All good things must come to an end

We were just fed on the plane. After two weeks of wonderful Bistros, Ristorantes, Trattorias, Cafés, roadside food stands et al, eating Airplane food seems so unappealing. Stacey ordered the Cheese Tortellini, and I had the Roasted Breast of Chicken. When the food arrived, the first thing I noticed was the ice cold bun. Not exactly the freshly baked baguettes that we had become accustomed to. The food, surprisingly, was pretty good. Real pieces of chicken breast with a spinach risotto and glazed carrots. The tortellini was pretty good as well. I shoved the bun between my legs to warm it up to a reasonable temperature.

Leaving Paris was rather uneventful, and bittersweet. After lugging four heavy suitcases throughout Europe into 9 different hotels, plus Simone’s places in Rome and Umbria, going home will be nice. Clean clothes will be nice. Not having to wash socks and underwear in a bathtub in Venice will be nice.

We had a fun last day in yesterday. We rose early to get to the Louvre, and promptly got lost in the streets and subways of Paris. We eventually got to the museum, and made a beeline for the Mona Lisa, so we could get looking at her over with. For those who have seen her, you know what it’s like. For those who haven’t, it’s more interesting watching all the people elbowing each other out of the way to see a painting of a woman smiling.
We did a 3 hour whirlwind tour of the Louvre and then walked along the Jardin des Tuileries, to the Place de Concorde (where the big, famous ferris wheel is), and along Champs Élysées. We walked by the American Embassy, and tried to take a picture, but about 5 Gendarmes officers stopped us before we could snap a shot.

Then, the real reason we went to that area; Buddha Bar. The original Buddha Bar that spawned the sushi hysteria, and all those CD’s with the tranquil, chill music. It was certainly impressive. There’s a giant Buddha (about 20 feet tall) in the front of the restaurant, overlooking the whole dining room. Our table was right at his feet. The food was fantastic, Stacey had Edamame and a sushi combo plate, while I went with deep fried Vietnamese spring rolls, and the Tempura combo plate, with chicken, duck battered veggies. We had a fantastic bottle of Pouilly Fuisse wine with lunch, and were the last table to leave that afternoon.

We went back to the Eiffel Tower and took a Bateaux ride along the Seine River. The boat had big spotlights on the sides to highlight some of Paris’ more famous bridges and landmarks, while an automated tourguide told us the histories of them. It was a wonderful experience, dampened only by the cold cold rain that fell on us. It was, in fact the only time, other than a few minutes in Siena, that rain fell on us in a two week span.

We finished the night by returning to the Latin Quarter for quick ‘n dirty dinner. Stacey had crêpes, and I went to a Greek gyro joint. Both items were quick, cheap, and delicious. We were back at the hotel early, as we needed to get up and drive to the airport.
Overall it was a wonderful trip, full of moments neither of us will ever forget. We feel very lucky to have had such an adventure. Thanks for reading all about our travels! Until the next trip…..

Driving back to France

We left Venice with a lot less hassle than our arrival, we had mastered the water bus system. The day was mostly spent in the car. We got into some traffic and had to travel all the way across Italy, through the Alps on the edge of Switzerland and up into France. We saw some breathtaking peaks and mountains and also got to travel THROUGH Mont Blanc (the big white mountain). Their was a tunnel through the mountain which was 11 km long. It was warm and sunny on the entering the mountain and when we came out it was cold and raining. You can see it on the map if you zoom to the Italian/French border.


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We spent a long day in the car, and our normally wonderful GPS system missed an exit due to new construction. We saw the exit, but the computer said to continue for another 2 km. We obeyed, and there was nothing but highway, causing us to take a 45 minute detour through the outskirts of Torino. The highlight of that was seeing 2 black prostitutes sitting in plastic chairs in a cornfield, literally in the middle of nowhere. We eventually did get to our hotel which was a French Chateaux named Castel tres Girad in Moray-St.-Denis. We had a huge comfy room and were happy that we could just walk downstairs to the chateaux's restarurant for dinner.

Dinner was delicious. Very well priced and ended up being about 8 courses. We each ordered from the 3 course prix-fixe menu, which was to be the standard appetizer, entree, dessert. What also came was 2 amuse bouches, and choosing cheese from a rolling cheese cart that held about 30 different selections. Dessert came, but then they also had a pre-dessert AND a post-dessert course. I was in heaven. Any meal ending in three delicious desserts is one I will always remember!

It had been a long day in the car so we went to bed right after dinner.

We got up very happy that we only had a short drive to our final stop, back to Paris. Before leaving, we stopped in the charming town of Nuits St. George for a little breakfast. The main pastry shop was chocked full of delicious treats. I got a chocolate croissant AND a meringue. We also grabbed a baguette to eat in the car. It was a tiny, but very cute town.

On the way to Paris we stopped in Beaune to check out a French shopping mall. I really wanted to get at least ONE souvenir (besides wine) to take home. Since Erin and I have become addicted to espresso, we decided to find some espresso cups to take home. We found a home goods type store called ‘Casa’ which had a great selection, and we now own 6 espresso cups if anyone would like to come over for coffee!

We got into Paris without much difficulty. After two weeks of driving through Europe Erin has become a pro at navigating the crazy roads and driving patterns. Our hotel was right across the street from the large Pantheon. Our room was on the first floor for the first time in this trip and we were so happy to be able to avoid any stairs or lifts with our luggage. We had to take it all in this time for one final packing.

We decided on Fondue for dinner. It was chilly in Paris (felt like fall had arrived in the two weeks since we were there last) and we were excited for some warm, comfort food. We found a fondue restaurant in the Latin quarter which was just a few minutes from our hotel. We stuffed ourselves silly with cheese fondue, tarteflette, salami, and chocolate fondue to top it all off!! We had the house wine which came in a cool jug. We were at the restaurant for almost three hours and it was a wonderful meal.

After dinner we strolled through the Latin quarter taking in the student-centered nightlife. We stopped in an Irish bar for a beer and then went back to go to bed. Ahhh…..Paris.

Big day in Venice

We got up and were super excited for a full day in Venice….the city of Romance! We first walked back to San Marco’s square, to see the sights in the daylight. It is a huge square filled with beautiful buildings (a church and a palace and a bell tower) and LOTS of people and LOTS of pigeons. The pigeons are actually one of the tourist attractions. For one euro they give you a good size bag of corn to feed them. The second you have the corn in your hand the pigeons flock to you. They sit on your arms, head, shoulders and gather around your feet. They are very eager to get a piece of corn. We have some good pictures of me covered in pigeons. Erin is not so fond of birds so he was the photographer. Interestingly, we found out that they lace the corn with pigeon birth-control to help keep the population down.

We considered going into the church, palace and clock tower, but the line of people waiting was exceedingly long. Multiple tourists come to Venice just for the day (on cruise ships and day tours) and they all head to the main square. We decided to keep walking instead. We went by the famous Bridge of Sighs (it connects the palace and the jail…and the story goes that when a person was sentenced to jail inside the courtroom in the palace they were then lead to the jail…going across the bridge, looking over Venice for one last time and letting out a sad sigh).

From there we walked all along the grand canal, heading to the bi-annual international art show that happened to be open while we were there. We spent a good few hours looking at all of the very interesting art from all over the world. Everything from photographs to sculptures to actual video clips and digital art. It was pretty cool and we were happy to be far away from the masses of tourists.

We kept venturing deeper and deeper into the parts of Venice where only the actual Venetians go. We found a charming street with laundry hanging from all of the windows and multiple sidewalk cafes. We sat down for lunch with the locals. Erin had spaghetti with a fish tank full of seafood and I had prosciutto and cheese with bread. The service was super friendly and the location very quaint.

We did another few hours of walking, taking in all that we could of the winding canals, bridges, and many shops. We bought a bottle of wine and some cheese at a local grocery store and took it back to our hotel to enjoy on the balcony over-looking the grand canal.

We then jumped on a valporetto to the Rialto bridge stop (another famous bridge there) where we hoped on a gondola for a sunset cruise around the canals. Our gondolier was quite nice and pointed out many of the sights on the way. We kept up with tradition and kissed while going under the Rialto bridge.

Hungry again, we stopped for a light dinner at the ‘Snack and Sweet’…some quiche and a Panini sandwich followed by pistachio, berry, and chocolate chip gelato….yummmy!!

Our last stop of the night was back at San Marco’s square. At night there are three outdoor cafes which serve drinks and food and each one has a private orchestra. They call them the dueling orchestras because they are all just close enough that they have to give each other turns playing. We picked our favorite and sat down to enjoy the music and atmosphere. Our orchestra consisted of five lively venetians who sounded tremendous. The moon and stars were out and the square was lit up in a magical way…with the orchestra playing and people dancing to the music, I found it to be one of the highlights of our trip!!

The trip to Venice

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We got up early and bid farewell to lovely Umbria and our castel house in Piegaro. (we hope to go back there for a whole week someday!) We got on the road and tried to go visit the town of Assisi (where St. Francis who lived there in the 1200’s and was very popular for his laid back and environmentally friendly ways of life and who was later made a patron saint). Tried is the key word here….it was Sunday morning and there was a line of cars miles long trying to get up the hill into the town. We can only figure it was lots of people going to pay homage to St. Francis on a Sunday, but regardless we turned around and only saw the town from the distance.
At this point we had to say goodbye to our very trusty tour-guide, Simone. He was catching a train back to Rome. We cannot thank Simone enough for all of his help and for showing us the NON-tourist parts of Rome and Umbria...many spots we never would have found without his guidance.

We then were back on the road on our way to Venizia! The drive was not too bad (at least not for me as a passenger….poor Erin has been a driving CHAMP…he and Margaret-our GPS- are quite the driving team!). We decided to drive along the east coast on the way there, just to avoid the racing-strip highway for a change.

Once outside the city we parked the car, did our best to consolidate luggage and headed off to the waterways. This is the part of the trip where we realized we had not fully prepared in advance. We were not completely clear on where our hotel was located in Venice…we only knew it was on one particular section of the Grand Canal. We made the trek through the garage (each toting luggage behind us)…and onto our first Vaporetto (water bus). It went straight to the main area of the Grand Canal and then we were kicked off, quickly learning that it was strictly a bus back and forth to the garage. We boarded a second vaporetto and got off a stop which we thought was close to our hotel. We pulled our bags through the streets of Venice until we realized we had absolutely no clue what we were doing. Desperately (as the bags were getting heavy FAST) we asked a reception desk of another hotel. Erin’s face sunk to the depth of the canal when I told him we had to get back on another water taxi to get to our hotel. Our third wait and ride for the day finally dropped us off two seconds from our hotel. (yeah, we had picked this hotel for the convenience and to avoid dragging bags for hours around Venice….)

The hotel was beautiful. Our room had a balcony which overlooked the Grand Canal. We refueled with a pizza on the back patio and then set out to explore Venice. The whole town is truly a maze. It is technically 100 islands all next to one another and connected by multiple bridges. There are no streets or cars, just canals and boats. We wandered for a few hours….going by San Marco’s square and church, the Rialto bridge, the Grand Canal, and lots of squares and churches. We settled into one beautiful square for a nice dinner. Erin had lobster bisque and pork. I had calamari and spinach ravioli. We were both too full for dessert!

The beauty and charm of Venice at night quickly washed away our earlier frustration and we went to bed early in anticipation of the next day….

Umbrian Countryside

For our last day in Rome we spent half of it sleeping, we had to catch up on a few z’s after our late night dance party. We got up, packed up and got in the car for the next leg of our trip. Simone came with us as we were heading to his family’s hillside house in Umbria (another region of Italy, to the east of Tuscany). It was a couple hours drive up very winding roads into the hills. Simone’s house is up in the hills of a tiny town called Piegaro (population of about 20). It was one house in a little castle community, complete with its own tiny chapel, a pool, and a fortress. The view of the surrounding rolling hills was unbelievably beautiful. We settled into our latest accommodations. Erin took roughly 200 pictures outside because it was so beautiful.

Erin made me promise to write this: After my long night of drinking, and then driving the next day through roads that felt like you were on The Beast at King’s Island; I got out of the car once we arrived to the castle house and immediately puked. What a memory of beautiful Italy!

We then got dressed and headed down into Piegaro for some dinner. We told Simone that we really wanted to go to a family owned local restaurant. He picked the perfect spot. The cook was ‘Mama’ (a cute gray haired slightly round lady who walked around with an apron on) and the one waitress there was her daughter. We were one of two tables eating. The menu was strictly in Italian. The food was genuinely home-cooked by Mama and the wine was ‘Casa vino’ (translates into house wine which was made by the family) and was only 3 euros for a whole liter. This was the dinner where we felt like we were in small town Italy, having dinner with a local family. When we were ready to leave they gave us hugs goodbye and Erin was so happy that he had tears in his eyes. Certainly a dinner we will never forget!!

From there we went to the town of Perugia to check out the nightlife…..and wow did we find some!! The main street and square of the town was packed full of around 2000 young people. There was a hug set of steps at the end of the square and they were full of people just hanging out and socializing. We spent an hour acting as locals and sat on the steps for some great people-watching. Among some of the more entertaining people in the crowd were jugglers, drum players, and a guy doing various tricks with his bulldog. The nightclubs were tempting, but we decided to pack it in early, catch up on sleep and get up for a full day….off to Venice!

Long Day In Rome

Quick update: We made it to back to Paris safe and sound. We couldn't update for the last few days due to lack of internet access.

We got up for day number two in Roma and hit the streets hard on a five hour or so walking tour of the city. Simone was an excellent tour guide and we squeezed in a lot of sights. It was very nice to leave the maps at home and not have to worry about getting lost. We boarded a local bus (not paying the bus fare as Simone told us no one actually pays!) and went to the Vatican first. St. Peter’s Basilica was surely the largest and most lavishly ornate church you could ever imagine. The amount of marble and gold was unbelievable. We payed our respects to St. Peter (the statue of him has almost no toes left because everyone rubs them) and Erin and I decided to make the trek to the top of the large dome. It was 551 crazy steps to the top….round and round in a dizzying spiral…a great work out. The view was worth it though, we could see all of Rome.

Back to ground level we had to by-pass the Vatican museum due to long lines and lack of time. We walked and walked….to the Piazza di Spagna to see the Spanish steps, the famous Trevi Fountain, Piazza Nuvona, (with the Four Rivers fountain) the OLD dome of the Pantheon, and a few stops in some beautiful old churches.

After a good five miles of walking we went back to Simone’s to clean up and rest. Erin and I then went to a Romantic dinner at Edy’s where Simone previously worked. It was a wonderful recommendation and a delicious Italian dinner. I had beef carpaccio and pasta carbonara and Erin had mushroom gratin and veal. We shared a tiramisu and apple strudel….yummmmm!!

We met up with Simone after dinner at Piazza Popollo which was packed with little bars and 100’s of people just out enjoying themselves. It seems it is much more common to hang out in squares and walk around with a beer in your hand than to actually go to a bar to site down. There are no open container laws in the city and you can walk around from café to bar to café. We stopped at one local bar for a drink and then decided to stay up late and go to a dance club.

Simone then took us to a very popular Roman night club. It was quite the scene. We had to wait in a long line outside where they were very selectively letting people enter. Someone we made it in only to find that there was a second line where you had to do the ‘pick-me’ shuffle all over again to be allowed into the actual club. Once we finally got in we were met with a huge outdoor club scene packed with hundreds of well-dressed dancing maniacs. The music was booming. Unlike many American nightclubs people were way more focused on dancing than drinking. In fact, ONE drink was 15 euros (about 22 dollars). The main bar was covered in beautiful Roman girls dressed in all black, standing on the bar showing off their best dance moves. They also had a few Roman men on the bar…one in particular looked like he had been chiseled by Michelangelo himself and was some great eye-candy! We danced and danced and danced. I can say that we pretty much closed down the club…leaving around six AM. That was the party animal section of our trip.

Fun Fact

If you're in Rome on a scooter, you can, by law, progress through red lights as long as the coast is clear.Taxis, apparently, feel that they are entitled to the same rights...

When in Rome...

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Simone is the long distance boyfriend of Jessica’s friend Emily. We met him at Jess and Sam’s wedding in August. When he heard that we were coming to Rome, he insisted that we stay with him at his apartment. I’m sitting in his kitchen typing this at 10 am Friday.

We left Montalcino yesterday around noon, after spending our first born child’s inheritance on some Brunello wines that we arranged to be shipped home. It was the first place all trip where we stayed more than one night, and we really became familiar and comfortable. People started asking us for directions! It really did grow on us, but we had to keep the train a rollin’…

Next stop was in Montepulciano, where they produce the namesake wine. It’s a very nice town waayyyy up on a mountainside. Full of shops, cafes, and enotecas (wine shops), it’s like a poor man’s Montalcino, and I don’t mean that with any disrespect at all. There were a lot of tourists, and tour buses there. The people there were the ones who like wine, but don’t want to spend hundreds of dollars on it. You can get very nice Montepulciano wines at home, usually for less than $20.

Anyway, we took the 15 minute tour of town, snapped a few shots (by the way, our picture count right now is around 1500, so be prepared to be bored out of your mind when we get home), and had lunch at a café at the Grande Piazza. We had quite possibly the best pizza we have ever had. Instead of tomato sauce, it had truffle cream as the base, covered with mozzarella cheese, shaved truffles and prosciutto.

We hit the road to Rome after that. They have these pretend policemen on the side of the highway to discourage excessive speeding. I can say with total certainty that they have no effect whatsoever.

We found Simone’s apartment reasonably easy. Not so easy is finding a parking space in Rome. His place is amazing! It’s a huge 3 bedroom, up on the 4th floor of a pre-war building. The building has the tiniest elevator ever; it’s honestly 2 feet by 4 feet. The three of us barely fit in it.

He took us out last night to the Trastevere, which is described as ‘the seedy, colourful, wrong-side-of-the-river, the crustiest part of the city’ to some very cool places. Our first stop was an aperitvo bar. These things are brilliant! You go in, order a drink, and then help yourself for free to what is essentially a buffet. They had all kinds of sandwiches, nuts, cakes, cheese, salami, you get the point.

We then walked around the Trastevere. Simone was going to take us to the world’s greatest pizza place, but the guy had been so busy he ran out of ingredients by 10:00 and had to close! Normally, he’s open until 2 or so. Our substitute was the Bruscettaria. You go in and order bruscetta, the way you want it, like a pizza. The menu had at least 50 different options. We chose Speck (a prosciutto-like ham), mozzarella, and spicy diced tomatoes. It was fantastic to say the least.

All this time, we were drinking. We shared Peroni beers, and poured them into plastic cups while we walked around. The Peronis come in 22 oz bottles, so if you try to drink a whole one by yourself, it gets warm and nasty by the time it’s finished.

We met up with Simone’s friend Simone. That wasn’t a typo. The four of us went to the Bar S. Calisto, in the Piazza Calisto. It’s a total local joint, and we were the only tourists. It had a great setup too: you went in, and ordered your drinks from the owner, sitting at his cash register. He gave you a receipt that you took to the bar, and gave to the bartender, who then gave you your drink. The place had a total bohemian atmosphere. There were gays, artists, students, potheads, and your regular, average drunks like us all hanging out together. We played a game called ‘Guess the Americans’. At 1:00 am, the owner walked around with a tray full of pastries that he hadn’t sold during the day, and gave them away to the customers!!!

After drinking about a million Peronis, we decided to go home. Actually, the bars decided for us. They all closed. We staggered around for a bit, while Simone gave us the 2 am tour of Rome. I ordered sheep meat on a stick on the bridge while crossing the Tiber River. We saw the Fountain of the Four Rivers, a bunch of churches and statues. We planned out today as well. First stop: The Vatican. We’re gonna go chill with Benedict for a while. It should be fun, I don’t expect there to be too many tourists at the Vatican, we should be able to blow through there in about 20 minutes….

Little town of Montalcino

In case anyone is wondering why it always seems to be me, and not Stacey writing, the answer is simple: I type these entries up while she sleeps…

Montalcino didn’t start off great. We thought this little town would be like Barolo; instead, we followed a giant tour bus full of American tourists into town. But, the Hotel Bellaria is awesome, and the staff are friendly and accommodating. I asked the receptionist at the hotel to recommend a nice, quiet, family owned restaurant for us to eat at last night. He suggested a place called Albergo Giardino. It turned out to be a fine dining establishment, which we didn’t realize until we got there. The place had nice décor, good wine, and the owner/chef seemed very nice. The problem was that the service was the worst we had all trip. The waitress was slow, and useless. It took her 30 minutes in an almost empty (at the time) restaurant to get our bottle of wine. The appetizers came out before the wine did. Oh well, you win some, you lose some. I did finish a 40 ounce t-bone steak which was delicious!

Today has been great though. We caught some much needed sleep, and made our way into town for a delicious lunch. Montalcino has lots of charm, and we thoroughly enjoyed walking around. We obtained a map of all the Brunello producers around here, and hit the road. We decided to avoid the bigger wineries, we did that in Napa. Plus we wanted to pick up a couple of bottles that we hadn’t heard of.

Our first stop was a little place called Scopetino. We arrived there literally seconds before the couple who owns the place pulled in. Patricia and Roberto invited us into their barrel room, and we got to sample the 2000 vintage. It was very good. I like wine…

We bought 4 bottles from them, and then got to watch them de-stem the Sangiovese grapes right in front of us. Neat procedure, to say the least. Their home and winery was on the side of this hill surrounded by vineyards and the view was breath taking!

We then went to another small place, called Le Gode. The only ones to greet us were the chicken and the dog. Nobody was home, but we could see people in the vineyard picking the grapes. We opted to leave them alone and move on.

The next place was called Prima Donna. They had a little cantina, which was a good sign. The other places were literally the farms where these people lived. So, we park the car and walk into the cantina. We could see into the production facility, and there was a small tour of about 8 people going through. Stacey and I figured we could hang out in the tasting room for a minute, and somebody would eventually come out to see us. Wrong!

We waited for a good ten minutes, and still nobody came out. So, we reached into the bar and helped ourselves to a sample. It was quite nice, but without a salesperson it was tough to try and buy any. We gave up and left, laughing as we went to the car. We went 1 for 3 in the afternoon, but the 1 was great, so we considered the whole winery tour a success. Plus, the view when you’re in the countryside is fantastic.

Dinner was at a hole in the wall joint, run by a nice family. At the end of our dinner, the owner sat next to us, and cheerfully told us all about his restaurant. Unfortunately, we couldn’t understand a word he was saying! He spoke no English at all. This was our favourite dinner of the trip so far.

Happy, and drunk we made our way back the hotel, where we watched a soccer match with the Italian Santa Claus and his passed out wife in the hotel lobby. Somebody won, 1-0. We’re not exactly sure who was even playing…

Tomorrow, we stop real quick in Montepulciano, then it’s off to Rome, where we will be staying with Simone, who has graciously invited us to spend our time there in his apartment.
Thanks everyone for your comments. We love reading them. We will reply to all questions when we get home.

Florence and Siena

It’s funny watching Stacey drink super hot espresso every morning. At home, I have to put an ice cube into her coffee to cool it down enough for her to drink it. Now, she sucks them back like there’s no tomorrow, and always wants to stop for caffé. Plus, we have one after every meal. I think this is an addiction…

We slugged back a quick pastry and caffé this morning at 7. Normally, we wouldn’t be up this early, but we have a date with David. We got lost (naturally) in the streets of Florence trying to find the Galleria Academia where he lives. Found it early enough that there was only about a hundred people or so in line ahead of us. We got in after about 45 minutes, so it wasn’t that bad. You’re not allowed to take any pictures in there, but they allow you to bring your cameras in. We managed to get a few shots anyway. Stacey got caught taking one, and this security lady started screaming “No Photos” at her, causing everyone to stare at us. David is mighty impressive, I never realized he was that big. Fun fact: his right hand is much bigger than the left hand. This was intentionally done by Michelangelo to symbolize the hand of God that enabled David to slay Goliath, and free Florence.

After that we did a whirlwind tour of Florence. We saw the Duomo last night, so we went there today and snapped a bunch of pictures. We made our way over to the Palazzo Vecchio where the fake David is, as well as many other reproductions of famous statues. We walked down to, and across the famous Ponte Vecchio bridge, and past the Uffizi Gallery. We would have liked to have gone into the Uffizi, but the line was HUGE, and we were running out of time.

We had to check out of the hotel by 11 am, so it was a quick and dirty tour of Florence. All the books warned us about thieves, and pickpockets and drug dealers, so we didn’t expect much. Turns out that was not the case, and Florence is a very charming, fun, albeit confusing city. It’s loud, and never seems to sleep.

So, we got into the Mercedes and drove to Siena. What a cool place! We had to park pretty far away from the Il Campo as they don’t allow any cars inside it. As soon as we reached the Il Campo, it started pouring! The nice part was, was that it cleared out all the outdoor cafes. We managed to get a table inside one for a quick lunch, but then the sun came out. We asked our waitress if we could move outside, and she gave us primo seating in the front row! We were the first table inside to move outside, and then within 10 minutes, the whole place was packed. It was like moths to a flame. All these people came from nowhere to sit down outside. It would have been a miracle to get a great seat like that otherwise. The 20 minute thunderstorm, which ironically was the first rain we had this trip, turned out to be a total blessing for us.

We walked around Siena for a while after that and made it into the Duomo there. It has art by Michelangelo, and these crazy mosaic floors that are only exposed once a year to preserve them. Luckily for us, this is that time of year. The floor apparently took 500 (yes, five hundred) years to complete. It’s totally insane looking in there, almost like it’s out of Alice in Wonderland.

We left Siena, and are now in Montalcino for the next two nights. This is where the Sangiovese grape is grown for the famous Brunello di Montalcino wine. We should have purple teeth by the time we leave here for Rome on Thursday.

Italia!!!

Sorry all about the lack of updates lately. We have been without net access. However, at each stop, we would write our thoughts into Word, so we will post a lot at once, but it will still be a daily summary.

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We left France today. It seems that as soon as you cross into Italy, you’re in the middle of the mountains. These people must have spent decades blowing through them, to create tunnels. Without exaggerating we went through at least 100 of them, maybe more. Some of them were 2-3 kilometers long.
We almost considered driving straight to Florence, since it was going to be a good 4-5 hour drive, but we reconsidered, and took a detour into Barolo. This is where they grow the Nebbiolo grape to produce the famous Barolo wine. Driving past the vines into the town was pretty neat. The grapes were still on the vine, just ready to be harvested. We stopped and picked a few grapes off the bunches to taste them. It sounds almost stupid, but grapes taste the way the wine does. The skin was bitter and kind of tough to chew, but the juice inside was so sweet and delicious. Almost like a blueberry. I told Stacey we were never eating grocery store grapes again. They were so good.
Barolo is our new favourite place in the world. It is the most charming little town ever. The population can’t be more than 700 people. It’s so far out of the way that only wine lovers will go there. I hope it stays that way. Every building is painted cheerfully in yellow, or red. The people are so friendly. They know their wine is among the world’s best, but there’s no pretension whatsoever, unlike, say, in Napa Valley.

We wanted to find a quick bite to eat, and maybe visit a winery or two before we hit the road to Florence. There were maybe 4 places to eat in town, and one of them was closed. The second place had a cool little patio out front, but the menu posted out front only showed real food; we wanted a quick pizza. We turned around to leave, and the little owner of the place comes running out to convince us to stay. He told Stacey that they had a beautiful patio out back with a view of the sea, and we just had to see. Of course we’re at least 70km inland, so no sea view is possible, but they patio out back did have a spectacular view of the town and surrounding countryside. Our little owner man shrugged and said “OK, no sea view, but it’s nice anyway”. We loved his charm and decided to eat there. So glad we did. Our food was incredible, they had a 5 page wine list, and most of them were local Barolo’s. They were selling them for a fraction of what we would pay at home.
Our quick lunch turned into a 3 hour marathon. It was so relaxing; we totally fell in love with the area. We seriously considered staying there for the night and skipping Florence altogether. The only reason we didn’t stay was that we had already prepaid in full the hotel there. We reluctantly agreed that we had to carry on. As we were leaving, we were thanking the owner, and our waitress. I asked them what was the best store to pick up a few bottles of wine, when he said that there was a store down the road that had a good selection, but it was overpriced. “Why not”, he said “Buy some from me? I’ll give you a good price”.
So we started going over his huge selection. He sold us a dozen different Barolo’s, all at his cost. Then, just to be nice, he made it a baker’s dozen, the 13th, was on him. This guy knew his wine inside and out. He knew everything about every vintage, and could recite the glass ranking in the Gambero Rosso guide, which we happened to buy for the trip, thanks to Jess and Sam and their Amazon.com gift certificate.
Thank you Maurissomo for making Barolo so special for us. Already, we are planning our return there. Never before has leaving a place tugged at the heartstrings so much. We will be returning there as soon as possible.
The drive to Florence was 4 hours, and uneventful. Our wonderful GPS system has saved us repeatedly. These old cities have no street signs!!! We got to our hotel around 9:00, had a simple pizza dinner at a little sidewalk pizzeria, and walked around for about an hour. Going to bed reasonably early, as we are going to see David in the morning. Our hotel receptionist told us to be there 30 minutes before the Galleria del Academia opens, otherwise the wait can be hours long.

French Riviera

Hello! We are just about to leave our third hotel.....Hotel Les Terrasses d'Eze. We are high up on a mountain on the South of France...over looking the French Riviera. This is a picture of the inifinity pool and the distance at our hotel. We are excited to get on the road and head into ITALY....so this will be a quick entry!

Yesterday was another packed fun day. We left Aix and drove a very scenic drive along the coast....stopping in various spots to check out the locals and the view. We spent a few hours in Cannes and another few in Nice. Both beautiful and full of RICH people and fancy shops. I bought a Loius Vuitton bag and Erin a Ferrarri.....oh we wish! The views were spectacular. Especially in Nice where there we bunches of beautiful sail boats out in the sea. We had lunch right on the ocean. They don't have real sand beaches, but instead beaches made out of big round rocks! We strolled the boardwalk and had some ice cream.

Next stop was to Eze which is up on the mountain above Nice and Monaco. The winding roads to get up here were nuts....but Erin is doing a fabulous job driving! The drive was worth it though...the view from the top is wonderful!

Last night we went back down the mountain to Monte Carlo....to THE Casino.....one of the most sophisticated and elaborate casinos either of us has ever seen. We had dinner at a sidewalk cafe outside and then went in to roll some dice. We paid the entrance fee and luckily we fit the dress code (suit and tie)....they had to swipe our passports and then we were IN. We both agree though that it was TOO stuffy and high -end. To play ANY table was a huge minium bet....so instead we just blew 10 euros on the slots and watched the rich people spend their money. (by the way...the number of fancy cars outside were way more than we could take in!)

Ok....so we are off to Florence next......

Until then...Chow!

To the south of France

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The drive to Aix-en-Provence ended up taking 7 hours, not the 5½ that we thought it would. Not our fault though, there were a few toll stops, and we hit really bad traffic in Lyon. Plus we had a gasoline fiasco that would take way too long to explain. We were driving through Lyon right before the Rugby World Cup match, and traffic was brutal. Speaking of brutal, the toll fees to drive from Paris to Provence was 75€. The first toll we hit on highway A6 cost us 30€. It’s almost cheaper to fly…but when you’re cruising at 170km/h, it may not be that much faster. These people know how to drive!

Aix is a very charming, bustling city. Its Centre-ville is a maze of little alleys full of cool boutiques and restaurants. We got totally lost walking around, but it was very fun. It has a really cool fountain in the middle of it all that acts as a hub for this area. The city has a huge student population and the middle of town was full of energy.

We met up with my good friend Elodie, who I worked with in St. Maarten at Bamboo Bernies. She took us to an authentic country-style french restaurant called Jacquou le Croquant. This translates loosely to Crusty Jack’s. They had a 12 page menu, and all they served was foie gras, duck, goose, and rabbit. Somehow, they prepared it all a million different ways. It was fantastic, thank you Elodie for showing us a great time.

Our hotel is a charming 17th century country house which used to belong to the French painter Bernard Buffet. Our bathroom is a converted turret! It’s just outside of Aix in a little town called Fuveau, and situated right on a golf course. From our room, you could see the 10th tee.

Gay Paree!!!

Well, we arrived in Paris without any problems. The flight was easy, on time and fairly comfortable. Stacey gave us both some good sleeping pills, and so we spent most of the flight snoring and drooling. But, we woke up ready to take on Paris! After a slight delay at Eurocar we finally got in our zippy Mercedes. Lucky for us, it is equipped with a GPS system, which has already been a life-saver. Without it we may STILL be looking for our first hotel. Driving in Paris was challenging and a bit crazy. Especially the roundabouts….like the one going around the Arc de Triomph which was about seven lanes but without any actual lines on the road. It’s the equivalent of bumper cars at an amusement park, but without actually hitting anyone.

Our highlights of the day were lunch at an adorable sidewalk café, a trip to the top of the Eiffel tour, and a nice walk to the Arch de’ Triumph. We stopped on level one of the Eiffel tour for a beer which was fabulous. A few interesting parts of the day were seeing two separate car accidents, and having a subway door slam shut as I was in the train and Stacey was still standing on the platform, separating us for a brief time.

We had a fabulous dinner at 7 Vin (seven wines) with copious amounts of foie gras and escargot. To top the day off the Eiffel tour was lit up beautifully and at midnight there was a lightshow of hundreds of flashing lights sparkling.

Stacey kept saying eh at the end of her sentences, so that people would think we were Canadian.

Best purchase of the day was two black berets which we wore around to ‘blend in’ with the locals. I was hoping to find one that said Rusty on it

Vincet Vega in Pulp Fiction wasn't lying...it really is called 'Royal Cheese.'

Our first hotel was your typical Parisian hotel, very charming, but our room was the size of a phone booth. Great location though, only a five minute walk to the Eiffel Tower.

Next stop….Aix en Provence. According to the map, it’s an 800km drive, but I think we can make it there in about five and a half hours.