Tuscany and Florence

Tuscany & Florence


.... the adventure continues ... Super sweet Panda. Check. Mediocre GPS. Check. Awesome company. Check. Okay, so we're headed from Venice to our place in Tuscany area. It's the boyfriends birthday and he really wants to stop and check out Bologna. So we do. Well, we basically drove around the outside of the city center pretending that we (and the GPS) knew where we were going. We totally missed the major monuments of the city and the rain that we left on the autostrada (highway) was heading our way -- and I was hungry -- so we headed onward.

We drive through a gazillion roundabout, which boyfriend finally got the hang of, then we showed up at our villa, Villa il Poggiale. It should have been pretty simple to find because there are signs everywhere with the name of the place, but the GPS swore that the address was really like .8 miles south of where it actually was. Anyhow -- we arrive, we hand over our passports for check-in, the receptionist gives us a dinner recommendation and a tour of the villa.

The villa was huge -- the main floor there was a drawing room with an honor bar, the upstairs was our room and a few others with 3 or 4 studies in between them, the downstairs was the breakfast room and what I'm assuming are more rooms, and the basement was the spa. The spa offered massage services, but the jacuzzi and the sauna were open to all guests.

So we decide to drive into San Casciano to grab a snack. We ended up finding this little deli/pizza place called Pizzera Rosticceria "da Cesare". We split a large pizza for 7 euro and it was amazing. The best pizza of the trip, hands down.

Made it back to the Villa and the receptionist stops us to inform us that since it's the boyfriends birthday he called the restaurant that we have reservations at for dinner and they have a special surprise for us. Fast forward to dinner --- HOLY GEEZ IT WAS GREAT --- We dined at Cinque di Vino also in the small town of San Casciano. We arrive and it is a 8 table restaurant. We were greeted by the owner and he immediately seats us and pops open a bottle of nice champagne for boyfriends birthday. We start perusing the menu and the owner started suggesting things left and right. We basically said yes to everything and ended up eating the most amazing meal. I would recommend this place to anyone ... it's worth the drive from just about anywhere in Italy.

The next day we got up, headed to breakfast --which we then realized we were the only people staying at the villa -- then we ventured into Florence and Chianti wine country. Florence was beautiful. It had some pretty grand structures and famous works of art. We spent the morning walking around the rather busy city and then grabbed lunch then drove into wine country.
















Because we went in the off season, the wineries were not yet open, but we did stop and buy a bottle of local wine to head back to the villa to drink while we watched the sun set. The sunset was great -- and boyfriend even helped me fashion a sun dial out of rocks! For dinner we headed to La Cantinetta Del Nonno. Who knew that pork and potatoes could be so simple and yummy!!

Next up: Cinque Terre

Venice

I survived Italy! And by survived I mean loved every second of it. It was a great way to turn 26, celebrate the boyfriends 26^th, and experience another new country!

I swear that I’m going to try to update you all (the like 2 of you) on the trip details … but maybe a day at a time or city by city … So here goes!

Venice

Worked Friday from 7:30 – 12:30 then hopped a flight to Paris for a layover. Upside I upgrade to comfort ecomony and had like 15 empty seats surrounding me. Downside, I found out that the boyfriends flight was delayed and that he’d be meeting me in Venice 6 hrs later unless I wanted to pay 250 bucks to change flights. It was a close call, but I decided to save the money and hang out in the really small and awful Venice airport solo waiting.  So I sat at Venice airport from 8:50-:240 pretending that I sleep while I travel … at this point I hadn’t slept in over 30 hrs. 

When Josh got to Venice we caught a waterbus into the city center. Or so we thought since we got off on the wrong island (Lido). Wandered around on the wrong island for like 10 minutes then re-caught the waterbus to find our bed and breakfast, the C’Due Leoni. The B&B was nice. It was a little off the beaten path in a part of the Cannaregio section of Venice, but it was quiet and not overpriced. The room itself was nice. It was 2 stories. The bottom floor with the entry, bathroom, and small sitting area for breakfast and then the upstairs was just a desk, nightstands & a bed – or two smaller than twin beds pushed together to make a queen.

Put down our stuff and went to dinner. Josh ordered something that looked like it came from the oilfield (Codfish & Tar?) and I ordered pasta.  We split a bottle of wine – the first of many on this trip – and wandered around the streets of the ‘Jewish Ghetto’ according to the map in our pocket that we never could have survived without. ((At least not with any real sanity left)). Went back to our hotel and finally got some sleep.

In the morning we called downstairs and they sent breakfast up to our room. It was pretty delicious, but then again, I could eat nutella and croissants every morning for breakfast!

Got cleaned up then headed out to check out some of Venice. Took some great shots on top of the Rialto Bridge, the first bridge to ever connect to the two sides of Venice, then it started raining pretty good so we headed out to pack up and go pick up our rental car (which is a Panda … literally).

Next up …. Tuscany & Florence!

february adventures

February has always been a pretty great month for me. It's still close enough from the new year holiday that I don't feel like I'm yet losing track of time and ends with birthday week. Well, since I was living in CA for a few Febs, I was trying to do something to challenge myself.

Birthday 24 was a reverse triathlon,   birthday 25 was my first 10k. -- so birthday 26? Well, this years birthday adventure is a bit different. Mainly because I'll be hiking up the Cinque Terre coast line on the big day with my stellar boyfriend.

That's right, as a combination of Valentine's, his birthday (the 26th) and my birthday (the 28th) we are packing a bag and heading to Italy for a week! So excited, I love traveling! One night in Venice, 2 nights in Tuscany, 1 night in Cinque Terre, and 3 nights in Rome. Happpppppyyyyy February!

twenty.twelve

Happy New Years!

Spent a very long weekend out in Keystone, CO with the boyfriend pretending to snowboard, enjoying the local flavor, and trying to stay warm!

hop a plane

Vacation & face time with the boyfriend.

Much needed & a complete success. 

Now ... when's the next one?

En route: Vacation started with a cup of coffee and 30 minutes of catching up on life with a good friend who's crazy enough to drive me to the airport at 6:2am (and pick me up at close to midnight when I came back). 

ATL --> DEN --> VEL

The flight to Vernal was .... tiny. I'm talking walk out onto the tarmac, 6 steps up into the plane, 8 rows back in the tiniest aisle with 1 seat on each side, the pilot is your stewardess and reviews the safety info with you, TINY. The entire plane seats 18 people ... including the pilot. I swear I took a photo, but it didn't save in my phone. So instead I'm stealing this one from the boyfriend from when he flew out of the same seat I did a few months ago. 

 

Finally landed in one piece and greeting in the smallest 1 room airport I've ever been in by the boyfriend. From there we headed to lunch. While in Vernal we went to Dinosaur National Park, some pretty lake that I don't remember the name of, saw where the boyfriend lives, then to dinner with a ton of his coworkers at the nicest place in Vernal. 

                                                                                                         FromVernal we drove east into Grand Junction, CO. Grand Junction is home to the Colorado National Independence Monument, the Grand Mesa, and a tasty winery. The drive there through Douglas Pass was the definition of fall; colored trees, windy roads, and windows down with the heat on.  Went to Canyon Wind Cellars winery just outside of Grand Junction, bought a bottle of wine, then went on a 'hike' (more like a drive .. but still) around parts of the national monument park.

   

After a night in Grand J, we take a 90 minute back road back over the state line into Moab, UT. Moab is one of the adventure capitals of the world. Pretty hikes, big red rocks, and fun off roading in a jeep rental, and gorgeous views of the Colorado River. The lodge we stayed at, Red Cliffs Lodge, was right on the river. So we did a lot of playing around there, and I even learned out how to skip a rock! If you know how well I can throw a frisbee, you know this is quite an amazing feat for me. It took me like a billion tries, but thankfully the boyfriends a good teacher .... or I'm just awesome.  

                                                                                                                     From Moab we drove to Park City, UT. Home of the 2002 Winter Olympics to crash for the night and tour the city the next day. They were prepping for the upcoming snow season and I was just entertained by all the colors of the trees!

Words don't really do the trip justice .. not that they ever do any experience justice .. but all in all, it was a great trip to a part of the US that I had yet to experience AND I got to see the boyfriend. It was great to spend 5 days just being us .. which mostly includes mocking one another.