First we drove along the coast to Diamente and its murals.

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The sun rises on an empty beach.

Gerhild thinks it’s an Italian plane tree. Nice colours, whatever it is.

A lithe little lizard.

A kind lamppost trying to shade Gerhild from the October sun.

Tree knees

1907 km to Berlin from Scalea.

For lunch we ate some fish – „rombo“ (turbot) with a very tasty potato coating for me, swordfish for Gerhild. For pudding, we went to a gelateria where bergamot flavour was the big hit.

Time to put our feet up for the evening.

Breakfast

Ready to go.

Today Gerhild lay on a free sunlounger on the beach. Kim did the washing-up.

Today we moved to Scalea to meet up with Sabine.

Welcome to the beach.

In Scalea

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Yet another sunset

Antipasti in centro storrico

Pals

The street for kisses

Disco on the steps?

After breakfast, we decided that we had had enough big-city excitement and that it was time to head for the beach.

Next to the beach at Camping Lido di Salerno.

Nice to take your shoes off.

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Sunset over Capris.

We‘re in the metro again.

This is the Garibaldi metro station.

Maradonna is really BIG in Naples!

This restaurant gives a whole new meaning to fish lips. Delicious food at STAZIONE DEL MARE.

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This is the Universitá metro.

Outside the Palazzo della Borsa (the old stock exchange)

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Intriguing street lights.

A t-rusty horse.

That‘s Vesuvius over there!

No, this is not an art gallery, it‘s a metro station – San Pasquale

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This is a different metro station Chiaia

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Deep down in Chiaia station.

This is yet another metro station – Toledo.

Looks like Milan, but this is in Naples. Galleria Umberto I

Kim had a haircut today!

Pigeons like their pizza too, unfortunately.

Look at that facade! Wikipedia article.

Every god should have their pet sphinx. Wikipedia article.

Great stickup

When you pop into one of the entrances from the narrow, bustling streets in the old town, you may find something like this.

Real Neapolitan pizza in a square plastered with pictures of Sophia Loren cooking.

I reckon there are more pictures of Maradonna in Naples than there are shrines to Mary. He took the local football team to win the league so, of course, he should be officially deified.

One of the many shrines to Mary.

One of Naple‘s quieter streets.

Kim asked for just one coffee and this is what arrived.

Neapolitan pizza bakers at work.

It was a bit rainy today so we drove to Naples, following the GPS instructions seemingly round and round in circles, through tunnels, up hill and down dale until we could nestle down in the Sosta Camper Napoli campsite. Very basic, but the bus stops outside the gate to take us down to the city.

A park4night tip on the way to Naples.

It’s next to an old, no longer active, church

The frescoes are well known.

In the tiny village.

Next to the road on the way to the church.

Spontaneous vegetation next to the rows of grape vines.

Cheers!

The sun sets quietly in the west.

Bright, sunny day for a stroll to the town.

Newly built home for some lucky person.

Steep walk up into the old town.

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One view from the top.

Another view from the top in the other direction.

Very nice cafe Antico Caffe Trani up in the square

Shady place to sit if you don‘t mind being blessed.

Today we moved to a small campsite near Sperlonga. So small that it was full, so we parked in the annex around the corner.

Just call me Madame Bougainvillea.

Sperlonga from the beach.

Getting late.

I see no ships.

It was a fine, sunny day, but then this dramatic cloud came along and said look at me!

On our way home

Today we moved further south to Lago di Vico, a lake created by Hercules, who defied the local inhabitants by wielding his club. When he did this, a stream sprang up and formed the lake.

The GPS system sent us down a sandy road, which got bumpier and bumpier, the bushes leaning into our path and tree branches hanging down to give our solar panels a quick sweep.

When we arrived, the parking space was next to a proper, tarred road! We stopped gnashing our teeth as a large herd of sheep arrived, looked after by four sheepdogs and a shepherd. Three of the dogs were the same colour as the sheep.

Nice job when the sun shines.

Pretty but poisonous.

Guess what the farmers grow around here.

Our campsite closed for the winter today, so we had to move on. We ended up in the forest above Lago Bolsena, north of Rome.

Cyclamen is absolutely everywhere in the forest.

A place for the pilgrims to rest on their way to Rome.

This pilgrim is a bit prickly.

This pilgrim is having fun with an oak apple.

A Roman road takes us back with a view over lake Bolsena.

This is the crossing over the stream to get home…

Even though we are „on holiday“ there are still chores to be done, so today we got up really early and dashed to the washing machines to load them up with my smelly socks. Gerhild then fought like a lioness to get some space on the washing lines under the very pleasant Tuscan sunshine. The sunshine stuck around all day so we enjoyed the shade from our oak trees to eat a leisurely lunch and to read/listen to a bit of literature. I was reading Ian Fleming‘s „The man with the golden gun“, Gerhild is listening to „The Four Winds“ by Kristin Hannah which we borrowed online from our library in Berlin.

Today we drove along a 5 km unpaved, bumpy road to visit the Dream Woods, a lifetime project by a German outsider artist (Manfredo) in a beautiful forest up in the Tuscan hills. He collects his stones & other stuff where he can find them and then relies on gravity to hold them together.

Grumpy lot

Old glass as well as old stone

A stone-faced tree with heart

Buddha in the sink

A Mandala

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High rise art

This was called „The gates to hell“. The devil‘s gatekeeper seems quite friendly.

Let me whisper in your ear

Dog?

Kim‘s lost in the big city

A handsome fellow

Today we drove down to a very nice campsite – Camping La Montagnola in Sovicille, near Siena.

There’s a pleasant walk through the woods leading to the village and its shop.

Loads of cyclamen growing wild around here.

The Gotthard pass as the day staggers to its feet

It’s a cheerful +1°C up here, but we are going down.

Can you find the horse?

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Guess what town we are visiting?

Convenient campsite but very muddy and you have to walk along an extremely unpleasant road tunnel to get into town €39

Today we left the Black Forest and drove up to the Gotthard Pass in Switzerland. We didn‘t use the road tunnel and went up the road full of hairpin bends. Eventually we left that road for the „old road“ with its cobblestones and regularly spaced lumps of rock to keep you on the straight & narrow. We had rejected the idea of spending over €60 to stay on a campsite in Zurich and chose instead to camp for free at 2600 m in the Alps next to the road.

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We put the heating on when it started to snow…

Today was quite a rainy day so we met Thomas for a pizza in Klein-Winterheim.

Then we drove through the rain down to the Black Forest – Wohnmobilstellplatz Kappelrodeck.

Löwentor – the Lion Gate. I wonder why they call it that?

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Well look at that. We skipped a visit to see Tony Cragg in Wuppertal and now here he is in Darmstadt‘s rose garden – Rosenhöhe.

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Looks nice next to the Grand Duke‘s buildings.

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What‘s going on in there?

Mirrors!

Look at that sky.

Two?

Three here?

Vera Röhm – Spiegelbaum (mirror tree), 2017, bronze and stainless steel

A rainy night in Eberstadt with rain drops drumming on the roof followed by a sunny atmosphere at breakfast with the boys!

Today we drove to Eberstadt and visited Birgit and then the Lindes.

Another fine day for a stroll through the forest to Hottenbacher Hof for a delicious fish lunch (salmon trout with potato salad – 😋 )

Gerhild calls this a Waldschrat (hobgoblin)

Dragonflies having fun at our breakfast table.

Autumn windfall apples line one of the paths out of the campsite.

Teriffic tree with tasty apples

There are loads on the ground and some are quite unspoiled!

Old school friends at the golf club.

All of the girls together.

All quiet as day breaks.

Sitting next to the pool in Odenwald Idyll.

Delicious apple jelly from Seeheim-Jugenheim

Today we drove into Frankfurt to visit the Michael Sowa exhibition in the Caricatura museum.

How the cow came to be on the ice.

Road Hog

The herring

Putin kills the gay jellyfish spy with the holy sword

Rather read a book

No-go area

Underwater stalkers

Taking the moth for a walk

Home made jam from a house near Schloß Lichtenberg

Odenwälder Latwerge

4 kg pitted plums
400 g sugar
4 star anise
2 medium cinnamon sticks
5 plum stones

1. Wash, stone and halve the plums. Put the sugar and the spices with the seeds and the halved plums with the cut surface down into a cast iron roaster and let it steep overnight.
2. Place the roaster in the oven for 4 hours at 180 °C and let the plums simmer. Stir once an hour. After 4 hours, remove the stones, the star anise and the cinnamon sticks.
3. Blend the latwerge with the blender and fill into clean and dry jars and seal them.

Today walked to Bonn’s Bundeskunsthalle to see a Wim Wenders exhibition.

An angel looking down at Gerhild.

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Wim Wenders painted too.

He experimented with different styles.

He experimented with video cameras.

Photos of Cuba from the filming of Buena Vista Social Club.

We enjoyed some street food for lunch and then visited the Bonn Kunst Museum to see some shadows.

What a load of rubbish…

Olafur Eliasson’s contribution

Who’s hand is that?

Hans-Peter Feldmann – ZWEI MÄDCHEN MIT SCHATTEN 1999

Today we had a fine breakfast in the Stift zum Heiligen Geist

And then we drove to Bonn – once at the steely centre of West Germany.

A dry toilet next to our camper parking spot!

Today we drove to Hanover and visited the Sprengel Museum

Takashi Murakami

Self portrait

Yayoi Kusama

Old school friends

Infinity mirrors

Nikki de Saint Phalle