President Obama foreign travel very different from Bush

Quote: Pacomartin

The first international trip of President Trump was probably not a raging success, but it does seem to have deflected some criticism from domestic policies.

Quote:

"They walked the 700 yards from the traditional G7 group photo, taken at a Greek amphitheatre, to a piazza in the hilltop town, but Mr Trump stayed behind until he could take a seat in the electric vehicle," The Times reported.

Quote: Nareed

In all fairness, 700 yards is a loooong distance for someone in terrible physical shape.

Quote: Pacomartin

The first international trip of President Trump was probably not a raging success

Quote: Pacomartin

It may have not been the 700 yards, but the climb out of the theater may have been what he was trying to avoid.

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That theater is about 2400 years old. They often built very tall stone steps in those days.

Quote: Nareed

It's no hardship for anyone in decent shape.

Quote: Hotel Timeo early history

1787: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote for the first time about the Greek Theatre in his Italian Journey

1863: Otto Gèleng, a 20-year-old Prussian baron, visited Taormina to paint watercolours and took residence in a private house belonging to Don Francesco La Floresta.

Don Francesco had started renting rooms in 1850 and called his house “Timeo”, the name of the founder of the Greek city “Tauromenion” in 358 BC. Geleng’s watercolours of the snow-capped Etna and its green slopes overlooking the sea created enormous interest in Berlin and Paris, resulting in a series of artists visiting Taormina, staying at Don Francesco’s “Timeo” house.

1874: Don Francesco sold an orange field and with the proceeds bought a house right below the Greek Theatre, where he continued his activity with five guest rooms on the spot where Belmond Grand Timeo now stands.

1883: Don Francesco and his son Giuseppe enlarged the Timeo to 12 rooms. The American writer and art critic Bernhard Berenson remembers the Timeo as the only hotel in Taormina.

1896: Giuseppe La Floresta inherited the Timeo after the death of Don Francesco and added 60 new rooms to the existing 12 between 1896 and 1906. By now, the Timeo was a hotel of great standing, visited by emperors, kings and grand dukes of European courts who wanted to spend winter in a warm climate. Thanks to this mild weather the Timeo was a winter resort and closed between May and October. In 1896, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany visited Taormina, stayed at the Timeo, and returned in 1904 and 1906 when he rented the entire hotel for a month for his family and court. Luxury tourism kept increasing until the First World War and thereafter, from 1920 to 1929, during the time of the Belle Epoque in Europe

1906: The Timeo was first visited by Edward VII, King of England, and his wife Augusta, followed by further visits in 1907 and 1908.

1920: The English writer D. H. Lawrence lived at the Timeo for four years, during which time he wrote Lady Chatterley’s Lover. When Giuseppe died, the Timeo was inherited by his son, Francesco, nick-named Don Ciccino, who continued to manage the hotel. During the Second World War, the Timeo was requisitioned for a number of years by the British Royal Air Force.

Quote: Nareed

Old Golden Boy is frail and in poor health:

Quote: Evenbob

Are you joking? 2100 feet is 40% of a mile.
Your average overweight American in their
40's would be huffing and puffing. What's
funny is, if this was Reagan at 70, nobody
would say anything. But for some reason
Trump at 70 is a different matter.

Quote: Evenbob

What's funny is, if this was Reagan at 70, nobody would say anything. But for some reason Trump at 70 is a different matter.

Quote: Judicial Watch

‘Earth Day’ Travel Bill Over $1 Million, Hillary Clinton’s Ride on Air Force One Cost $360,000
(Washington DC)—Judicial Watch announced today that it has received new documents from both the Secret Service and the Air Force relating to Obama travel expenses, bringing the known total over the past eight years to $96,938,882.51. The reports contain information regarding Obama’s Earth Day trip to the Florida Everglades, a political fundraising trip to San Diego, Michelle Obama’s annual Aspen ski trip, her trip to Morocco, a family vacation in Martha’s Vineyard, as well as Hillary’s ride with Obama on Air Force One to North Carolina.