I wake up the church bells are ringing its 7:30 AM. Kirsten is coming out of the bathroom fully dressed. Her and Bea are ready, Kirsten suggested they would walk the remaining villages and I could stay here and update my blogs. Hmmmm, walk a lot or sit at a café. Your right honey I think I need to take it easy today. I’ll stay here and update the blogs and check out. I’ll wait for you on the steps of the hotel. Ya’ll have a nice walk. After getting up I head up to the terrace, this is where the Wi-Fi is located. I sit down and start updating my blogs. Cappuccino, quite, beautiful view, its great for the first hour. A door opens and out walks Betty. Yea, Bea’s BFF. She told me all ... read more

We woke up and had breakfast with Peta and Eberchart. I’m still full from last night, but everything looks so good. We visited for 3-4 hours and then said our good byes. I told Kirsten I wanted to rest, so Bea took over navigating. Let me just say, Kirsten asked me to plan this trip early on. We typically have very loose plans. However, this time I decided to tighten up our plans a little. The original plan was to fly into Zurich, head south, attend the Opera in Verona, then go and visit their cousin. From there we would continue south toward Florence. Easy, Wrong, before I know it were now heading toward Parma. That’s west, not south. After Parma Kirsten asked Bea to start looking for another agriturismo for the night. We stopped in ... read more

We woke up; well Kirsten woke up and then woke me up. Let’s go the day is wasting, yea, yea I know you have the GO GO. I’ll see you at breakfast; Bea is already down there. I got up and did a 1-minute shower, in a shower that is 18 inches by 18 inches. I’m not kidding. I then joined Kirsten and Bea down stairs for breakfast. Ok, they watched me eat my breakfast as they planned their day. We loaded up the car and started going toward Verona As we were going south Kirsten saw the winery were we stayed 3 years earlier. She pulls in and says let’s see if their open. They were and we tasted some of their grappa, it was very good so we purchased a couple bottles for Kirsten ... read more

It’s 5 AM and Maria has fixed me a famous German breakfast. She got up earlier and got me up knowing I needed to be on the road by 6 AM. It was a great night sleep, its cool here and I slept with the windows open. It was great. I finished breakfast; Maria gave me all my instructions along with a picnic lunch for us all, just like momma and Oma. I loaded all my stuff into the car and pointed it toward Zurich. I’m following the same route I came, how hard can this be? Well it was, it pouring down raining and it’s dark. Long story short, I missed my turn and had to get my maps out and find another route. It helps to have a navigator. Finally, I’m heading in the ... read more

Sitting in JFK Well it’s not E Concourse in Atlanta, but it’s an interesting difference. Hello everyone, yes it’s me. I’m sure you’ve been wondering is Steve & Kirsten ever going to travel again. Where are those BLOGS? Yes, we have been traveling but mostly we’ve been taking cruises and Kirsten wouldn’t pay for Internet on the cruise ships, it was slow as 300 baud. Man I’m dating myself. On that note this trip is dedicated to someone’s birthday, Kirsten instructed me to plan a trip to Italy a few months ago. I excitedly accepted and started planning; well about half way into planning she changed the scope of the trip to include a third person. Hmmmm, you guessed it, Kirsten gave Bea a trip and she chose Italy. That’s Ok; I know how to handle ... read more