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| "Hey! That's-a-OK. We know what he's-a like" |
My sister and brother-in-law are going to Italy in May to attend the 75th anniversary commemoration of the battle for Monte Cassino. They wanted to know if I want to go so I checked it out and have decided, I think, that I won't go.
I have been thinking for quite a while of travelling to Italy to trace the route that my dad took when he was there in 1943 to 1945 from Bari to Trieste including Monte Cassino. He was in the Divisional Cavalry as part of the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary force who landed in Italy after fighting in North Africa and Crete. Dad was wounded near Rimini and hospitalised in Florence before rejoining the division and ending up in Trieste before being demobbed in May 1945. See HERE
I checked out availability and costs of flights and accommodation along with the costs of attendance at the various official events but have decided that I really can't afford the cost for a couple of weeks travel. To be honest I'm not looking forward to the long distance travel (about 32 hours from Auckland to Rome including stopovers) and would rather save the money to travel somewhere with Lynn later.
From there I would have liked to travel north up the east coast where the New Zealanders went and stay around Rimini to try and find the location by the River Uso where dad was blown up.
The trouble is that after nearly 75 years that site is probably now either an industrial centre or a hotel resort (Google satellite maps suggest it is vineyards) and I won't get near the place. Dad had the advantage of having a Staghound to negotiate obstacles and recalcitrant Italians.
My sister and brother-in-law are travelling on up to Venice where he has a conference to attend so I would head back to Rome and then home.
I like Italy and have had some great experiences there but it really wouldn't be the same without The Old Girl.
5 comments:
'La vecchia donna' in Italian.
I suspect that if I refer to her as 'La vecchia donna' I'll get a punch on the arm or worse.
La vecchia ragazza?
Yes it is a long trip too if your health is not the best. I love you too much to want to see you go off on a pilgrimage and die of malaria!
Well that's weird and not just the malaria comment.
My health is OK I just hate long distance travel - always have regardless of whether it was economy, premium economy, business or first class - it's still 32 hours of sitting in a cigar tube breathing other people's farts and stepping in their piss in the toilets. Yuck!
I'll do it when I can travel with Lynn and we can have a more leisurely holiday at the end of it kind of like what Richard and Shelley did. This Cassino trip was going to be too compressed.
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