Northern Tuscany (Oct. 27-31) - updated 11/6/06

We decided to check out a villa near Florence in the town of "San Casciano in Val di Pesa." The villa/hotel, I Barronci (www.ibarronci.com), turned out to be beautiful with a matching view of the Tuscan countryside. It didn't take us very long to decide to stay. Dinner in the hotel restaurant was great and the Casa Emma "Soloio" 2001 Tuscan wine Bob selected was awesome (note to his family: Bob was always ready to order the expensive wine, and we all enjoyed his selections.)

Our hotel was helpful in arranging for a private guide and tickets to the Uffizi gallery. Saturday we went to Florence, and we were fortunate to have a passionate tour guide for 3.5 hours. The first 2 hours she took us around the city and then into the Uffizi Gallery where she overloaded our senses (we've been doing that a lot lately) with the famous art and clever stories about the painters and sculptors from 1200-1800. She also educated us to the what, where, who and why of the art. After more than an hour in the Uffizi, we were ready to rest our brains with a cappuccino. We had a brief lunch and gelato (of course), and then we walked around Florence. We stopped at the Synagogue but could not enter during Shabbat services. It's quite an amazing structure with a high turquoise dome that stands tall in the city. Bob and Cindy had dinner in Florence, but Joe and Marcia were too full to eat another meal; instead we updated the blog.

If anyone is coming to Florence, we recommend our tour guide:
Grazia Zatti
V. Guicciardini 15
50125 Florence
tel. +39 055 218907
grazia.zatti(at)libero.it

Sunday we took a leisurely drive to Certaldo for a wonderful lunch at Ristoranti Latini where Marcia talked them into giving us a free bottle of wine to take with us. Then on to San Gimignano for sightseeing. We bought some bread, cheese and salami which we ate with our free bottle of wine when we returned to our villa (we were all too full to have a full dinner). It was a great day, but we were disappointed to see how touristy San Gimignano had become. Bus loads of tourists were arriving constantly and the trinket stores had replaced the wonderful local shops we remember from 5 years ago.

Monday we discovered there was a market in our town of San Casciano, and Marcia is not one to ever miss a market. So after breakfast we all walked the market buying gifts for the grandkids. Then we drove to Greve where we had lunch. We heard about a good winery for tasting and found it up on top of a hill. The wine was good and Bob bought a bottle which we plan to drink tonight. When we returned to our villa it was still daylight, so we enjoyed viewing the Tuscan countryside by the swimming pool drinking our wine. As the sun set, we all voiced how this could be a place we could stay for a long time.

Cindy and Bob left this morning from the Florence airport, and we decided to stay in the villa one more day to relax and decide where to go next for the last 2 weeks of our journey. We don't know yet where we will go, but it will probably be in Tuscany and we will enjoy it wherever we wind up.

Without our navigator, Bob, and the car GPS system (we traded in the big luxury car for a smaller one for just the two of us), we got lost returning to the villa from the airport... Bob, come back!

Most of the people at the hotels we have stayed at during this trip have been very helpful, but we wanted to make a special comment about this villa, I Barronci. The entire family that works at the villa were extremely friendly and helpful. They often went beyond the norm in assisting us. Whether it was direction assistance, serving us in the restaurant, or just chatting, they made us feel like we were at home. We would definitely return, and we recommend it to everyone if you're coming to Tuscany and/or just Florence. Peiro (the father of the owner who was usually behind the front desk), Phillipo (the son and owner, who used to be a successful Italian race car driver) and his wife Roberta (who often brought her 4 month old daughter with her and Marcia couldn't get enough of holding her) were just wonderful. And all the others who work there like Claudia and the cook (from Sri Lanka, I am sorry I cannot remember his name at the moment) were just as kind and helpful.

Note: there was a problem with the Internet computer we were using this past week, so you will have to wait to see our photos during that time until we return in a few weeks when I will add them. I'm really sorry for the delay since some of them are very good and I think you will enjoy them.

Veneto (Oct. 23-27) - updated 10/28/06

We left Venice and drove to our small base town of Monselice south of Padua. We visited the two other interesting small towns nearby of Este and Mantagnana and enjoyed climbing the tower of the walled city in Montagnana.

Tuesday we visited Vicenza which gets relatively few tourists. We toured a few historial sites and enjoyed our first sunny day since our friends arrived. We arranged to meet the Italian woman (Catherine, who we met while visiting Zion National Park this summer) who lives in Vicenza for a drink at 6:00pm. Then we all went to her house for dinner with her husband, Gianni, and 3 children. She began with glasses of prosecco (an Italian drink very much like champagne) until her husband arrived home from work. After some wonderful conversation with Catherine, Gianni (Johnny) and Catherine's mother who also lives in the same building, dinner began with a wonderful mushroom pasta, followed by some great pork, potatoes and salad, fruit and dolce, and after dinner drinks. Of course the wine flowed all night too. They all speak English very well so communication was easy... and we talked about everything - from our respective countries to the rivalry between Gianni and Catharine's mother who is from France. When Italy and France play in the Soccer finals, the two of them have to separate themselves ;)

We had a very wonderful evening. We all feel we have made new friends who we will see again. I don't know if all Italians are as hospitable as Catherine and Gianni (I doubt it), but they went way beyond what we expected. We didn't leave until almost midnight. Mille grazie to both of them.

Wednesday we slept a bit later than usual, went to a laundramat (yes, we wash clothes every once in a while), then drove to Verona. Juliet's baloncy is not all that exciting, but the city center is pretty and alive with people. Again the fancy chain stores are a bit of a turn off, but that's the price of attracting huge numbers of tourists I guess. The gelato was good and wait until you see how big Cindy's afternoon gelato dish was with a 4' straw (note to the McCready clan: I'm sure you will not be surprised to hear Bob finished what Cindy left ;) Bob is becoming an expert on gelato and red wine.

Thursday we treated our visual senses to their limit in Padova (Padua in Italian). After walking around the large town center, we were able to visit the Chapel where Giotto painted his amazing frescos (Capella degli Scovegni). After an introductory movie, you are able to enter the chapel for 15 minutes where you see the master's work. Giotto was the inspiration for most of the great painters to come after him like Michaelango. And if that wasn't enough, the museum is now having a huge Mantegna exhibit which we viewed for over an hour until we just couldn't absorb any more. It was just awesome.

The open air bus tour of the city was also fun and informative. When we left at 7:00pm, it was rush hour in Padua. Fortunately I have the best navigator you could ask for in Bob McCready. And the car GPS navigator system is fun and accurate, so we got back to Monselice for a great dinner in a villa next to our hotel. The owner's wife came by our table and showed us around her villa (exactly why she came by our table is another very fun story that often happens when Marcia is around).

If I get more Internet time soon, I will add more details about what we saw in Padua. It is worth a lot more words.

Now we are off to Tuscany.

Photos to come.

Note: To those who love cars, we are driving a 2007 Mercedes R320 CDI (diesel automatic). Thought my number one son would enjoy that.

Venice (Oct. 20-23) - updated 10/30/06

We arrived in Venice and checked into our hotel, Mercurio. Our friends, the McCreadys, arrived late due to a missed connection in Germany, but we are all enjoying ourselves. Venice is perhaps the most unique city in the world with waterways and bridges to everywhere. Music every night in St. Mark's Square is wonderful. We found the crowds to be smaller and the food better and less expensive in the areas outside San Marco. Our hotel room was very small and the bathroom barely big enough. Our friend, Bob McCready, is 6' 5'' and had an interesting time taking a shower (the photo his wife took is hilarious).

In the 1950s, there were about 150,000 people living in Venice. Today the population has dwindled to about 50,000. On the plus side, there are about 18 million visitors every year. On the minus side, the many fruit and produce stands along the tiny streets are gone, replaced with shops like Gucci and new hotels. And due to the sinking city and rising water, in about 100 years, all of the streets will be underwater.

As I left the city on the water bus, seeing how the water often lapped above the doorways on the very old and dirty buildings, I felt as if I was watching a dying city.

Lake Garda (Oct. 16-20) - updated 10/19/06

After trying to get a reservation in Bologna and Vicenza, Italy with no luck while in Switzerland, we took the train to Desenzano on Lake Garda and walked to the tourist office where they helped us find a hotel. The hotel is like the town... a bit tired. But we are enjoying relaxing which includes walking the promenade and small streets in the town center. Yesterday we took the boat to Sirmione on the tip of a peninsula and spent the afternoon walking a bit and having lunch.

Lake Garda is the third of Italy's 3 big lakes. Lake Como and Maggiore are in the north on the border with Switzerland and are beautiful. Lake Garda does not have the mountains in the south of the lake where we are, so it doesn't quite have the charm and beauty of the other two.

Today it was not unique to be having our breakfast cappucino and croissant in a nice cafe, but it was different that the cafe included 2 roman columns built around 400 ad. After enjoying wonderful weather on almost every day of our trip, today it turned cloudy and cool. Hopefully the sun will return soon.

Tomorrow we train to Venice and meet our friends from Denver, Cindy and Bob McCready, who are joining us for 12 days in the Veneto and Florence areas.

Impressions and Reflections Halfway

Our weekend in Switzerland with the Maninis marked our halfway point in our adventure. Four and a half weeks and 5 countries of traveling behind us and four and a half weeks in Italy to go. We have a few impressions in no particular order:

- It is hard not to eat too much when you are on vacation... suggestion: walk more and eat less.
- Rick Steves' tour books are detailed, accurate and helpful.
- Trains and buses in southern Europe run on time and are comfortable.
- We like the concept of Spain's tapas with small portions of many tastes, but the quality is hit or miss.
- Provence's bistros generally serve very good food.
- Provence has many upscale restaurants which are usually great.
- The French smoke a lot (seems like a national pasttime) including in restaurants, so we tended to eat outside where at least it was a little better.
- The Italian's obey the no smoking law in restaurants, so we tend to eat inside. They still smoke a lot at the tables outside.
- We have good weather karma.
- With now having spent about equal time in Spain, France and Italy, we can say they each have different tastes in food and culture. It's hard to put in words, but it really has been a varied vacation so far. The food in France is the fanciest and perhaps best tasting, but we missed our salads and veggies. In Spain we had a few very good meals at upscale restaurants when we splurged, but generally the food was a bit salty and dry for our tastes. Italy remains as we remember it. The food is generally simple, varied and great tasting.

We have updated the previous posts with additional details.

Switzerland (Oct. 13-16) - updated 10/30/06

We drove from Piedmont, Italy to the border with Switzerland and then took the train over the border to Losone, Switzerland near Locarno to stay with our exchange student, Adriano's (from 15 years ago) parents. Adriano drove down from Munich where he lives now to see us for a few days.


We are back to home-cooked meals for dinner while we are here and enjoying them a lot. Saturday was our first all cloudy and cool day, and we walked to the nearby town of Ascona on Lake Maggiore. The chestnut festival was going on with local wares and food. The roasting chestnuts drew a large crowd, and when we got back to the Maninis they roasted fresh chestnuts which we ate for an hour. Hmmm. Another home cooked meal that night of course. Margrit never lets us help, but she always keeps us well fed.


Sunday Adriano drove us all to Morcote which is a small beautiful town on Lake Lugano. We had a very good lunch and walked up over 200 steps to the church. From there we drove to a town on Lake Maggiore, Luini, for gelato of course and another market. It was a beautiful day... and again Margrit's home cooked dinner when we returned. We are getting spoiled with not having to spend money to eat.


Mille grazie to the Maninis for being such a wonderful part of our family.

Monforte d'Alba (Oct. 9-13) - updated 10/19/06

We arrived in the Piedmont area of Italy. That means Barolo wine and during October white truffles. We start our gastronomic phase now. The hotel is called da Felicin and was started by the grandfather of the current owner, Nino, who is also the master chef and in the attached photo, and his wife Sylvia. Nino's father and mother still work at the hotel and it was fun to watch Nino and his father bicker all day. I guess the father wants it to run as he used to and the son has his own ideas. The da Felicin's restaurant is famous for its haute cuisine, and Nino has an ego to match it. The meals are all quite amazing starting with a 3 course appetizer, then a pasta course, then a meat or fish course, then dessert with perhaps cheese too.

The town of Monforte D'Alba had a Jewish ghetto in the 1800s, and unlike most places, Jews were allowed to own property. They assimilated into the population and disappeared (I sometimes wonder if that is also happening today in America). Nino's grandmother was Jewish, but not his parents.


Italy produces 21% of the total world output of wine, and they produce 29% of the European output of wine. Piedmont (Piemonte in Italian) accounts for only 6% of total Italian output of wine. In Piedmont the most popular grapes grown are the Moscato, Dolcetto, Nebbiolo and Barbera grapes. Moscato makes a sweet wine, and Dolcetto and Barbera are typically everyday wines (some are very good). The Nebbiolo grape is used to make 3 types of wine: Nebbiolo, Barbaresco and Barolo. Barolo is the king of Piedmont wines and the most expensive with a wide range of style and taste. The Nebbiolo grape is grown in the Langhe region of Piedmont in towns like Barolo, Monforte D'Alba (the town where we stayed) and others. Our town was a great location for taking short day trips around the Langhe region, but the town church had a clock tower (in addition to its bells) which chimed every hour all day and night long. It took a few days to get used to it and sleep well ;)

Barolo wine was founded by Marchesi Falletti in the early 1800s. The Marchesi Di Barolo winery is the oldest and one of the largest. We had a very good tour there, learned a lot, but did not like their style of wine.

Note to Nancy and Dave: Please thank the Yosts for their great suggestions. L'Isle sur la Sorgue and Monforte D'Alba are great base towns to visit the surrounding areas.


Our first full day in the Piedmont area began our education on the wines and food of this region. Piedmont is in the northwest corner of Italy and has a number of regions within it. We are in the Langhe area where the Nebbiolo grape is grown which is where Barolo and a few other wines are made. We visted two wineries to taste wine. The second one was at the Clerico winery where we tasted their wine for over 2 hours. The wine maker surprised us and came into the tasting room and spoke with us for over an hour. He spoke only Italian and the woman who handled the tasting translated. It was truly a personal experience. When we were leaving, they gave us a bottle of their Barolo wine... and we did not even buy anything (since it is too difficult to carry them with us). We loved his wines and have started ordering them in restaurants.

We were pretty busy each day in Piedmont. On the second full day there we drove through La Morra for a quick visit, then to Bra for lunch at Boccondivino and a visit to the Slow Food Organization headquarters. We then drove to Alba where Marcia had a manicure and we walked around the town center for a while. That night we had a very light dinner since we were still full from our large dinner at da Felicin the previous night.


On Thursday we had lunch at the Brezza restaurant in the town of Barolo and then tasted the Brezza wines with the winemaker's wife. We liked them and bought 2 bottles. Then we tasted Mascarello wines which we didn't like as much. We ended our tastings at Elio Grasso which was fun. Signora Grasso ran the tasting in a beautiful large room in their new villa. That night it was back to dinner at our hotel in da Felicin with another awesome meal by Nino.

Ligurian Coast, Italy (Oct. 6-9) - updated 10/19/06

We entered Italy as we started our trip in England... to big smiles and open arms. Our Italian friends, that we met 25 years ago through Joe's work, met us in Rapallo (on the Italian coast east of Genoa) and treated us like royalty. We stayed in their apartment with a view impossible to describe of Portofino and Santa Margherita; I will add some photos as soon as possible. We had a home cooked dinner every evening and toured the area by day.


Our visits included Chaivari, Ne (for a great lunch), Zaogli and Rapallo on Saturday; and then on Sunday we were surprised to visit again Cinque Terre and take the great walk between Monterosso and Vernazza (about 1.5 hours going up about 500-1000 feet and then along the coast with a similar view to Big Sur in California).

Mille grazie to Andrea and Valera Pesaro for their wonderful hospitality. They were a wealth of history and warm times.

Nice, France (Oct.3-Oct.6) - updated 10/19/06

We arrived in Nice Tuesday afternoon and our small hotel faces the promenade on the sea. We are very near the old city of Nice where in the evening we selected from over 30 outdoor cafes/restaurants in a pedestian only area. It was really wonderful. We awoke to a sunny day and the view of the sea is amazing. Nice may cater to the tourist, but it does it in a nice way. Our early opinion of Nice is very positive. We strolled the promenade of a few miles along the acqua colored sea. It is a sight and experience well worth the trip.


Then we visited the Chagall Museum and were in for a surprise. This is a national museum dedicated to Chagall and he donated most of the huge paintings in the museum. It was stunning. We stayed for 2 hours and enjoyed the rich colors of Chagall in an amazing setting. If you are the least bit interested in Chagall, it is worth coming to Nice just for the museum.


Our last day started with a bus ride up the corniche (mountain road) to Eze. There we ate a simple meal and looked over the French Riveria. From there we rode into Monico and Monte Carlo. Our gambling luck was not working (we need our daughter in law, Anh), but we walked around and viewed the extravagance. I was a bit turned off by how many tourists and no locals were visible. Of course the local wealthy were hidden in their villas.


On our way home we decided to stop in Villefranche for dinner. We found a great restaurant on the sea and dined for a few hours taking the last train home. It was a wonderful ending to our French Riveria days.

Yom Kippur in Avignon, France (Oct. 2)

On our last full day in Provence, we went to the city of Avignon about 30 minutes away because we heard there might be a synagogue there. And sure enough, we found the synagogue which is one of the only two remaining synagogues still in use in Provence. They allowed us to enter after checking our IDs and loaning me a kipot. The synagogue was orthodox (although they didn't understand the word since they only worship the traditional way with no knowledge of Conservative or Reform). It was built in the 1500s. The building is not very impressive from the outside, but the inside worship area is still beautiful. Marcia went upstairs where the women and children sat and I peered into the round area where about 100 men were praying. The rabbi, cantor and elder were in the middle on a slightly raised platform. All of the men wore tallit but there were no extras, so I could only stand at the door and watch and listen. Everyone kissed the massuza on the doorpost as they entered and left. It was wonderful, spiritual and I am sure it was the same service held over 300 years ago. I could see my grandfather (Zaddie) standing in there as if he were.


After leaving the synagogue, we visited what Avignon is most famous for... the Palace of the Popes. From the early 1400s to the early 1500s, a group of breakaway popes left Rome and stayed in Avignon where they built the palace/fortress. It was quite a juxtaposition from the synagogue. Eventhough the popes palace was huge, the synagogue had much more meaning for us. And to be able to attend a service for a short time on Yom Kippur was very special for us.

It wasn't easy fasting in Provence, but we enjoyed breaking the fast with sweets when we returned to our town.