Part 4: Arrivederci Italy!

Friday, March 23, 2012
Final full day at Villa Petrischio was spent relaxing, reading, walking around the grounds of our "private estate," and listening to music. After our cooking class at Poggio Sant' Angelo, we had made a reservation for a 7:30 dinner there, so we could see how Chef Anna and Luigi do their thing for real diners.

We were the first to arrive in the dining room of the charming restored farmhouse and chose a nice table in the corner facing the stone fireplace and the other guest tables. We were pretty sure this was "opening night" for the season for Luigi's restaurant, and we didn't know if we might be the only diners in the establishment. Within about fifteen minutes many other guests arrived, including chef Anna's daughters and cousins. Then a huge group of young men. Then a stylish couple Luigi knew from Cortona. Turns out it was like a "friends and family" soft opening, but with the public invited, too.

It was Friday fish night, and each of the first four courses included seafood of some type. First, we enjoyed large fried anchovy on toast points with carrot purée. Second was a delicious vegetable timbale with squid. Third course was a congoli pasta with tiny clams and shrimp. Finally, a main course of sautéed sea bass on broccoli mousse and baby potatoes... Delicious! For dessert we had a nice lemon soufflé over berry purée. Included in the dinner were appropriate wines, from Prosecco to to Sauvignon Blanc to Vin Santo and other dessert wines. We were more than full! It was an amazing presentation, with at least 20 guests being served admirably by host/sommelier/waiter/busboy Luigi, and Anna and one assistant cranking our all this food in the kitchen!

The surprise came with the check... a 5-course gourmet menu with wine pairings... just €27 each! That's about $35 for a dinner that would be close to $200 in San Francisco!

So our final evening in Tuscany was fabulous... And we didn't have to eat leftovers or drive very far!

Saturday, March 24, 2012
We got up at a reasonable hour and finalized our packing and loaded all our stuff into our little white Lancia coupe. By 11:10 am we were headed toward the A1 autostrade for a 2-hour drive to Rome that we knew would take us 3+ hours.

We have always liked Orvieto Italian white wine, so we planned to stop in Orvieto for a walk around the village and lunch. Orvieto also has its own freeway exit, and that clinched it. Part of the efficiency of the A1 is the fact that you can only get on or off the super highway about every 20 miles or more. Sometimes you have to get off at an exit that might be 10 miles past your destination, then backtrack to where you want to go. Not so with Orvieto... it was very easy to get there.

It turned out to be another very charming medieval hilltop community. Our researched choice for lunch turned out to be closed, so we parked in the village and wandered until we fell into a cute family run trattoria. Maria was the owner/cook and her granddaughter acted as server. Excellent Umbrian soup, chicken and veal was enjoyed during our nice break from the stress of fast driving on the A1. (Which Ronna again performed quite admirably!)

Our journey to Rome was actually a jaunt to the domestic Ciampino Rome airport to turn in our rental car. We weren't about to try driving and especially finding parking around the Via Veneto in Rome. We found the big GRA (which stands for Great Ring Road) that circles Rome. We made it easily to the little airport, dropped off the car and took a shuttle bus back to the terminal to catch a cab into central Rome.

Our cab driver was a personable chap who pointed out various antiquities and sights during the 40-minute ride to our Hotel Sofitel Villa Borghese--a good tour review of Rome! Ronna had found a great discount on this luxury hotel, and although our room was on the small size, the furnishings, decor, and amenities were outstanding, including a fabulous Bose iPod docking station. Plus they had free WiFi, a rarity among most luxury hotels.

At 5 we enjoyed a cocktail on the hotel's beautiful roof-top outdoor terrace lounge with spectacular views out over all of the Borghese Gardens. We went back to our room and prepped for our evening out.

We walked in perfect weather around the Spanish Steps, and toyed with the idea of mortgaging our home to buy a drink in the Hassler Villa Medici Hotel. We took Natalie and Andy there for lunch 15 years ago, and it was certainly a luxurious treat. But instead we opted to buy a drink at another nice hotel bar with an outside patio right across the street from the Hassler. It was an ideal place for people watching at the top of the Spanish Steps.

Earlier in the day, I had cross-referenced restaurant recommendations between our "Top 10 Rome" guide book, and the Trip Advisor website. We decided on a neat-sounding place called Al 34, named after its address on Via Mario de Fiori. It was a good choice. The place was packed, and the service and food were excellent. We shared a superb pasta dish made with orchietta pasta, sausage and broccoli--a great combination. Ronna had sizzling lamb chops and I enjoyed a gorgeous filet of beef with green peppercorn sauce. For dessert, we shared profiteroles! A fab dinner!

We toyed with the idea of some dancing at a disco that Ronna and I enjoyed in the 1980s... Jackie O's. Unfortunately most Euro discos don't get going till midnight. We used to take naps before going to clubs even when we were young! But Ronna had a better idea. She said "Let's go to Club 215." That's our room number at our hotel! So we went upstairs, chose "Party Mix" on the iPod, and cranked it up! The only problem was that the Bose speakers must have had a hotel-installed limiter on the volume control. It would only go up to 45, out of 100...sensible, but hardly conducive to a dance party! So I kept the iPod on the Bose for good bass, but plugged a second set of speakers we had brought along into the headphone jack of the IPod. Prego! We opened up our large window facing Via di Porta Pinciana, and created a little scene on the street one story down below us. We got several whoops and cheers from young people passing by as we danced to our usual series of favorites! "Club 215" was the place to be, at least at 10pm! And we were sound asleep well before midnight.

Sunday, March 26, 2012
Italy apparently didn't get the memo on Daylight Savings Time, or the USA is on its own again, but Italy jumped ahead last night! And instead of getting up at 8, it was already 9! We had coffee in our room, then started a nice big walk along the Via Veneto and the surrounding areas. We worked up a good appetite and settled on a typical sidewalk cafe with a glass enclosed, roofed patio. Again great for people watching, and enjoying the great weather in Rome. Soup, salad, pasta, risotto...all the usual suspects. But it was more about the "La Dolce Vita" scene than the food!

We walked some more, before returning to our hotel for our final time packing suitcases.

Hopefully our three flights tomorrow will connect properly and be uneventful!

Arrivederci, Italy!

Part 3: Eating and Cooking

After some nice strong espresso-grind coffee, and a leisurely morning... we had a decision to make: should we do an excursion north to a large nearby city, Arezzo... or south to a smaller town near a lake, Chiusi. Since the weather was so nice, we decided the lake sounded interesting, plus we read about a restaurant that served local lake fish--pike, and had good reviews.

Part 2: Cortona and Environs

Monday, March 19, 2012.

Perhaps the fact that our bodies got so messed up with all our early airline delays, is why we don't seem to have jet lag quite as badly as on previous trips. We've had to fight through the "middle of the night awake period," but we haven't had to take any mid-day naps. Of course that could be because our bed has the firmest... no the HARDEST mattress, we've ever slept upon!

Anyway, today we decided to go to the Valdichiana Outlet Village, a combination of retail over-consumption and Disneyland. The place has a faux Tuscan historical motif and is one of the largest outlet malls we've ever visited. Strange that it is at least an hour from the largest cities in the area, Florence, Sienna, etc. But the place was packed on a Monday afternoon. Most of the European "designer" names on the stores were unknown to us, but a few were familiar, like Frette Linens, our favorite maker of bed sheets. We bought a beautiful set of 300-thread-count king sheets and pillow cases for 70% off retail.

We had a pretty ghastly late lunch at one of the upstairs restaurants in the "Village." Should have known... "Mall Food!"

We then made another grocery stop at the COOP supermarket in Foiana. Tonight's dinner: Pork chops, asparagus, caprese salad (made with the area's gorgeous tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and amazing basil) and a baked creamer potato. Plus a half loaf of one of the crustiest breads we've ever tasted. They don't do sour dough here, and it's hard to beat San Francisco for great bread... but Tuscany is right up there on the "bread barometer!"

After we got back to our apartment, Elga came by with a computer tech dude, who had been working to get the WiFi service back up. We were finally able to get on line here, and got caught up with emails and Facebook.

Since tomorrow was going to be the day to get an early start for a drive to the Chianti area, we went to bed before 10.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Up early for us... 7:45 am... only to discover that the WiFi system was down again! Perhaps this was a message from above that we should not be tethered to our computers while we are in this beautiful part of the world!

Our son Andy, raved about an overnight trip he made from Florence to the Chianti region during a trip here last November. So we were determined to try to find the winery that has a reputation for creating the best Chianti Classico wines in the world... Castellare di Castellina.

But again, like a lot of things in Italy.... easier said than done. There are dozens of towns that all have "Chianti" as a part of their name. We found Castellare's website during the brief time we had internet, but they had no driving directions... just that they were near "Castellina di Chianti." We figured it couldn't be that hard, so we used the Italian method and followed the signs to the nearest big town, in this case Siena. But finding the country road that takes you to the Chianti region from central Siena was difficult. We got lost several times, but eventually made it to the charming medieval fortress town of Castellina di Chianti.

We parked in a nearby pay lot and walked thru the picturesque village and discovered most restaurants and many shops were closed on Tuesdays. We finally found a shopkeeper who told us how to drive to the Castellare winery.

It was a beautiful location and we got knowledgeable tasting assistance from a young woman who also worked in the winery's business office. Castellare's Chianti's are far more complex than what you'd find at BevMo. We tried their 2010 Classico, the 2009 Reserva, and a special 2006 vintage which spent four years in oak barrels. The wine lady made a cute remark about the succession of wines we were tasting, starting with the youngest, and least expensive: "This one you share with your friends; this one with family; and the 2006 you drink by yourself!"

We bought the '09 and '06 vintages, plus small bottles of their excellent olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and then asked for a recommendation for lunch. She drew a map for us so we could find Antica Trattoria "La Torre," an historic restaurant carved out of a part of the medieval central town tower. And it was open on Tuesday! I enjoyed stuffed rabbit with white beans and Ronna had mixed grill of various meats along with a bowl of the best minestrone she ever tasted! We also shared a half bottle of Castellare's 2008 Chianti Classico Reserva. Yum! The restaurant was clearly a "Family Affair" with three generations of ownership scurrying around, feeding their kids lunch, helping them with their homework, and attending to the business of the day.

La Torre had WiFi, so I caught up with email and Facebook, as we shared a delicious custard torte Napoleon. We then headed back to the Cortona area. The route home was faster and easier than the morning trip. It always is... when it's not dark! And I knew Ronna had regained her "Italian driving confidence" when she turned to me in the car and said, "Buckle up, baby!" and floored it!

In Foina we stopped at the Penny Market for coffee, bottled water, and a few other items. Tonight's dinner menu: Leftovers!

Part 1: Getting There Is Half the Fun

Wednesday, March 14, 2012. Trying To Get To Europe.

Perhaps I'm too much of a cheap-skate. But it makes sense to me to try to use all the American Airline AAdvantage miles we' ve accrued to travel the World. But as many of you can attest, that's easier said than done in these days of full flights and diminished airline profits.

It all started with an unexpected call from The Registry Collection saying that we had cleared a waiting list, and we could stay for a week inTuscany, at a charming but remote villa, basically for free. (When we don't use our shared-ownership weeks at Northstar Club in Lake Tahoe, we "bank" them with The Registry Collection for tradable points.) The Relais Villa Petrischio looked marvelous online, and we would have a large two-bedroom, two-bath Villa apartment. The "VP" as we now call it, is just outside the city of Cortona, in a village called Farneta that is on only the most detailed maps of Italy.

Florence or any town in Tuscany is not an easy place to get to... so we quickly called American Airlines to see if we could use our miles some way, to travel to Italy and back in Business Class. Or at least use the miles to get to some gateway city in Europe, and then purchase cheap seats on a budget airline to get to Tuscany.

American found a route that took us from San Francisco to Dallas, with a nice two-hour connection to a nonstop flight to London. That would work, we thought. We could then fly to Florence from London inexpensively on a nice airline we discovered last year... CityJet, the next day.

San Francisco has many fabulous traits, but the design if its Airport is not one of them. If it rains, or it's windy, or if it's foggy, one of the two closely-laid out parallel runways gets closed. So arriving flights are often 30 to 90 minutes late getting to SFO. On Wednesday, March 14, 2012, that's exactly what was happening. But miraculously the aircraft to be used for our flight to Dallas was only a few minutes late arriving at SFO. Flight 1040 was about the only one on the monitor with an "On Time" designation. We were pleased as punch, as we waited in the American Airlines Admiral's Club Lounge. (We're not members, but when you travel Business Class on International flights, you get to visit these friendly confines for road warriors.) With two hours between our flights in Dallas, we figured we were in great shape.

So we finally board our flight in the early "Priority AAccess" group, and the pilot announces that they noticed a problem with the nose landing gear. Something about needing nitrogen. Maintenance people were called and the rest of the passengers were held up from boarding the aircraft and had to wait inside the airport. The countdown clock started ticking... 30 minutes, 60 minutes, 90 minutes... Finally the pilot said the problem was fixed and we were good to go. But there were still at least 150 people that had to board our 767. 30 more minutes go by and we finally take off.

Our two-hour connection window in Dallas was now zero. But usually they can make up some time on the flights, so Ronna and I stayed hopeful. The computer clock screen said we would arrive in Dallas at 8:09 pm, and our flight to London left at 8:30... Might we make it?

The flight attendants were sympathetic to our plight, and came by to say we would be arriving at Gate D26, very close to Gate D30, from which our flight to London would be leaving. But they also mentioned we were the only passengers going on to London. Could we do it?

Unfortunately it was about 8:25 when we actually landed and arrived at our gate... And it was NOT D26, it was C8...making it virtually impossible for us to make it to our flight to London. We tried running, but we were flagged down halfway to the C Terminal and told to stop --our flight had left without us.

We were handed new tickets for a flight to London a day later, along with vouchers for some meals and a one-night stay at the fabulous Wingate Hotel at DFW. (LOL) We would now be flying to Chicago, then changing planes for a 7:30 pm flight to London, a day later than planned. We asked about our luggage, and a manager called down to the Baggage Department and swore they would be properly re-routed to London via Chicago. "That's what we do... That's our mission," he proclaimed. We'll see about that, we thought... Especially after our son Andy went almost a week without his suitcase on a trip to Italy last month! But he was on striking Air France, not bankrupt American.

We tried to make the best of it and without luggage so we went down to catch a shuttle bus to the Wingate. At the curb were at least 20 people waiting to also go to this marvelous establishment. We got to ride crammed & standing with loud rap music, kind of like a ride to hell!

I commiserated with another passenger who also missed his connection, and we agreed that if we hadn't had to wait for the coach passengers to board after the mechanical problem was solved, we would NOT have all missed our flights. But that's the way American does things in this era of "passenger bill of rights." They are so gun shy of holding passengers "hostage" on board planes, that they have now over-compensated and err on the side of not boarding passengers at all if there "might" be a delay. A true case of "unintended consequences" with a well-intentioned new law. And this bit of new consumer legislation cost us at least a day of our vacation.

The Wingate was passable, and we used one of our meal vouchers for a delicious midnight dinner at the next-door Denny's restaurant. We should have been enjoying some pub food in London about now, but the Denny's illuminated with what seemed like 500-watt bulbs, would have to do for now.

The Wingate gave us disposable tooth brushes, and funny deodorant wipes. Ronna said it was just like camping! We went to our room to figure out how to get to Tuscany, since our original plan was to spend a night in London and take a 9:15 am flight to Florence on Friday, March 16. But that CityJet flight only goes at 9:15 Monday thru Friday, so it was off the table.. As was our non-refundable hotel payment for our hotel in London, and our hotel in Florence!

Ronna smartly remembered that there is an airport in Pisa, Italy. So I went online and found a flight from Heathrow to Pisa that left two hours after our American 777 landed in London. I booked the British Airways

Flight, and then changed our rental car arrangements to Pisa, and then emailed the Villa in Cortona to see if they could recommend a place for a one-night stay nearby. (We weren't scheduled to check in to the Relais Villa Petrischio until Saturday.)

Elga, the concierge at the VP, emailed back that they would be happy to let us arrive a day early, and pay just €150 extra. What a deal. So we now had a completely revised itinerary that still depended on making several airline connections.

The only good part of this delay was that Ronna got to have breakfast with her brother Tony, who lives quite close to DFW. He even chauffeured us from the Wingate to the terminal for our flight to Chicago.

Thursday, March 15, 2012.

We made it fine to ORD, and had three hours to kill before our flight to London.

So we stopped in for our third visit to an Admiral's Club Lounge... This one even bigger than SFO or DFW. (Their complimentary well Vodka and Gin was quite drinkable!)

Finally, we were on our way to Heathrow aboard a nice wide-bodied Boeing 777. In Business Class. Using miles.

Friday, March 16, 2012. Ready For Some Good Old Jet Lag.

The flight to London was only about 6.5 hours from Chicago, and we were a bit late but had just enough time to get to our British Airways flight to Pisa. Ronna and I had fairly low expectations of our luggage making it to London. In fact Ronna had in the back of her mind some serious clothes shopping! Low and behold our bags were there at Heathrow! We carted them off and found an Underground tube train to take us from Terminal 3 to Terminal 5 for our flight to Pisa.

Landed uneventfully in Pisa (didn't see the Leaning Tower), rented a car and started the two-hour drive to the Villa.

As I've said before, it takes at least two people to drive on Italian roads. One to point the car and switch gears with the manual transmissions they mostly have, and a second soul to read the maps and watch for the dozens of blue and green directional signs that pop up at the roundabouts like so many wild weeds. Ronna gets the driving assignment and I get to be the "Nag-avator" when we are in Europe.

Italian drivers drive fast; they don't stay in their lanes; and they pass you on blind curves as if there could never possibly be anyone coming in the opposite direction! We jumped on an "Autostrade" as soon as we saw their green signs and zipped over to the famous A-1 motorway fora fast two-hour trip down to the Cortona area. Stressful driving while jet-lagged!

We had a bit of trouble finding the one-building village of Farneta, but pulled into the charming Villa Petrischio at about 6 pm on Friday... a full 42 hours after we left our home in San Francisco.

Elga showed us to our apartment... half of a one-story stone duplex on a nice hill surrounded by other buildings. We were told we were the only guests at VP and there would be no staff on the premises until Monday! More "camping" we remarked.

The Villa apt was nicely furnished and had been totally remodeled while maintaining the old wood beamed ceilings and other architectural features. It had an excellent kitchen with modern appliances, but no microwave. One bath had a whirlpool tub, the other a real shower. The bedrooms were nicely appointed (one king & one tiny twins) but had very firm mattresses typical of Euro beds.

We were given instructions on how to log on to the WiFi Internet, and recommendations for restaurants and grocery stores nearby.

After Elga left for the weekend, we discovered there was no WiFi signal at all! We called her cell phone and were told the "technician" would not be around until Monday. Oh no! No interconnectivity for more than two whole days! What were we to do!

We fought our "connection addiction" by reading, watching DVD movies, drinking lots of wine, and going shopping for fine Italian food to prepare in the apartment's nice kitchen.

I had envisioned going to a series of tiny quaint shops to buy vegetables, meats, cheeses, and so forth. Instead we followed Elga on her way home and she showed us to the COOP supermarket in nearby Foiano. It was like a Safeway but with really good fresh stuff in it!

We bought butter lettuce the size of a basketball, fresh-made pasta, the reddest Roma tomatoes we'd ever seen, huge purple-tinged scallions, lots of excellent local wine, phenomenal fresh breads, amazingly-inexpensive Balsamic vinegar, and much more! We headed back to VP to prepare dinner and enjoy our Villa apartment.

With no sunlight, the grounds of the VP took on a somewhat ethereal glow. As we walked from our rental car to our apartment along a dimly-lit gravel path, the film "The Shining" came to mind. I kept expecting Jack Nicholson to jump out from behind a wall saying "Here's Johnny!"

Very little ambient light meant a spectacular sky filled with stars, and no sounds of any kind, except for the occasional rustling of leaves as small Italian lizards of some kind would scurry to find prey.

Wine and our pasta dinner got good reviews from Ronna, and we retired for the night around midnight.

It's Always Farther Than You Think.

Saturday, March 17, 2012. On a prior trip to Italy for our thirtieth anniversary, we meant to pay a visit to a medieval walled town called Montalcino, the home of the spectacular Brunello wines. So we plotted out the trip on our maps, and left around 1 pm for this central Tuscany destination.

Although the signs say a place may be only, say 40 km, which is about 30 miles... It takes a lot longer because of the windy two-lane roads you need to negotiate. In addition, there is never enough parking around these medieval villages, so you drive a lot to find a parking spot, or you park on the bottom of the hill and climb lots of stairs to the village. We did both in Montalcino. First parking in a location too far away from the main plaza, then driving further up for a closer spot.

We wandered around Montalcino, finally ending up at Caffe Fiaschetteria Italiana where we not only enjoyed some great Brunello wine, but also got online to tell the world we finally made it to Italy. We also learned that Brunello wine is a fairly recent creation. A dude named Ferruccio Biondi Santi, invented Brunello wine after all the other varieties of grapes in the region had died off. This was in 1888. Turned out to be a better blend than anything that had been made there in the past.

When we arrived at the Caffe, we noticed a band was setting up outside. They turned out to be a Celtic group doing Irish folk tunes. After all, it was St. Patrick's Day in Italy!

After a dark, rather treacherous drive (& in need of gas) we stopped at another grocery, Penny Market in Foiano, and picked up some hearty-looking chicken thigh sections and some potatoes. We enjoyed our Villa, watching Russell Crowe learn to appreciate a French vineyard he inherited "A Good Year" on DVD while our chicken roasted in the oven. Another nice meal, built on the wonderful local meats and produce of Italy. It was about 1 am by the time we hit the hay.

Sunday, March 18, 2012. Since all the grocery stores in the area close at 1 pm on Sundays, we decided this was a good day to have a Tuscan dinner in a restaurant. So we relaxed in our apartment for most of the afternoon waiting out the rain jet-lag, then headed to Cortona for exploration and dinner. Again, parking was problematic, and we ended up on the side of a road fairly close to the main drag of Cortona, but only marginally legal. We figured we'd plead "tourist ignorance" if our car was towed, but on a Sunday in Italy... towing was not likely we surmised.

We spent quite a bit of time in Cortona last May, so things were familiar, including the paper shops, wine stores, cafes, and restaurants. As we wandered the Village, we heard loud music coming from the main Plaza Republicca. Turns out they were having some sort of singing competition, with a series of loud, young Italian female singers belting out songs over a big loudspeaker system. We also found a good WiFi signal at a pleasant cafe, and checked email and learned that daughter Natalie and her wife, Jessie, had made it to Barcelona (belated honeymoon) and they were looking forward to a nap!

As we walked some more, we noticed that the singing show was winding down, and dozens of people were holding paper mini hot-air balloons for a simultaneous release into the sky. These neat little disposable air ships were about three feet in diameter, and the audience members would light some strange flammable material underneath to heat the air and make the balloon rise.

The final release of the balloons was quite spectacular as the crowd cheered and the orbs floated up amid the medieval buildings and dusky skies of Tuscany.

We perused half a dozen restaurants to find something unique for dinner, and settled on a place recommended by VP, Ristorante La Loggetta. We splurged on the big traditional Fiorentina T-bone steak dinner for two, along with a bottle of excellent Montepulciano wine.

The walk back down to our car was easier than the trip up, and we were pleased that our car was still where we parked it. We carefully drove the now-familiar route from Cortona back to our apartment at VP, and slow danced together with the starry skies of Tuscany out our windows to music from our iPod before retiring at midnight.