I have finally taken the time to upload our honeymoon photos...rather than put them in the blog I have put them up on my Flickr site.
Here they are.....click here
I hope you enjoy them.
The History of Stirling Ave
11 years ago
Showing posts with label Italy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Italy. Show all posts
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Italy
Well Mel and I have been in Italy for around a week and a half and are loving it. Great food, great wine and great people.
Our first stop was Cinque Terra....5 little towns on the meditteranean. What a gorgeous area, we stayed in the middle town of the 5 called Corniglia. The nice part about these towns is they are all linked by trails and train access. Corniglia is the quitest and most remote of them all. The only issue is that if you dont want to wait for the shuttle bus from the train station it is quite a hike up to town....some 382 steps to be precise....no wonder Italians are in great shape they climb stairs all the time.
We ended up staying for 5 nights as it was the perfect place ot relax and to get to know Italian culture. We quickly made friends with the owner of the local wine shop (Mario or Merlo Blanco"white Mockingbird) as well as his two closet friends Folco and Renaldo (El Gatacho "wildcat". The shop had a great vibe and seemed to draw in travelers constantly. Folco is well known Italian folk musiican with a very tom waite like voice and style...he was always playing the guitar. El Gatacho was a retired boat radioman...you would never guess he was 78. They were harvesting during the day but would hang with us all night...heck i even got to hang out with them asd they started to make wine. This little wine shop has alos played host to Jack Johnson as he was there 5 or 6 years ago....it has a kind of magic in drawing people in.
We met lots of great people while there including a retired couple (Mike and Deana) from Seattle who are on a 4 month vacation and had just dropped their daughter off at school in Europe. A great couple from Michigan as well as an Aussie couple who were on their honeymoon as well. He owns Redmen Wines in Koownaharra Valley...so we got chatting about wine a fair bit. We also had the pleasure of watching the France - Italy Soccer game with all the locals...they put out a tv in front of the wine bar for all to enjoy.
Mel and I have been enjoying the train trips as we get to see the country side, meet new people and eat well. We buy bread, meat and cheese for the road and wash it down with a bottle of wine.
After Corniglia we arrived in Rome....what a crazy city.....tourists everywhere....but what history as there are Roman Ruins everywhere. Soem highlights from Rome so far are:
- Dinner at the Embassadors house - Thanks Fiona, your parents where fantastic.
- Seeing all the sites of old rome including the emperors palace and the coloseum
- seeing the parthenon
- visiting and seeing the enormous wealth of the vatican....how they could not come up with 13 million to restore the sistine chapel frescos is unbelieveable.
- watching Scotland beat France in the Eurocup qualifier at a irish pub....what a great game and monumental win....almost makes up for the loss to Brazil in the 2000 world cup.
Well we are off to Paris tonight by plane. I am hoping to catch a rugby game while there as they are hosting the rugby worldcup.
One of these days I will post photos but be warned we have over 1200 so far....some real good shots though.
Our first stop was Cinque Terra....5 little towns on the meditteranean. What a gorgeous area, we stayed in the middle town of the 5 called Corniglia. The nice part about these towns is they are all linked by trails and train access. Corniglia is the quitest and most remote of them all. The only issue is that if you dont want to wait for the shuttle bus from the train station it is quite a hike up to town....some 382 steps to be precise....no wonder Italians are in great shape they climb stairs all the time.
We ended up staying for 5 nights as it was the perfect place ot relax and to get to know Italian culture. We quickly made friends with the owner of the local wine shop (Mario or Merlo Blanco"white Mockingbird) as well as his two closet friends Folco and Renaldo (El Gatacho "wildcat". The shop had a great vibe and seemed to draw in travelers constantly. Folco is well known Italian folk musiican with a very tom waite like voice and style...he was always playing the guitar. El Gatacho was a retired boat radioman...you would never guess he was 78. They were harvesting during the day but would hang with us all night...heck i even got to hang out with them asd they started to make wine. This little wine shop has alos played host to Jack Johnson as he was there 5 or 6 years ago....it has a kind of magic in drawing people in.
We met lots of great people while there including a retired couple (Mike and Deana) from Seattle who are on a 4 month vacation and had just dropped their daughter off at school in Europe. A great couple from Michigan as well as an Aussie couple who were on their honeymoon as well. He owns Redmen Wines in Koownaharra Valley...so we got chatting about wine a fair bit. We also had the pleasure of watching the France - Italy Soccer game with all the locals...they put out a tv in front of the wine bar for all to enjoy.
Mel and I have been enjoying the train trips as we get to see the country side, meet new people and eat well. We buy bread, meat and cheese for the road and wash it down with a bottle of wine.
After Corniglia we arrived in Rome....what a crazy city.....tourists everywhere....but what history as there are Roman Ruins everywhere. Soem highlights from Rome so far are:
- Dinner at the Embassadors house - Thanks Fiona, your parents where fantastic.
- Seeing all the sites of old rome including the emperors palace and the coloseum
- seeing the parthenon
- visiting and seeing the enormous wealth of the vatican....how they could not come up with 13 million to restore the sistine chapel frescos is unbelieveable.
- watching Scotland beat France in the Eurocup qualifier at a irish pub....what a great game and monumental win....almost makes up for the loss to Brazil in the 2000 world cup.
Well we are off to Paris tonight by plane. I am hoping to catch a rugby game while there as they are hosting the rugby worldcup.
One of these days I will post photos but be warned we have over 1200 so far....some real good shots though.
Monday, September 03, 2007
a quick update
Mel and I have been having a great time. Normandie was very nice, the people great and the food good.
However Burgundy was a different story. The people are just as nice and helpful. The food was fantastic, some of the best ever. Every meal out did the previous one. Finally the wine was insane. Every bottle was fantastic and was the equivalent of a $100 bottle back home.
On Friday, August 30th we did some private wine tours of the vineyards of Burgundy's second biggest producer...Jean Claude Boisset....thanks to my cousin Del for setting this up. It was incredible to see these wineries from such an intimate side. We visited Jean Claude Boisset, the Imaginarium, Domaine de Vougeraie and Bouchard aine et fils. The Domaine Vougeraie is at the high end of wineries and we were lucky enough to taste all of their wines...including their Grande Cru...$200+
On Saturday we took the afternoon train to the town of Frejus. Frejus is next to St Rapheal a very touristy beach town on the cote d'azur. Frejus is nice but small and built on an old Roman city. We had originally planned to stay for 3 nights but decided the touristy crap was not our style.
Today, August 3rd we left Frejus for Menton on the east side of Monaco. What an amazing town built into the surrounding mountains and right on the ocean. Lots of old medieval buildings to go with a modern feel. Lots of seafood on the menus as well.
Tomorrow we will daytrip to Monaco, after that it will likely be Italy and Cinque Terre. After that it is Rome where we are having dinner at Fiona's parents place....her father happens to be the Canadian Ambassador to the Vatican.
We have made sure to take lots of photos and will post them on our return.
We hope everyone is doing well and the weather is staying warm
However Burgundy was a different story. The people are just as nice and helpful. The food was fantastic, some of the best ever. Every meal out did the previous one. Finally the wine was insane. Every bottle was fantastic and was the equivalent of a $100 bottle back home.
On Friday, August 30th we did some private wine tours of the vineyards of Burgundy's second biggest producer...Jean Claude Boisset....thanks to my cousin Del for setting this up. It was incredible to see these wineries from such an intimate side. We visited Jean Claude Boisset, the Imaginarium, Domaine de Vougeraie and Bouchard aine et fils. The Domaine Vougeraie is at the high end of wineries and we were lucky enough to taste all of their wines...including their Grande Cru...$200+
On Saturday we took the afternoon train to the town of Frejus. Frejus is next to St Rapheal a very touristy beach town on the cote d'azur. Frejus is nice but small and built on an old Roman city. We had originally planned to stay for 3 nights but decided the touristy crap was not our style.
Today, August 3rd we left Frejus for Menton on the east side of Monaco. What an amazing town built into the surrounding mountains and right on the ocean. Lots of old medieval buildings to go with a modern feel. Lots of seafood on the menus as well.
Tomorrow we will daytrip to Monaco, after that it will likely be Italy and Cinque Terre. After that it is Rome where we are having dinner at Fiona's parents place....her father happens to be the Canadian Ambassador to the Vatican.
We have made sure to take lots of photos and will post them on our return.
We hope everyone is doing well and the weather is staying warm
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