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As we begin Chapter 2 of our adventure, we want to share our upcoming itinerary and encourage any of you who have the notion to come to Europe to join us in the city of your choice.  We don’t have a chalet to share with you, but we can help you find accommodations if you like.  And it would be great fun to see old friends in new places…

April 1-22 – PARIS
April 22-29 – AMSTERDAM
April 29-May 10 – BERLIN
May 10-21 – PRAGUE
May 21-June 1 – VIENNA
June 1-12 – MUNICH
June 12-18 – LUCERNE (Switzerland)
June 18-24 – INTERLAKEN (Switzerland)
June 24-29 – BIENNE (Switzerland)

We’re serious!  Think about it.  And continue to follow us as we venture on…

After spending time with friends and family in Baltimore, we flew to the other side of the country where the rest of our family lives.  Upon landing in Portland, we did as the locals do and too a ‘selfie’ of our feet on the iconic (albeit 2nd generation) PDX carpet.

My daughter, Julie, and her husband, Levi, and 14-month-old son, Owen, live in Portland.  What a joy it was to see this little one after being away form almost half of his short life!
While in Portland, we also sampled some great food (including La Moule with Chris Dorman), dodged raindrops, and spent a lot of quality time with this new little family.

We then flew east across the Cascades to Bend where my son, Andy, and his wife, Nicole, live with my granddog, Murphy.  While flying, we spotted some dramatic rock formations that turned out to be Smith Rock State Park.  Andy volunteered to take us hiking there the next day.

Andy took Rick skiing on Mt. Bachelor one day, Nicole cooked a gourmet meal for us and their friends Travis & Emma, and they treated us to dinner at one of Bend’s nicest restaurants, Ariana, (their Christmas gift to us…)

From Oregon, Rick went on to Beaver Creek (CO), where he spent a week skiing with old friends (an annual tradition) while I stayed in Oregon (twist my arm!!) dividing my time between Portland & Bend.  I had several opportunities in both Portland & Bend to see friends of both children who have become friends of mine.  Andy also took me to St Charles Hospital where he works as a physical therapist in the ICU.  I didn’t get to OPB, where Julie works as a radio producer, on this trip.  Next time…

We were then back in Baltimore for a couple of days, graciously hosted by David Kern & Susan Gauvey in their lovely new condo in Canton. We spent time with Rick’s daughters and I had a chance to catch up with old friends, Mike & Claudius Klimt (who, I’ve discovered, also have children living in Portland & Bend!)

NOTE:  Julie suggested I try using fewer, larger photos in the blog (AND she showed me how to do it!).  Let me know what you think.

Baltimore welcomed us back with a huge hug! We booked an Airbnb in mid-town (Mount Vernon) where we had stayed before and it felt a bit like coming home.  We kept very busy during our 11 days seeing friends and reconnecting with Rick’s daughters and grandchildren.

Our first evening we had dinner with Beverly & Ginny (and Jon, Emma & Clark) at Ginny’s house and ended our visit with all of them at a new (to us) food hall in Remington called R. House.  Fun food in a family-friendly space and great company.
                  

On our first weekend, we reconnected with the Wine & Food Society, whose leaders had planned a ‘Past Presidents Dinner’ to coincide with our time in Baltimore.  What a joy to share wine and food with so many good friends!

Two days later, our most enthusiastic blog readers and long-time friends, Joe  & Phyllis Johnson, invited us to lunch where they shared wines from their cellar accompanied by an awesome meal prepared by the incomparable Jerry Pellegrino at Schola, his downtown cooking school.  What a wonderful welcome home!
    

Two other special connections: first with my mother and all her wonderful caregivers, and then with The Larks.  Leo even invited me to sing with the group since I still knew most of the songs in their current repertoire.
   

Roy & Paula Mason took us to the St Patrick’s Day Parade in Annapolis after which we shared the quintessential American meal…Ina Garten’s meatloaf, thoughtfully prepared by Paula.
  

Before leaving for Oregon, we had one more opportunity to be with good friends.  Ernie & Donna Kovacs hosted a dinner at their house.  Rick & Elaine Born brought cheeses and a delicious crab dip (we missed Maryland crab!), we made salad, and Livio & Diane Broccolino contributed an array of wonderful desserts (apple tart, pizzelles, and biscotti) to go with Donna & Ernie’s extraordinary lamb shanks.  These were all accompanied by (lots of wonderful) wines brought by all…sorry I didn’t get pics of the wines…

Now we’re off to Oregon to see my kids and grandson(!).  Then Rick will spend a week skiing in Beaver Creak with good friends before we head back to Paris.

 

 

We reached London a week ago taking the EuroStar from Paris.  The train was quite comfortable, but the waiting area was a mob scene!  I think the train had 18 cars with between 39 and 58 passengers per car, and every seat was full! But, even with that crowd, the train left and arrived exactly on time.

We have both been to London before but not for some time, so we’ve been shameless tourists during this trip.  We bought a 7-day pass that we could use on the Underground, trains, buses and boats. (They call it a Oyster card here…not sure why…) And, of course, we’ve done a lot of walking. We visited parts of the Victoria & Albert Museum as well as a large  Rauschenberg exhibit at the Tate Modern.
   

The weather has been alternately gray and sunny, but pretty windy and chilly during our week here.  So, some of the time, we’ve just enjoyed taking it easy…which was facilitated by the fact that we’re staying with our friends Avivah & Tim in their lovely and well-located South Bank home…close to theaters, pubs, a great bakery, and Waterloo Station.  AND, they have one of the cutest dogs ever…dear Daisy.
        

We even went with them to a dancing class one night!  Look at what dapper Londoners they are!
     
Tim is a very talented sculptor whose piece, The Gardener’s Hand, is in Archbishop’s Park.  There I also got to see that Spring really is coming…
  

One of the things we have sorely missed in the last 5 months has been going to the movies.  Well, we scratched that itch here by seeing both of the two top Oscar contenders – Moonlight and LaLa Land – both within easy walking distance.

Rick Steves has a relatively new app with guided audio tours, including several in London that we used – Westminster and a London City Walk.  These took us to many of the major sights and to a couple of good pubs for lunch.
  
We have seen many war memorials in our travels, but here we saw the first memorial to the Women of WWII.

And did you know that London cabs are no longer all black??

It’s been lovely to be here and to know that we can understand the language without using Google Translate.  They do have some funny names for things, though.  And we notice that, once you’re in an English speaking country, the decibel level in restaurants amps up.  We observed that, throughout France, even when we were seated near large groups of (mostly) men, we were never bothered by their loud conversation.  But here in London, it sounds more like the US…

Tomorrow we’re on a plane for the first time since September…and heading back to the States.  Kids and grandkids, here we come!

After about ten days in Barcelona, our friends Lish Banks and Jim Butler joined us for a few days on their way to Malta and Majorca.  Lish is a high school classmate of mine who initiated the meet up after reading this blog!

Together we ventured out to Barcelona’s wonderful Museu Picasso, the only museum of his works to open in his lifetime.

No photography is allowed in the museum, so you’ll have to take my word for what a remarkable collection this is.  From his early works, you are taken sequentially through the many periods of his paintings.   Picasso is now much more understandable for us after seeing the progression in his works.  For example, in three rooms are 57 works – painted in a 16-day period – inspired by one painting by Velázquez, Las Meninas. .  The audio guide for this museum was outstanding!

From here, we embarked on sort of a Gaudi orgy. Casa Battló (pronounced bye-yo) is a beautifully restored and maintained example of a residential building designed by Gaudi. It is right in the center of Barcelona on the Passeig de Gracia in a block full of remarkable buildings, all in different styles.  The block is sometimes referred to as ‘Discordia’ because of the lack of harmony among the structures, apparently built by wealthy people in the early 20th century trying to show each other up!  The audio-visual guide was the best we’ve ever encountered, taking you through the house at just the right pace and providing photos of rooms you were in with furniture as it would have been long ago, and pointing out unique features of each room.
        

Of course we included a visit to Sagrada Familia, Gaudi’s famous, and still unfinished, church.  We bought tickets for a guided tour in English on line so we avoided the lines AND had a great tour.  This place is so massive that it’s impossible to capture in iPhone photos, but I tried.  The crucifix over the altar is quite unusual and the stained glass windows present a palette of colors (blues and greens on one side of the church, and reds and oranges on the other).
           

Our final Gaudi stop was La Pedrera, also referred to as Casa Milá.  Also in the center of Barcelona, this is a large apartment building where people still live.  It is most remarkable for its roof terrace and its chimneys, but the building itself is cool to look at…kind of like a petrified wave!
  
       

And now, finally I’ll get to Betty Ford’s!! This was a lively bar in our neighborhood that we discovered on our second night in Barcelona.  We met the owner (an Aussie) and his girlfriend (a Brit) at a sushi bar and they invited us back to the bar for a drink after dinner.  We were there at least every other night thereafter, and we took Lish & Jim there one night, too.  We got to know most of the bartenders and, once again, Rick was able to walk into a bar and they knew what he wanted (a Negroni Spagliato, if you please!).
    

On our last Barcelona night, we went with Lish & Jim to Tickets, an upscale tapas bar owned by Albert Adría, the younger brother of Ferran Adria of el Bulli fame.  Reservations are hard to come by, but Lish went on line a couple of months ago and snagged these.  It’s a fun place with a sort of movie theater theme and an amazing array of beautifully presented tapas.  We opted for the ‘surprise’ menu…’just bring it’… and we were not disappointed.  I took a photo of each of the twenty (!) courses (I’ve only provided a sample here…), but a few picture of the place will give you the idea.  It was a very special Valentine’s Day treat!
                 

After leaving Barcelona, we drove to Paris, stopping one night along the way.  We turned in our wonderful leased Peugeot (with over 10,000 km on it) and spent the weekend in Paris.  The highlights – beside were reconnecting with our friends Anne & Jeff and going with them to see a wonderful art exhibit at the new Fondation Louis Vuitton.  The FLV building is a Frank Gehry creation rising up out of the Bois de Boulogne.  Both the art collection – a remarkable array of modern art (from Impressionists to Picasso to Matisse and several Russian artists) amassed by a Russian collector named Chtchoukine – and the building were worth the visit.
     

We are leaving the continent now, headed for a week in London and then back to the states for a month…Baltimore, Oregon and Colorado.  If we are lucky enough to see you during that time, we’ll be glad.  If not, I hope you’ll keep following along.

We are in Barcelona for two weeks and there is so much to see and experience.  It was wonderful to arrive on a weekend because the city was bustling with locals and the many students from all over the world who come here to study.  Our tiny but well designed apartment is in the El Ravel neighborhood, just northwest of the Gothic Quarter and very near Plaça Catalunya, a huge open area. It is basically one room with the bathroom behind the kitchen and separated from it by a glass wall!

We signed up for two walking tours in our first days here to get oriented to the city.  A lovely young art historian took us through the Gothic Quarter and shared a lot of information about Catalan culture while showing us many historic buildings.
  
Did you know that the primary language in Barcelona is not Spanish, but Catalan, which has many similarities to French?  We each know a little Spanish, but we’re grateful that Google Translate includes Catalan or we wouldn’t be able to read menus or communicate much.  Shops and restaurants usually have English speakers.
Our second walking tour was a Foodie Tour that took us to many of the historic shops selling typical Catalan food items.  One of particular note was a shop that roasts hazelnuts in the same wood fired oven that they have used for 165 years! The nuts have a distinctive smoky smell and taste.
   
We visited the famous Mercato Boqueteria, a bustling market that is open every day but Sunday and sells everything you could want. We found that moving off to one side or the other kept us sort of out of the crush of tourists which made the visit more pleasant.  Rick found some of the largest oysters he has ever eaten here – 3 for 5€.
       
Being in Barcelona on a Sunday has several distinct advantages.  One is that the City Hall is only open to the public on Sunday.  It is free and worth a visit.
      
Another reason is that the locals really come out on Sunday and there is dancing in many of the public spaces.  We observed a traditional Catalan dance in the plaça outside the Cathedral and swing dancing in the gazebo in Cuitadella Park.

The park, referred to as Barcelona’s ‘Central Park,’ is a lovely place for a stroll.  Families were gathered here on the weekend to enjoy the nice weather – chasing bubbles, rowing on the lake, and enjoying the beautiful fountain.

Of course, what would a European city be without a cathedral.  This one has a beautifully painted choir, a lovely altar with a crypt of St. Eulalia below and a cloister that houses 13 geese along with the usual statues, etc.
                        

For our ventures outside the city, we chose to sign on for two guided tours conducted by Catalunya Bus Touristic.  We’re usually not fond of bus tours, but these provided access to places we couldn’t have gone on our own accompanied by wonderful explanations (in English).
One day we went to Montserrat, stopping on the way in Colònia Güell. This is an industrial estate from the 19th century built by a wealthy textile manufacturer and merchant.  The town was self-contained, providing housing, schools, recreation and, of course, a church for the workers.
   
Güell commissioned Antoni Gaudi to build the church.  According to our guide, this is where Gaudi experimented with several architectural solutions that he later used in building Sagrada Familia (the famous church in Barcelona that we’ll visit later). He draws on nature for the shapes of windows (the pine cone) and columns (like palm trees).
    
The church that stands today was originally envisaged as a crypt with a bigger church on top.  The church itself was never finished (seems to be common among Gaudi buildings…) but the crypt is a beautiful small church.

The monastery of Montserrat dates back to the 9th century.  It is located in a remote area of the Monserrat mountain range, so named for its ‘serrated’ appearance.  The bus took us to a train station from which we rode a’rack railway’ up the mountain to the monastery. Later, we went even farther up by way of a funicular.
  
We toured L’Escolania de Monserrat, a religious and choir school where 50 boys study. This included an exclusive perch near the front of the Basilica for the prayer service at 1:00 when the boys sang.  They will be touring in Washington DC and San Francisco this year.
   
The reason many pilgrims come to Montserrat is to see and honor the Black Madonna. It is a rather small statue that dates back to the 12th century and has a complicated legend that surrounds it.  You can get close enough to touch the statue but photos are strictly forbidden.

Our next bus tour took us to three wineries in the Penedés region.  Our first stop was Bodega Jean Leon, the first winery to produce Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay in Spain. We tasted both and especially enjoyed their premium Chardonnay, ‘Gigi,’ which we have learned is quite available in the US.
       
Next stop, Bodegas Miguel Torres.  This place is so big that they took us around on a small train!  Torres makes wine in many other countries, but Spain is the main operation. We enjoyed a pairing of 4 of their wines with 4 different Spanish cheeses…interesting and instructive.
   
We were told at both of these stops about a method they use to fight insects without chemical insecticides called “sexual confusion.” They hang this little gadget filled with pheromones on each row of vines and the male insects apparently become so frustrated looking for the females who aren’t there that they leave the grapes alone!  Go figure!

Last stop was Freixenet, a large Cava producer.  We have really enjoyed the Cava, as we did the sparkling wines in many other regions we’ve visited thus far.  They all use the methode champenois and produce a quality product.  Here we toured the caves that were deep underground, and finished with a plate of Iberian ham accompanied by a glass of brut Cava; and delicious carquinyolis, the Spanish version of biscotti, with a rosé.
     

There is more to come in Barcelona, especially seeing the Gaudi buildings. Stay tuned…

Our first stop after leaving Tuscany was Genoa, a gritty port town on Italy’s Mediterranean coast with a bustling industrial harbor next to a redeveloped family friendly, touristy Porto Antica…think Baltimore’s Inner Harbor…filled with shops, restaurants, playgrounds alongside working fishing boats, small pleasure craft and whale-watching boats.   We enjoyed strolling around here on a Sunday evening, but found it was almost deserted during the day on Monday.
    
Our apartment is a rather cool loft in an old industrial building very near the port.
     
We encountered a nasty bump in the road when we discovered on Monday morning that someone had stolen two suitcases from our car (along with sundry other small things). When we are on these road trips staying one or two nights in a place, we pack so that we have everything we really need in one suitcase while the other holds out of season clothing and other things that won’t be needed until our next long stay (like checkbooks, airline reservations, receipts, larger size cosmetics, etc).  Fortunately, we always keep our cash, credit cards and passports with us.  It was these ‘extra’ suitcases that we lost.  We spent much of the day finding the Polizia and reporting the loss, then calling USAA and reporting it to them. What a pain!!  I guess it’s fortunate that there’s really not much to see in Genoa because we sure didn’t have time to see it!

Next stop: Nice.  The drive here from Genoa was quite short and, so we were able to take our time today.  We took the Autostrada as far as San Remo and drove down to the coast. We then meandered along (much to the consternation of our GPS gal, who kept trying to get us back on the Autostrada…), taking in the scenery, weaving among motorcycles and bicyclists.
   
We then drove through Monaco, along the route of the Monte Carlo Grand Prix…though not nearly as fast…
    
We arrived in Nice by early afternoon with plenty of time to walk down to the old town and get a bite to eat in a sidewalk café.  I must say, it’s nice to be back in France, but now we have to remind ourselves to say ‘Merci!’ and not ‘Grazie!’ Our apartment is high on a hill with a fabulous view of the city.
   

Only one night in Nice and then on to Montpellier, with a stop in Aix-en-Provence along the way. This town is filled with young people…40,000 students, we’re told! Perhaps that’s why there is giant Apple store in the main square!  Here we also saw probably the strangest church altar ever…it looks like a surreal movie set…
   

Montpellier is a rather large city (8th largest in France and fastest growing in the country). We are staying outside the city center but have easy access with the extensive tram system.  The large Place de la Comedie is a lively square surrounded by beautiful Renaissance buildings and lots of cafes spill out onto the square.
       
The weather is getting warmer (58° today) but the skies have been gray during our stay.  The consolations include good baguettes again (!!) and a return to the country of foie gras!
   

Next stop Barcelona!

It’s Rick here again. We’re back in France for a few days on our way from Tuscany to Barcelona so a good time to publish these comments. We love the wines in France and the availability of good wines at surprisingly low prices is wonderful.  But the wine service in restaurants deserves a special shout out.  It puts service at home to shame.  From the corner cafe to a fine restaurant, the stemware is exemplary–nice thin rims equal to a Riedel stem. I should also mention that every Airbnb has also provided decent wine glasses for our use at home.

In Alsace, wine is served in the typical little Alsatian glasses…maybe not our favorite, but appropriate for the region.

An ice bucket is always presented with plenty of water in it, as well as ice, to chill the wine, unlike at home when we routinely have to dump our water glasses into the bucket to actually get it to cool down the wine.

And the wine lists – cartes du vins – are quite reasonably priced–most wines under 25€!  Tony Forman would be wise to note that not one sommelier has tried to taste our wine before we were offered a taste!!

One other noticeable difference – and not an altogether unwelcome one – is that, once the wine is served – except in really upscale restaurants – it is usually left on the table for you to pour for yourself…with no need to feel apologetic about it.

Drinking wines from every region has been one of the joys of this adventure.

We’re entering our final week in Tuscany and it’s warming up.  We spent three days in Chianti and Florence (sleeping in another Airbnb south of Florence…more on this trip in a minute). I must say we were happy to return to our nest above the bar in Trequanda.  I think they even missed us!  We’ve become regulars for Aperitivo at the bar and Rick has accomplished one of his goals for this trip.  We can now walk in and ask for ‘the usual’ and they know what we want!
        

There are a few other ‘regulars’ with whom we often share a table and conversation.  These include Gianna, who teaches in the village and is working on her English and with whom I am now Facebook friends,

And our 80-year-old neighbor, Sergio, whose wife invited us for dinner.  He is a former diplomat and general assigned to NATO who tells us that his memory isn’t so good anymore, but who has some fascinating stories.  He usually comes into the bar with his little dog, Rosa.
       
Sergio, Vittoria and Alessandra, their daughter are wonderful hosts.  We shared two meals together and the conversation never lagged. They have a home in Paris and we plan to see them again in mid-February when we’ll be back in our favorite city for a few days.

We have also become regulars at THE restaurant in town.  Il Conte Matto is run by Davide and his mother and sister. They welcome us whenever we arrive and David always has a new local wine to recommend.  It also gives me a break from cooking dinner at home (which I really enjoy, but it is nice to have a night off once in a while…)
      

One other curiosity worth mentioning is the public Water Dispensary.  Our host told us that the tap water here is not very good (“it won’t kill you, but it’s best not to drink it…”).  To provide for the needs of the town, there is a little wooden structure in the parking lot below the town where, for a nickel(!), you can get a liter of fresh water, either ‘naturale’ or ‘frizzante.’  The water is great, and a lot cheaper than buying bottled water.  And I love having fizzy water in the fridge (I miss my SodaStream…).
       

With the help of  John Fusciello, a wine salesman friend in Baltimore, Rick was able to make appointments at two wineries in Chianti.  We first visited Selvole, where Guido Busetto, the owner, gave us a wonderful tour while filling us in on the history of the region and its wines.
    
This is a modest property that produces a wonderful Chianti Classico and several other varietal specific wines, including Cabernet Franc. We tasted and chatted with Guido after touring his cellars and, when we left, he gave us the opened bottle of Chianti Classico Riserva and a bottle of Cabernet Franc, which we had mentioned was one of our favorite grapes.  He refused to let us purchase these.  Such generosity of time and product!
   

Our second stop was Fontodi, a much larger operation.  They produce twice as many bottles as Selvole and everything here is quite streamlined.  Silvano Marcucci spent a couple hours with us, explaining how they make their wines and showing us an experiment they have begun – aging wine in terra-cotta amphorae…just like the ancient Romans did.
          
We tasted their Chianti Classico and their Super Tuscan called Flaccianello (which is 100% sangiovese). Both were spectacular! We also tried a Sauvignon Blanc, unusual for this region and very good, and a Pinot Nero (Pinot Noir), which was not exactly Burgundian, but very pleasant once the tannins softened.
   

We spent the following day exploring Florence.  This city where the Renaissance began is filled with beautiful architecture, world-class art & sculpture and lots of tourists (even in January). We parked outside of town near a tram stop and took the tram to the train stations.  Then we strolled through the San Lorenzo (leather) market where Rick bought a belt and I bought a really pretty pair of gloves. They’ll go well with my red boots…

We saw the iconic Duomo with its white, green and pink marble facade, and the Palazzo Vecchio, with a peek inside the beautiful courtyard.
    
         
We then observed the Orsanmichele Church and walked through the Uffizi Courtyard to the Ponte Vecchio.  This strip of gold merchants glitters for the tourists but you wonder how much real business they do! Beyond the fancy windows, the structures are a bit shabby.  One interesting feature – new to us – was the Vasari Corridor that spans the bridge one story up. It was constructed to give the Medicis a way to escape across the river to the Pitti Palace in times of threat.  It recently housed some of the best 17th and 18th century art but.sadly, it is closed indefinitely because of structural problems.
       
Finally,we perused the Mercato Centrale (Central Market).  The first level houses merchants selling all sorts of produce and meats.  But the upper level is an Eataly, one of several in Europe and three in the US (New York, Chicago and Boston).  It’s a combination of restaurants and food stalls with every kind of Italian food ( and wine, of course) that you could want.  A great place for a meal and for people watching…
       

On our third day, before heading back to Trequanda, we stopped by the new (2012) Antinori facility.  It is huge! and quite a striking architectural piece, but lacks the old world charm of the previous facility that the Wine and Food Society visited in 2001.  We opted not to pay for a tour but did walk around the reception area that was filled with odd shaped places to sit, and the museum that is ‘all Antinori, from time immemorial!’  Even Italy has corporate wine makers…
      

From there, we drove to Isole e Olena, a family run winery that Rick had visited with the Wine & Food Society in 2001.  Marta de Marchi spent hours with us, showing us the expansion of the cellars that was underway on Rick’s last visit and evidencing her passion for the wines that they produce.
       
She & her husband Paolo, who was in San Francisco during our visit, took this property over from his father in 1978 and have made many improvements since then, but they still maintain some of the old ways, such as drying the grapes for Vin Santo on reed mats.

She shared several of their wonderful wines with us, including the Vin Santo (current release is the 2005!), which I think is the best sweet white desert I’ve ever tasted!  Needless to say, we came  home with a bottle of that and a few other souvenirs.  I think we’ll have enough wine for at least the next week! And Rick made friends with the winery dog…

We ventured into Umbria to visit two more hill towns, Civita di Bagnoregio and Orvieto.  Each is perched on top of a high hill formed by ‘tufo,’ a light colored volcanic rock that erodes as centuries pass, and that lends itself to amazing caves and tunnels.  Civita can only be reached by walking close to half a mile downhill from Bagnoregio and then across a long footbridge and back uphill. Whew! Surprisingly, the town was alive and restaurants were open to accommodate several hundred tourists the day we were there. The area around the hilltop looks kind of like the moon…
        
We reached Orvieto by parking at the train station and taking a funicular up to the edge of town and then a shuttle bus to the ‘centro storico.’ The facade of the duomo (cathedral) here is almost as spectacular as the duomo in Florence.  It seems that there was much competition over the decades to see which city could have the tallest tower, the biggest cathedral, etc. We had lunch in a small trattoria run by an enthusiastic chef owner who was very excited to know that we had found him in our travel book.
        

Tomorrow we head out of Italy through France and into Spain…destination Barcelona!

 

We’re continuing to explore this extraordinary part of Italy.  From our base in Trequanda, we make frequent day trips to the surrounding towns and villages. Here is a sampling…

On one very cold but sunny day, we set out to follow the ‘Heart of Tuscany Drive‘ using Rick Steves’ directions.  It was pretty easy to follow (Rick drove and I read the directions and looked for the sometimes obscure signs). Warning…some of the distances in the guide are not exact. It took us in a loop from Montepulciano to Pienza through some smaller towns and the stunning countryside of the Val d’Orcia.
The landscape of Tuscany is like no other place on earth.  The best descriptor I can muster is that everything looks ‘soft’…like God has draped a blanket over the hillsides that roll and undulate as they change hues.

Much of this area is not filled with grapevines, but is used to grow cereal crops. So, in winter, it isn’t as green as it will be in Spring and Summer.  But it’s gorgeous nonetheless.
While the grapevines are bare at this time of year, the primary trees in Tuscany are not.  Three types of tree (all evergreen) predominate…the classic straight and tall Cyprus that you see in every picture of this area, the Pines that remind me of a balloon on top of a tall straight trunk and, of course, the Olive trees.
       

As we approached Montepulciano, we again followed Rick Steves’ advice and parked in P#1 near the TI and walked uphill to the town. There were lots of places open – even in winter – which we’ve discovered is a sign that a town is not just for tourists.  We explored two underground wine cellars, ending each with a tasting of both the Rosso and Vino Nobile of Monepulciano.
     

As we headed uphill, we followed the guide through a narrow alley and up a few treacherous stairs to the workshop of Cesare Mazzetti, a master coppersmith who is carrying on three generations of craftsmanship.  He welcomed us in, even though he was about to lock up as we approached.  He made a souvenir copper medallion that included our initials, the date of our marriage, the initials of each of our children and, of course, his personal seal.
        
We then went back down to the street to his shop where his wife (his ‘minister of finanace’) helped us with a couple of purchases, including a custom designed wine chiller.

We engaged a friend of our Airbnb host who lives in a nearby town to arrange a couple of visits to Montalcino wine estates. We spent most of a day touring and tasting. First, at Palazzo, Elia Loia, who runs this estate with her brother, oriented us to Brunello and explained why it is so special.  After tour her winery and the public rooms in process, we tasted through her portfolio (we had a driver…) and were quite impressed. We especially loved her Brunello Riserva 2010 (a great vintage!), and brought a few bottles home with us.
       
Next we went to Cordella where Aldo, the proprietor, continued our Brunello education and then provided us with a lovely buffet of bruschetta to accompany the wines form his portfolio.

(Note the glass vessel in the bung hole of the barrel. It is called a ‘colmatore’ and serves as a way to top off the barrels AND to see at a glance if they are full…)

Later in the week we visited the town of Montalcino and had a great comparative tasting of 4 Brunellos at the Enoteca Fortezza.  We  had them ship a case back to our wine storage facility in Baltimore…first wine we’ve purchased for cellaring in quite some time!

Something we never knew about Tuscany was that, in addition to being beautiful and providing superb conditions for producing great wine, it is a geologically active area renowned for its geothermal productivity and has been know since ancient times for its hot springs.  We visited Bagno Vignoni where the town square is actually a large hot (125°!) pool…no bathing there, though there is a spa inside the nearby hotel.
       
The springs bubble up into this pool and then flow over the cliff where they create dramatic hot waterfalls and limestone formations.  It felt good to put my hand in this flowing water on a really cold day, except when I took it out and had a wet hand in the wind!
   

We took a short, cold walk through Pienza.  The town was pretty buttoned up but the sun was out and we got some great views from the town walls.
         

Another short, but memorable visit was to a Benedictine Abbey – Abbazia di Monte Oliveto Maggiore – near Ascanio. It was a long walk downhill through woods and we wondered what we were going to find at the end. The Abbey is a huge complex, a working monastery where we saw monks in their flowing white robes.  They welcomed us in but provided no guidance save a few small signs so we just wandered through and peeked in every unlocked door.
     
The Abbey is know for its beautiful inlaid choir stalls.  Unfortunately, the church was quite dark.  When I put a euro in a machine, some small spotlights turned on briefly so that we could get some appreciation of the fine woodwork.

We tasted a wonderful olive oil at the local Trequanda restaurant, Il Conte Matto.  When we learned that this oil is made by the brother-in-law of the restaurant owner (good old Italian nepotism…), we asked about arranging a visit.  His farm-Aia Vecchia di Montalceto – is an agritourismo in the season, but now the olive oil is just aging in the tanks waiting for the locals (or tourists like us) to come and gather it.  Ilmari showed us the process even though it’s long past harvest. Then he filled several bottles for us and labeled them right there.
        

Volterra is Rick Steves favorite town in Tuscany.  We found a tour guide, Annie Adair, an American who has lived here for 18 years who provided a  great walking tour with enormous amount of history and lore.  I was so mesmerized by her stories that I really forgot to take many pictures.  This is a town that is less dependent on tourists, so town felt alive even in January.  Here are the old Etruscan gate and a plaque that honors the villagers who blocked this gate from the Germans at the end of WWII so that the village would be saved.
         

Then we drove to San Gimignano.  this town is much more touristy, and when tourists are gone, the town is dead.  It is charming, but Volterra feels more like a real town.

We are heading to Chianti and Florence tomorrow.  Stay tuned…