August 2020
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Italy Day 8 – Florence to Cortina
Read More: Italy Day 8 – Florence to CortinaToday was another drive day. This time we packed up and left Florence and headed north east to Cortina. We stopped at a rest stop for lunch and I had a Fazzoletta al Wurtzel, which is a sausage roll with fries and pizza sauce in it. Pretty weird. I've now had one, won't have another.…
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Italy Day 7 – Florence City Tour
Read More: Italy Day 7 – Florence City TourToday was another earlier start. We have one day to cover the highlights of Florence. Kris and I plan to come back some day but we wanted to at least see the main stuff. And we did. In 35 degree heat. First was the Piazza of Santa Maria del Fiore The Bapistry Crazy amounts…
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Italy Day – Maranello, Balsamic and Ferraris
Read More: Italy Day – Maranello, Balsamic and FerrarisYet another good buffet breakfast. Then it was back in the car from Florence off to Maranello. Home of Enzo Ferrari and his cars. Ryan and Dave went to the Museo de Ferrari while Kris and Eric hung out in the square. The plan was for Dave and Ryan to take a long time and…
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Italy Day 6 – Day trip to Monteriggioni
Read More: Italy Day 6 – Day trip to MonteriggioniAfter a great night's rest in this amazing hotel we had buffet breaky. Eric was happy the scrambled eggs were nice and hot. None of us is leaving hungry, that's for sure. A quick walk down the block to pick up the car at the parkade and we are off to Monteriggioni. Monteriggioni is a…
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Italy Day 5 – La Spezia through Pisa to Florence
Read More: Italy Day 5 – La Spezia through Pisa to FlorenceThis morning we went back to the local cafe for breakfast just before a major rush of French folks came in. Our timing was impeccable, the poor staff got overrun and we still got food and tea just before everything ran out. I learned I can survive on 2 espresso instead of my usual 3.…
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Italy Day 4 – Cinque Terre
Read More: Italy Day 4 – Cinque TerreAfter an ok night's sleep we headed over to a local cafe for our breakfast. The hotel has a deal where we get coupons for buffet style. Not much selection but nobody left hungry. Then it was off to the ferry to ride up around Portovenere and view each of the 5 towns. Ergo the…
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Italy Day 3 Rome to La Spezia
Read More: Italy Day 3 Rome to La SpeziaToday was a drive day. We headed over to Termini station to pick up the rental car. We rented a wagon, Audi S4 wagon to be precise. It's a small fortune but enables us to head to various places that we wanted to go. Trains would work for most of the stuff, but Maranello and…
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Italy Day 1 and 2 – On our way and Rome
Read More: Italy Day 1 and 2 – On our way and RomeNote, I've updated this as always my first attempts are a little rough. Usually I'm jet lagged and not in a rhythm of writing yet. So the first blog of a trip tends to be a little rough around the edges. So here is the amended version. Normally I'd do this once we got home…
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San Francisco Part and Monterey
Read More: San Francisco Part and MontereyAfter a nice drive from Salinas we checked into the Otter Inn. As you might expect from the name, otters are reasonably common around here. The Otter Inn is older property but still nice. It’s a short walk down to Cannery Row where all the restaurants and the Aquarium are. The next morning was a…
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San Francisco Trip – Salinas
Read More: San Francisco Trip – SalinasWe decided to take an extended long weekend vacation to San Francisco and area. We had a decent flight departure time of 940 but fog delays in SFO meant we didn’t leave until 1120 or so. That meant our arrival into Salinas at the Vision Quest B&B was tight. We needed to be there for…
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Orleans
On our way back to Paris, we stopped in Orleans, one of the oldest cities in France, to learn some of the history of Joan of Arc. Joan of Arc (nicknamed the Maid of Orleans) turned the tide of the Hundred Years War – she and the French troops forced the English to withdraw from…
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Marais de Taligny
Having had enough of wineries for this trip, we took a nature walk at the Marais de Taligny just up the road in La Roche Clermault. This is one of the largest wetlands in the Loire-Anjou-Touraine Park. The 4.5 km walk took us beside a pretty stream, through marshland and past the local crop fields.…
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Loire Valley Wineries
The last several days have been a blur of winery visits, cafe lunches and picnics in beautiful locations! We stopped by Chateau du Petit Thouars for a tour, tasting and lunch. The family has owned the chateau and its winery since 1634. We met Sebastian, the multi-grandson, and the chateau cat, Biscuit (although he wasn’t…
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