A long hiatus a short post: IPP Pre-trip

 When I last left off, I showed some overdue photos of a trip our non-puzzling friends made here. Now I give you puzzling friends.  

Tanner came to us in late July. I picked him up from the airport amongst many gaffs on my part and a few laughs from us both.  I had a few errands to run and thought I'd do that before picking up Tanner.  His flight was delayed so I had about 4 extra hours.  I forgot how slowly I shop and ended up getting him almost 45 minutes late. Fine by him, he had a chance to walk around for a while and he was able to have a cigarette before we left for home. 

I had this stupid gas coupon I needed to use and that turned into a real laugh but problem solved in the end.  We had purchased gas when returning our last rental car and the company doesn't return the overage to your credit card, they give you a coupon that needs to be used in the same station.  I had to drive around for what felt like forever to be able to get the gas.  Mission accomplished. The moral of that story: Never use Q8! 

Tanner settled in nicely in an upstairs guest room and we all had a nice dinner and long overdue chat.  George very nicely laid out a bunch of puzzles on the table in the upstairs room for him to go through and I'm sure he did.  

He is a perfect guest. He does his own laundry,  makes his own lunch.  Actually, we have eaten out quite a bit since he's been here.  But that's ok, we'll keep him. 

He was amazing in helping me go through some old puzzles we have acquired that we still hadn't looked at.  He brought over the "good wood" and we started to populate cabinets. He also set up the puzzle box room and started to install puzzles there for me as well.  

Bill an Scarlet came in for a day or two, but I had them take the train as I was just too busy with 'castle issues'.  We had a lovely dinner at Gallo again.  I just love that place.  The food is amazing!  If  you are ever in Panicale, that is THE PLACE to eat.  Great food, fantastic staff.  You just can't go wrong.  

We also had a pretty decent steak and truffle dinner in the castle.

Sadly our time in the castle was short lived. Jerusalem called.  Hopefully they all got to puzzle a bit.  

We took a train to the airport, and flew out the next morning.  That night for dinner we had a fish tasting menu dinner.  That was something new for me.  Sadly, I didn't take photos of each course. 

Bill and Scarlet are quite the foodies and it's so much fun to hear them talk about it.  The next morning we woke early, hopped in a shuttle and flew off.  

First stop Tel Aviv!  We arrived 3 days early.  Why?  I wanted to hit Gala Games and the market before everything disappeared.  We unpacked and the next morning headed out for the market. It was a short walk.  Only about a 1/2 mile.  There we wandered the market, ate some wonderful figs and bargained for some mangos.  We turned around and headed to Gaya Games. There we found George and Henry Strout sitting in the air conditioned building playing with puzzles and chatting with the shop keep.  We had met him last time we were in Israel and he remembered us.  We bought a few puzzles, but there simply wasn't that much new stuff available.  

Everyone went to an escape room, George took a nap and I took a hike to a miniso for a pillow.  Crazy broad!  On my return, I stopped by the lego store and had a few custom lego people made for George and I.  That night we had a meeting of puzzlers and had a nice dinner and drinks with friends. After we ran into a few old friends in the lobby and stayed up late just chatting. IPP has officially begun. 

The next day was a tour of Tel Aviv.  It was interesting, but hot and we had actually done it the year we took our world cruise.  Not to worry.  In the market I managed to purchase the puzzles I hadn't bought previously. There were some interesting buildings we saw and we got a lot of history. For me it is very interesting to listen to the locals tell the stories differently than written in the history books by the 'victors'.  The world is a wonderful place and traveling it really is enlightening.  

I love the graffiti and signs in this city.

Our next day was in Jaffe.  Here ws got a tour of the harbour and saw a pretty amazing castle.  George and I opted to stop and have some lunch rather than finish the tour.  We later met up with the group at Gaya Games, but called it an early day and headed back to the hotel for a nap and some cooler air. 

They told us at the end of the tour that all roads lead to Jaffe. They were wrong.  I fixed the problem though.  

Next post: IPP proper.

More friends and lots of cities

 Well, as you can see, it's almost a month since I posted.  In that time, we had friends Stu and Donna from Florida and Rod and Merry from Kansas visit. We then picked up the car (last post) only to return home to have our friends Tanner from Texas and Bill and Scarlett from Florida come for a visit.  

The highlights of these first two visitors are shown in photos below. 

First up a trip to some thrift stores and the desire for a vegan lunch lead us to Italy's El Dorado.  Donna and I found ourselves in Bagnoregio.

Our next visit was a trip to Orvieto.  Here we enjoyed the duomo and visited an Etruscan Necropolis.

As usual we had to have dinner at Gallo with our friends. It did not disappoint! We also had a nice dinner in the castle.  

After taking Stu and Donna to the airport, Rod and Merry and I went to Castiglione del Lago for a day. Sadly, the palace was closed. Here we were able to find the castle across the lake. 

Our next day trip was to yet another thrift shop in Viterbo.  While there, we had lunch in town and took advantage of the time to wander around the town.  It's a beautiful city.  Sadly we were in the middle of the heat spell so we decided not to stay too long. 

Not to make light of the final bit, but I simply didn't take photos. I puzzled instead. Tanner arrived as did Bill and Scarlett, we installed some furniture, had another wonderful dinner at Gallo, and took a train ride to the airport to head to IPP Israel.  

Oh, and we bought another house with a 3 car garage.  

All in all it's been a busy month. Is it any wonder I didn't post?  Until next time, happy puzzling everyone!