Bike Ride to Pisa/Pool Time - Day 6

 We started the day with a quick coffee and then we drove Simone & Kelly down to the bike shop in Lucca. They have a ride to Pisa and back all set up and have already installed a special app on their I-phones. This will provide route guidance and assist in achieving the end goal of completing the trip.

As it was Sunday, traffic was very light but there were lots of cyclist out today. We dropped the gals off in front of the bike rental place and headed home for breakfast. 

Before the trip to Pisa.

 Elena had prepared the meal once again and it was very tasty. After breakfast the Gour clan started to get ready to head off to their hotel in Civitavecchia as they will meet up with their son Justin and board the cruise ship on Monday. We sat around the table and had a great conversation about life issues and how we have overcome them. 

They departed just before noon and I hit the pool area to check the back of my eye lids. Also had a refreshing swim in the pool. It was so peaceful.

My day... very relaxing!

News from the gals included pictures of their ride to Pisa, a selfie pose with the Leaning Tower as a backdrop and a nice glass of liquid refreshments on a lunch table at La Bagatella.  

Happy bikers!

Found her!

They are now heading back toward Lucca according to the Find My app. Should be back in a couple hours.

 Hugh and I headed off to get diesel fuel for the car (it was quick & easy) and also scoped out a restaurant on the hill across from the Villa. The restaurant is called the Viper and is highly rated. It is only 18 minutes away from our location so relatively close. We climbed the winding road up to it's perch on the hillside and took a walk around. It is clearly snake themed so I don't think it's not going to mesh with Kelly. Fortunately there is another restaurant just down the road from it that provides a similar dinning experience so we will look into that place for an evening dinner.

We watched the gals peddle back towards Lucca (on our I-phones) and timed their arrival with ours. A couple laps around the bike shop and we secured some great parking close by. 

They made it! 63 kms round trip!

 

Next stop was the local Conad store for some much needed supplies (beer & cheese). This was quickly accomplished then it was a low traffic windy route through the hills back to the Villa. It was very windy and I will say the switchback was probably invented because of this very road!!

Moving map was moving!!

Back at the Villa, a crib game broke out again and I went down twice to Hugh.. argh! Kelly was half way through the next game when the dinner bell rang! 

Kelly was pretty beat and didn't eat a lot but did manage desert... funny how that works :-)  We finished up the evening with some TV, blogging and YouTube for some F1 race highlights. 

Breakfast is at 8:30 in the morning as we plan a trip to the west coast. Another great day of vacation is behind us.... off to bed.

Lucca Part 2 - Day 5

 Another day in Italy began with a quick shower and then we all gathered for breakfast. Coffee of course, scrambled eggs, sausage, fruit and some cheese cake thingy for good measure... oh and croissants. Yes another filling meal to get us prepared for the day.

Kelly wanted to return to Lucca and visit a certain shop within the walls. Bryan and Linda planned a trip to the coast to pick up their daughter Marisa and her partner Chris at the train station in Viareggio. They were coming down from Genoa to meet up with them.

We bid them adieu and headed down to Lucca. Some sightseeing on the way down in Torre and then we hit the crowds near the fairgrounds, as that section was packed. We did manage to get over to the bike rental place and eventually got rock star parking right beside the entrance to the walled city. Kelly had her parking app going and we had it all paid online. Super slick.  

Hugh and Simone decided to avoid the crowds and walked the upper wall for some exercise.  I walked with Kelly to assist in "directional control" and after we arrived at the store,  I went up to the upper walkway and soon caught up to the Porters. We walked the wall and enjoyed the sights & sounds of families and fellow tourists.

Kelly on a mission in Lucca!

 

San Frediano Basilica

 

View from the wall.

From the wall... I think it's an archery range ??

 

A gun crew moving a cannon.

Kelly had finished up shopping so we went into the city center to meet up for a bathroom stop, snack & beverage.  While we ate our snack, Hugh spotted a butcher shop close by so we headed there afterwards.  BBQ Chicken was on the menu tonight!! The butcher was excellent and ask if it was for BBQ? "Yes" I said and he cut and seasoned the chicken then and there. All very impressive!

 We headed back to the villa with a quick stop for some vegetables at the local store. Once at the villa, we unloaded and then gathered some firewood starter for the BBQ.  While we timed the start of the dinner another crib game broke out. The Gour family arrived with Chris & Marisa and they settled into the villa. We prepped dinner as the pool had some usage.

Crib action!

Chicken cooked over the wood coals.

 Dinner was done and we all enjoyed a game of Five Crowns.... which took us to 11:30 PM!! Chris and Kelly tied after a long battle and we all enjoyed the humor that continued throughout the game

Blogging complete, it's off to bed. Kelly and Simone plan a bike trip to Pisa and the lucky Gour family will leave us for their cruise out of Rome (Civitavecchia) on Monday.

Breakfast is on for 9:30 tomorrow.  Off to the rack.. spelling/grammar check in the a.m. .. as per usual :-)

Bolgheri Wine Region - Day 4

We were up and showered as we prepare for more adventures in Italy today and Yes!!! We did make breakfast as Elena was here early to prepare it.  No alarm necessary! We would be shamed if we missed it again!

Breakfast was hotcakes & eggs along with the usual croissants, jams, jelly's etc all very tasty.

After some discussion we decided to head to wine country and visit the Bolgheri wine center.  It’s a 1-1/2 hour drive out to the coast then down, south of Pisa, past Livorno and then into the Bolgheri region. 

Weather was mixed with some clouds and temps in the 17-18c range. 

We followed the gps routing and as we entered the autostrada, we had a directional error ((this is code for “turn right here versus go straight). No big deal as we just added only 10 minutes to our original route.  We just needed to take a right turn to get on the westbound autostrada and back on track.    Sadly we missed the turnoff and headed eastbound. We exited the highway and after reassessing the situation at the toll booth, we were able to "rejoin" the westbound autostrada towards Livorno.  Bryan and Linda were following us and I am certain they were rethinking that decision. :-) 

We arrived just before 13:00 and found parking in the back forty.  A short walk to the various stores and wine tasting shops… Both Hugh, Bryan & Linda tried several reds while Kelly and I tried several whites (knowing the whites are really not regional). They sampled three unique bottles and after much discussion, settled on the two best ones for purchase.

Prickly Pear Cactus

Glass works.

View from the wall.

Wine tasting. 

Lunch was nice and quick at the Osteria Enoceta La Bolgherese and then we took Bryan and Linda on a quick Geocaching hunt to find a cache. Luckily there was one close by! We explained the idea of the game and quickly had the cache in hand. 

 

Our drive home was a bit quicker as we took a different route home (fastest) and arrived back at the Villa just after 5 pm.   Cocktail hour started and we enjoyed the Villa’s outside views.

We also raised a glass to our friend Ron Auzins who was having a celebration of life back in Canada today. We have been reliving a few stories of Ron's adventures camping.

Dinner was served and we all pushed away from the table stuffed! It was delicious. We finished off our crib game from the day before and I came out on top this time with Hugh getting the stinky spot.  We then played some addition games with a guys vs gals theme. So far the guys have had the edge in all the games. 

Off to the rack.... another trip into Lucca tomorrow as we revisit some of the shoppes that Kelly was unable get into last trip. 

Pisa - Day 3

Yes it happened.... we slept in and missed breakfast. Darn.  I'll have to set an alarm clock for tomorrow morning... if I can remember how to do that!! Oh well the time zone effect is still with us. Breakfast was a tad cold but it was very good.  We cleaned up and got ready to head out for today's adventures.

Some planning for the day as Hugh searched out butcher shops for dinner tonight. He programmed the Nav system in the Alfa Romeo with several butcher shops as well as the Pisa City center.

Off we went on a rather hilly drive through the mountains. It was a lot of fun and reminded us of the trip through the Alps with all the switchbacks.  We soon found ourselves in stop & go traffic with lots of pedestrians.. a clear sign we had arrived near the Piazza del Duomo.  

It took a while but after a few side street excursions, we were able to get some parking within 10 minutes of the Square.  A short walk over and we enjoyed the views that brings millions of people here yearly. 

We bought a pass for everything (except the tower) and went into the Camposanto Monumentale, the Baptistery, the Cathedral and finally the Plazzo del'Opera Museum

 

Assorted pictures of the day..... 

Hugh & Simone pose before the tower.

Cathedral

Baptistery

Inside the Camposanto Monumentale

The shear size of these pieces is amazing.

Inside the Baptistry

One of the doors to the Cathedral.

Inside the Cathedral

The Pulpit in the Cathedral... built between 1302 and 1310.

Stunning views!

 

 

 

Enjoying the views.

 

After the walk through the Opera museum, we headed back to the car and we drove towards Lucca. Hugh was in search of a butcher in order to get a nice steak for dinner. The trip turned into a major search as all the shops his GPS went to were either closed down or non existent. We finally found one and after some trips around the block we found a parking spot. Some hand signals and poor english/italian and we had a nice steak in hand.  Finally!!

 

Back at the Villa, we prepped the fire as everyone was getting hungry. 

 

We past some time with another round of crib near the BBQ. We also had additional guest in Brian and Linda Gour arrive and we all enjoyed a great meal together.  

 

 

Serious business again!

 

Prepping the BBQ.

 

Steak dinner!

 

 Blogging is now complete and it is time for bed. I'll check punctuation etc in the morning and yes, my alarm is set!

The Walled City - Day 2

A nice long sleep-in until 8am local and I was feeling refreshed and ready to go.  A quick shower as our host Elena, prepare a lovely breakfast for us as we planned out our day's activities.  A trip into the Walled City to explore and shop was "targeted". I needed some phone data for both Kelly and myself and Simone wanted to check out some bike rental options.

Breakfast was served

 

More breakfast!!!

We headed off to Lucca and quickly found a parking spot! Yes amazing! Simone went to rent a bike and hoped to navigate the outer walls of the city in preparation for a long ride to Pisa at a later date. We took some pictures and headed through the gate. Once inside, we explored several churches and shops along the way. There are plenty inside!!

King Vittorio Emanuele II 

Chiesa di San Giusto

Inside the Chiesa di San Giusto

Did I mention parking in Italy is "tight" :-) 

Chiesa di San Michele

Chiesa di San Michele

Kelly popped into several shops along the way as we wandered the small streets. Lots of eateries but Hugh had his eye on one particular spot he had previously seen.  As the noon hour was almost up, we headed to the Osteria Baralla and met up with Simone. She had done numerous bike trips around the city and was going to skip lunch to do some more laps high and low... what a trooper but we had hunger pangs that needed attention! 

These liquids went down very nicely in the 27C heat!!

Lunch was very good as we enjoyed Beef Carpaccio with Pasta and Kelly had the Caprese Salad.  Kelly spotted a tiny shoe store but, unfortunately it was closed... she vowed to come back again!

Tiny shoe store.

After lunch we headed back to the car to meet up with Simone and traveled back to the villa to relax before dinner. The drive took us through some neat roadways. Hopefully this video works!

 

 Once back at the Villa, Hugh and I gave the car a bath and then relaxed poolside. We also managed to get the phones set up with a data plan using the e-sim feature. This is very slick and relatively easy to do. We face-timed with Kris (tech support) to double check settings. All good!

Hugh's view pool side!

We had a great talk about Hugh's selling of shares in his business and how it all went down. All very interesting to listen to these stories as I learned a lot about various aspect of how to sell such a diverse company. Lots of moving pieces! It all is working out and Hugh and Simone are ready for the next steps in life that retirement will bring. Exciting for a couple that have worked so hard for so long. It's time to enjoy the fruits of their labor!!

Dinner was prepared for us by Elena and we were stuffed after the second course... and still another one of Sea Bass that came.  Desert and aperitif followed and I needed both a wheel chair and assistance to get away from the table!

Scampi

Dinner time!

 Post dinner entertainment consisted of some additional work stories and some funny memorable moments in our past lives... and then the serious part commenced. Yep the crib board came out and it was time to see who could deliver on all the "bragging" since the last time we played.

Serious action!

Two 3 handed games ensued and both Hugh and I managed to win one each. Sadly Kelly got skunked on the last game. :-( It happens (I know firsthand!) but we will resume the "Italian Championships" again tomorrow and I am certain she will come back stronger. 

We all started to fade and it was bed time for everyone... except me. I had to get the blog done so they could read it and go to sleep! 

So day 2 of our trip is now in the history books. Off to the rack! Ciao!