After a year of talking about it, 9 months of planning it and 3 months of walking & walking to get in shape for it…Scott & I arrived in Venice on September 4th to begin our 2-week Italian Adventure. Our trip had started out with an unexpected bump up to First Class while waiting to board at the Seattle airport – Sweet! Cyn & Michael were at the Venice airport to greet us along with our friends, Wayne & Jonneke Moore, who had flown in from England just ahead of us. Wayne had been Scott’s plant manager at the Ball plant in Kent, WA before his relocation to England. Cyn & Michael had rented a big van and our plan was to spend our first week traveling through the Italian countryside together.
Our first stop was Pisa, where we all did our best to try to straighten out the Leaning Tower. Cyn told us the “cheesy” photo op was a must-do. Then it was on to our B&B in Tuscany, where we spent 3 days exploring San Gimignano, eating delicious meals under the Tuscan moon (they should make a movie about that!) and walking through the vineyards and olive trees. Cyn had also arranged for a private tour guide to show us the sites in Florence. The highlight of this day was seeing Michelangelo’s David – truly magnificent!
Then it was on to Rome where we marveled at ancient history brought to life for us through the amazing artwork, sculptures, fountains and architecture. We did a quick hop-on / hop-off bus tour upon arrival and then walked from the Spanish Steps to the Piazza Navano. I had my highlighted pages from my Rick Steves guide books with me so I knew what to look for including the Tartufo “death by chocolate” gelato.
The next day Giulia, our personal guide for the Vatican, got us to the front of the line for a tour, which included the museum, Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica. Seeing Michelangelo’s painted Sistine ceiling along with his “Pieta” were dreams come true for me and the Basilica left us breathless with its size and beauty.
We ended our first week back in the Vicenza area just in time for our meal at “Trattoria dell’Angelo”, a restaurant high up in the foothills of the Dolomite Mountains above Piovene Rocchette. Mauro & Bari treated us to stuffed figs, quail, risotto with truffles and quail egg, delicious pasta and more. We were the ones who were stuffed as we hurried to the town of Marostica to attend “La Partita a Scacchi”. It’s a reenactment of a human chess match from medieval times, which is done every other year on the piazza of the lower castle. There are 550 actors in gorgeous costumes, knights on horses, dancers, singers, flag tossing and archers with torched arrows who signal the final blaze of fireworks. We’d read about it on Cyn & Michael’s blog 2 years ago and knew that we had to make our trip in September of 2010 to see it and it was everything we had hoped to see and more!
As the 2nd week began, Wayne & Jonneke headed off to do some more exploring of western Italy while Cyn & I put together a good, old farm dinner complete with roast beef, potatoes, carrots, Grandma’s cucumber salad and fresh pie with gelato – delicious! Michael had to head back to work and put in some extremely long hours getting the new clinic up and running on time. We lounged around their lovely house, took meandering walks around their lovely town of Montecchio Precalcino and headed out for day trips to nearby Nove (for ceramic souvenirs), Asiago (where Scott his favorite olive pizza), Verona (where we saw Juliet’s balcony) and Venice (where we got a gondola ride and where we met my friend/co-worker Angie who was traveling in Italy with her friend at the exact same time as me!) We’d made arrangements to meet for lunch in front of St. Mark’s and then have a picture taken together to show everyone back at work! There was a final farewell dinner with Cyn & Michael’s friends and co-workers and then a very early morning flight back to Seattle. Although there was no first class bump on the way home, we had so many memories to review, remember and relish.
We enjoyed spending time with our friends, Wayne & Jonneke. Special thanks go to Cynthia and Michael for their amazing organizational skills, interpreter skills, remarkable driving skills and for everything they did to make our trip so special. Ciao Italia!
Wanna See More Pics? Check 'em out here:
Tuscany
Rome
Chess Match
Asiago
Verona
Venice
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