When I awoke, I was amazed and thrilled to find that I could walk! Typically it takes days before I reach that point after a back muscle flare-up. I was able to walk to breakfast, slowly and carefully, where I ate sensibly (granola and yogurt) and passed up the cannoli.
After breakfast, I wanted to walk to an nearby neighborhood called Vucchiria. Continue reading Sicily, Day 5 – November 21, 2016
November 20, 2016: our fortieth anniversary. Unfortunately, because of my back pain, I was unable to do any celebrating. 
One of Nick’s hobbies is gardening, so I suggested that he go to the Botanical Garden, Orto botanico. Continue reading Sicily, Day 4 – November 20, 2016
Several years ago at nursery school, I lifted a child who was attempting to escape, and pop! went a muscle in my lower back. The same muscle has acted up many tines through the years since then. The problem is, I never know when it’s going to act up. While I was in the shower on Day 3, I reached down to get the shampoo, when I felt that familiar pop! Continue reading Sicily, Day 3 – November 19, 2016
We awoke at 9 AM! We were amazed by that until we realized that our bodies were on Connecticut time where it was 3 AM. Last night, my cousin Giuseppe told us not to miss the view from the rooftop breakfast room of our hotel. Giuseppe is a health inspector, so he is familiar with every food-serving institution in Palermo. He was so right! The view was fantastic! We could see the entire panorama of Palermo, including the sea, the mountains, many ancient cathedrals, and several apartment buildings whose dwellers were hanging their laundry out to dry. Continue reading Sicily, Day 2 November 18, 2016
Our plane landed in Rome, and we made our way to the gate for our flight to Palermo. I realized that November 17 was the 109th anniversary of the birth of my uncle, John Nucatola. A member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, Uncle John traveled around the world to promote basketball. In addition, his wife introduced Nick to me, so I have very fond memories of them both! I wondered if Uncle John had ever been to Palermo. We so enjoyed our 2005 trip there, and I looked forward to seeing my Palermitan relatives again. We would be having dinner with two of them that evening. Continue reading Sicily Day 1- November 17, 2016
Nick and I enjoyed several travel adventures in 2016, both national (San Francisco) and international (Costa Rica). After some medical issues were resolved, we had ourselves added to the wait list for a Rick Steves off-season tour of Sicily. Continue reading Sicily Day 0, November 16, 2016
After a fun breakfast with people from Holland who had retired to Spain, we had a phone call from Nicholas. He recommended that we go to the Contemporary Jewish Museum, because it was featuring an exhibit on Stanley Kubrick that he thought we would enjoy. He also invited us to join him at his office for lunch.
We called the Contemporary Jewish Museum, but as it was Yom Kippur, it was closed. Instead we did a self-guided walking tour that was in our AAA Tour Book. Continue reading San Francisco Day 7 – October 12, 2016
Our tour book recommended that we visit a museum called the Legion of Honor. Our breakfast companions from Australia had never heard of it, nor, it seemed, had anyone else! That didn’t stop us. Continue reading San Francisco Day 6 – October 11, 2016
After a delightful breakfast conversation with tourists from Germany, we planned to spend the day at San Francisco’s museums. Fortunately, we checked our tour book and discovered that many of them were closed on Mondays. Plan B was to visit various districts in San Francisco with which we weren’t familiar. Continue reading San Francisco Day 5 – October 10, 2016
Back at home, everyone had advised us to get tickets to Alcatraz in advance. Nicholas had never been there and wanted to join us, meaning the we had to go on the weekend. Continue reading San Francisco Day 4 – October 9, 2016
On Saturday morning, we had our first continental breakfast at our B & B. We were seated at a table with four other travelers, some from North America and some from other continents. The conversations were fascinating, and the breakfast was delicious: rolls
with butter and jams, muffins, and either plain or almond croissants. Continue reading San Francisco Day 3 – October 8, 2016
On Friday we enjoyed a relaxing morning with Carol and Cy, appreciating their hospitality and their company. They decided that they would take us to Sausalito before driving us to our hotel. The weather was fantastic, with warm temperatures and without fog. Continue reading San Francisco Day 2 – October 7, 2016
Nick and I have a long history of visits to San Francisco, both individually and together. Continue reading San Francisco Day 1 – October 6, 2016
I kept a journal during the trip, so I had detailed notes about Days 1 – 8. I did not make a journal entry on Day 9. However, I will always remember the events of that day. Continue reading Medjugorje Blog Day 9 – May 16, 2016
Pentecost Sunday would be our final full day in Medjugorje. There was no other opportunity to pray together on Apparition Hill, so at 6 AM, off we went. Continue reading Medjugorje Blog Day 8 – May 15, 2016
There was a thunderstorm during my morning shower, and we lost power, but fortunately the outage was very brief. Breakfast was followed by morning prayer in Ivan’s chapel. Then we had a bus trip to a local orphanage called Mother’s Village, which had been built because of children who were orphaned by the war in Bosnia Continue reading Medjugorje Blog Day 7 – May 14, 2016
I haven’t explained about pronunciation. Medjugorje is pronounced Med-ju-gor-ya. Ivan’s name is pronounced the same as the woman’s name Yvonne, and Vicka’s name is pronounced Vitzka. Vicka was one of the original visionaries along with Ivan. She still lives in the area, and she gives audiences every day. Continue reading Medjugorje Day 6 – May 13, 2016
Breakfast was early on Thursday, because Father Dan from our group would be the main celebrant at the English mass, and we wanted to get there in time to get a seat up front. We arrived more than an hour early, at which time worshippers were entering the church for the German mass. Neither JoAnn nor I understands German, but we went in and stayed for the mass. Continue reading Medjugorje Blog Day 5 – May 12, 2016
The long walk the night before was very hard on my bladder, but fortunately, I had my medication with me. I took a pill during the night but I knew I would be unable to participate in the morning’s activities. Continue reading Medjugorje Blog Day 4 – May 11, 2016
Tuesday began with a big breakfast: scrambled eggs, cheese, cold cuts, toast, various jams, and Nutella. It is so easy to fill your plate when all the food is put in front of you, and you don’t have to do any of the preparing or the cleaning up! Continue reading Medjugorje Blog Day 3 – May 10, 2016
It was a short hop from Munich to Sarajevo. Once there, we were joined by our tour guide, Ivanka, who would accompany us for the duration of our time in Bosnia. We settled in for the three hour bus ride. We passed many open fields, some farm animals, many houses that were in disrepair and some that were being rebuilt. Continue reading Medjugorje Blog Day 2 – May 9, 2016
Before the Journey Part 2
Then came April, the month in which Nick and I would have our medical check-ups. Continue reading Medjugorje Blog Day 1
In February of 2016, I received a phone call from my cousin JoAnn. As children, JoAnn and I saw each other often, because our mothers were sisters. Continue reading Before the Journey
In order to get our 6 AM flight, we left for the airport at 3. Our cab arrived promptly. Nick told me that he was going to check our tickets to find out the number of the flight’s terminal. The driver said, “Excuse me, sir. We are a small country. We have only one terminal.”
Our flight home was turbulent, but our ride home from Newark Airport back to Connecticut was placid. We have lovely photos and memories of Costa Rica. ¡Pura Vida!
Here are the Photos of our trip! http://pisarro.org/CostaRica2016
The highlight of the morning was to be a visit to Manuel Antonio National Park, a nature habitat for the white face monkey, the rare squirrel monkey, and many tropical birds.
We began returning eastward. Our bus took us through cattle ranches, which we found fascinating. At home, all the cattle are of the same breed, while here, many different breeds of cattle graze together. Continue reading Day 7: Wednesday March 23, 2016
I awoke fully congested, but I was determined not to let that keep me from any of the day’s activities. Luckily, this day was to be spent completely at the resort. Continue reading Day 6: Tuesday March 22, 2016
We left Arenal Springs and went west, stopping at Mistico Hanging Bridges, a series of fifteen suspension bridges interspersed through a private park in the rainforest. Our tour members had a choice between four activities. 
We could remain at the entry and enjoy the view of Arenal Volcano, or walk half a mile to the first bridge and then turn around, or walk halfway through the bridges and then turn around, or walk the two mile loop with a guide through the rainforest. Continue reading Day 5: Monday March 21, 2016
Today we went north to Rio Frio (Cold River, which it is not), for a “wildlife jungle cruise.” Previously, the only ‘Jungle Cruise’ we had ever been on was the one at Disney World. There we spent an hour on line for a five minute ride through a man-made jungle filled with mechanical animals. Here we spent two hours in a boat seeing some of the most magnificent creatures on the planet on both sides of the river! Continue reading Day 4 Sunday March 20, 2016
We left our hotel in San Jose, heading west for Zoo Ave, a wildlife rescue center. At this facility, injured birds and other wildlife are rehabilitated so that they can be released back into the wild. Continue reading Day 3 Saturday March 19, 2016
On Friday morning Nick and I walked through the hotel’s fantastic gardens before breakfast. Take a look at some of the beautiful flowers we saw.
Day 0
Several months ago, I remarked to my niece, Dawn, that Nick and I had not seen her and her husband for several years. Rather than them returning to Connecticut to visit us, or us visiting them in Texas, I asked if there was anywhere they’d like to go that the four of us might enjoy together. They suggested Costa Rica. As Coast Rica was on Nick’s Bucket List, we decided to meet there. Continue reading Our Trip to Costa Rica, Starting Off
At long last, here are our photos from our trip to France.
There are two links:
Click here for our photos of Paris.
Click here for our tour from Chartres to Nice.
We hope you enjoy them!
Nick and I are extremely grateful that our dear friends in Paris, Agnès and Jose-Maria, are safe, as are their friends and family. Today all of the citizens of Paris are our friends and family.
