The last 30 hours

We rented a car from Gatwick and headed stright to Aldershot....The military town where Mick was stationed as Paratrooper. with the Parachute Regiment in the 60's and 70's and a reunion with some old members.....Before that though there were 2 important stop-offs to make..........

Aldershot Crematorium......
The place where Micks son was cremated and burried.......he has never been back since that time in Dec 1972...It was a sad time for him and his first wife Glynis...
Ryan BARRY Marrison was his name and he is thought of every day by Mick.

Mick's second son Ryan CHRSTIAN Marrison  was born 18 months later and he has commented that he seemed to feel his brother guiding/helping him in his life.

Louis Margaret Hospital.......
The place where Micks daughter Kerry Joelle Marrison was born....Now boarded up and to become...what? Shame such a buiding will be gone.

It is sad to see all the changes in Aldershot but some things will not die,,,,The brotherhood of the Parachute Regiment that trained here, drank here, chased skirts here, combated other Regiments here, lost comrades here and left to fight in foriegn lands for thier God loved country. ....and came back to frequent the favourite haunts. The main one now is The Trafalgar Pub.

We went to the pub and and met Spud Murphy, followed by Jackie Smith, then Don MacNaughton and Tommy Simpson.....Good chats, beers, laughs and photo taking went on....excellent time. Lolly was a very gracious host as well. Thanks for a memorable time in a special place...and thanks Don for those signed books you wrote!!.
Staggered to bed and slept like babes .

Next A.M. off to Salisbury Plain and Stonehenge......Great world heritage site. Very good audio interpretation and well displayed. It was good to see the stones not defaced any more...not like they were years ago. The wind was blowing pretty hard and we saw lots of people abandoning the tour over it. O well.

Now late in the day and a quick trip into Salisbury was due so that Mick could see the Cathedral and town architecture (Medieval).......

That was the last site to see....now off to Gatwick and finish this blog and prepare for the trip back to Victoria, Canada......Home. (and our dogs)

Rome...last day

After a great meal and copious vinos the night before we woke later than the normal 6 am Regimental Sergeant Major Mick time ......8 am!! (yeah lay-in).
A special day for Claire as she has wanted to see the Catacombs of Rome....The place where thousand upon thousands of all sects...mainly christians were buried during thier tme of persecution during and after Christs' time.
The start of the Christian Churches began here.....AD 30 to about 500 AD.
There are many catacombs around Rome...all of them are outside of the old city walls..The amount of tunnels at this point collectively would be about 70 km!!!...all underground about 10 to 25 metres.
No line-up and straight onto an english speaking tour...best way to see these places..
We went on the tour for St. Dominiti catacombs......only some are closed each day so that the entrance money is shared between each church as the entrances are monopolised by a seperate churches!

Great tour underground...about 3/4 hour...but we were not allowed to stay and wander...for safety and controll any stealing/destruction. 50 years ago when Mick was here there were many bones in the crevaces....but apparantly people stole them and so the church took them all out and re-interred them elsewhere......The guide would not go into any detail about that....very secretive.....Mick pressed her but no answer was given....Hmmm....research coming up!! The catacombs we were in, covered about 11 km. Some were painted and had underground shrines in them and secret religious symbols inscribed around the walls
Overall an excellent tour to take.

On the way there Claire saw a market and because the day was not so planned that after the catacombs we went to the market for a look-see. Claire was like a kid in a candy store, and the hawkers were vying for her business...belt. gloves, and cheap Italian leather jackets caught her eye. Mick bought a better travel bag and some nifty glasses that split with a magnet on the nosepiece and hang seperated around your neck when not in use.......No more crushed glasses for Mick!
Late lunch and a lovely stroll home......

Rome has crazy parking and apparantly no-one to enforce the laws...Never saw a tow truck, parking attendant or response from Police about it in any way....(pity the one that tries though)....flayed alive!!!. Vehicles seem to have priority over pedestrians.....no speed limits and little respect for an emergency
vehicle......Its not organised chaos either....a vehicle seems to bring out the alter-ego of themselves and a little old lady is now a banshee behind the wheel!!....Not too much honking either
.....We are pretty glad to call the end to Rome.......arriva derchi Roma

Pedestrians have to walk into traffic to cross a road on a cross walk!!....Nuts.

Cross walks are a normal parking spot!!

The middle car is trying to move around 2 double parked vehicles!!

Tomorrow....Back to jolly old England to see some old army buddies...yeaha!

Rome...The Empire strikes back

We arrived in Rome yesterday at around noon......The train ride on the 'Di Vinci Express' from the airport was "enlightening" to say the least......The main thing that stuck out was ...Graffitti.......lots and lots of it....It definately took your eye away from any scenery , thats for sure!! The train was packed and was NOT an express...Slow and lumbering....It got there eventually.  After disembarking at the main rail station we got our bearings and headed to our internet booked hotel....It turned out to be similar to Paris but in a much nicer area...Hotel district.
We booked in and changed then off to see the Colosseum and more if we could. SHOCKER number one...The Metro.....an underground dungeon of graffiti walls and complete trains as well!! Dangerous area as there are only 2 line sytems in a cross pattern....so many people and not enough room....It beats London and Paris for chaos anytime...Claire was not liking it at all!!
We made it to our destination and  walked out straight to the Colosseum in all her glory.

SHOCKER 2....Line ups were at least 1.5 hours to get in and it was already late. Claire got in line as Mick went to see the tour operators....Paid extra for inside tickets and we went straight to the front of the line-up and in!!...(you only have one life and that can be short ...so what the hell)
What a change from the previous time Mick was here...Hundreds of marauding ferile cats and little kids begging for money and pick-pockets!!....Not now though...Clean and beautifully presented with guide listening centres all around....In fact it was spectacular.....We wondered fo about 1.5 hours.
The same ticket gave us entry to the Forum and surrounding  archeologigal sites...so it was good value for what we paid.
The Forum is vast and so we took our time and spent abot 2 more hours there ...till closing time.....Not bad for our first afternoon there!!

Great evening meal in a cosy restuarant and then then slept like babies.

Next day was hectic as we had a lot to see......Sardine metro to begin with....then the dash to the Sistine Chapel to cut down the lie-up time....Claire was not used to a forced march at 8 am!!

We got to the line and it was already 1.5 hour wait.....so Mick left Claire in the line while he hunted down another time saver.....Tours!!....He went to thier office ...negotiated a price lower than others and a lady went and got Claire out of the lien-up based on a description!! ha!.....So we jumped the line-up again and went on a first class guided tour...wonderful.....Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel and the main Saint Peters Basilica...3 hours......it was great!

Claire had had enough of the sardine atmosphere of the Metro so we decided to walk back and take in the smaller sites on the way.......The fabulous Pantheon....Trevi Fountain (Three coins in a fountain fame), Spanish steps and many more churches on the way home.....Claire was thoroughy exhausted when we got back to the hotel...(wonder why...ha!)...Supper then...LIGHTS OUT.....literally for Claire....great day!!

Rome's Lido

Nearly 50 years ago Mick was at this same Lido west of Rome......No buildings....no traffic and no pollution......Now the area is a-buzz with high rise buildings, 4 lane highways,  and very little beach to be wandered....ahhh progress. Graffitti abounds, groups of sinister youths walk the promenade and a not so clean atmosphere is present. It was good however to wet our feet in the sea, rest a while and get our rental car ready to hand back in the morning. A good solid car with all the bells and whistles...Renault Scenic.....diesel engine and fantastic on gas....4.0 litres per 100k on the autoway at 120k per hour!!!!

We lunched at a beach restaurant  Claire had a Rigatoni pasta with plain tomato sauce , while Mick had the seafood pasta....spagetti, tomato sauce, clams, mini lobster, baby octopus, and other unknowns...marvelous. Claire cannot eat shell fish...allergic...so sad!!

Our hotel is more or less on the seafront and has a fantastic balcony....with panoramic views. We relaxed the rest of the afternoon away...Claire shaving her legs in the bidet....ha!!

Tomorrow...Roma!!

Montepulciano

We left Florence and its art behind us and headed to the southern hill country of Tuscany...another wine area and one of our favourite wines Montepulciano.
We booked online ....so far they have not been the best accomodations......but upon approach to this hilltop bastion city we knew it was going to be a memorable experience. Our pension was in the heart of the city...not a large one ...a town really...but when we entered the archway of the medieval walls....the roads shrank dramatically....a sign said maximum 2.5 metres only!!..uh oh.....we quckly pulled over and asked a local the whereabouts of the hotel....after discussions he said...follow me and I will take you the safest route!!...Thank god that happened....Switch backs, 3 point turns ...but not a scratch ...we arrived at our destination...and a parking spot for us only!!

Thank you for Italian generousity!.........We rang the bell of the pension and when the door opened we were bowled over by the personality that greeted us.......Roberto Giardinelli....A passionate ,warm hearted, comedic tower of a man...also a retired actor.....We laughed the whole time we were registering!!......His business card would give us discounts and open doors for us everywhere he said....guess what....it was true!!...We have had the best time...and would reccommend his hotel   ALBERGO LA TERRAZZA and Montepulciano to anyone...without hesitation.

The city is very old and the vineyards go back to the founders of Tuscany...The Etruscans...1ooo years before the Romans became an empire....having migrated from the original land now called Iraq..Mick teaches this as a course....

We wandered through alleyways, narrow streets and viewed the vistas from the city walls ...magnificent...probably the epitome of Tuscany..

The stores are full of the wines, olive oils and thier famous cheese...Peccorino....Excellent flavour... We stumbled upon a wine store that was also a museum of sorts and there low and behold was an ancient Etruscan tomb!!!...Mick was in his element!!....Entered the tomb and studied the escavation techniques etc etc....Boring for some but a mine of information for Mick..Ha!

Another store was in fact a huge wine cellar that went down and dfown into the bowels of Montepulciano....Huge kegs maturing away.....what a site it was.

After the walks , photography and archeological experience we had a great local Tuscan meal.....wild boar sauce spagetti and local mushroom and ham ...both pastas being home made....obvoisly coupled with thier wonderful local wine...Robust red , slightly dry .....great!.....
Off to bed in a lovely room....Roberto singing somewhere in the distace...ha ha!!

Thank you Montepulciano for a memorable time....we will be back!!