Cross Keys Bank Summer 2013 Newsletter

CKB Travel ClubVentures To Italy

By Jim Cuthbert

On April 18 the charter members of the Cross Keys Bank Travel Club departed the Monroe airport for a 10-day trip to Italy. The explorers came from all over our trade area and included Linda and Joe Garcie from Vicksburg/Tallulah; Barbara Gewin, Shirley Turner and Janis Richardson from West Monroe; Lonnie Walters from Rayville; Sandy Lee and Patty Vandeven from St. Joseph, Elaine Vandeven from Leopold, MO. (ok, Leopold is not in our trade area, but we’ll get to that later.), and Debbie and Jim Cuthbert fromMonroe. After a smooth series of flights, the travelers arrived in Rome and united with our Tour Manager, Denise, and the other valuable member of our team, bus driver Pietro. Our first stop was the Coliseum, where we had a private guided tour with plenty of time to browse thegrounds.Thenwevisited Trevi Fountain and deposited the customary coins in the water to ensure our return to Rome in the future. The coins were now Euros, of course, and we used a few extras to sample our first Gelato of the trip. This Italian ice cream must be tasted to be appreciated, and our group appreciated vast quantities of it over the next 9 days. Denise told us that the locals eat only the Gelato made in the Mom and Pop shops and not the commercially- produced brands, so when in Rome….. The next 7 days were filled with the beauty and culture of the Tuscany area of Italy, located in the North and East of the country. We enjoyed perfect weather that started each day with cool temperatures which brought out the windbreakers but soon gave way to short sleeves. Our tours included some medieval and some rural areas like Assisi, Sienna, San Gimignano, Lucca and

Pisa where we were amazed at the thousand-year old churches and other buildings. We also enjoyed the incredible scenery of valleys below the hilltops where the cities were built for protection. Many of the old city walls are still evident, and we caught glimpses of the old aqueducts. As expected, the leaning tower in Pisa is awesome to stand beside and imagine that any day might be the last one for this famous landmark. A change of pace from the country side occurred in the middle of the weekwith a guided tour of Florence, the home of so much incredible art and so many artists. Although we all agreed thatMichelangelo’sDavid was the most impressive sculpture, there were many others that capturedourattention. Fortunately, many of our group chose to return to Florence 2 days later for another guided tour, as well as plenty of free time to browse, shop and eat. As for eating, well it was also a highlight. Breakfast was provided each day as part of the trip, as well as 5dinnerswherewe sampled local food at popular restaurants. These

meals were satisfying and tasty, but we found that the sidewalk cafes we encountered every day for lunch offered a varied menu of home cooking, Italian style. One member of our group was seen eating lasagna for lunch 5 days in a row, in a different city each time. He pronounced each one different and delicious. And he said the same thing about the chocolate gelato he had every day for dessert. All too soon, it was time to return from Tuscany to Rome for our last day. But this bittersweet day included a tour of the Vatican with an emotional encounter with the Pieta sculpture and a breathtaking view of the Sistine Chapel. During our farewell dinner that evening while we enjoyed recounting our highlights of the trip, we also discovered that we had made new friends and enjoyed great times together. If the legend of Trevi Fountain holds true, the coins we left in the water will bring us back to Rome one day. Until then, we look forward to the next trip of the Travel Club: to Hawaii in January!

Janis Richardson, Shirley Turner, Barbara Gewin, Debbie Cuthbert, Patty Vandeven, Sandy Lee, Elaine Vandeven, Linda Garcie, LonnieWalters, Joe Garcie and Jim Cuthbert at Basilica of Santa Croce in Florence.

Leaning Tower of Pisa

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