25/Jul 2023
By Jim Ancona
6 min. read
A few weeks ago, Anne saw a blog post from Richard Hoeg, a Dartmouth classmate of mine and avid birder. Rich described his installation of a Haikubox, an automatic bird song ID system. It recognizes birds by their sound and displays the results on a website or in a mobile app. Rich’s site is here. Read his whole post if you want to find out more.
I was already familiar with the concept from Cornell’s Merlin app, which does something similar on your smartphone.
18/Mar 2022
By Jim Ancona
5 min. read
So it’s been a long time without a post, so I guess it’s time I got back to work. In my defense, the reason I haven’t written more is that we’ve been busy. And as I mentioned before, I don’t write quickly.
Anne has done a good job with the chronicling our travels on Facebook, so I thought I’d write a bit about the places we’ve stayed. We’re currently at Fort Pickens Campground in Gulf Islands National Seashore, but in order to get this post finished, I’ll save writing about our last couple of stops until my next post.
20/Feb 2022
By Jim Ancona
5 min. read
We traveled from South Carolina to Faver-Dykes State Park in St. Augustine, Florida, arriving today. Saturday night we stayed at another Harvest Host. This one is at Debellation Brewing Company in Richmond Hill, Georgia. The beer was good, but the food selection was limited and we’d eaten out the last two nights, so we ate in the camper. The only downside was that Debellation was backed up to I-95, so it was pretty noisy.
18/Feb 2022
By Jim Ancona
5 min. read
Ah, warmth! Actually, more like “Ah, not cold!” We’re at Huntington Beach State Park in South Carolina, and it was 64 degrees this afternoon, with a forecast low of 54 tonight. It was in the twenties and snowing when we left Maine Sunday morning, so this is quite an improvement. We made it to my brother Pete and sister-in-law Kathleen’s in time to watch the Super Bowl with them and our niece Sara.
9/Feb 2022
By Jim Ancona
3 min. read
Back on the road We’re heading off to warmer climes! This has been our travel blog since 2015, and hasn’t been updated since out trip to Scandinavia in August 2019. So I’ll try to filling in a bit of the last two and a half years for Anne and me.
I retired in November 2019, and in January 2020 we bought a Safari Condo Alto F1743. We planned to do a lot of traveling around the US and Canada.
15/Aug 2019
By Jim Ancona
1 min. read
12/Aug 2019
By Jim Ancona
1 min. read
Bryggen, the old Hanseatic quarter of Bergen. Plateau panorama on the Hardangervidda, about 1250 meters (4100 feet) above sea level. Oslo's Opera House. On top of the Opera House. Thousand year old cornerstone detail saved from Oslo's first cathedral. Parliament building in Oslo. Ibsen outside the National Theater. Anne at Oslo's City Hall. Anne and a geocacher she met near Oslo City Hall. Thousand year old Viking ship excavated from a burial mound.
8/Aug 2019
By Jim Ancona
3 min. read
Wednesday After a stop at the stave church in Lom, we made it to our lodging for the night, the Elveseter Hotel. We got moved in just before the rain started. We had a drink and a good dinner, then headed to bed. Tomorrow we would drive the Sognefjellet a scenic drive over the mountains and down to the fjords to the south.
Thursday It was cloudy and misty when we woke up, but after breakfast we began to see patches of blue sky.
7/Aug 2019
By Jim Ancona
2 min. read
Monday afternoon it was time to leave Copenhagen and fly to Gothenburg (Göteborg), Sweden, the home of Volvo. The put us up at a nice hotel, including a great dinner. Tuesday morning we headed to the Factory Delivery Center to pick up Anne’s new car, a red XC40. After the orientation, a short test drive and lunch, it was time to continue our journey. We hit the road, heading north towards Norway.
5/Aug 2019
By Jim Ancona
2 min. read
As part of their Overseas Delivery program, Volvo is paying for round trip flights between Boston and Gothenburg, Sweden for Anne and me. SAS had a connection through Copenhagen, so we arranged to have a layover for a few days. We were in Premium Economy with extra legroom, wifi, upgraded meals and free booze. The only downside was that the flight left early, at 5:30. By the time I finished messing with the blog and decided to try to rest it was getting close to 11 Boston time.
2/Aug 2019
By Jim Ancona
1 min. read
This blog hasn’t seen any updates in over four years, but as I write this, Anne and I are on a flight to Copenhagen to begin a two week trip to Scandinavia. The planning for this trip was less extensive than for our trip four years ago, but we’re still hoping for a good time! Once again we’re picking up a car–this time it’s Anne’s new Volvo XC40, so we’re picking it up in Gothenburg, Sweden.
12/May 2015
By Jim Ancona
7 min. read
Tuesday: Arrival at La Montalla It was a long drive (over 500 km/300 miles) to La Montalla, our agriturismo in Tuscany. Since most of it was on the autostrada, we got to experience sticker shock at Italian tolls–over 30 Euros due when we got off. We arrived around 3 pm, only to encounter a note that seemed to say (it was in Italian) that someone would be back at 3:30. So we decided to check out Contignano, the town nearby.
4/May 2015
By Jim Ancona
5 min. read
Sunday: Ötzi My original plan for the drive to Italy was to make it into an all day scenic drive. But when we woke up to another foggy, drizzly day, it seemed better to just take the shortest route, and hope the weather was better on the other side of the Alps. Anne wanted to get caches in three countries on a single day. (It’s hard to do that where we live.
1/May 2015
By Jim Ancona
6 min. read
Thursday: Off to the Alps Thursday morning we packed up, bid farewell to Frau Lee and and headed off for our next stop, Reutte, Austria. It was a pretty long ride and rather than heading straight there we took a slight detour to Lindau on the shore of the Bodensee (Lake Constance) a large alpine lake at the junction of Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The weather turned out better than we expected–partly cloudy and in the 60’s.
29/Apr 2015
By Jim Ancona
7 min. read
Monday: Arrive from Rothenburg The drive from Rothenburg, mostly on the autobahn, wasn’t very interesting. Some nice vistas of bright yellow fields of rape seed (the source of canola oil), but many trucks to contend with on the highway and rain for the second half of the trip. When we got to Bacharach, it was much cooler–in the low 50’s. We checked in at Hotel Kranenturm, our base for the next few days and headed out to explore the town, or at least find dinner.
27/Apr 2015
By Jim Ancona
5 min. read
Sunday: Munich to Rothenburg After another good breakfast we bid “Auf Wiedersehen” to Munich and Hotel Uhland. This hotel was the highlight of our trip so far, with a great breakfast, friendly and helpful staff and convenient services. (They did a load of laundry for us for 12 Euro. We spent 8 Euro to do it ourselves at a laundromat in Florence.)
I used the Michelin Navigation app to select a scenic route to Augsburg, where we picked up the Romantische Straße (Romantic Road), a scenic route that wends its way from Würzburg down to Füssen in the Alps.
25/Apr 2015
By Jim Ancona
7 min. read
Day 1: Thursday Our train arrived at Munich Hauptbahnhof (the main train station) at just after 6 am. We decided to see if we could find coffee and breakfast somewhere before walking to our hotel. Our first observation was that Munich is not an early rising town. We headed out of the station and found that the nearby cafes didn’t open until 7 and Burger King not until 8. So we headed back into the station and found the shopping section we’d missed the first time and there our breakfast and coffee.
23/Apr 2015
By Jim Ancona
3 min. read
Day 1: Tuesday We got to Venice on the train at about 1:30, figured out the Vaporetto (Venice mass transit equivalent of a city bus) and got to our hotel, Pensione Guerrato a little while later. After unpacking we headed out for a short vaporetta cruise (we bought the 48 hour transit pass) before heading to Rialto Bridge to meet our guide, Alessandro Schezzini for back-to-back walking tours. The first, the “offbeat” Venice tour took us on a walk through the back streets and alleys, accompanied by opinionated commentary from Alessandro.
20/Apr 2015
By Jim Ancona
3 min. read
We’ve been here almost a week and the weather has been terrific. The only rain was a sprinkle as we arrived in Florence on Saturday. Yesterday (Sunday) was cool, with highs in the 50’s. The Florentines were bundled up, but we were comfortable in jackets. Today was glorious–bright sunshine and highs in the mid 70’s.
Day 3: Monday So it’s official, we didn’t allow enough time for Florence, or I didn’t plan it effectively, or both.
19/Apr 2015
By Jim Ancona
4 min. read
It’s the end of our second day in Florence. Time flies when your having fun! We’re back in our room relatively early for once–it’s only 9:15. Last night at this time we hadn’t started dinner yet! And we’re listening to the Red Sox broadcast, streaming on the Internet, since they’re playing a day game today.
Florence is less overwhelming than Rome. It’s much smaller and very walkable–everything is close together and the narrow streets keep speeds under control.
18/Apr 2015
By Jim Ancona
5 min. read
Rome Day 3 We’re in Florence and here I am just starting on Rome days 3 and 4. I’ll try to get better at this. I think leaving Rome will help. Rome is so huge and bustling, that you’re tempted to always do one more thing, because there’s always one more great thing to do and you can’t possibly do them all–especially in four days.
Well, life is trade-offs, and we had to make one on Thursday.
16/Apr 2015
By Jim Ancona
5 min. read
So, we’re three days into our visit and I haven’t posted anything. I plead exhaustion. Our trip was pretty uneventful, other than an hour delay on the runway at Heathrow to resolve computer problems before take-off on our leg to Rome.
Day 1 We got to our hotel at around 3 pm. That was about 18 hours after we left Boylston, with perhaps two or three hours of sleep on the plane.
21/Mar 2015
By Jim Ancona
4 min. read
Internet access while travelling is pretty important to us–probably more important than mobile phone service. All of the hotels we are staying in advertise Wifi availability, but we’d really like to have internet access on our phones, for things like navigation, as well as posting to Facebook!
Both Anne and I have unlocked GSM phones that support European frequencies. Our service at home is through T-Mobile, which offers “free unlimited” international roaming.
20/Mar 2015
By Jim Ancona
1 min. read
Tentative Schedule Saturday May 9 Arrive late in the day after driving from Tuscany, with a stop in Lucca along the way. We’re staying at Il Saraceno in Volastra, which has free parking.
Sunday May 10 Experience the Cinque Terre.
Monday May 11 Leave in the morning, drive to Nice, get car washed and drop it off. Fly home, departing at 3:25 pm.
Places to go and things to do Hike the famous trails.
20/Mar 2015
By Jim Ancona
1 min. read
Sunday May 3
Arrive after driving from Reutte. We’re staying at
Tirlerhof in Castelrotto (map).
Monday May 4
Ötzi the Iceman at the
South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in
Bolzano. Scenic drive, perhaps the
Abbreviated Dolomite Loop Drive
in the Rick Steves Italy book, or one of
these.
Recommended road: Grande Strada delle Dolomiti – SS 48.
Tuesday May 5
Long drive to Contignano, Tuscany.
20/Mar 2015
By Jim Ancona
1 min. read
Tentative Schedule Thursday April 30 Drive from Bacharach to Reutte, about 5 hours on the Autobahn. Arrive at Hotel das Beck (map).
Friday May 1 Ludwig’s castles, Füssen, drive the Deutsche Alpenstrasse towards Berchtesgaten.
Saturday May 2 Tram up the Zugspitze. Some hiking based on recommendation from family friend Mee’sha.
Sunday May 3 Drive to Bolzano, Italy. The shortest route is over Brenner Pass. We may want to consider using Reschen Pass further west.
20/Mar 2015
By Jim Ancona
1 min. read
Tentative Schedule Sunday April 26 Leave Munich and drive the Romantic Road (map) to Rothenburg ob der Tauber. Staying off the Autobahn, the trip is about 4 hours of driving. We should plan to arrive in time to check in to the hotel, get dinner and then take the Might Watchman’s Tour at 8 pm. Alternatively, we could eat afterwards.
We’re staying at Hotel-Gasthof Goldener Greifen (map). They have parking available and free loaner bikes for guests!
4/Mar 2015
By Jim Ancona
1 min. read
Tentative Schedule
Thursday April 23
Arrive early morning. We’re staying at the
Hotel Uhland. It’s a
1.2 km walk, or we could take
the 58 bus.
Friday April 24
Pickup Day at BMW Welt! We’re booked for a factory tour at 11:45 and
the actual pickup is at 3:30. We can use BMW’s complimentary shuttle
service from the hotel to die Welt.
Saturday April 25
Places to go and things to do
1/Mar 2015
By Jim Ancona
1 min. read
Tentative Schedule Tuesday April 21 Arrive at 1:35 pm. We’re staying at the Hotel Pensione Guerrato. To get there we’ll take the vaporetto (ferry) route 1 from the train station to Rialto Mercato. From there it’s a one minute walk to the hotel. We may want to pay €25 for a 36 hour vaporetto pass, since individual rides are €7.
Evening: Alessandro Schezzini tour(s)
Wednesday April 22 Depart for Munich at 8:57 pm.
15/Feb 2015
By Jim Ancona
1 min. read
Tentative Schedule
Saturday April 18
Arrive 11:22 am. We’re staying at the Dei Mori B&B,
about a 20 minute walk from the train station.
Sunday April 19
Museums.
Monday April 20
Most museums closed. Duomo, walking tour.
Tuesday April 21
Depart for Venice 11:30 am.
Places to go and things to do
Museums: Accademia, Uffizi Gallery, Bargello
Rick Steves Renaissance Walk (book page 493, podcast)
14/Feb 2015
By Jim Ancona
2 min. read
Tentative Schedule Tuesday April 14 We arrive at about noon. We will take the Leonardo Express from the airport to the Rome Termini station. I originally thought that we would want to buy SIM cards at either the airport or the station. It appears that all the cell providers have shops at Termini. But I was able to purchase cards and activate them in advance, so this shouldn’t be necessary. More on SIM cards and internet.
13/Feb 2015
By Jim Ancona
1 min. read
This post describes our planned itinerary. I will update it over time
as plans change or are refined.
Outline
Four weeks, starting in Rome, departing from Nice.
12/Feb 2015
By Jim Ancona
2 min. read
After quite a bit of research and discussion, we have at least the outline of a plan for the trip. Originally, my thought was to pick up the car in Munich, drive south through Austria to Venice, then on to Rome and Florence, making stops in the countryside (Umbria and Tuscany) along the way. Then head back up through Switzerland to Germany and finish our sightseeing there before dropping the car back in Munich and flying home.
9/Feb 2015
By Jim Ancona
2 min. read
I’ve been working at Constant Contact since March of 2005. One cool benefit we have is a paid one month sabbatical (in addition to regular vacation) after ten years of service. Around the holidays last December it occurred to me that mine was coming up and I ought to start thinking about how to spend it.
Anne and I have done only a little overseas travel. We went to Vienna, Budapest and Prague in 2000, had a long weekend in London right before I started at Constant Contact in 2005 and went to Paris for a week in 2013.
7/Feb 2015
1 min. read
Welcome!
Lots of our older pictures are online at our
photo gallery. More recent photos are mostly at Facebook
(Jim
Anne) although I hope
to publish more here on this new site.
Back in the summer of ‘99 we travelled to national parks across much
of the country for a month. We have our
journal and pictures online!
