Day 8 - Salute! 🍷🍷

A slower start today. We searched for a market this morning but no produce markets- it is Sunday! We ended up at a local grocery store- perfect! We purchased supplies to make an at-home dinner after our wineries tour!

Morning Cappuccino With A New Friend 

Our afternoon tour began at 2:15 pm. It was by bus and took us through the picturesque Tuscan countryside. The views were everything and more that you can imagine.

We tasted three wines at each stop, all Chianti variations. The first tour stop (Riseccoli Vineyard) was quick as we were speedily ushered through a room containing barrels. There wasn’t any explanation about the production process. The wines were described to us and we sampled with food pairings. All of us enjoyed the second wine the most- a Chianti Classico. The views were stunning from this hilltop location.

First Stop - Riseccoli Vineyard

Barrel Room

Hilltop Group Shot

Julie, Cutting Mandy Out! 😂

Gorgeous Vineyard

It Was Such A Beautiful Location

Country Cat - Hello Precious!!!

Our second sampling was in the town of Radda at the La Perla del Palazzi Ristorante. This tasting was super fun as the host was funny and charismatic! He explained the wines and taught us how we should taste and pair them. Three wines paired with cheese or salami. This tasting made up for the rushed first spot. The town of Radda was tiny but super cute. The bus had great windows to view the rolling hills of Chianti.

Town Of Radda

Second Tasting Of The Day - La Perla del Palazzi Ristorante

Gelato Shop In Radda

Gelato Shop!

City Cats - Hello Preciouses!!!

Bus Ride Selfie - Now Julie Got Cut Out!! 😂

Bus Shot #1

Chianti Hills - Bus Shot #2

We made it back home at 8:30pm and started our home dinner. We prepared a Pesto pasta and a Caccio de Pepe pasta with salad. We had some delicious olives and strawberries too. Christine was our table stylist- amazing is all we can say!! Probably one of our best dinners!

Homemade Dinner - Buon Appetito!!!

Salute To A Beautiful Day!

Tomorrow we are off to Venice for the day. It will be a long day travelling by train. We are excited to visit and discover the town.

Signing off for now. Another fun day full of Italian discoveries. Amazing. ❤️


Julie
High - Authentic Italian cuisine prepared in our cozy VRBO and styled by Christine!

Amanda
High - Video chatting with Wendy in Ontario.
Low - The crazy tight timing of the tour. No pictures!

Christine
High - The amazing Tuscan views on the winding roads to the vineyards, and finding an Amaro and Cherry Gelato in the same cafe.
Low - I fell asleep on the bus and missed the whole way home. 🍷 🍷 🍷

Lori
High - Found a Chianti she actually liked.
Low - The bottle is $100 Euros!!!

Day 7 - Florence Day Four: Pisa and Cinq Terre

We scheduled a full day tour to Pisa and Cinq Terre today. We were told to arrive 30 minutes before start time which meant we would be up and at em’ bright and early! We proceeded to wait for our tour guide until 7:40am 😡. Once found, we hopped of first train of about 200 trains that would be used today! 🤣

The first stop was the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Incredibly, the tower looks even more slanted than anticipated. We strolled leisurely through the monuments- they are so beautiful. Many attempts at the perfect fun photo were made. Some were even modified to cut Christine out! It was crazy to be there all together.

 

The LEANING Tower Of Pisa

Don't Worry, We Got It!!

Pisa Group Shot

We hopped aboard our next train heading for the first village stop of Cinq Terre - Riomaggiore. We felt a bit like cattle today, being ushered onto and off trains, through chutes and tunnels and down narrow streets. The views however, did not disappoint. The villages were unbelievably picturesque and full of quaint shops, cafes and restaurants.

Cattle Drive 😂

Bakery/Cafe

Christine and Julie sampled the local seafood cones- they chose calamari! Erica, Lori and I stuck with fries! The schedule was very tight with snippets of time for photos and quick jaunts and then onto the next!

Julie And Her Calamari Cone

The villages were once only accessible from the water, seafood was a staple of their lives. Once train access began the villages were open to many people. Today was cloudy and cool, perfect for our visit and maybe kept a few visitors at bay.

Christine Keeping Cool

Manarola was the second village visited followed by Vernazza. The Instagram worthy options were plenty. The steep cliffs are dotted by coloured homes and man made gardens. The gardens grow all types of produce for the villages. Even the boats are colourful and beautiful.

Our guide - Ned was calm and kept us on track all day long. Our group was tiny and enjoyable.

Ned And The Gang

The train ride back was about two hours long with more chatting and dozing. Our chats are truly therapeutic and comforting, some of the best parts of the trip. As we reached the train station in Florence the rain was easing up - great timing for us.

To take us back, way way back we opted for a quick dine in dinner at a Florence McDonald’s! It really was a dip back in time! Full circle!! We needed to get home before midnight tonight!!! Wow.

Well, winding this up before 11 pm tonight is a high, I see a bit more sleep in our future. Tomorrow afternoon we have a tour into the Chianti region to visit two different wineries. Looks like rain for sure but it won’t change our plans!!!

Ciao for now!!!!

Julie
High - That beautiful places like this actually exist and we get to see them.
Low - The chaos of the train stations.

Erica
High - View of Vernazza with my fav ladies :)
Low - Effing up the Pisa pic 😩

Amanda
High: Introducing our points system and competition to the crowd of passengers getting into the train- as we finally head towards seats complete stranger already seated says: We won!
Low: Lining up to take a group shot and Lori encouraging me: “Don’t have an ugly face”.

Christine
High: Cinq Terre was everything her eyes wanted to see!
Low: Approaching the Leaning tower of Pisa and Julie primed for a photo. Chris jumps in and skews her hands as a joke picture. Christine says let’s see? Julie without hesitation: you are not in it, I cut you out! 🤣

Lori
High: Being pleasantly surprised and enjoying the Leaning Tower of Pisa so much
Low: Missing an extra hour of valuable sleep this morning to ensure we were “on time” for the tour

Day 6 - Florence Day Three: Hike Day

Well….. following our late night last night we awoke to our alarms and slowly started the day. Texas, I mean Lori was up and ready to hike. Julie was awake early too. Unfortunately, the rest of us were slow to the starting line. We enjoyed coffee and tea while we rested and chatted more. Catching up on each others lives, families and experiences has been so amazing. Many years have passed and yet it feels like none have passed! Our hike was sidelined in favour of going with the flow. It sure paid off!

We decided to head to the San Lorenzo market and buy some fresh produce and cook dinner at the VRBO. We checked the website and it is open until midnight- odd but perfect. We set out to tour a bit and make our way there. Every corner holds a new discovery. We find ourselves in a new piazza every time we venture out which seems crazy since the whole city measures about 0.5 square kilometres. 🤣

Walking Around Shenanigans

Group Shot

Carlo's Angelos

The Sorellas

We stumbled upon one of the last operational wine windows- divine intervention!!!! When you have time and you let the universe take over it leads you where you are supposed to go!

Knock, knock.  Anybody home?

Yes...

Saluti!!

Taking in the beauty of Florence is endless. There are masterpieces everywhere, even if you lived here you couldn’t discover all the beauty.

We arrived at the market to find the upper restaurant areas open but the fresh produce section closed! 🤦‍♀️ No cooking dinner tonight! We purchased sandwiches to take to Pisa/ Cinq Terre tomorrow and headed out to find our dinner spot! Great success followed as we dined at a restaurant that was gluten free pizza champion 2006! Lori was in heaven. A huge cache of desserts were taken home and sampled- cheesecake, crème brûlée, cannolis and cream filled pastry cones! 

World Champion Gluten Free Pizza!!!

Yummy!!!

Yummy, yummy!!!

A planned early night has once again pushed past midnight! We are off early in the morning for the day to Pisa/ Cinq Terre!

Nighty night!


Julie:
High - How a day doing nothing led to a day filled with laughs and unexpected surprises
Low - not making dinner cause the market was closed

Erica
High - Late afternoon drinks at the wine window, sweet find!
Low - Missing our fresh market shopping spree

Amanda
High - Our morning traveller’s yoga and foot workout on the reflexology ball from Lori! And trying cannolis for the first time!
Low - Trying to think of a low to add!

Christine
High - Our morning exercise routine and the wine window experience
Low - The food market not being open until midnight (like wtf? how rude!)

Lori
High - Gluten Free Pizza!!!!
Low - Not getting to cook dinner together at the VRBO as planned

Day 5 - Day Two in Florence!!

We started with a bang this morning! Up and off to explore Florence on a walking Secret Food Tour. The tour began at 10 am and we arrived home at 3:30 am!!! 😲 We were not on the food tour the entire time!

Our tour group was the five of us plus three ladies from North Carolina. The tour started off at a cafe where we sampled cream filled croissants and coffee or juices! The cafe was beautiful- but everything in Florence is beautiful! 

Food Tour Goodies

The walking started and we headed past some flea markets. The next food stop was the local food market where everyone buys their meats, cheeses, produce and sauces and condiments. The market was amazing. We sampled charcuterie and wine- yes at 10:30 am! The Pecorino cheese and salamis were crazy.

Authentic Italian Market

Italian Market Shop

After the market Lampredotto sandwiches on the street were next. Everyone but Amanda sampled (wasn’t feeling it). They are a local specialty- a meat sandwich- the meat is fourth and final stomach of the cow! On our tour we saw some of the wine windows. There are 176 in Florence but only 6-9 or so are still working! Christine tried to open one without success. 😢

Hello??  Anybody home??

Secret Food Tour Pic

The secret stop was a bakery with cantucci (or biscotti) we each received a loot bag full of the cookies! Following this stop we were able to taste some delicious pasta- two kinds. The samples ended with gelato! Along the route we learned tips and suggestions for what to try and where. Our guides help you with any other questions you have about the area as well.

Street Art 1

Street Art 2

The Museum is unbelievable, truly. You become saturated quite quickly so we decided to hit the highlights only. We saw Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Caravaggio, Da Vinci , Botticelli among many others! The museum threads you along a specific route, much like IKEA. As you move along the route you see the style evolution in the Renaissance paintings. It is a lesson in art and beauty but we learn so much about history through the art as well.

Inside Uffizi Gallery

Uffizi Gallery Arches - View Across River Arno

After the tour Lori and Christine took a taxi to the airport to retrieve her luggage. The taxi ride was sketchy. The process for retrieval was convoluted and bizarre! A ton of work later they emerged from the airport a success. They scooted back from the airport to the VRBO and then speed walked back to Erica, Julie and I to meet for dinner.

We met in The Piazza di Republica, where the oldest carousel in the world is situated.

We started dinner at the La Bistecca - Osteria Fiorentina at about 8:30pm. We were starving and the meal did not disappoint. We had risotto, pasta and pizza to name a few delicious choices. The food and conversation flowed. Christine inquired about an Italian dessert Rum Baba and Albano explained where she could find some. As our dinner was coming to an end, Albano returned with the delicious dessert as a gift- unbelievable. The night did not stop there as we continued the conversations early into the morning. The hospitality was incomparable and has already set a high we will be trying to surpass!

Albano, Our Amazing Dinner Host

Rum Baba!!

Late Dinner Shot - Everyone Else Went Home... 

A quick taxi ride home and some more chatter and fun! Lori is looking forward to a change of clothes and at least twelve hours sleep. Tomorrow is hike day- if we sleep well!!! Since the sun is almost up we must sign off!! Until tomorrow…. Oh wait

Julie
High: The sunset at the bridge
Low: Still being awake at 5am

Erica
High: Finding her love of espresso
Low: having three espressos before noon

Christine
High: The whole freakin day
Low: No lows!

Lori
High: Getting her luggage back
Low: The process for getting your luggage back

Amanda
High: Caravaggio Medusa - Thanks, Benny!!
Low: Grumpy museum ushers who shush the wrong people

Medusa By Caravaggio - 1597