Too Much Halloween Candy

Sunday November 1, 1992

Didn't sleep from 12-2 a.m. Too much caffeine in all the chocolate candy I ate last night. Difficult morning. Tired, lots of sweating and rapid heartbeats. It was 1 p.m. by the time I was dressed.

Frank went to the rental house in Newbury Park from 9-3:30. I went to the grocery store and had lunch at Del Taco. I ate a sausage from the market deli and by 3:30 I had a stomach ache and didn't feel well.

At 4:00 we go to visit Frank's folks. We wait until 6:30 to eat because I don't feel well. I eat well, but get terrible pains in my stomach. I'm nauseous by the time we leave at 8:30.

We gave Frank's mom the earrings we bought her in Florence, Italy. She was thrilled.

What a rough night! I can't eat chocolate at night either because it gives me heartburn and keeps me up. The sugar and caffeine are probably causing her rapid heartbeat.

Livorno, Italy

Thursday October 8, 1992 Livorno, Italy

We're up at 6 a.m. to be ready to leave the ship and board our bus at 8:30 for our trip to Florence and Pisa. We arrive in Florence about 10:30. It's a mad rush to try to see what we wanted to see. We only have time to see the city and shops, churches and bridge Ponte Vicci where all the gold shops are. We buy Frank's mom some earrings there. We scarf a piece of pizza each which cost $5 each.

Back on the bus at 2:30, we head for Pisa. The leaning tower of Pisa is really something.

We get back in time to jump into other clothes and go to dinner. We go to bed early and I have a terrible pain under my ribs right side. I take a pain pill.

This I see as the drawback of trying to see the sights of Europe from a cruise ship. Many cities of interest are port cities, but some are not, like Florence which was a 2 hour drive from the port of Livorno. To only have 1/2 day to see the entire city of Florence plus the city of Pisa seems way too rushed. Two days in port would be better. I remember visiting Florence in 1974 and there were many museums with spectacular art and architecture. Too bad Mom and Frank didn't have time to visit the Galleria dell' Accademia, home to Michaelangelo's statue of David. On the other hand, they got to see the leaning tower of Pisa, which I missed.

I didn't realize that Florence was femous for it's gold shops. How appropriate that they bought Frank's mother some earrings there, considering her name is Florence. When I was there I bought several items made of leather, including the oversized leather album where I keep my photographs of my 8 week trip through Europe in 1974.

Rome, Italy

Tuesday October 6, 1992 Rome, Italy

I'm up at 5 a.m. to leave at 6:15 for our trip to Rome from our port of Naples. Naples is another crowded dirty city. We arrive in Rome about 9:30 a.m. We have one tour guide on the bus and another for Rome. She takes us through the Vatican Museum adjoining the Sistine Chapel. Michaelangelo spent 41 years painting the ceiling of the chapel. He was 81 when he finished his "Creation of the World." From there we went into St. Peters Church, the largest church in the world with 44 alters. It is gigantic and lovely.

It was pouring rain when we emerged. We boarded our bus and toured to lunch at a lovely restaurant. We ate late about 2:30. We had 2 pastas, then salad, then veal with potatoes and dessert plus wine. We toured from the bus (raining) the coliseum, the forum, drove old Appian Way, etc, etc.

Returned to our ship at 7 p.m. too full and too tired to eat dinner. Went to bed. Frank went to dinner.

That was one long day! I don't know why their cruise ship stopped in Naples, a 3-hour drive from Rome, when the Port of Civitavecchia is only an hour away. It looks like the port in Civitavecchia is very small and can only accomodate a few ships. It must have been full. Rome has so much to see, it is a shame that their tour had so much to jam into a few hours, and then the rain meant that had to view the sights through the rainy windows of the bus.

Los Angeles, California to Venice, Italy

Monday September 28/29, 1992 "Long Day"

Up at 7 a.m. to get ready to leave at 9:15 for the fly-away where we catch the 10:00 bus for LAX. At LAX we have a 2 hour wait to fly out at 1 p.m. for Paris, France. The flight is almost 11 hours. They feed us too much too often. We try to sleep, but only rest. We arrive in Paris at 10:10 a.m. (8 hours ahead). At 11:40 we fly Alitalia Airline to Venice, Italy, almost 2 hours. They feed us again.

We're picked up by bus and wisked to our Star Princess cruise ship. Our room is large and lovely. The ship is huge. We nap for 3 hours.

At dinner we are seated with 3 couples in their 60s. They are all outgoing and friendly. Lovely dinner. We take the boat to see Venice at night. It is all lighted up and quite lovely. We retire about 11 exhausted.

I have kept Mom's passport all these many years. It was issued January 5, 1987 for the ski trip to Innsbruck, Austria that I took with Mom and Frank. Surprisingly, the passport does not show a stamp for Austria, but it does have a stamp dated February 15, 1987 when we arrived at Heathrow Airport in London for an extra excursion after our ski trip. The next stamp is dated February 20, 1987 when they returned to Los Angeles.

Page 2 of the passport shows a stamp for Gatwick Airport in London in April 1990 and Page 3 shows they arrived in Venice September 29, 1992, Barcelona on October 11, and back to Los Angeles on October 13. There are 18 blank pages after these entries that should have been filled with exciting ports-of-call visited during her golden years that were stolen from her. Mom loved to travel and I know she would have taken many more trips in the past 20 years.

It cracked me up when Mom complained about being fed too much and too often on their flights. 20 years later, all we get from the airlines is non-alcoholic beverages and a bag of nuts on a flight!

I have only flown to Europe twice in my lifetime, that trip to Austria in 1987 and a 10-week trip to 14 European countries in 1974 when I graduated from college. Both times the exhaustion and jet lag put me in bed sick the first week. Will Mom adjust to the major time zone change? I can't believe she stayed up til 11 p.m. this first night!