Buongiorno Sweet Friends!

This weekend, I’m traveling solo to the island of Corsica!! Corsica is a French island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is located west of Italy, southeast of the French mainland, and north of the Italian island of Sardinia. Both French and Italian are spoken there, and hopefully a little English 🙂

I booked the trip through German Wings Blind Bookings option. It’s kinda like travel roulette. You pick a “theme” for your destination, i.e. Sun & beach, gay friendly, child friendly, party going, culture, nature/hiking, etc. and you are given a list of potential destinations. You have the option of excluding a destination for 5 euro each should you just not want to spend your vaca in Bosnia. I did not exclude any destinations as most were in either Italy, Greece or Spain; I just went for it! The fares are cheap 49 euro each way for sun and beach destinations, so I gave the wheel a big spin and I booked the trip. Once purchased, I found out I was flying into Corsica!!! I am delighted! I have never been but have always wanted to go so it’s perfect.

The only slight problem is transportation. The problem being, there is little in the way of public transportation. Trains and bus routes are limited and designed for the worker, i.e. one route in the early morning and one after work; so should your arrival not fit into the schedule, you have to take a taxi or rent a car. A taxi to my hotel in St. Florent is about 60 euros each way, which is the cost of renting a car; so I am likely renting a car. The problem with that is the roads are very narrow and windy throughout Corsica as the entire island is split in two by a mountain range. This makes for scenic drives but also can be dangerous depending on who is driving next to you or behind you. Corsican drivers are known for their lack of driving etiquette. Then there is the insurance issue. I don’t have any right now since I don’t have a car, so I have to purchase insurance I guess. Anyway, my job today is figure all that out and make a decision. Either way, it will be an adventure!

Speaking of adventures, last night, my German friends Beatrice and Maggie, the two ladies we met at the restaurant and have been out with several times, took me to an Italian restaurant called Casa di Biase Brasseria in Cologne. It is a lovely little Italian bistro owned, operated and hosted by Marvelous Mario, singer, piano player, chef, owner, proprietor and who knows what else! He and his wait staff were over the top friendly and the food was delish. As always, Beatrice ordered a vegan meal for me with roasted veggie antipasto, followed by a veggie pasta dish and fresh fruit for dessert.

There is a grand piano that takes up a huge corner of the bistro, but according to Beatrice and Mario, it only gets played on special evenings, when he is “in the mood.” Well last night, he was in the mood and began playing and singing in Italian. Mario knew very few American songs, but invited me to sing with him. He started playing Georgia on my Mind and asked me did I know that. Well, yeah! Ray Charles? Sure! So I sang Georgia followed by Somewhere Over the Rainbow, Imagine by the Beatles and the chorus to Because I’m Easy by the Commodores. These were the American songs he knew off hand. Once we got going, he thought of others but said he needed to practice. Beatrice made a list of American songs and gave it to Mario as his homework and said we’d be back in two weeks!! LOL! She kills me!  We had a great evening singing and listening and eating, and finally closed the place down around midnight. What a wonderful way to start my Corsican adventure!!

I am looking very forward to my trip and to more evenings with Beatrice and Maggie. Now to figure out my car sitch and go to the Vodafone store to figure out my phone sitch. That’s a whole nuther blog…

Sing loud and often my friends! That is what life is all about!!!