Pot, Pastry, and Pasta

Since the last post, (which was started a week ago, but posted yesterday) some things have changed.  We have gone back to our original plan, and although the tickets we had were non-refundable, non-exchangeable, we ran the numbers and decided we would be out about $50 each if we simply tossed the day train to Vienna, cancelled the room at A-Train, and took the night train.  We won't be missing much time in Amsterdam, because we wouldn't have done any sight seeing after dark anyway, this train leaves at 8:00 pm, and we get access to the First Class Lounge in the Amsterdam station while we wait. Plus we don't have to get up early to catch the morning train.  All in all, we are pretty satisfied with our decision, even with the loss of the money.

So, we leave Newcastle the evening of the 11th, and get into Ijmuiden about 0930 on the 12th.

Continuing Becky's itinerary:

Oct 12  Amsterdam to Munich by night train
Oct 13  Connecting train from Munich to Vienna
Oct 13-15 Vienna
Oct 15  Night train to Venice
Oct 16   Arrive Venice early am.  Explore a bit, then train to Padova.
Oct 16-18  Padova/Venice
Oct 19  Padova to Perugia (see November 16, 2010 post)
Oct 19-20 Perugia
Oct 21  Perugia to Lucca
Oct 21-22 Lucca
Oct 23  Lucca to Viareggio (by Vespa :) )
Oct 23-24 Viareggio
Oct 25  Viareggio to Cinque Terre
Oct 25-28  Cinque Terre

After the 28th, I am not sure where we will be.  We may go to Torino to visit a Facebook friend (April 1, 2011) who is seriously ill.  Or we may stay in CT, or go to Bologna, Parma, and Modeno...three places seriously connected with food (no, not "bologna"...balsamic vinegar, prosciutto, cheeses).

In any case:
Oct 30-Nov1  Milan
Nov 1  Milan-->Zurich-->LA

The only regret I have is that because the euro is so bad right now,  we won't get to be as spontaneous as we wanted to be in Italy.  It would be very difficult to find a cheap place on the fly...it has been hard enough to find a cheap place with planning.  In exchange, we will be staying in each of our places for 2-3 days with few planned activities in each place.  Hopefully, this will allow us to be a little spontaneous, even if it means "spontaneously" sitting in a piazza drinking tea and reading a book in the sun. (yeah, I know....Italy in late October may not be sunny, but give us our Tuscan dreams.)