Day 18 --Home Sweet Home

Today is bittersweet.  Of course, we're sad to be leaving Italy.  On
the other hand, we're excited to see those we have missed at home.

We, embarrassingly, began the day with a bottle of sweet (actually too
sweet) dessert wine that we had gotten from Carla Zenato back at the
Zenato winery near Lake Garda early into our trip.  She had given it to
us in celebration of all of our birthdays.  Knowing this was the last
time we'd have a chance to share it, we uncorked it.

We were shocked when the Italian women walked in the room and shook
their heads disapprovingly... not because we were sipping wine, but
because it appeared to be a sin to eat Parmigiano-Reggiano  cheese for
breakfast.  We were determined not to leave this behind, either,
knowing very well we wouldn't be able to bring an open package back to
the States.

Apparently, some cheese in Italy must be sacred.  Being the rebels we
are, we ate it anyway.  The ladies didn't complain when we left behind
another half bottle of wine and the rest of the Parmigiano.

We used the same taxi service that dropped us off at Sweet Dreams 2 to
drive us back to the airport.   This time our driver was one of the
owners of the taxi service.  He spoke perfect English.  He drove us by
the Mussolini monuments which were very plain and geometric in nature.
   We learned that he was born and raised in Rome, and told us, "I am a
true Roman."  Because of this, we all had to touch him just so we could
say that we had touched a Roman.  He thought this was funny.

We flew on Lufthansa to Munich, appreciating the Bailey's Irish Cream
offered for our coffee.  Next we were on to Chicago, then Minneapolis.
 Calls were made to those waiting, which got us even more excited to
get home.  

Donna's sister and her niece both drove to pick us (and all of our
goods) up at the airport.  Donna's nephew, Mo Mo, was also along and
smiled with joy to see her.  In the three weeks we were gone, he went
from saying "Dah Dah" to a clear "Donna."

We went back to Sharon's to get Brenda's car.  Beth and Mary were
fortunate to be able to ride with her to where they were going.  Beth's
parents met them on route to Hector at a major crossroad;  this saved
them from having to trek all of the way to the Minneapolis
airport. Mary was dropped off at her mom's house at nearly 1 a.m. 

Donna and Brenda worked the next day, while Beth prepared to drive home
to Idaho with her parents.  Mary drove back to the Twin Cities with her
mom and sister to fly to NYC for her brother's surprise 60th birthday
bash.

The trip was fabulous.  Even 18 days were too short.  Time flies when
one's having fun.  Maybe that 's why we're already 50.

May you all be blessed enough to share 50 years of friendship with
someone.  Thanks for reading :  )

Day 17 - Rome's Colosseum and More

Today was a wonderfully fun day!  We took the guided underground tour
of the Colosseum. This is a fairly new tour, and we thoroughly enjoyed
it.  It turned out to be one of Brenda and Donna's favorite things on
the entire trip.  

The guide brought us to the lowest floor and described how the wild
animals were pulleyed up in an elevator to the arena above.  We were
told that emperors would hold 100 days of games, open to the public.
 The people were also fed for free during the games.  This is how the
emperor would keep favor with the people.

Christians and criminals were often the ones that fought each other
and/or the animals.  Sometimes hides would be put on the people, then
they were put into the arena with carnivores.  At other times, they
were burned alive.  

We saw the Arch of Constatine which was built to memorialize the first
Christian emperor in Rome.  He claimed he had seen God in the sky who
told him he would be victorious in battle.  After this actually
happened, he became a believer.  He was the one who put a nix on
Christians being persecuted in the Colosseum in 313 and told them no
longer to bury their dead in the catacombs outside of the city.
 Instead they were told to live out in the open to be examples.

We visited the Roman Forum.  It was amazing how our government
replicates the ancient Roman one!  They had a public governmental
square, government buildings, and a Senate.  You've undoubtedly heard
of Julius Caesar (buried here) and his nephew, Caesar Augustus, from
the Bible.  He's the one who required the census when Mary & Joseph had
to travel to Bethlehem.  Both of them were rulers here.

We made our way to the top of Palatine Hill.  This is mostly ruins now,
but is where wealthy people, including Caesar Augustus, had their
homes.  The hill overlooked the Forum, the Colosseum, and Circus
Maximus (the track where they held races like in Ben Hur!)

We took a taxi across town that brought us to the steps of the Capuchin
crypt, a small chapel where monks felt it was honorable to donate their
bones after death to decorate its rooms.  For example, a skull was hung
on the wall with a hip bone on either side, and it looked like the face
of an angel with wings.  They even had chandeliers made completely with
bones.  Since Earl (Beth's husband) likes to hunt, Mary told her he
could put all of those bones to use now in their house.  Kind of like
arts and crafts for a manly man.  Beth was not humored!

By the way, "cappuccino" comes from the brown color of these monks'
robes.  

We walked to Rome's famous Spanish steps.  The Spanish Embassy's
nearby, thus the name.  We then made it to Mary's favorite spot in the
entire world:  a small piazza in front of the Pantheon.  It has her
favorite fountain, complete with goofy heads that spit water out of
their mouths.  What makes the fountains more enjoyable is that birds
love to sit on top of the goofy heads to make them look even more
ridiculous.  It takes very little to humor some people, and --
obviously-- Mary's one of them.

Brenda took notice of a gorgeous Italian man in a bright teal jacket.
 We think he was a model since he was walking with a Paris Hilton-type
gal with high heeled Stilettos.  She'd turn around in a crowd and
there'd be a photographer snapping away.  Brenda told us tat the man in
teal   looked like a younger, taller, more handsome Tom Cruise, so of
course the rest of us waddled after him to get a look.  Donna did a
stealth move and even photographed him.  

We popped into a wonderful little restaurant for our last dinner in
Italy.  For one last hurrah, we stopped at a gelateria called Della
Palma that is known for 100 flavors of gelato.  Donna was as pleased as
punch to find a flavor (pine nut) that she had fallen in love with
early into the trip and hadn't been able to find since.  

We ended the late evening with a half bottle of wine, and shared the
rest with our new-found Italian friends back at the apartment.  Gaia's
grandmother and aunt had joined her mom and her for the evening.  The
grandmother was hysterical, even though we had to mostly understand
through facial expressions and Gaia's limited translations.  It was a
fun way to end our final evening in Rome.

Day 16 - Vatican City

Donna got whistled at by an Italian man early this morning.  Mary and
she went to the ATM to get cash, and on the way back Donna saw a statue
through a huge arched doorway.  As she entered through to take a
picture, she was reprimanded by a security guard...the whistling
Italian man!!

Mary turned fifty today!!  Happy birthday, Mary!!  Thankfully, being in
Rome (her favorite city in the world) has eased the pain considerably.

We began our day of touring with another treasured ride on the
over-crowded city bus, making our way to the Scavi tour underneath St.
Peter's Basilica.  Here we saw the tomb of St. Peter and the
foundations for two other ancient churches built to honor him which
were beneath the current Basilica.

Upon completion of that tour, we stopped for a quick Gelato at the Old
Bridge Gelateria, then headed to the Vatican Museum and the Sistine
Chapel.  We thoroughly enjoyed making silly faces and taking goofy
pictures by the many statue heads which lined the halls of the museum.
 Occasionally, the other tourists appeared to find our antics rather
entertaining.  We were always very respectful of the chapel requests
for silence, but would find a new way to view the statues when we were
free to do so.  However, a very grumpy German tour guide was not so
amused by our smiling faces and told us to be quiet, and that we were
not "natural".  We had to use all of our super human strength to
restrain ourselves from laughing out loud right then and there.

The hallway leading to the Sistine Chapel is fabulously painted,
especially the ceilings.  We saw Michelangelo's famous creation
painting with God and Adam touching fingers.  We also viewed his
wall-sized painting over the altar called "The Last Judgement."  We all
felt a sense of satisfaction when the German tour lady was speaking
loudly and Donna calmly turned to her and stated, "You're not supposed
to talk in the Sistine Chapel."

We took the secret exit out of the Sistine Chapel.  It bypassed the
actual museum exit and took us right back into the Basilica.  This was
bliss, since we passed majorly long lines.  
We climbed steps to the top of the basilica, stopping part way to view
the inside ceiling of the dome (painted by Michelangelo).  We then took
 more steps to the very top of the basilica to see the best views of
Rome from outside.  we were told that no other building in the city is
allowed to be taller than St. Peter's.

We had cappuccinos near the top, then descended the stairs and  went
into the basilica. It truly is breathtaking.  Our favorite things were
Raphael's mosaic of "The Transfiguration" (done so well that it looked
like an oil painting) and Michelangelo's statue of "The Pieta" (Mother
Mary holding the dead Christ) which he did as a 24-year-old.

We waved goodbye to Vatican City and took a taxi to Piazza Navona to
see the Fountain of Four Rivers.  It felt good to sit on a bench and
people watch.  We ate at a trattoria called Cul de Sac on Piazza
Pasquino and the owner, Marco, was kind enough to print off our tickets
for our Colosseum tour tomorrow.  It was quite a production getting
this accomplished, so we were thanking God to have them printed.

Our meal was different than others we had eaten, and totally delicious!
 We had meatballs in white wine sauce with mashed potatoes, zucchini,
artichoke pie, broccoli pasta, salmon in paper, hard-crusted bread,
tirumasu, orange glazed almond torte with cream, chocolate mousse,
custard ice cream sprinkled with pistachios, and a fabulous bottle of
red wine.

On our walk back to the hotel, we visited the lit Trevi fountain and
threw coins in to ensure our return to Rome.  Upon our return, we met
an Italian mother and her 19-year-old daughter who are also staying in
the Sweet Dreams 2 B & B.  We learned that Gaia auditioned today for
David Zara's "Romeo and Juliette" and received the leading role of
Juliette.  She was all smiles and finding it hard to believe that she
would be performing at the Grand Theater in Rome.  

We giggle at how Gaia and her mom speak so loudly and with such
enthusiasm.  Add a lot of hand motions to this, and they almost make
our group (okay, maybe not Mary and Donna) look quiet:  )

Day 15 - Pope Benedict and the Catacombs

Today we piled onto a city bus (packed like sardines)to Get to St.
Peter's  Square.  One of Beth's requests was to see Pope Benedict XVI
wave his blessing from his papal residence window.  We discovered that
he does this at noon on Sundays.

He was so high up that, even with binoculars, he looked like an ant!
 We hadn't realized that he spoke as many languages as he did.  He
delivered a message in Italian, English, German, French, Spanish, and (
we think) Polish.  It was entertaining to see how crowds cheered, waved
flags, and clapped when he began speaking in their language.

We spent some time sitting in Saint Peter's Square.  The sunshine felt
good on our faces!  The square is oversized and spacious.  It is
surrounded with rounded walls made of white columns, and the walls are
topped with 140 statues of saints.  It is so expansive that it almost
feels overwhelming.

It began to sprinkle, so we dipped into a restaurant for lunch.  The
pasta, pizza, dessert, and cappuccinos hit the spot.  We walked by
Cast' Angelo (also called Hadrian's Mausoleum) with the bronze statue
of St. Michael on its top.  This was used as a papal residency for
awhile and has a high outdoor passageway that leads all the way to the
church.

We crossed the Tiber River on the Ponte Sant' Angelo Bridge.  It's
beautiful bridge with 14 marble statues of angels.  Each one carries a
symbol of the passion of Christ: a nail, shroud, crown, etc.   In the
Middle Ages, it was the only bridge connecting the Vatican to downtown
Rome.  In 1450, the crowd of pilgrims became so large that it caused
the bridge's banisters to break and 200 fell to their deaths.  We
thought that only happened at rock concerts...

None of us had seen catacombs, so we chose to visit the first ones in
Rome.  The Catacombs of Callisto are 4 miles south of town, so we
hailed a taxi.  Our driver dropped us off way at the bottom of the hill
and--still walking two miles later uphill with hoods and umbrellas-- we
were not humored.  The good news is that we made the final tour and had
a wonderful guide named Brother Oberto, originally from the Philippines.

We laughed the whole way through because he kept telling us to hurry
through the tour saying they would shut the catacomb lights off on us
at 5:30.  He was serious, but we kept giggling just trying to visualize
such a thing!  The most humorous part of the tour was Brother Oberto
whispering, "Quickly now... The Germans are coming.". Again, he was
serious (there was another guide behind us with German tourists).  We
especially started laughing when he asked the only man in our group,
"You're not German, are you?"  Maybe it was so funny because Beth,
Donna, Mary, and Brenda all have some German ancestry.

The catacombs were fascinating.  The Romans were into cremation, but
the earliest Christians wanted to be buried believing their bodies
would rise whole at the return of Christ.  We not only saw empty burial
holes but also frescos of the walls and gravestones.  We saw the
memorial to St. Cecelia who was a young Roman girl who encouraged early
Christians to sing about their faith.  The Romans attempted to kill her
three times, the last time by beheading.  It was law that one being
beheaded could only be chopped three times.  This saint lived another
three days. When her tomb was excavated later, her body was curled onto
its side with three fingers being held out.

We stopped at the Church Domine Quo Vadis where it is said that Peter
was deliberating whether to leave Rome.  Christ then appeared to him
and told him to stay.  The church was very tiny, but had a moving
fresco of Peter being crucified upside down and another one of him
holding the keys to the kingdom.

Brenda loved the stain glass of an angel holding a sword over what
looked like Satan.   Interestingly, there was a block of marble from
the old Roman road (Appia Way) with footprints.  According to
tradition, they are said to be the prints of Jesus on the ancient Via
Appia.

Donna said we lost some more weight from all the jiggling our bodies
had to endure on the bouncing public bus on the way back to our B & B!
 Hitting all those bumps in the road didn't put us in much of a mood to
eat: (   We ate lightly and headed off to bed.

Day 14 - Driving from Tuscany to Rome

We ate our last breakfast at Art B & B and said goodbye to Elisa.   She
has gone above and beyond for us this entire week.  In fact, since we
still hadn't found a Mail Boxes, Etc. (postal and UPS won't mail
alcohol) to mail Kent's wine, she has arranged to have it picked up by
them on Monday morning.  She gave us a bottle of her favorite red wine
for our birthdays to take along to Rome.  It was from her friend's
winery.

It rained the entire 3 1/2- hour drive to Rome.  Unbelievably, the rain
stopped when we arrived.  We safely turned our rental car back in to
Hertz at the airport on the outskirts of Rome.  Using mostly charades,
we had a taxi pick us up right at Hertz and take us to "Sweet Dreams 2"
B & B in downtown Rome.

Our B & B is actually a second-story apartment on Via Nazionale, a busy
street between the Colosseum and Trevi Fountain.  The Victor Emmanuele
monument (also called the "wedding cake" because it's big, white, and
decorative) is very close to where we are staying.

We wandered out to see some sights before having dinner.  Luckily for
us, we happenstanced upon Lux in Arcana at the Capitoline Museum.  We
had tried to buy tickets online, but were denied since it is a special
week in all of Italy where many museums were either free or having
reduced prices.   We arrived two minutes before the ticket office
closed and found absolutely no line... a miracle in and of itself!   We
were given an hour to view the display.

We had heard about this event a few months ago.  The letters and
documents we saw were from the Vatican's Secret Archives and have just
been released to the public for the first time.  The papers included
letters to the Pope from Abraham Lincoln,  Confederate President
Jefferson Davis, Mary Queen of Scots (a.k.a. Bloody Mary), and Marie
Antoinette.  

We viewed a letter sent to the Vatican asking that the pope would annul
the marriage between King Henry VIII and his first wife.  He wanted to
marry his wife's helper, Anne Boleyn, instead.  The letter had been
signed and/or wax sealed by nearly 80 political figures.

It was also interesting to see a document that Galileo signed saying he
took back his theory that the earth was round and that the planets
revolved around the sun.  The Catholic Church would excommunicate him
if he didn't recant.  Later his theories would prove to be correct.

The Edict of Worms was on display, famous during the time of Martin
Luther's Reformation.  There was also papers on the Knights of Templar
and a document signed by  Napoleon Bonaparte.  We decided he had the
"little man" or "chihuahua syndrome" since his wax seal was almost four
times bigger than anyone else's on display!

We left the museum and stopped to look at the lit ruins of the Roman
Forum and Colosseum  on the way to dinner.  We ate at Enotecca Cavour
313, the only poor Rick Steve's recommendation our whole trip.  The
service was horrible;  we asked for our check four or five times...
 and that's just one example of how we were treated.  Thank the Lord we
had chosen a delicious wine, or we would have had to cause a scene
(like that would ever happen having been raised on "Minnesota nice"
etiquette)!

Now that we're in Rome, we're looking forward to doing what the Romans
do!  

Day 13 - Fiesole

We were able to take our time getting ready this morning and loved
being able to sip and enjoy the warm, foamy cappuccinos at our B & B.
 Donna's aunt, Silvia, had suggested spending time in Fiesole
(pronounced fee-AY-zoh-lay);  it is a small village 5 1/2 miles
northeast of Florence.

The curvy road up to the town was Donna's greatest driving challenge
here so far.  Most of the road was so narrow that only one car could
fit, and much of it had brick walls on both sides.  It was an
experience driving there, but it was so worth it!

Fiesole sits on hills above Florence, so you can imagine the fabulous
views.  Etruscans settled areas like these from 800 to 400 B.C. and the
Romans moved in around 400 B.C.  It fascinates us to think who walked
here before us!

We wandered around the Roman amphitheater and baths that date back to
the 1st century.  They were surprisingly well preserved.  We snapped
goofy pictures while attempting to mimic the positions and facial
expressions of some of the statues!   A couple of us tried out the
amphitheater's acoustics by singing at its bottom.  We were impressed
by how the voices carried.  Donna was in her glory taking pictures, and
Brenda couldn't get enough of the ancient ruins.

The village's museum had excavation findings from both Etruscan and
Roman times.  Beth and Mary were fascinated by the relics.  We went in
thinking that people from 500 BC were unsophisticated, and left
realizing that they were crafting bronze and glazing pottery that we
couldn't even do using a machine!  

We moseyed up a steep hill for breathtaking views and San Francesco, a
small church.  We climbed spiral stairs to see tiny rooms where the
Franciscan monks lived.  Each room had a wooden slab bed, desk, and
chair.  The largest room was about 6' x 6'.  Inside the church was a
fresco of St. Elizabeth.  Beth had her picture taken by it.

We meandered down the hill to view a public garden.  As we crossed the
street Mary felt a splat on her forehead.  She had been baptized with
luck by a bird flying overhead.  We saw  the 14th century Town Hall
decorated with several coat of arms and the small Church of Santa
Maria.  Santa Maria is thought to be the 1st Christian church in
Fiesole, already in existence in the 900s.

We headed back to Art B & B mid-afternoon, and this time recorded a
video of our GPS exiting us to our village of San Casciano Val di Pesa.
 We did this for memory's sake, knowing it will make all of us laugh
later.  "Vera" not only sounds Asian when she pronounces it, but she
also sounds like she has a mouth full of marbles.  No wonder we still
can't pronounce our village without locals grinning!

We took a final drive around the the village since we will be leaving
tomorrow morning : ( and stopped to look at a tiny church on the
outskirts of town.  We were able to take brief naps before dinner.
 Elisa had made reservations at a favorite local restaurant.

Cinque di Vino proved to be everything Elisa had said it would be.  The
owners, Marco and Silvia, are passionate about the Tuscan food they
serve and just as passionate about pleasing their guests.  We started
the meal with a local Chianti and an antipasti sampler that included
six unbelievable delicacies... everything from polenta to marinated
pork over chickpeas.   

Marco recommended artichoke lasagna (which was out of this world) and a
moon shaped truffle pasta stuffed with cheese and pine nuts.  At this
point Donna commented, "If we have dessert, it will have to be some
kind of liquid so that it can seep into the cracks."  Soon after this,
the waitress walked in with a marinated--then breaded and deep-fried--
Florentine steak.    This put the kibosh on ordering dessert, even if
those being brought to others looked heavenly.

The owner insisted on taking a picture with us near his wood-burning
grill.  Silvia brought in the hugest bottle of Limoncello we've seen on
the trip.  Sadly, we were so seriously stuffed that we only sip down
about a tablespoon each.

Whereas it took less than two minutes to walk TO the restaurant, it
took us longer to uncomfortably waddle our way back.  Our last night in
San Casciano turned out to be a wonderful one.

 

Day 12 - Chianti Wine Tour and Siena

We were able to sleep in a bit today, since our scheduled wine tour at
Castello di Verrazzano in Greve wasn't until 11:00.  We didn't have to
drive many miles, but it took awhile due to the narrow, winding roads
in the beautiful countryside.  We saw red poppies growing wild on the
side of road and fields of yellow and white blossoms.

Our guide's name was Matteo.  He was a young, dark Italian man in his
twenties who greeted us with a "Happy Birthday!"  He must have reviewed
his emails and been reminded that we were in the country to celebrate
our 50th birthdays.  Even so, we were impressed!

The castle and its surrounding fields of grape vines we're spectacular.
 We were shown the process of making Castello di Verrazzano's Chinti.
 The oak barrels held up to 6000 bottles of wine.  Some had a little
door to clean the barrels about the size of a meat platter. Matteo made
a joke about having oompa  loompas climbing in to do the cleaning!

He showed us a room full of dusty, aging bottles and Mary started
singing a country song about "dust on the bottle."  Brenda, Donna,and
Beth weren't red neck enough to know what song she was singing about...
 There was a 1962 bottle of wine, so we made sure to remind Matteo of
how that was a very good year since we were all born.

Kristin and Phillip, a couple from L.A., sat at our table during the
lunch.  We were served a variety of meats, cheese, and wines to include
Chianti and a Super Tuscan.  We bought a bottle of wine to drink later
in the week, and Matteo presented each of us with a jar of the castle's
special honey in honor of our birthdays.

We continued driving south to the city of Siena.  Before the Black
Death in 1348, Siena rivaled in power with Florence, Venice, and Paris.
 The bubonic plague stifled the city, so now it remains quite medieval.
 Most of the buildings are the reddish "sienna" color.

On our hike to the center of town, we stopped at Fount Branda;  we did
this, of course, for Brenda's sake.  (plus, none of us minded sitting
to catch our breath...)  We stopped into the Church of San Domenico, a
huge brick church with a lot of bizarre surprises inside.  The relics
of this church included St. Catherine's thumb, the chain she often
whipped herself with, and her mummified head over the altar.  Hmm.  It
makes us glad we didn't have any saints in our home town churches!

Il Campo, the town's main square, is probably it's most familiar site.
 Horse races are held there twice a year and nearly everyone in town
shows up to watch.  The rest of the year, people use the plaza like
it's a park or beach.  They lounge, bike, and picnic on it.  We saw the
famous city hall tower and watched children chase pigeons while eating
dinner near the square.

The Duomo was one of our favorites on our trip.  The outside facade was
pink, green, and white marble with statues on the roof.  The inside
pillars were dark and light striped.  We especially loved the statues
by Bernini, Michelangelo, and Dontelli as well as the Duomo Library
with its ancient books.  This cathedral was decked to the max.  The
inlaid marble floors themselves (to include large scenes of Bible
stories) took 200 years to complete.  

 We returned to our hotel exhausted.  Our time in Tuscany is winding
down, and we're hating to think about it.

Day 11 - Florence
We awoke to rainy, blustery weather; it was a perfect day to visit
museums.  We
meandered around the winding streets of Florence to find a public
parking garage. 
Our first point of interest was the Museum Academia to visit the famous
David, Michelangelo's gorgeous sculpture.  It was amazing to realize
that he had sculpted this seventeen-foot work at the young age of 26.
 We were in awe of the detail in the toes, hands, arms, veins, and
different facial expressions from every direction.  After seeing him,
we now understand why so many men try to achieve that six pack!

We had lunch at a small ristorante and had a bottle of Pinot Grigio,
special toasted bread with cheese and tomato, spaghetti carbonara,
penne pasta in a walnut and Gorgonzola cream sauce, tiramisu, a dessert
resembling a chocolate eclair, and cappuccinos. Because we were so
patient, our busy waiter poured us four limoncelos.  At a table next to
us sat a couple from Dallas, Texas. They were very pleasant and shared
some of their travel tales with us. 

We walked by the huge Palazzo Vecchio, the fortified "Old Palace" of
the rich Medici family.  This is where the original statue of David
stood.  We also admired the Gothic Duomo (a cathedral called Santa
Maria del Fiore).  It was built using white, green, and pink Tuscan
marble and was magnificent!

After lunch we made our way to the Uffizzi Gallery where Mary gave us a
history lesson on the works of Botticelli's paintings. A few other
artists there are Michelangelo,  Raphael, and Leonardo da Vinci.  The
museum itself is quite small, but it is claimed to be the greatest
collection of Italian art anywhere.  To be honest, there was so much to
see it was overwhelming.

We then walked to Ponte Vecchio Bridge, the most ancient and
photographed bridge in Florence.   Mary, Brenda and Beth looked at
way-too-expensive gold and silver jewelry shops, and Donna joined us
after taking some beautiful pictures from different vantage points on
the the bridge.

We had some difficulty tracing our way back to the parking garage.
 Thankfully, Donna had taken pictures along our route and she
remembered enough details to lead us back to our car before the evening
light had faded.  Vera (our GPS) was of little help, and we have now
determined not to rely on her for directions while walking.

We ended our day back at our B & B with a scrumptious light meal of
parmesan cheese, crackers, wine, fresh pears and strawberries, olives,
and nuts.  We laughed and laughed and laughed as we reminisced over
high school memories.

Day 10 - Ballooning

Day 10 - From Hot Air Balloon.

Day 10 - Hot Air Balloon and San Gimignano

Today we got up early and surprised Brenda with a hot air balloon ride throughout the Tuscan countryside.  Early in the planning of our trip, we learned that a hot air balloon ride was on her Bucket List.  This was all we needed for incentive!  It was tough keeping our lips sealed from both her and those closest to her (and to us) because we were afraid someone would slip and leak the surprise.  

From early on Donna, Beth, and Mary told Brenda that we were going on a "tour" of Tuscany and that it tended to be cooler than normal on this particular outdoor day trip.  We all packed extra garments in our bags for her,  just in case.

We were parked at the corner of a hotel waiting for our tour guide, when the van pulled up with the hot air ballon trailer behind him.   Mary commented, " Maybe this is him."  Brenda laughed and kiddingly said, "I don't think so... unless you're going up in a hot balloon!"

With that, the rest of us started laughing and shaking our heads up and down.  Her reaction was shock, then, "Oh, my gosh...are we really going on a hot air balloon?!?!"

We had three men helping during the excursion:  Evan, Guido, and Lorenzo.  All of us helped get the balloon inflated.  The trick was climbing into the basket...  We're not as limber as we used to be!  Brenda, fortunate to have long legs, was the only one to get in without a struggle.

The Tuscan landscape is beautiful, but from the air it is BREATHTAKING!  The weather was perfect with sun and no clouds in the sky.  We saw small towns and castles on green hill tops.  It was so peaceful and, surprisingly, so slow that even those of us that are afraid of heights were fine.  It appears that every dog is freaked out by hot air balloons because we heard each of them as we passed over.

Evan and Guido were up in the air with us, while Lorenzo was below following our path with the car.  The men kept telling us that they were going to pick us a flower.  We dipped down towards a cottonwood tree.  We all assumed they would pull up at the last second, but...NO...  Suddenly we crashed into the top of the tree and Evan surfaced with a branch full of white blossoms!  We picked branches and cotton off of our clothes and out of our hair all day.

Our landing was surprisingly smooth in the middle of a grove of olive trees.  Our basket landed with a gentle bounce.  We hopped out and Evan opened a picnic basket with Champagne and fluted glasses.  We had a toast before helping to deflate and roll up the balloon.  

The gear went into the trailer (along with Guido and Lorenzo); there was only enough room for the driver and us gals in the vehicle.  We stopped for cappuccinos and it was here that we learned the true meaning of "Ciao (pronounced chow) Bello."   Mary assumed that because "Ciao, Bella" meant "Hello, beautiful girl" that "Ciao, Bello" meant "Hello, handsome man."

Evan set her straight by telling us that it is actually slang for "Let's go (to bed).". We laughed hysterically because Mary had said this to several men, most of them old and in the shops while buying bus tickets.  No wondered they smiled so widely...

We drove onto San Gimignano, a walled medieval village with 14 of the 70 towers still intact.  It was a wonderfully fun shopping day for Brenda, Mary, and Beth.  We found many shops with traditional ceramics, leather, and linens.  Donna, the hater of all shopping, took photos instead.

We arrived back to the B & B exhausted and opted, again, to munch on snacks around the kitchen table.  

Day 9 - Young to Aged Parmesan

Day 9 - Parmesan Storage

Day 9 - Bologna Foodie Tour

We started our day at 4:45 to make our early tour in Bologna.  Bologna is famous for its food.  Even the Italians claim that, other than eating at their own mama's house, it is the best place to eat in the entire world.  

We had signed up for this tour because it was rated the #1 tour in all of the Florence area.  Our tour guide, Alessandro, was not only passionate about food but also very entertaining and funny.  There were only seven others in the group:  a couple from Ontario, Canada and a family from Australia.   Beth suggested setting up her niece Erin (presently working in New Zealand)  with one of the sons. 

The tour began in the Emilia-Romagna countryside, the only place on earth where Parmigiano-Reggiano is made.  We witnessed the entire process of this cheese being made 
from a local farmer hooking his milk truck up to a hose which then entered the building to the final aging room.

There is a chef at the factory and 3 other employees that work 365 days per year. (UGH... this brought back memories of dairy farming for Mary.)  The chef's 9- year-old son, who was present during the tour, will some day take over the master cheese maker  duties. 

Through observation, we now understand why Parmigiano-Reggiano is so costly.  It takes 
320 gallons of milk to make 220 pounds of cheese, and the milk can only be from 3 types of cows fed only in that region.  They only make 16 wheels of Parmigiano each day in this place.  We saw them warm the milk, add enzymes to separate the whey, craft the curds, form the rounds of Parmigiano, and store > 8 million dollars worth in their "bank" of cheese.  We learned that there are 3 levels of cheese.  1 is the best and gets DOP stamp of approval. The final product is tested by pounding a mallet and listening for a consistent sound.  Those rated a 2 do not have a consistent sound, meaning there are air bubbles.  2s still get a stamp from DOP, but lines are cut in the side on the rind. 3 becomes table cheese and does not get the DOP stamp.  We also learned that the cheese had to age 12 months before the inspectors even came to visit.  Needless to say, they're into their Parmigiano !

Following the tour, we were able to buy cheese that was aged between 2 and 4 years for one quarter the price that we would pay in the States.  We were served 1 and 2 cheese with glasses of red Lambrusco.   Their Lambrusco does not taste like the inexpensive Lambrusco back home!  Donna dropped her cheese and spilled her red wine down Alessandro's front.  He had to spend the rest of the day with red wine stains on his white t-shirt, jeans and tennis shoes.  Luckily, he was very gracious. 

From there we drove to Villa San Donnino  where we visited the Balsamic Vinegar Villa .   After learning about the process of reducing grapes to vinegar, we tasted multiple versions of Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena DOP (the fancy name for certified balsamic here) to include 6-year-old, 14-year-old, and 45-year-old balsamic vinegars.  They also served us vinegar poured over vanilla gelato; it was surprising good!

We ate lunch at a local family restaurant where the 85-year-old grandma made homemade pasta.  We feasted on 5 different kinds  of pasta with local red and white wines.  Our favorites were spinach pasta with four cheeses and the pork and beef tortellini with cream sauce and nutmeg.  We had rabbit (yup, tastes like chicken!) and goat (too gamey for our tastes).  Wild boar was also on the menu, and we weren't fans.  For dessert we had coffee rum sorbet.  Despite the waiters refilling the vino, Donna (the driver) opted to stay out of foreign jail, switched to Fanta and thought of John Bradley (Mary's youngest son) since they drank the orange soda together while visiting the Bradley's during their military tour in Germany.  Alessandro kept saying he'd put all of us into a "food coma.". In actually, we were simply miserably stuffed.

After the tour,  Alessandro was kind enough to take us downtown and get us a parking spot at his friend's hotel.   Georgia let us go up to the Hotel Touring's terrace to get a beautiful city view.  She also allowed us to park nearby for free.  It's nice to have friends in high places!

We wandered into Piazza Maggiore.  The Basilica di San Petronio was built between the 14th and 17th centuries and is one of the largest churches in Christendom.  Organ music was playing during our visit.  We loved the statues of the birth of Christ and of figures lamenting Jesus' death.

We saw the Fountain of Neptune with XXX -rated females and the city's Twin Towers.  
Donna got pooped on by a pigeon.  Mary says that means lots of luck.  Brenda was smart enough to carry HandiWipes and kind enough to clean her hair up with them.  Donna called first dibs on the shower.

We made it back to our B & B and decided to go do laundry.   Donna left to get the car, while the rest of us sat on the bench with our garbage bags full of dirty clothes.  We attracted a lot of local attention.   Beth was the prettiest " bag lady"  we had ever seen.

Elisa was kind enough to let us park right next to the B & B in her spot overnight, since we will leave early in the morning for a tour of Tuscany.

City View from San Miniato

Tuscan View from San Miniato

San Miniato Church

Day 8 - Easter in Florence

Our Easter was a happy one!  We were able to sleep in and enjoy breakfast at our B & B. Elisa's mother made apple cake for breakfast, which was wonderful.

B & B Art sits in the center of town.  It is actually within the old city wall of the village.  We discovered that it is called "Art" because there is modern art hanging on nearly every wall.  Our hostess, Elisa, is so gracious that it is beyond belief.  She is stunning with the thickest curly long red hair any of us have ever seen.  It goes to her waist and, if not tied back, flows outward.     

We wanted the holiday to be less rushed, so we opted to spend the day at a small chapel that overlooks Florence.  Unfortunately, the forecast was showers for the whole day.  It rained on our entire drive there but, once we arrived, the rain stopped. 

We went to San Miniato church which was built using white and green marble. The church was named for Saint Minias who legend says was beheaded on the Arno river bank in 250 A.D.  He picked up his head and walked up the hill to the place where the church now stands.  It was the first cemetary in Florence and Carlo Collodi, the author of Pinocchio, is buried there.  We climbed several steps which gave truly breathtaking views over the city and the Tuscan landscape on its outskirts.

We walked down the road to Michelangelo Piazza where another replica of the statue of David stands.  We had brought along two special things for our Easter celebration:  a bottle of bubbly Prosecco and a chocolate Kinder egg for each of us.  For those of you not familiar with these eggs, they are foiled-covered hollow chocolate with a toy inside that are popular in Germany.

We sat on a park bench near hundreds of red and white tulips and ate our lunch here.   We bought individual tomato and cheese  pizzas to eat with our sparkling champagne from the previous Zenato winery we had visited.  Mary pulled the cork and caused a few heads to turn with the loud pop! We admired the backside of David and people watched while we ate.

We went to mass at San Miniato church where the monks chanted the service in Latin.  Beth was able to take communion.  Brenda noticed that the liturgy was the same melody that is used in churches back home.  As we left the service,  the sunset painted a beautiful hue over the buildings, so Donna was in picture-taking heaven!

 We didn't return until later and, knowing we needed to conserve space in our stomachs for tomorrow's Italian Food Tour, we opted to eat a light dinner and call it an early night.

Pisa

Day 7 - Pisa

As we were walking down to the restaurant the next morning, we ran in to Nana.  Although she spoke little English, we conveyed to her that we wanted to take her with us.  She laughed, hugged, and kissed each of us on both cheeks. The restaurant was very busy as it was the Saturday before Easter and many people had arrived the night before for the holiday weekend. We said goodbye to Monica and Elena, got our chocolate croissants and made the long trek up the hill  back to our car in the parking lot outside of town.  Once again, Beth cried.

From Manarola we drove to Pisa to see the famous Leaning Tower, where we climbed 294 tilting narrow steps (2-way traffic, no less) to the pinnacle.  Again Donna had to chant "Happy Cake" to get herself to the top, and--just for fun-- the rest of us joined in.  Mary convinced Brenda and Donna to spit off of the tower with her.  This was quite a challenge since we did it over a 7 foot high fence, not realizing at this point that we weren't at the very top.  Beth (being the only city-raised gal?) refused to spit.  The rest of us farm-grown girls think it's really  because she never learned how.  We might have to teach her that skill before leaving Italy.

Beth decided she had seen enough and started back down, not realizing that we weren't at the very top.  The rest of us trekked our way up.  When we arrived at the peak, Mary said, "Oh!  THIS is where the kids and I spit off before! I THOUGHT it was easier."

We also toured the Cathedral with its humongous bronze doors.  We were impressed by the ornate golden mosaic of Christ over the alter.  There is a patron Saint Ranieri mummified here in a glass casket.  We discovered that this was the church where Galileo became curious about a swinging bronze incense burner and discovered the motion of a pendulum.

We also visited the Baptistry, where a man came in to sing and demonstrate the building's phenomenal acoustics.  He would sing a note, then another, and another... which would reverberate throughout the round, acoustically-perfect interior to make a chord.  The people during medieval times would baptize by submersion and baptize babies in baptismal fonts.

We ate pizza for lunch and then continued on to Tuscany, B & B Art  in San Casciano Val de Pesa.  We opted to buy cheese and crackers for dinner at the local store and drank a bottle of wine...again.  We had intentions to go to bed earlier, but got to solving all of the world's problems and reminiscing about the good old days.   Time flies when we're having fun.

Stripped Church in Portovenere

Ice Creams in Portovenere

Portovenere Boardwalk View

"Happy Cake" Video

Famous Panna Cotta Dessert

Day 6 - Cinque Terre

We got up early and had a light breakfast in our room.  We took the train to Corniglia, the only Cinque Terre town of the five not on the water. We walked the long road up to the town, rather than take hundreds of steps.   Only 250 people live here.  There were beautiful lemon trees everywhere, so Brenda and Mary kept singing the oldie "Lemon tree, very pretty..."

We saw the town square and the sanctuary of San Bernardino and beautiful old churches. Corniglia is famous for their wine so we bought a bottle to drink later. We stopped and drank cappuccino in a quaint little shop. After wandering around for an hour and a half we took the zig-zagged 395 steps down to the train station.  Donna got a little distracted taking pictures and realized the others were quite far ahead.   She looked at the time and the train was supposed to be arriving soon, so she broke out into a fifty-year-old sprint. She told us, "I was getting tired but I needed to keep going so I started chanting to my self "Happy Cake", which distracts me and makes me think of my two year old nephew, Morris (MoMo). This is what he calls a birthday cake and he likes to sit on my shoulders and chant "Happy Cake". 

Next we took the train to Vernazza, a town of about 500 villagers.  Unfortunately, in October of 2011 they had torrential rains that caused a massive mudslide.  The town was open, but there was a lot of restoration going on.   The beautiful beach that once existed on the seaside of the town was covered in mud.  The beautiful stone church overlooking the sea was still intact and didn't appear to be too damaged. 

After wandering around and taking pictures in Vernazza, we went back to the train and went on to Monterrosso.  In Monterrosso we bought some excellent focaccia and ate it as we walked along the beautiful beach from the train station to the harbor, where we got on a boat to travel to Portovenere.  This is a town my Aunt Silvia (who was born in Italy) recommended, as it was one of her favorite places to go as a child.  On the boat ride we passed by each of the five cities and I was able to take pictures from the ferry.  It was very nice to get the sea side view of all the towns. 

In Portovenere, we wandered along the boardwalk.  We stopped and had caffe latte and fancy ice creams.  (It's amazing how one will buy food just to use a clean potty.)  We walked to the famous striped church, a ruined castle, a very interesting old cemetery,  and a church where they were doing the rosary.  It was a beautiful town. Thank you, Silvia, for recommending it. 

We took the boat back to Manarola where we ate dinner at Aristide (again!)  Elena stopped by our table and chatted with us.  We learned that her grandparents own the restaurant, her grandmother does all of the cooking, and her mother and she do all of the morning baking (the wonderful chocolate croissants).  For dessert we had the famous panna cotta with caramel.   

During dinner we were able to witness a traditional Good Friday vigil.  As we were dining, the lights suddenly shut off and we heard singing.  Some of the town's people paraded by with torches, a large cross, and men holding a crucified Christ lying on a wooden platform.  They carried it with poles on their shoulders.  A small service was held in the town's center. We had perfect seats as our table overlooked the whole procession.

After dinner, Elena invited us to stop by the bar for Limoncello.  At the bar we found Elena's mother (Monica), her father, and her uncle.   We asked Elena to tell them that if Nana was missing we had kidnapped her.  Her father got out a knife and indicated what he would do to us if we did.  Mary countered by putting her finger under her coat as if hiding a gun.  We all whole-heartedly laughed, and realized how charades and smiles work in every language.

Elena poured us all a Limoncello, taught us how to say something like "Ching, Ching," tap the shot glass on the counter (supposedly to help women keep a nice derrière) and then instructed us to tip our heads back and drink the whole thing at once.  A couple of us tapped the shot glass numerous times, needing all the help we could get in the big bottom department.  Elena drank the Limoncello with us,  then gave us each a gift of a purse holder with their restaurant name on it.  Sentimental Beth began to cry and Elena scolded her "Don't look at mama." who had also stared to tear up.  

We said our goodnights  and told her we would stop in the morning before we left to say good bye and get some chocolate croissants.   She said she would make sure and hold out four for us.  We exchanged email addresses and slowly made our way to bed, realizing how this small village will forever be a part of us. 

Day 5 - Manarola

Donna was up at the crack of dawn, stepped outside and--it was so beautiful--that she ran back inside to grab her camera.   She confided to Mary, "This is when it is good to wear your actual clothes for pajamas".  She left the others sleeping and wandered around the village of Manarola taking pictures.  She returned about an hour later saying, "Oh my god...you should get up.   It' s so beautiful out there".  

We all got ready and Donna actually took the time to put on real clothes.  We strolled down to Aristide, where we had caffe macchiato,  yogurt, cereal, marmalade- and chocolate-filled croissants.  After breakfast we strolled along the path Via dell'Amore (the Romantic Road) .  Thousands of people have written on the walls, so we joined in the fun.  Beth commemorated our trip by writing "Celebrazione di Amicizia (celebration of friendship):  Beth, Brenda, Donna, and Mary 4/5/2012".

Brenda also left a message saying, "Miss you, Michael.  I feel you watching from heaven.    Love always, Mom".

We saw hundreds of padlocks attached to the fences along the way.  It is an old tradition that is said to bind two people's love forever.  We took some humorous pictures of flat Terri with some creative drawings on the wall!

We had a wonderful long walk in the town of Riomaggiore.  We passed the local shops on Via Colombo and a young boy practicing with his soccer ball  helped to point the way to the church and castle.  We made our way up a steep path to San Giovanni Church.  Kids were playing soccer in its courtyard.  

We ended up eating dinner overlooking the water and the view was beautiful, the food was ok, but the service was lousy.  It was very disappointing after the previous nights feast.  After dinner we returned to Aristide and had the heavenly panna cotta for the second night in a row.  

Day 4 - Picture Manarola

Nice picture taken from the balcony of our room in Manarola.

Day 4 - Travel to Cinque Terre (five cities)

We left Bellagio, taking the ferry back to Varenna.  While strolling along the beautiful rocky shore line, we found the Varenna Cafe, rated 1 of 544 restaurants  in the area.  Here our favorites were ravioli with artichokes and amaretto ice cream.  The owner of the cafe believed the stone arched structure of the building to be an original boat house.  There was a hole in the stone ceiling leading to an upstairs apartment.  The owner told tales of this being an escape hatch for the woman of the house to shove her lovers down quickly when her husband came home. Based on his flirtatious nature we suspected he may have known this from experience. 

We departed Varenna and headed to Cinque Terra.  Due to our difficulties the previous day with Vera (our GPS), she was pouting and would not speak to us, which suited us just fine.  It was easier for Mary to watch the screen and provide directions than it was to follow Vera's voice.  In reality, Mary had unknowingly turned down the volume. It rained most of the day and was our longest driving day. We drove through Milan and on to La Spezia and by this time it was dusk.  From there to Manarola was only 10 miles but it took 30 minutes due to the winding mountainous roads. 

We had to park outside of the town in the public parking.  Only residents are allowed to park within the city gates, which was a good thing as we would have been scraping buildings throughout the town. No wonder the garbage truck is the size of a Matchbox car.  We are  still pissed at Brenda that she didn't play volleyball in high school because she claims she could stretch out her arms and touch both sides of the street; in reality, this was very close to true. 

From the parking area we had to wind our way down the steep and curving streets with all our luggage in tow. By this time it was dark.  We made it to the church square, where we needed to ask for directions.  Luckily a very kind Italian man spoke English and was able to direct us to Da Paulin apartments where we were staying.  We rang the doorbell and were greeted by Geraldo who said, "You will not stay here, it is only a bit farther".  He proceeded to lead us down and then back up a very steep hill to our private apartment that overlooked the Mediterranean Sea (see attached picture, taken from our balcony). 

He suggested we eat at Aristide.  We started our meal with a recommended local wine.  Our  dinner favorites were anchovies with lemon, seafood ravioli and pesto lasagna. For dessert we had panna cotta with caramel sauce; it was better than the Better than Sex Cake. In fact Brenda enjoyed it so much that she cried.  At the end of our meal they gave us shots of Limoncello (a famous liqueur that tastes like lemon drops - John Matiska, eat your heart out) . 

We ended our day laughing as we were journaling our blog and Brenda and Beth confessed that they had imagined us having to sleep in our Ford Fiesta in the public parking lot.  How dare they doubt Mary and Donna's planning and preparation. 

Day 3 - Travel To Bellagio

We returned to the airport via water taxi and bus, where we picked up our rental car, a Ford Fiesta that looked like it had been in a bumper car race. After documenting all it's dings and confirming them with the rental agent, we were off to Peschiera del Garda to pick up Amarone wine for Kent. His only request from us after being so kind and generous and purchasing our airline tickets with his frequent flier miles so that his wife could spend her fiftieth birthday in Italy with her friends. 

At the Zenato winery while we were tasting our wine, the owner, Carla Zenato came in. Although she spoke very little English, Tina who was helping us with our order was a very helpful translator. After purchasing our wine for Kent, several bottles to drink on our trip and chatting for quite some time, Carla graciously offered us a bottle of Rigoletto in celebration of our fiftieth birthdays.  Beth was so moved that she began to cry.

When we left the winery we drove down to Lake Garda where we enjoyed the view and had lunch and caffe macchiatos. After that we attempted to drive to Borghetto, based on a recommendation from Tina. We entered the address in our GPS (that we have affectionately named Vera) and we were off, winding our way throughout the countryside where we saw a large old castle on the hill. Still following our directions from Vera, we began traveling on a gravel country road.  We saw a farmer with his tractor over part of the road, but Mary tells Donna that Vera says to keep going so we passed the farmer and continue through what turns out to be his farm yard and a dead end.  Using my Minnesota born farm girl logic, I refused to follow Vera's directions over the hill and down the rocky cliff on a road that only exists in Vera's electronic mind.  When we back up to turn around, we stop next to the very bewildered farmer to tell him we are looking for Burghetto but I call it Burnato and he is very confused. He makes a very valiant attempt to help us, but finally he tells us 'non capisco Anglais' and we drive off. It reminded Mary of the movie 'Rat Race' and she said, "We should have bought a squirrel".

We continued on to Varenna, where we took the ferry over to Bellagio, located on Lake Como. To describe Lake Como, imagine the water as two legs and the torso of a body.  Bellagio is the north tip of land (the crotch) between the two legs.  Looking from Bellagio over the lake you can see the Swiss Alps. We strolled around the elegant town and enjoyed the exquisite gardens where tulips were in full bloom. We ate dinner at Ristorante Bilacus, rated 2 out of 37 restaurants in Bellagio. We enjoyed caprese salad, pasta bolognese, linguini with giant prawns, penne with salmon and parmigiana risotto.  

We returned to our hotel Excelsior Splendide.  It is a renovated palace built in 1907 located right on Lake Como.  Our room was on the third floor and had a beautiful view. 

Day 2 - Venice

We arrived in Venezia around 10 am after 15.5 travel hours. We took a water taxi through the grand canal to St. Marco's square. We got lost on the way to our hotel, tried to talk to a kind construction worker who spoke no English, unfortunately we did not move far enough to the side of the street, so a local brutus rudely moved Mary outof the way, with a two handed shove.   Luckily all her years of athletic training and life on 'Fear Factor' (aka life with Kent Bradley)  saved her from a face plant on the ground.  Then a pint sized, English speaking, Venetian, Ms. Del Favore came to our rescue. Twenty five years our senior we had to race to keep up with her. She also explained to Beth that saying 'permaeso' would get the locals to move out of her way, however Beth kept saying 'permesio' which caused a group of local teenage boys to snicker and remain in her path.  Ms. Del Favore explained the confusing quadrant system of the streets in Venice, and even got lost herself, but she stayed with us for over twenty minutes and safely delivered us to Ca Formosa, our hotel.  

After dropping our luggage we returned to San Marco Square where we had caffe, Prosecco and gelato, while enjoying a stringed quartet and watching the children feed the birds. We toured St Mark's Bascilla while Beth explained the workings of 'The Almighty Penalty Box' (the confessional) and marveled at the gold-leaf mosaics, the multitude of eternity candles and marble. We went on to Campanile di San Marco (Bell Tower), where we had a view of the entire city and saw across the square where the Greek Gods hammered the bells of the Torre dell'Orologio. 

Later, we passed the Bridge of Sighs as we made our way to the gondola serenade where we were directed to a shiny black gondola with bright red crushed velvet cushions. Mary insisted that Beth and Donna sit in the forward facing seats to avoid motion sickness. Little did we know that we would be joined by a newly wed asian couple who found us entertaining despite being forced to sit four feet apart at the front of the gondola. We were senernaded by an accordian player and a superb Itailian tenor singing 'Volare' and many other familiar Itailian tunes.

The evening was concluded with a fabulous meal at La Caravella served by waiters in black tuxedos, where we were found to be as entertaining to them as they were to us. The wine and food were absolutely magnifico, among the many delightful courses were three cheese pastry puffs, seafood ravioli, Turbot fish, limone ice with fresh berries and caramel creme crepes.  We enjoyed a peaceful stroll back to our hotel,taking in the fresh night air, enjoying the sights and sounds of the Venice night life, even though we were extremely jet lagged. 

Upon arrival at our hotel, we were moved from Ca Formosa to Ca Malipiero so that we could have a private bathroom.  Ca Malipiero had a tile stating that it was built in 1484 and decor to match.  The room was a bit gawdy with red sconces on the wall and red velvet bed spreads.  Brenda had difficulty finding the flusher on the European toilet, which was a silver button four feet above the toilet on the side wall.  However it was clean and we all slept very well.

Day 1 - Flight to Venice

Kent can't spell Kilian.  Brenda wins the packing award. Beth has hot baggage. Despite all this we arrived safely in Venezia. Sorry we have not posted sooner, have been busy and no Wi-Fi.