As I'm preparing to take our first trip home together, I've realized how much I let my blog go! We have had a really fun spring/early summer with lots of traveling, sun, wine and relaxation. I will try to recap the adventures as best as I can :)
In March we took a 4 day trip through Tuscany.We drove to Palermo and flew from there to Pisa. To our shock and terror we learned that on certain Italian airlines, no one acknowledges their assigned airplane seats. The stereotype is 100% true that Italians will not wait in a nice orderly, American line. So just imagine a crowd of 200 something Europeans, smooshed together in a line-like clump fighting for seats on an airplane. Mamma mia.
We visited Pisa, Florence and Montalcino. Pisa was a quick stop. Took the obligatory "look I'm holding up the tower" picture, realized that there are actually more than one building in the city to see, had a cocktail and then headed to Florence. Pisa really is a beautiful city and I'm sure you could enjoy a few days taking in the sights and the food, but its waaay too touristy for my liking.
We took a train from Pisa to Florence, and stayed at a hotel in the center of the city. It was great, we could walk from the train station to the hotel, and then from there anywhere we wanted to go in the city. My dogs were barking by the end of the trip, but it was nice to not have to worry about parking or translating the signs for public transit! We visited art museums, saw the beautiful sights, ate big steaks and drank delicious wines. Florence is a place of beauty, and decadence.
Our favorite part of the trip was the tour through wine country in Montalcino. We went with a tour guide and a small group to two vineyards that produce Rosso di Montalcino and Brunello wines. The Rosso is the cheaper, more table red, very tasty. Brunello is my new love, a very full bodied "meditation " red wine. The first vineyard was family owned, Our tour guide was the owner, manager, farmer, harvester, wine maker, bottler, labler, chef and marketer. The little place has so much character and incredible wine. The second vineyard was a larger, more mass produced type of wine, but just as good tasting. The experience of small family owned boutique wine just didn't come close to the big guys. Here are some pictures of the day
We spent our Easter exploring "Isola Bella", an island ( really an Isthmus) near Taormina. We took Sophie for a walk on the rocky beach, spotted our first topless sunbathers and German tourists of the season, and had our picture taken by Asian tourists. It was really pretty- but the rocks were hard to sit/walk on!
On Memorial Day weekend we took the ferry over to the mainland in stayed in the town of Tropea, in the Reggio Calabria province. It was fun having our car and Sophie there for the weeekend. We rented an awesome apartment right on the beach in a little resort type place. They had a full resteraunt where we ate dinner the night we arrived, and breakfast each morning. We spent our days by the beach and evenings in Tropea which has a busy little pedestrian area full of shopping, dining and people watching. It was amazing to us how different the people, food and wine are on the mainland, even though we were only about 100 miles from home.
Pictures from Boston/Cape Cod to come soon! We had a blast with our family and friends, but are happy to be home with Sophie again :)
