Wine Tour

Booked a wine tour a few months back and WOW. The Tuscan countryside is one of the most beautiful and surreal landscapes we've ever seen. Have attached some photos here, but pictures don't do it justice. In summary: lots of wine, a great local tour guide, and further confirmation we will never rent a car in Italy.

Firenze Dinner cont'd - Carni Insalata

Firenze Dinner Pic 2 - Caroline's Primi Patti

Firenze Dinner- Gnocchi (see Caroline's entry)

Best Beer ever after a balmy and uninspiring Uffizi Gallery visit.

Birth of Venus was the highlight, but we just had to take a break from the turista scene.

Duomo Interior 2

Duomo Interior

Duomo cont'd

First Day in Firenze Entry from Caroline

Friday morning, we had to literally run to catch our scheduled train to Florence, and thank God we packed the night before- made it just in time, but the two hour ride was interesting to say the least with a slightly less convenient train set-up for travelers; their was limited space for storage of luggage and we ended up with our two BIG bags sitting on our laps the last hour of the trip.
From Florence’s train station we grabbed a taxi and even this local man had a hard time finding our B&B, but once we reached it we were more than pleasantly surprised at it’s amazing location at the center of everything Florence has to offer J Quick run to see Michaelangelo’s David and then a quick pass through the Duomo (no we did not have time or energy to climb the 463 stairs to the top) and then we waited in line to take in the Uffizi gallery. It feels like a cardinal sin that we walked though as quickly as we did, but the heat of the building mixed with a 6:30 wake-up call, and all-day travel to that point suddenly overtook us. We drug ourselves back to the sweet “La Signoria de Firenze” B&B and collapsed for an early evening siesta.
After resting for a few we headed right back out and took advantage of the reservations “Tommy”, one of the proprietors of the B&B made for us at Coquinarius, a favorite enoteca of his. We were certainly not disappointed as we devoured the best meal of our trip! Between the antipasto sampler featuring zucchini and formaggio, crostini with goat cheese and sweet preserves, eggplant rolotini, and finally the prosciutto with arugala and pine nut infused ricotta. YUMMY! Add gorgonzola and spinach gnocchi, and orecchiette “literally meaning ear-shaped” with prosciutto, pine nuts, fennel and cherry tomatoes.
Last, we enjoyed a salad of sorts each; John enjoyed the raw beef (cured and sliced super thin), and I had the tuna. I cannot express the bliss that it brought us. Nicoli, helped us out big time by allowing us to purchase a bottle of wine from them to take on the road- yes you can drink out on the streets here at any time you wish- and even said “I trust you” while allowing us to take two wine glasses from the restaurant to drink from with the understanding the following evening. After walking to the Ponte Vecchio and downing our second bottle of vino for the evening we stopped by a late night gelateria for my second scoop of the day, and found our way back to the B&B for a wonderful night’s sleep. John has posted some additional photos of everything from the day!

Firenze-Duomo Pic 1

David

Though my second time visiting the Acaddemia, it was Caroline's first. Equally awestruck this time around for me too as Michelangelo's masterpiece towers 20 ft above you. In the words of Italian artist/sculptor Vasari, once you've experienced this, don't bother with other sculptures, anywhere.

Benivuto Te Firenze! Multa turista!

St. Maggiore...fitting end to a one of a kind city.

Arrivederci Venice, For Real this Time.

Last Night in Venice

Arrivederci San Marco Square. There's definitely something in the air in this place.

San Marco Square Floods for 2nd night in a row

While the locals tried to brush it off, you could noticably detect the growing concern amongst natives that someday not too far off, this sinking city might be in real trouble.

Day 3 Dinner continued

I had spaghetti pomodor and Seppie (cuddlefish) with grilled polenta. Judd- look away. Surprisingly (to me anyway) delicious.

Day 3- Dinner at Cantinone Storico in Venezia

Braciola much different from the Amicarelli brand (Caroline's mother's maiden name) but similarly delicious.

If I had 400€ laying around and was retired, would consider this Venetian doge chess set.

Day 3 - Antica Forno for lunch

Best 5 dollar lunch we ever had...great find in Venice. Blue cheese artichoke and sausage porcini mushroom pizza. Sorry Cafe Napolitana, but you've been topped and then some.

One Happy Wife

Tragicomica Mask Shop

The Mask

Ever since Caroline participated in dance and the arts as a little girl, she dreamed of maybe someday having her very own authentic Venetian mask. This was our one honeymoon souvenir splurge...the mask is an intertwining of the sun and the moon crafted from handmade paper mache. Family-owned Tragicomica masks/costume shop near Friari Church in Venice designs, crafts and sells masks all directly on site. If you want to see the mask itself, you will have to come to our home when we return!

Don Giovanni at La Fenice

Venetian Sunrise from Hotel Room

Day 2

This post is a bit behind since we've been off the map a bit. But on Wednesday we woke up leisurely, had a great breakfast at the hotel and headed up to the rooftop pool and took in what Rick Steves calls “the best view of Venice”.

We headed across the water and began an afternoon of wandering with the end goals being San Marco and Teatro la Fenice. On the walk we headed down and through the many alleys that call to your curiosity as a traveler. We found a ton of little shops and John purchased a beautiful murano glass ring with shades of blue and gold for me.

Eventually we came upon San Marco, and amazing church of mixed byzantine- gothic architecture. The exterior façade is a gorgeous white marble, candy speckled multi-colored columns of marble and other natural stone. We did not have to pay to view the inside and it would have been worth a fee. Like standing inside a precious stone miners’ cave, the walls and ceilings were dark, but still shimmered with gold, sapphire, emerald, and ruby -colored tile mosaics depicting various scenes from the bible, and interpretations of Jesus’ resurrection. The floor appeared as an ornate tapestry, with painstakingly cut, and placed marble stones. Amazing.

We grabbed a hasty bite before heading to the opera- crazy that microwave re-heated risotto with fish and prosciutto could taste as good as it did!

Teatro La Fenice is true to it’s name after being burned to the ground twice; the theater is alive and thriving with classic productions. Don Giovanni was both John’s and my first experience with opera, and while the language barrier was a bit daunting at points, we came away with a deep appreciation for the unrelenting hard work that the singers/actors put into their artform.
We ended the evening back at the hotel with a few shared cocktails on the rooftop bar staring at an incredibly still moon and sky, like a moody watercolor .

Comment from John: "Although it's 2 hours and 45 minutes into the performance, there is actually something for the guys ;) "

Pool cont'd, Lookout Tower and a Cruise Liner

Day 2 in Venice - Rooftop Pool

View from our Room

First night in Venice

Finally, we walk through the Venice train station and less than 100 steps ahead is the world famous "Grand Canal" through the center of this romantic, mysterious city that maintains an aura that calls out "You are wise for visiting, but will never know all the secrets of this city" :-)

We reach the Hilton Stucky Molina by vapporetta and check into a beautiful room with a view of Venice (the hotel is located on Giudecca a short waterways distance on another island). We are famished after nearly a full 24 hrs. travel and short naps on the trains and planes. After checking with the concierge, we are directed only a short walk (three small canal bridges) down next tow the water to "Trattoria ai Cacciotore". Just like the movies we ate waterside at a cafe style table on the first, and what I am sure will not be the last of our amazing dining experiences here. After a long day of travels we were rewarded-John started with baby octopus and polenta with a tomato sauce that had just the right amount of spice- yum! I started with sea scallops baked three ways- one in a vodka sauce, one in butter and herbs, and one in a creamy parmesan you wanted to swim in! All three were presented in their scallop shells- beautiful!

Our second course we both went for the tagliatelle with a creamy alfredo and black truffle mushrooms. The serving was just enough to tantalize the tastebuds and leave you wanting more- so we did like the locals and ordered a third plate each, this time John tried the venetian style liver, and I had the calamari stuffed with potato and rosemary- awesome! Two things I must say- One, the mosquitos like me here as much as they do back in the states, as I now have a couple lovely swollen bites around the ankle, and Two, I am so happy to have already accomplished the goal of eating local styles of food and savoring every minute with my husband :-)

Now we are off to the pool to do something relaxing and American for a few hours, ha!

Honeymoon Travel Fun - Mon/Tues May 24-25

Tuesday May 25, 2010We’re married…it was AWESOME but EXHAUSTING. This honeymoon has been something we’ve been looking forward to for what seems like years. What began as a seemingly well planned out itinerary of CMH-EWR-FCO, with a scheduled arrival in Rome at 750am on Tuesday morning, transformed into a survival of the fittest shove grandma over in the terminal race against last boarding calls, flight delays and the uncertainty of our belonging’s whereabouts. It’s 600pm local time and Caroline and I are somewhere between Florence and Bologna en route to Venezia (finally). Here’s how we got from arriving at the Columbus airport Monday at 11am, to now:
Flight from CMH to Newark delayed a few hours, so naturally we missed our direct EWR-FCO Alitalia flight. I think our arrival from Columbus approached the gate in Newark as we waved to passengers headed out of the states and toward Italy on our Alitalia flight. Fortunately we had secured a ‘plan b’ at the Columbus airport…that involved catching a Frankfurt,Germany bound flight and then connecting in Germany on to Rome. The 7.5 hour Continental flight featured on demand movies in our own personal headrests. I must say, well done Sherlock Holmes and the clan from the Hangover as you allowed us to arrive in Frankfurt safely and (SURPRISE) on time. This allowed us all of 25 minutes to spurt some broken Itanglish to a Lufthansa attendant about where the Rome flight gate was, get practically strip searched by customs (cargo shorts are almost always a good idea for travel…but this was one drawback) and then sprint to the ticketing attendant at gate 24 at the Frankfurt airport. After a comparatively short two hour journey and arrival in Rome, Caroline and I headed to baggage claim for the moment of truth. Conveyor belt begins turning. 5 minutes pass….no bags. 10 minutes….15 minutes…other happy travelers get bags….20 minutes…getting more nervous…and then…here comes a big ass blue bag! It was BEAUTIFUL. I corralled a luggage cart for 1 Euro, grabbed our other bag (KICK ASS) and headed for the uscita (exit). After a failed ATM withdrawal and downright abuse at the Forex exchange (I am convinced Rome airport and train termini force unwary tourists to those sharks by never maintaining ATMs) we validated our Eurail Pass, hopped the airport-termini train shuttle and secured reservations for 15:45 high speed AVI train to Venice. At just under four hours, the journey is almost now complete. We are exhausted, ready for a nice meal upon our arrival in Venice and a good night’s rest. Off to find a good family restaurant on the island of Giudecca where our Molino Stucky hotel’s located. Full report to follow.