THE NEXT ADVENTURE – ITALY WOMEN 2010

Tuscany, Cinque Terre, and
The Lakes of Piemonte

May 9-28*, 2010


Ten women, 19 days:
Florence, Siena, Tuscan countryside villa,

Cinque Terre, and the northwest lakes

Included: 18 nights’ lodging (4 nights in Florence, 1 night in Siena, 7 nights in a Tuscan villa, 3 nights in Cinque Terre, 3 nights at San Giulio d’Orta), most breakfasts, 2 lunches, 3 picnics, 10 delicious dinners, 2 Italian language lessons in Florence, private walking tours in Florence and Siena, entrance to the Uffizzi, Accadamia, and Medici Chapel in Florence. Day trips to Cortona, San Gimignano, Lake Trasimeno, Isole Maggiore, Montepulciano, Pienza and Chianti.


You will enjoy a train and boat ride to Portofino for a the day, and ME for your enthusiastic travel coordinator, guide, and all around firefighter. Facilitated reflective/travel writing is included for those who would like to participate. An expanded way for you to anchor your experiences on paper.

Cost of $5600 double occupancy, including airfare from Denver. If we get a better price on the airfare, I’ll adjust downward. If the Euro rises to more than $1.50 exchange rate, I will make whatever adjustment is necessary upward, but it should be minimal. Ask if you need a single supplement. NOTE: We do very well matching or rotating roommates.

A $500 deposit secures your space, non-refundable unless we can fill your spot if you need to cancel. Bring a friend not on my list and deduct $250 from your trip cost. Send payment to Lifeprints Journeys, 887 Blue Heron Lane, Fort Collins, Co. 80524. Questions? Call me at 970-481-6339.

WATER, WORDS AND THE WONDERS OF ITALY

Well, the economic situation seems to be on a small teeter-totter, but I’m still getting those requests for more info about Italy Women trips, especially the one in September, so I’m gearing up for Italian Relief!

So here is the detailed information for the next trip:

September 10-27, 2009 – Water, Words, and the Wonders of Italy:
Lake Como, Venice, LeMarche, Lago d’Orta

Just a bit more than two weeks in northeast Italy, with a dedicated focus on reflective writing as we go. Remember that this “writing” is flow, not pressure, so for those of you who have not done writing with me in the past, please know there is no pre-writing criteria for this. Guided journal-writing, if you will. Travel-writing or memory scraps if you’d like to do that. And you can always opt out of the writing if you so desire, but it’s a great way to remember what you’ve seen, eaten, and how your heart sings in the Italian countryside, lakes and mountains!

This is a Planes, Trains and Automobiles trip (and vaporetto rides in Venice!). We will fly from Denver to Milan, arriving September 11, and take a train to the Lake Como area. We will spend our first three nights at Lake Como, in the lovely and peaceful town of Varenna. Then three nights in magical Venezia where we will see the Church of San Marco, the Doges Palace, the Bridge of Sighs, walk along endless waterways, find our way from one end of Venice to the other on the water-transport system, the vaporetto. Seafood and fresh local fare will kiss your palate every day.

Then a train ride to the region of LeMarche, between Tuscany and the Adriatic seacoast. We will rent our cars in Ancona and drive a short distance to our villa, nestled in the countryside, surrounded by the Sibillini Mountains, close to the Adriatic ocean. A week of exploring the area and dedicated time for mini-writing workshops about the land, the food, the history, the buildings, our inner heartbeat, whatever strikes your pen’s fancy.

At the end of our villa week, we will return our cars in Ancona, board the EuroRail train again and travel the rails to Lago d’Orta, where I end all my Italy Women trips. For three days and nights, we will relax, walk slowly from cafe to cafe, sit by the water with our favorite version of espresso or cappucino, and visit the amazing Sacre Monte. A ten-minute boat ride to Isola d’Orta allows us to walk a meditation path around the island, visit a beautiful tiny church, and wander past the private homes and monastic buildings that have been on this island for hundreds of years. At the end of our stay in San Giulio d’Orta, we will fly from Milan back to Denver, arriving home the night of September 27.

Cost of the trip will include 16 nights’ lodging (double occupancy), airfare from Denver, multi-day EurRail pass, cars, gas and tolls, vaporetto pass, 16 breakfasts, 2 lunches, 6 dinners including wine (perhaps 9 if our Orta hotel still includes them), a walking tour in Venice, travel journals, Streetwise map of Venice, this trip cost will be $5500. Maximum number of travelers (including your guide): Ten, most likely nine.

The dollar is not too terrible against the Euro at the moment ($1.33-1.42), and the airfares vary wildly. The Euro is also fluxuating, but is much better now than it was last spring. If it stays below $1.50, we’ll be great. If it goes below $1.30 while we’re there, we’ll add more meals, an extra tour, whatever seems appropriate . . . if you want single occupancy, let me know and I’ll figure out the supplement. If the Euro zooms up past $1.50 to our dollar (not likely this year), there will be a slight upward adjustment. Haven’t had to do that yet. NOTE: I am looking at some newly listed villas in LeMarche a few of which might offer most of the group a single occupancy opportunity. I need to get responses back from owners before I’ll know exactly what inventory is available on our dates.

To hold your space, please send a $500 deposit made out to Lifeprints. This deposit will ONLY be refundable if we don’t go on the trip for some unexpected reason, or if we can fill your place in the event that you must cancel. By May 15, I will need $2000 of the cost so I can get plane tickets when I find good ones. I will urge you to get travel insurance, because it’s cheap protection for your trip cancellation for illness of you or a family member, terrorist attack, trip delays, lost luggage, stolen documents, etc. etc. I can arrange the travel insurance at a good price with a reputable company.

If you have questions, please call or e-mail me. If you’re ready to commit, please send your deposit to the address below! You can go to my website and click on “Testimonials” to see some comments from past trip participants. The sooner we get our group, the sooner I can grab good airfares when they’re available.

I do hope to see some of you on this new adventure. And yes, I know some of you are already planning to register for the May 2010 Italy Women group, my Tuscany/Cinque Terre/Lake Orta itinerary. YEA!

Ciao . . .

Another country . . . here we come!

October 14, 2008 – Bonjour! I have just returned from six weeks at my retreat in Vermont, though the “retreat” turned into more of a convalescent home duty for my partner and one of our golden Retrievers! Back home in Colorado, I’ve barely gotten unpacked and am preparing my next LifeprintsJourneys Women’s adventure, this time not to my beloved Italia, but instead to Provence and Paris!

One of my 2004 Italy women made a request nearly two years ago, wondering whether I’d be willing to put together a France Women trip for 2008, and as she and I know, once you set an intention, it so often comes to fruition. Manifestation! So at 3:00 a.m., Friday, October 17, nine of us begin our French adventure together. We will be spending one week at a beautiful villa in the Vaucluse area of Provence. Fontaine du Faucon is the villa, Goult is the nearest little village, and our British hosts are a gracious couple who now live in a neaerby area on a vineyard estate, producing their own wine.

As we leave the villa after one week, we will spend a last Provencal night in Gigondas at Les Florets, and then take the TGV back to Paris for five nights in that magical city! I will post as often as possible, and try to figure out a way to post photos as I go, rather than re-inserting them when I return home. Somehow that doesn’t ever really pan out . . . too much to do in the moment.

So if any of you are following our trip, I hope you enjoy our adventures!

A bientot!

Woodswoman

The Final Week in Italy, May 2008 – Part 2

Tuesday, May 20 – It’s still raining in Cinque Terre as we get our bags ready for the hotel staff to drag up or down the stone stairways from our rooms to the Piazza near the yellow church.

We are waiting for our next private bus to arrive at the piazza to take my group and our luggage to Lago d’Orta, the last stop on our three-week adventure. The arrangements become complicated, of course . . . Nadia has sent a 30-passenger bus rather than a 16 passenger bus, and the larger bus won’t fit on the small roads that wind from the top of the hill down to our hotel. So the La Torretta staff comes up with a creative solution, and we are taken, the women first and then the bags in three loads, and finally me! We settle in for the 4-5 hour ride to the lake.

Our bus driver speaks no English, but for “Hello”, “Thank you”, and “Goodbye”, but he talks to me in less complicated Italian than I typically hear, because he wants to tell me about his life, where he grew up in Italy, where he has visited, and he asks me some simple questions I can answer.

The day is rainy and he tells me it will be rainy where we are going as well. I hope he is wrong, because the scenery is less beautiful with all the fog and clouds. No sparkling water on the Mediterranean, no emerald green glistening on the hillsides. And we’re beginning to get soggy!

We arrive at San Giulio d’Orta, do the now-usual transport from bus to hotel, people first, then luggage. As I greet Elena and get our rooms sorted out, Colleen and Calla have already begun to wander the piazza and they’ve stumbled into a little shop with lovely jewelry. It’s Cerri Flora, Elio’s store, and he knows they are American women. He immediately asks if they’re with “Joannah’s group”, and they are astonished by this question!

They come back to the hotel and tell me that the man in the shop across the way knows me. Of course he does. I’ve been bringing lovely women to this place for six years, and they always like the merchandise he and his wife Flora present to their customers. So we’re off to a great start!

The Hotel Orta, owned by the same family for five generations, provides us with lovely breakfasts and dinners, and we prepare to dine in a beautiful dining room, overlooking the lake and the island, where 70 nuns are cloistered in the monastery at the top of the island’s hill.

The view is lovely, the food is delicious, and Stefano, the maitre ‘d, greets me warmly. We know we will be well taken care of here.

Wednesday, May 21 – One of the reasons we come to this lovely relaxing place at the end of our trip is that there is NO particular agenda for us at Lago d’Orta. Breakfast is served in the hotel until 10:00, dinner begins at 7:30. Between these two meals (and you can always skip eating if you’d like!) one may do whatever the heart desires.

We awake to the sounds of the street market vendors beginning to set up their merchandise stands, and the rain hasn’t deterred the boatloads of day-tourists (this is very unusual for our little town) who show up at about 9:30 and leave mid-afternoon. Apparently THIS year, our visit coincides with some big holiday for the Italians, though usually we miss this event by a week. Today some of us have scheduled massages with a hotel down the street, and the rest are free to shop, sleep, read, write, sip cappuccino or espresso to our hearts’ content!

And we do just that. I have opted NOT to get a massage, and instead, I wander the tiny streets, taking pictures of doors and views I know well. I try to check my e-mail, but the two very sketchy internet points are unavailable . . . one closed until further notice, and the other is just the personal computer of one of the rental agents in the village, and she isn’t very happy about sharing it today.

Between the opening and closing of our travel umbrellas, we are grateful for the dry but cloudy skies. I make a reservation for all of us at the Hotel Leon d’Oro across the piazza for lunch tomorrow, our last day in Italy!

Thursday, May 22 – Today we again have no real agenda, but for the group lunch, which is delicious, expensive, and hosted by a rather crabby old woman, the owner of that particular hotel. When I enter the hotel and restaurant, a drawn woman of perhaps 40 greets me, if you could call it that. I explain that I have spoken to the owner of the restaurant about my group. She turns, sighs, and calls over her shoulder, “Mama!” and the old woman appears.

No wonder the younger woman looks the way she does. If the older owner has made arrangements for a group lunch for us, her attitude completely uninspired and grouchy, can you imagine what it must be like to be raised by such a woman? She is the first really austere, unpleasant person I have met in Italy. She has tried to polish her manners when she realizes I mean to add quite a bit of money to her lunch coffers, but she falls short of anything like enthusiasm! Oh well . . . we have only to go to the desk of our own hotel to receive all the nurturing and warmth we are lacking at our lunch restaurant.

After lunch, the rain looks like it has gone for the day, and we arrange to have a boat take us to the Isola San Giulio, where the monastery sits on top of the island at the center, the one beautiful little church is near the boat dock, and the meditation walk goes around the island easily, threading its way through the beautiful houses. The island’s sole restaurant is closed indefinitely, but the tiny gift shop is still open next to the church.

We buy our round-trip tickets, go over as a group, and are on our own once we get there. One could never get lost on this tiny island, and no matter where you go, you always end up back at the dock, waiting for boats that return you to the village.

Last-minute shopping at the many lovely stores, a final trip to the Buongustaio, our favorite deli (that word doesn’t even begin to describe this store), where the young woman, the owner Luca’s only employee for as long as I have been coming here, vacuum seals great chunks of parmesan cheese and carefully wraps small bottles of 30-year old balsamic vinegar (“Don’t EVER put this in salad!” Luca warns) for one of my former trip participants, and we are ready to dress for dinner.

NOTE: As I write this, I wonder whether my memory has confused and reversed yesterday’s and today’s activities, but no matter. Boats, food, shopping, cappuccino, walking, beauty. What could be clearer than that!

Our last night’s dinner is bittersweet, and we gift our remaining bottles of Spumante to the staff. I settle up with the bill and tip the staff generously, receiving hugs from several of them, and we each return to our rooms to pack up. Our shuttle will take us to the private airport bus at 7:00 a.m. tomorrow for the ride to Milan Malpensa airport.

Friday, May 23 – Well, we were all out at the Piazza with our mountains of luggage by our sides at 7:00 a.m. The hotel staff made sure they began breakfast one hour early so we could have something to eat before we departed. After a bit of confusion between the bus company and the bus driver, we finally got on the road to the airport 45 minutes late!

When we arrived at Malpensa the driver parked the bus at least three departure doors away from the baggage carts and a VERY long way from our ticket counter, so we all ran like wild women with luggage shackles, hoping we would not miss our connections. But hey, this is Italy, where the Alitalia staff doesn’t shake their fingers at harried, be-luggaged, LATE American women! They greeted us warmly, assured us that there was plenty of time before the flight departed, and generally made the whole morning’s hassle go away.

The flights departed and landed smoothly, in Milan, Atlanta and Denver, the limo showed up on time to take us back up to Fort Collins, EVERYONE got all their luggage returned safely, and we were delivered to our houses in Fort Collins by 11:00 p.m. . . . that’s about 24 hours after we checked out of our Orta hotel, and now we can rest, relax, and regroup!

Arrivederci, caro Italia . . . arrivederci.

The Final Week in Italy, May 2008 – Part 1

Saturday, May 17 – We all got up very early this morning (see what we get for the pleasure of sleeping in yesterday?) to pack the cars completely and head back to Florence to return them. This is probably the most challenging part of our driving trip . . . just the part from the edge of Florence into the city to the EuropCar return office, but we made it with mystifying coordination, and we all arrived at the rental car office within five minutes of one another.

After we had unloaded all our luggage and the things we have purchased along the way (including 17 bottles of wine we expected to drink in the next six days!), our private transportation arrived in the form of a 16-passenger mini-bus, complete with Italian-only speaking driver. We settled in for an hour, arrived in Pisa for a three-hour stay, and walked into the walled city to view the famous Leaning Tower, as well as the other magnificent buildings in the complex . . . the Battistero, the Cathedral, and the Cimiterio – a truly beautiful mausoleum, and the accompanying grassy grounds around each building.

Despite the circus of souvenir hawkers on the walkway, these Pisa sights are worth seeing. The Baptistry has perfect acoustics, and contains sculptures from Nicoli Pisaro and his father (son? . . . I can never get that straight), and after all, how could we drive PAST the Leaning Tower of Pisa, no matter how many tourists surround it?

After our Pisa stop, we had a four-hour drive to Cinque Terre, the area of five little towns on the Italian Riviera, where we would spend the next three nights. Our town is Manarola, and we were staying at a new place for my trips, La Torrrette, owned by a young man named Gabriele Baldini. He was the perfect host, getting us settled in our various rooms scattered all over the rocky mountain side before leaving us for a week of business in London.

But what he left behind for us were lovely rooms, all with sea views, and in each room we found white bathrobes, neatly folded on our beds, a flower on each stack of towels, a bottle of Spumante and some lovely pastries, apples, pears. We unpacked and headed down the windy street to the sea, where everyone enjoyed . . . cappuccino, vino, and a bit of tasty food, of course!

Sunday, May 18 – Today it is rainy again, but we are each on our own to explore the Cinque Terre in any way we please. After a quick e-mail check at the train station in Manarola, and the purchase of our three-day passes, Donna and I head out to walk from Manarola to Riomaggiore, the Via dell’Amore . . . the Walk of Love. The walkway is through the mountain, with occasional glimpses of the Mediterranean and many wonderful drawings on the face of the rock wall. We’re protected by the rain on most of the walk but our umbrellas come in handy.

We check train schedules for our trip to Portofino tomorrow, step into a bar for a cappuccino, and wait out the downpour. Our train is late (what else is new) from La Spezia, but it finally arrives, opening its doors to dozens of passengers who want to disembark and dozens more who are waiting to claim a seat so they can explore like we will do.

We spend much of our afternoon in Vernazza, having lunch and wine at the Gambero Rosso (The Red Shrimp or Prawn), shopping in little stores with interesting presents to take home, getting back on the train for Monterosso al Mare, where the sun has come out! Surprise! So we find another bar on the water and have a glass of wine. It’s now 5:30 or so, and we are hungry, so back on the train, back to Vernazza, to be seated at my regular dinner restaurant in this little village . . . Gianni Franzi. The Moroccan waiter is still there, as he has been for the past four years, and I order fresh sea bass, caprese salad, and we split a bottle of wine!

Donna’s trip to the rest room results in her meeting with the owner . . . Gianni of course, and he wants to buy us a drink. It is now 10:00 and we have to get a train back to Manarola, but one short Grand Marnier and we are on our way. Oops, the train left without us, but there is another one in 45 minutes, so we . . . order a cappuccino at a little bar near the train stop, get on our train and off in Manarola, walk back to La Torretta for a long sleep before tomorrow’s train/bus/boat trip to Portofino and back.

It has been a lovely day and everyone else has hiked or napped or read or stayed in our town or explored in a similar fashion, but we’re all tucked in bed.

Monday, May 19 – Today promised to be a bit less wet, and six of us boarded the little train going north/northwest, on our way to the beautiful village of Portofino. We changed trains in Sestre Levante and disembarked in Santa Margherita, another lovely town on the Italian Riviera. From train to bus in 10 minutes, and in another 15 minutes we were dropped off in the middle of Portofino, to spend the day wandering past VERY expensive clothing stores (one lovely scarf caught my eye . . . 450 Euro (that’s about $720 with our ugly exchange rate!) and I settled for a good salad for lunch and a nice glass of Barbera right next to the water, where I could gaze out at all the luxury sailboats, the tourists getting around the large piazza, and talk with my friend Barbara L in the sun.

After a few hours, we took a boat back to Santa Margherita, boarded the train to Manarola and walked back to our hotel in the pouring rain. Somehow we didn’t carry the sunshine back with us on the tracks! We met our whole group at 7:15, in time to walk to “Dal Billy Ristorante” for our last meal together in Cinque Terre.

Since it was raining, we were seated in one of the rooms “inside” his restaurant. Billy’s is built on the cliffside, and is on four levels, all of them appearing to hang off the side of the rocks. Windows on two sides give us a view to the sea, and make us feel like we are suspended in the air. Billy himself greets us, takes our orders, and provides all the entertainment we need for a memorable evening. His sidekick, Eduardo, was quite taken with our Donna, and mournfully told me, “Tell her to come back to Manarola soon . . without all of you . . . “

After a feast of caprese, antipasti al mare, Billy’s pasta, pesto, fresh fish of three types (Orato, Branzini, and some sort of sea bass, I think), we were presented with an after dinner wine and a tray of delicious desserts. Then we wandered back to our rooms to prepare for our departure the next morning to Lago d’Orta.

Buona notte!

The Villa Week, continued . . .

Remember, I’m writing this after the fact, and am trying to catch up and finish before it’s NEXT YEAR!

Wednesday, May 14 – Today’s visit is to the eastern reaches of Tuscany and beyond. First we drove just over the border into Umbria to visit the lovely little Lake Trasimeno, specifically the town of Passignano, where we hopped on a ferry boat over to Isola Maggiore, a small island with about 100 people, five churches, a few restaurants, bars, and post-card shops, an abandoned monastery and a couple of small beaches. You can walk around this island in about an hour or a bit more, with some craggy paths on the back side.

After wandering around the right side of the only little street on the island, taking photos of all the doorways I had photographed each year I’ve visited in the past, I found my usual restaurant spot at Sauro, owned by a family at whose hotel we stayed on our first trip to Italy in 1996. The birds were everywhere, audacious enough to pluck bread right out of the basket sitting in front of me on the table . . . and I encouraged every bit of it!

Some of the women joined me after awhile, we had wine and some dessert, and slowly made our way back to the boat dock to return to our cars in Passignano. Once settled, after bathroom breaks and more gelato and water, we headed to Cortona, the site of Under The Tuscan Sun. It is a walled hill-town high high up on a hilltop, and I like it better each time I visit there. Neil and I spent one night in October right in the old town and I’d like to do that again some time, but not today. Today we wander through the main streets, onto some back roads, and into a favorite coffee bar, where we get bellinis and lovely appetizers.

Then it’s back to the villa for the evening, through beautiful countryside, mist hovering over the Tuscan hills, and the sunlight streaming through distant rainclouds. We were fed at the villa with delicious leftovers and wine grown, made and bottled right on our villa property. Who could ask for more?

Oh yeah, and I drove through a little town I’ve never heard of, Bettole, that looks like a good candidate for a future purchase, if my lottery ticket comes up some year!

Thursday, May 15 – Today’s road trip is to Chianti country, and there are six of us, the other four opting not to venture into this most famous wine country. Castellina in Chianti is our first stop, and I haven’t been here for a dozen years. We found an Enoteca where we tasted some wine, discovered a beautiful small hotel right next door to the wine shop, complete with spa and stone swimming pool. A spectacular view out to the Chianti vineyards that make up 90% of this area of Tuscany, and the purchase of postcards and a few bottles of wine . . . then off to our lunch destination . . . Badia a Coltibuono, owned by Lorenza di Medici and her cooking school.

The restaurant is on a hill past a grazing pasture full of huge white cows. At the front of the restaurant are wisteria and the strangest rose bushes, full of small pink roses with petals almost carnation-like. On the same branches, sprinkled throughout, are huge yellow roses with pink edges! How do they do that???

Our four-course lunch, paired with appropriate wines, was exquisite as usual, and we spent half the afternoon gazing out to the views beyond the restaurant grounds. Then to our last Chianti stop, Greve in Chianti, with its wide piazza, little flower shops, and an excellent ceramics shop. Not the tourist fare, but actual artisan art. There is a ceramic mask hanging in my studio, purchased from this shop in Greve.

It rained on and off all afternoon, but we were undeterred. We made our way back through the outskirts of Siena during rush hour traffic, just barely arriving at the villa in time to sit down to Maria’s delicious meal.

Friday, May 16 – Today is the day we all sleep in, sit around the lovely villa, and pack up for tomorrow’s departure from the villa. But mid-afternoon, Donna, Jane, Barbara Due and I took off for Montalcino wine country . . . that’s Brunello wine country, and the roads are full of invitations to visit one vineyard or another to taste the wine that has made this area famous! My goal was to get to Castello Banfi, a well-known name, even in the U.S., and as I suspected, the grounds were beautiful, the tasting room was like a castle, and we spent quite a bit of time with our two tasting hosts before reluctantly returning to our villa.

We packed up the cars before going to bed, so we would be ready to head back to Florence the next morning, to return the rental cars and get our private transportation to Cinque Terre. It’s been a good week, and I think I will see this villa again soon.

The Villa Week in Tuscany, May 10-17, 2008

Okay, I am now realizing that the date at the top of this post is the day I’m WRITING, not the days I’m writing ABOUT! So . . . while the date for this post says Monday, May 26, our Villa week in Tuscany was May 10-17. Last episode found us settled in, well fed on the first night.
So . . .

Sunday, May 11 . . . Carol and Kay opted to hang around the villa and relax, while the other eight of us got into two cars and went in search of the Giardino Tarocchi, a Tarot garden near Capalbio in southwestern Tuscany, very near the sea. Our first stop, though, prompted by our host’s recommendation, was to head for Monte Argentario and Porto San Stefano, just off the western coast of Tuscany south of Grosseto. It was beautiful and seemed less polished than most of the tourist driven Tuscan towns, and we found a lovely little restaurant on the water that served fish fresh from the nets.

We tried to drive around the island, but found ourselves in very rough countryside, with the locals urging us to turn back . . . “Bruto, bruto!”, so we took their advice, headed back the way we came, and down the coastline about 45 minutes to the Tarot Garden (www.niki-museum.jp/english/tarot.htm). This unique site was designed and constructed (for decades, mind you) by artist Niki de Saint Phalle, whose Major Arcana figures, brought nearly to life in gigantic mosaic figures, were inspired by the Spanish-born architect Antoni Gaudi. (See his Park Guell in Barcelona on the site http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Park_Guell.html)

Words cannot express the surreal majesty of Niki’s creation, her life’s work, and I had to buy a book to take home with me, so people would better understand my poor attempt at describing the figures in this Disney/Gaudi-on-psychedelics wilderness park. Half of our group was overwhelmed and headed off to the parking lot early, and the other half of us just wanted to stay for another day! I will definitely return to that haunting place . . .

At closing time, we piled back into our cars and found our way to our villa again. A new experience for me, and perhaps I’ll work it into the next Italy Women trip in 2010.

Monday, May 12 – San Gimignano
San Gimignano is a Tuscan hill town whose spectacular skyline is formed by fourteen remaining towers of the seventy-two original medieval spires. Half of the group ventured a bit west to the Etruscan town of Volterra and the rest of us spent a day wandering in and out of shops, churches, and cappucino bars. The light rain didn’t dampen (ha!) our spirits too much, and I visited my favorite potter, my favorite pasticcheria, and my favorite quiet little piazza tucked away at the back end of the main road.

Though we wandered individually through much of the day, six of us ended up at the same cafe in the middle of the town, sipping wine and espresso by 5:30 or so. And then the return to our lovely little villa for dinner.

Tuesday, May 13 – Montepulciano/Pienza
Pienza is one of my favorite towns in all of Tuscany, perhaps in all of Italy so far, and I love this little day trip. Montepulciano is one of those walled cities up on the hill, with churches, shops and restaurants, as well as the ever more popular internet cafes. There’s also a leather shop there, where I’ve bought lovely journals in the past visits.

We ate lunch together at Caffe Poliziano, actually a recommendation from a friend of one of the 2004 participants, and it was such a good suggestion, I incorporated it into my bi-annual plans. Mid-afternoon we made our way to Pienza, just a few kilometres down the road, where the little piazza and the church were the sites of two scenes from The English Patient.

Pope Pius II (I think he’s the one) was born here, he was baptized in the Pienza church, and there’s a lot of historic hoopla sround him and this claim to fame! But that matters not a whit to me. What I love is to just stand on those broad stone steps leading down to the second tier of the town, where I gaze out on the Tuscan countryside below. It is a spectacular view, sweeping, green and glittering, with the staccatto and explamation points of the cypress trees lining long driveways up to farmhouses on the hillsides.

A cappuccino in the corner bar on a chilly day, a chance meeting with some people from London, Ontario, and the chatter of Italians in the area . . . all remind me that my “win the lottery” place is here in this area.

Ciao . . . to be continued . . .

A week in a Tuscan villa . . .

Saturday, May 10, 2008: We spent most of the day in Siena, some of the group opting to stay at our hotel to sleep, wander the grounds, read, whatever we wanted. The birds and flowers are everywhere, and Carol had her binocs and Birds of Europe with her much of our trip. Colleen, Calla and I had a bit of a picnic in the sitting room of the Palazzo, and by about 3:30 we were ready to head out to find our private villa, nestled in the hills about 45 minutes southeast of Siena.

My plan was to make sure I stopped at a grocery store before arriving at the villa so we would have coffee, fruit, juice, eggs, and some other basics for food on Sunday. But of course our timing in the town closest to the villa was not great, and the grocery store, the InCoop, was closed for mid-afternoon naps. Gee . . . that meant that Barbara L, Kay and I just HAD to find a little bar that sold gelato . . . you know, just to kill the time until we could buy our groceries. And every little town, even those withOUT grocery stores have bars that sell gelato.

After all that, we drove up a dirt road toward Podere Camera, our half-of-a-villa on an agriturismo, a working farm that offers hospitality to travelers. This was a new villa for my groups, and I must say I was very pleased with the sight-unseen choice. Five bedrooms, five bathrooms, a kitchen, living room, dining room, several patios and terraces, a swimming pool, and all on the property of a winery!

We had arranged that Maria, one of the owners, would cook our dinner tonight, and were treated to a typically sumptuous Italian meal, complete with the true vino della casa, the wine of the house. Insalate Caprese, pasta, mixed meat dish, cheese, and a delicious fruit torte before the evening was over. With enough left to feed us the following night, we fell into our “new” beds with thoughts of the daily adventures ahead of us for the next week.

Italia and Week Two . . .

Friday, May 9, 2008: We packed up all our luggage and after checking out of the Hotel Pendini, we went down to the street level to get our three taxis. The ride is short to the EuropCar office, but with luggage and ten women it is impossible to walk to the rental car section of Borgo Ognissante. Once settled at the EuropCar counter, we secured our three cars, registered the drivers (me, Colleen and Jane) and the three alternate drivers (Libby, Donna and Kay), and made sure the navigators (Carol, Donna and Kay) had their maps marked for the route to Siena, we began the most treacherous part of our journey . . . driving OUT OF FLORENCE!

We negotiated this assignment with varying degrees of success and timeliness, and all eventually found our way to the Palazzo di Valli in Siena, our home for one night. After parking cars, checking out our rooms and bring in just a bit of luggage, we caught the shuttle bus into the walled old city of Siena and met our guide, my friend Viviana Girola, who gave us a warm and informative tour of old Siena, including the Duomo, the side church which houses beautiful illuminated manuscripts, and the Church of San Domenico where I again was able to view the head of St. Catherine of Siena. I know . . . it’s ghoulish, but it is truly her head encased in a glass compartment in that side altar. She was the saint of the people, no doubt about it!

Our dinner at Antica Osteria da Divo was exquisite as usual, and we walked happily through the Campo to our late night shuttle stop, finally returning to the Palazzo again for a good night’s sleep.

Il Latine and beyond . . .

Please note: I can’t post pictures on these foreign computers so the photos will have to wait. And I must say I have taken fewer photos this time than ever before. More watching, less documenting, I guess. The other women will make sure I have plenty of their photo CDs to add to my trip files.

Okay, now where was I . . . ? Oh, yes . . . food, Wednesday night, Il Latine. How could I forget?

When I told Franco (manager at Il Porcospino) that we were going to Il Latine for dinner, he said, “Molto turistico . . . nothing special.” But then our language teacher, Leonardo, said, “Well, it is touristy (remember, he doesn’t talk with us in ANY English, but still, I could understand him . . . ) but it is an adventure, an experience, something special all on its own.”

And it is . . . they now take reservations, but even at that, people line up in the little picturesque alleyway for an hour before the restaurant opens, trying to make sure there is room for them to come in for the 7:30 seating for dinner. We had our reservations for 10, and the manager led us up to one of the many rooms here and there, to a table for ten. I asked if we could please have dinner for SIX, not ten, because in the past, there is SO much food left over, the price per person is getting higher, the dollar sinking in value, and I thought I’d try it this way. To my happy surprise, they agreed to bring out food for six. So . . . first the antipasti . . . prosciuto, cheese, breads, bruschetta, then the soups, then the pastas, four different kinds, then huge plates of meat . . . chicken, pork, rabbit, lamb, beef in two types of cuts . . . and then the spinach and salad and potatoes, asparagus. And at the end, cantucci con vin santo (basically biscotti dipped in a sweet “holy wine”) and two platters of mixed desserts.

This is not to mention the liquids. Prosecco to begin with (sort of an Italian champagne), then all the wine we wanted from their house jugs, lots of water (still and sparkling), and moscato at the end, a sweeter dessert wine. The amount of food for six people was PLENTY for ten of us, except for adding two extra orders of spinach for those of us who love it.

After dinner some of the women went back to the hotel, but I love to walk near the Arno River after dark. Several of the group joined me, and we crossed the Trinita bridge over to the Oltrarno district, walked up Via San Jacopo to point out to Donna the little yarn store I love, Beatrice Galli. A stop for bottled water and a bathroom, crossing the Ponte Vecchio lined on both sides with beautiful jewelry stores during the day, closed up at night, and back to the Piazza della Repubblica, where we almost went into our hotel, but were tempted by the music at a nearby restaurant with a large outdoor seating area.

There was a piano bar with a singer, and enough room to dance. We watched two or three older gentlemen do their steps with several younger women seated around the area, and we talked until after 1:00 a.m.!

THAT was the rest of Wednesday!

Thursday, May 8 – We began after breakfast by walking to the Uffizi Galleria, where we had reservations at 9:45 a.m. This is an enormous art gallery with old old masters’ works in it, and it makes my eyes glaze over, but it is a must for any group trip. After I got everyone in and lugged my tired butt up the two LONG sets of stairs to the “first floor”, I walked around for 10 minutes and decided my time needed to be alone and wandering. So I claimed my small backpack from the security area and exited.

So . . . first across the Arno to the yarn store, where I bought just a very few balls of yarn, enough to make a scarf while I am here. She had no circular needles and directed me to a shop I was going to visit anyway . . . Samba Mercale, a fabulous button and trim shop. An hour later, with my circular knitting needles and 80 Euro worth of wonderful buttons, I wandered to a Palazzo recommended by our language teacher, realized as I went through it that I had seen it before, and made my way slowly to an internet cafe on the way to Santa Croce. Checked my e-mail, posted the first entry on this blog-trip, and tried to find a favorite little alimentari (sort of a wonderful little Italian deli market) near the Piazza Santa Croce, where I’ve been before.

After several turns into tiny streets that were NOT the right ones, I did discover a sign that said “Via Torta”. That sounded familiar and I took a chance. There were the places I was looking for, as well as a street market with wonderful cherries and cherry tomatoes. I added several items to my picnic bag . . . cheese, bread, salami, a half bottle of wine with paper cup, several tiny cookies, and a sumptuous slice of vegetable quiche (frittata, here) and headed for the Piazza.

There in the bright sun in front of a magnificent church, I sat on a stone bench, opened my picnic, and watched the people while I ate my little meal. THIS is what I love in Florence! When I was finished watching and eating and sitting, perhaps two hours after I arrived, I again wandered the streets until I found a restaurant I had passed two nights before. Trattoria Alfredo, which I had remembered from 9 years ago when Neil and I were here because Ashley went to school in Florence that year. We had eaten in this restaurant and it was here I had tasted my first risotto con funghi porchini. I asked the waiter for a card, he did the typical flirtation, handed me a card and said, “For you, madame, no reservation is necessary . . . “.

Ah, the charm of the Italian cities and towns! Later I returned to the hotel, met up with a few of the women, and we decided when to have our dinner . . . see, food food food, walking walking walking, food food wine wine food.

So we headed out for our dinner, walked again past the button shop so Donna would know where it was. They were closed, with their rolled down metal curtain almost to the street level, and we peered in. They recognized me, saw me with six other women, and were smart enough to invite us all in to look and shop. I was afraid I’d be tempted to repeat my performance, and with the metal barricade nearly down, it was hot in the shop so I ducked out and walked around the tiny piazza down the street until the rest of the women returned to me, Donna with HER 100 Euro purchase in hand. See . . . smart shop owners!

So dinner at 7:45 with seven of us at Trattoria Alfredo. LOTS of food, too much, actually, but it was delicious. Risotto funghi porcini, of course, risotto gorgonzola, ravioli gorgonzola, some fish, appetizers, green salads, and dolce, a mixed plate of desserts. Wine, water and conversation . . . again. Back to the hotel and to my room, facing the Piazza. Because my 4th floor windows were open, I soon heard someone down on the square calling my name. Looking down, I saw four of my group beckoning me to return with them to the restaurant with the music and dancing.

No way tonight, I thought. I’m EXHAUSTED! They were there until midnight, while I tried to organize all my maps, directions, etc. for tomorrow’s journey to Siena.

Bed later than I had hoped, past midnight, and the sense that all was ready for the morning. Tomorrow, off to Siena for an afternoon walking tour, another delicious meal at the Antiche Osteria da Divo, a night in beautiful Palazzo di Valli, and Saturday back in the old Centro of Siena until time to head out for our villa in the Tuscan countryside.

Buona Notte!

Joannah