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the city today and that zombie was me. I couldn’t help it, I had to get up at five and see what the light would be like. When I returned I slept about 2 hours and the thought was that since there was a good cloud cover, not the intense sun, I had to go out and take advantage of it. I’ve taken my share of pictures, enough so that I’m not even thinking of taking out my camera again in this city for this trip. I stopped at an even 1000. I know how ridiculous that sounds and I haven’t yet edited them, which is unusual, but I feel like I’m gonna be like Solomon who gave someone the chance to choose. This is gonna be a hard one.
One thought about safety. Rome is a safe city. You can walk around it during the night and not be worried about being attacked. And I really did my share of walking. Too many tourists around they say. During the day, the pickpockets are out, but they say, and I have experienced no fear when walking around at all hours. Just like Rio (not).
And the other surprise is Venice. Now here’s a place that is asking for, begging for a crime to occur. I have never seen so many narrow streets that don’t lead anywhere. And if you take the wrong bridge and walk down the wrong street you could be facing water (the canal). I would love to see this place from above, as a matter of fact, that’s just what I’m gonna do when I get off. And it doesn’t smell like it used to. They have tried and been successful at cleaning up their act.
Next stop is Madrid for 2 nights. Nothing against Madrid, but home would be my first choice, but it’s not American Airlines first choice so I’m going with what I have.
So this trip is winding down, and Tabatha, the person that is taking care of my puppies says that they are doing great. She’s loving it, they are loving it, and I’m so relieved.
Anybody have any questions about anything? Please feel free to add a comment or a question on the blog or contact me directly at Peterbryson@nooknose.com.

Well, you haven’t heard from me for a few reasons, actually, one big one in particular and that was what the ship was charging for getting on their internet. Ridiculously expensive per minute, but I’m off now and ready to write… especially after spending the day/night in Venice. It is 2AM and I have just arrived back to my hotel which is not central and the cheap GPS that I am using just tells me if I’m getting closer, but what they don’t say is that there is a wall in between me and where i want to go, so I have been wandering the narrow alleys of Venice at this time in the morning. They tell me it’s safe and it seems to be, but to be carrying two cameras and a tripod down some narrow alley after midnight and not knowing exactly how to get back to the narrowest street I have ever seen should have been scary. BUT, I have been soooo excited about the pictures that I have taken that I couldn’t stop. I walked around in the day where the light was the worst (mid-day sun is not conducive for taking pictures). It was at twilight and after that things started really getting me excited. So excited that I took more than 500 pictures today. Now how the H am I gonna edit those down. I could have a show with just these pictures, let alone yesterday, let alone Rome, let alone Africa… Where to start? And the trip by Princess, which was the boat I was on ended at 4AM and then they were to take you to your flight. Say what? You arrive in Venice at 4 in the morning and then go straight to a flight out of the city? Are they crazy? THIS IS VENICE. Sorry, I don’t mean to shout but c’mon people, don’t advertise Venice if you are not gonna let people do anything there, so of course I made my own arrangements to stay (which was an adventure in and of itself). What I really would like to do would be to take some sunrise pictures, but sunrise is in about 3 hours, so that ain’t gonna happen. I’ve been to some beautiful places on this trip and any one of which could have been a show-stopper, but because I wasn’t there at night made it taking pictures in the worst light of day. I really do get off on night photography. You can really be expressive and inventive and show more or less of a subject depending on how you set your camera settings, let alone to have the setting be in VENICE, or ROME. Sorry, I’m shouting again. Now how am I ever gonna get to sleep before noon when I am so “up”. And now I’ve got my work cut out for me… to edit down to some reasonable number the pictures that I have taken today. I have been able to do that every other day, but today and tonight was just over the top. So, since I’ve got my work cut out for me, I’m gonna cut this short, if this is short and get to doing some editing. Speak with you shortly.

Not really – just getting your attention. With the rates that they charge on this boat, plus the fact that the connection is like a dial-up, it’s hard to ‘keep in touch’. So I bought a ‘package’ for more money than I would like to say, and we’ll see how much I can get done.
Starting with today, we were in Monaco, Nice and Cannes. There was nothing that I felt I should take. The rich and famous and those that wanted to see how they lived was not what I was looking for. The Riviera is overgrown with ridiculous structures that I didn’t find very interesting. This is not why I take photos, which I kind of expected before I saw it, but, nighttime in Rome- that last night when I had a driver and the first day here, yesterday where we toured Cinque Terra, now for that I took about 1500 pictures. That’s more my style. Also, being in the middle of the very hot sun in the middle of the day with no cloud cover makes for a terrible picture, but the rest of the trip will bring us to Ajaccio (say what?), with statues of Napoleon (great!), Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast, Sicily, Malta, Corfu, Kotor in Macedonia, Split in Croatia, and another National Park where they have waterfalls (those of you that remember the very green pix that I took last year – this is another one), Koper, which I can’t even tell you where it is other than it is medieval, ending up in Venice. Those places I’m really looking forward to. The only down side to this trip is that I love to take pictures at night, or sunrise (I don’t really do sunrise) or sunset and we miss all of that. Those pictures can be striking, but I’ll let do. I’m not (shouldn’t be) complaining (yes you are!)
One thing that I’m very happy about, but will have a hard time communicating this because it may appear to be bragging, and that is not my intent. Just trying to tell you what my days are like. Anyhow, here goes. I’ve spent a great deal of my life trying to learn other languages and using them when I travel to other countries. My aim is to not speak English and meet ‘the people’. Through the years I’ve been very successful in doing that, but when you don’t use it you lose it, and so this trip is a kind of test. Started in Italy where I was able to remember how to communicate in Italian, then today in France, where I had to switch and speak French. I don’t speak Greek or Croatian, but when I go to Venice for 2 days, expect to continue to speak Italian. From there we fly to Madrid where I will stay for 2 days, and I’m very comfortable speaking Spanish, probably returning with a lisp (Castilian). The only other language that I speak, actually the best, is Portuguese. I love that language and it’s a shame that I won’t be speaking that, except on the ship, which has quite an international clientele, and I’ve spoken with a number of people from Portugal. Now, I speak Brazilian Portuguese and it is very very different from the Portuguese from Portugal, (think Australian and American). Anyhow, I’m having a great time bringing all of my language skills back when I need them, which is on the streets of the cities that we are visiting. I’m sure that I am making mistakes, but it’s all about communicating, so I know that I used “con” instead of “avec” sometimes, but that’s okay. People know that I am trying. I have never had a problem making mistakes because if I’m corrected I will learn that for the next time. Anyhow, hope that didn’t come across the wrong way, I’m just happy that I can communicate with people from many parts of the world, especially when they don’t spea

by a man in a car, all over the city and stopped at every monument that had good lighting. He was great, very patient – parking illegally, of course. Got to see about ten monuments that I could never have visited in that short of a time by any other means other than having a driver take me, which by the way was very reasonable.
Staying at this wonderful B and B and Luigi not only pointed out places on the map that I should go, but also wrote out a list in the order that we should see them so as to not back track. Made for a perfect night. Piazza del popolo, castel sant’angelo -which is magnificantly lit up at night, piazza de spagna (Spanish steps), isola tiberina and more.
I also got to watch some train drama two days ago as I went to the main train station to see if I could get to the port city which is an hour away, by train. What I saw, as an example, were people waiting on the non-stop train to the airport. After the train was supposed to leave, they were still there. Actually, they were there about 45 minutes after their planned departure when an announcement was made that everyone get off the train and run and I mean run and catch another train that was just leaving on another platform. I pictured myself in their position and decided, I’m gonna pay whatever it costs to NOT take the train to the port city (that train also didn’t leave on time and had some mechanical problem making it about 1 hour late.)
I think I learned from my last train experience in Bruges, and now, only confirmed by what I saw at the station, yesterday.
Leaving in about an hour to catch the bus that will take us all to the pier – the bus that Princess hired.
Took some great pix last night and want to thank Oswaldo, my driver, for his patience and knowledge of the city. At this point, after two days, I have about 1000 images to sort, and that’s actually a little under average.
I thank all of you that have commented on this blog, gave me your advice about taking the chance with the Venice hotel, and are keeping in touch. Means a lot. Keep it up if you can and I will keep writing as often as I can. Probably not while I’m on the boat though unless it’s reasonable, but will go to an internet cafe a lot during this trip.
Gotta run catch a bus.

Rome is awful… just full of ruins. Not modern at all. What’s wrong with them? Now, I hope you know that I’m just kidding. That’s the incredible thing about this place is the history and amazing things that that empire was able to do. See it in the daytime and it is impressive, but seeing it at night… now that’s where i come in. What great light they have for those ruins. And, as we know, it’s all about the light. Tonight, I have hired a driver to take me around and stop and start wherever I see fit to try and capture some of that beautiful light at night.
I leave tomorrow to begin the boat part of the trip. It’s a relatively small boat (for Princess) – about 600 people, so we can get closer in to some cities.
And as for the advice that I’ve been asking for, pretty much all of you have said – ‘go for it’. Easy for you to say! So, if AAA doesn’t come through, I’m gonna be taking offerings. Think positive, Peter. I’m sure that hotel is nice, but it’s probably location, location, location that’s upping the price to the ridiculous. This doesn’t happen for a few weeks, so stay tuned. And if I do have a room, maybe they set up a broom closet – we’ll see.

Trip to Rome was non- eventful, but I have a potential drama brewing and would be interested in your vote.

There is a hotel in Venice that charges $4000 per night. Obviously, I would never consider staying there, but  AAA, through their consolidator booked the hotel for about $100 per night. When I asked the hotel if they had pick up service, they told me yes they do, but I am not one of their guests. Called AAA and they say I am.. The hotel says no. AAA says they would stand behind their reservation and pay the $4000 per night if they were wrong. The hotel says that they are full.

Here is the dilemma:

Would you go to the hotel believing AAA or would you not go believing the hotel.

This has the potential to be a biggy, if I have to tromp through Venice with all of my bags looking for a hotel at the last minute. How would you guys handle this situation?

In less than 2 weeks, I will begin my second journey of the summer, this time to begin and end in Italy, with many, many points in between. I will be sailing this time (not actually sailing, but nevermind) and going to places that I may have been before, but yearned to return to, like Cinque Terra, Amalfi Coast, Greece and the Croatia, ending up in Venice. So, if you are following this, I’ve started my countdown for the next journey which will begin on July 10. Hope to have you on board.

And for those of you that have children (of the four legged kind), I felt guilty for leaving my ‘puppies’ for so long, thinking that my 2 year old, Teeka would just play with anyone and have a good time, but the older dog, more attached to me (he’s sitting on my feet as I write) would not do as well. Sure enough, by the last week, Cody wasn’t wanting to come out of his igloo. They couldn’t even coax him out – and I believe that he was depressed. You may think that’s hogwash, but I was concerned about that before I left, so I almost thought of canceling this trip coming up, except that someone is going to house sit, and I think that that will make all of the difference. I think that Cody was overwhelmed by all of the commotion going on and wanted some peace and quiet and me. The fact that they are home makes me feel okay about taking this next trip. My human kids I wasn’t so worried about. They both have children of their own and I don’t feel that responsibility of being the caregiver, but my doggies, or at least one of them, really felt my absence. Maybe you’d just have to be a dog owner to understand.

I’m on my last leg of this trip, now in Zanzibar and out of the jungle. While in the jungle, I saw NO MOSQUITOES, but come to Zanzibar and I think I was caught by one. I have so many bites from whatever you want to call them, no see em’s, flying teeth, or midges, whatever you call them they have been eating up my hands. I wear mosquito netting full time,except for my head, where I’d really look sorry, so they missed other parts of my body, by my hands have probably 40 bites. At least they don’t carry malaria. But anybody that’s been bitten by them knows what an intense reaction they can cause. And they were in my hotel room, so what was I gonna do, sleep in the car? By the way, wherever I went was in a national park, and these animals are not domesticated cuties, so when you go from dinner to your room, you have to be escorted by someone with an AK-47 so that you don’t become somebody’s dinner, or just an after dinner treat.  Now I know that sounds dramatic, but one thing you should know is that they don’t shoot at an animal, they shoot up in the sky to try and scare them away. 5 nights ago, there was a leopard spotted (bad!) about 4 rooms down from me. Elephants are sometimes all around, and the thing is that these animals will attack. And they have. So, I do take that seriously, especially when I see the guard shining his light all over to make sure that we aren’t walking into a trap. If he’s looking nervous, that’s all I need to know.

On this trip, my guide/driver, Bilal, has been terrific.  He is extremely knowledgeable (he’s a veterinarian) – that means that he doesn’t eat meat, right? Anyhow, his fund of knowledge is remarkable and I have learned a great deal from him. I’ve seen every species of animals that people come here for (well, maybe not every, but nearly) and that includes leopards, cheetahs, lions that were two feet from me, sooo many elephants, and the migration. If you don’t know what the migration is all about, it has to do with the dry season coming up here in Tanzania and two groups of animals go north to Kenya where there is food and water. Zebras and wildebeests go together and I’ve seen hundreds of thousands of them all migrating north. What an amazing site. Now, the zebras are the smart ones, so they lead while the wildebeests can’t remember what happened just 10 minutes before, so that means that they are stupid enough to cross the rivers where the crocs chomp chomp chomp. Not pretty. But the zebras remember that and go out of their way to find other ways to get through. When they can’t and have to go in the water, they let the wildebeests go first. Polite and smart.

I have been to 4 national parks, each one known for something different. But the Serengeti is the big mama of them all, and that’s where the animals migrate from. The other park, the Ngorongoro is a crater that has all the species that you can think of (except the leopard), and that park was another highlight of this trip. As we went from park to park, the concentration of animals increased, and so did my picture taking. How about 16,000 pictures to edit? And I’m gonna edit them down to some reasonable number and put them on the website, but it’s gonna take a little more time than I thought. but I’d like to get as much done before I return to Denver.

It’s Sunday night, and I leave Tuesday for Zurich, then Frankfort, then back home. Don’t get home until Wednesday afternoon, so this is gonna be a long haul. Home. It’s been a great trip, but it’s also been a long time away, so it will be good to get Home.

And then, in about 6 weeks I start the whole thing over again, this time starting in Rome, then Cinque Terre, Amalfi Coast, Greece, Croatia, and end up in Venice. But before I get home, I’ll spend two days in Madrid. Makes sense, if you look on a map, Madrid is right next to Venice. Nevermind, I’ll explain later.