Barb - I just discovered your report and I love it!! So sorry for your stressful trip, but your writing style is wonderful! i can't wait to hear what happens next. I do feel sad for D. She definitely has some issues to work out and it sounds like she is really not aware of it. Hope she gets some help. You definitely are a patient one!

I was going into withdrawal symptoms already.. heheheh..

Glad you posted, Barb! Big smile over here.

Barb, I am one of your admirers...please ignore the critiques! I don't get it either - there are plenty of strings that I start on this board, and if I find them boring or annoying, I simply stop reading them. Don't know why that isn't happening here, unless you're hitting a nerve with some people.

Thank you so much for taking the time and effort to communicate...and I can't wait to hear the rest!

Didn't you have a daughter who is having a baby? I'd look through the previous posts, but you are so popular, it would take me hours to find!

Barb, dearest, take it from me...<b>you can't please all the people all the time</b>, and honest writing; as in, &quot;writing from your heart,&quot; should be done to please you and only you. This is the essence of writing well and finding your voice. If you find many readers liking it and appreciating it (as evidenced here), well, that's just icing on the cake.

To be a seasoned, thick-skinned Fodorite, I find it helpful to remind myself that opinions are like a$$holes, everybody's got one. Ignorant, self-righteous people love to judge others. Nothing anybody says will change that. We all have to learn to share the planet with them.

DO NOT EVER apologize for speaking from your heart. My goodness, that's a gift from God and I'm sure he would be disappointed if you tried to squash it. I think it would be a Venial Sin if you don't complete this report, and I would insist on ten Hail Mary's and ten Our Father's for your punishment, and I don't care if you're Jewish, Muslim, or Buddhist.

Your trip report has to be one of the best I've ever read here. It truly deserves to be made into a movie with Maggie Smith playing you. I highly recommend you submit a manuscript to someone who has the power to make that happen. I'm sure with six-degrees-of-seperation, coupled with your friendship with SeaUrchin, you ought to do just fine.

Anyone with a clear head can see how altruistic you are. You clearly wished the best for everyone but did not have the power to change people and make them as happy, as sensitive, or as intuitive as you. One cannot know a true friend until you live or travel with him or her.

What have I learned from this report? You and I could share a room in Italy and probably have a blast and you wouldn't have to worry about a budget because I would be there to treat you all the way. Good people deserve good things.

Happy writing!

Barb - thanks for your latest installment. I enjoy reading your posts as they really capture the moment (not to mention COLOR as in Eiffel's garb). Shame it poored all day in Capri for you. Did the Divas blame the weather on you?
Thank you for continuing to share regardless of other's negative posts.

Barb:
I have been laughing out loud, this reminds me so much of a recent trip I took, but not nearly so bad - just one person ended up in emergency.
I am hoping to make my first trip to Italy next October - hope to spend about a month, and of course want to see everything, so the outline of your trip would be a great start for my plans
Thanks - looking forward to the next installment
Glo

Glad to see that you've decided to continue. Those of us who have &quot;been there&quot; are thoroughly enjoying this tale.

&quot;It was the trip of her lifetime, but it took 10 years off of mine&quot; Thanks to the poster who wrote that.

Barb, glad to see you back with the report. Not glad to read the divas won't even have lunch with D. After spending time rooming with her, you should have had a break at some point. I hope you were able to get through to them the need to 'share' D.

Wow - NYFS - thanks for your SOA. You made my day. Now as to Maggie Smith, hmm I was thinking more along the lines of Julia Roberts, lol.

<b><i><font color="green">Thank you, Barb, and keep it up. We are all grateful</font></i></b><font color="green"> (most of us, anyway).</font>

Barb,

Thank you for continuing to post. Your saga is so enjoyable to read.
Keep it coming.

Thank you so much Barb! Please don't stop writing!

Thank you, Barb, for continuing with this wonderful report.

And FWIW - I vote for Julia Roberts, too!

LOL~ NYCTS, I was thinking more like Glenda Jackson when she was younger..marching along with her little Divas scrambling behind
Thank you Barb, get back to the rest now, that's a dear girl

Truth be told, Barb -- as long as it takes to get a script to the screen Julia should be just about perfect for it by then!
Diane

I am loving the drama of this story and have been checking in all day to see about updates!

Thank you so much for continuing your story!!!!

Hi Barb- Thanks for continuing your writing. In all selfishness, I'm glad you did. DH and I just came back from a less than excellent trip to France and your report has helped ease my stress.

Certainly, I do feel a guilty pleasure, though, reading it. I mean, I'm easing my stress because of your trials and tribulations! But you seem to be handling the Divas well. And who among us hasn't had a trip similar to yours??

Interesting. Julia Roberts never did much for me. I always thought she was there for the men. Of course, I fully recognize her physical appeal but, beyond that, she doesn't have much to say in real life and, without a great director and script, she's about as flaccid as they come. I find very little about her that's compelling.

Maggie Smith is probably too old to play Barb in this story and I probably should have said &quot;a Maggie Smith type,&quot; if such a person exists. Having recently seen that marvelous movie, &quot;Gosford Park,&quot; for the first time and three-times-in-a-row, I saw some of Maggie Smith's wonderful, <i>&quot;I haven't a snobbish bone in my body&quot;</i> facial expressions in Barb's writing. No actress says, &quot;Are you kidding me?,&quot; with a condescending face quite like Maggie Smith.

No matter how you cast it, there's a GREAT movie here. Giving it to the bean counters at Fodor's seems such a waste to me. I do enjoy thinking BIG.

How many days left on this trip?

NYCFS, once again, you are brilliant in your advice. I love the idea of making this into a movie. Only wish I had connections to help her. I kind of see Barb as a young Judy Dench myself and Doris Roberts as Eiffel Tower pants with the always neurotic Angelina Jolie as D (but older I guess). Oh well, it's fun to imagine it, just glad I didn't live it.