Day 11 Today was the day we went to Banfi Castello for lunch. One of favorite wineries. We arrived shortly after 11:00, good thing for Bonnie, as it took a while. Signage isn.t all that good. Had an early apperetif, and off for lunch, we rec,d a 5 course meal with accompaning wines by their sommelier. Trev U would have enjoyed this. 2 hours for lunch and they kept coming back to fill our glasses we weren,t sure we could go home. We then had a tour of the winery and back to tasting room for some more wine. By 6 pm we had had our fill. Another night that Bonnie had to lead us home. Back to Montepulciano and that was another night. A great day was had by all. if you get a chance ... read more

Day 9 It was time to pack up and head out of Assissi and on to Montepulciano. Thank god we had the GPS. It has been a godsend. Bonnie as we call her has found every thing we are looking for. In montepulciano it took us right the through the middle of town after morning church. Boy did we get some looks. When we got to our apartment the owners where out so headed out for lunch. found a little wine bar with a view of the valley to the south. Spectacular!!! By the time we got back the owners where there and got to see this charming little 2bed 2 bath apartment with a great garden and fuit and walnut trees all over. We spent the day wandering through town and shopping for groceries and ... read more

Day 7 As soon as we walked out our door this morning I was reminded why Lissa and I had fallen in love with Asissi. The town is a maze of small streets going nowhere but still leading you to the next beautiful street. First I must tell you about our room, nice cozy and with beautiful views. The bathroom is 3 1/2 feet deep by 10 wide. Picture walking in the door and facing the sink to left is the baudet,toilet and on the wall the shower which is just a little in front of the toilet Just a drain and no curtain . Water all over the place!!! First off to St. Francis of Asissi church which in my mind is one of the most beautiful churches I have ever seen. It was built ... read more

DAY 5 After a great 3 days in venice it was time to move on. At 630 am we caught the vaporetto(watertaxi) expensive at that time of the morning and headed to the train.grabbed a capacino and croissant and on the train. 2hrs to Ferraro and a train switch. Landed in Ravenna at 1030am and walked aimlessly to find our hotel. Just outside the square sits the Hotel Byron. it seems that every town has a square. We went to Dantes tomb and off to the attached church. This town is famous for all of its mosaics. There was numerous buildings with mosaics that had either been removed and set aside for display or in church the floors where covered with them on the floors dating back to 4th century. The workmanship and detail for that ... read more

day 3 wine count from day 2 (5) abit of a slow start from last night, more so for dan and laura but at 930 we able to get them going. down to the rialto bridge for morning capacino and a chocolate croissant and away we go. spent some time in the market where lissa bought a beautiful scarf as it was a little colder here today. we where in search for a mask shop where we had bought a mask in disneyworld from the same artist, after 2 hours of wondering small side streets and coming across some inteeresting stores and resturants we finally found it. Closed and moved. Oh well back to find the unusual mask for the collection.So we headed for the aqua bus to go to Murano. Found a little pizza place ... read more