Last Day in Europe

We're nearing the end of our three-week time in Italy, France, and UK.  Seems like a long time since leaving Puslinch, and we're both looking forward to returning.  Paul and Marylu are leaving France tomorrow and will have to get up early to take the train from Gare Nord and then on to Charles de Gaulle airport.
We are taking a taxi tonight from Dan and Andrea's flat to a B&B adjacent to Gatwick, then on a 9:45 flight to Pearson.

In Paris

It's been a while since the last entry, but time flies when there are things to do and places to explore.
We drove from the last villa in Italy (near Lucca) to Milan last Saturday morning and arrived around 10:30.  Dropped the car off near the train station and got on the 12:30 train headed for Geneva - a four-hour trip.  The trains travel somewhere been 150 and 200 km/h, so even with several stops along the way, the time goes quite fast.  From Geneva with an hour stopover we traveled to Lyon where we had hotel reservations for the night.  The hotel was fine, but rooms were small and the beds "firm".  Got the 2:00pm train for Paris.  The train was a TGV train (Train Grand Vitesse), and it did move quickly with only I've stop en route.  Took taxi from train station to our room.  Tonight (Tuesday) we have reservations on a river dining boat that will travel along the Seine during dinner. 
Overall the weather has been superb for this time of year with daytime highs of 18 to 22, and overnight 12 to 14.
Yesterday we scratched the Eiffel tower off our imaginary bucket list.

Day Ten - Saturday

Time to leave La Colonica and head to next villa that is north of Lucca. About a 160 km trip, but most of it on the autostrada - amazingly like US interstate highways, except you don't want to hang out in the passing lane.
We were on the road by 9:15 and made great time to Lucca.
Check in time is not until 4pm, so we had a chance to walk around Lucca. Lucca has very imposing walls that circle the city, 100 churches and many sites to see. We parked near the train station and walked through the central district. Saturday mornings are very busy with local friends and family enjoying the city as well as the many visitors.
In the first square we tried fennel chips and Marylu bought a bar of pistachio nougat.
Fascinating tiny stores with food, leather goods, wine, toys, kitchen gadgets.

Our second villa, Il Mulinetto (the Mill) is north of Lucca past the small town of Capella. The GPS noted that the location was not on a digitized route, so could not give us turn by turn directions for the last part of the journey. The directions from the owner were accurate and complete, describing the long colonnade of lime trees, then the winding road 2 km  up into the hills, and to go 'straight on' after the olive trees lined both sides of the road. Straight on barely applies to this road that snakes and doubles back on itself many many times. This villa is set back into a hillside and has been completely renovated without losing all sense of the original structure. The kitchen is much bigger than La Colonica and better suited to more than one person cooking at the same time.

We ate a large lunch in Lucca  consisting of everything from Pizza to pasta . Dinner was not necessary again.  Paul ,Bob and Delores went to grocery store to get eggs and bread and milk and coffee. I went to bed early after finding a great book to read.

Day nine... Fri

Cloudy day today but the sun is supposed to come out. Paul made a big breakfast ..eggs ,left over potatoes, some pancetta ,tomatoes , toast and croissants with cherry jam. Then we headed off to wine country. Bob drove on very windy roads and we saw a lot of winerys' with the grapes hanging heavy and ready to be harvested. We stopped in Montalcino  and walked around. We bought a nice bottle of local wine to drink tonight. I left it in the church when I was visiting and it was still there when I ran back. Whew! Headed back down the hills and stopped for lunch in a very small village. Torrita di Siena  Had bruschetta , Caprese salad , and pasta with meat sauce. So good . Bob and Delores had bruschetta, spare ribs, French fries...no ketchup or vinegar. Very good food and very good prices. The gelato was all gone so we had to get some later.
Paul is driving now...Bob needs a break. The hills and twists and turns are amazing.
Stopped on way home to try to phone Paris to put deposit on Seine cruise. Can't seen to get through so we will see what happens. Did find a Gelato shop , so we felt better.
Arrived back at villa after a fun day ...had ham sandwiches for dinner and I forgot to take a picture :( we have to eat up the food in the fridge because its travelling day tomorrow . We are all packed and ready to go...but time for Skip Bo before bed... We both won a game. Now Paul is downloading pics and Bob and Delores are playing scrabble. I'm ready for bed .

Day eight...thurs

Woke to sunshine with some clouds today. Plan to stay home and do laundry and walk around this little village. My feet  need a rest. Bob and Delores head out to car rental place to find out what to do about accident. Paul and I do laundry and tidy up our room a bit. We have two more nights here then off to next Villa. Hard to believe we have only been here a week. We have done so much .  All good with the car so that's a huge relief. Back to eating and drinking. Bob and Delores go to the market on the way back and get chicken and potatoes to BBQ . Paul and I explore this little town  Marciano di Chiana. It's very old. We find a church that was restored in 1591. It's surprisingly large for such a small place. Find a quaint grocery store and buy some tomatoes!!! and Zucchini . Have a great dinner as usual . Paul and I walk down the road to a small vineyard and take some photos. I have to know what these grapes taste like so I pick a tiny one. Very good ...just like you buy in the store. Must be illegal to pick them...we walk up to get gelato again and back before dark so Paul doesn't fall InThe ditch again.  Going to play Skip Bo again.

Siena for Paul's Birthday

Day seven ..weds

Wake to another beautiful sunrise behind the curtains. Happy Birthday Paul . the end of the 50's ! Try to get an early start ..bit longer drive to Siena.  Looks like an amazing place with a must see church..Duomo Santa Maria. Apparently there will be steps. Finding the train station to park is a little tricky. Hamilton's brought their Tom Tom GPS but the car connection doesn't work so we are using the one in the car.. Not as easy to understand.  (That's our excuse) anyway we know we are heading in the wrong direction so Paul pulls into a parking spot and stops. We are there about 30 seconds when we hear a bang and scrapping sound as a car hits ours as it is Parking beside ours!  GREAT!  Luckily we were still with the car and the guy who hit us ( no English ) knows the guy who has the store in front of us and speaks some English. The four men figure it all out and fill in all the forms. I take pics of everything and a little movie just in case. Not the best way to spend your Birthday. Thank goodness he didn't break our light so we can continue on. Found the train station and then went up a lot of escalators...a lot ..to reach street level. Walked into the walled city. Siena has a lot of history. By now it's 12 o'clock. So much for our early start. Walked for a little while and decided to have lunch in the famous Palio area.
After lunch we split up and Paul and I head for the church. The churches here will blow your mind. Very hard to describe and the pics don't do them justice. They are so huge. We did walk a lot of steps. After hours of walking up and down and being amazed we headed back . We stopped for a piece of traditional fruit cake and coffee for Paul's birthday. Very good ..why doesn't our fruit cake taste like this? Met up with the Hamiltons and headed back to car  but oh look there is a Gelateria! Must have a try! They all have different flavours. Four very tired friends make it back to the car. Home for a very simple but delicious dinner...those yummy tomatoes!
Happy Birthday Paul..hope you had a great day. Xoxoxo. Love you
More Skip Bo. Then a little knitting and chatting...then bed

Day six...tues

Woke to amazing sunshine. Another glorious day. Today Paul drove to Cortona..a 20 min drive. Another hill town surrounded by a wall. Found a great parking spot and started to walk up. First stop was for Gelato.  Started walking by all the shops on both side of the street. Arrived at the main square. We found a neat wine shop and got a nice bottle of wine..Syrah from Cortona. Very nice. Started to explore the town and climbed up the streets and down the streets. And found a church. Surprise ,surprise .. Then we found a street that we thought led back to stores but ended up going to another church. We started climbing and climbing and then refused to give up.  We were almost there and we met a couple from Toronto who said it was worth the effort. The church was beautiful and worth the climb. We thought we would see what was on the next hill up and wished we hadn't bothered. Then we had to walk all the way down which is sometimes harder. Met up with Bob and Delores and had lunch. Paul and I went into a little bar and had a great coffee. I walked out first and Paul tried to leave but had forgot to pay so he got stopped. Too funny. Another beautiful day with lots of walking. Home for a light dinner and skip Bo.the boys beat us two games.

Day five, Monday

Market day in Foiana della Chiana, only 7 kilometres from the villa. Wonderful little market, we found the smaller food section first. Paul braved the line up of local mamas at the meat stand. One dear in particular, holding ticket 71, to Paul's 70, decided to jump the line since clearly Paul was the tourista. That was fine and when served the owners were more than gracious with the lack of Italian. Hand sliced proscuitto that was excellent, pecorino cheese, a thick slice of porchetta and a bag of mozzarella di bufula. We filled our bags with bread, foccacia, a couple of tablecloths and a couple of handbags for Marylu.

We continued on to Montepulciano, another wonderful hill town, more tourists, but the streets are highways compared to Orvietto. Lots of great little shops on the long climb to the Piazza Grande. Bread, antipasto, cheese and wine on offer in many of the wine shops. I won't mention the soap Bob.

Classic dinner with finds from the market and wine ... bread, proscuitto, porchetta, tomatoes, olive oil and a peach flan.

Day four. Sunday

Woke to an amazing sunrise coming through the red curtains. Maybe tomorrow we will  open them and watch.  It's 8 am. Shower and dress and check Facebook to get a message from Mike. He was just going to bed. He said good night I said good morning... Breakfast of a coffee and croissant with cherry jam..yummy. Today we are doing the ! The four magical villages. They are all up in the hills. Will post pictures .  One town we stopped and had a coffee that was the best coffee I have had in my life. I will never forget it. We stopped  for lunch at the last one. I had vegetable and bean soup with onions which they bring raw on a side plate. Then I ordered maccharoni which came as flat long pasta with a fresh tomato sauce . It was amazing. Paul had mushroom soup and a dish of wild Boar. Delores had ravioli with a weird sauce and Bob ordered a plate of different cheeses and a duck dish. We bought a bottle of their house wine to bring home. It's now 4:15 and we are back at villa deciding what to do about food for dinner. No stores open. Hmmmmm

Light dinner of pasta el pesto with sliced tomatoes and salad. And wine, followed by a game of Skip Bo.

The four villages are all small hill towns where you park outside the original walls and then walk up to the narrow streets. Everything is clean and picturesque, can take a million pictures:
Petroio - we drove through the tiny cobbled streets of this town.
Castelmzuio - part of The English Patient was filmed here. The cafe we had that terrific coffee from, Locanda di Casa Mustia, was down in a half basement, half full of people including the local priest who apparently likes to fuel up before delivering his service. We saw him 20 minutes later with a broom and dustpan.

Montisi - a small town consisting of a million photo opportunities.

Trequanda - We parked and then started walking up the hill. We were looking for the restaurant Conte Matte that had been recommended to us. In a rare departure from his usual behaviour Paul asked for directions ... there were three people chatting and with a 'scusco' and the name 'Conte Matte' one of the party excused himself from the conversation and started walking us up the hill to the restaurant, very quickly. He was happy to take us to the other side of town, the conversation was pretty much Italian and one-sided until he learned that we were Canadian and between us we had a few words of French.  What a wonderful welcome to this tiny village.

For a Week Here

Guess the jetlag is still an issue for Delores and Paul as they're taking advantage of the villa and its comfy amenities.  We will have to plan our later jaunts and need to decide whether to eat in or go local.  Decisions, decisions.

La Colonica..Italy

Day three. Sat. La Colonica..Marciano Della Chiana

We all woke up in the middle of the night but got back to sleep at different times. Paul and I got up early and went for a walk through the town while it was still very quiet . Had a coffee at the shop by the church. It's garbage day so we had coffee with the garbage men. Beautiful morning. Took some more pics on way back..just can't resist. Got back and packed up with Bob and Delores and had a yummy breakfast at the B& B then headed north with Paul driving. Stopped at Cortona high on the hill but couldn't find a parking spot. Will have to come back..it looks amazing. Stopped at the Co op to get some wine ,cheese, bread and stuff so we don't starve on Sunday . Drove north to Marciano Della Chiana and our Villa La Colonica. Very nice villa backing on to an olive grove. We will be very happy here. Delores and I had Bellinis and the guys had red wine with cheese and bread,apple ,grapes and olives...yummy. It's a gorgeous day. Delores and Paul are now sound asleep..  4:14 pm for a nap. ..to be continued

Orvieto , Italy

Day 2. Friday

Peaceful flight across the ocean with clouds below us and a full moon watching our journey. Bob and Delore sat in front of us in seats 5 J and K . They were very well behaved and dozed off every now and then. I watched a movie ..The Big Wedding which was funny and then three episodes of Downton Abby. We were served dinner with a glass of red wine...very civilized ! Hours later we got breakfast of yogurt ,juice and a sweet bun. I tried the coffee then switched to tea. Very few bumps so I would say a smooth flight. Landed in Rome, walked to our luggage and then the challenge to find the car rental...bit of a walk and puzzle but we got there. Rented a nice size car..Volkswagen  Passat, lots of room for us and all our luggage. Some of us had a little sleep, some none and we are off for another day. Paul drove as we headed north with our first destination...Orvieto .
Italy is not quite what I expected though I couldn't tell you what I expected. It reminds me a lot of parts of California but with different things growing in the fields and much older buildings.
Orvieto is a Hill Town that is amazing. I hope the pics post give a slight idea of how wondrous it is. We stayed at a B & B that was very reasonable and worked perfectly for us for one night. Much better than I had expected.
We walked through the town and took pics..amazing, old quaint.. We were all hungry so we stopped for dinner early. Want to try real Italian Pasta.  Tagliatelle pomodora ..so good, Paul had Chicken Milanese ,Bob had Ravioli and Delores had Chicken. Then we all had Gelato. Will remember what kind later...then we walked for a while till we were too tired to stay awake and all went to bed at 8 pm.

Day 1

Today will be a long day...start in Toronto ..end in Rome...at the airport. Will meet Bob and Delores at airport and our adventure will begin. We will be able to watch the full moon as we cross the ocean tonight. Hopefully get some sleep . Getting excited.

One more step

Boarding passes......check!.....check ! For us too

2 more sleeps

Time is drawing near!!!!
Bob is out cutting grass again and I have started packing.  Made a decision re camera....taking the lighter and smaller point and shoot.....may need to get some good AA batteries for it.  Tomorrow is last trip to Oakville for Bob's mom....

More Off Check List

House/dog sitters all lined up (Don and Mary), list of instructions for them all complete, bills payed that come due while away, grass cut at back, hummingbird food prepared, gas for lawnmower in barn, Delores has all her medications, now ready for medicinal wine.

Fwd: Booking questions

Begin forwarded message:

From: Bateau le Calife <calife@calife.com>

Subject: Booking questions

Date: 15 September, 2013 9:42:14 AM EDT

To: Paul Foley <paulfoley@rogers.com>

Dear Sir,

We thank you for your e-mail.
As today we have availability for the 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10 October 2013.
We recommend you to reserved early.

As part of our dinner - cruise, we offer two formulas, the first is at 49€ includes a starter, main course and dessert; whereas the second at 67€ has a larger variety of choices for the starters, main courses and desserts as well as a cheese platter.  These formulas include the two hour cruise but not the drinks, which can be chosen from the beverages menu.    You can choose the menu aboard on the evening.  

Best regards,

Gina

Bateau le Calife  01 43 54 50 04  www.calife.com

Le 8620136 samedi14/septembre/2013 20:56, Paul Foley a écrit :

Bonjour/Hello  We, two couples, will be in Paris October 6th to 10th and would like to book a dinner cruise one night.  The experience aboard comes highly recommended.    Which nights are there still bookings available?  Can we wait until we're in Paris to be able to check weather, or should we book earlier than that?  Do all of the party need to choose he same, gourmet vs. gastronomique?    Thanks  Paul Foley

Wow...

Sunrise this morning....(Bob gets the credit!)

look at this!!

Currency Exchange

On Friday we had some Cdn dollars exchanged for Euros and the rate was 1.41935. Thought we would wait until the dollar rose, but that's not happening.

Paris Ideas

Evening Dinner Cruise on the Seine

Books on the Kindle

These are some books I have on my Kindle..what do you have?
Beautiful Ruins...Jess Walter
A town Like Alice..Nevil Shute
Alias Grace..Margaret Atwood
Quiet: the Power of Introverts..Susan Cain

What could We be talking about?

 

Shopping

Marylu's new shoes

Duffel bag, will be full on the trip home

14 days till lift off

Today I have a Dr. Appt to make sure I have all meds I may need and all is good.  I also need to find a soft bag/suitcase to take empty and bring back full.  Now that all the celebrations are over I need to get back on my diet so that I can eat and still fit into my clothes in Italy.

Map Resources

Trip Map

The final long weekend of the summer is over, now to get ready for our fall vacation.  First thing to do is decide what clothes to take. I think I need to go shopping for a pair of black pants and some walking shoes.

Getting Ready - 18 days to go.

Going to be a great trip to Italy and France with our friends Delores and Bob Hamilton.
2 different villas in Tuscany, then train to Lyon and onto Paris via TGV.

Fall weather, food, wine, Italian hill towns, visits to Florence and Rome with great company.

We are planning to take lots of pictures and keep this site posted with updates, so stay tuned.