The Insiders' Guide to St. Barths: Italy trip to Rome, Val d'Orcia, Chianti, Bologna

We had a blissful, relaxing trip to Italy and are back to reality now, fat and happy. As always, it was the people that we met that made the trip special, from our cousins from Campobasso to our dear friend Alberto and his family, to our new friends from Great Britain, Calgary, Tokyo, the Netherlands, California, Chicago, Wisconsin, and Virginia. And then there was the food. Amazing.! My friend Nancy asked me my favorite moment of the trip, and I couldn't pick one. I finally decided it was on my return when I stepped on the scale and found that I only gained 3 lbs., not the 10 that I had imagined. But it wasn't for lack of trying, we had unbelievable meals every day and tons of delicious local wines. I guess all the miles of walking helped balance things out.

As for the scenery, it was breathtaking. We took almost 400 photos in just under 3 weeks, so I won't inflict them all on you; at every turn I was asking Paul to stop the car just one more time! I'm posting a few of them online for anyone who loves Italy or enjoys other people's travel photos.

Italy photos

Our trip covered Rome, Umbria, the Val d'Orcia (Montepulciano/southern Tuscany), Chianti and Bologna. We also went to Vienna for a day but didn't take any pix there... loved it though, it's a beautiful city, and Austrian Air is a great airline which we'll fly again in a heartbeat. If anyone would like info on places to stay, towns to visit, or restaurants to go to, just PM me. I took lots of notes just so that I can share the info with anyone who is going there next.

We'll be going back in a couple of years, to Sardinia to meet our cousins and hopefully some of our other friends. We're assuming that the dollar/euro situation will be better then. Right now it's terrible; we didn't buy much of anything, it just didn't make sense. It has to come down soon, many of the Europeans we spoke with are experiencing a serious decline in their standard of living due to the increased costs associated with the euro. Of course, their lifestyle still seems pretty darned good to us! But many of the hotels, shops and restaurants were empty; Europeans can't afford to travel, Americans can't tolerate the exchange rate, and even the Japanese found it to be extraordinarily expensive. Something's gotta change. In the meantime the scenery is free, the food is mostly very reasonable, and you can find plenty of agriturismi (working farm/inns) which are inexpensive, beautiful and comfortable. And the people are wonderful! So if you're thinking of going, it's worth it, even now. Or maybe we'll meet you there in 2010!

Ciao for now,
Lynn & Paul

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"But there's this one particular harbor, so far and yet so near..."