After spending last night on the Italian Riviera near Portofino (incredibly beautiful place), we arrived in Florence after a 2 1/2 hour drive across Tuscany. Then the fun really began! Trying to find your way around Florence is a tourist's nightmare. The directions we had for our B & B led us around and around in circles. Have you ever seen the scene from the Simpson's where they get stuck in a round about in London and can't get out? That was us today. And Karen had read in her Rick Steve's guidebook that you can't drive into the city center or you'll get fined. So she was really afraid that we would make a wrong turn.
We finally stumbled upon the Piazza del Liberte, which we knew was near our hotel, and Rose and Lora parked our cars in residential parking spaces and Karen and I walked to find our B & B. Luckily, the owner was there to let us in. She told us we could drop off our bags and then drive to the airport to drop our cars and take a taxi back to the city. So that's what we did. We had a few more stressful moments making our way to the airport, but we finally got back to the city and had the taxi drop us at the San Lorenzo Market for some shopping. It was only about a 10 minute walk from there back to our B & B.
Our B & B is very nice. The rooms are large and roomy and the internet is free. Yesterday in the Italian Riviera, the internet was 6 euros for 30 minutes, so we skipped it.
Our B & B host told us where to find a good restaurant for dinner. Lora and I had a delicious pumpkin and mushroom soup and Karen had a wonderful lasagna. The rest of the food was so-so, and the service was not so great.
Tomorrow we have a tour of the Uffizi and the Acadamia Museums. We also hope to fit in the Duomo, the Boboli Gardens, and the Ponta Vecchio Bridge. Three of the four of us have flights that leave around 7 am on Friday, so we'll have to fit everything we can in tomorrow.
I'll have to write later about our time in Bellagio on Lake Como. Loading pictures is a very slow process, but we have some stunning pictures I hope to load tomorrow. The Lake Como area is amazingly beautiful. The lake, the colorful villas, the majestic snow covered Alps all take your breath away.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Sunday, October 24, 2010
What Karen and Rose Did in Rome and Amalfi Coast
Driver PierPaulo and Rose on the Amalfi Coast
Driver Aldo and the girls
Greetings to friends and family! Rose and I travelled from Roma to Pompeii which was truley amazing when you see indoor pipes from 79 AD.
Then our wonderful drivers took us to Posiatano for an amazing hotel upgrade with a magnificant view of the Amalfi Coast. AFter a true Italian dinner on the top of the mountain we crashed after way too long with no sleep.
The next day we travelled with our driver down the coast. Thank God for the driver. We could never have driven it ourselves. The views were spectacular and the lemon cello very good.
Then on to Sorrento for an overnight. The next day we took a jet boat to Capri. Of course it had to rain! It was still fun eventhough we felt like wet dogs. A beautiful but pricey place. I'll return when I meet the Billionaire! Another night in Sorrento then off to Rome!
Now we were on our own in Rome with no one to make sure we were where we were sapposed to be.... but managed to find our way around. First afternoon we saw the Colliseum, Roman Forum, Pantheum, tomb of the unknown soldier often called the Wedding cake, spanish steps and Trevi fountain. Then we ate again at a "place famous poeple eat". Tired feet at the end of that day! waist on the pants getting tighter!
The next day we visited the vatican! Awesome! The museum, the sistine chapel, the crypt with the Popes, St Peters Bascilica. We walked 5 miles just around the Vatican that day. Then another experience besides the metro and the Buses in Rome, a rental car! Only got lost once trying to exit Roma for Umbria. Thank God Rose was driving! We found our way north to the villa we are currently in for our cooking class. Christine actually had to come get us after getting sooooo lost. Yesterday went to the Chocolate festival in Perugia too many people! Like the Cherry Festival in Michigan!
Karen and Rose
First Day of Cooking
Our first day of cooking lessons. We made a chicken liver pate, ravioli, pork roast with mushrooms, carrots, and raisins, and tirimisu. Rolling out the dough for the ravioli was a riot. Rose, Karen and I failed miserably, so our chefs used our dough to make spaghetti. Lora's was the only dough fit for ravioli, so we all learned to take the round circles of flattened dough and fill them with the ricotta and gorgonzolla cheeses and a basil leaf, fold them over and seal them.It was all surprisingly simple to make (except for rolling the dough), with simple and fresh ingredients. And the best part was eating it all. It ended up being about seven courses all together, and we were very pleased with our results. We have our dinners with the whole family -- Cristina, her sister Patrizia, Patrizia's husband Pietro, and their daughter Guilia, and Mama. They are all such wonderful and fun people and the best hosts you could ever hope to find.
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Trying to Catch Up
Our farmhouse B & B in San Gimingnano
San Gimingnano
Lora and I drove the Cinque Terra on our way to meeting Rose and Karen in Umbria.
San Gimingamo
More Pictures
Karen getting a head start on the vino
Finally got some internet access this morning. Service is really sporadic in Tuscany/Umbria, it seems. So I'll post some pics while I have a chance. We're off to the market and the Chocolate Festival (perfect timing for me!), this is the final weekend of this yearly celebration.
This is our villa in Umbria
Friday, October 22, 2010
Together at last!!!
Perugia, Umbria, Corta del Poggio Villa.
We finally all made it here together. Rose and Karen had to have the hostess, Christina, come and pick them up. Lora and I found it, but only by chance. We've already polished off three bottles of wine --- well, Rose and Karen are three up on me.
The Villa is lovely and Christina is wonderful. I recommend this place to anyone. Our rooms are very charming and clean, with ensuite bathrooms. There are only two bedrooms, so it only accommodates 4 guests. It's very charming. We're really looking forward to our stay here. More later...gotta start working on catching up with them on this wine!
We finally all made it here together. Rose and Karen had to have the hostess, Christina, come and pick them up. Lora and I found it, but only by chance. We've already polished off three bottles of wine --- well, Rose and Karen are three up on me.
The Villa is lovely and Christina is wonderful. I recommend this place to anyone. Our rooms are very charming and clean, with ensuite bathrooms. There are only two bedrooms, so it only accommodates 4 guests. It's very charming. We're really looking forward to our stay here. More later...gotta start working on catching up with them on this wine!
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Day 4 - Venice to Parma
Julliette and her balcony
Day 4 "Wherefore Art We? -- The Great Venice to Tuscany Adventure
After our morning breakfast of bread, cheese, and water in our room, we checked out of our hotel and took the Alilaguna public water taxi back to the airport in Venice to pick up our rental car to begin our journey to Tuscany. We have two nights with no reservations and a map.
Our first stop was going to be Padova, but there was nothing there, so we continued on to Fair Varona. We parked in front of a pizza restaurant (free parking!) and had lunch. Great pizza! We were very close to the old walled city and the colluseum, so we walked around the city, until we came upon the statue of Juliette beneath her balcony. The city was bigger than we expected and we did not know that there was a colluseum there. It is used today as a theater. We enjoyed our walk around this charming city.
We found an internet cafe and tried to book a hotel for the night in our next destination, Parma, but the computers were slow, the Hotels.com site kept jumping back into Italian and couldn't tell what I was booking, and finally my 30 minutes of time ended just as I was entering my credit card info. So we just decided to wing it.
The drive to Parma was reminiscent of our walks around Venice -- we felt lost every minute of the way. The roundabouts every kilimeter had confusing signs that pointed every which way (I think the Italians like to mess with the tourists) and we had to back track several times when we realized that we had followed the wrong sign. And they say that all roads lead to Rome, but every roundabout had a sign pointing the way to Brescia, which was in the opposite direction from where we were going. And sometimes the sign would point to the west, and the next time it would point to the east.
We finally made it to Parma at 7 pm and stopped at the first hotel we saw, the Astoria Residence Hotel. They charged us 14 euros to park, but they gave us an hour of free internet. I'll have to post this on the blog tomorrow because I used up all my time booking our hotel for tomorrow night in San Gimignano in Tuscany. We wanted to be sure to prebook something with free parking and free internet.
There was a very nice restaurant next door to the hotel, so we enjoyed a nice bottle of wine and Lora had lamb chops and I had pork cheeks and pollenta. And we both had our first green salad of the trip. Surprisingly, neither of us had anything that needed to be topped with Parmesan cheese.
After our morning breakfast of bread, cheese, and water in our room, we checked out of our hotel and took the Alilaguna public water taxi back to the airport in Venice to pick up our rental car to begin our journey to Tuscany. We have two nights with no reservations and a map.
Our first stop was going to be Padova, but there was nothing there, so we continued on to Fair Varona. We parked in front of a pizza restaurant (free parking!) and had lunch. Great pizza! We were very close to the old walled city and the colluseum, so we walked around the city, until we came upon the statue of Juliette beneath her balcony. The city was bigger than we expected and we did not know that there was a colluseum there. It is used today as a theater. We enjoyed our walk around this charming city.
We found an internet cafe and tried to book a hotel for the night in our next destination, Parma, but the computers were slow, the Hotels.com site kept jumping back into Italian and couldn't tell what I was booking, and finally my 30 minutes of time ended just as I was entering my credit card info. So we just decided to wing it.
The drive to Parma was reminiscent of our walks around Venice -- we felt lost every minute of the way. The roundabouts every kilimeter had confusing signs that pointed every which way (I think the Italians like to mess with the tourists) and we had to back track several times when we realized that we had followed the wrong sign. And they say that all roads lead to Rome, but every roundabout had a sign pointing the way to Brescia, which was in the opposite direction from where we were going. And sometimes the sign would point to the west, and the next time it would point to the east.
We finally made it to Parma at 7 pm and stopped at the first hotel we saw, the Astoria Residence Hotel. They charged us 14 euros to park, but they gave us an hour of free internet. I'll have to post this on the blog tomorrow because I used up all my time booking our hotel for tomorrow night in San Gimignano in Tuscany. We wanted to be sure to prebook something with free parking and free internet.
There was a very nice restaurant next door to the hotel, so we enjoyed a nice bottle of wine and Lora had lamb chops and I had pork cheeks and pollenta. And we both had our first green salad of the trip. Surprisingly, neither of us had anything that needed to be topped with Parmesan cheese.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
More from Torcello
The cathedral at Torcello
A bridge along the canal
A view of the distant mountains
The dock at Torcello
Day 3 - Murano, Burano, and Torcello
Today was our excursion to Murano, Burano, and Torcello. We were disappointed in Murano, as we hoped to do some serious shopping there. But they only took us to one factory, where we watched a short demonstration and were led to the store (probably owned by the boat owner's cousin), and where the prices were double what we had been finding in Venice. We only spent about 35 minutes on each island.
The colorful buildings of Burano
Next, we continued on to the picturesque island of Burano, famous for its lace and also it colorful fishermen's houses.
Just a little further on was the island of Torcello, which was the first centre of civilation. We walked along a canal to find the cathedral, which dates back to the 7th century. There are currently only 15 residence on this island. I think all of them own restaurants.
When we returned, we had a private tour of our hotel from the Director of Sales for the Starwood Hotels. It is a beautiful property, and they have just completed updating half of their rooms and are working on the other half.
We finished all of our shopping for Venice, and found one of the recommended restaurants on Lora's list for our dinner. Tomorrow we get an early start to get our rental car and begin our two days of exploring what's in between here and Tuscany.
Day 2 - Venice
Day 2 - Venice
It was 9:30 before my Heavenly Bed would release me from its grasp. I stumbled into our marble bath while Lora, lazy person that she is, snoozed away.
The 40 euro breakfast buffet at our hotel, the Westin Europa and Regina, did nothinf to stimulate our appetites, so we set out to find what the Venicians do for breakfast. It turned out to be a choice between coffee and a pastry or a slice of pizza and a diet coke. We had a slice on the Grand Canal. Pizza never tasted better!
We went back to our hotel to find out where to catch the water taxi that cruises the Grand Canal from end to end, and to find out where we catch our boat trip tomorrow for our trip to Murano Island. Luckily, they are both close to our hotel.
We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day for cruising on the canal. The water taxi is public transportation which stops several times along the canal to pick up and drop off passengers. It makes for a very leisurely cruise. We both noticed how good looking most the gondola drivers are. Almost makes you want to spend the 90 euros for a ride. Well.....no. Not unless they throw something else in with the ride.
After the cruise, we enjoyed a nice lunch on the St. Mark's Square side of the Grand Canal. It was a geat spot for people watching. After lunch, we enjoyed another walk, always finding new places to get lost. And of course, to shop.
After a couple hours of rest in our hotel room, we ventured out again in the evening for another lovely dinner on the Grand Canal near the Rialto Bridge. Are you beginning to see a pattern here? There's nothing like having a good meal and a nice glass of vino while watching the boats go by on the Grand Canal.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Day 1 - Venice with Mo and Lora
It was a good plan. Lora and I would meet in Paris and fly together to Venice. But the best laid plans, etc. etc. My flight was delayed just long enough for the long bus rides through the meandering, industrial drab Charles De Gaulle Airport and their need to send you through another security check the I missed my flight by 10 minutes. Poor Lora was searching the plane for me (we've never met before). I had to catch a flight 2 1/2 hours later. Luckily, we both managed to find our way from the airport to the water taxi, to St. Mark's Square, and to our hotel. I found Lora relaxing in our room wondering what had happened to me.
This is Lora's first trip to Venice (to Italy, for that matter), so we enjoyed walking through the winding streets, over the many bridges, looking for affordable dining options (15 euros for a slice of pizza!!), and window shopping -- so many shiny things to distract and tempt us!
We finally found our way to the Rialto Bridge and Market and some of the more affordable eating and drinking establishments. A 9 euro pizza or plate of pasta started looking pretty affordable. After we had our fill of window shopping and even making a few purchases, we sat at an alfresco cafe along the Grand Canal overlooking the Rialto Bridge and had a nice glass of wine. Ahhh, this is the life.
Then I managed to lose my international cell phone, although it was useless to begin with. After several attempts to call and report the missing phone, we felt the need to relieve the stress with a plate of pasta and another glass of chianti. With heavy eyelids, we crawled our way back to our hotel for a well deserved first night's sleep.
This is Lora's first trip to Venice (to Italy, for that matter), so we enjoyed walking through the winding streets, over the many bridges, looking for affordable dining options (15 euros for a slice of pizza!!), and window shopping -- so many shiny things to distract and tempt us!
We finally found our way to the Rialto Bridge and Market and some of the more affordable eating and drinking establishments. A 9 euro pizza or plate of pasta started looking pretty affordable. After we had our fill of window shopping and even making a few purchases, we sat at an alfresco cafe along the Grand Canal overlooking the Rialto Bridge and had a nice glass of wine. Ahhh, this is the life.
Then I managed to lose my international cell phone, although it was useless to begin with. After several attempts to call and report the missing phone, we felt the need to relieve the stress with a plate of pasta and another glass of chianti. With heavy eyelids, we crawled our way back to our hotel for a well deserved first night's sleep.
Friday, October 15, 2010
Look Out, Italy. The Girls Are Coming!!!
Rose and Karen are off tomorrow to Rome, and Mo and Lora meet in Paris and fly together to Venice. We'll all finally come together on the 22nd in Umbria for our four day cooking and wine tasting adventure. How do you say, "Let the Good Times Roll" in Italian?
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