TravelStream™ news feed for member bugm on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/bugm en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Mon, 27 Sep 2004 08:57:38 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bugm/italy2004/1096063380/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bugm/italy2004/1096063380/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bugm/italy2004/1096063380/tpod.html Mon, 27 Sep 2004 08:57:38 -0400 The Travels of The Nine

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Greve in Chianti, Italy

Today is our last day... I'm sad, but ready to come home, I guess...
Went down to Greve for some last minute shopping and lunch at our favorite pizzaria, then back up to the castle. Later we went to the Vitticeo winery (these were my all-time favorite wines!) and got a short tour and bought a final few bottles.
Towards sundown we took up glasses of wine, umbrellas, and Jay's ashes, and walked to the end of the Castello di Lamole's vineyard. Ralph and Duncan made a few heart-rending memorials and then Ralph poured the ashes onto the roots of a vine and we each toasted Jay by pouring a few drops of wine onto the ashes. Then, appropriately, the rain came!
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Florence, Italy

Today, Eric bussed to Florence at the crack of dawn to get some excellent photographs, and Liz, Ralph and I followed at a more civilized hour. Got in some good shopping, finally. Also had a great lunch of white beans (fagiole) and sausage, at a sidewalk cafe, with a waiter who had great fun charming any and all ladies who happened to pass - it was a real show! He was really paying attention to a pretty girl sitting next to us, who was from Oregon. He wound up giving her a full-on kiss, to applause from passers-by, to her delight\dismay (I don't think she knew which to feel!)
Alright, time to catch the last bus up to the castle. Not sure what the plan is for tomorrow - maybe some last minute wine-tasting?
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Panzano in Chianti, Italy

Today Dan and Ralph took off for a long walk to Panzano - just over the hill from Lamole on the gravel (pronounced grave-el by our proprietor Jacapo!) road. Eric decided to do the same hike a bit later, and then Pam, Tim, Duncan, and I drove up for another Chianti Festival! Suzie stayed back, as she doesn't really like Chianti wines! We met up with the intrepid hikers there.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bugm/italy2004/1095365460/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bugm/italy2004/1095365460/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bugm/italy2004/1095365460/tpod.html Mon, 27 Sep 2004 08:42:30 -0400 The Travels of The Nine

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Florence, Italy

Florence today! We took the cars down to Greve, then the bus from there - it's too crazy to drive into Florence and we are all paranoid of a repeat performance of our first night there!
First we went to the Academie - waited in a forever line in the pouring rain! I was not nearly as moved by the David this time, did have a short crying spell but it was broken by the others in my group thinking I was cute. Right...
Then we split into our regular 2 groups - me, Dan, Ralph and Liz; and Duncan, Suzie, Tim and Pam. Our group walked over the Ponte Vecchio (the bridge over the Arno with a million gold merchants), tried to have lunch at the White Boar where Ralph and Liz have been before - but it was closed. We settled on Mamma Gina's down the road, I had the BEST carpaccio I have ever swooned over! As we walked out we met up with Group 2 having lunch there too - Liz decided to stay with them to do some shopping, and Ralph, Dan, Eric and I went to find a cool "hands-on" museum with the inventions of Leonardo diVinci.
Then Ralph split off from us to find a place perhaps owned by a relative of his, and Dan, Eric and I went roaming around... the guys decided to climb the 439 steps (x2!) in Giotto's Bell Tower, and I waited out front and people-watched, and saw Ralph talking to a policeman! So I snagged him and we all walked back to the bus station and returned to Greve without incident...
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Redwood Estates, California, United States

We left Italy yesterday, early, early.... got to the Florence airport without incident (well, Ralph and Liz had done 2 practice runs so as to not repeat the chaos!). First leg of the trip into Munich, with a 6 hour layover. We were planning to try getting to the OktoberFest, but it was pouring and nobody felt like that trip! So, we waited... Dan, Duncan and Suzie, and Eric and I barhopped in the airport! Drank lots of good German beers, ate sausages and saurkraut, talked and talked...Ralph and Liz chose to wait at the gate and be quiet.
The second leg of the trip was also uneventful, but l..o..n..g... oh man, what a long flight that is! And now we're home, and the pups and cats are fine, and the construction that we had done while we were gone is all finished!

Thanx for following along... hope you had a good time too!
Love, Amy
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Greve in Chianti, Italy

No, not strange wines - just a strange venue! We found a funny little sign off an alley in Greve - said "Taste 100's of Wines"... hmm... intriguing! So we (Dan, Eric and I) went in. You buy a card, say, for 20 euro, and stuck it into a slot in one of maybe 6 round dispensing stations, and got a little taste of wine (oh, there was 1 olive oil tasting station as well.). Drank lots of little tastes - but we've all found our favorites already and this just cemented the decision...
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Greve in Chianti, Italy

Hallo All!
Sorry for no entries until now - no access to computers! Our travel-mates, Tim and Pam,have a dial-up hookup in their apartment at the castle (my computer doesn't do dial-up, only wireless or ethernet - it's spoiled!!). I'll try to find an internet cafe in Greve today, so I can download pix.
Anyways! Got into Italy without mishap... that was the end of that! Ralph wanted to get the rental cars right away, so we did that, and tried to find our hotel in Florence at 10pm... um... bad idea! Well, we got a good tour of downtown Florence, at any rate! Finally found the Hotel Arizona, collapsed into bed and slept the sleep of the just...
Saturday, the 11th. Met up with Tim and Pam, then hired a taxi to lead us to our castle (no more lost tours, please!). Our rooms were not yet ready, so we went up the hill to Lamole, a tiny town that has a church and a restaurant - that's all! Kinda reminds me of Redwood Estates... anyways, had our first Italian meal, complete with good Chianti wine!
The Castle di Lamole is beautiful, 13th century. The apartments are filled with antiques, beautiful terra cotta tiled floors and shuttered windows. The countryside is incredibly beautiful - rolling hills, tiered with ancient stones, rows of cypress marching up the hills...woke up this morning to roosters and church bells!
Today we'll go easy, then drive to an open air market, and then attend a Chianti wine-tasting festival...
Until then, arrivader'la!
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Greve in Chianti, Italy

Tuesday... lazy day! Slept in till 10:30, then roused our lazy butts to go down to Greve to do some grocery shopping, find an internet cafe that'll let me plug in my little USB drive (no luck!), and get a train schedule (again, no luck)... well, I'm on Tim's PC, and I'm going to try to upload pictures... wish me luck!

Love, Amy
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Greve in Chianti, Italy

Getting behind on my entries again... I will have to sit down with my and Erics journals when we get home (which is only in 2 days, sigh...) and put the pictures up and complete the adventures!
Well, we are down to 8 people now, Pam left for Spain yesterday and her hubby Tim leaves from Pisa for home tomorrow. The rest of us will head out Saturday am, way too early, with a 6 hour layover in Munich. Yes, we are going to try for the Oktoberfest! 6 hours is a l..o..n..g time!
Today Dan, Eric and I drove to the Cinque Terra and did a Death Hike! It wasn't supposed to be... really... they promised me! There is a train that goes from one town to the next, or you can do hikes of varying difficulty. We hiked from the 1st town to the 2nd, no big deal, same for the 2nd to the 3rd... then it was getting really hot and we decided to go thru a tunnel (for an addl. £5) instead of climbing these vertical steps up the side of a mountain! At the end of the tunnel we discovered that in order to get to town 4, we had to hike a vertical path (instead of the oh-so-useful steps...). I swear, this was a deer trail, straight up! I was dressed for a hot day of easy hiking - long skirt, cool lacy shirt, sandals. NOT good for a vertical deer trail! ...but I did it! My asthma didn't act up at all, to my surprise! Then we almost got trapped in the parking garage - the parking attendant decided to go home early or something - but fortunately Eric found a guy who rented a spot in the garage who had keys to let us out. A new meaning to "Tourist Trap"! All in all, a good day, with a killer seafood lunch in the middle.
Love, Amy
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Greve in Chianti, Italy

Okay, guys... not being able to send regular emails OR pictures at all... so sorry! Pam and Tims computer will no longer go online, and so I cannot upload all the great pix I have been taking... and we are being SO lazy and not leaving the castle I am not able to make regular contributions to this online journal!
We have been busy today, at least. Eric and I woke up at 5:45 am and took the bus to Greve, then to Florence, then the train to Pisa! Toured around in the blazing heat (yes, it finally stopped raining!) and met up with Pam, Tim, and Dan at 2pm at the base of the Leaning Tower (how cool is THAT?). Then we toured around some more... Eric, Dan and I went inside the walls of the city of Pisa, like, in between the walls! Very cool, saw a beautiful and moving cemetary with all tombs of Jewish people... incredible!
Now it is quite late, we are in the Internet Cafe all busy emailing, and Tim has ordered us a great bottle of Chianti... so, um, I am gonna go... I am bringing home some, do not worry (can you tell I cannot find the apostrophe key?)
Love and wine... Amy
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