Rome

Friday we arrived in Rome to a big busy city.  The bus system is a nightmare and our hotel is out on the outskirts of the city which makes traveling not so fun.  Saturday we took a 7 hour tour consisting of Vatican, and all the sights of Rome - yes Rome can be seen in a day.  Sunday we will relax a little then head to the Jewish ghetto for lunch.  The Boroughfs  will arrive later today and then tomorrow we head to the port for our 12 day cruise.

Florence

Yesterday we arrived in Florence, Italy.  The train ride is always an adventure.  Our hotel room is big and is close to the train station.  Had a wonderful dinner of course pasta & wine.  Today (Tuesday) we took the on/off bus -raining in the morning but a hot afternoon.  We made a visit to only Jewish Temple in Florence and had a wonderful tour guide in the temple.  At night we meet up with the Boroughfs.  The next day we did a cooking class - making tiramisu & homemade pasta.  We then ate our own creations.   It was a holiday in Florence and we saw a parade and a million people in the town square.  The next day we did an all day tour of Florence it was raining in the morning but the sun came out in the afternoon.  It was a great day!  Next Rome.

Cinque Terre Monterosso

We have spent the last three days in a wonderful B&B in Cinque Terre.  It poured rain yesterday and made the visit to Riomorggore dreadful, but the country side is just beautiful.  Today brought better weather and we traveled to Venezza.  A four minute train ride took an hour because a Sloan trip wouldn't be the same without getting on the wrong train.  Luckily the train stopped before Pisa and we could get off and come back the other way.  This is a beautiful part of Italy.  Monterosso is know in Italy for their anchovies, pesto & wine and of course limecello which we have tried all of them.  Going to our B&B we climb 104 stairs which helps with all we eat. Tomorrow morning we head to Florence.

Venice to Cinque Terra

Yesterday(Thursday) we spent the morning at the Guggenheim Gallery and then had Real Italian Pizza (thin crust) and of course gelato for dessert.  We relaxed in the afternoon and headed out to dinner at a local restaurant away from tourists.  It was wonderful & a great atmosphere.

We left Venice today and headed  on the train to Monterosso part of Cinque Terra.  We arrived 6 hours later to a great bed & breakfast greeted with coffee on the terrace.  We will walk the town later today before dinner.  We hope the weather holds out - tomorrow it may rain.  

Venice

Today we left Trento, Italy and traveled to Venice.  The weather is beautiful.  We walked Venice and got our bearings on our hotel because we are now on our own.  Our hotel is across from Chanel in a very expensive area.
Micro our guide left around noon today.  We can't thank him enough for the all the information and history he shared with us.  His dream was always to come to America.  We went to St. Marks square and relaxed and took some pictures.  It is now 8:15 and we will head out to dinner.  Tomorrow we will visit the Guggenheim  & the church in St. Marks square.  Friday we will head out to Cinque Terra
Ciao

Cavit Winery

Day 2
We spent the day with a wonderful winemaker named Fabrisso, from Cavit winery.  We had a personal tour of the vineyards,winery, and storage facility.  They export to all over the world and it was very interesting on how it all works.  After the tour we were treated to a fabulous lunch at Maso Toresella which is Cavit's private summer castle with a vineyard in front producing only their premium wines.  We had our own private chef.  We started with a appetizer on the patio with Trento cheese and my new favorite sparking wine Lunetta Rose (we cannot get it in the us). The following courses were for lunch
Soufflé of ricotta
Risotto with shrimp and white asparagus
Deer fillet with blueberry sauce
Fresh cheese pie with fruit
Coffee and grappa
6 different wines - one to go with each course

We were stuffed and I drank too much, but on with the day.  We walked old historic Trento and then took a nap because we met everyone for dinner only 4 hours later.  The food was equally delicious and 4 more bottles of wine were opened with only 3 more courses for dinner and dessert.  I think Rod ate a half gallon of chocolate gelato for dessert.  I didn't so so bad myself with a chocolate cannoli.

Dinner lasted for about 3 1/2 hours and then we said goodbye to our new Italian friend who happens to be a winemaker for Cavit and visits Sonoma/Napa Valley yearly.  So we may cross paths again.  His very good friends live in Healdsburg.

Travel day

We left Reno on Sunday morning only to arrive in San Francisco to find out that our flight to Verona, Italy was cancelled.  Lufthansa airlines went on strike for one day but that one day caused 1,000 flights to be cancelled.  After many hours we were on our way to Verona via London,Paris & finally Verona arriving 8 hours later than expected but our tour guide Mirco was waiting for us.  It was another hour drive to Trento, Italy where our hotel was.  After being awake for more than 24 hours (not counting the time change) we were in our hotel room with all our luggage!