Our First Ospeti - Rebecca & Todd

In September we had our first guests, my sister Rebecca and her husband Todd from Minnesota. They stayed with us for two jam packed weeks. Rebecca and Todd are excellent guests as they stayed with us at our home in Hawaii and despite experiencing Hawaii’s monsoon season during their vacation they remained upbeat and managed to enjoy Hawaii – rain and all. Unfortunately, Todd had to return to Minnesota after only a week so I was determined to squeeze in as much of bella Italia as I could.

We picked them up at the airport and took them directly to Venice, dragging them all over the canals and even threw them on a boat to see some of the charming islands nearby.

A gondola ride in Venice – about an hour after getting off the plane.




The following week was probably somewhat of a blur for Todd since he was only able to stay for a week I was determined to show him as much as we possibly could. We took them to 6 cities in about five days including Venice, Rome, Pisa, Siena, San Gimignano, and Vicenza. Although we saw a lot, if you are in Italy for a week – you may want to have your “travel guide” keep it to around two big cities and see those well. Just FYI. Here are some highlights of their trip.








Celebrating the arrival of the cows as they come down from the mountains to their winter home in Poinella. This was followed by an authentic Italian dinner prepared by Mama Luigina.





We drove down to the beautiful Tuscany region and stayed at our lovely B&B Borgo Argenia.

Over the next two days we explored the Tuscan towns of Siena, Pisa and San Gimignano.










Then it was on to Rome. We highly recommend the Hop On – Hop Off buses.







We left Rome and headed north back to our home in Vicenza. After a 6 hour drive and lots of singing to the oldies, we arrived.

Rebecca and I took Todd to the airport and with some extra hugs and kisses sent him back to Minnesota.


It was time for the two sisters to take a road trip to Germany. We piled our things in the perky blue VW Rabbit, plugged “Gina” the GPS into the dashboard and away we went at warp speed on the Autostrada through Northern Italy, Austria and just into Germany to the town of Fussen. According to Rebecca, “Every where you looked it’s a picture post card.”





The Neuschwanstein castle.




We drank good beer and ate the best strudel in the world. We returned home explored some of the charming local Italian towns, did some shopping and then it was “ciao Rebecca – C’e vediamo presto.”

Wanna see more photos? Check them out HERE!

Ciao for Now!
Cyn