Planes, trains, and automobiles

Today we flew from Rome to Madrid, then took a 4 hr train ride to a small city west of Madrid called Caceres. Kyle studied abroad in Caceres for 6 months when he was in undergrad. He lived with a women named Oli, who housed many foreign exchange students. Oli was sweet enough to pick us up from the train station and take us to our hotel. It was so neat to see the reunion between her and Kyle, and it was so nice to finally meet her after 11 years of hearing about her! Our hotel looks directly onto the square that holds many fond memories for Kyle (memories of being a 19 year old and drinking/partying on the square:)

Oli invited us over for lunch (the biggest meal of the day) tomorrow. She made sure to mention though that she takes her daily siesta at 330pm :) Her son, Alberto, who Kyle lived with as well came into town to see Kyle. We're looking forward to it! Stay tuned tomorrow for pics of Kyle's Spanish family. Sorry no pics today, as it was all traveling. Although the train ride was beautiful.

Roma

We left Montepulciano today (so sad!) and drove to Rome. The drive to the Rome airport to return the rental car went smoothly. This was of course expected since we've become such seasoned Italian drivers in Florence. By the time we were able to hit the streets of Rome, it was about 3:00. We walked everywhere-- Spanish steps, Trevi fountain, Colosseum, Pantheon, The forum, and a couple of hoppin ' squares. Heading to bed early as we have an early flight to Madrid tomorrow !

 

Spanish steps

Trevi fountain

 

Colosseum

 

Pantheon

 

Last day in Tuscany

Today we went to Cortona in the morning. A very hilly and therefore tough town to walk around ( also the city from "Under the Tuscan Sun"). Then we headed back to Montepulciano to walk around there for the rest of the day. It was a bit windy today but still sunny and 65 deg. Cinzia was telling us how just 3 weeks ago the were covered in snow.

First some pics from dinner last night. As expected, everything was delicious! All I have left to eat before we leave Italy is gnocchi.

Risotto with truffle.

Pizza.

Cortona city square.

Lunch # 1

View from Cortona.

Back in Montepulciano....

Lunch #2 ( pasta with pecorino cheese and 7 layer lasagna).

Main square (where New Moon was filmed).

Cute street.

Wine tasting with Adamo, an Italian wine maker ( since 1953 ) featured in our guide book. We ordered some bottles to have shipped back ;) And yes that is a murse, or carry-all, that Kyle has on.

Back at the hotel for sunset.

 

Day trippin' in Tuscany

Here's some pics of our room in Montepulciano. The spiral staircase leads to a little lounge area.

View from our bathroom.

View from the terrace of our hotel.

Today we headed to a nearby town called Montalcino, known for its wine. We made a few stops along the way at other hill towns. It's cool cause all the towns are on top of hills, so you drive up to get to them, then of course back down which makes for some gorgeous views. There's a fort in Montalcino, inside which they've built a wine bar (enoteca). Our lunch consisted of wine tasting while munching on pecorino cheese(from this region), salami, prosciutto, and some sort of tomato bread dip that was delicious as well.

The fortress

Enoteca in the fortress.

 

 

View in Montalcino.

Back at our hotel in Montepulciano for sunset.

Outside of our hotel.

 

Florence and Montepulciano

We spent the day wandering around Florence, such a beautiful city. It was a sunny day, ~65 degs. We've had really nice, comfortable weather on this trip so far.

 

The square that our hotel is on.

Lunch at a cute mom n pop place.

On a bridge over the Arno river that runs through Florence.

We took a cab at about 3 to the airport to pick up a rental car to drive to Montepulciano. We swung by the Piazzale Michaelangelo, an overlook with views of the city on our way out.

 

 

When we got back in the car after the look-out, our Garmin GPS had died and the plug to recharge it was broken. So we decided to head back to the airport rental car station and get another one. How we drove back through Florence and made it to the airport with a crappy map and no GPS, I'll never know, but thankfully we did!

By the time we got to Montepulciano, it was 730. We're staying at this awesome bed and breakfast where the very lovely and helpful Cinzia, the owner, lives as well. There's only 4 rooms, and it has a very rustic feel. I'll get some pics of it tomorrow in the day light. She recommended a dinner spot not to far, another total mom n pop place where you could literally see an Italian grandma cooking in the kitchen. The food was amazing, I got pasta with shaved truffles. When gramma came up to our table, I gave her the american "ok" signal, which of course does not mean the same thing in Italy....woops!

 

Also worth mentioning is that our hotel is next to the Grande square.....where they filmed a scene from New Moon, the 2nd Twilight movie ( I swear I didn't know that when I picked to come to Montepulciano!)!

I'll be asking Cinzia tomorrow if Edward stayed here....

Au Revoir Paris... Buon giorno, Italia!

This will be a quick post since we're so tired! Today was a travel day. Left Paris to fly to Pisa. Swung by the leaning tower to snap a few pics then hopped on the train from Pisa to Florence. Had an awesome dinner thanks to a recommendation from my sis-in-law.

Of course I had to take the cheesy holding-up-the-tower picture below!

And of course Kyle refused to do the same...

 

 

 

 

Food

Today's focus was food (reflux be damned!). There were certain French foods I wanted to eat "one last time". We also managed to squeeze in some non-food related activities, such as going to the Rodin museum, Notre Dame Cathedral, and walking around various neighborhoods(Latin quarter, Marais and St. Germain neighborhoods). Oh, and what a surprise-- we ended the evening going up the Eiffel Tower and spontaneously deciding to eat dinner at the restaurant there. Dinner was over at around 11, and afterwards we decided to walk around the tower(naturally), when at about 1130, some guards walked around to kick people out. Point of the story is that we SHUT IT DOWN. Tres feroshe, if you ask me. As I sit in my Eiffel Tower pj's writing this, I am sad that we are leaving tomorrow, but so happy at what a wonderful time we've had in Paris.

Eating a croissant.

The Thinker, in Rodin's garden museum.

Gates of hell.

Eating a baguette sandwich/ Notre dame.

Eating French onion soup.

Escargot.

Eiffel tower again.

Eiffel tower restaurant

French translation by the Eiffel tower elevator.