October 27, Wednesday

"I must look a mess I must admit, but I have been travelin' quite a bit"--Tampico Trauma, Jimmy Buffet

Drafting this from our cozy seats on our US-bound flight. 9 hours in the sky allows you to accomplish tasks like this.

As promised here is our list of memorable things and events from this incredible trip.No certain order. And resemblance to real persons is coincidental....or not.

--GPS, We loved the GPS and can't sing her praises highly enough. So glad we rented it because the streets and signage in Italy are challenging. She was always there for us...except when she wasn't. She did seem to have some challenges counting the number of exits on the roundabouts, which got us in trouble more than once. But the real problem was sending us up a steep hill on a narrow lane that turned out to be a one way street THE OTHER WAY. Her little joke I guess. Watching Farley back down this narrow windy street with 3 cars in front coming down the right way, not so funny.

--speaking of cars, we loved our Doblo, or the white "bread truck" as we dubbed it. Not sure how we ended up with the equivalent of the Italian SUV, but Farley did a GREAT job with the driving responsibilities, including masterfully handling the manual transmission. The only glitch was the stall out in the middle of pulling out into an intersection with a car headed toward us at 3,000 kmh. My life flashed before me as the crazy Italian drivers came bearing down on us....

--stumbling on the ring-necked pheasant farm on the way to Cortona. "Look, what's all that netting over there? Turn around please. I'm sure it's fine to pull into his driveway."The owner was not as sure, as he came flying up in his truck as we came to a stop,relieved to see we were only in search of photographs. There were literally hundreds of birds in football field length pens, with rubber protectors on their beaks to keep them from arguing with one another. An amazing sight!!

--walking into a small paper store (Il Paparo) in Florence to find Johnny Cash's Greatest Hits blaring on the radio and to have the proprietor exhibit the handiwork necessary to make marbled paper while we listened to "A Boy named Sue". He remarked that he likes country in the morning, opera at midday, and rock later in the afternoon, so he can get energized for after work. Those wild and crazy paper guys!!

--stumbling upon the entry to a craftsman's shop in Montepulciano, this coppersmith we find has exhibited his work for many including the pope. In explaining his craft in Italian(not that we understood much), he showed off wine buckets and fish trays and a cheese/pizza plate with a copper dome. He proceeds to gong the copper dome and place it on each of our heads -- sort of like the Harry Potter sorting hat. Nancy commented "I'm not sure, but I think you two may be married now" which simply cracked us up. We went back two days later so Farley could purchase a copper pot and the gentleman performed the EXACT same ritual clearly not recognizing we were return customers. As I told Farley,"I guess we've renewed our vows now".

--we had some incredible meals -- the absolute best was the meal for 10 prepared by a local at our villa. Other memorable culinary experiences -- Il Sasso de Dante right by the Duomo in Florence, the Trattoria Blu in Montalcino,the Muro restaurant our first night in Venice, the tiramisu at Osteria Al Porte our last night in Venice. And of course, theworld's best hot chocolate at the top of the hill in Montepulciano. I was crushed when they were closed on our return visit. There were also several subpar meals -- see our previous post for the dinner that rated a "smelt tip" from both of us. Also one lunch pizza in Florence was abysmal. Finally, a stop on the way back to the villa for dinner, where we were the only one's in the osteria (it was Monday night) and the owner left the television on loudly throughout the so-so meal.

--daily wrap up with friends at the villa in front of a fire with full (actually bottomless) wine glasses

--Lynne drank red wine! Regularly! And even asked for it at dinner!

--the tropical depression that seemed to hit Venice when we arrived and lasted thru the next day. Rain, wind, cold. Not what we expected but the city was still striking.

--Sheep, shepherds and herding dogs in Tuscany

--driving by donkeys procreating in the field in Tuscany and the tourists who had stopped to photograph this tender moment. Kodak moment?????

--Nancy being a good sport and riding "behind the dog cage" barrier in the bread van. You rock Dunder!!! Woof, woof! --riding with Rob to the Coop grocery store in Buonconvento on our arrival night at the villa. I was dead tired and Rob "Andretti" was a demon on those windy roads. I was quite green at the end, although not so bad that I was "talking to God on the white phone" as one of our new Aussie friends put it.

--stepping inside a beautiful upper end glass store in Murano. The first thing I admired,and called Farley over to admire, was an amazing tree/bird centerpiece. Now it was quite expensive so I think the proprietor thought we were going to drop a bundle of $$ in his shop. Next thing you know he is whisking us back to the private showroom where we are dazzled by incredible creations in glass and chandeliers that cost 50k euros. It was room after room of glass pieces that just made us ooh and aah. Sadly, Farley only wanted to spend40k euros so we didn't get the chandelier. Just kidding!!!! No sale.

--the climb to the room the second night in Florence was advertised as third floor, but seemed to be much more as the "ground floor" counts as zero in Europe. But the reward was a rooftop deck from which you could see the Palazzo Vecchio and the top of the Duomo (green courtesy of a laser light overhead) and surrounding areas of Florence. We sipped wine and planned the next day's adventures ...

--Lynne created an outdoor breakfast spot at the villa under a portico where the bees buzzed and the sun shone brightly a couple of mornings. We enjoyed the views and the breakfast, but not as much as Harry, a black Labrador that hung out around the villa, especially whenever food might be available. He was well mannered, and politely took the scraps the we offered after he sat patiently next to the table and nipped at the bees that got close.

--Our adventures with public transportation always seemed to start with arriving at the station just after our desired vehicle had left the station. We also did our part to extend the length of each trip, as we often stayed too long on the public transportation,given the Italian maps were not easy to decipher. Once we even intentionally stayed on the bus, thinking it would bring us around to our stop, but instead headed further into the hills before finally returning us to the correct stop. All part of a European adventure!

--Most restaurants have taken their cue from foreign movies, and offer English subtitles on the menu for the many "no speak Italiano" tourists. However, we did go to one that was written up in Rick Steves', had a line to wait for a table, and seemed to have a more homey feeling, with a handwritten menu only in Italian. The hominess left quickly, though, as the waitress tried to rush us through our menu selection as we tried to translate key words of gastronomical delights. The waitress on her fourth trip over had little ability to translate into English, so we decided on Caprese and Branzino (sea bass we had learned) for Lynne, and pasta Carbonara and seafood platter for Big Far. The Caprese was the worst of our trip, but possibly the best part of the meal, as the sea bass, head, tail, fins, bones and all, accompanied a large plate of fried squid, some whole fried smelts, and a few shrimp. We decided English subtitles are a must.

--Speaking of Rick Steves, he did a wonderful job of wandering us around and through cities(but less wonderfully selecting restaurants). He did have a scary afternoon, as we ducked into a pizzeria to grab a slice before our tour of the David, only to leave him on the counter as we headed off for our tour. He was able to get up with the manager somehow, and hang out in a cabinet behind the counter until later that evening, when Farley came searching for him. It was a beautiful moment.

--There is an apparent shortage of ceramic in Italy, despite all the beautiful mosaics we saw.Seems the particular need is toilet seats (WTF), as most loo's had the holes drilled, but no seat attached. Does make life a little more interesting as you are touring about.

--We will put this blog to sleep with the memory of sleeping late at the villa many mornings,as the shutters on the small window seemed to block out all light and most sound. You could not tell day from night without consulting a clock, which always threw you off since they were all still on east coast time. I only hope our bodies are on east coast time when we arrive home!

We are posting this last blog as we sit in the Charlotte airport awaiting our last flight to Richmond. Three flights in one day is exhausting. We are so sad to see the end of our wonderful vacation, but very happy to be back in the U.S. and to see family and friends shortly.

We happily raised a glass last night to Liz Shiner and hope that she rests in peace. We thought about her often on this trip and wish we could share all these Italian adventures with her in person. She will remain in our hearts always.

And now as we sign off on our last blog, here is the quote I have been saving for this occassion:"No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow." -- Lin Yutang

Pillow, here I come!!!

Tuesday, October 26

Another grey day, but the weather forecast promised "partly to scarcely cloudy" by late afternoon.

We enjoyed another tasty breakfast at the B&B where I shot this unique pic. The actualfront door of the hotel is on a canal. You can see the water right at the door, and the second glass door reflects the charming lobby -- mable floors, glass sconces, woodtrim.

We set out for the Rialto Bridge produce and fish market. It was impressive to see thestalls of fresh fruits and vegetables, but it was the fish market that truly awed us.There were many types of seafood that we simply couldn't identify,

but in these picsyou can clearly see the octopus and eels -- yum, yum.

We took the #1 valparetto (the slow boat) down to St. Marks Square. Every bend in theriver reveals another beautiful vista; really too stunning for words. The city is amazing, but we continue to read that it is dying -- structures are rotting from the bottom up and Venice is unable to retain young adults and families. The projection is that with the next generation, Venice will be maintained as sort of a "Disneyland" just for tourists. So sad to think that.

After touring the Basilica and the Doge's Palazzo in the Square and we made some final purchases, afternoon moved towards evening, and we settled in at a water side table for a final glass of wine and watched the incredible traffic on the Grand Canal. It's quite a syncronized ballet of navigation -- some of the boats cut things awfully close!

We took a quick ride to the southern side of this island and watched the sun set andcolored the Vencie sky into beautiful shades of pink and gold. Yes, the "scarcely cloudy"forecast was accurate and we finally saw sunshine in Venice.

A last meal at an intimate Trattoria, and we embarked on the boat & bus ride to our airporthotel where in a flurry of repacking and arranging we managed to stuff our possessions andpurchases into 1 checked and 2 carry ons each. Next trip resolution -- pack lighter andbring empty bag for purchases!!!

It's 5:30 a.m. in the Venice airport and we are shortly going to begin our air travel day.If only there were a magic spell to wisk us home so we can retain our rested, relaxed frameof mind. Alas, no avoiding the day long travel task.

Will post one more wrap up blog with our favorite memories and a quirky events listing.
Thank you all for reading and enjoying our trip along with us. We will see you soon!

Lynne & Farley

Monday, October 25

Beauty, charm, mystery, elegance -- Venice is all these things.

When we awoke in Venice it was beautiful and sunny ... somewhere, but not here!The day dawned gray and overcast but we ventured out after a scrumptious breakfast of apricot filled croissants and hot chocolate and fresh fruit and cappicino. The number 41 valparetto took us quickly over to Murano island where we spent most of the daybrowsing shops and watching a glass factory maker quickly whip out a cat and swan figurine.Just to make things intersting, it was high tide when we arrived on the island, so we spent a bit of time dodging water sloshed onto canal-side streets by strategically selectingwhich bridges to cross and tip-toeing thru some waves breaking over the canal side sidewalks.

Back on the Venice mainland by about 4, the weather had turned absolutely raw -- cold, biting wind and rain whipped around every corner and threatened to turn our umbrellasinside-out on each canal crossing bridge! It was still fun to explore the maze of alley ways and canal bridges that connect this amazing city and find a few more storesto stick our heads in and shop for a bit.
After a full day and a glass of wine in our B&B room (we brought from the villa!), we ventured out to a osteria recommened by our Rick Steves book and the B&B concierge. Alas, it was an extreme dissapointment. All courses were bland and as I told Farley, the only good things about the meal were the company and the Chianti! The attached pic shows our feelings -- we took one of the smelts from the entree and placed him where he would effectively show our feelings about the meal.....no, we didn't really pay our bill this way, but snapping the pic made us feel better!

We have had some amazing culinary experiences here in Italy but this was proably the low point.

We are happy that we have one more chance for a fabulous lunch tomorrow before we headout in late afternoon for our airport hotel. We have a 7 a.m. flight on Wednesdayto head back home. Will try to blog once more from the hotel tomorrow night.

Although we are cursing the weather gods for not giving us sunshine in Venice (and moonshine because it should be a full romantic moon over the beautiful canals), wealso feel it is a sign that we need to return again to explore this amazing city.

Miss you all; see you soon!

October 24, Sunday

Lynne and I send greetings from Venice through the rain and fog that greeted us during this afternoon’s journey. More about Venice in the next couple of days.

Saturday in Florence was a beautiful day which started for us in the Museo de Pietre Dure (maybe spelled wrong as trying to do from memory), aka the mosaic museum, where beautiful works from craftsman from centuries ago were displayed. The facility is still training new artists today. We then headed for the San Lorenzo market, only to sidetrack into a paper store just in time to see the owner design and create a piece of marble paper right before our eyes (we are bringing it home). Fascinating!! The market was full of leather and scarves mixed in with t-shirts and novelties, and went on for blocks and blocks, in the heart of what was the Medici stronghold. We were shopped out before the market ended, and headed to the Duomo (4th largest in the world) which was more impressive from the outside than from the inside (we only toured the free section though). A quick Panini on a bench outside the Duomo was lunch, and then (after switching B&Bs) we walked across the river to the Pitti Palazzo, but realized we did not have time to traverse the acres of gardens and palace floors before our appointment with David. What an amazing accomplishment David is!! The detail, the size … you have to see it, words do not do it justice.

With the trip to Venice planned for the afternoon, we took a guided walking tour of Florence on Sunday morning. Today’s crossing of Ponte Vecchio coincided with a sculler’s schedule so Lynne happily snapped this photo knowing rowing-Karen is reading our blog and will enjoy! We weren’t quite as well rested as hoped as the sights and sounds of a Saturday night in Florence seemed to penetrate the walls of Gabriella’s bed and breakfast, keeping us from getting as good a night’s sleep as we had hoped after a long walking day on Saturday around Florence.

Statues, paintings, frescoes, piazzas, palazzos, bridges and floods, duomos, guilds, torch holders and horse tethers … this could go on for hours, but in three hours we came away with a starter lesson on the twenty century plus history of Florence with an emphasis on the Renaissance period. A quick marinara pizza for lunch (where the marinara seemed to run off the pizza rather than stay on the crust … a bit of a disaster) before heading for our bus. Our longer than expected bus wait and ride was rewarded with a gelato before we jumped in the car.

The drive to Venice reflected that Italy truly has many landscapes. Hilly and through the mountains and tunnels as we headed through Bologna, the remaining drive was flat as a pancake, with low visibility and some rain so we really couldn’t take in the countryside visually as we had hoped. We dropped our bags at the airport hotel planned for Tuesday night, and then a bus and a water taxi, and we arrived at Al Ponte Mocenigo B&B, our home for the next two nights. Our room is quite lovely; the best so far outside the villa. Very Venitian -- silk wall coverings, gilded headboard & mirrors -- we feel almost like royalty after the spartan decor of our last two rooms.

Venice and Murano adventures coming soon!!

Friday, October 22

We had a lovely last night with our villa mates -- we all went to the Gregorian Chant at a nearby abbey and it was a moving service. Afterwards we enjoyed a group meal in Buonconvento and were just sure the "city council" aka Mafia were eating next to us!

Currently we are in the midst of sorting and packing to depart the villa and head to Florence. You can’t drive into the city so we will park our car and head into Firenze with carry ons.

I’m so sad to leave Nancy and Rob and wish we had more time to spend with them. And we have so enjoyed making new friends; it’s been a lively bunch here at the villa and we hope to see them again in the future and raise a glass of wine (what, another?) in their company. More from Florence – and some pics!
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We had a lovely drive through the Chianti countryside and stopped at Panzanno to try out the restaurant that Farley read about in “Heat” The meal was excellent, Farley tried out the mixed meats lunch (some raw) and pronounced it well worth the extra drive time to stop by. I took his pic with the famous butcher/chef, Dario Cecchini.

We had a bit of confusion driving into Florence and sure hope we didn’t cross the line into the restricted zone and earn ourselves a 100 euro fine! We took the bus into town and found our guest house accommodations. The room is about 10 x 14 and very basic but what you get in the city. We are changing B&Bs tomorrow; couldn’t get two nights at the same. We walked around a bit today, saw a few sites including the Ponte Vecchio (and for any VBC members, check out this odd rowing contraption I found on the river), and then had a most fabulous dinner near the Duomo. One of our best meals yet! We walked off a few calories at the Palazzo Vecchio and admired the full moon (and managed to consume a final hot chocolate and port. Have I mentioned that the hot chocolate is AMAZING here?). We are stuffed!!!!

We are winding down for the night and planning to get an early start tomorrow. More later from this beautiful city!!

Tuesday 10/19/10

“…and the sun poured in like butterscotch and stuck to all my senses…” ---Chelsea Morning, Joni Mitchell

The day dawned bright and sunny and remained so all day which was refreshing after the overcast skies we have experienced the past few days. I shot this pic from our bedroom window, but a pic can’t convey how lovely the rolling hills, olive trees and vineyards are. Farley & I had breakfast outdoors in the sunshine, joined by Harry the dog who very politely waited for us to include him in the meal.

Vacation is all about going with the flow, so today we decided to change up our plans and spend the day with others in our group visiting Montepulciano and Pienza. They were differing hill towns: The Montepulciano Piazza Grande can be seen in the attached pic, and is more of a mountaintop fortress; Pienza was a charming town with beautiful vistas.
Farley toured an impressive

wine cellar and was in his element. I’m on a quest to find some leather shoes for Farley (he neglected to mention that I bought 2 leather pocket books yesterday….) but no luck so far. There’s always tomorrow!

Tonight’s meal will be prepared by a local cook who comes to the villa to finalize the preparation and serve. We are salivating just thinking about it.

Ciao!

Day 2-3

Fantasticimmo (if there such a word)!! Sunday was highlighted by a leisurely lunch at Da Roberto in Montisi. Roberto walked us through the menu, bringing crostini with foie gras (or organs as he called them), lasagna and ribolitta (bread soup), meatloaf and leg of pork (called stinco, but it wasn’t), and finishing with tiramisu and panna cotta. All on a balcony where the sun gave way to clouds and rain, but the conversation and wine kept everyone warm.

A quick trip late in the afternoon to Montecino (known for wine (brunello) and its mountaintop fortress) led us to an open air market and enchanting streets. We plan to go back when we have a little more time, as we needed to head back to the villa to cook dinner and meet the new group of crazies coming in for the balance of the week.

Monday morning starts with a stroll through the streets of Montisi (see the pic) which is just 6 miles down the road. The expectation of a Monday market was dashed, but a bakery and a small grocery fit the bill for breakfast. Then we were off to Siena, a mountaintop town that once rivaled Florence, with a huge duomo and a central plaza large enough to race horses (which they do twice a year). Our tour of the duomo and surrounding museums left us thinking how young Williamsburg really is. The walled city has lots of shops, restaurants and, of course, GELATO (see pic). A leisurely drive home led us to a lonely restaurant with very good food, where Lynne broke the code and had red wine with her meal.

Tomorrow it is off to Civita and Orvieto, then Multipulciano and Montecino (again) later in the week, before we head to Florence and Venice. Miss all of you stateside!!!

10/15/10, Friday – 10/16/10 Saturday
“There is no moment of delight in any pilgrimage like the beginning of it.”—Charles Dudley Warner

Boungiorno from Italy!

A great day to leave for Italy! All flights on time, but gosh what a long day. Three flights –one 7 hours long --will wear you out. Knowing Tuscany & dear friends awaited us on the other end made it more bearable. Farley was snoozing before we even took off from Philly! He‘s been burning the candle at both ends (and in the middle) for the past couple of weeks. He deserves all the rest and the fun that he can cram in on this vacation!

As you can see from attached pics, our villa is wonderful. Old renovated stone house; our group has rented out both units so we have five bedrooms. An international group – US (Virginia & California), Canada (Vancouver) and Australia (Sydney). All connected via our hosts, Rob & Nancy (my college roommate). View from our room overlooks olive trees, sheep pasture and in ground pool. Apparently the weather has gone from warm end-of-summer temperatures last week to fall-is-here this week. That’s fine, we came prepared. The villa grounds are amazing – all the following trees are on property: peach, pear, pomegranate, fig, olive, crabapple…and also artichoke plants. The pics shows some villa interiors/exteriors & the view of the village of San Giovanni d’Asso from our living room.

Spent a quiet afternoon in town lunching at a lovely local restaurant, sampling our first Tuscany wines and then strolling around San Giovanni d’Asso. We are running on empty after the long travel day so planning to rest up tonight and begin serious adventures tomorrow.

As many of you already know, Farley’s mom passed away last Monday. She had recently been diagnosed with her third recurrence of melanoma. We had all accepted that this bout would have a sad ending to it, but in no way expected the end this quickly. Liz came down with pneumonia and sepsis, and with her systems in such a weakened state, just couldn’t fight all these foes at the same time.

She was a dear, gracious, lovely lady and will be so missed by her family – especially sons and grandchildren – and her wide circle of friends.

Thank you for checking in here to follow our Italy travels. We have rescheduled our departure for Friday, October 15. Our itinerary has changed up a bit, but we still plan to post info and pics as we are able to find internet access.

Please keep Farley and his family in your prayers. I’m sure there is much rejoicing as Liz is welcomed into heaven, but she will be greatly missed by the many lives she touched here on Earth.

Well, here we are back in Richmond, exhausted but so very glad we took advantage of this opportunity close to home. If everything lines up, I think we both plan to go again next year and we hope some other VBC members will attend with us!

Today turned out to be super sunny day....and really humid. First day we had that was almost miserable. Luckily we rowed 8:30 -11 so weren't subject to the stifling middle of the day heat. We arrived at the boathouse to find we were using a new boat today! Surprise. The 4 seat foot stretcher broke yesterday as did the mid boat speaker but we thought the staff would just fix it for us. Guess they didn't have time. With some trepidation we headed out to the Severn River on our new boat -- the "Browne". Turned out it was a D-hull and boy did we like that boat! We set off with the other 8 made up of returning campers. The coaches had us row side by side up the river...and up the river...and up the river. We rowed 7 miles, and that's a nice little row...but then you have to row 7 miles back and geez, a 14 mile row is pretty far in the heat. We weren't out too long before it was clear our boat was going to be faster than the returnees boat. We did numerous pause drill as we moved up the river just to slow our pace enough to keep rowing with the other boat. Once we turned around and headed down river, we did two one minute pieces. We won both, but the other boat had a bad start on one piece and that's not the way we wanted to win. (FYI, we were cranked up to a 35 spm on one of our pieces. Exciting to go that fast, but borderline chaotic. I was struggling at stroke to hold the slide rate down; really being thrown forward. That's where a little more experience under my belt would be helpful.) A long pull brought us back near our creek where we lined up for our last race, 500 metres. Clean starts by both boats but we shot out in front right away. They almost caught us after approx 200 metres but we pulled out ahead and were leading by 4 seats with only about 50 metres to go -- clearly the race was ours, when....oh, you can just guess what's gonna happen next....7 seat caught a crab. We tried to continue on but she couldn't recover the oar so we stopped about five strokes short of the end. She felt so badly but as we all know, it happens sometimes.

The other boat was cool; we congratulated them, but they knew we were the best boat so they didn't gloat about their win. The attached shot is our boat with coach and cox. Our coach's last name is King so we named ourselves "King's Queens" and Karen & I found these little tiaras with flashing lights that we wore all morning and during our race. We made crowns for the guys too. Out boat was a great group and everyone got into the spririt and enjoyed our race accoutrements.

That's it for this outing. Sorry only one pic today. It was a crazy, hot, sweaty, fun, tiring day and we just didn't have time to take any more shots.

Hope you've enjoyed our comments and please think seriously about this camp if you consider yourself a high beginner/intermediate sweep rower. You won't regret it.

Lynne & Karen

I don’t think we’ve mentioned yet that there are a bunch of high school kids here doing “intro to the Academy” or some such session. And when I say a bunch, I mean like 1200. Apparently today was a special march day and beginning at 5:30 a.m., yes that’s 5:30 in the morning, they began marching from the courtyard outside our building off to who knows where. Now with approx 50 in each company, there were a lot. Each group left about 10 minutes after the other. They were all chanting their marching cadences, maybe interesting to hear, but not at 5:30 in the morning. I did catch “looks like muddy water, tastes like turpentine” and believe me I really didn’t want to hear the rest of that diddy. Rolling over and holding the pillow over my head brought me about another 30 minutes of sleep.

After two spectacular sunny days, we must have displeased the weather gods because we woke to overcast skies and a forecast of nasty, rainy, windy afternoon weather. We did get our morning row in, a bit extended since it seemed we would miss our afternoon row. Practiced some racing starts since, as we discovered today, there will be a race prior to “graduation” tomorrow. Our boat is rowing really well together. Karen is sitting in 3 seat which is her favorite, and I’m rowing stroke. We have high hopes for the race, our stiffest competition is the boat comprised of the returning campers. They are good! But I think we are better!!!

We had a great strength training session this morning in the varsity mens gym with the womens crew trainer. We got a short but strong workout in. We filled the afternoon session with additional performance enhancement info and then an open question and answer period with the coaches that was really informative.

We finished off our camp day with a wine and cheese party. One of the return campers (5 years of coming here!) owns a vineyard in Sonoma, CA and shipped 3 cases of wine for us to enjoy. Some campers ran to the store for some treats so we had a wonderful time unwinding with other campers and coaches.

Only one day left. It’s been a great experience and I wouldn’t hesitate to come again. It was a perfect level for those with 2-3 years experience and possibly even for those with less. We are divided by experience level in boats so I can only speak for our level but I assume the novice (less than 1 year ) and the complete beginner boat is just as satisfied as we are.

Will try to blog one more time from home tomorrow night with race results. Hope you have enjoyed reading this. Thanks for sharing this time with us.

Lynne & Karen

(Tuesday entry posted Wednesday because we ran out of time and energy Tuesday night before we could get to wifi location!)

Tuesday was another beautiful day here in Annapolis. Due to the wind whipping up the water a bit, we stayed in the creeks instead of venturing out to the Severn River, but it worked out great as we spent the day doing drills to improve our techniques. There were one or two we weren’t lovin’…..but several that were really helpful or just downright fun!

We started the day with a group shot -- as you can see there are about 30+ of us plus coxswains and coaches. A really great group.

Leaving the boathouse in either direction requires passing under several bridges and on our first outing of the morning we hit a concrete piling on one of the bridges. Oops-sie! Even the experts make mistakes now and then. But no worries, boat and rowers were fine and we continued on. In spite of this little mishap, our cox Dave is excellent; he was a former coach at St. John’s College here in Annapolis. Our coach Jimmy --seen here giving his always valuable instructions from the launch --is women’s varsity crew coach at WVU.

We also had a session today on rigging. Attached is our photo showing how intently we are listening and learning!

So far I have only two complaints. The A/C in our dorm rooms just doesn’t work. We sleep with the windows open at night -- which is quite pleasant actually, since the humidity has been low and a nice breeze blowing. The dorm, Bancroft Hall is amazing. It is the largest dorm in the world, housing all 4000 midshipman in 1800 rooms and over 4 miles of corridors. We’ve only lost one rower so far but we figure she’ll find her way out in time for the last row of the session. The building façade in the photo is the main entrance to the dorm, but actually first opens into Memorial Hall. Memorial Hall “honors all graduates who have made the ultimate sacrifice for their country while wearing the cloth of their nation.” It is a beautiful and fitting tribute to these special men and women.

My other complaint is the food. Not great. I expected a little more from the Academy. Six of us opted for restaurant seafood dinner out tonight and it was a good decision as the cafeteria dinner was fish sticks. Oh yum. Now I’m usually pretty happy if someone else is cooking and doing the dishes, but I haven’t been able to get behind the meals so far this week. Oh well, maybe tomorrow will be better.

The days are going by too fast! Honestly it seems like all we do is eat, walk and row -- multiple times each day and in the blink of an eye the day is over and we fall into bed exhausted. It is so much fun and we are so glad to be here although we miss you guys and hope your week is going well!

Lynne & Karen

First day of rowing camp is behind us. What a great day! Weather is wonderful, coaches are awesome, we are learning so much.

The Naval Academy is amazing; we will try to post pics later as Karen took a tour Sunday afternoon and snapped some great shots. We are living the dorm life -- hall bathrooms, cafeteria food -- but it's fun because there are a bunch of us. Our group hails from California, Maine, Minnesota, Alabama, Ohio, Pennsyvania, Maryland, Virgina. We have enough for 3 eights and a four. Each boat has their own cox and coach so you get lots of individual attention. Our cox Dave is sitting here at a wine/coffee shop on Monday evening as we sip our beverages and type on the netbook on our lovely outdoor cafe table (city wide wireless in Annapolis --- but not at the Academy).

We will attach some shots, but since I'm new to blogging won't try to line them up perfectly with text.

The famous Hubbard Boathouse is currently undergoing a multi-million dollar renovation. Dissapointing -- especially since we don't get to try "the tank". All the boats are in a huge tent right behind the boathouse and it is only steps to the dock to put in. The boathouse under renovation is attached. Also a shot of the massive dining hall.

Other shots show Karen as I as part of bow 4 with two women from CA , head coach Mike in the erg room -- there are at least 3 erg rooms, yikes!!!

That's it for tonight. This blog things is a learning experience for me so sorry for the amaturish product. Gonna sit back and enjoy this wonderful night and my refreshing glass of wine. Hope all of you are having as much fun as we are!!! Lynne & Karen

3 days till Annapolis! Getting really excited...and nervous. Hope my hands and body are tough enough for 4 days of rowing. Here's a pic of me and "rowing-Karen" (not to be confused with "yoga-Karen") who is going to Annapolis with me for camp. We had an adventuresome couple of rowing sessions last weekend...just a prelude for next week I am sure!!

Still trying to do a test post. Not so intuitive.

At least I figured out how to get a photo in there! Now, let's see, how do you get those cool backgrounds???