Ouray Yoga™

Our final countdown began very similar to our beginning with pillow talk. Curled up next to my husband in a bed only partly strange to our existence, but foreign enough, we discussed how we wanted to proceed. Our feet had finally decompressed after a restful night of sleep, previously swollen from four days of walking and tubing through London. We love our friends in London, graciously letting us descend upon their home, at our will. This East London brownstone served as a home base for us, a refuge for wayward travelers, a familiar residence to feel grounded. When we had arrived, four days ago, they were not home, but told us to knock on the neighbors door to gain locked access. We originally meant to arrive around 9pm but the foreign passport line at Stansted took longer than our flight from Italy. It was a complete bollox and one begins to wonder about the merits of Brexit. We arrived at 11pm. They not only helped us in, they bbq'd us some sausages and served up a green salad; s...

NYC maybe an inverted ant hill, with vertical comings and goings, and Rome may be an expansive, historical winding Grand Canyon. So what, then, is London? London is like a massive coral reef, with swaying algae, flashy fish and a rainbow of activity; probably mostly akin to the Great Barrier.            The foundation of Londontown has it's start wth the Roman's; but like the coral reef, with a hard, bony foundation, very little of this can be seen, covered by years of expansive growth. By the turn of the first millennium, London flourishes under the tidal forces of a Kingdom. Today, the Big Smoke is an atoll of history and modernity; underground are the eels tubing themselves through the matrix of tunnels, monuments pepper themselves throughout the town like sea anemones ever with their souvenir clown fish enticing you in. Angelfish cathedrals, sea urchin homeless, starfish theaters and schools and schools of fish darting in and out of non-stop doo...

On our second day in Venice we bought a 24-hour ACTV vapretto pass with a positive eye towards a bit more exploration. After a little bickering, we figured out the best plan of attack to ride their "metro". Jump on, jump off, alley, alley, bridge, calles, bridge, dock and off to Murano. (Light bickering, instead of bottling-up, is our key to 19 years of marriage!)           The city of Venice is made up of 118 islands linked by bridges, the further outlying islands are also linked like Venice. Murano is made up of 4 such islands. We get off the vapretto and immediately are pounced-on by barkers willing to sell us tickets to a factory tour. Of course, if you do your research, factory tours are free (with the obligatory tour through their showroom). So we ignore them and start walking. Apparently away from the shops but we did find the suburban area of Murano. It was actually quite pleasant to see real life activities, gardens, parks, grass, geckos, etc. Soon ...

We left Florence at a comfortable pace, except packing out the flat on a street where you can't park and at rush hour. John had to circle three times and in the final load received an Italian heartfelt "Fack Yuu, Mathurfackur." Swearing in English with an Itailian accent doesn't flow off the tongue nearly as well as Itailian cursing: Vaffanculo stronzo!  We again stop at a random gas station with it's own espresso machine and fresh croissants and later for a full lunch at a small cafe/bakery "diner" where they insisted on table mats and proper silverware. This standard is nice and there is something to be said for pay-for service. If you sit down you pay more for food than if you stand and if you take-away it's even less. No tipping or as they say: "servious inclusio".        A painter in Venice   19 years of Wedded Bliss   We arrive to the parking garage in Venice. This is where our rental will sit for the next few days, as no motorized...