Home again.....

We arrived home last night (Wed 9/22) about 10pm.....exhausted.  We were able to get on both of the flights we requested, but the standby option is a little stressful.  Our flight from Washington DC to Indy was delayed 3 hours due to weather, but we were aboard.  Debbie, our friend who has been house-sitting, greeted us along with the dog and 4 cats.  Everyone was glad to see everyone else!  Thank you Debbie for being the perfect house-sitter.....the house was spotless, animals well-cared for and grand-daughter Preslee reached first for "Auntie Debbie" this morning when her Mom & Dad dropped her off !!  Fortunately, it didn't take her long to remember her Grannie & Papa.

I can't wait to watch some football this weekend...Ft Wayne Dwenger on Fri, IU on Sat and the Colts on Sun.  The Europeans truly could not care less about American football.  Aside from family & friends, football was the thing I missed most while traveling abroad in September.

Thanks to my sister Shirley, I started working on this blog, and I will say I am surprised at the amount of enjoyment I have gotten from it.  I prefer this forum over Facebook as it seems more personal.  Each day of the trip, we enjoyed trying to decide which events to write about....plus the act of getting connected to the internet everyday certainly presented some challenges.  And the feedback we received from y'all was wonderful.  We felt connected, even though we were a long way from home. So, now that I have begun, I will try to keep posting to this blog. Hopefully, some interesting things will happen that I want to share with you....otherwise....it will be pretty boring.

Stay tuned....you know.... not all excellent adventures take place a long way from home....

Perugia & Cortona

Sorry we missed an update, we have been out of touch for awhile.  We are now installed in the Comfort Inn near the airport in Roma, preparing for our attempt to get home tomorrow.

Yesterday we traveled to Perugia, looked at the sights and toured a wonderful museum.....then met up with another set of friends....David Miller, Tom & Diane Houlihan.

 We are pretty amazed that on a trip to the other side of the world, we were able to connect with so many wonderful friends to share our adventure.  Tom & David have been touring in France with another friend for the past 2 weeks, visiting WW-I battle sights.  After Diane joined them in Paris, they flew to Firenze, then drove to a villa they rented near Cortona.  The villa is beautiful with another incredible view, but the road to get there is a little scary.  We went into town last night for a great dinner and a good evening of laughter with friends.

Thank you David, Tom & Diane for sharing your home and your spirit.

We will attempt a quick sight-seeing trip to the ruins of Rome this afternoon, then tomorrow, we start the trip home.  The trip has been more incredible than we could have ever imagined.  We feel like we are completely saturated with memories of incredible people, sights, food, wine and bread.  If you do not hear from us, assume we are en-route.  Thanks to all of you for following along and all of your warm greetings.  We are looking forward to seeing our kids, grandkids, friends, neighbors and pets.

Scurrying in and scurrying out....

Today we made quick time visiting three villages from David Miller's list.  After 8 days of visiting Tuscan villages, we have this down pretty well.  We can arrive, park, see the high points, shop the shops, have a gellato or capacino, take 50+ pictures and be out of town in 2 hours.  All three of the villages we visited today were very interesting for different reasons.

Montepulciano featured an incredible view from every point in the city.  Panoramas so magnificent that photos do not do them justice....so I won't post one....

In Chiusi, we met a nice dog while enjoying a glass of wine, then discovered a very good museum of 2,500 year old Etruscan artifacts.  And admission was only 4 Euro....best bargain of the trip !!

In Pienza, we heard a street musician who was thoroughly entertaining.

Tomorrow, we go to Perugia to meet with two old fraternity brothers.....certainly another unforgettable day.

By the way, we are now around 1,000 photos.....if you ask to see our pictures, pack a lunch !!

P. S.  We just went up the hill to the downtown part of Terme -{ believe me you wouldn't want to drive those roads for the first time in the dark} to a little restaurant that we had found during the day when we got lost and drove on some roads that no sane American would drive!!!!!  Anyhow;;;;;;; we went to this little ristarante for dinner after 7:30 pm - it was just exactly like our friend Brenda said it could be.  The food was just wonderful, the owner and staff were even more so.  I would eat there every day for the rest of my life if I could.  Granted, I am a little tipsy from all the Casa Red but I can tell you it was delightful!!  Raymond said I am done so I reckon I am.....xome

Rick & Lucy go to Siena.....

We packed this morning and said goodbye to the cats, then closed the gates of Casale  Diece for the last time and headed toward Siena.  We had programmed the GPS to take us to the center of town….which in most of these cities is the center of the historical area.  We were being very careful not to get too close to the historical area, yet find the best possible parking space.  We found a spot that would easily accommodate a pair of men’s shoes and spent much effort installing our mini-diesel in that spot.  Then….we realized that spot was reserved parking for Siena residents only (those displaying the appropriate stickers) So we inched toward the center of town, and before realizing it….we were traveling on the single-lane cobblestone streets of Sienna.  Shoppers were moving to the side as we passed…..Echo was trying to hide under the dash……we feared a revolt might ensue and the tourists would carry our car out of town.  It was indeed, like an episode from Sienfeld.

We considered walking away but figured that was unacceptable.  Then, we found a trash truck and figured if he could make it through, we could make it through as well.  At an intersection, both of us were passed by a taxi….so we started following the taxi….letting him anger the tourists while we followed.  The taxi turned back into town and we attempted an exit….then we found ourselves behind a small drum corps celebrating with the Siena flag.  We were so proud to be in their parade that Echo came out from under the dash.  Then, the parade moved over and waved us on.

After all of that, we still managed to find a pretty good parking spot. 

Siena is another incredible city.  There is a large beautiful piazza where they stage a brutal horse race twice a year.

 While standing in that piazza, groups of vintage racing cars on some sort of tour began appearing from one of the side streets.  We stood and watched many outrageously beautiful old racing cars as they passed through the check-point for their stamp.

 We walked and shopped and enjoyed Sienna, but began to worry we might sleep in the car if we did not start searching for lodging.  Finding lodging in Italy is completely different from the US.  You have to search for it…..and they keep it hidden.  Without going into detail, we are now in a lovely hotel in Terme, a small town southeast of Siena.

A day of rest...

We didn't stray far from the house today.  I think we were all tired and Echo is nursing a bad cold.  We did go out and walk for awhile enjoying the olive groves and vineyards.

It is hard to believe we have been in this house for a week or that we have been on this trip for almost two weeks.  The things we have seen and experiences we have had are all so unbelievable.

We made a trip this afternoon to Firenze to drop off Brenda at the airport as she has to return to work.  We might have been able to do this trip without her help, but I am certain we would have missed a lot.  Thank you Brenda for all that you have done....we truly enjoyed our time together.

Tomorrow we pack up again and probably head for Siena.  We have no plans yet, but that seems to be when we do the best.  So long San Gigimnano.

Traveling the Chianti area...

We arrived home too late and too tired to post yesterday.  We had another full day.

Trying to beat the rush of tourists, we left early for San Gigimnano.  After admiring the village from our house for days, we had not yet walked her streets because of the lack of parking and rush of tourists.  So we arrived early for some coffee and fresh baked goods before the crowds arrived. Soon after we entered the town, the streets filled quickly as yesterday was market day in San Gig.

At the market, we bought some roast pork and few other things and went back to the house where Echo & Brenda prepared a wonderful lunch.  Then we were off again to explore the Chianti area.  We happened onto a very small, family run winery and met the family and purchased some wine and olive oil.

Over the past two days we have visited in about five villages in this area.  Each one unique in it's own way, yet all of them featuring beautiful buildings, wonderful food and pleasant local flavor.  And of course, the countryside between all of them is simply stunning.

We have not yet decided today's plan, or where we will go when we leave this house tomorrow, but we are certain it will be beautiful and an adventure indeed.

A laid-back day in Tuscany....

Given the intensity of yesterday's visit to Firenze, we decided to take things a little easier today. After a quick trip to the grocery (too late last night when we got home), we had a great home cooked breakfast on the terrace.

,,,greeted the 4 new cats that arrived with Gellato for breakfast......took some goofy photos....this one of Echo emulating Meryl Streep fro Mam Mia....

...and set out to explore San Gigimnano.  By now it was already 11:00 and San Gigi is like the Galinburg of Italy.....absolutely no parking.  So we set off to explore the quaint little Tuscan villages in the Chianti region.  We had a fabulous day.  We had a wonderful lunch at a 3 generation ristorante and saw wonderful landscapes and wonderful village scenes....lots of shopping and visiting with locals.

I don't remember the names of the towns, and it is too dark to look at the map. We are out on the terrace and it is dark.  I can't explain how we were able to connect to the internet from here, but it involved a coat hanger, some string and a bottle of wine....

We have not yet made plans for tomorrow, but it will surely be fabulous.  This continues to be a great adventure.