mindset of the quest I was about to undertake. 

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However before I climbed my objective, The Fly and The Spider Peaks, I was going to spend the day skiing the freshly snowy slopes of Vail. I had been obsessing over Vail since I booked the trip. Looking over maps, weather reports and webcams every day for the last month. Eager with anticipation of every additional lift and run that became open.

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Originally this whole trip was going to be a totally solo event. But my longtime friend, Mark joined me out there to ski. And since he had many hotel points earned from his travel for work, he afforded us a first rate place to stay in Vail Instead of the sleep pod at a hostel where I initially planned to stay. I had also planned on taking public transportation from the airport to the greyhound station to grab a bus to Vail. He was now going to pick me up right outside my terminal in a luxury AWD Audi SUV. Which was good because snow was piling up in the Rockies. 

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I made it to Denver without incident where Mark was waiting for me. The next stop before heading to Vail was my friend Catfish’s place to get all the gear I had shipped to him; snowshoes, trekking poles, boot spikes, snow gaiters, mittens, camp fuel and a wool alpine hat. Unfortunately the hat did not arrive in time. It was just a quick stop and off we headed up I-70 into the Rocky Mountains with old school music playing to bring back old times. Mark and I had made several drives through the Rockies back in college with this same music. The snow was really coming down as we got deep into the mountains, and it was accumulating up on the roads quickly despite the numerous snow plows working to clear the highway. It was setting up to be an epic powder day of skiing in the morning.

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I was filled with so much excitement that I could barely sleep. I got up very early and started getting my all my gear together. After a quick breakfast at the hotel, we grabbed our skis and headed to the slopes. The snow never stopped throughout the day. The surface conditions were excellent, although visibility became pretty bad at times. Having not skied in almost 20 years I took a few tumbles but nothing bad.

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We skied until the lifts stopped running. And according to Mark’s phone tracker we covered about 26+ miles of runs over the 8 hours we were on the mountain. My right leg was so tired I could barely stay upright on the last run. We finally came to a stop at the base, narrowly avoiding complete leg failure from overuse. I don’t know if the Jim Beam we were taking nips of on the lifts contributed to the near-leg-failure, or helped me push through the pain.

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We sat in the hotel room like zombies trying to muster the energy to go out and have dinner. Vail village is designed to mimic the look and feel of a small village in the Alps. The atmosphere transported me back to the German Alps, which I fell in love with when I visited it them just a year ago this same time. We chose the Almresi restaurant. The menu was German and Austrian inspired, lots of pork and potatoes. Delicious!! The next day I still intended on making a trek to summit the peaks so we made it an early night. Plus our bodies were exhausted!

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It was 5:00 am when I woke up to once again pack gear for a big day ahead. My half-a-century-old legs were feeling every bit of their age. Skiing the day before really took a toll on me and I was very worried about not being about to do the strenuous hike up the steep valley trail to the the summit. It was a beautiful day, no snow, and few clouds. Mark dropped me off at my trailhead around 7:00 am before his drive back to Denver. This was to be a solo expedition.

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For the past 5 years or so I have been obsessed with watching documentaries and movies of mountaineering exploits. Everest, Denali, the Eiger, K2, Manasulu, Anna Purna, you name it. If there is a something involving mountaineering that is worth watching I have probably seen it. A personal goal I have been keeping secret was to climb a snowy mountain peak on my 50th birthday. I never really pushed for it because financially and logistically it seemed like a pipe dream. However, given this chance to go to Colorado, I decided to try to find an attainable peak to attempt to fulfill that dream. I scoured and researched the internet relentlessly. I found the double peak mountain, The Fly and The Spider. Both summits just over 12,000ft high, located in the rugged Gore Mountain Range. The route to the peaks was up the Booth Creek Trail, which I could barely find any info on for winter hiking except one article did say, do not attempt after October. Which made it sound more challenging, therefore, more appealing to me.

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The hike started easily enough. After hiding a bag with all the things I brought to Colorado but didn’t need for the hike under a fallen tree  I began the ascent. The trail had just a slight layer of packed snow. I opted for microspikes to increase my traction. They worked like a charm. I quickly got very warm from the exertion so I shed off my down layer and hid it too under a fallen tree to get when I came back down the trail. The snow continued to get progressively deeper. The spruce trees with thick buildups of snow on their branches made me feel as if I had been miniaturized and now walking through the landscape of my christmas train village.

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I made a few errors in my preparations and the first one I would notice is that I failed to account for the freezing temps that would transform the water in my hydration hose leading from my backpack into a solid ice so I could not drink from it. Fortunately I had an unlimited supply of freshly fallen snow all around me to “eat”. As I walked I either scooped up snow in my hands or ate it off the branches.

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The snow was up to my waist now as I trudged along, lifting my feet higher and higher to take steps over the fluffy white powder. It was time to strap on the snowshoes. I had never snowshoed before, and I was just hoping I could figure out how to put them on. Luckily it was quite easy. Let the tromping begin.

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It was slow going, but I was making steady advancements. I got to Booth Falls which were frozen and snow covered so unfortunately not much to look at. I continued on. The blue sky was so saturated with color in contrast to the white of the snow, that it didnt look real. The air was so clear everything looked high definition. It was a simply gorgeous, postcard-esque, winter wonderland.

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With the revelation I could not cover the distance to The Fly and The Spider, I could see a nice peak just about a mile or so up on my right that I made my new goal. I figured it would afford a fabulous view of the bigger peaks in the Gore Range and the valley I hiked below and be a suitable destination although I had no marked route to get there. And speaking of marked routes. I was now the only hiker to have come this route since the big snowfalls had descended on the valley. In front of me there was no discernable trail, only thick fresh fallen snow between large stands of spruce trees, magical, but did not make for finding my way very easy. I was continually stopping to pull out my phone, take off my gloves and check my position. It made for very slow progress.

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Unfortunately the snow eventually got so deep and so soft it became hard to make headway, even with snowshoes. They sunk about 2 feet on every step making them hard to take strides in. The worst part was that my poles would just sink into the snow and were not long enough to find solid ground to help balance myself. I estimated they would have needed to be about 10 feet long to serve any purpose when standing on 6 feet of snow like I was. If I fell over at this point I would be swallowed by the snow drifts around me. And that would be bad.

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When I set out on this trek I told myself I would not push too far as I needed to be off the mountain by sundown which was around 4:00 pm. It was now 12:00 pm, and I was only about 2 miles into the 10-12 mile hike I had planned. I felt a bit dejected. I knew I would never make it to Booth Lake let alone the summits of The Spider and The Fly. And reaching the un-named peak I had been eyeing was not going to happen either. I gave it my best try yet I still felt disappointed. I could go no further. A sense of failure was present no matter how hard I tried to force it away.

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To salvage the day and raise my spirits, I cleared off a boulder and broke out my camp stove to cook myself a hot meal amongst the snow covered forest. But, here is where I met another preparation error. I failed to check my matches. They were so old they would not strike. They would not even yield a spark! I was feeling angry and more dejected about my failure to properly prepare for this outing. “Rookie mistakes!” I thought to myself.

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At first, I could not think of anything I could do to get the flame going. Even the flint stick had fallen off the bottom of my match case that is my backup. Then it hit me, perhaps I can get one of my AA batteries to create a spark. I could not carry my Leatherman’s tool on the plane so in order to use my charger cord stuffed in my bag as a wire donor, I would have to chew it apart. I managed to get two lengths of wire out of it. I taped each to an end on the battery with duct tape (at least I remembered my duct tape). I cranked on the stoves’s gas and tried to ignite it however the spark was too weak. I then taped all four batteries I had together. I cranked up the gas and tapped the two wires together. I got a great spark and then got a satisfying, WHOOSH, as a flame roared to life. I felt so vindicated as I like to pride myself on my resourcefulness.

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It was the best bowl of beef stew I ever had (except of course my wife’s homemade beef stew.) I felt a renewed energy. Once again I noticed how gorgeous the day was, and the incredible views I had in every direction. A sense of achievement overcame me now. I may not have made it to the top of a mountain, but at least I was no longer in my office chair just dreaming about trying. I was living it! I began to remember my mantra, it’s not always about the destination, but the journey.

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Because I turned around earlier than I had planned, it afforded me plenty of time to slowly descend and absorb the wonderful world that surrounded me. I took plenty of pics and played in the snow. At one point I became mesmerized while walking along a ridge watching the snow balls being created in my wake roll down the side of the hill. Growing from the size of a pea to a baseball-sized snowball as they tumbled ever further down before abruptly stopping from being too heavy and sinking into the powdery snow. They left small trails as they went. Sort of like terminal velocity I thought. They start small and go faster, eventually becoming bigger with each rotation but then slowing because they get bigger. Eventually they become too big to continue and stop in their tracks to eventually melt. Even their trails showing their paths disappear. All becomes one again.

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I got lower on the slope and took off my snowshoes. By retracing my steps I found both my jacket and my bag. I came out of the trailhead and back into the real world where there was a bus stop to get a ride back into Vail Village. I was early to catch my shuttle back to Denver airport so I explored a bit. It was around 3:00 pm. There was a coffee shop at the base of the mountain by the Gondola where I grabbed my daily “two o’clock” machiatto and watched the skiers and boarders come down their last runs of the day. The sky still a vibrant blue, and with the sun shining, it felt perfect to sit outside and enjoy the rest of my vacation. I sat there until the sun started to go down and so began the golden hour. The snow covered rugged mountains took on their full majesty at that point, bathed in the warm sunlight from the extinguishing daylight.

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During this reflective moment at the base of a mountain, alone and drinking my coffee, I have to fight the urge think back on my life. It would cause me to get depressed about the fact that my time on earth is, most likely, over halfway complete. This is a thought I fight to thoroughly suppress. I just will not allow myself to go there. Because that thinking can lead to being mentally paralyzed, causing me to live my life in the past and the future, and not in the moment.

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The sun went behind the mountains and darkness fell quickly so I made my way to the transportation center. My shuttle showed up on time and took me back down to Denver where I planned to sleep the night in the terminal until my 6 am flight was ready to board. Before I went through security and called it a night, I took a train into town to have dinner with my friend Jeff and get my alpine hat from him. I had forgot to bring a hat other than my ski cap and my hair was a mess under it! Not that wearing a Bavarian alpine hat complete with a feather outside of an alpine setting looks much better.

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When I got to airport security, I had forgot to get rid of my camp fuel. So I was stopped, given a stern scolding, and then set free on my way. They also confiscated my hiking sticks 🙁 Once inside the terminal I began searching for my “accommodations”. I got lucky and found a row of chairs with no arm rests which afforded me the luxury of lying straight out. Not that I could really sleep through the constant announcements, the crying children and all sorts of other airports noises, but I believe I slept about 4 hours total. The flight home was uneventful thankfully. You always want your flights to be uneventful right? Sharon met me at the airport to pick me up. I was excited to see her and tell her all about my journey. It was noon so we were able to pick back up on our daily lunch outings.

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I went with her to pick up Nora from school, and it warmed my heart the way she ran into my arms with a big smile. She was so happy to see me. Before I left she had almost cried because she was so worried I would get hurt skiing or snowshoeing.

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One of my greatest satisfactions and a proud papa moment was when I was telling Nora about my adventures and I got to the part about my matches not working she stopped me and asked, “was it a sunny day?”

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I stopped and looked at her quizzically and replied, “yes, it was beautiful blue skies that day.”

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“Did you take your rescue whistle?” she inquired.

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“Yes” I answered. I now knew where this was going as we had played with all the gadgets on the whistle a few months earlier.

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She excitedly said, “Well you could have used the magnifying glass on a dry leaf or piece of paper to start a fire to light the stove.”

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I didn’t want to deflate her by telling her I tried that but it did not work because the sun was not strong enough, so I just told her, “you’re so right Nora, that is a great idea!”

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We both beamed proudly.

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But the icing on the cake was when I told her I was unable to make it to the top of the mountain. She placed her hand on my shoulder and looked me right in the eye and said, “thats okay Dad, someday we will do it together, I want to climb it with you.”

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Now Nora is not a perfect child, but in that moment, she was the most perfect daughter I could ever hope for 🙂

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I can see how turning 50 can be a tough thing mentally, but I am not letting it get to me. I KNOW I am that snowball that has hit it’s terminal velocity so to speak. I just hope the slowdown can be extended for as long as it can be before I stop rolling. The hardest thing to do, but the best thing I can do in life, is make sure I live life in the moment.

The next country we visited after Germany was Italy. We took a night train from Munich to Rome which was a great adventure in itself. I had always dreamed about the romantic notion of traveling by train overnight through distant lands, so this was a literal dream come true for me. The only part I wish I could have changed was that we started when their was still daylight so I could see the towering Alps that were certainly surrounding us as we sped through Austria.

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I thought I had booked a private compartment for us but the train company put a man in with us since there were 4 beds. We were not happy, it was such close quarters we just wanted to be able to relax and we just couldn’t feel comfortable. I spoke with an attendant for a bit and 30 Euros later we were moving to a private compartment. Its not that the guy that was stuck with us wasn’t interesting and likable, we just wanted privacy. The man was a biologist that was studying the effects of climate change on birds in Siberia and Patagonia. We heard some unsettling stories about the thawing of Siberian permafrost, and the releasing of mass amounts of methane gas.

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After moving all of our luggage and stuff to the new cabin, we set in for the journey. We slept fairly well. There were numerous stops and such. Some of the glamour of train travel while sleeping was unfortunately tarnished a bit for me. The tunnels were incredible, and hitting them at 200 MPH changed the air pressure in the train, so you could always tell when we hit one. However it was really neat to sit and sip coffee while we sped through the early morning Tuscany Landscape destined for the great city of Rome. And looking back, I really did enjoy that train journey and would love to be back on it tonight.

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We pulled into Rome Termini around 9:30 AM and were ready for our touristic assault on the ancient city. It took us a little bit to figure out lockers and then transportation to the Vatican which was our first destination. The Vatican was somewhat crowded, it took about 30 minutes to get into St.Peter’s Cathedral, we opted not to spend the time or the money to tour the sistine chapel. Touring a city such as this in one day means making sacrifices.

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We had good friends from Pensacola who now lived nearby in Naples, Italy and drove up to guide us through Rome. And thank god for them, as that place was huge and chaotic. The dad and the daughter made the trip to join us, Nora and her were best buddies when they lived in Pensacola so it was a fun reunion.

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We saw the Spanish Steps, The Trevi Fountain, The Pantheon, The Forum Ruins, The Coliseum, The Arch of Constantine and more. We managed to get tiramisu, gelato, paninis, and coffee. Ohhh the coffee! I fell in love with Italian Macchiatos. Luckily I found a coffee shop in Pensacola that does a great one as well.

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It was near the Forum ruins and the Coliseum that I found this Lost Sole. It was in a state of ruins itself. I was very happy with this discovery and will be my trophy show for this European trip. As you know, I never move Lost Soles, its like desecrating a gravesite to me. So this is where it sat, complete with the backdrop of the Roman Coliseum.

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This is pretty much where our day in Rome ended. We had a short distance to drive to get to Naples and the Amalfi Coast. I did find some Lost Soles there as well so stay tuned for my next entry as it will be quite an adventure.

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We were due to come back by train to Munich to catch the night train to Rome after the Alps. Originally I timed it so we stayed longer in the Alps but we saw that there was a Christmas Market open in Munich that day which was one thing we really wanted to experience. So we headed to Munich in the morning to spend some more time.

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I felt a little sad as we departed from the Bavarian Alps, but we made it to Munich with no problems. I loved being down there. We got to Munich and stored our luggage and headed back to Marienplatz to visit the Christmas Market at the Royal Residence. First we needed to eat, and once again we found ourselves once again drawn to Ratskeller, so we figured we would give in this time. The food was really good, and I had a fantastic beer there.

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But it was not until after we got home from our trip that I wanted to research the name Ratskeller. It translates to Hall Cellar. It was in the cellar of the town hall of Munich. And to my surprise and dismay the entire theme of the restaurant was Noah’s Ark. We had no idea as we were not in the main dining room plus we were in such a rush that we didn’t check out the decor of the main dining room. It was as if Noah was wanting to tell us he was there in Germany with us, but we didn’t hear him. I felt so bad. Yet at the same time I felt uplifted that we finally figured it out. It now explains the 2 lions at the front.

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In all of our traveling in Germany the only Lost Sole I found was one I saw while on a train when we had made a stop at train station. I did the best I could before the train headed back off again. I apologize, as the photo is not great.