Tuscany - Wrapping It Up

San Gimignano - Day 7

We woke up in the AM, sporting a tiny red wine headache, and couldn't fathom driving the 2+ hours to the wine tour I had booked us.  I'll admit that it is tough for me to veer off the sched, but that's why I married my husband - he is constantly reminding me to go with the flow and I adore him for that.  So after some hemming and hawing we emailed our cancellation.

We had been feeling a wee bit glutinous on this trip (gelato everyday - yes please!) so we thought it would be a good idea to walk (and by walk I mean hike) into town and climb to the top of the town tower - it was a great view and only 3 Euro (don't quote me on that, might have been 4-5).

View from the top of the tower

And what shall one do after hoofing into town and hiking up a tower, why get more gelato of course!

After a bit of shopping we headed back home and got ready for dinner.  This being our last night at the farmhouse we decided to splurge and have dinner there again, and tonight we were in for a treat, it was Steak ala Florentine night!  We got ready and enjoyed a little pre-dinner glass of wine, whilst trying to take in all the beautiful scenery:

And just because, here are pics from dinner!

This was the starter and I would have been happy with just this - I could eat a plate of meats and cheeses like this for every dinner and be happy!

Steaks on the open pit!

This dinner was amazing, and growing up on Montana beef, I don't say that lightly!  But overshadowing the meat was the red, in the picture above, and the hosts were not shy with it.  I literally think we each had a bottle, it's really hard to know because our glass would be half empty (or full depending on who you talk to) and they would come around and fill it again.  Sneaky?  Yes.  Complaining? No. With all the wine indulging we moseyed onto bed around 11.

San Gimignano to Lucca, with a little Florence in between - Day 8

One note I haven't mentioned about Agriturismo Niccoli is that breakfast is included every morning, which was great for us as we would fill up on breakfast, allowing us to save money and just have a small snack for lunch and then be hungry for a big dinner.  Today, our last morning, we fueled up once again - the breakfast was really good and plentiful with meats, cheeses, yogurt, fresh fruit from the farm, fresh bakes pastries and cakes and hard boiled eggs - once again another plus for this place!

We headed out on the road to Lucca, but we were making a pit stop in Florence on our way.  We were very aware that it is a major no-no to drive in the city center and that there are hefty fines for doing so, so we were a bit nervous about accidentally driving in.  As we got closer and closer into town we kept seeing signs that had red circles with a slash through them, which I thought meant we had entered the danger zone, come to find out later on these were just no-parking signs, but I didn't know that and it caused for some stressful times and a couple conversations that went like this:

Me:  "STOP!!!! You can't drive here, there is that sign!!!!! TURNAROUND!!!!

Cayce:  "Why didn't you tell me earlier!??!!"

Me:  "I didn't see it!"

Cayce:  "You NEED to pay better ATTENTION!"

Me:  "I'm trying really hard but I can't read the signs!"

You get the point - it was tense! We finally found some free parking and headed into the city center.  We did a little shopping and then made a rookie mistake by letting our hunger get the best of us and being indecisive trying to find the perfect lunch spot that ended up with awful microwaved pasta.  So awful in fact that after we were done we walked around the corner and saw a McDonalds and couldn't help ourselves.  Yes we are horrible people for eating at McDonalds in Florence but my god, the fries and ICY diet coke hit the spot!

He looks happy!

Sweaty and tired at the end of the day!

I am ashamed to admit we didn't really do much in Florence other than walk around and eat at Micky D's.  I did some shopping; bought a couple of great leather purses but every attraction had a huge line, and we were just really "sight seed" out at this point.  We just really wanted to wander around the city so that's what we did!  

After "seeing the sights" we jumped in our car and made it to Lucca.  I am not really sure why I wanted to visit Lucca so much, but when I was planning our itinerary it seemed like a good spot that would be relatively close to Cinque Terre.  That being said the only thing we really wanted to do was rent bikes to explore the town, as I heard that was the thing to do, but by the time we got there we were both so exhausted that we our night consisted of 2 much needed showers,  1 large salami pizza for takeaway, 2  Peronis and 3 episodes of Jersey Shore.  ***Disclaimer*** I'm not REALLY a fan of the show BUT it was the only English channel and it was taking place in Florence, where I just been 4 hours prior, so that made it much more interesting.

Next up Cinque Terre!

Tuscany - Under the San Gimignano Sun!

San Gimignano - Day 5

***DISCLAIMER*** (I'm still not quite sure how to pronounce this town's name.  I butchered it EVERY time I said it in Italy to the hilarity of most Italians.  I also have a hard time spelling it so don't judge!)

We awoke in Rome on Day 5 with only about 4 hours of sleep, not because we were up all night partying (that would be WAY cooler), but because jet lag was really starting to hit us.  We both slept from about 1-3 and 7-9 and were WIDE awake all hours in between!  In our groggy state we checked out of the apartment and grabbed a cab to Termini Station where we were scheduled to pick up our rental car.  On the ride to the station our gracious cab driver gave us a couple tips for driving in Rome, the most important being "Roma doesn't have lines for drivers, just space!" Great!

We finally find our rental car bu, with one small problem.  The car only had a 16th tank of gas which meant our plan to get out of the city center and onto the interstate was dicey.  We decided to stick with the original plan and, praise the LORD, we made it onto the interstate with no wrong turns - I'm still not sure how we did this.  Goal 1 of "find the interstate" - DONE!  Now just to find that gas station!  After one wrong exit, circling an IKEA about 2 times (yes, IKEAs are just as big and hectic in Rome as they are in the states) and some heavy sweating we finally found gas.  Woo-hoo, we were on our way baby!

The drive from Rome to San Gimignano was beautiful and interesting.  Cayce was driving (I can't drive a stick - oh darn!), and he has driven in foreign countries before (Mexico and Costa Rica), but this was a whole different level!  It seemed drivers would either go about 20 over the speed limit or 20 under, there was no in between.  Needless to say we got honked at a lot - mostly when trying to pass the slow driver and then holding up the really fast ones.

After about a 3 hour drive we found our home for the next 3 nights, Agruiturismo Niccoli.  I was in awe when we drove into the driveway, it was EVERYTHING I wanted and more.  Rustic, charming and luxurious all at the same time.  It was relaxing time for me I slipped my bathing suit on and headed straight out to do what I do best - pool lounging, while Cayce ventured into town (we were walking distance to San Gimignano - about 10 minutes).

Pool Time

Agriturismo Niccoli is a working wine and olive farm and they offer guests (for an additional fee) the option to eat dinner at the farmhouse every night.  After driving 3 hours with little sleep there was no hesitation we were going to do this - it wasn't exactly cheap at 35 euro pp but well worth it.  The price includes 4 courses and unlimited wine (SOLD!).  On our way to dinner the first night we witnessed an amazing sunset!

San Gimignano - Day 6

After an amazing nite's sleep (a full belly and a bottle of wine per person really helps!) we woke up refreshed and finally feeling like we had beat the jet lag - woo hoo!  I think part of our problem was taking a daily nap, once we broke that cycle we were golden, so my advice would be to fight it as soon as you can to beat the jet lag early!

For today I had pre-booked us a wine tasting a a nearby winery - Sovestro in Poggio - which I found out about through TripAdvisor.  The wine tasting was probably one of the highlights of the trip!  There were about 12 of us in the group.  We toured the vineyards and the cellars and then sat down in the restaurant section of the winery for the tasting.  We tasted 2 reds - the same wine one was aged in steel barrels while the other was in oak.  Amazing to really taste them side by side and notice the difference!  We also tasted a refreshing white, a dessert wine and a grappa (not a fan, Cayce got 2 grappas!).  The tasting also included a lunch or snack option, for 13 euro each you could get the tasting plus bread/olive oil (also produced on the farm) and some meats/cheeses.  I had booked us for this option but everyone else in our group had the lunch option which included a wild boar pasta, so I was feeling a bit jealous.  Lucky for us there ended up being a mix up and we had been marked down for the lunch option (25 euro each) and I am so glad we  got to try the boar, it was delicious! 

During all of this we made friends with a couple from Ottawa and a couple from Belgium who were both on their honeymoons.  Funny side note, the girl from Belgium was, shall I say, not very "worldly".  Her first questions to me upon hearing I was from the States was "Which celebrities do you live by and have you ever met Richard Gere?" (WHAT?????  #1 there are no celebrities residing in Edmonds, WA and  #2 why are you, at the ripe old age of 22, are you such a fan of Richard Gere??? ).    

The wine was really good, I wanted to buy some but didn't want to hassle with trying to pack it so we opted for purchasing a small bottle of Olive Oil which was also divine!  A little toasted bread brushed with the oil and a crack of sea salt - yum!!!

Here is a pic from the winery:

The tasting lasted about an hour, after we decided to stop at San Gimignano since I had yet to see the town.  We explored for a bit, the town is very touristy so we didn't stay too long, long enough to get the worlds best gelato though!

After expoloring San Gimignano we decided to head up to Volterra.  I had read in the Rick Steves book that Volterra was just as "medieval" as San Gimignano but much less touristy which was totally on spot.  I LOVED Volterra, it's amazing how medieval it really feels but people are actually still living there - so cool.

We ended up watching a great sunset from a top the town wall and had dinner at a little restaurant, not sure the name of it but it was nothing to write home about.  We made it back home around 10 and took a bottle of wine to the pool and sat. talked and drank, it was a perfect end to the night!

Next UP - the rest of Tuscany!



Roma Continued...

Rome Day 3:


Day three in Rome we didn't have too much planned, we wanted to leave 1 day for just wandering.  We had found a great little "bar" (coffee shop) very near our apartment that had free wi-fi the day before so once we were ready we grabbed the iPad and headed over for coffee and pastries and catching up on football scores!


After coffee we headed over to the Pantheon, we had walked by it the day before but didn't have time to check it out.  It was really impressive inside, just crazy how old it is!  Next to the Pantheon was a meat shop that was handing out samples.  I am a sucker for ANYTHING that is free so we headed in.  The meat was so good!!!!  We decided to pick up some salami for a before dinner snack.

Pantheon!

  After the Pantheon we decided we would headed up to the Borghese Gardens, which was supposed to the "central park" of Rome.  It was quite a walk so we (I) did some shopping along the way at Zara and Mango.  I don't think Cayce minded the shopping too much because it was much needed break from the heatwave.  Temperatures on this day were hovering around 100 degrees!  After a few necessary euro-fashion purchases we headed up to the gardens.  The walk up was ridiculously steep but finally made it up.  In the park you can rent bikes and those two seater buggy's (not sure what you call them!) and we pondered doing that but at the time it looked like a lot of work and we were still catching our break from the hill so we found a bench and just people watched, it was actually very interesting.  After about 30 minutes we made our way back down.  The park was pretty and you get some really good views of Rome, but it's definitely not a must see, if you are debating it!

View from the top of the gardens

Flowers on our walk back

Roma streets on our walk back

We finally made it back to our apartment, after stopping at the bakery for some bread to go with our cheese and we were pretty tired, lucky for us it was siesta time so we partook.  Upon awaking I headed out to find us some cheese and wine to go with our meat and bread and Cayce headed back to the bar to check the work emails and more football scores.  We then showered up and enjoyed our little snack and wine before heading out.  

Bakery

Alessandro (our apartment host) had recommended a restaurant to us that locals ate at.  Having had pretty horrible luck with food at this point we decided this would be a good bet for tonight.  It took us a bit to find the restaurant, Dal Paino.  

On a side note, i don't think I have mentioned how horrible I was with direction on this trip!  I am ALWAYS the one to navigates us but I couldn't get us anywhere for the life of me!  Needless to say this cause a few stressful moments in the first part of Rome but in the later part I had surrendered, it was all up to Cayce at this point!

So...we found the restaurant and we could tell we were the ONLY tourists there, which was great and what we wanted, but with that comes a little intimidation!  We walked up to the host stand and sat, nobody greeted us, we noticed there were about 6 other people milling in the street so we figured they were waiting for tables to and followed their lead.  Sure enough a table opened up and the very Italian owner just pointed at two couples and they went and sat, it kind of reminded me of the soup Nazi.  Finally it was our turn and we got seated!  We were both starving so we ordered some Pomodoro with bread to start which was simple but amazing and I got a Margharita pizza and Cayce a white 4 cheese, both were delish.  We finished it off with some fresh melon which was perfect!  By the time we finished dinner we were ready to call it a night.  We had made it somewhat of a ritual of picking up a bottle of wine on our way home to enjoy in our apartment, and we did the same this night, perfecto!

Rome Day 4:

Vatican and St. Peters Day!  We had read that Wednesdays were good days to go to the Vatican because everyone would be at St. Peter's for the Pope's appearance.  The guidebooks don't lie friends, we were into the Vatican in no less than 5 minutes upon arrival (we had pre-booked our tickets online, so that probably helped as well!).  Side note - it may be wise not to bring a large backpack or purse because you HAVE to check large bags at security, which means you can take any exit shortcuts outlined in some of the guidebooks, we didn't realize this and had to check our bag.

The Vatican was very neat, tons of art.  To be honest we aren't really museum/art people, so for us it was a little much but we really did find it interesting.  We were however on autopilot through the museum, this was by far the warmest day in Rome yet and it was like an oven in there, no AC and just stifling with all the people!  We ended in the Sistine Chapel which was very cool to see and actually had AC, so we sat in there, with about 1000 other people for about 10 minutest.  The one thing that surprised me was how small it was!  

Night fell upon us and we decided to head to Pizzeria Da Baffetto 2, which I had read about before our trip and was really close to our flat.  We shared a big salad and a pizza and wine, all was good!  After dinner we headed across the river to Trastevere.  What a difference going across the river makes!  This area was filled with young people, we couldn't believe how many people were out and about partying. We concluded it must be a university area as we saw a lot of exchange students.  We had a couple drinks and some great conversation but all these young people were making us feel old so we headed off, wandered down the river home to Campo Di Fiori and found the perfect place for a nightcap (with people more our age) before turning in.

That about sums up Rome, here are my overall thoughts:

• It's super hot
• It's very old (but in a really cool vintage way)
• We couldn't really figure out how people made money, nobody really seemed to work and business were only open from 10 -2 and 6 - 12...
• Roma is beautiful at night, like no place I have ever seen
• Drivers her make NYC cabbies look like my grandma (more on that in the next post)
• The women are all so beautiful and skinny, I still don't get it!
• The coffee was AMAZING

Next up.....Tuscany!

Arrivederci Reality! Rome here we come!

That's what we were singing on Sept 3rd when we set off for our Euro vacation!  We were off to travel through Italy with a quick stop in Paris for 15 days!!!!

Our itinerary was as such:

• 4 nights in Rome
• 3 nights near San Gimignano
• 1 night in Lucca
• 2 nights in Cinque Terre (Monterosso)
• 3 nights in Paris

For today, lets focus on the eternal city - Roma!  After 23+ hours of flying we had arrived in Rome!  We ended up getting in about 2 hours later than planned and this wouldn't' have been an issue BUT we were renting an apartment.  Instead of staying at a hotel I had booked this place  through VRBO and had made all arrangements to meet our host, Alessandro, upfront.  So this delay was really throwing off my arrangements!
Your thinking "So what, you were delayed, who hasn't been, - what do you think cell phone's were invented for people?".  That's what were were thinking too, especially since we checked with our carrier beforehand to make sure our phone would work!  Well you can imagine our shock when we turned on our smart phones (smart my arse!) and they didn't work!?!?!?!  At this point we were exhausted, greasy and jet lagged we said "F it", lets just head to the apartment and see if Alessandro is there.  30 minutes later, there we were, in a back cobblestone street sitting on our luggage and there was no Alessandro.  We were too tired to think at this point and we just sat, for about 15 minutes, sat in silence and then I heard it - in the distance "Ciao!  Heather!!??!!"  - it was Alessandro, he found us!  That was just one of many moments on this trip you realize how much you NEED your technology!

Rome Night 1:
After finally getting into our room, we did the 1 thing EVERYONE tells you NOT to do when you travel, we took a nap.  We had promised ourselves we were going to fight it, stay up until we could hardly stand it, to help acclimate.  With out speaking we looked at each other and I headed to one bed and Cayce to the other, we turned up the AC and pulled the drapes and we were both OUT. 

We woke up around 9pm and after a couple of showers we were brand new lovely people.  Our apartment was in Campo di Fiori, so we found a little spot and shared our first of many bottles of wine, pizza, pasta and bruschetta:

Mercado for Dinner

We then just walked around a bit, found another bar, shared a carafe of wine.  It was raining really hard and we debated walking around but both of us still felt tired so we decided to call it a night.  On our walk back home (which was literally about 2 minutes, if that) I decided I had to buy a umbrella, because I was "sure I'll use it again on the trip" - I didn't have to, I guess I forget the rest of the word doesn't see as much rain as we do!

Walking to Apartment

Our Apartment - there was loft bed on each side of the place, where the ship-like windows are

Rome Day 2:

Anniversary day!  Surprisingly we were able to sleep (even after our 5 hour nap!) and slept in until about noon on day 2.  Now I know a lot of of people would think it's a travesty to sleep in on your vacation until lunchtime, but my husband and I are sleepers and this was in fact VACATION, so we slept in!  After getting ready we headed for the Coliseum - after a cappuccino of course!  We spent the whole day wondering around ancient Rome, here a few pics:


 



Notice Cayce carrying my purse, now that is LOVE!

Yay for self pics!

We actually thought this was the coliseum for about 15 minutes and tool a bunch of pics, then realized it was just an old building!



We found it!

After a day of sightseeing in the 100 degree + heat, we headed back to the apartment for a much needed beer and siesta.  We woke refreshed again and got gussied up to celebrate one year of happily-ever-after!  We did the night walk that is outlined in Rick Steve's Italy travel guide which takes you through Piazza Navona, the Trevi Fountain and up to the Spanish Steps.  It was a beautiful walk, the only hiccups being when a gypsy tried to take our camera and the awful dinner we ate.  But we weren't going to let that ruin things for us!  We sat and listened to some kids play music on the Spanish steps and wandered our way home through the beautiful streets of Roma, stopping off for gelato and a night cap - what a wonderful 1st anniversary (minus the gypsy and the meal!).



1 year!

More Rome to come next post!