Back in the USA!!!

Back in the USA (but the trip shall continue)

So a little news to share: we are back in the States! Below is a bit of our thought process around this decision -

We were originally going to spend the last few days of our European leg in Paris and then head east to start a tour of Southeast Asia and eventually the rest of Asia. However, we realized we needed to be back home during the month of October as we have a few things we cannot miss: a big birthday, a big wedding and our first niece is due! October was originally going to be our halfway-point break after having done Europe & Asia, but after moving WAYYY to fast through Europe we decided that 2-2.5 months to do Asia was just not enough time and would be exhausting to even attempt.

With all of that in mind, we decided to return to the US and explore another part of the world that was at the top of our list: America! We have lived and worked in the US our whole lives and have barely even explored our own country outside of the major cities. Our country is filled with diverse landscapes, incredible national parks and small towns we have never even heard of. We knew we had to explore our home country before this was all over. So, given the time frame, we decided we would spend the back half of the summer and early fall doing just that.

Our plan is to drive from the East Coast across the country eventually exploring the Pacific Northwest, heading down the coast of California, through the Southwest, across Texas, through the South and eventually returning up the East Coast. The focus will be on experiencing our national parks such as Yellowstone, Yosemite, Glacier, Grand Canyon, etc, etc. We have an ambitious itinerary planned and we have no idea how much we will accomplish, but we couldn’t be more excited!

If anyone has any specific recommendations, feel free to shoot us an email. Or, if anyone is interested in tagging along for part of the trip, we would love to have you! Even better, if you live near one of these places and feel like having some houseguests PLEASE email us…we can use all the help we can get.

While we weren’t sure how long we would last, we have loved traveling together and want to keep exploring as long as we can! The plan right now is to tour America, return home for our family obligations and then continue to S. America for the late fall and finally Asia in early 2018. The nice thing about this is we can always change our plans if we need to!

Here’s to hoping the budget is friendly enough to us to allow for all of this. In the meantime, America here we come!!

France – Our Last European Stop

Well, technically we got into France weeks ago. When we left Spain we flew to Paris to pick up a car. Why? Because we learned the hard (read: expensive) way what happens when you rent a car in one European country and return it in another. Since we knew Paris would be the last stop, we picked up a car there and it was with us for the next 2.5 months and travelled all over France, Switzerland and Italy. So even though we broke France up a bit, here is what we experienced:

 

Bordeaux, France -

Our first stop after picking up the car in late May was Bordeaux (notice a wine theme yet?). We were excited to explore the wine growing regions of this world famous area and see if we could learn and taste some of the most expensive wines in the world. We quickly realized however, the French don’t exactly do things like the rest of the world. There is no “showing up” to vineyards to taste the wines. No, you have to be somebody important and set up reservations well in advance. We are not anybody and definitely did not set anything up, so we just figured being in town would be good enough.

Bordeaux grapes

Bordeaux grapes


Our first night we were exhausted from a long drive from Paris. We decided to go into the tiny town of Blaye and seek out a wine store. We found a cute spot that was serving tapas and started inquiring about some wines we could bring home. Zero English. Before we knew it, the owner summoned an older lady from down the street who spoke English to help us with a wine selection. She seemed quite knowledgeable so when we asked her what her background was she answered, “Well, I am a winemaker.” Boom! Kirby worked her magic and before we knew it we had a friend in Bordeaux! She recommended a few places to go and taste, some terrific wines to experiment with at home and before the end of the week gave us an extensive tour and lesson of her own Chateau (more on that in a bit).

Over our three days in Bordeaux we explored the amazing town of St. Emilion, the actual city of Bordeaux and explored the left bank where some of the world’s most sought after wines are made from producers such as Chateau Margaux, Latour and Mouton-Rothschild. The French Bordeaux classification system is something we took a lot of time to learn while we were there and we would describe it best in one word: complicated. Furthermore, a lot of the rules the French still live by are from Napoleon! Weird. Too much to get into here, but we thought when we had a few hours we would produce our version of a European Wine Guide. May be helpful for anyone going to check out these regions.

Anyways, we did tastings at Chateau de Ferrand near St. Emilion and Chateau Lamothe-Bergeron in Paulliac, but the most memorable experience was visiting our friend Florence at her house Chateau Cantinot. She gave us a tour of her winemaking facilities, let us taste her wines and even explained how she and her family came to be winemakers: Her husband Robert had been a broker and decided, no matter what, when he turned 50, he would fulfill a lifelong dream to become a winemaker. Amazing! Over the last 15 years they have learned trial-by-fire and now produce over 150K bottle per year! Quite an achievement and the wine was actually pretty darn good.

Our friends Florence and Robert at Chateau Continot

Our friends Florence and Robert at Chateau Continot

Even though we didn’t get to taste the big boys everybody talks about, experiences like Chateau Continot are what make trips like this awesome! Totally by chance but we got the best lesson about Bordeaux wines we ever could have by folks who live and breathe it everyday!

 

Provence (Stop #1)

Our next stop was to the Provence Region of France, which is in the south of the country and features many of France’s national parks, picturesque beaches, mountainous regions and of course the famous lavender fields. The latter is what we were after so we picked a spot smack in the middle of Luberon Natural Regional Park right next to a tiny town called Viens. We had an amazing Airbnb here that was situated at the top of a large hill overlooking fields and fields of green lavender. Wait green?!?! Yes, because we did ZERO research as to when the lavender actually blooms, we quickly realized we were about a month and a half too early. Whoops!

Green lavender...

Green lavender...

So over the course of the next three days we hiked, caught up on some sleep and explored as much of this area of the world as we could. One thing is for sure, the Provence region of France is beautiful and we cannot imagine what it must look like when all of those green fields turn to purple. We made a pact that if we could fit it in, we would return on our way back to Paris to try and catch a glimpse of this famous lavender.

As we left France and headed to Switzerland we basically had to drive through the entirety of the Luberon Natural Regional Park and we could not believe how beautiful it was. We also were shocked at how mountainous it was! Steep peaks, windy mountain roads and sprawling landscapes took us all the way from Viens into Switzerland.

Luberon Natural Regional Park, France

Luberon Natural Regional Park, France

 

Nice-

We had spent five days in Switzerland and another 25 in Italy before we returned to France yet again. We started our time back in Nice, France which is one of the bigger French Riviera cities. We were originally going to stay for a few nights but ultimately decided we wanted to chase down that lavender so only stayed two.

Nice, France

Nice, France

During our short stay, we explored this awesome beach town and also did a day trip to Monaco, which is only about a 30-minute drive from Nice. While in Monaco, we explored the famous Monte Carlo casino and gawked at all the giant yachts and expensive cars.

Nice is an awesome place to relax in the south of France. The beaches are beautiful (though they are made of rock, not sand) and we found it to be way more relaxed than the surrounding areas, such as Monaco and Cannes. Furthermore, it is a great launching point for the various day trips you can take in the south of France.

 

Provence (Stop #2) -

Since we were so dead-set on seeing the famous lavender fields, we cut our time in Nice short by a night and headed back into the Provence region. This time, we find a small B&B in the town of Gordes to park ourselves for the night.

The first thing we did on the drive was find our old Airbnb and drive the narrow road down the mountain to see if those fields had indeed turned purple. To our luck, they had! Even in July we were still probably a few weeks early to truly get the rich deep lines of purple you see all over, but it was still awesome to have seen it green and now transformed. We spent some time photographing our old fields and then headed to our hotel where we enjoyed a nice dinner and a pool table before crashing.

Purple!

Purple!

The next morning we got up super early and went to explore the world famous Senanque-Abbey. If you have ever googled a picture of “lavender” or “lavender in France” or any variation of that, you have probably seen a picture of the Abbey. It is a working Christian Monastery but is home to some of the most beautiful fields of lavender in the world. The monks there maintain these fields as well as make honey on the property. While again, the fields were not totally in bloom, it was still magical to explore this sacred place as the sun was rising. We had heard the monestary can turn into a tourist nightmare, but arrived early enough so we could explore in the peace and quiet. We could even hear the monks chanting as we walked around the grounds, it was pretty cool.


After some photographs we headed back to the hotel, had some breakfast and then packed up for a drive to do some more wine research!
 

Burgundy -

Ahh another wine stop for us…however, if there was one we were looking forward to the most it was probably this one. While Burgundy is easily one of the most famous wine growing regions in the world, it is also home to our two favorite wines: Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. In fact, 98% of what is grown in Burgundy are these two grape varietals. Perfect for us!

Our Airbnb was located in the tiny town of Magny-les-Villers, which is situated at the top of the Cote de Beaune, where some of the world’s most well-known and expensive Chardonnays are grown. Right above us was the Cote de Nuits, where some of the world’s most well-known and expensive Pinots are grown. Add them together, and you have the Cote d'Or, one of the world’s most famous wine growing regions on the planet, and we were right in the middle of it! While Burgundy actually has five growing regions, we focused on these two because together they are home to the majority of the “Grand Cru” wines from this region.

After we arrived we quickly realized a few things:

#1 – There are grapes everywhere, but they seemed to be concentrated in a narrow band that runs north/south and along the steep hills above.

#2 – We did not see any “estates” or “chateaus” or anything resembling a working vineyard.

#3 – The grapes themselves were pristine. Pruned, cared for and constantly being tended to by workers 24/7. It was cool to see.

What we learned over the next three days was one of the coolest things we have encountered in trying to learn wine: everything in Burgundy (the quality, the ratings, the classifications) all focus on the terroir (“ter-WAH”), which essentially means all of the environmental factors (geography, geology, etc.) that affect each vineyard. This means that all the wine producers, estates etc. share the land and hope their grapes are grown on the best terroirs. So awesome! This simple fact explains why all the grapes grow together and are in pristine condition, because everyone in town has a vested interest in that land.

The famous grapes of Burgundy

The famous grapes of Burgundy

During our time here we tasted at a few different estates, shops and learned as much as we could. Perhaps our best was driving the famous, “Route de Grand Crus” across the various regions and passing by some of the world’s most famous producers such as Domaine Leroy, Romanee Contee and Gevrey-Chamberton. It was a very cool experience for us especially since we now understand how everyone in Burgundy shares the land. It was awesome to drive through the various vineyards and see the markers people put on certain lines of grapes signifying "this row is mine".

Golden Slope, Burgundy, France

Golden Slope, Burgundy, France

If you're a fan of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay or just wine in general, Burgundy is a must-go! The towns are charming, the people are friendly and you will see a way of life that totally revolves around the land; unlike anything we have ever seen or experienced. It also is a bonus that we now know how to read those pesky French wine labels!



Paris –

After three amazing days in Burgundy we headed north for our last stop in Europe…Paris. The “City of Lights” has a special meaning for us, because it was the first city in Europe we went to together. We went to Paris last year for Kirby’s 30th Birthday and it is probably what set this whole travel idea in motion. It was fitting we would end the first leg of our journey here.

The other bonus was that we got to spend our few days in Paris with some of our best friends: Hunter and PJ! Hunter and Nolan have known each other since grade school and he has been one of his best friends ever since, so it was awesome to see some familiar faces in such an amazing city.

Our first day, we explored Versailles. We had heard horror stories about this place from a tourist perspective. But, we got up early, got in line and went inside the palace and found it to be not nearly as bad as everyone made it out to be. After we toured the main chateau we rented a golf cart (yep a golf cart) and toured the grounds. By far the BEST way to do it since Versailles is huge! We saw the various gardens, fountains and explored both Trianons, one of which was Marie-Antoinette’s home. The complex is crazy and certainly embodies the wealth and privilege the royal family afforded themselves before the French Revolution…


Day Two started by saying goodbye to an old friend, our rental car :( It was time to move on and prepare to head to our next destination and the car would no longer be necessary. The Toyota travelled with us over 8000km, through three countries and countless meals, tunes and podcasts.

Goodbye old friend

Goodbye old friend

After we got the car back, we walked…all over Paris. We had done this on our last trip, but that was in January and now in July it was hot. We started by the Louvre and headed over to our favorite museum: the Musee D’Orsay but arrived too late to see it again. We then walked up the entire Avenue des Champs-Élysées and climbed to the top of the Arc De Triomphe, which gives you one of the most incredible views of the city. This is something we had not done last January, so was awesome to see.

View from atop the Arc De Triomphe

View from atop the Arc De Triomphe

After all the walking we were smoked, so we recharged at a café and then walked to the Eiffel Tower to rest and wait for sunset as well as the “lighting of the tower.” Since it was a Friday night there were lots of people having picnics, playing music and sipping wine. It was a lot of fun to rest, cool off and watch the sun go down and tower light up. After this we walked back towards our place, but on the way stopped to photograph the Notre Dame at night, find our lock we put up in January 2016 and then crash before our early am flight.

While this time around we did not do any museums, we were comforted knowing we had seen all the big ones last January and also got to experience some new things we had not done before such as Versailles and the Arc. It was also a ton of fun to spend three days in this amazing city with great friends.

 

Our last stop -

We got quite sad leaving Paris early Saturday morning. Not only were we leaving an amazing city, but also leaving Europe. We left home on March 28th and had been nonstop through (mainly) Europe since then. It felt quite strange to be leaving it behind, especially since it felt like we had just got there! We think it will take us quite a while to take a step back and appreciate all the things we have seen and experienced thus far. While we realize that sounds absolutely crazy, we still do not think it has fully hit us!

While this chapter has come to an end there is no question we are going to continue! We have loved every minute and learned a ton about other cultures, ourselves and each other. We originally were going to head east and start our journey in Asia, but decided to make a sudden change to experience something else that was on our bucket list….but stay tuned for that!

Europe, it’s been a blast! See you next time!

~Kirby & Nolan

Our last night...

Our last night...

Italy, Italy, Italy....

Italy…what a place! When we planned this trip many months ago we knew Italy would be a big focus. Why? Because it contains so many of the things we love: pizza, pasta, wine, gelato and large portions! OK, it wasn’t just the food. The amazing history and beauty of this country also drew us in and It certainly did not disappoint. We ended up spending nearly a month touring this amazing country. The length of time we spent here kind of caught us by surprise, but when you realize all the amazing places to see and experience, it almost felt like we needed more time. So, without further adieu here is our 4 week tour of the big boot:

 

Florence–

After we left Switzerland we headed straight south to Firenze to begin a big loop of the northern part of Italy. It was not the most efficient way to travel, but we designed this portion of our trip to intercept some friends in Lake Como (more on that later). Yes, we passed Lake Como on the way to Florence, but we needed to kill some time, so off we went.

When you drive into Florence you realize two things pretty fast: the historic center of town is incredible (the Duomo and the steeples immediately grab your eye) and driving around this city is like being in a full contact go-kart race. Thank goodness Nolan was used to driving in NYC because it was nuts. Once we finally found our Airbnb, we realized we were smack in the middle of historic Florence, steps away from the famous Basilica of Santa Croce (the principal Franciscan church in Florence). Incredible! We parked the car and didn’t touch it for three days as we explored this city.

On the first day all we did was walk. We started near the Duomo and made our way over the famous Ponte Vecchio bridge and around the outside of the city, ending at the Piazzale Michelangelo. We had our first Italian dinner at a family-style restaurant that was recommended to us. The look on Kirby’s face said, “Yep, eating pasta EVERY SINGLE NIGHT we are in Italy.” This premonition came true btw…

On the second day, we climbed stairs...lots of them. We climbed the famous Giotto's Bell Tower and then later in the day climbed the Duomo. The perspectives from atop these two vantage points were very similar, yet very different. The Bell Tower not only gives you amazing views of the city but also of the Dome itself, completed in 1436 by Brunelleschi. When you climb the Dome itself you get amazing sprawling views of the city, but also get to see the amazing paintings inside!

The inside of the Duomo

The inside of the Duomo

We even were able to get in late to see the amazing sculpture of David. This iconic piece of work is huge and takes your breath away when you see it from the gallery hall. It is one of those things that totally lives up to all the hype it receives. Incredible to see it in person!

The David

The David

Our last day in Florence, we got our art fix. We got up early and toured the halls of the Ufiizi Gallery. This has to be the Italian equivalent of the Louvre in Paris, so many historic works to take in. The highlights for us were of course the famous “Birth of Venus” by Botticelli and the originals by DaVinci, particularly “The Adoration of the Magi". 

Florence was an amazing way to start our tour of Italy. We were able to return to the Piazzale Michaelangelo on our last night for some sunset photos and found ourselves just taking in the view. The skyline is iconic and absolutely stunning. Very different from any other city and something everyone needs to experience at least once in their lives. This was actually Nolan’s third time and it still was not old to him…


Venice –

The second stop in our Italian tour was Venice. Since we were driving in, you quickly realize that this city is truly built on water. There are NO roads! We had to park in a huge garage outside the confines of the city and then take all of our stuff on a water taxi to our new Airbnb. Quite an intro! A little side note we learned while we were here: Venice was built in the early 1500's A.D., consists of about 118 small islands connected by numerous canals and bridges, and the foundation is mostly made of WOOD! Incredible engineering by the Italians!

To us, Venice was basically one big museum. We did not plan very much, but found that just wandering the narrow corridors, crossing the bridges and experiencing the canals was enough. It is amazing. Some of the coolest things we saw were when we were wandering around and got totally lost! The whole city has this romantic aura about it. The gondolas, the architecture and the canals are all just so beautiful.

Over our three nights we experienced the famous St. Marks square, climbed the bell tower, took a gondola ride and crossed more bridges than we had in multiple years living in New York City. But again, perhaps the best parts about Venice are the unplanned. Just walking this city is an experience, particularly at night. We will never forget the moonlit canals with the faint sound of accordions in the background. It was like walking around a movie set. If you are going to Italy, Venice has to be on the short list as well!


Lake Como–

After we spent six nights exploring two amazing cities in Italy, we were ready for a little R&R. As soon as we pulled into the Lake Como area we knew were going to get it! The Lake is huge and the towns that hug the shores are all iconic. Steep slopes, colorful homes built on top of one another and beautiful Italian boats everywhere. It was awesome and we can see why George Clooney chooses this as his go-to vacation spot.

We also got a bonus appearance in Lake Como from our friends, Paul & Karen Russo. Karen, who Kirby used to nanny for in grad school, was Kirby's Matron of Honor in our wedding and their son Mac was our ring bearer. They are like an extension of our family so it was great to spend a few nights with some familiar faces. We all shared a house in downtown Menaggio, which could not have been a better spot to explore the area.

We explored the town of Veranna one day, including a huge hike to the castle that sits above it. We also went to dinner on Comacina Island where the restaurant has been serving the same traditional menu since 1947. It was an amazing experience. But, our favorite day was our last, where we rented a boat for the whole day and explored the entire lake from the water. It was incredible to see all the different towns, extravagant villas and amazing landscapes this area has to offer. It was an awesome day and one of the best days of the trip so far!

 

Camogli -

After Lake Como, we decided we wanted a little more sun so we went south to a tiny Riviera town called Camogli. The town is located in between Recco and Portofino and sits right on the Mediterranean. We splurged a bit here and did a hotel and basically spent our time sitting on the beach, drinking Aperol Spritz's and doing a whole lot of nothing. It was great! 

Camogli is a fishing village and really is a hidden gem. It has a population of less than 5,500 people and does not get the hype the surrounding Riviera towns do, which was fine by us. It was very cool to walk into town and eat dinner at these tiny restaurants and enjoy seafood that was caught just earlier that day. The people are extremely friendly and we came out feeling extremely relaxed and ready to tackle Italy's capital city.

 

Rome–

From Camogli we headed further south and made the long drive into Rome. Once again the drive was stressful (Italians seem not to pay attention to lane lines) and when we arrived we realized that Rome is HOT! The city in the summer is scorching during the middle of the day. We planned around this and did most of our sightseeing either early in the mornings or at night.

We aren’t huge “tour group” people, but in Rome we actually did two of them. The first, was a morning tour of the Vatican where we were ushered through the halls bright and early and got an early look at the Sistine Chapel before the hordes of people got there. It was worth it! We had 10-15 minutes just to stand and admire the masterpiece all around us. No photos are allowed inside the chapel but it will be forever engrained in our minds. Just beautiful all around! After this we toured the Vatican itself as well as St. Peter’s Basilica, which is enormous and easily dwarfs other iconic cathedrals such as the Notre Dame in Paris.

St. Peter's

St. Peter's

On day two we toured the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. This was also incredible and very helpful to have a guide explain how these structures were built, what they were actually used for and what they looked like back in the day. It was very cool to see and experience this and we can safely say that no one builds things like the Romans did. After we recovered from the heat, we waited until dark and explored the Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps. We were amazed to see how many tourists there still were at 10pm! It was crazy, but we cannot imagine what these would have looked like in the middle of the day.

On the last day in Rome, we walked through Piazza Navona and also visited the Pantheon (one of the few monuments that is free in Rome). This was also impressive to see. It is one of the only remaining structures that is mostly intact from ancient Rome and the engineering is remarkable. Very cool to see and experience.

While Rome is hot in the summer and very busy it is an incredible place to see and visit. It was the political capital of the Western World for so long and it was fun to try and imagine what the place looked like all those years ago. So much history, one could easily spend weeks there trying to see it all and still come up short.

 


Amalfi Coast –

After Rome we decided a nice five nights on the Amalfi Coast was in order. We rented a beautiful home in the small town of Praiano, which sits in between Positano and Amalfi. It was the perfect spot to stay for the next week!

We also got the added bonus of picking up another friend from home, Wes Wharton, who is currently on his own adventure around the world alone! His Instagram is a great follow for anyone who is interested (@tomcheddy). Wes is terrific and decided to spend four nights with us exploring this beautiful part of the world.

Our days were filled with plenty of Aperol Spritz’s and enjoying the sun and the blue waters of Praiano. Though, one day we did manage to do the steep hike “The Walk of the Gods” (we didn’t last long). But once again our favorite day involved a boat: we rented a small boat to explore the entire coast and even did a loop around the gorgeous island of Capri. Once again, it was incredible to see the steep towns that grace the coast from the water and to swim amongst the yachts. We found a few hidden spots, including a few caves to park ourselves and had an amazing day.

The Amalfi Coast is easily one of the most beautiful places we have ever been. Each town has its own characteristics and charm and the waters that surround it are some of the clearest dark blue waters we have ever seen. The other best part about it is, because the towns are so steep, you don’t feel as bad eating pizza all day since you get your workout in just coming in and out of your place! An amazing place to spend a week and it will definitely be on our list of places to come back to again!

Pompeii –

Even though we could have easily stayed in Amalfi for another week, we had to unfortunately head north to Tuscany...such a tough life right now. On the way though, we decided to spend a day exploring the ruins of Pompeii.

For those who aren’t familiar – Pompeii was an ancient Roman city that was destroyed by a massive volcanic eruption from Mt. Vesuvius. In fact, when we were in Rome, we were told that due to the extreme heat, many of the Romans used to head to Pompeii to spend their summers. The city itself was buried in volcanic ash for centuries until 1748, when it was re-discovered and slowly excavated. Now, the ruins sit almost as they did in 79 A.D. before the eruption. In some cases, whole structures are just as they were. It is as if the city is completely stuck in time.

A few things struck us about this place: 1) It is huge! We had no idea how spread out the site would actually be, 2) We cannot imagine how long it must have taken archeologists to reveal this city as it sits today. You are even able to see microscopic details when entering the old homes and structures, such as fresco paintings on the walls...it is crazy! Lastly, it is very eery to walk the town and constantly see Mt. Vesuvius out of the corner of your eye staring down at the town it once destroyed.

While Pompeii is not the easiest place to navigate or get around (the stone roads are quite uneven), it was incredible to explore this place. We are not sure you can find another place so densely filled with history. It is literally as if parts of this city were untouched for centuries! Highly recommend a day spent here!

 

Tuscany –

Our last stop in Italy was Tuscany. We decided to spend five nights here because: a) We love wine and b) We wanted to no longer feel intimidated by Italian wine lists. This was not vacation, it was research!

We stayed in arguably our best Airbnb yet on a farm with an Italian family on the outskirts of the town of Murlo. Murlo basically sits right in the middle of three important wine cities of Tuscany: Montalcino, Montepulciano and Siena. It was an incredible place to explore, but more importantly our host family took us in as if we were one of their own! They cooked for us two nights, their son gave us a full cooking lesson another and they constantly wanted us to be in the gardens picking fresh fruits and vegetables to eat. Oh and not to mention, they produced their own wine and olive oil right there! It was awesome!!

We focused three days on wine exploration, so spent a day in Montalcino (where Brunellos are produced), a day in Montepulciano (where Nobile de Montepulcianos are produced) and a day in the city of Siena (which is arguably the center of the Italian wine trade and right on the border of where Chianti is produced). These three days were awesome and great learning experiences. So much history in Italian wine making and we barely scratched the surface: Italy has 20 growing regions and we only hit three!

Old Brunello

Old Brunello

Most importantly though it was amazing to sit outside of our Airbnb, take in the amazing rolling hills in Tuscany while drinking amazing wine and eating some of the best home cooked Italian we have ever had. It was a great way to spend five nights and we literally got sad when we had to say goodbye to our extended Italian family and leave Italy…

Pisa -

OK, one last stop. We had to see the Leaning Tower before the left Italy. We took a quick detour on our way to France, parked the car and made our way to the square where the tower sits. It's exactly as you would expect and really does lean. We still aren't sure if we thought it was better seeing the tower or all the people lined up on the walkway trying to nail the perfect picture "holding" the tower up. Ahh well, here are ours -

We crammed a lot into four weeks but Italy certainly knows how to leave an impression on you. From the amazing and diverse cities, to the incredible landscapes, it is truly one-of-a-kind. Furthermore, the culture, the people and the FOOD are all top notch. We hope we can make it a regular occurrence to return to this amazing country and to be immersed in this culture again and again. We also learned a few recipes and a few wine tricks to bring home with us as well!

 

After Italy, we made a few stops in France, including: the beach, lavender, wine country, and finally, the Eiffel tower! We will have the France blog up by the end of the week (hopefully!?) and then will fill everyone in on what is next for us....