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Neil & Audrey in Florence 2
It’s very rare for us to generate three blogs from six days of activity but that is exactly what happened with Audrey’s ambitious agenda. On returning from Cinque Terre we still had two more days of activities. We walked with them to the train station as they are now taking the train to Bergamo to…
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Cinque Terre
Audrey planned an overnight trip to Cinque Terre for all of us. We caught a 7:34 train at Firenze San Marco station and went one stop to Campo Di Marte and transferred to another train to La Spezia Centrale. Here we boarded the regional Cinque Terre train to Riomaggiore where she had booked an Airbnb.…
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Firenze
We have been to Florence a number of times but only for a night or two at a time. We did spend two weeks in Loro Ciuffenna Tuscany in 2015 in a farmhouse villa with a lot of friends. We now feel that Florence seems like a perfect place to spend six weeks in the…
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Neil & Audrey in Florence
We know the O’connors from our prior life in medicine. Neil and Audrey have visited us in Paris, Mexico City Madrid, Kyoto, New Orleans, Amsterdam, Copenhagen and now Florence. Our time with them is notable for the most laughs, the most miles of daily walking and the most money spent on food and women’s clothing and accessories. They unfailingly plan new…
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After the Celebration
We have been celebrating Sandy’s 80th year for over twelve months now and on March 15 2026 the celebration is almost over and we can return to normal life. So concludes our little break between houseguests. We have four more good friends showing up soon.
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Donna and Katherine Meet Sigi and Paul in Polanco
We decided to overlap friends here in Mexico City in order to squeeze more people in. We knew that these four would be very compatible and we were correct. Donna Quirk and her family have been so easygoing and generous on all of their visits with us. Donna also reads all of our blogs so…
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March 14, 2026
The big day has finally arrived, not that either of us was wishing for it to arrive any sooner. Jason and his family was up at 3am to drive to the Jacksonville Florida airport where they took a flight to Atlanta and then on to Mexico City. They couldn’t leave on the 13th as two…
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A Big Weekend in Mexico City
We started Sandy’s 80th year celebration over one year ago on March 3 with a meal at 22 Bowen’s with all of our Newport family including Kiki McMahan, Jen’s mother-in-law. We continued the celebration with a luxury tour of Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. The celebration continued in Denmark, Croatia, Scotland, New Zealand and will…
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The Stalkers Find Us Again in Mexico City
We have not seen the stalkers, Andrew Buzzi and Henry Maniace, since San Diego in 2024. Recently Dick informed us he would like to be referred to as Henry which is his given name at birth; Henry Richard, therefore no more Dick. We have been together in so many cities around the world that we…
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Mexico City with Geoffrey and Familia
James Geoffrey is our youngest of five in our combined family. He has been traveling from a very young age as he lived in Egypt with his mother and step-father from age 5-7 and Jim would fly to Cairo every two months and take him and his siblings somewhere in the world. He went to…
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Mexico City Reprise
We first went to Mexico City in January of 2019 as an alternative to Spain. We had planned on getting a visa for Spain but were thwarted at the last minute and Jim made a middle of the night executive decision to divert to Mexico City instead. We arrived mid January and stayed until mid…
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Napier New Zealand
Since we were unable to make a trip to The South Island we decided to explore more of The North Island. Hawkes Bay and specifically Napier came to mind as it was a three hour drive from Greytown and a completely new area of this island for us. We found an art deco short stay…
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Wellington #2
Our initial plan for New Zealand had been to spend 3 ½ weeks with Helen and Sue and then travel to the South Island on January 2-12. Unfortunately Jim failed to book things far enough in advance for the New Zealand summer season. He was able to book the ferry from Wellington to Picton return…
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Greytown New Zealand #2
On returning from the Tora Coastal Walk we had more adventures in store exploring the Wairarapa. That is pretty much of a wrap-up of Greytown as we have a couple of trips planned before we leave New Zealand on January 15.
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Tora Coastal Walk
The Tora Coastal Walk is a three-day walk which encompasses a variety of stunning and diverse landscapes: expansive farmland, native bush, river valleys and the rugged Tora coastline. Family owned and operated they promise spectacular scenery, gourmet food, and warm rural hospitality. It’s one of the longest standing private walks in New Zealand, and widely regarded…