Tuscany 2009
Tour Guides: Claudio and Franco
Trip buddies: Becca, Jim, Claudia and Marcos, Julie and Brian, Julie, Linda, Madelon, Marianne, Andrew, David, Caroline, Nora, Beth, Brian, Stuart and Madeline, and of course, Jill and Dave.
Wednesday/Thursday, July 22nd - 23rd
Another adventure has begun! For the first time ever we opted to do the additional pre-trip in Florence to have more time to explore the city. (This is where having been there before is a great advantage.) This gave us 2.5 days in the city before meeting the tour. Since we had missed out on several of the art-related things last time, they were our top priority this time around. Thanks to the wonders of the internet, we had advanced reservations, meaning we didn't have to stand in lines at all.
Our flight from Dulles was...not quiet. With the few people waiting to board at the gate, we thought it might be a nice quiet trip. Nope, the screeching kids managed to stay awake for most of the night too. (Usually the overnight flights are quieter.) We should have upgraded to Economy Plus--there was lots of room and it was quiet, according to Nora.
Toward the end of the flight we hit turbulence and were very happy to be safely on the ground in Frankfurt. After a 2-hour layover, we boarded the flight to Florence. That was much more peaceful and we even got a short nap.
Along the way we met up with another of the VBT tour folks, Nora. This is her first tour and we tried to give her an idea of what to expect. How you really explain these things just doesn't ever work quite right though. She was one of the most organized people--she had an itinerary that fiends who lived in Italy had helped her put together. It was all listed out as to what to see when. Once in Florence, the three of us met the VBT driver and waited while he located the 4th person, Caroline (who just happened to be Nora's roommate) and we all rode to the hotel together.
After checking in Dave and I walked to Sainta Maria Novella to get our bearings and to figure out where we were on the map. Somehow it isn't the same as we remember from last time when we just walked up the street and got to just about everything past the train station. Anyhow, we did have to reorient ourselves.
Did we mention that Florence in July is rather warm? Yup, the line at the Duomo* made us reconsider trying that site at another time when the line wasn't so long. Instead we went to dinner. Dinner was pretty good and we had the restaurant to ourselves until about 7. Being on States schedule for an early dinner does have its advantages. Once again, I want to emphasize, dinner in Italy is an event, not just something to do on the way to something else. Usually dinners in Italy start at 8 and go for hours. Back to dinner, following a bruschetta appetizer, Jill enjoyed the spinach ravioli with truffle sauce and Dave had steak (a little tough) with rosemary potatoes. We skipped dessert (how rare!).
A record for these trips, we managed to stay awake until about 8 the first night!
*Duomo -the name give to the church where the Bishop was in residence.
Tour Guides: Claudio and Franco
Trip buddies: Becca, Jim, Claudia and Marcos, Julie and Brian, Julie, Linda, Madelon, Marianne, Andrew, David, Caroline, Nora, Beth, Brian, Stuart and Madeline, and of course, Jill and Dave.
Wednesday/Thursday, July 22nd - 23rd
Another adventure has begun! For the first time ever we opted to do the additional pre-trip in Florence to have more time to explore the city. (This is where having been there before is a great advantage.) This gave us 2.5 days in the city before meeting the tour. Since we had missed out on several of the art-related things last time, they were our top priority this time around. Thanks to the wonders of the internet, we had advanced reservations, meaning we didn't have to stand in lines at all.
Our flight from Dulles was...not quiet. With the few people waiting to board at the gate, we thought it might be a nice quiet trip. Nope, the screeching kids managed to stay awake for most of the night too. (Usually the overnight flights are quieter.) We should have upgraded to Economy Plus--there was lots of room and it was quiet, according to Nora.
Toward the end of the flight we hit turbulence and were very happy to be safely on the ground in Frankfurt. After a 2-hour layover, we boarded the flight to Florence. That was much more peaceful and we even got a short nap.
Along the way we met up with another of the VBT tour folks, Nora. This is her first tour and we tried to give her an idea of what to expect. How you really explain these things just doesn't ever work quite right though. She was one of the most organized people--she had an itinerary that fiends who lived in Italy had helped her put together. It was all listed out as to what to see when. Once in Florence, the three of us met the VBT driver and waited while he located the 4th person, Caroline (who just happened to be Nora's roommate) and we all rode to the hotel together.
After checking in Dave and I walked to Sainta Maria Novella to get our bearings and to figure out where we were on the map. Somehow it isn't the same as we remember from last time when we just walked up the street and got to just about everything past the train station. Anyhow, we did have to reorient ourselves.
Did we mention that Florence in July is rather warm? Yup, the line at the Duomo* made us reconsider trying that site at another time when the line wasn't so long. Instead we went to dinner. Dinner was pretty good and we had the restaurant to ourselves until about 7. Being on States schedule for an early dinner does have its advantages. Once again, I want to emphasize, dinner in Italy is an event, not just something to do on the way to something else. Usually dinners in Italy start at 8 and go for hours. Back to dinner, following a bruschetta appetizer, Jill enjoyed the spinach ravioli with truffle sauce and Dave had steak (a little tough) with rosemary potatoes. We skipped dessert (how rare!).
A record for these trips, we managed to stay awake until about 8 the first night!
*Duomo -the name give to the church where the Bishop was in residence.
