We
see Venice on our last day in Italy, ride the vaporetti (water taxi),
and cruise the canal. Our last meal of spaghetti and meat sauce. Scott
has one last octopus leg.
Arevaderci, Italia!
Ciao!
Thursday, February 1, 2024
Venice - Last Day in Italia
Clemenzi's Day Out
Clemenzi gets a day to wander free, alone. Then he prepares a beautiful meal on the balcony for the girls.
Hike in Cinque Terra
It's
Tuesday, our first full day by the sea. We see in our Rick Steve's
guidebook that we can hike to the next village. We start out thinking it
would be a nice little walk. It was a little more than Scott bargained
for! We made it - but took the train back!
Through Pisa to Monterosso
We
left Florence a bit sad, saying goodbye to Amy. We head into our second
week back in our little VW Golf, heading toward the coast to ditch the
car at AVIS and take a train to Cinque Terre, five little villages on
the mountain-side on the Mediterranean Sea. Betsy is excited - she loves
the ocean. We drop off the car on a street corner (no giant Avis lot
here), and beg the guy to drive us to the train station - he does. We
stand there waiting for the train, then with 30 seconds left, realize
that our train is right there! We just make it, and get to beautiful
Hotel Villa Steno on Monday night. Since we didn't get lunch, we go to 2
restaurants within 4 hours for the local delicacies - pesto lasagna,
seafood (Scott reviews some of that), and lobster spaghetti. Linda
Vander Els, you were right! This hotel is awesome!
Florence with Amy
Here
we are in Florence with Amy, our Italian guide. Scott woke up with a
mysterious ache in one foot, so he's limping a bit. Florence is shopping
capital of the world! The girls really enjoy wandering around thru
designer stores (VERY pricey), market stalls with tons of leather goods,
and gelati on every corner. We have an interesting lunch of OCTOPUS
salad, vino. We marvel at the gold jewelry stores lining the Pointe
Vecchio, and indulge once more in good food and wine for dinner - which
puts Scott over the edge. I'm reading "Eat, Love, Pray" and see why she
used the theme EAT for Italy. We think we will give up American food
once we get home, stock up on olive oil and parmesan cheese.
Under the Tuscan Sun
Pizzer and beea for breakfast, and a stroll through Volterra. GRAPPA after dinner, an unpleasant digestivo. It was a struggle, but we made it UP THERE to the top of the DUOMO in Florence. A cacophony of bells in the piazza. Don't we sound Italian?
Rental Car to Orvieto
We pick up our rental car in the heart of Roma. Oh boy, wait 'till you see.
We are traveling in Tuscany now, under the Tuscan sun as the clouds finally clear.
We find a beautiful little town called Orvieto, and spend a few hours.
We try to catch the shuttle to the top of a village, but the darn thing never shows!
We
end up hanging on the street with the elderly italians watching the
traffic. so off we head to Sienna, where we spent the night. Today we
will check out Sienna and then drive to Florence to meet up with Amy.
Roma Day 3
One
last day in Roma... we see the Colosseum and walk around Ancient Rome.
More food and wine! Wait till you see the prosciutto pizza! Ben - your
Mom has a question for you... check out the guy we caught on tape in the
restaurant- we think he's the actor from the Soprano's! Anybody out
there seen the Soprano's??? anybody??? Scott has had some bad luck
ordering his dinners lately - you'll hear all about it! Tomorrow we are
off to rent a car and try driving out of Rome. Should be interesting...
off to Tuscany! Ciao !!
Roman Holiday
What
a Roman holiday! We eat a paninni and travel the wobbly alleys in the
heart of Rome. Scott is in heaven TWICE! He sees a little car extracted
from the alley, and discovers a VINO shop that surrounds him with wine.
We see some of the VATICAN, the TREVI Fountain, and find a marvelous
place for dinner. Ahhh, more pizza and gelati.
Roma Here we Come
We
find out way to the train station in Milan via the metro - wow! We meet
some other travelers from Japan and help each other along. We get to
Roma by 2:30 pm on Monday and hit the streets for exploring and dinner.
We tour the PANTHEON. After a sudden lightening storm - which we waited
out in a nice little cafe in the Piazza with some wine and bruschetta-
we got LOST going back to our hotel. Scott has a few words for the tour
director!
Day One in Milan
We
arrive in Milan and take a WILD taxi ride to the hotel! Luke, you think
I'm scared on YOUR rides, this guy was flying! You'll see us drink our
first VINO, and tour the DUOMO. We climbed up to the top to see the
whole city of Milan. We happened to be up there at noon, when all the
church bells were ringing. Splendid! Scott sees himself on a billboard,
we eat panzerotti - a yummy cheese/tomato pocket, and watch Amy buy some
wonderful red boots! Betsy and Wendy take a heel spin on a bull's balls
in the Galleria for good luck. A great start - Monday morning we are
off to Rome on the train. See you there!
Our First Stop
We'll start our journey at Logon on Friday, taking off for Milan at 6:00 pm. We'll meet up with our friend Amy and stay at the Romana Residence in Milan for the weekend. Amy will show us the sights in Milan before we head out to Rome on Monday!
Check back often for pictures and videos!
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