VirtualTourist Member Ciambella
| Page Views: 40,334 | About Us by Ciambella - last update: May 29, 2007 |
| Hohe Tauern (Krondlhorn in center - 2444m/8018ft) |
Nathalie and I live in Central Italy now. Coming from Southern California where we have lived and worked all our lives, the slow pace of small town Italy was an immediate relief. We no longer own a car; instead, we travel everywhere the relaxed way: we let others do the driving and flying. The train is wonderful and Ryan Air costs less than a nice dinner out.
Our days are no longer filled up with errands. We buy the freshest ingredients daily for our food. We sit at outside tables at our favorite bar, watching life go by. We go to bed when we are tired and wake up when we are rested. We read, study languages, watch old movies, listen to music, and take walks. We smile and laugh. We see blessings in all sizes and shapes.
Being (not too old) retirees, we find life is full, not with activities but with contentment. We hope you also find your happiness in whatever form suits you, as we have found ours.
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| Charles enjoys life to the last drop |
Update from Nathalie:
Charles used to go swimming with a friend every Sunday, that's their male bonding time.
Sunday morning, April 3, 2005 at 11:20, instead of swimming, he had a heart attack at the pool. Within one hour, he died and came back five times. He used up more lives in a short period than a sensible cat.
Excellent health care gave him back his life, and together with it, a new look on life.
We have known how to enjoy life when we moved to Italy. Now, we treasure it. Every day now is a gift and every trip now is an extended pleasure. That's why we have stopped travelling and started wandering. We have become vagabonds not a moment too soon or too late.
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| Us on a spring day in Gubbio |
True to our new feeling about life, all of our recent journeys have been an extension (or several extensions) of one single planned destination.
June 2005, we planned to spend only a few days in Val Gardena. We came home two weeks later after also visiting Venice, Corfu, Athens, Santorini, and Patras.
September 2005, we took a seven-week journey to the States. We traversed the entire country by planes and automobile -- six flights and 4000 miles behind the wheel, the latter method lasted two weeks. We visited 13 states and Canada. We also took with us on the trip our 16-year-old student Tiziano who had never been outside of Italy except one school trip to London. Tiziano had a chance of a lifetime to see almost the entire U.S. with the natives, not only the large cities and tourists' must-see, but also the one-stoplight towns and the remote countryside. We had a chance to see our country again (after four years away as it was for me), this time through the eyes of a first time visitor, and finally realized how much we loved the beautiful U.S. and how much we missed it living abroad.
December 2005, Charles decided it was time to clean the dust off his ski boots so we planned a one-week stay in the Tirol. We came home two weeks later after spending the entire holidays away -- Christmas in the Tirol and New Year in Edinburgh. We slept in Amsterdam and walked all over London during the period in between.
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January 2006, we took an impulse trip to Dublin to see Ellen when she was on vacation there. We love Ellen and her husband Joe, and we are always very happy to see them. During the short four-day stay, we met the best group of VTers with whom we spent two great evenings. Thank you, Louise, Joe, Gabriele, and Lee, for your instant friendship.
In March, after spending five days in Amsterdam with our daughter Nicole during her vacation, we wandered off to Berlin, Prague, and Budapest before making our way home via Venice.
In April and May, we took another trip to the States, a six-week journey. We were in NYC and Boston to see our daughters Adrienne and Nicole, then to Montana to see Ellen and Joe in their hometown before heading west to Southern California where home once was to see our son Liberty.
In July and August, I was in Vietnam for four weeks while Charles stayed home alone. Italians love to lavish care on a lonely man, thus in my absence, Charles basked in special attention from everyone in our town.
Our longest trip began the beginning of September. We started out in the Basque Country, and then boarded a freighter to Dominican Republic, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, and Chile while passing through the Panama Canal Transit twice. We ended the 12-week voyage in Madrid before returned home the end of November.
The last trip of the year will be three weeks to the States to meet our first grandchild Fletcher Maxwell and to spend Christmas with our children in Boston and Southern California.
For the count, we were/are away from home seven months this year. That's a lot of time spent on meanderings; perhaps we should slow down a bit in 2007 to record the trips on our pages... |
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 Comments for Ciambella | | | | |
travelgourmet Sun Apr 20, 2008 22:35 UTC
So, old friends are forgotten. Trust all is well with the two of you. Larry & Sue | EllenH Sun Jan 27, 2008 00:46 UTC
I never remember to call you before the time allowed. darn. | volopolo Tue Jan 1, 2008 16:23 UTC
Happy new year 2008! Nikos from Greece and Emmy from Thailand | WorldMeet2008 Fri Dec 28, 2007 19:46 UTC
"We have to get to know each other better, it makes us understand one another better, trust each other more, and live together more peacefully". ("United Buddy Bears" project). *** H-A-P-P-Y ** N-E-W ** Y-E-A-R !! |
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