Rural Hungary and Croatia

elementary school in Osijek

Rural Hungary and Croatia, May 16-17, 2013

If this is Thursday this must be Mohacs (pronounced 'Moe-hosh") Hungary. Otherwise, we would not have known. It looked like we were in the middle of nowhere. The included tour today was a 1 1/2 hour bus ride to a town called Pecs. There would be a walking city tour, a porcelain factory tour, then back on the bus to someplace else for a wine tasting. But we had hit a wall. We were both exhausted and even free wine tasting could not convince us to join this tour. After all, we have already experienced Hungarian wine. So we stayed on the boat. So as not to waste the whole day nor disappoint our faithful readers we did do a brief walk about in Mohacs. One thing we have noticed is that all of these towns and cities are not afraid to put up contempary monuments. As soon as we left the boat there was a striking, modern stainless steel monument. We have no idea for what or whom it was erected, but sure was nice. Attention Jeff and Rob: we went into the local post office to buy stamps for postcards rather then leaving them at the reception desk on our boat. Across the street from the post office we found a lovely church. It was called the Votive Church and, interestingly enough, was built during WW II. Money must have been a problem because bits were added to the church over the years. For example, the beautiful, contemperary stain glass windows were installed and dedicated in 1980. It was really quite minimalist compared to the cathedrals we have been in, but was much the better for it. We went in a few shops, converted our hungarian florins into euros and went back to the boat where Lynda took a nap and Tim did the laundry, both important necessary jobs.

The Johnsons went on the bus tour to Pecs and we have invited them to submit a guest blog. . We would not want to disappoint those of you that had been looking forward to a report on Pecs. Lyn and Don have submitted the following report on their trip to Pecs. We boarded our buses to find something had not changed - our guides were the friendly ones from Budapest. We drove through Mohacs, where the Hungarian royal forces lost another battle, this time to the Ottoman Turks in 1526 who ruled for the next 160 years. We drove on to Pecs, a small walkable city with several architectual styles and highlights. After stepping over the remains of the old city wall embedded in the pavement, Lyn convinced Don to cross the remains of a dry moat on a rotted unstable bridge to pose at the last remaining city gate tower. (Editor's comment: and Tim thought he was the only person forced to do this sort of thing) We discovered Pecs had been an important Roman town from at least 200 A.D. Frescoes have been uncovered with early christian burial sites from 275 A.D. These have been declared a World heritage UNESCO Site. We stood on the glass ceiling over the catacombs and looked down on the restored underground chambers. St. Peter's Cathedral has been burnt and rebuilt so many times that it now resembles a do-it-yourself church in different colors and pieces (yet it was all rebuilt at once) in a plain style with few embellishments (rare for this area). The nicely preserved Bishops Palace next door has a bronze statue of Liszt on a balcony in a raincoat facing away from the street! We walked on in sunshine to the Gazi Kasim Mosque/Inner Parish Church, interesting because of its blend of history. It is an early stone church rebuilt by the Ottomans to make it a mosque by adding an octogan upper story topped by a blue dome. It has been returned to a christian church without rebuilding and features a small spire with both a crescent and a cross. There are still passages from the Koran inscribed on walls alongside christian decorations. Perhaps we all could learn to be so tolerant. (Editors comment: amen) We sat in the main square and had a gelato followed by capicinno as we observed the well-preserved buildings, clean streets and pedestrians in the car free town center. Then it was on to the Villany hills to visit local wineries which are dug into basements behind houses and then the tunnels are bricked over and sodded so each house appears to have a Hobbit tunnel attached to the back. We walked through on of the larger complex of tunnels past many large oak casks. We tasted three wines, rose, red portugaese, and red cabernet along with cheese platters while the local owner described his wine making prowess. They are very proud of their wine making ability and that they remain family owned. The wine was available for purchase but is not exported, keeping good red wines for themselves and their guests. A good time was had by all as an inebriated accordian player led family and guests in an impromtu dance.

Thursday night the Johnsons and Crandalls were among the lucky 20 people who signed up for a special al fresco dining experience on the sun deck of our boat. Unfortunately, it rained so we could not be out on the deck but were rather in an enclosed area. Still, the meal was exceptional. Unlike all of our other dinners this was a fixed menu. We started with a green salad, followed by roasted eggplant soup. The entree was a veal tenderloin medallion served with white asparagus, potato and a broccoli spear with bernaise sauce. Dessert was ice cream "Hot Love", vanilla ice cream with berries. The wines served with this meal were of a higher quality then the wine that is served in the main dining room.

We had been warned by the crew that once we left Budapest, customs would be a problem. They were right. About 10:00 p.m. we all were required to present ourselves and our passports to the customs people who came on board. The crew call this a "face check." They told us that many times it is only the crew that must do the face check even though customs checks all passports. When Lynda presented her passport to the customs officer he went through her passport one page at a time rather slowly, taking particular time with the pages containing vistas from our "Around the World" trip four years ago. Satisfied, he found an empty page and stamped it. When Tim presented his passport the officer immediately found an empty page and stamped it. Tim, Lyn, and Don teased Lynda the rest of the evening about her obvious shady character.

Friday morning we were docked in Vukovar, Croatia. After the elegance of Vienna and Budapest, Vukovar was a reality check. 90 percent of Vukovar was destroyed during the break up of Yugoslavia in 1991. The surviving buildings still show many holes from the shellings by the Serbians. There also are many buildings still standing that had been destroyed and the Croatian government has done nothing to remove them. We walked through Vukovar with a feeling of saddness rather than the feeling of wonder we have experienced in pervious stops on this cruise. Once on the bus we had a 30 minute ride to Laslovo where we visited the local elementary school. The children presented a 20 minute program and then we were able to walk about the building visiting with the students and teachers. In Croatia, all third graders start learning a foreign language which for most is English so we were able to converse easily with the children. These kids were like kids anywhere in the world. As soon as a camera came up to take a picture someone put up bunny ears behind the head of the person next to them. Tim and Don wanted to meet with the principal of the school to raise a major concern that they had. In one of the classrooms someone had very carefully drawn an outline of the United States on the chalk board. The concern was that the only state actually drawn in on the map was Ohio. Unfortunately, the principal was busy and did not have time to meet with Tim and Don. In all seriousness, it was a really fun, uplifting experience. The children were very friendly and obviously enjoyed having us there and interacting with us. From the school we rode on the bus another 15 minutes to Osijek (pronounced "oss-yech") the cultural center of the Slavonia region of Croatia. We walked through the main square of the old town, visited a lovely church, but did not see much in the way of culture. Today is the last day of school for the seniors graduating and it is a tradition for them to gather in public areas where they party and drink heavily. In Osijek the local officials actually set aside one park for the seniors to gather in and provide police protection, doctors and ambulances for those who party too hard. When we returned to Vulovar the partying had started in a park near our boat and we noticed a large contigent of police officers nearby. The nicest part of the day was lunch. We were taken in groups of 8-10 to local homes where we were hosted for lunch. We went to the home of a young women who prepared vegatable soup, a green salad, roasted chicken accompanied with a simple risotto and a cabbage salad. We finished with poppy seed cake. This was only the third time she had hosted a group and she was obviously very nervous. But as we talked (her English was very good) and drank wine she relaxed and we had a delightful time with her. Once lunch was completed our bus picked us up and we came back to the boat. It was an interesting day but I don't think any of us are planning a return trip to Croatia.

n Dinner back on board was an Epicurrean Adventure. Local dishes filled the menu. Lynda enjoyed a different variety of borscht (beet soup). Rather than the Russian recipe (pureed beets) this was a tomato-based broth with thinly sliced beet strips and other vegetables served with the tradional sour cream. We haven't blogged much about the food on the River Duchess but we've all found it excellent. Lots of variety and good quality We finished the evening enteretained by a group of five men singing tradition folk songs and playing a variety of guitars. Two were mandolin like guitars, the other two were different size guitars, all four having only 5 strings. There was also a tradition string bass. While we could not understand the words, singing and the guitar playing in particular was excellent.

Don Johnson demonstrating whip skills at the horse show 

monument in Mohacs, Hungary

Pictures

Horse show on St. Andrew's Island, Budapest

Chain Bridge, Budapest, from St. Mathias Cathedral

Grand market, Budapest

The ever inquisitive traveler

Budapest, Hungary

Budapest, Hungary, May 14-15, 2013

Tuesday morning we were docked at a small island about 2 hours by boat upstream from Budapest. Horse drawn wagons greeted us as we departed the ship. A 10 minute ride took us to a working horse farm, Bodor Major, where we spent the rest of the morning. Our first stop on the farm was a zoo like area where indiginous animals to Hungary were on display. Particularly impressive were the large grey cattle, the locals called them oxen, with particularly menacing looking horns. There were also buffalo that were not as big as an American bison, but Tim still did not want to meet one without a fence between them. Also of interest were sheep that had horns that looked like corkscrews. After a brief stop to look at historic (read old and uninteresting) carriages we were shown into a dining area. Our hosts greeted us with very small glasses of plum brandy. They assured us not to be offended at the small size of the offering. Any thing larger and we would not remember the rest of the day. How right they were. The alcohol was so overwhelming that it could have been asparagus brandy for all we could tell. We were then escorted to an outdoor kitchen where Hungarian Goulash Soup was being made in a very large cast iron pot over an open fire. In addition, loaves of bread were being put into wood fired ovens. We also sampled hungarian style pizza which was basically a soft slice of bread with a variety of toppings such as bacon, tomato, onion, and spinich topped with cheese. There was no tomato sauce. The italian pizza industry has nothing to fear. It was back to the dining area where we were offered samples of three different salomes each with varying amounts of paprika and two different strawberry wines. The salomes were ok. The dry strawberry wine was undrinkable and the sweet strawberry wine paled in comparison to Boone's Farm. Next was the highlight of the morning: the horse show. The show began with a roman style chariot pulled by four large horses roaring around the demonstration ring. We could see why these chariots struck fear in the hearts of the Roman enemy. This was followed by a wagon drawn by 4 of the large oxen we had seen earlier. While interesting, the oxen could have shown more enthusiasm. They are in the entertainment business afterall. Next came a demonstration of the horse skills of the Magyar warriors from Hungary's past. The finale was a horsemen riding standing up on top of two horses, one leg on each of the animals. There were three more horses harnessed in front of those two. The rider and his team of horses made several trips around the ring increasing the speed on each circuit. Very impressive. The whole show was great fun and the horses were beautiful animals. The final activity was a lunch of the Hungarian goulash soup and bread we saw being made earlier. The soup was good but was nothing more then vegatable and beef soup with lots of paprika. The bread was heavy, yeasty and delicious. As we filed out to our wagons for the trip back to the boat we were offered the opportunity to buy wine and salome. Fear not, family. There will be no Hungarian wine under the Christmas tree with your name on it.

The two hour boat trip into Budapest was wonderful. The sun was shining and the scenery was gorgeous. Don and Tim watched our arrival in Budapest from the sun deck. They agreed that arriving by boat was much nicer than by plane. At one time in Hungary's history Buda and Pest were two seperate cities. At some point they were combined into one municipality. Pest is located on the east shore of the Danube and Buda on the west. The beautiful St. Mathias Cathedral sits atop a hill in Buda overlooking the Danube River. The equally impressive House of Parliment building sits on the river's edge in Pest. It may have been the most memorable arrival in a city in all of our travels. Once the boat was docked we took a bus tour through both sides of the river. There were only two stops; one at Hero's Square in Pest and the other at St. Mathias in Buda. Hero's Square is dedicated to the seven most important men in Hungarian history. We won't bore you with the details, mostly because we can't remember them. Mathias may be the most important of those seven men as he brought a love of literature and culture to Hungary that had never existed before. The interior of the Cathedral is of interest because the cathedral was actually built by the Moors. Once the Moors were sent packing and the church converted to a catholic church someone wisely decided to maintain some of the moorish decor as a reminder of Hungary's history. The tour lasted three hours and Tim's falling asleep had nothing to do with the entertaining tour guide nor the beauty of the city.

We have enjoyed the evening meals on board so far. Unlike past cruises, this cruise has gone out of its way to feature local dishes on the menu each night. For example, last night we had chicken paprikash. There are other more traditional choices each night for the less daring diners.

Wednesday was a free day in Budapest. We both took the opprotunity to sleep in and then after breakfast joined the Johnsons to walk to the Central Market. The main floor of the market was for food stalls. We saw stall after stall of gorgeous looking produce. There were also numerous stalls of meat featuring mostly pork and poultry. We did not see much beef. These stalls had every part of the pig for sale and we mean every part. The only thing we did not see for sale was the squeal! Finally on this floor were the spice stalls. Unlike the Spice Market in Istanbul where the spices were in large open containers, here the spices were pre-packaged. As you can well imagine paprika was the predominant spice being sold. For whatever reason Tim did not understand that paprika comes from a particular chili pepper. He had a "duh" moment when he saw bunches of the peppers for sale. We are sure a serious cook in Hungary would not dream of buying pre-ground paprika. Upstairs in the market were clothing stalls featuring knit goods, leather goods and crafts. There was also a food court on this level that had some fascinating dishes for sale. After leaving the market we did some additional shopping. We are excited because we have some of our Christmas shopping done. Being worn out from all this shopping we went back to our boat for lunch and a nap. After lunch we walked down the main shopping street of Budapest. It is a pedestrian way with a nice blend of high end shops and souvenier shops. The people watching was excellent. We stopped at a Cafe that reputably had the best strudel in Budapest. We were under the impression that it had many varieties of strudel so were disappointed in finding only apple strudel available. Our disappointment was somewhat assauged by the excellence of the strudel.

After dinner we went to a show that featured Hungarian Folk Music and Dance. Much of it was based on gypsy music and dance. It was easily the highlight of the day. The orchestra of 11 musicians were excellent and played the entire hour and a half of music from memory. There were 10 dancers who put us in mind of a Hungarian "River Dance." The costumes were colorful and the dancing energetic. We were exhausted just watching. This production took place in a 100 year old rocco theater. Its historic beauty made you forget that the theatre was located in a Four Seasons Hotel. After the show we had a short after dark bus tour of Budapest. This tour ended at the top of a hill overlooking Budapest. It was a breathtaking view and reenforced our feeling that Budapest is one of the most beautiful cities that we have visited in the world.

Leaving the theater we had a "its a small world" moment. Lynda let out a cry of surprise as she ran into her secretary, Sharon Zuzka and her husband, from when she worked for the state. Unfortunately, because we were with a tour we could not stay and chat.

It is with a sad heart that we leave Budapest. Both Johnsons and Crandalls have vowed to come back when we can stay longer.  

Slovakia

Bratislava, Slovakia May 13, 2013

Sunday morning while Lynda celebrated Mother's Day by sleeping in, Tim went into Vienna on his own to explore. While doing research before the trip Tim discovered a bar/restaurant where Beethoven, Brahms, and Schubert had hung out in their day and a coffee house that was suppose to be very good. So Sunday morning Tim found these places to see if they were worth seeing with Lynda, Lyn and Don. Der Grieshbachdriesl was a good find. It was exactly what one would imagine a Viennese beer hall to be, plus it had a great story. In the late 1600's there was a local musician named Augustin who performed regularly at the Grieshbachdresl. He was very popular. Then the plague hit and no one went out to the pub. One evening Augustin, being very despondent over no one being in the pub to perform for got very drunk, staggered into the street and passed out. Later in the night the crews that disposed of all of the dead bodies from the plague found Augustin and thought him dead. They scooped him up into their cart and took him to a mass burial site for plague victims. Eventually he regained conscienceness where upon one of the grave workers recognized him and cried out, "Ach du lieber Augustin, ich is bin." This became the basis for the famous nursery song. Now we ask you dear reader, is there another blog that gives you gems of information like this one. Tim wandered through some delightful little back alleys and streets and found the Mozarthaus Museum, the only remaining apartment in Vienna in which Mozart resided. The next stop was a small coffee house a couple of blocks away. Kleines Cafe was located on a wonderful little platz (plaza) that was just far enough off the beaten path to be frequented by actual Viennes. From there Tim's meanderings took him to an area very near where we had been on Saturday that featured many interesting art galleries and shops. Sadly, all of the shops and galleries were closed because it was Sunday. After lunch Tim, Lyn and Don set off to revisit these places. Lynda was not feeling well and decided to stay in the room. The Mozarthaus Museum featured an audio self guided tour and was fascinating. We learned some new things about Mozart that we did not know and several myths that have over the years sprung up about Wolfgang and unfortunately been perpetuated by the movie, "Amadeus" were refuted. We had coffee at Kleines Cafe, feeling like native Viennes. By this time it had started raining again so the last stop was Demel's, the premier pastry shop in Vienna. Tim purchased two mini-sachertortes, a traditional Viennes dessert that he is sure will be devine. They have not been consumed yet. When we returned to the boat we were greeted with the good news that the Johnson's luggage had finally arrived. They were particularly pleased because Sunday night was the captain's champagne reception and welcoming dinner, a dressy evening.

This morning, Monday, we woke up in Bratislava, Slovakia. We talked at lunch how Bratislava is one of those wonderful and beautiful cities that you have only vaguely heard of and discover that it is a joy to visit. In the morning we took an hour and a half walking tour with a delightful guide with a wonderful sense of humor. After the tour we had free time before lunch that we used to experience one of the coffee houses on the main square. After the coffee we walked to a nearby american style shopping mall. Tim and Don still do not understand why we came all the way to Slovakia to go to a mall. After lunch Lynda and Lyn took a bus trip through the countryside to a farm. Lynda constantly talks about getting out of the city to see the countryside of any country we visit. The bus trip was worth the price of the tour. But the trip wasn't just to any farm - rather to the summer palace of Maria Tereza, the Empress of Austria with 16 children who she married off to all the royal families of Europe.

While the wives were galivanting around the countryside, Tim and Don walked up a hill to visit a former castle. The castle was not open and was not particularly imposing but the views looking over the city and the Danube were worth the climb. The very good slovak beer we enjoyed outside the castle didn't hurt either. After visiting the castle Don returned to the boat while Tim explored some more. While walking through the main square Tim notice this long string of balloons between two trees that were not there this morning, with a group of people milling about. After taking a picture, Tim walked over to find out what was going on. It turns out this was a demonstration against corruption in the government. And Tim discovered that he was talking to a women who was a member of the Slovakia parliment and was one of seven parliment members involved in the demostration. There were 500 balloons, each of which had a facsimile of a 1 million euro note attached to it. These balloons represented the 5 hundred million euros lost each year to government corruption. As we talked Tim explained that corruption was not as much of a problem in the states as basic incompetency among members of congress. It was a fascinating encounter with several of the Bratsilavian citzens. The other high point of the afternoon for Tim was taking a picture of a statue of Johan Nepomuk Hummel, one of the most famous Bratsilavians. Hummel is a composer of little note in the overall history of music but is of particular importance to Tim because he composed a concerto for trumpet that is considered part of the basic repetoire for trumpet that any serious player should study. In fact, Tim performed one movement of the concerto on a student recital while at Hope College.

Our usual procedure in posting on this blog is for Tim to do the initial writing and then Lynda to edit. Today is a sunny day in Bratislava and Tim is sitting in the lounge of our boat watching the Danube flow by. The Danube is a working river with more barge traffic than cruise boat traffic. It is also a very swift river with the boats going downstream gliding by seemingly effortlessly while those going up stream look to be struggling for every bit of progress they make. It is more interesting then cruising in a large ship on the ocean where you can spend all day on the ocean without seeing another ship.

Overall the riverboat experience is great - we're on Uniworld's River Duchess with just 114 passengers plus over 50 crew. The food has been excellent as well as the included shore excursions. We've seen a number of Viking and Avalon river boats that are much larger than ours but we like getting to know the other passengers and the crew. And again, we're going places that we probably wouldn't attempt on our own. Hearing about the many changes in this part of the world (e.g. from the Ottoman to the Austro-Hungarian to the Soviet rule and then the formation of Czechoslavakia and the velvet divorce from the Czech Republic really makes us realize how unique America is....not many areas of the world have had only one civil war and no invasions/battles on home soil since first becoming a nation. But it also makes us appreciate the resiliency and ability to look back with a sense of humor that we've encountered in people living in places that have been constantly contested. We're greatly enriched by such experiences.

Vienna, Austria

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Guten Tag and Happy Mother's Day to all-

Once upon a time flying was an adventure and had a romantic allure to it. Now it is just a convienent way to go long distances quickly. In our post 9/11 world a less than friendly flight attendent is an improvement over the adsurdity of airport security. The mear fact that we left Detroit and arrived in Vienna on time and with our luggage makes the flight a success. Our friends, Lyn and Don have still not seen their luggage. Our plane landed in Vienna Friday at 1:30 p.m., our luggage was on the carousel when we got there and there was no passport control so we were in the arrivals hall in a matter of minutes. Our Uniworld representative, we are cruising with Uniworld Cruise Line, was there to greet us and informed us that there was one more couple arriving in 30 minutes and then we would be on the bus headed toward our boat. Vienna is famous for, among other things, its coffee houses and as there was a coffee house right there it seemed a good place to wait. It also seemed appropriate to try our first apple strudel at the same time. After the non-descript airplane food, our apple strudel was absolutely devine.

We arrived at the River Duchess about 3:30. The boat is quite beautiful and our room is very comfortable, albeit, a bit cramped. Lynda started unpacking while Tim explored and as he was walking on the sun deck saw the Johnsons arrive. We spent the remainder of the afternoon in the lounge hearing the horror story of Lyn and Don's travels to Vienna and just generally catching up. Our visit was interupted by the obligatory boat safety meeting. Once that was over it was time for dinner. We won't bore you with details but the food and wine have generally been very good.

Saturday morning Lynda and Tim took the city tour while Lyn and Don went to an art gallery. Our tour started with a bus ride around Vienna, giving us an overview of the old town area. We then left the bus for a two hour walking tour. The first stop was the National Bilioteck, national library. We were taken into a beautiful old baroque era room that was over two stories high and was filled with books all published before 1800, most considerably before 1800 and in Latin. It was a beautiful room. This library is the national archive for Austria and contains over 7 million books and documents. We found out that there was a room somewhere in the depths of the library that contained original scores of Mozart, Beethoven, Strauss and Schubert. Tim had goosebumps just thinking about these scores. Next door to the National Library was the Spanish Riding School famous for the white Lippinzan horses. These horses practice two hours a day and perform every Sunday. We were able to look into the courtyard that the stalls for these magnificent animals surrounded. Several of the horses actually took time to peek out of their stalls for a brief photo opp. A few more steps took us to a lovely square in front of one of the gates to the royal palace. Austria has not been a monarchy since the end of World War I but still continues to preserve the stately buildings associated with the former monarchy. From the palace gate we walked down a pedestrian only street that was the central shopping area, containing all of the usual high end shops. Our guide also pointed out a cafe that is considered the best pastry shop in Vienna. We plan to return to this cafe. This would have been a lovely walk except for the fact that it had started raining. We eventually ended up in front of St. Stephen's Cathedral. At this point our guide gave us about 45 minutes of free time to explore the area. We went first to the cathedral. All of the major cathedrals that we have visited in Europe are impressive, each in its own way. St. Stephen's was no exception. The original stained glass windows over time have been destroyed and replaced with just plain glass. However, during the easter season different colored transparent paper similar to cellophane is hung over the window and the light coming in through these different colors gives the inside of the cathedral a glow like we have never seen in any other church. Because of a service going on we were unable to walk about the cathedral which was unfortunate because there appeared, from a distance, to be a stunning, contemporary shaped crucifix hanging from the nave of the church. Hopefully, when we return tomorrow we will be able to get closer. We explored a few shops, bought some post cards, replaced Lynda's hairspray that was confiscated at the Amsterdam airport, and then returned to our boat. The rest of the day was dull and rainy so we spent it on the boat napping, reading and visiting. Oh, ended the day with Weiner Schnitzel and our first game of cards with the Johnson's - just before they gave their clothing to their steward for washing so they can wear them again tomorrow!

Arrivederci Italia

The Villa Ambrosia has turned out to be such a pleasant find in the Tuscan hills just south of Florence that we have decided to stay here through Monday night. The places in Tuscany that we want to explore are all easily reached from here. Today, Sunday, we were again reminded of how beautiful the hills of the Chianti region of Italy are. We have been blessed on this trip with incredible weather and today we think Gerry and Cathy also realized the magic of traveling in this region. We are located just a few miles from our first stop, the American Cemetery of Florence. Compared to Arlington or Normandy this is a small cemetery but a beautiful one. There is a Memorial at the back of the cemetery, behind all of the markers as you enter, that lists hundreds of names of American GI’s who died during the assault from Sicily through Italy who’s graves are unknown. We also saw many markers that indicated a died soldier whose name was unknown. The Memorial also had a narrative that discussed the fierce battles that occurred in the liberation of Italy from the Germans. It was very moving indeed.

We left the cemetery and drove through the hills to the town of Tavernalle Val Pesa. The Osteria al Gramala is located in Tavernalle. This is the restaurant where we took a cooking class eight years ago when we spent 6 weeks in Tuscany. Good fortune was with us as the restaurant was open. We re-introduced ourselves to Cecelia and Massimo and enjoyed a lovely lunch of pasta and wine. We are not sure if Cecelia and Massimo remembered us but they were gracious enough to act like it. After lunch we drove on to Certaldo where our apartment was located. Among other things we wanted Gerry and Cathy to see the wine coop in Certaldo where we bought our wine in 5 liter boxes. The wine coop is where farmers who do not grow enough grapes to bottle their own wine sell their grapes and the coop produces a wonderful table wine. When we first went in the coop we were shocked to see gasoline style pumps and watched as people brought in very large plastic containers that were filled with wine from these pumps. We tried a box of the wine and loved it. Unfortunately, because it is Sunday, the coop was not open. We also had great difficulty in driving by our apartment because all of the traffic patterns have been changed. The apartment was located just a couple of blocks from the train station and all the streets in the area have been closed to through vehicular traffic with pedestrian tunnels now in place that go under the tracks. We left Certaldo and drove to San Gigimnano. This is a beauty full town that sits atop a hill with these wonderful towers that rise high above the town. We were able to see these towers from miles away. Because of these towers San Gigimnano is sometimes called the Manhattan of Tuscany. We thoroughly enjoyed strolling through the town, looking in the shops and occasionally buying a souvenir. After all of this walking about we were tired so we returned to Villa Ambrosia for naps before going out for dinner. Dinner was at a restaurant next to our hotel and was a delight. We arrived at 8:00 and were the only people in the restaurant. After we were seated, the chef came out and greeted us and spent much time going over the menu with us. After ordering, the waiter brought out a book that our chef had just had published that contained many recipes as well as some historical perspective. At least we think it was historical perspective as it was in Italian and the waiter said that was what was in the book. The chef came back later to ask about our first course and Tim asked him several questions about both recipes and the risotto that Tim had just eaten. It was all very fun and enlightening.

Monday turned out to be a very special day. It began rather benignly with a drive to Montalchino, a hill town south of Siena. Montalchino is famous for its Brunello wine. The average person thinks of chianti immediately when thinking of Tuscan wines, but connoisseurs know that Brunello’s are excellent, robust red wines that can be considerably more expensive then chianti. Other then an old fort that Gerry enjoyed, there was not much to see other then wine shops so we drove on to Pienza which is pretty much due east of Montalchino. Lynda and Tim had been to Pienza before and remembered it as a nice little town but something about it today made it exceptional. There is a cathedral in Pienza celebrating its 550 anniversary which really isn’t all that old in terms of Italian history and it is not really a cathedral like Notre Dame or St. Peter’s. However, about a block away was a small church that was beautiful in its simplicity. The crucifix hanging over the alter was very contemporary and striking as was the pulpit next to the alter. We also enjoyed going into several neat little shops just before they all closed for lunch. We also happened upon a wonderful little piazza and then walk to the rampart behind the cathedral where we were met with a spectacular panoramic view of the southern Tuscan hills. On leaving Pienza we continued to enjoy spectacular scenery. We are sure Joni and Bill will to attest to this as they spent their honeymoon here several years ago. Our last stop of the day was in Greve, another of the picturesque villages in Tuscany. We particularly wanted Gerry and Cathy to see the butcher shop here that has been open since 1729. Along with the usual assortment of meats, this shop specializes in chingaili, wild boar. There also were multiple hams hanging from the ceiling throughout the shop. Cathy enjoyed it, We are not sure about Gerry. From Greve we returned to our hotel to prepare for going out for dinner. Think naps. We had planned on returning to the restaurant next to the hotel that we enjoyed so much last night but it was closed. The hotel, however, suggested a trattoria just down the hill that turned out to be a good choice. It was more of a local trattoria, no frills, but good food and wine.

Tuesday began in the tiny village of Monsanto, just outside Poggibonsi, about half way between Florence and Siena. There is an exceptional winery in Monsanto that we had visited back in 2004. Back then we saw wines in the underground cellars that were 40 years old. We also had the opportunity to taste their wonderful wine. Unfortunately, today they were unable to give us a tour so we spent a few minutes looking around the grounds and then drove on to Siena. The main square in Siena, Il Campo, is actually sort of shell shaped and is huge. It is famous because twice a year a horse race called “Il Pallio” is held in Il Campo. There are approximately 16 different political sections to Siena and each enters a horse in the race. The horses race around the outer ring of the piazza and the crowd stands in the middle. There is much pageantry surrounding this event. We planned on visiting the Duomo,the main cathedral in Siena, but there was a charge to get in so we didn’t. The Duomo in Siena is similar to the one in Florence in that it is strikingly beautiful on the outside but rather dark and dreary on the inside. For lunch we had planned to return to a little restaurant we had discovered previously but when we got there it was closed, maybe permanently. Fortunately, just a block or two away we found another place that had, all together now, excellent food and wine! After our fine lunch we finished some last minute souvenir shopping and had one last gelato before heading to Fuimicino where we are staying tonight before flying home tomorrow.

Sadly this is the end of our trip. It has been wonderful. While most places were sites that Tim and Lynda had seen before, we enjoyed watching Gerry and Cathy experience them for the first time. All indications are that the Browns have had a fabulous first trip to Europe. They have had a hard time deciding which place was there favorite of all the places we visited. And the good news is that Gerry and Lynda are still speaking to each other! We hope you have enjoyed following along on another of our trips and we look forward to seeing you all soon.

Arrivederci.

Rome, Venice, Florence - Benne

Tuesday night in Rome we took a bus to Trastavere, a neighborhood that use to be a Jewish area, was also a working man neighborhood, and now features many wonderful shops and restaurants. It was another of the string of beautiful nights we have had on the trip and the trattoria we dined at was also excellent. After dinner we took the bus back towards Piazza Navona. The Piazza Navona holds special significance for us because on our first trip to Rome when we stayed in a hostel run by Dutch nuns just off of the Piazza and the Piazza was the focal point of our first trip. It was a relatively quiet night in the Piazza but we still enjoyed the memories of previous trips.

On Wednesday morning, Lynda slept in so Tim accompanied Gerry and Cathy to the Coliseum and The Roman Forum. Each time we go to the Coliseum it is a marvel both architecturally and construction-wise. Unfortunately, it is a testament to what can be built if you have enough slaves. Tim did learn something new. He was always under the impression that the Coliseum is round when, in fact, it is oval shaped. In terms of history, the Roman Forum is without a doubt of considerable significance. However, seeing the ruins of it is less then moving. The rest of the day was spent either doing laundry (Cathy and Gerry) or lounging in our hotel room. Wednesday evening we were able to get to the Pantheon shortly before it closed for the day. Of all of the tourist sites in Rome, the Pantheon seems to fly under the radar. It should not. Gerry and Cathy were suitably impressed with the building, just as we are every time we see it. The tomb of Victor Emmanuelle, the first King of Italy is located in the Pantheon. From the Pantheon it was a short walk to Trevi Fountain. We, of course, took the required pictures of Gerry and Cathy throwing coins over their shoulders into the fountain. By doing this it assured them of returning to Rome. Don’t laugh. It worked for Lynda and Tim! Just a few steps from Trevi Fountain is L’Achetto Restaurant. We discovered this restaurant a couple of years ago on our trip here with Madison. The spaghetti was every bit as good as we remembered (and we sat at “our” table, Madi). As we prepared to leave Rome the four of us discovered that we were all a bit ambivalent in our feelings about the Eternal City. On one hand Rome is a wonderful place for a leisurely evening stroll; the food and wine are exceptional; and at least one of us becomes rapturous when discussing Gelato. On the other hand, Rome is a dirty city, and the people are very aggressive and pushy when in line for buses, tickets, etc. We all agreed that we enjoyed London and Paris more. But still, there is the Gelato!

Thursday morning we took a taxi to the airport where we rented a car. Tim went through quite an ordeal in attempting to rent the already confirmed car. It is too long a tale of woe to publish here but be sure to ask him about it when you see him. Once the car was procured we were on the road, the first stop being Assisi, of St. Francis fame. Assisi has a rather commanding location on the side of a hill. One can see the town from a great distance away. When we were last here it had been right after a devastating earthquake which did considerable damage to both the church and the village. Today there was little sign of damage and we were able to visit both the upper and lower basilicas, which we had been unable to do previously. The only problem with visiting Assisi is that, because of its location on the side of a hill, everything is either up hill or down hill which makes for tough walking. A stop for wine certainly made the climb easier. The drive from the airport to Assisi was about two hours and it was another four hour drive to Venice. We arrived in Venice about 8:00, parked the car in a car park just on the island, took a vaparetto, water bus, to the Rialto bridge and had about a 5 minute walk to our hotel. Nothing to it. Our rooms in Venice are downright sumptuous compared to all of our previous lodgings and the hotel was able to recommend a very good restaurant just a block and a half from the hotel. After the long drive we were all ready for the delicious wine that we had. The meal was also excellent: ravioli stuffed with smoked ricotta in a butter sauce, veal scaloppini, insalada misto, and sea bass.

Friday morning we walked to San Marco Square, fascinated by all the wonderful shops along the way. San Marco square is where the church of San Marco is located as well as the Doge Palace. Doges were the political leaders of Venice for over 800 years and the Doge Palace is where they lived as well as the seat of government for Venice. In its prime Venice was one of the most important cities in all of Europe which, in turn, made the Doge a very important political figure. From San Marco square, we took the vaparetto to Murano which is another of a group of small islands that makes up Venice. Murano is famous for its glass furnaces. We found the glass gallery where we have bought two pieces of murano glass on previous trips. We were again impressed with the quality of work done by the glass artist, Simone Celenese. We especially looked longingly at a spectacular chandelier that would look perfect over our dinning table. With great difficulty we decided not to buy it. We were also taken by our salesperson back to the furnace to watch the artisans working on the glass. Gerry and Cathy were very intrigued with this. After lunch (and wine) we took the boat to Burano, another of the islands. This island specializes in making lace. Cathy was particularly interested in this and bought several pieces as gifts for relatives. Tim and Gerry were not so impressed. In the evening we went to a restaurant that Lynda and Tim discovered on their first trip to Venice and have returned to on each subsequent trip. It may have been the best meal of the trip to this point. Lynda had an excellent Spaghetti Carbonara, Cathy and Tim had porcini stuffed ravioli in a truffle oil sauce, Gerry had a T-Bone steak, and Tim had slices of beef in a Balsamic Vinegar reduction. The highlight of dessert was Tim’s chocolate covered cream puffs. Cathy had an excellent Tiramisu but after one taste of Tim’s cream puffs was extremely jealous and may have even pouted a bit. We enjoyed a lovely stroll back to our hotel.

With a tear in Tim’s eye (Venice is his favorite city in the whole world), Saturday morning we left Venice and drove to Florence. We went directly to our hotel south of Florence as the website from which we booked the hotel had comments about how difficult a location it was to find and we did not want to try and find it after dark. This was in fact true but the hotel turned out to be very nice. Unfortunately, it was very quickly back in the car to drive into Florence. There have been many instances, we are sure, where Cathy and Gerry were convinced that we were crazy and the drive into Florence may have been one of them. We successfully found a parking garage next to the train station and set off on foot for the Duomo, the cathedral in Florence. We did not go inside as there was a long line but that was not a problem as the Duomo is one of the few cathedrals in Europe we have visited that is more spectacular on the outside than on the inside. The highlight of the day was visiting the Accademia Gallery where Michelangelo’s statue of David is located. A 16th century artist described David as “the most perfect sculpture of a man ever done”. We could not agree more. We sat for sometime mesmerized by the beauty and magnificence of this incredible work of art. There are many other statues in the gallery but they all pale by comparison. When we were finally able to pull ourselves away from David we walked to the central market. Upon arrival at the market we discovered to our dismay that the food and vegetable portion of the market was already closed. We managed to get over our dismay with a limoncello, an Italian liquor that tastes like real strong lemonade but will knock you on your bottom if you drink it too fast. Also around the Central Market is the leather market. There are hundreds of stalls with leather goods where the merchant has you try something on and then takes you back to his main shop where there are more goods on display. We were able to refrain from major purchases, think leather coats, but did buy some small items, Tim a new wallet and Lynda a wool cape. We went back to the Duomo where we did go inside the Baptistery located next to the church. This beautiful building has a dome that on the inside is covered in gold mosaics depicting many of the stories from the Bible. Again, we sat for some time taking in the beauty of the structure. We continued are walk about Florence by going to the Pont Vecchio. The Pont Vecchio is a bridge over the Arno River where for years all of the goldsmiths of Florence had their shops. This bridge still contains numerous gold and jewelry stores. You may also be interested in knowing that the Pont Vecchio was the only bridge across the Arno that the Nazi’s did not destroy during WW II. After all of this walking we were tired and hungry. We returned to the car and drove to Bagno a Ripoli, a little town just outside of Florence where there is another of our favorite restaurants. We won’t bore you with the details. Suffice to say the food and wine was excellent.

We have decided to stay a second night here in Florence, actually Impurnata, in the Villa Ambrosia. Sunday we will drive around Tuscany.

Buon Giorgno.