Look kids, nuns, monks

After a very long day of travel (US Air, your seats are ridiculously close together and your flight attendants are not so nice, but God bless your in seat on demand video), we are home after the whirlwind that was Rome. As relaxing and peaceful our time was in Tuscany, Rome was the exact opposite! Here are some of my best memories from our time there:

When you walked out of our apartment and looked right, there was the colosseum. I know. It never got old.

Cappuccinos and cornetti for breakfast every morning-two doors away from the apartment entrance. The coffee was SO good.

I loved walking around Trastevere and eating there at 10 Friday night made me feel like a real Roman. The food was amazing. This is the recurring theme of our trip.

I was disappointed in St. Peter's and I really disliked the area around it. Every other church we went into in Italy had such a reverent feeling and people were posing for silly pictures by St. Peters' confession booths and making "I'm cool" signs for pictures in front of the Pieta (thankfully, none of them were Americans). It just didn't feel like I expected it to and while I'm glad I've seen it (the scale is hard to imagine without actually being there), I was really glad to leave. We decided ahead of time we were going to forgo the Vatican Museum and I'm glad we made that decision. So, we did, in fact, go to Rome and not see the Sistine Chapel.

Dinner Saturday night at der Pallaro was one of the best meals we had on the whole trip. I loved they just bring out whatever Signora Paola is cooking that day. It was all delicious and unique. The lentils were probably my favorite, maybe because they tasted a lot my my grandmother's black-eyed peas? That's kind of what it felt like, eating at your Italian grandmother's house.

Trevi Fountain is way bigger than I expected and you should definitely see it at night. Same for the Spanish steps. The colosseum looks smaller from the outside than I expected, but bigger once you are inside.

Bafetto for pizza on Saturday night was delicious and quite an experience. I loved watching the waiters yell at each other (really wish I understood more Italian) and Margaret did get a smile out of the very gruff pizza maker.

Walking through Piazza Navona one night, watching the street performers and listening to a guy play guitar. He happened to be playing one of my favorite songs (Fragile) and it was a beautiful combination of sights, sounds, smells, etc. Oddly, that song was also on the radio in the car on the way to the airport.

We had great Gelato in Rome, at Gelataria della Scalla, the Crematorium, and ending at Giolitti (probably the most famous) on our last night there. My favorite combo is a tie between dark chocolate/hazelnut and chocolate/pistachio.

One down side to all of these sights, is the constant hawking of roses, toys for the kids, etc. These are not like NY street vendors where you approach them if you are interested. They get up in your face and won't leave you alone. I know they are trying to make a living, but it is irritating when you just want to enjoy the moment.

Our new German friends had the perfect description for how we wanted to experience Italy. They describe it as "inhaling" a place. We didn't want to go from place to place, take pictures, walk by the art and hurry on to the next thing. Some of my favorite times on this trip have been sitting and eating or having a drink and watching the world go by.

Like Scott has said in previous posts, we will post more of the details of the trip. I plan on captioning the pictures, putting together a slide show (want to come over and see the slides from our vacation?), etc. That's assuming I ever get the laundry done.

Day Fifteen - Ostia Antica And Rome

We took a day trip out of Rome to the seaside village of Ostia Antica yesterday.  Ostia was the first and primary port city for the Roman civilization, founded about 400 years B.C.  The city was covered by a swamp during the middle ages, after the river changed direction and was abandoned.  It was first rediscovered in the 19th century and the archaeological digs started in earnest in the 20th century.

The trip to Ostia is an easy Metro ride of about 40 minutes.  We met Danilo there, a tour guide recommended to me by someone in the US.  It turned out that Danilo was much more than a tour guide, and he brought this ancient city to life.  We walked through each section of the city, which was much larger than we had expected.  The city is a picture of "real life" during ancient Rome.  Pompeii was the center of wealth, but Ostia was the center of commerce and regular people's way of life.  It was interesting to see not only where and how people lived, but where they worshiped the Roman gods, where they baked their bread, and where commerce was conducted.  There were stunning mosaics that are still very well preserved that told the story of life in the city.  The kids had an absolute ball, climbing all over the walls and ducking in and out of all of the housing, exploring tunnels and the theater.

We spent about four hours there, learning about not only this part of Rome but also the rule of the Caesars, the foundations of La Cosa Nostra, and also modern Italian politics.  Danilo, who is a teacher in Italy today, was fascinating and truly amazing in his depth of knowledge of the rich history of modern-day Italy.

We took the train back into Rome after eating a lunch of freshly sliced meats and cheeses in Ostia.  After some much-needed R&R, we took the bus over to Baffeto, a restaurant touted to have "the best pizza in Rome."  We heard about it from the guy who is renting us our apartment.  By the time we got there ( about 7:30 ) a small line had formed.  Given that Italians usually don't eat till at least 8, it was a good sign that there was already a line.  We got sat right beside where they actually make the pizzas, which initially I thought was a lousy seat.  However, after about five minutes we realized we had the best seats in the house.  The assembly line to crank out the pizzas was crazy fast.  There was a guy that, for the entire time we were there ( about 2 hours ), rolled out one pizza after another at a remarkable pace.  The next guy put all of the toppings on and managed the oven process.  The waiters periodically stopped by to pick up their orders and, from what we could tell, argue a lot about who got which pizzas.  The owner walked around just sort of keeping order, and the owner's wife managed the money.  It was completely insane, and a lot of fun to watch.  Oh, and the pizza was delicious.  Baffetos is an absolute must for a stop in Rome.

After dinner we went to Crematoria for gelato, which is right by the Pantheon.  They had peach gelato there ( it was the first time I had seen it on the trip ), so I got peach and banana.  Everyone else got pretty much their standard flavors.

After another short walk, we caught the bus back to our apartment and crashed.  Today is our last day in Italy.  We are headed to the coliseum and some of the other more famous landmarks right around us, then probably back to Baffetos for dinner to finish things off.

What an amazing trip it has been.  We leave Italy about 11:00 tomorrow morning and land in Charlotte around 4 in the afternoon.  We posted some pictures last night from the first few days in Rome, and will post a bunch more when we get home.

Thanks for reading along with us.  When we get back we will write in detail about what we packed, how we got around, and other things that might be interesting for anyone considering making a similar trip.

Day Fourteen - Day Two In Rome

We got a late start yesterday morning after having some difficulty locating either ( a ) a supermarket or ( b ) a decent breakfast place.  We eventually found some fuel to get going and headed for St. Peters Square.  It was our first trip on the Roman subway system and our first real encounter on this trip with massive crowds.  The day was going to be hot and long.

We got off the subway at St. Peters and walked into what has been our least favorite part of this trip.  The street from the subway to the Piazza was lined with all manner of people hawking all manner of goods and services, including private tours of the vatican, cheap luggage, sunglasses, and everything else under the sun.  The people selling were very aggressive, shoving things into our faces the entire way to the square.  Once we got to St. Peters, the line to get into the basilica was quite long.  As we took the time to look around, it was an amazing spectacle.  We happened to get in line behind this group of French tourists that were taking pictures every three steps.  Apparently they wanted pictures of each other from every possible angle in front of the church.  We were constantly getting people cutting in line because of the wide gaps they were causing, so I eventually got upset enough that I started to walk around them and get in front.  That seemed to put the kibosh on their picture taking for the time being.

We eventually made our way inside the church.  I can't begin to explain how massive the building itself is.  We had planned to make our way to the top of the dome, but the line for that was too long and moving too slow, so we passed on that.  The first part of the tour took us down into the crypt where all of the popes are buried.      We saw the grave of Pope John Paul II, the only pope I really remember in my lifetime.  There were people stopping to throw roses on his grave as we went past.  After a bit of delay, we made it up into the main sanctuary.  They had significant portions of it roped off, but we walked around the parts that were open and learned about the various points of important architecture.  Dominating the interior of the church is the eight-story bronze baldacchino, the papal alter.  The bronze to make the alter was taken from the pantheon.  This massive structure looks small in the context of the rest of the building, to give you some perspective on how large the interior space is.  There was also a mass happening in the midst of thousands of people milling about and taking pictures.  We saw people posing for pictures in confessionals and just about everywhere else.  After having been in cathedrals in other parts of Italy where silence was strictly enforced, as well as no picture taking, we found the scene at the root of Catholicism to be more than a bit strange.

We finished up our tour of St Peters with a few pictures from the outside.  We had decided to skip the Sistine Chapel before we got to Rome.  We got back on the metro after a quick lunch and went back to the apartment.  The kids were burnt out from a very late night the night before, so we spent an hour and a half or so letting them rest for a bit.

We then headed out for a night on the town.  We took the metro to Piazza Del Popolo and walked around there for a half an hour or so.  There was some definite sketchiness both in and around the piazza, and not much was happening, so we boarded a bus and went to Piazza Novana on our way to Campo D'Fiori.  We ate dinner at Trattoria Der Pallaro.  We had gotten several recommendations for this spot before our trip.  There is no menu at this restaurant.  You eat whatever they are making on that day, and the menu changes daily.  It is a four-course meal including wine, and it was easily the best meal of our trip.  We started the antipasti, which consisted of a plate of salami and some other meat that could have been pastrami or prosciutto.  We also had a plate of fresh fennel, some corn fritters ( or at least that is what they tasted like ) and a plate of spicy lentils.  The second course was a dish of two kinds of pasta.  There was a tomato pasta  and a butter pasta that had chunks of panchetta in it.  Both were delicious.  Following the pasta, we had a serving of what I would describe as pot roast, served with fresh mozzarella.  The last course was a healthy portion of pastry cake served with fresh strawberries.  It was an amazing meal.

We left the restaurant needing to walk off our food.   We wandered up the Via Del Corso to Trevi Fountain ( along with the rest of Rome it appeared ).  It is so nice to walk around Rome at night.  All of the monuments and things are lit up, making for some great scenery.  After leaving the Trevi fountain, we headed for the Spanish steps.  We made our way to the top which provided an incredible view of the top of the city.  It was 11:00 and our kids were about to drop over, so we jumped on the metro and headed for the apartment.

The day had started with a less than favorable experience at St Peters, but ended with a great night out, enjoying Rome at its finest.

Today we are going to Ostia Antica, and not sure what else.  We are meeting a friend of a friend there, who is  going to walk us around a bit today.

Until tomorrow...

Day Thirteen - Day One in Rome

Friday morning brought the unenviable task of having to pull away from San Giovanni and Tuscany.  We got on the A1 and drove the two and a half hours south, back to Fiumicino Airport to return our Fiat Grande Punto.  Though it was a very uncomfortable car, it for some reason was a teary ( OK, not really ) goodbye as we left it in the parking lot at the airport.

We took a taxi to our short term rental in Rome at 80 Via Labicana.  From the map, we knew we were close to the coliseum, but I don't think we were prepared for how close we actually were.  Our drive in was harrowing, confirming what everyone has said about driving in Rome.  It is Florence on steroids.  The streets go every direction except straight, and the cars again just sort of drive where they want.  The scooters are everywhere.  We were really glad we had decided not to attempt driving in Roma Centro.

We got to our apartment, got our things up the lift ( the kids love the lift because it has a gate and two doors you have to close on your own ), and went to get lunch and explore Rome for a bit.  We had some sandwiches at the tabaccheria right below our apartment, and it promptly started pouring rain.  Apparently whenever we enter an Italian city, it must rain to welcome us.  The rain persisted in varying strengths for a few hours, then about four or so it started to clear.

We made our way to Trestavere, a neat little neighborhood across the Tiber river from the rest of Rome.  We had read about a gelateria there that was supposedly out of this world, Gelateria De La Scalla.  We found it after getting a decent city map, and my oh my was it good.  I had banana for the first time, and it was fabulous.  Everyone agreed that this was our new favorite.

We took a walk back across the river and wandered through Piazza Navona and Campo Di Fiori.  Piazza Navona was great because there were lots of things happening.  The street performers were out in full force, and we enjoyed watching various musicians and performers do their thing.

We came back to the apartment after that and got dressed for dinner.  We took a short cab ride back to Trestavere and La Lucia for some pasta.  Shelley and Charlie had tortellini, Margaret had some fabulous pasta with panchetta in it, and I had some pasta that had a combination of crack cocaine and other fabulous ingredients.  We sat outside and ate dinner till close to 11 o'clock.  There were people everywhere as we wandered back to a main road and caught a cab back.  Rome was just getting started as we were turning in.

The kids did a fabulous job of hanging in there for a very long day, and crashed as soon as we got back to the apartment.  A day well spent.

Today we are going to the Vatican and St Peters.  We can't wait.

Day Twelve - Podere Ampella

We spent Thursday hanging out at our new favorite home away from home.  We went and had pizza for lunch at Il Paradiso in Trequanda, then spent the afternoon washing clothes and enjoying the sunshine.  I took a nap out on the lawn while Shelley and the kids were reading.

We had planned to go to Monte Oliveto to hear the monk's services, but we decided to skip it.  We were getting ready to go have dinner when some of our neighbors staying in the same villas came over to chat.  They are a very nice German family whose son had taught our kids to play boccie earlier in the week.  We got to talking, opened a new bottle of wine, and ended up sitting there eating meets and cheeses and watching the sun go down.  It was a great way to end our time in Tuscany, a trip that I don't think any of us will soon forget.

It smells like Biloxi, Mississippi

So, I had pretty much written off Venice. It was niggling at me to be so close and not see it. When Scott proposed we go, I jumped at the chance. I knew it would be a long day for everyone, and just hoped it would be worth it, Like Florence, I have heard mixed reviews about Venice, so I wasn't sure what to expect.

The drive in was ugly. I just didn't think any part of Italy should be ugly. It's even ugly as you are walking into the city. On the drive across the causeway, I said out loud, "It smells just like Biloxi, Mississippi." That's not something I wanted to utter while here. I was just thinking we were on a fool's errand when I rounded the corner and actually saw the city. I knew then it would be a special day. We kind of went bass-ackwards though the city, but it was like we were the only people there. Around every corner was a photo waiting to happen. We started to follow signs to San Marco and emerged on the grand canal by the Rialto bridge. Ah-here is where all the people are! We plunged into the throng and made our way to the end of the town. You are cramped all the way through Venice with tiny, almost claustrophobic streets until you come out into huge St. Mark's square.

I have seen a lot of things that amazed me, but this may take the cake. The sheer size of everything, the music playing, etc. It's like nothing I have ever seen before. It brought tears to my eyes. You just want to run through it yelling "I'm in Venice!" We usually abhor touristy things, and the gondola ride was outrageous, but we did it anyway.

I hate to think we almost missed Venice. Having said that, I don't know I would go back. I think it's one of those places that you should see, but it's not really a place I want to hang out. So, like others, I guess I have mixed reviews about Venice.

I've spent a little time today making some plans for Rome. I can't wait. The only bad thing about going to Rome is it means our trip is drawing to a close.

Look kids, olives, grapes

Whew-I have some catching up to do. We are spending the day lazing about, washing clothes and doing some re-grouping before we take on Rome.

A few things to add about our second day in Florence. Margaret and I did get to do some shopping, and went across town to the perfumerie at the Farmacia di Santa Maria Novella, where the nuns have been making perfume since 1612. It was the most beautiful place I have ever shopped, to say the least. We had a great time sniffing everything and peeking through a gate at the back of the shop into the courtyard of the convent. I bought some perfume for myself and some soap for Margaret. We also sprayed room spray on ourselves and were about to buy some....when the nice salesperson let us know what it was. The perfume is in the other room. Oops! We got lost in translation. I did buy some of the best smelling perfume. On that note, Italian men all seem to smell really good and dress nicely. They have earned their stereotype.

I had misplaced my lip gloss, and can not stand to have dry lips, so Margaret and I ducked into a farmacia and bought blistex from the most beautiful Italian pharmacist. Seriously, I could not stop staring at her.

It was a very tiring day, and I was a little grumbly about hiking up the Piazzale Michelangelo, then walking all the way across town to the car. Scott really wanted to do it and I am so glad we did. The view was stunning. I had heard pretty mixed review about Florence, but our experience there was great.

Montepulciano was beautiful, but as Charlie said when we pulled in "Haven't we already been here?" The hill towns do start to run together a bit. He had been excited to visit Adamo since we saw him on a Rick Steve's video. It was one of the best experiences of the trip. He was welcoming and funny and so worth going to see. When he said "American?, Adamo famoso in America," I knew it was going to be good. BTW, I know it's a bit of sacrilege around here, but I think I like the Vino Nobile better than the Brunello, but we will keep that to ourselves for now. I did buy some gorgeous, red, suede driving shoes at Maledetti Toscani (handmade Italian shoes since 1848). I could drop some serious dough in there...

All in all, wonderful days. Sitting on the back patio with a glass of wine (and no mosquitoes) watching the pink and purple sunset has been one of the best parts.

Day Eleven - Venezia

When we were driving home from Montepulciano on Tuesday, we decided we would go to Venice Wednesday.  We are staying about four hours from Venice, so we knew it would be a really long day.  However, the kids seemed excited about it, so we got up early yesterday and headed out.  For the first day since we have been here, we did not start the day with a treat from Signora Maria.

The drive to Venice allowed us to see some different terrain.  Once we got north of Florence and started toward Bologna, we went through ( literally ) some decent mountains.  I don't know what range it was, but it was our first time experiencing driving in the mountains in Italy.  The A1 through the mountains barely seemed wide enough for two cars to be on, much less all of the trucks that travel on it.  There were many times where I held my breath and just gunned it to get past a truck as it wandered into our lane.  This was made all the more interesting by the ever-present super fast German car coming up behind me and wanting to pass.  I had a death grip on the steering wheel most of the time.  Once we got through Balogna, the terrain flattened out as we got closer to the coast.  It reminded me a lot of Virginia and North Carolina.  I would say this part of the trip was the most unattractive part of Italy we have seen.

We got to the outskirts of Venice and were plunged headlong into confusion.  It seemed that there were three signs pointing different ways, all saying "To Venice."  We ( of course ) chose the wrong one initially and wound up in some industrial area.  I won't lie.  There were a few expletives uttered ( sorry, kids ).  We found  our way back to the right road and headed for the Tronchetto parking deck just off the causeway.  It was easy to get into, but a bit of a hike into the city.  We figured out on the way back that there was a tram to the garage.  Oh well.

The Tronchetto parking deck was our first clue that we were in for an expensive day.  It was 21 euros to park for the day ( roughly $28 ).  Venice was really the first city where it was obvious you were trapped and had to spend money.  EVERYTHING cost money in Venice.  Churches required a ticket, most things were quite expensive, and it just had the feel of a tourist trap.  We later learned that Venice has only 48,000 residents, but I imagine on an average day there are far more tourists than residents there. After we got across the bridge and into the old part of the city, we just sort of wandered through the streets.  Both Shelley and I were struck by the beauty of this city.  It was a perfect day to be there ( about 80 and sunny ), and the colors of the city shone everywhere.  Venice does not smell that great ( fish and other smells tend to waft up at times ), but the city was unlike anything I have ever seen.  It was really strange to be in a city, with a lot of other people, and no cars.  The streets were extremely narrow, and most of them were one way or dead ends of some kind.  We kept walking and eventually found a great spot for lunch, Trattoria al Bari.  We sat outside and watched people go by as we ate.

After lunch, we headed for the Rialto bridge.  This is one of the more famous spots in Venice, and it was stunning.  All of the scenes from movies and TV shows came to life as we watched water taxis and gondolas pass beneath us.  We found a great gelateria called 'Mejor' as we ducked back into the maze of streets, and continued just wandering around.

We eventually got to Piazza San Marco, easily the most recognizable spot in Venice.  There were thousands and thousands of people there, music was playing, and the scenery stunning.  We went down to the waterfront and saw all of the gondoliers and water taxis, then went into Basilica San Marco.  The ceiling of this church was literally gold.  It was beautiful.  The floor of the church was a beautiful patchwork of marble, broken up here and there by the undulations from the ever-shifting earth below.  Back outside, we decided not to climb the tower ( it was 8 euros per person ), but spent some more time exploring the square.  What an amazing place.

As we started back through the city, the kids really wanted to ride a gondola.  It is the definition of a tourist trap, but we decided we would not care a year from now how much it cost and would love the memory.  We went for a gondola ride through the canals of Venice.  It was both relaxing and fun.  The kids absolutely loved it, and I have to confess that I did as well.  Our gondolier did a great job of pointing out the landmarks, as well as telling us the palaces where famous people had lived ( Mozart, Goethe, among many others ).  I can see why artists would choose to live in a city like this.

After we got back from the gondola ride, we started the long trek to the car.  Venice is really, really difficult to find your way through, which at the end of a long day was at times frustrating.  We found one last gelateria, Il Doge, in Campo Santa Margherita.  It was the consensus pick of the trip for tastiness.

We ended up spending about seven hours or so in Venice.  For me, it was enough.  I am sure you can spend days there, but there were a lot of people and the streets were sometimes wide enough for just one person.  I got a bit claustrophobic at times.  That being said, everyone was really glad we made the trip.  It would have been a huge miss to not make it over there.

The drive home was as, if not more, nerve fraying than the ride over.  The only thing worse than navigating the mountains during the day was doing it at night at the point of exhaustion.  We made it back at about 11 or so last night and collapsed into our beds, content in spending a great day in a truly unique city.

We are spending today around Podere Ampella.  The kids want to swim, and we have a few things to get done before we head for Roma first thing in the morning.  We hope to have internet in Rome at our apartment, but are not sure.

Until next time, check out the new pictures we are uploading today

Day Ten - Montepulciano

We spent the afternoon Tuesday in Montepulciano.  It is one of the better-known Tuscan hill towns, primarily for the wine produced there, vino nobile.  It, from what I can gather, is considered to be some of the best wine in Italy.  We had lunch at Il Paradiso in Trequanda on our way out of town, the new favorite eating place of our kids.

The town itself required a good bit of climbing as the hills were very steep, much like Cortona and a few others.  One of the more interesting things about Montepulciano was the amount of artisans and craft stores.  There were many local craftsmen working on everything from glass sculpture to mosaics to paintings and drawings.  We stopped for a few minutes and watched a man building a mosaic of one of Van Gogh's paintings.  He had just a hammer, the original painting, and what looked to be a very sharp stationary axe blade.  The man would take the tiny bits of glass and chip off very small pieces of the tile and place them on the template.  The amount of attention to detail was astounding.  We went from there up to the town square and climbed the civic tower.  The tower, as well as the village, was modeled after Florence, and it showed throughout most of the town.  We wandered through a few of the churches and other buildings, and found a nice play area for the kids to run around in for a few minutes.

As we made our way back down toward the car, we went into Contucci Wine Cellars.  We met the winemaker there, a man named Adamo.  Adamo has been making wine in Montepulciano since 1953, and was one of the most friendly people we have met on our trip.  We sampled the variety of wines he had available and bought a bottle of the vino nobile to enjoy back at the house.  Adamo has been made famous by Rick Steves, as he was featured in the guide to the city.  Adamo asked us where we were from, and when we told him, he said "Adamo famoso en America!"  Not long after we had gone into the tasting room, an American living in Italy came in.  She struck up a conversation with Adamo about the past, and he proceeded to tell us about his experiences with the US Army liberating Italy.  He told of the soldiers picking the kids up onto the trucks and giving them chocolate when they had no food.  The kids sat there completely wrapped as he told the story through the American interpreter.  I don't know how long we sat and listened, but we could have sat there all day.  He was a treasure to listen to.

We had gelato on the way out, which was ( again ) delicious.  I have not yet grown weary of our daily tradition.

Montepulciano was the last of the towns around here we will be visiting.  While some of them run together, there were a few that stood out.  We loved Montepulciano, Pienza and Montalcino, all for different reasons.  As we get home and review all of the pictures and begin to put the trip back together, it will be fun to revisit each of the towns.

Day Nine - Firenze ( Part Two )

After going through a day of withdrawals by not having some of Signora Maria's delicious breakfast treats ( how dare she be closed on Sunday! ), it was back to business as usual this morning.  Every time I go in there, we exchange pleasantries and she inevitably rattles off a paragraph of stuff where I am completely lost.  My typical response is to just nod and smile, because I have no idea what she is saying.  At least she still smiles when I walk in the door.

I had to make a stop at the local grocery store on the way back from the bakery to pick up a few items. When I got back, we all ate our breakfast and piled into the car for another journey to Florence.  The weather today was about 80 degrees and sunny, with barely a cloud in the sky.  A big difference from our last trip into the cradle of the Renaissance!  We ran into a bit of traffic on the way in, but otherwise it was for the most part uneventful.  We still had some issues getting to the parking garage, but that was mainly due to my faulty memory about which way we had to turn in a particular spot.  A trip around the traffic circle and all was well.  I had the itch to say "Look kids, Big Ben, Parliament", but resisted.

We proceeded into the belly of the beast and found ourselves at a place called Verrazano's for lunch.  It is about a block from the Duomo, and we had read about it as a spot for a lunch with a different twist.  The waiter at Verrazano's was very very good.  He was American, but fluent in Italian, French and a few other languages.  His mother had worked for Harvard for 40 some odd years in Florence, and most of his family is still there.  We traded barbs about the Yankees and Red Sox, as well as the Lakers and Celtics, then settled in for a great lunch.  He recommended a focaccia sampler that had small sandwiches, each made with a few different ingredients.  I could not tell what all of them were, but one of the more interesting ones had fresh peas on it.  I am not a huge fan of peas in any form, but the sandwich was quite good.  The kids had a soda that is a native lemon soda ( I have the name written somewhere ) that has almost no sugar in it.  It had a twist of some lemon grown here in Italy in it to sweeten it, and it was very good as well.  

After lunch, we split up.  Shelley and Margaret went shopping for a few things, and Charlie and I just sort of wound our way through the city.  Charlie had decided he wanted an Inter-Milan jersey after the victory the other night, so we found one of those along the way.  After a couple hours, we reconnected and headed for Grom, a gelateria close to the Duomo.  The line was huge when we got there, and we soon found out why.  It was very creamy and really flavorful.  I tried pistachio for the first time and now have a new item to add to the list of flavors I enjoy.

We spent the rest of the day walking through Florence, stopping for a bit at Piazza Del Vecchio.  After that, we went across the river and climbed the hill to Piazzola Michaelangelo.  This is the spot where ( I am guessing ) most photos of Florence are taken, and the view is amazing.  For the first time, we got a feel for the relative size of the Duomo and how far above the rest of the city it towers.  The rest of the city was awash in the late afternoon sun, and provided a great backdrop to just sit and enjoy a few minutes of downtime.

After we came back down the hill, we headed for the car and back south on the A1.  As we left the city, I said "One great city down, many more to come."  I hope we can make it so.  We get to Rome on Friday, where we hope to add another to the list.

I will be uploading pictures in the morning from the last few days.  I realize a lot of what we write here is a bit monotonous.  It's really been our kind of vacation, with some busy, some not so busy, and a lot of great food.  Hopefully it is still somewhat interesting.  As we get to the end, we will take some time to write about how we traveled, what we looked for, etc. to hopefully help anyone else out that is thinking about a similar trip.

Until next time, buonanotte. 

Day Eight - A Day To Lounge

We woke up Sunday morning with the urge to do absolutely nothing.  So, for the most part we did.  We had run out of groceries, so we had to make a quick run to Montalcino for some light lunch and gelato.

We spent the rest of the day sitting in the sun, reading and enjoying the fabulous weather.  The kids got in the pool ( but not for long, as the water was still frigid ), and I went for a long stroll on one of the roads around here.  I went wandering through one of the many wheat fields, doing my best Russell Crowe impression.

Shelley spent the day planning our days in Rome and hanging out on the back terrace as well.  It was just what the doctor ordered.

As evening came, we decided to head to Monte Oliveto, a Benedictine monastery nearby.  There was supposedly a good, but relatively inexpensive, restaurant right next door.  We drove into town, and I believe that quite literally the only two buildings in the town were the restaurant and the monastery compound.  That was a little strange.  The restaurant was called La Torre, and the food was all that we had hoped for.  They brought us out a plate of this hot fried bread along with fresh pecarino cheese.  It was, I believe, the first fried thing we have had since we have been here.  It was awesome.  Shelley had some ravioli that was served in a butter sauce with sage, and I had the more traditional ravioli with tomato sauce.  Both were really tasty.  I then decided to break my beef fast because I have been craving a steak.  I had a great fillet that was simply cooked, with olive oil poured over the top and garnished with a lemon.  I have committed to going back on the beef fast, but it was worth it.

After dinner we walked down to the monastery, and found out that they have mass every day in Gregorian chant.  We also had the fortune of listening from outside as they had their final service of the day inside the church.  It was amazing to hear the sounds from outside the building, and we are planning to go to mass either Tuesday or Wednesday to hear an entire service.  The setting in which the compound sits is just stunning in terms of the natural beauty surrounding it.

We are constantly amazed at the things you stumble upon here.

Best Anniversary Weekend

We had a wonderful 16th anniversary. This one will really be hard to top. I am writing this post from the back patio of the place where we are staying...it's a picture perfect day, with a clear, blue sky, rolling green fields and mountains everywhere. We are taking it easy today after a week of hitting it pretty hard. We're headed to Florence tomorrow.

We kicked off the weekend with glasses of proseco in the piazza in Cortona. Lots of good people watching, especially when the group of american college girls strolled in. There were several quintessential Italian men.... long-ish dark hair, dressed to the nines, look like they are up to no good, handsome and knew it. The way those girls were hitting that free wine tasting, it could have been an interesting night. I'm kind of sorry to have missed it. I don't know exactly where they were from, but one had on UGA flip-flops. Guess what picture I will have in my mind when Margaret comes home and says "A bunch of us want to go to Italy after finals?"

Last night, we went back to see Natale. What an amazing time. It's been my best experience of the trip, so far. I was grumbling about seeing so many Americans in Siena, Florence and Cortona. We even ran into some people from South Carolina at a winery in the middle of nowhere. Well, last night, we were the only non-Italians in the whole place. The food was just crazy good, the wine even better, and the atmosphere festive (to say the least). Natale made us a cake and told everyone it was our anniversary when he brought it out. Everyone clapped and cheered and chanted "bacio" for us to kiss. It was just about as perfect as anyone could want.

On that note, so happy to be still in love with my husband after 16 years. Italy is a special place, but being here with him makes it all the more special.

Day Seven - Radicofani

We had a pretty easy day yesterday.  Six days of ramming about Tuscany caught up with everyone, and we decided to take it easy in the afternoon.

We made a short trip to Radicofani, which was the last stronghold of the Sienese army back in the 15th century. The town is located atop one of the higher peaks in Tuscany, right below Mt Amiata.  There is a fortress at the top of the hill that still has much of the tower structure in tact.  The Italian government is in the process of rebuilding the rest.  We toured the remains and walked around this small village for an hour or so, then headed back to our villa.  On the way back, we fulfilled our gelato urge by stopping in San Quirico D'Orcia, a small town on the way back.  We asked around for the best spot, and went to La Torre, a small bar in the village.  It was very creamy and delicious, as has become the norm.

We spent the rest of the day lounging in the sun.  The kids tried to get in the pool, but it was still a little too cold for their liking.  We met a very nice German family that just came in to start their stay, and we played bocci with them for an hour or so before we went out for dinner.

We had another memorable evening at La Canapaccia with Natale and friends.  Natale made an amazing pasta dish with fresh mushrooms and tomatoes, then brought us out a cake he had made for our anniversary.  It was the night of the European football Champions Cup, so the entire restaurant was watching the game.  Fortunately, Milan won the game which kept everyone in good spirits throughout the night.

We plan to spend Sunday around Podere Ampella.  The weather has turned amazing, and the kids want to try out the pool again.  We may go out for lunch if we can find a pizza place nearby.  Monday we are thinking that we will head back to Florence to spend another day there.

Day Six - Castiglione Del Lago and Cortona

We have uploaded some new pictures.  You can see them here.

Day Six started out with our usual trip to the bakery.  Shelley and the kids went today instead of me and found out the names of the ladies working there.  Signora Maria and Signora Chinsia ( Maria's daughter ).  Maria had made us some special tarts that were a delicious blend of pastry, cream and fresh fruit.  They were very good.  We actually waited to eat them until the evening.

Our first town of the day was Castiglione Del Lago.  We had lunch at La Cantina, a pretty decent pizza place right in the middle of town.  The food was good, but the service was less than stellar.  In addition, it was our second time being hit with the "table charge", where they basically charge you to sit down.  I am not sure why this bothers me so much, but it does.  Anyway, after lunch we headed down to the lake.  The wind was still blowing pretty hard when we got there and it made the visit to the lake shore a pretty short one.  The kids managed to find a playground and spent about a half hour running around the area.  We walked around the town center a bit longer, then decided to head out.  We were not that impressed.

On the way back to our place, we saw the signs for Cortona.  This is the village where the book 'Under The Tuscan Sun' took place, so we decided to give it a go.  Cortona was one of the larger towns we have visited so far.  The hills and streets were very steep, and the scenery was spectacular.  We wandered into the piazza to find our daily helping of gelato.  We found a place called Gelato Snoopy.  We all got a single scoop and sat down in the piazza to enjoy the people walking by.  This gelato, by everyone's measure, was the best of the trip to date.  It was so smooth and creamy, and the flavor was incredible.  After gelato, we headed up to the top of the town to Basilica Santa Margherita.  We felt obliged to visit it for two reasons:  (1) It is at the very top of the village and has an amazing view of the valley and (2) we have our own Margaret.  We stepped inside the church at 5:30 and daily mass was just starting.  I don't know much about the rituals of Catholic mass, but the service was very moving.  The priests and nuns were singing as they entered, and they sang a good bit of the various prayers.  The sounds of the singing echoing through the church were quite inspiring.  The basilica was also one of the more beautiful buildings we have been in since we have been here.  We were not able to take pictures because of the service, unfortunately, but we did get some pictures of the outside.

We wandered back down through the town streets, by a convent where nuns were milling about in the sanctuary.  When we got back to the town square, we stopped for some free wine tasting at a local wine shop, then stopped at a cafe for a glass of prosecco to celebrate our anniversary.

There were quite a few Americans in Cortona, probably the most we have seen in any village.  I am sure this is directly attributable to the success of the book.  There was also a fair amount of both real estate development and a good bit more shopping and commercial stuff.  Neither good nor bad, but certainly different from the towns we have visited so far.

We stopped at the store on the way back to Podere Ampella to pick up supplies for dinner.  We ate at home, enjoying the sun setting right over the mountains out our back door.  The kids ran around playing football and enjoying being out of the car for a bit.

As Shelley said, we will have a hard time topping this anniversary celebration.

Day Five - Pienza and Natale

We spent most of the afternoon in the small hill town of Pienza.  We were not expecting much from this sleepy town, but we were very pleasantly surprised.  

Pienza is historically significant in that it is the birthplace of Pope Pius II.  If there was ever any doubt about who had the power in ancient Italy, touring this area serves to set the record straight.  Pope Pius II was a member of the Piccolomini family, which had a number of Popes, Cardinals and other very influential posts.  Pope Pius II basically had the town of Pienza built for his vacation village.  It is set on a breath-taking spot in the Val D'Orcia, where you are looking at Mt Amiata, the highest peak in Tuscany.  

We got to Pienza right about lunch time and had a nice lunch sitting on the city wall overlooking the valley.  We brought our own picnic, but bought a few sandwiches from one of the local shops.  They have a specialty here that is a roasted boar, and it was really tasty on a sandwich.  When we finished lunch, most of the village was still shut down for the lunch hours, so we wandered the streets for a bit.  Shelley and Margaret stopped for a post-lunch coffee, so Charlie and I took off for a while on our own.  We eventually found our way to a gelateria and enjoyed some of the local fare.  Charlie had amareno, and I had a mix of amareno and stracciatella.  Both were really good.  I wish I could remember the name of the shop we went to because it was off the beaten path at the end of town, and there seemed to be a large collection of locals there which makes me think we stumbled onto the best one in town.

After the gelato break, we headed for Palazzo Piccolomini.  This was the home of Pope Pius II ( born in the 1500's ) and it remained in his family until the early 1960s.  At that point, the sole heir to the family fortune had been killed in battle, so the palace was donated to a charitable organization to keep it going.  The tour was one of the few we have done while in Italy, and it was very well worth it.  Most of the rooms are still open to the public, and there are a number of interesting artifacts dating back to the Pope's day.  There is also an amazing family tree map on one of the walls that shows the breadth of influence of this one family.  The tour cost 8 euros.

We spent the rest of the day wandering the small side streets and soaking up the sun.  It was a great afternoon.  We then returned to Podere Ampella where the kids and I played football ( the European kind ) with the kids in the yard.  We then headed out for dinner at La Canapaccia.  This little farmhouse restaurant was recommended to us by the owner of the place we are staying.  It is on the road from Torrenieri to Buonconvento, and would be very easy to drive right past.  We pulled up and there was not another soul in sight.  We assumed we were at the wrong place, but were soon greeted by Federico, one of the owners of the restaurant.  It was obvious they were not expecting dinner guests, and we offered to come back another night.  However, they insisted that we stay.  After some time, Natale ( loosely translated Christmas ) the other owner of the restaurant came out to greet us.  He was the kind of person you dream of meeting when you travel to Italy.  He has a huge personality, obviously loves to take care of people, and made this dinner very memorable.  We started with some sliced meets and aged pecorino cheese with honey.  We had some of the local brunello and rosso ( produced by this restaurant's winery ) along with our meal.  For the main course, Natale recommended a pici pasta ragu with wild boar.  We basically said "whatever you think is best", and off he went.  He came back some time later with a huge plate of an amazing tasting pasta.  The wild boar had a very unique flavor, and it was simply divine.  We ate until we could eat no more, then ate some more.  For dessert, Natale took the kids back to the kitchen and let them pick out whatever they wanted.  They chose ice cream.  He then recommended we try a local custom, which was a biscotti-like bread called contucci ( no idea if I spelled that right ) dipped in a dessert wine made of cherries and grapes.  Spectacular.  Then came the highlight of the evening.

Natale came to the table and said "I will sing for you."  He fired up his keyboard and proceeded to sing Frank Sinatra's "My Way" at the top of his lungs.  By this time some friends of the owners had joined us in the dining room and they were all singing along as well.  It was like we were sitting in some movie scene.  We received some good-natured ribbing from the others in the room for various American things, and then told them we had to leave.  It was 9:45 and our kids were starting to drag.  "You Americans, you don't know how to enjoy things" was the response to that.  When we explained our kids were about to fall asleep, he cut us a little slack  ( but not much ).  We decided that we are going back on Saturday night to celebrate our anniversary.  I cannot think of a better place.  When we told Natale this, he said "I will prepare a feast for you.  I will wait for you Saturday night."

An amazing day.  If you come to Italy, but do not seek the discomfort of wandering off the tourist path, you miss out on things like this.  We have been so fortunate on this trip to encounter amazing people that would not show up in any book or recommended hotel.  The easy thing to do would have been to just turn our car around and leave.  Instead we had the most memorable night of our trip.

Tomorrow we are headed to Castiglione Del Lago, a small village on one of the lakes here.  We just looked at a map and thought it looked interesting and probably different from what we have been seeing.  We shall see.

More thoughts on Florence

Scott pretty much covered our day in Florence, but I'm here to add some observations. He's the play-by-play and I'm color commentary. It was an amazing day and here are my highlights:

1. This is not from Florence, but in the grocery store the other day, we came around an aisle to see a cardboard display of hose. The side of the display is a beautiful Italian woman wearing black lingerie, and, of course, hose. Charlie says, "Oh my!" and Scott says "Viva Italia!".

2. Walking into Florence in the cold, pouring rain, I saw the quintessential Italian woman. Long dark hair pulled into a ponytail, dressed in all black (and all fitted, of course), wearing these gorgeous, sky-high heels. Oblivious to the rain, she pulls on her scooter helmet, hops on, lights a cigarette and zooms off. The very picture of style and confidence.

3. I don't know what I was expecting of David, but I was speechless. If you know me, you know that's pretty rare. I wasn't expecting to see him so soon. You walk in the door, take a left, and you are in the "knave" of his room. We were still taking coats off and getting situated, and boom, there he was. I did have a few thoughts of "this is a lot of money and hassle just to see a statue," but now that I've seen him, it is worth it and then some.

4. The kids and I had learned a fair amount about the places we visited in Florence, so it was really cool to see some of the things we learned about. Charlie liked looking for the prince's passageway on the Ponte Vecchio. The climb up the duomo was awesome. As we walked around the inner ring at the top, mass started and we could hear the singing, etc. As we walked outside, church bells all over Florence were ringing. It was like all ambient factors were working together just for us. :)

5. The kids were starting to get tired when we came upon a street vendor selling scarves. Margaret had been looking for one, so we bought one for her, along with one for the winter. As we continued walking down the street, she was much more lively. Scott said, "Margaret, you are just like Mom. It's amazing what a present can do for your outlook." So true.

6. Gelato report-after fighting through a huge group of French middle school kids, we were rewarded with some really yummy gelato. I had chocolate with some sort of nut (hazelnut, maybe?) and Charlie had strawberry with something else (we never figured it out). Margaret has taken a liking to coffee gelato. Vivoli had a rice gelato, which I'm assuming would taste like rice pudding. While I want to branch out and try some new flavors, the chocolate is hard to pass up.

It's good we walk everywhere and climb lots of stairs......

Day Four - Firenze ( Part 1 )

Several of those of you reading this somewhat regularly are asking about more pictures.  I know they are really slack.  I intend to rectify that first thing tomorrow morning.  When it rains here, the internet goes wonky.  Tomorrow is supposed to be a bright, sunny day so hopefully I can get a decent amount uploaded.

So, on to Day Four.  Today started with another trip to Panificio San Giovanni.  My new lady friend was out of small apricot treats, so I bought a big one about the size of a pie.  The good news is, it was just as good as the others.  We also got some biscotti ( fresh out of the oven and still warm ), which was equally good.

We headed out about 9:30 or 10:00 for Florence.  It is about an hour and a half drive from where we are staying, plus or minus.  As we were leaving, the guy that runs the show around here by the name of Mauro ( more on him later, as he deserves his own post ) said "Oh, I never drive to Florence.  It is crazy."  Mauro lives in Milan, so I did not take this as a good sign of things to come.  Armed with our Rick Steves book on where to park, we set off.  The weather had been forecast as being quite bad, but we had tickets to the Acadmeia Museum to see the David sculpture, so we were going to go anyway.  As we were driving up the A1, the skies were getting darker and darker.  We got to Florence and promptly missed the exit we had wanted to take.  Being from the US, I said "we will just take the next one, we can probably turn around and come right back."  One hour or so later, we finally made it back to that exit.  I won't lie.  I was more than a little perturbed at times, but given how I can be during those times, I held it  together OK.  We wound our way down into Florence looking for parking.  There is nothing fun about ( a ) driving in a city you have never been in before with ( b ) driving rain and ( c ) a language issue and ( d ) cars literally all around you using the lane markers as mere suggestions and ( e ) scooters flying by you at all times with little regard for the fact that a given car might be full of Americanos with no idea where they are going.  After some terse word exchanges in our car, we found the parking garage we were looking for and got ourselves set.

We came up out of the garage having no map and not much of an idea about how to get where we needed to go.  It was about 50 degrees and pouring rain, and it took about 5 minutes before everyone was soaked where we were not covered by rain coats.  Not the start we were looking for.  We found a map of the city and started toward the Academia.  We got lost once, but thanks to a British lass working in an Irish pub, we managed to get there.

Because the lines were so small due to the weather, we literally walked right into the museum.  We walked around the first corner and Michaelangelo's David was front and center.  I have seen picture after picture of this sculpture, but I can tell you I was speechless and in total awe.  For starters, the statue is huge.  It stands about 14 feet tall, and with the pedestal it is on the head is probably 20-25 feet in the air.  The next thing that struck me was the amazing amount of detail.  The hands, feet, veins, everything was incredible.  We spent a solid 30 minutes or so just walking around it and reading about how and why it had been sculpted.  I am not a student of art, and rarely know what makes something important or not.  I can tell you that there is no guessing or need for deep knowledge of this piece.  It is simply brilliant.

After spending another hour and a half at the museum, we headed back out into the streets in search of food.  We found a small sandwich and pizza shop and refueled.  The food was less than stellar ( I know, it just shouldn't be ), but we were ready to go again.  We split some sandwiches, pizza and Cokes and watched three trampy American broads try to flirt with the guy running the store.

We headed out for the Duomo next.  Having been in Siena a two days earlier, I thought I was prepared.  I wasn't.  The Florentine Duomo is on a whole other scale.  The outside was about as elaborate, but it was far larger ( or seemed that way to me ).  There was a semi-long line to get in, and having read that the inside was not as impressive, we wandered around the side to see about climbing to the top of the dome.  There were no lines there, and we decided we would come back if the weather ever cleared up.

After a gelato interlude at Vivoli ( highly recommended ), the weather finally started to break.  We started toward the Arno River and the famous Ponte Vecchio Bridge.  We crossed over to the northern side of the city and window shopped our way to the Pitti Palace.  The Pitti's and Medici's apparently were rivals back in the day, and given that I had never heard of the Pittis until today you can guess who won that little scuffle.  The palace held some amount of interest, but by the time we got there the kids were dead tired.  We decided we would start for the car and plan to come back another day.  As we went back across the bridge, the sun came out and we changed our plans.  We headed for the Duomo and the long climb to the top of Florence.  I have run out of things to say about the views in Italy, so will just say that it must be done.  Period.  The pictures will have to tell the rest of the story.

As we finished up, we decided that we still needed another day in Florence and are planning to go back either later this week or early next.  We headed for the car, and on a whim stopped back in at that same Irish pub to ask for a restaurant recommendation.  The guy running things ( significantly less attractive but equally as helpful as the girl from earlier ) told us about Trattoria Tito a little further down Via San Gallo.  We got a table right away and ordered some bruschetta, two kinds of pasta, some beef stew and tomato soup.  We ordered two glasses of the house wine and waited for our food.  The restaurant was at least half Americans ( or they were sitting us all together to keep the unwashed knuckle draggers away from the Italians ), but none the less the food looked promising.

The food came after a while, and it was every bit as good, if not better, than our dinner last night in Buonconvento.  The beef stew I had was in some kind of tomato sauce with lots of pepper corns.   It doesn't sound like much, but it was really unique and very tasty.  Charlie and Shelley both had excellent pasta, and Margaret's tomato soup was also very very good.  Most everyone on staff spoke some amount of English, so when we struggled they gladly stepped in and helped out.  By 7:30, the restaurant was completely packed.  It was our great fortune to have stumbled across this place completely at random.

We found our way back to the car, had a much easier trip out of Florence than we had getting in, and drove the long hour and a half back to Podere Ampella.  Everyone was completely wiped out, but all smiles.

We still have a lot more to see in Florence, but it was a great first day there especially given the way it began. Tomorrow we are letting the kids sleep in and maybe going to one of the smaller towns around here.

Until then, buonanotte.

Gelato and Wine

I'm on some kind of mission to try every form of chocolate gelato in Italy. Charlie is doing the same with fragula (strawberry). Here's the thing, I don't really even like ice cream that much. I rarely eat it, but I can't seem to get enough gelato. I also enjoy the whole "walking down the street in a beautiful setting licking my cone of gelato" part of the experience.

Oh, and the Brunello (I love the name anyway because it means brunette) is all it's purported to be and more. I can't decide if the wine tastes so much better because it is so much better, the setting is amazing, the food tastes so good, it's so decadent to be drinking it with lunch (or an afternoon snack, or with dinner....), or a combination of everything. Oh well, I guess I will have to continue researching.

Day Three - Trequanda, A Winery and Petroio

We decided today that we would stick closer to home for the day.  The kids were getting tired of being in the car and we wanted to see what was around here.

I made my morning stop at the Panificio San Giovanni ( my new favorite bakery ) and bought some more delectable treats.  This morning was some amazing rolls topped with sugar, and another something made of apricot that was very tasty.  Margaret was with me this morning and the nice lady in the bakery enjoyed talking to her, albeit most of the conversation not being understood by either party.

We did some things around the house, I taught Charlie how to head a soccer ball, then we headed out for lunch in Trequando.  We had lunch at a small pizzeria called Il Paradiso.  It doesn't look like much, but my oh my was it good.  It was the best pizza we have had so far, and there is little doubt we will be going back a few more times.  I also had a glass of Italian beer.  Don't know the name, but it was quite tasty.

From there we headed to Fattoria Del Colle, a winery right outside Trequanda.  This winery is one of the many agriturismos in the area, where you can typically stay on the grounds and have special activities planned for you.  We just wandered up to the office and said we were interested in a tour.  Since it was a little before three, and the world shuts down between one and three, we had some time to wander the grounds a bit.  At three, we were taken by the receptionist on a about an hour's tour of the winery.  The winery is owned by the Donatella family, and has been since 1919.  What is more interesting is that the ancestors of the Donatella family owned the same land back in the 15th century, but it was taken from them by the Roman Catholic church because they were Protestants.  In 1919, the great grandfather of the current owner reclaimed the land and it has been in the family ever since.  We wandered through the various cellars, learning about the wines they make there.  Our hostess was incredibly kind and gracious, and made us feel welcome even though we were not staying there.  At the end of the tour we got to taste three or four of the wines, and ended up buying a bottle of their "Cinderella" wine.  It was scrumptious.

After the winery we drove to this little town called Petroio, which apparently is the birthplace of terra cotta.  We drove up into the town and promptly found ourselves driving on streets that our tiny car quite literally squeaked through.  We found our way to the other end of town, where we were obviously starting to go the wrong way.  We got a brief tongue lashing from one of the locals, and were directed down one of the steepest, skinniest streets I have ever seen.  We were glad to get out of there.  There are still imprints on the dashboard from much gripping.

We drove back to Podere Ampella and caught up on a few things, then headed out for dinner in Buonconvento.  We had been given a recommendation for a restaurant called Mario's in the old section of the village.  It ended up being the meal of the trip so far.  We started with a great selection of local pastas, then followed it with a main course of guinea fowl and mushrooms.  I don't know how to describe the flavor.  It was unlike anything I have had in the arena of chicken or bird type items.  There were a few tables of British folks, and the main waiter spoke a good bit of English.  No one else that worked there spoke a word of English, but we are starting to get the hang of picking up key words in the machine-gun delivery of the local folks.  We ended the night with a stop at the local geloteria, where we partook of our new favorite food group once more.

We are headed to Florence tomorrow.  It is supposed to be raining, but we already have our tickets for some of the bigger attractions.  We are hoping to make the best of it, knowing that we may not get the best experience there.  I am pretty sure we will live either way.

Until then, buonanotte.

Day Two - Siena, Continued

Our day started with what I hope to be a new tradition.  I have managed to locate the local bakery in San Giovanni, run by a nice old lady and her daughter.  She had just pulled some apricot pastries out of the oven, so I bought four of those and some bread for later in the day if we needed it.  She spoke no English, I spoke broken Italian, but we somehow got things done.  She was super nice.


The day in Siena was tremendous.  It was our first day with the sun being out all day, but it remained nice and cool which made the day much more pleasant.


We got to Siena a little before noon.  We had been warned by our friend Rick Steves not to try to park in the city center, so we found a parking lot outside the city walls at San Francesco.  It had a series of escalators leading up to the city, which was nice.  Once we got up to the city, we found ourselves in front of an immense church which I don't remember seeing the name of.  What was neat is that we got there just as an 11:00 service was starting.  You could hear the hymns being sung in a small chapel all throughout the entire building.  


After that, we found our way to Il Campo, the famous square at the center of Siena.  Most people consider this to be their favorite piazza in Italy, and it was easy to see why.  There were people lounging everywhere, drawing pictures of the Civic building, enjoying a glass of wine and a slice of pizza or sandwich.  We bought our tickets to climb to the top of the Civic Tower, the tallest structure in Siena.  It is 300+ steps of sometimes very small passages all the way to the top.  They let 25 people in at a time, and you can only stay up there for 15 minutes.  A funny moment happened on the way up when Charlie said "It stinks that we have to climb all the way up here."  A woman from the UK looked immediately alarmed and whispered to her friend "What stinks up there?"  As I walked by, I said "He means he wishes he did not have to climb, that's all."  They replied "Oh, so its like pants."  I replied "Yes, exactly."  Ahh, the nuances of the English language.


The view from the top of the Civic Tower was incredible.  You could see literally everything in Siena, in addition to being able to see down the valley for what seemed like 1,000 miles.  The most inspiring view by far was being able to see the top of the Duomo and the massive cathedral.  It's distinctive white and black stripes set it apart from the rest of the roofline of Siena. 


Once we got back down to Il Campo, we went looking for lunch.  We found a pizza place right off the left side of the square that served huge slices of really tasty pizza for only two euros.  A slice a piece and a couple of Cokes and we were all set for the next couple hours.  


We headed out for the Duomo next.  We had debated about how much to see there ( there are a few museums attached to the Duomo ), but in the end we decided to just see the main cathedral.  It was three euros vs. twelve to see everything, and we knew our kids probably would not make it through all of them without some amount of grumbling.  It proved to be a good decision as there was plenty to see.  A couple of highlights were the pulpit ( an amazing amount of detail and artistry ) and a carving in the floor called 'The Slaughter of the Innocents', depicting Herod's slaughter of all boys under two.  I sat under the main dome for probably ten to fifteen minutes just looking up at the ceiling and columns.  Ringing the entire top of the church are the busts of 190 popes, which was also really interesting.  I have never seen something built by man that was this beautiful.  It is hard to imagine the mind it took to make it happen.  


Our last stop of historical significance was San Dominico, the church that houses the head and thumb of St Catherine. We enjoyed another slice of delicious pizza on the way.  It just felt right. It was striking how vast yet completely empty the church was.  My only comparison to date with these churches has been something like St. Patrick's in New York.  Obviously not even close to the same class, but it still felt like a church.  I realize this is not a novel observation, but it was troubling at any rate.


After San Dominico, we headed for gelato.  I had Amareno again ( my new favorite flavor ).  A day without gelato is like a day without sunshine.  However, I can live with rain.  I don't know that I want to live without my daily gelato.


We made our way down one of the main shopping streets looking for some clothing items we had neglected to bring.  We found what we needed, then headed for the car to make our way back to Podere Ampella in San Giovanni.  On our drive back, we made a stop in Buonconvento where I got a lesson in grocery store shopping.  Apparently I was supposed to weigh the produce before bringing it to the register.  After some brief embarrassment, we managed to navigate the situation and pay for our food.

We made dinner at our home, dining on tortellini with pecorino cheese, some other pasta, salad and the bread from the baker. Oh, and of course more wine.

Another great day.

Day Two-Siena

Today, we had a wonderful day trip to Siena, which Scott will detail in his post. I have some thoughts I wanted to write, before they flew right on out of my head. I have some thoughts because I have actually had moments of peace, quiet, and true enjoyment of the simple pleasures of life. It makes me realize how I've created some habits in my life that do not allow for much of any of those things. Checking my e-mail once a day, rather than every time my phone "dings" has been very refreshing. Not hearing a phone ring (the house, mine, Scott's) has also been refreshing. No tv, no radio, no neighbor kids running through the house-refreshing. There is not a clock in this house, and I'm not even sure what day it is. I am on vacation, but there are some changes I can make at home that can help. I have often said I haven't had time to have a complete thought or finish a project since I had kids, but some of that is my own fault. I don't let myself just sit and think very often.

There is a lot to be learned from Italians. They know how to take pleasure in life. They make things beautiful. They have conversations with each other. They (at least those I have met in the past few days) are kind to foreigners. It's amazing what someone with survival Italian and someone with limited English can accomplish with a few words and lots of gestures, if they are both willing. Oh, and everything that is said about how they eat is true and then some. I could go on and on, but I'll just say this, "gelato."

At home, I rarely have to ask for help. I actually take pride in that. It's very cool to be in situations where you are the fish out of water and are forced to ask people for help. In another language. We were the only non-Italians in a grocery store today, and we didn't know the produce procedure and the check out lady and the lady behind us in line helped us. They weren't even irritated that we stalled the line for a minute.

Today, I watched Margaret walk across the street from the Duomo and buy two oranges from a street vendor. They greeted each other, had some trouble with the price and money exchange, but he wrote down the amount and patiently waited while she got out the money. They said their parting words and she came back excited about her accomplishment. That whole situation was hard for me...I would prefer her not leave my side, and I really wanted to step in when she was struggling, but it was important that she do it.

This has been a little scattered and random, so I'll end with some final thoughts:

My husband and son look Italian, even though there's not a drop of it in their family.

I think older Italian men riding their bicycles are about the cutest thing ever.

I thought it was strange that the gift shop of the Duomo was playing American pop music.

Gelato.

So, Scott pretty much covered the day, but I had some additional thoughts. First of all, I slept like a baby for 13.5 hours last night. I can't remember the last time that happened. The wood shutters completely black out the room, so when I got up and opened them, I was rewarded with the most amazing view. It's just stunning.

The only thing Scott forgot about our day of eating through Montalcino was the delicious espresso Margaret and I shared after lunch. Next time, we are each getting one.

It rained again at the end of the day, and when we returned to the house, there was a huge rainbow that began in the field right outside our front door. I am not even exaggerating-I have never been that close to a rainbow in my life.

I spoke Italian to several people today and got around pretty well. They seem to appreciate the effort, but will switch to English pretty fast. I must get a pretty confused look on my face when I'm concentrating. Pietro asked us what country we from and I was all excited, then I realized he was probably just asking US or Canada?

Maps and guidebooks are spread out...now, to make plans for tomorrow.

Day One - Montalcino

After driving to San Giovanni yesterday in pouring rain and retiring last night without seeing the Tuscan sun we had expected, we awoke this morning to a spectacular view out our bedroom window.

We have started to upload our photos to an online album that we have shared.  We will continue to upload photos here as we go and as long as our internet connection keeps working.  You can see the photos here.

With the weather cooperating, we got in our super Fiat rental and headed for Montalcino, about 25 minutes away.  Montalcino is one of the many small hill towns in this area, and is most well-known for the famous Brunello wine.  We intended to partake of said wine, as well as anything else that sounded good.

We parked at the northern end of the town, right beside the fortezza.  It was about this time that it started to rain again, though fortunately not as hard as yesterday.  We only had one item on our agenda for the day, which was lunch at Osteria Al Giardino.  This restaurant was recommended by Rick Steves in one of his travel books, and we wanted to try it out.  It promised affordable prices, homemade pasta that was tremendous, and a friendly atmosphere for the kids.  The Osteria was at the other end of town so we started to head that way.  As we rounded the first corner of the old stone streets, we ducked into a really neat little 14-room hotel owned by a man named Pietro.  Pietro's family owns a winery in the area, and the hotel has been in his family for a really long time ( I wish I could tell you how long, but I could not understand everything he was saying ). We talked to Pietro for a few minutes before heading back out.  He asked us to come back at 4 for a wine tasting he was hosting, and we happily agreed.

A bit further down the street we came across Petto's Pizzeria.  The kids had been clamoring for pizza since we got here, so we went in and bought a slice of plain cheese.  It was delicious.  The day was off to a good start!  We walked down to the Osteria and sat down for lunch.  We ordered a plate of local cheeses and Montalcini honey, a ravioli that had some sort of crack cocaine in it with strips of bacon, and pinci pasta with meat sauce.  We ordered a couple of glasses of the Brunello wine to have along with the food.  Everything was amazing.  I know you are supposed to say that when you eat Italian food in Italy, but it really was very good.

After lunch, the sun came back out.  We made our way back to the fortezza and climbed up to the top, where you could walk along all of the walls and also go to the top of two of the towers.  I can honestly say I have never seen a view like we saw up there.

We descended from the fortezza and made our way back to the center of town and found the local gelateria called Why Not Gelateria.  Why not indeed!  We all had a scoop of one of the flavors ( I had no idea what I was ordering, but it looked really good ), and sat down to watch the people go by.  By this time, a lot of the locals were starting to come out, and it was neat to watch the older couples walk through the streets.  I can imagine them having made these same walks many, many nights.

We made one last pass through Petto's Pizza and had a slice of pepperoni this time.  Even better than the first time around!  We bought a few bottles of wine ( a bottle of Brunello and a bottle of Rosso ), as well as some limoncello, and headed back for the car.  As we crested the hill and put our things in the car, we decided to take one last walk along the city wall, looking out over the Val D'Orcia.  The local town fathers and their dogs were having a discussion about something apparently very important as we walked by.  I could not get enough of the view, and took the time to soak in the vineyards and olive trees below for as far as the eye could see.  Sadly, we never reconnected with Pietro for his wine tasting.  We stopped back by, but he was not around.

What an amazing Day One.  We have not yet decided where we are heading tomorrow.  I can only hope it lives up to today.

Buoanotte.

We Have Arrived!

We landed in Rome this morning about 9:30 local time, everyone in one piece physically if not mentally.  US Air may be trying to set the record for most sets in a small space.  It was brutal.  However, we managed to survive it.

After spending about 45 minutes clearing customs and getting our luggage, we picked up our rental car, a stunningly hot Fiat Punto which makes up for what it lacks in power with style (OK, that really isn't true, but I want to give the Italians some credit ).

We made our way out of Rome, up the A1 and arrived at our home away from home for the next two weeks.  I am happy to say that the place we found to stay in was EXACTLY like the pictures on the website.  It is just stunning.  We get to look out our windows at San Giovanni right below us, as well as the rest of the Tuscan hillside dotted with homes and animals.  It is both out in the middle of nowhere and right in the middle of just about everything.  We are a 30-45 minute drive from almost every spot we had intended to visit on this trip.

Everyone is sufficiently exhausted after basically not sleeping at all last night, so after a dinner of tortellini and local red wine ( not sure if its really good or we just want it to be ) we will be hoping to catch up tonight and be on Italian time tomorrow morning.

The internet connection here is quite slow, so pictures will be a bit sparse until we get into a metro area in the next few days and get a decent connection.

Tomorrow we are planning to visit Montalcino and take in of the local cuisine, supposedly very good.  Until then...

Ready....

and by "ready" Scott means I am packing all day today. By "packing" I mean trying to wrangle two kids to organize their stuff, trying to think of everything we need, trying not to panic and think we have absolutely lost our minds. My mantra for this week has been directed at my inner control freak. It's a simple one. "SHUT UP."

I've been waiting for this trip for a long time. We've been planning this trip since January. I can't believe it's here. Arrivederci, ya'll.

Italy 2010 - Let The Journey Begin

After lots of planning, we are finally ready to go!

We depart US airspace for Italy on May 14th and arrive Rome about 9:00 on May 15th. We are really fired up about the trip, and hope not to kill each other by the time it is over.

I set up this site to keep everyone that might care about our trip updated on what we are doing each day.

We don't have a whole lot officially planned for this trip. We are staying in a very small village in Umbria called San Giovanni D'Asso, which someone told me means St. John The Ass. Seems appropriate for us. See the map below for more details.  If you saw the movie Gladiator, where Russell Crowe is walking through the fields of wheat to his home, that is where we are staying. At least that is what the brochures say. And you know they never lie.

View Larger Map

We are about 1.5 hours from Florence and 1 hour from Siena. We will definitely be going to both of these cities, as well as Pisa and some coastal towns. We will conclude our trip with three and a half days in Rome.

We intend to eat lots of great food, drink lots of wine, and hopefully not wind up in Italian jail.

Hope you follow along on our trip.