October 27, Wednesday

"I must look a mess I must admit, but I have been travelin' quite a bit"--Tampico Trauma, Jimmy Buffet

Drafting this from our cozy seats on our US-bound flight. 9 hours in the sky allows you to accomplish tasks like this.

As promised here is our list of memorable things and events from this incredible trip.No certain order. And resemblance to real persons is coincidental....or not.

--GPS, We loved the GPS and can't sing her praises highly enough. So glad we rented it because the streets and signage in Italy are challenging. She was always there for us...except when she wasn't. She did seem to have some challenges counting the number of exits on the roundabouts, which got us in trouble more than once. But the real problem was sending us up a steep hill on a narrow lane that turned out to be a one way street THE OTHER WAY. Her little joke I guess. Watching Farley back down this narrow windy street with 3 cars in front coming down the right way, not so funny.

--speaking of cars, we loved our Doblo, or the white "bread truck" as we dubbed it. Not sure how we ended up with the equivalent of the Italian SUV, but Farley did a GREAT job with the driving responsibilities, including masterfully handling the manual transmission. The only glitch was the stall out in the middle of pulling out into an intersection with a car headed toward us at 3,000 kmh. My life flashed before me as the crazy Italian drivers came bearing down on us....

--stumbling on the ring-necked pheasant farm on the way to Cortona. "Look, what's all that netting over there? Turn around please. I'm sure it's fine to pull into his driveway."The owner was not as sure, as he came flying up in his truck as we came to a stop,relieved to see we were only in search of photographs. There were literally hundreds of birds in football field length pens, with rubber protectors on their beaks to keep them from arguing with one another. An amazing sight!!

--walking into a small paper store (Il Paparo) in Florence to find Johnny Cash's Greatest Hits blaring on the radio and to have the proprietor exhibit the handiwork necessary to make marbled paper while we listened to "A Boy named Sue". He remarked that he likes country in the morning, opera at midday, and rock later in the afternoon, so he can get energized for after work. Those wild and crazy paper guys!!

--stumbling upon the entry to a craftsman's shop in Montepulciano, this coppersmith we find has exhibited his work for many including the pope. In explaining his craft in Italian(not that we understood much), he showed off wine buckets and fish trays and a cheese/pizza plate with a copper dome. He proceeds to gong the copper dome and place it on each of our heads -- sort of like the Harry Potter sorting hat. Nancy commented "I'm not sure, but I think you two may be married now" which simply cracked us up. We went back two days later so Farley could purchase a copper pot and the gentleman performed the EXACT same ritual clearly not recognizing we were return customers. As I told Farley,"I guess we've renewed our vows now".

--we had some incredible meals -- the absolute best was the meal for 10 prepared by a local at our villa. Other memorable culinary experiences -- Il Sasso de Dante right by the Duomo in Florence, the Trattoria Blu in Montalcino,the Muro restaurant our first night in Venice, the tiramisu at Osteria Al Porte our last night in Venice. And of course, theworld's best hot chocolate at the top of the hill in Montepulciano. I was crushed when they were closed on our return visit. There were also several subpar meals -- see our previous post for the dinner that rated a "smelt tip" from both of us. Also one lunch pizza in Florence was abysmal. Finally, a stop on the way back to the villa for dinner, where we were the only one's in the osteria (it was Monday night) and the owner left the television on loudly throughout the so-so meal.

--daily wrap up with friends at the villa in front of a fire with full (actually bottomless) wine glasses

--Lynne drank red wine! Regularly! And even asked for it at dinner!

--the tropical depression that seemed to hit Venice when we arrived and lasted thru the next day. Rain, wind, cold. Not what we expected but the city was still striking.

--Sheep, shepherds and herding dogs in Tuscany

--driving by donkeys procreating in the field in Tuscany and the tourists who had stopped to photograph this tender moment. Kodak moment?????

--Nancy being a good sport and riding "behind the dog cage" barrier in the bread van. You rock Dunder!!! Woof, woof! --riding with Rob to the Coop grocery store in Buonconvento on our arrival night at the villa. I was dead tired and Rob "Andretti" was a demon on those windy roads. I was quite green at the end, although not so bad that I was "talking to God on the white phone" as one of our new Aussie friends put it.

--stepping inside a beautiful upper end glass store in Murano. The first thing I admired,and called Farley over to admire, was an amazing tree/bird centerpiece. Now it was quite expensive so I think the proprietor thought we were going to drop a bundle of $$ in his shop. Next thing you know he is whisking us back to the private showroom where we are dazzled by incredible creations in glass and chandeliers that cost 50k euros. It was room after room of glass pieces that just made us ooh and aah. Sadly, Farley only wanted to spend40k euros so we didn't get the chandelier. Just kidding!!!! No sale.

--the climb to the room the second night in Florence was advertised as third floor, but seemed to be much more as the "ground floor" counts as zero in Europe. But the reward was a rooftop deck from which you could see the Palazzo Vecchio and the top of the Duomo (green courtesy of a laser light overhead) and surrounding areas of Florence. We sipped wine and planned the next day's adventures ...

--Lynne created an outdoor breakfast spot at the villa under a portico where the bees buzzed and the sun shone brightly a couple of mornings. We enjoyed the views and the breakfast, but not as much as Harry, a black Labrador that hung out around the villa, especially whenever food might be available. He was well mannered, and politely took the scraps the we offered after he sat patiently next to the table and nipped at the bees that got close.

--Our adventures with public transportation always seemed to start with arriving at the station just after our desired vehicle had left the station. We also did our part to extend the length of each trip, as we often stayed too long on the public transportation,given the Italian maps were not easy to decipher. Once we even intentionally stayed on the bus, thinking it would bring us around to our stop, but instead headed further into the hills before finally returning us to the correct stop. All part of a European adventure!

--Most restaurants have taken their cue from foreign movies, and offer English subtitles on the menu for the many "no speak Italiano" tourists. However, we did go to one that was written up in Rick Steves', had a line to wait for a table, and seemed to have a more homey feeling, with a handwritten menu only in Italian. The hominess left quickly, though, as the waitress tried to rush us through our menu selection as we tried to translate key words of gastronomical delights. The waitress on her fourth trip over had little ability to translate into English, so we decided on Caprese and Branzino (sea bass we had learned) for Lynne, and pasta Carbonara and seafood platter for Big Far. The Caprese was the worst of our trip, but possibly the best part of the meal, as the sea bass, head, tail, fins, bones and all, accompanied a large plate of fried squid, some whole fried smelts, and a few shrimp. We decided English subtitles are a must.

--Speaking of Rick Steves, he did a wonderful job of wandering us around and through cities(but less wonderfully selecting restaurants). He did have a scary afternoon, as we ducked into a pizzeria to grab a slice before our tour of the David, only to leave him on the counter as we headed off for our tour. He was able to get up with the manager somehow, and hang out in a cabinet behind the counter until later that evening, when Farley came searching for him. It was a beautiful moment.

--There is an apparent shortage of ceramic in Italy, despite all the beautiful mosaics we saw.Seems the particular need is toilet seats (WTF), as most loo's had the holes drilled, but no seat attached. Does make life a little more interesting as you are touring about.

--We will put this blog to sleep with the memory of sleeping late at the villa many mornings,as the shutters on the small window seemed to block out all light and most sound. You could not tell day from night without consulting a clock, which always threw you off since they were all still on east coast time. I only hope our bodies are on east coast time when we arrive home!

We are posting this last blog as we sit in the Charlotte airport awaiting our last flight to Richmond. Three flights in one day is exhausting. We are so sad to see the end of our wonderful vacation, but very happy to be back in the U.S. and to see family and friends shortly.

We happily raised a glass last night to Liz Shiner and hope that she rests in peace. We thought about her often on this trip and wish we could share all these Italian adventures with her in person. She will remain in our hearts always.

And now as we sign off on our last blog, here is the quote I have been saving for this occassion:"No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow." -- Lin Yutang

Pillow, here I come!!!