MURPHY32

Sept 27 Day 6 Off our own homemade breakfast meats, cheeses.... We where off to the east and after driving through Modica we headed for Noto. This town was a series of one way streets and we had heck of a time finding parking as it seemed to market day. Eventually we travelled past a parking lot and had to go around again to find it. We found our way to town center and the main was closed to traffic for about 8 blocks. Looking like it might be a nice day, we thought we might need umbrellas, so from a street vendor we bought a 5 euro umbrella. At our first stop we went to a church called San Salvatore which looked like it had just gone trough a major reno and was going to ... read more

Day 4 Moving On September 25th Its first thing in the morning and per usual since we’ve been in Florence we head upstairs to the 3rd floor for the european breakfast. It consists of meats cheeses yogurts breads cereals and of course cappachinos. Its always a bit of a heavy start but you get used to it. Our hotel was as lovely as Lissa and remembered, we actually stayed in the same room as we did 6 years ago and I think it’s the same mattress as it was just as hard. Everything said it was just as we remembered. This time we spent more time on the rooftop bell tower enjoying the view and of course Prosecco. Now its time to pack and head to the airport for a 1230 flight to Catania and off ... read more

Day 2 Antinori for lunch This was the day we went and got our car rental, about 1 km walk on a row of streets full of car rental agencies. I think they where all there.. Got the paperwork and now another km walk to the garage for pickup and wait for it to come from another location. 10 minutes and we where on our way... Bonnie our trusted GPS who sometimes does some strange things took her time in getting started since I don’.t think I used it since France a year ago. We started off trying to follow the map but within a few minutes we were a little lost. Finally Bonnie was charged and ready to go. The restuarant was only 28 kms away and we were in Passigno in 35 minutes. Since ... read more

Well its 10 days till liftoff and were off to Italy again(4th time). This time we'll start in Florence for 3 days and then off to Sicily. I love Florence and hope to see David again as he is the most fantastic piece of architecture I've ever seen. I could stand and stare for hours. We have a wine tasting and lunch the first day at Antinori just south of Florence. On day 3 we have a dinner reservation at the Frescobaldi restaurant and wine pairing. My wife will be in her glory as she has become quite the photographer and I'm sure I will get to be her camera bag caddy. We are traveling again with my cousin(sister cause she may as well be) Laura and her husband Dan. We travel well together and love ... read more

Day 22 Today Lissa and I our on our own. Laura and Dan have to see the pope. We walked in the rain to the Capitol museum which we have walked by many times.On our walk to the museum we noticed a very strong police presence today, swat helicopters and hundreds of police all the way to the museum. This museum was even more spectacular than the one in Napoli. The amount of scultures was amazing. A good many of them where found in a small building that was found right at the base of capitol hill. They where in shops and stores that where 1500 years old. There where found in the late 1800,s. Inside the museum is the original bronze statue of Romulus and Remas with the she wolf that rumour has mothered them. ... read more