What I Really Think

Well, we made what I hope will be our final contributions to the Israeli economy this morning. A short walk down Ben Yehuda street produced a bracelet for me, a mezzuzah and scroll for Sammi, chocolate eggs, a necklace for Becky, some gifts for Chris's dad and aunt, a Bible for Chris, and another necklace for Sammi. We topped it off with some delicious gelato.

Oh and the sun burned off the haze so we have another beautiful day. Now, we're finishing our packing - surprisingly we don't need the extra suitcase, then we're off for some falafel and a few hours on the beach.

Unless Chris logs on later to do some work this probably will really be the last update until tomorrow. Yeah, I know I've said that before.

Have a good day all.

I saw this on Leslie's Blog this morning and thought I want to do it too. Hope it works.

• Blue is where I've been
• Red is where I've lived
• Green is where I want to go

We're here. Luckily didn't hit any major rain on the way up, just some drizzles. A tiny, tiny bit of traffic around Hartford getting onto 91. And a bit more just before we arrived in Vermont due to construction. Got to the house about 7:00 (more on the house later today). After we unloaded the car, we headed into town to Mr. Pickwick's for dinner (more on that later too).

Home to sleep, and now we're getting ready to do a bike ride (40 miles); the hills here look pretty daunting and I'm a bit nervous. Will let you know how that goes.

Oh and it's cool here! Need to buy some sweatshirts today. Okay - off to get dressed and get my oatmeal. Will check in later today (tonight we're hanging out at home so should have plenty of time).

Have a good day all!

Yesterday morning Chris and I went for our first Vermont bike ride. We had decided to do the Stowe City Weekend ride first published by the Green Mountain Bike Club. We found the route on bikely.com, which lists maps and sometimes cue sheets for the suggested rides. When I first found this route, I posted a comment asking about the hills, to try to get a feel for how bad the climbs were/are.

Well, I'm here to tell you they're bad!

Last night we drove to Montpellier, Vermont’s capita (and the smallest state capital in the US, by the way), to have dinner at the New England Culinary Institute. The Institute has two campuses, one in Essex and one in Montpellier and each campus has associated restaurants. In Montpellier, they have Brioche Bakery and Café, The Main Street Grill, and The Chef’s Table, their fine dining establishment. We opted for the last one, The Chef’s Table.

So there we were, Tuesday night, hovering over my laptop, looking at how far we climbed on our bike ride that morning and trying to figure out an alternate route for Thursday when poof, the lights went out! Now night is night, and it was black out there but I’m here to tell you, Vermont night is way blacker than New Jersey night.

Using the light from my laptop screen (battery powered), Chris found the flashlight we brought with us (good thing). We stumbled around, trying to find a fuse box, but couldn’t. We walked outside, to see if our neighbors had power, but they’re not here and so no lights were on. Some landscape lights were on across the street, but they could have been solar powered. What to do?

I guess it’s times like these where you might think that renting a property has it’s deficiencies compared to staying in a hotel but then I thought, what would you, could you do if you were in a hotel? Think about it?

Anyway, we found the caretaker’s phone number, and Chris called. AJ, the caretaker was great, he made some phone calls but couldn’t find out if it was just our house or others in the area. While he was doing that, the power company showed up. Can you believe it? I mean we’re not talking hours later but minutes, like within twenty minutes of our lights going out, the power company was outside, checking to see our status. They told Chris it was a problem on the line, and they were trying to determine the cause. When Chris spoke to AJ again, he insisted on coming out though Chris told him it wasn’t necessary, the power company was on top of things.

Within the fifteen minutes or so it took AJ to arrive, we found another flashlight (so I wasn’t stuck in one location) and lit some candles, which actually made everything seem romantic, and we admired the multitude of stars in the night sky. AJ pulled up and told us the power company was working down the street but wasn’t sure how long it would take. He had brought with him though a generator, just in case. We went inside, and talked (and had a beer) by candlelight and before we could even finish half the beer (okay I had a Sprite zero), the lights came back on.

So much for our adventure. I have to say though how impressed I was with AJ and his commitment to looking out for the guests (he manages over 60 properties, some rentals, some weekend residents, and some permanent residents), and the local power company. I think start to finish, we were without power for less than 90 minutes – kudos to all.

One of a multitude of road these types of road signs (I'll have to try to get a picture of a bear crossing one too)!

So you know on Tuesday we did that 40+ mile bike ride (we’re supposed to do another one today but it looks gross outside, and I personally, could get into a day of movie watching and/or book reading). Anyway, here’s some things we did the rest of Tuesday and Wednesday.

After we wolfed down our lunch at Pie in the Sky, it was time to do some provision shopping. We had decided before we arrived that we would do one meal out a day, so lunch out dinner in, dinner out lunch in, so we needed to get some provisions. I had read about Harvest Market and it sounded interesting, so first stop, we headed up Mountain Road (aka 108) for a visit.

It’s smaller than I expected but has a nice bakery and makes a decent espresso. They also have the standard “gourmet” food stuff items (e.g., Stonewall Kitchen jams and stuff) but Chris wasn’t too impressed with their cheese selection. So we ended up buying some pappardelle, a couple of jars of Chris’s favorite hot pepper jelly, some rosemary foccacia, a couple of Cabot yogurts (when in Rome and all), good olive oil, a frozen potato bacon soup (dinner tonight or lunch tomorrow perhaps), and a couple of cookies for munching. We didn’t bother looking at the wine they sold; it seemed more an afterthought.

Next, we headed up to Mountain Wine and Cheese. They had a decent wine selection but I think the mark-ups were a bit extreme. I like to find a bottle of something I know, to see the price differential in different stores. They had Palazzo della Torre for $22. We pay about $13 for it at home. There cheese selection looked good though, and we left there with some fresh Vermont cheddar, a duck liver pate and some chevre for Chris (not to mention some kinder eggs for Sammi – who knew)?

We still needed wine though and our options weren’t looking great. Last chance, we went in search of Fine Wine Cellars. They had a tag line, something like “you should be able to get good wine at both $10 and $100” our kind of place.

We found them, closer to the village, also on Mountain Road. This place is actually more of an Internet operation, that I think the owner runs out of the basement of his home. There’s a sign on the door that says, “Open, ring bell and we’ll let you in.” And sure enough he does. And basically, you walk down into his crate-packed basement with some wines on display but way too overwhelming to browse. We described for him what we like, and our price point (the $10 to $20 range), and he came up with some suggestions – it was actually great fun, he was so enthusiastic about wines and had some real unknown things.

First, we walked away with two bottles of the Monkey Barrel Shiraz that Chris tried on Monday night at Mr. Pickwick’s. Then he recommended a merlot to us. A merlot? We had just been saying earlier how we’re not merlot drinkers but okay – this guy swears buy it. He promises it’s not the generic fruity, smooth stuff that’s been mass manufactured but something akin to how the French produce/use their merlot grapes, so powerful that it’s been in the bottle for eight years and he’s just selling/drinking it now. It’s from Kiona Vineyards in Washington and we decide to buy a bottle. He also recommends a Pinot called O’Reillys and a Prosecco. We spent a bit more time talking wines with him, got our purchases and headed out, telling him we’ll be back before we return to Jersey on Monday.

Now we’re heading back to the house, where Chris has to take a conference call, and I do some writing but it doesn’t take long and we’re back out shopping. We park the car behind the Swiss Pot, check out it’s menu (fondues are their thing), the menu of the Blue Moon Café across the street (I can definitely eat there), and pop into Col D’Lizard so I can buy my Stowe Bike shirt. Talking to the woman who owns the shop, makes me feel better because she tells me how she learned to ride the hills around here and that there’s no shame in stopping for a rest going up them. Good, I feel better about my accomplishment as we head out the door to check out more of the town.

We pop into some other stores, a sundry place, the mercantile (where we buy a martini glass, and some mustards – a chipotle maple mustard kicks butt and I’m going to have to get some more). Finally, about five or so, after hitting Shaws for the basics (e.g., eggs, milk, oatmeal) we return to the cabin to hang.

We make up a little cheese and cracker plate, pop open that Merlot (which also kicks butt by the way, we’re so going back there today to buy 1/2 a case and get some of his restaurant reccomendations), and just enjoy the peace and quiet. I watch all the bikers riding down our road and insist to Chris, I’m not going inside until I see if these bikers return up the road. I want to make sure there’s no secret passage that avoids this hill. Eventually some do and that and the cold night air forces us indoors where we start to look at elevations of the ride scheduled for today (Thursday) to make sure it’s not too strenuous (it is but that’s another story).

Anyway, while we’re sitting there – the lights go out! Ah heck, I’m going to make that a separate entry.

Okay – so that wraps up Tuesday.

On Wednesday, after our hike, we hop into the car and head down to Cold Hollow Cider Mill to get some donuts, do some more shopping and to taste some wines – Grand View Winery has a tasting room across the parking lot from the cider mill.

The donuts rock – still warm when we buy them, we scarf down to many – that and a glass of milk and I’m in hog heaven. I don’t think Delicious Orchards or Emory’s has a thing on these guys. We also buy some hug tins of maple syrup before we head across the lot to taste some wines.

They charge you a buck to do the tasting but so what. It’s funny they have some wines made with grapes (e.g., seyval) but many of their products are made from other fruits (e.g., pear). So instead of having a grape wine that has the essence of pear, you could just buy pear wine and save the trouble. And honestly it wasn’t that bad.

We tried:

• Hard Cider
• Pear Wine
• Seyval
• Some red wine with a name that escapes me (I’ll go look), but they described it as the red wine for people who don’t like red wines. It wasn’t my favorite.
• Cranberry wine – made mistakenly from juice that they thought was cherry juice but ended up being from Cranberries.
• Raspberry Apple wine, which smelled and tasted like cough syrup to me until he spooned some ground bittersweet chocolate into it and then it wasn’t bad.

We ended up buying some Hard Cider, some funny cocktail napkins, and the Cranberry wine. Call me crazy, but besides the fact that it would actually go well with Thanksgiving dinner (well, except with sweet potatoes, I don’t think it would go well with them), I have visions of making a pork loin, stuffed with dried cranberries and goat cheese; I think it will work.

Into the gift shop where we bought a couple of funny cow t-shirts for the girls and then back home. Chris fidgeted with my bike, trying to get the granny gears to work, and I vegged on the computer. Then he went for a run, and I vegged some more, until finally, he returned and it was time to get ready to go to dinner.

Yesterday was hike day. For our first hike, we chose the Stowe Pinnacle, which to some of the locals, who do it regularly, is probably nothing more than a casual afternoon stroll (I come to this assumption based upon the few of them we saw on the trail, wearing pretty much everyday clothing), but for those of us who do not hike regularly, turned out to be a moderate hike.

When Chris is in a hokey mood he likes to say, "When life hands you lemons, make limoncello." Well, yesterday we got a couple of lemons - three to be exact. They're the tires on my car. We slept in a bit (read that as Chris slept in; I was up at my usual 6:15) and Chris went to The Bagel for bagels (surprisingly good bagels for being outside the NY Metro area - yes I am a bagel snob). Anyway, upon his return he stated, "Your tires are bulging; we need new ones, now." Great. We knew I was going to need new tires soon but had hoped they could make this trip but there were bubbles on three of them and there was no way, I felt comfortable driving home with those tires.

So first we looked on Super Pages but then Chris followed by suggestion and called AJ to see if he could recommend someone. He recommended Palmer's in Morrisville, a few miles up the road.

Chris called Dave at Palmer's and told him our problem and that AJ recommended him. Dave made some phone calls and found four tires for my car that he said he would have at the shop on Friday afternoon (today) and what time would we like to come by? So we have a 2:00 appointment for today. The tires are going to cost about $450 which is great because our Volvo dealer had quoted us a much higher price. Oh and before you think poorly of my car or Volvo, I have over 37K on these current tires so it was time for new ones.

On Friday morning, since Chris slept in, we decided to bag the Mount Hunger hike and opted for Sterling Pond instead. Sterling Pond is also considered a "moderate" hike and since no elevation was given on the list of hikes provided by the tourist information office we assumed it was relatively flat ... wrong!

I took this shot of the path as we were leaving; it doesn't do just to the initial climb up the stone steps.

Just an update on the car situation. So after our hike to Sterling Pond, we visited Stowe Dogs (1669 Mountain Road) for some lunch. Just a quick shout out to them because if you're looking for a good hot dog, with a myriad of toppings look no further. We each had a Stowe Dog (the local treat - hot dog smothered in meat and cheese) and shared some Stowe Fries (fries smothered in meat and cheese). Along with some diet Pepsi (I finally get the concept of a fattening meal but diet soda).

After lunch, we headed to Morrisville and our appointment with Palmer Automotive on Brooklyn Street. Another shout out to them - they put four new tires on my car in an hour - damage, $475 - considering when we bought the car the Volvo guy said it could be about $1000 to replace my tires, I think we did pretty good.

While they worked on the car, we walked over to Rock Art Brewery for our tour with Zeb. Zeb's a nice guy - not very vivacious though but he knows his stuff. It's a tiny operation, maybe one or two steps up from someone brewing beer in their garage but pretty darn cool. I've decided that brewing beer is the answer to making wine for those with ADD since it's less than 2.5 weeks from start to finished product. They have multiple varieties of beer (unfortunately no test tasting) and we found out they do sell in Jersey (time to call Glendale to see if they can get it for us). We bought a case of the Ridge Runner, and a 12-pack sampler for our friends, who are taking in our mail (to go along with the Vermont Maple Syrup we bought them). Now I'm sorry I didn't get the Rock Art t-shirt - oh well.

We also learned there's a Brewery Tour thing in Vermont called the Vermont Brewery Challenge. You get this little passport card, and at each Vermont Brewery you visit, you get it stamped. There are 18 breweries on the card. When you get 4 breweries, you get a bottle opener magnet that says, "Drink Vermont Beer." When you get 10 breweries, you get a "Drink Vermont Beer" t-shirt. When you get all the breweries, you get a Collector's Set of Vermont Beer Gear. We've got two stamps so far (visited another pub/brewery for dinner last night), but next summer, we're going to do a tour (we can get 3 in Burlington alone). If only we'd known about this earlier, it could have changed the entire tenor of the vacation.

After our tour, we headed over to Munchies for some ice cream - i got a creamee, what they call soft ice cream. Asked for a small, and got what I would consider to be an x-large (ended up throwing most of it out). I'd hate to see what a large is.

Then it was back home to rest before dinner. So the car thing worked out well in the end.

The next time someone from Vermont tells you that a bike ride has rolling hills, don't believe them! Those hills are mountains to you and me.

So yesterday was our 1/2 Century Ride that we were doing through the Mad River Valley. Chris found the ride on-line when we were planning our Vermont trip and signed us up. I mean after all, the feedback was positive, it sounded mostly flat, through valleys - how bad could it be? Bad!

But let me back up for just a moment because funny, small world story time, before the ride, we were having breakfast at the Dutch Pancake House when I'm looking out the window and I see this guy walking down the street. I say to Chris, "Hey, that looks like David M." He says, maybe it is but I'm thinking nah. Well then I look to the entrance of the dining room and I see his daughter and then my friend Jody, his wife. Jody and I served/worked together on the synagogue board a few years ago and while we don't socialize outside of the synagogue, we do stop to chat there still whenever we see each other. Funny to run into them here - and as it turns out, they visit Stowe and stay at Smugglers Notch every summer for a week. Funnier part of the story, while we were hugging and catching up in the lobby for a minute, the bus boy started to clear our table, thinking we had skipped out on the check.

Anyway, after our hearty breakfast of pancakes, we hit the road to the Waitsfield for our bike ride. Now I was pretty damn nervous after Tuesday's ride about the hills. I felt demoralized in my biking skills, so when we found the check-in point (1.6 miles away from the finish line - more on that later), the first thing Chris asked was, "How hilly is the ride?" To which the check-in ladies replied, not bad, it's rolling hills. Liar, liar pants on fire.

I've decided I put my body through enough punishment this week - though my left calf finally feels a bit better, I'm taking it easy today. Hanging out reading my book, a walk into town to check out the Farmer's Market and maybe some last minute shopping and then we've decided on dinner at home tonight - we're thinking steaks, salad and some bruschetta with some left over bread.

I still need to write some entries for restaurants, Michael's on the Hill, The Shed, Pie in the Sky and the Dutch Country Pancake House but that's it. Maybe I'll do those today and we'll close out Vermont.

Tomorrow, we hit the road about 9, hoping to stop at the cider mill for one last round of donuts, and arrive home by 4.

So page down for the last few entries, and check back later, if restaurants are your thing.

Then it will be on to Paris!

Wearing
Black Jeans (maybe, maybe not)
Black Shoe Boots
Black Blazer
Which top? Pumpkin Sweater? Olive Green?

Clothing
Black Pants
Stone Pants
Chamois Pants (maybe - maybe not)
Pumpkin Top
Eggplant Top
Red Top
Black Top
Tan sweater and tank
Raincoat
underwear
Socks
bras
PJs
Black Sneakers

Electronics
French Cell Phone (thanks Amy)
Phone Charger
Adapter
Lap Top
Lap Top Plug
Lap Top airline adapter
Lap Top Ethernet cord (just in case)
Camera
Camera Charger
Camera cord (to hook up to laptop)
Ipod
Ipod Charger
US Cell phone (fully charged but off for return)
Head Phones

Accessories
Sun Glasses
Healthy Bag
Pens
Fold-up Duffle
Jewelry (maybe)

Books
My Sister's Keeper
Blue Guide Paris
Paris Walks
Journal
Plan De Paris
Rounding the Mark (Camilleri)
The Patience of the Spider (Camilleri)

Hygeine
Tooth Brush
Shampoo
Cold Medicine (just in case)
Tooth Paste
Deoderant
Makeup (maybe)
Blister Blockers
Advil
Sleepy Time

And after packing (still need Sleepy Time and US Cell Phone but did manage to get my workout clothes in there too):

.
The boots, I'm wearing on the plane (I think).

Things to Do
Climb to the top of Notre Dame
The Abbey of St. Denis (Tombs of French Kings)
Hotel des Invalides - Napolean's Tomb (seeing a theme here), hmm maybe also the Museum of Liberation too.
The Views of Paris Bar Tour
Louvre - Dutch Painters
Sacre Couer
Pantheon - Frescoes of Sainte Genevieve and Foucault's Pendulum
Musee de l'erotisme
Instit du Monde Arabe
Deportation Memorial
Holocaust Memorial
Walk around Isle de Cite
Walk around Isle Saint Louis
Markets, markets and more markets
Sip some decent wine
Watch People
Sun Dial - Place de la Concorde
Opera House - Chagall Windows
Notre Dame at Night - heck Paris at Night!
Les Halles
Picasso Museum

Food I Want to Eat/Try
Those pork things Shannon keeps talking about
Falafel
Crepes (nutella and ham and cheese)
Macaron (and possibly the Macaron comparison tour)
Oysters
Moule (Mussels baby)
Bertillon's
Steak Frites
pain aux chocolat
croissants aux amandes

Things to Buy
Mustard
Bike shirt for Chris
Chocolate Eggs for Sammi
Something funky/cool for Becky (hopefully Shannon and Colleen can help)
Chocolates for Mom and Stephanie
Magellan Gin for Chris (at airport only)
Gifts for Katlyn and Lindsey
Calandre by Paco Rabanne for Maureen

There was some discussion a while back about which place made the best Macaron. If we have some time this week, I thought it would be fun to visit as many of them as we can and do a comparison - you know if the name of research.

Gérard Mulot
76 Rue de Seine, 6th
Tel: 33-1-46-33-49-27

Pierre Herme
72, rue Bonaparte
75006 PARIS
Tel : +33 (1) 43 54 47 77
Ouvert du lundi au dimanche de 10 heures à 19 heures
Le samedi jusqu’à 19h30

Fauchon
24-26 place de la Madeleine, Paris 8ème
Tél : 01.70.39.38.00
8:00am - 9pm Monday - Saturday

Jean-Paul Hevin
231, rue Saint-Honoré - Paris 1er
from Monday to Saturday from 10am to 7:30pm
Closed : Sunday and holidays

23 bis, avenue de la Motte Picquet - Paris 7ème
from Tuesday to Saturday from 10am to 7:30pm
Closed : Sunday and Monday

3, rue Vavin - Paris 6ème
Opening hours : from Tuesday to Saturday from 10 am to 7.00 pm
Closed : Sunday, monday and holidays

Hévin2 - 16, avenue de la Motte Picquet - Paris 7ème
Opening hours : from Tuesday to Saturday from 10am to 7pm
Closed : Sunday and Monday
Closed annually : from July 2 to September 4, 2006, opening Tuesday September 5.

Stand Hévin - Printemps Haussmann - 64, boulevard Haussmann - Paris 9ème
Opening hours : from Mondayday to Saturday from 9H35 am to 7 pm
Nocturne : late-night opening : thursday to 10 pm
Closed : Sunday and holidays

Laduree
Ladurée Royale
16, rue Royale - 75008 Paris
Tél : 01 42 60 21 79 - Fax : 01 49 27 01 95
Open Monday to Saturday, 8.30am to 7pm & Sunday, 10am to 7pm

Ladurée Champs Elysées
75, avenue des Champs Elysées - 75008 Paris
Tel : 01.40.75.08.75 - Fax : 01.40.75.06.75

The Restaurant is open daily from 7.30am to 12.30am - The shop is open daily from 7.30am to 11pm except on Saturday 8.30am to midnight and on Sunday 8.30am to 10.00pm

Ladurée Printemps
62, boulevard Haussmann - 75009 Paris
Tel : 01.42.82.40.10 - Fax : 01.42.82.62.00

Open daily except Sunday, 9.35am to 7pm, with late opening on Thursdays until 10pm

La Maison du Chocolat

- 225 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré: Monday to Saturday from 10.30am to 7pm - Sunday from 10am to 1pm
BE CAREFUL: Due to the refurbishment of this boutique, it is closed until the end of semptember 2007

- 52 rue François 1er : Monday to Saturday from 10am to 7.30pm

- 8 boulevard de la Madeleine : Monday to Saturday from 10am to 8.00pm

- 19 rue de Sèvres: Monday to Saturday from 9.30am to 8.00pm - Sunday from 10am to 2pm

- 120 avenue Victor Hugo: Monday to Saturday from 10am to 7.30pm - Sunday from 10am to 1pm

- Printemps Haussman (2nd floor of the Printemps de la Maison) :
Monday to Saturday from 9.35am to 7pm (until 10 pm on Thursday)

- Carrousel du Louvre : Monday to Sunday from 10am to 8 pm

Minor language barrier this morning. Shannon, the first to arrive, went to the Quais des Seine in Terminal 2F (our designated meeting area) and ordered a cappucino. What she got was tuna salad. How does that happen?

Drinks at the Tuilleries

We had some expensive but crappy table wine while enjoying the ambiance of the Tuilleries after a forced march that Colleen put us on yesterday - how many miles did we go? If our friend, David, was with us, we would have probably been able to order a better wine. He's very knowledgable about wines.

The Girls in the Center of Paris
Is there some religious significnace to standing on this spot? People seemed to do it, and hang there like they were praying to Notre Dame - totally didn't get that. Maybe, our friend, David, can explain it to us.

Yesterday we went from Arch

View of Arch de Triomphe from La Defense

To arch

Grand Arche de la Defense from the Arche de Triomphe

Napolean's Tomb
... that all we're doing is eating and drinking, in addition to climbing the 300+ steps to the top of the Arch de Triomphe (we didn't go to the top of the Grande Arch because they wanted 8€ for the privaledge and wouldn't even credit it to our drink order - there's a bar at the top), yesterday morning we visited Invalides.

Our Evening Snack

The Subway Station at Porte de Clignancourt

We went up to the flea market at Porte de Clignacourt and such a seething mass of humanity I have never seen. Once you get through the typical junky fare, the tourista stuff and the clothing, you do hit some cool albeit expensive antique shops. Though we did find some cool, inexpensive costume jewelry at one store in that area and had to buy one, well, maybe two bracelets.

Word of warning, buy your metro tickets before you reach Clignancourt.

Instead if you can find it, there's this cool little Italian place on Rue Rosiers, where they have decent but pricey (in the teens) pizza, good table wine and some nice salads and pasta.

Colleen and Kim, first drink of the day, no really

Fauchon Paper Cup
Well, at least judging by some. Today we were served Noisette (I think that's what the French call a machiato) in paper cups at Fauchon. What is this world coming to?

The Mod Squad at Concorde

We think this is where Marie Antionette bit it, but none of us read French, so we can't be sure.

Blooms in the Garden
Paris is a walking city - truer words probably haven't been spoken and yesterday we proved it. To the point, that by the end of the day (after 9:00 pm at this point), Colleen, called, "Uncle" and we hopped on the nearest metro (the 7 to the 10) to head home. We had gotten a late start but man did we cover some ground in our 10 hours out.

After snacking on some pain au chocolate (I made an early morning pastry run), and some coffee we hit the road for the Luxemborg Gardens. Just so you know, my grand ideas of getting up and walking early never panned out; I've been sleeping until 7:30 or so and it didn't make sense.

So, in a bit of drizzle, we headed off to the gardens but before making it in, we realized we needed a bit of sustenance first and popped into Dalloyau Pons on 2 Place Edmond Rostand where Colleen picked up some mini quiches, little puff-pastry wrapped sausage and these prunes wrapped in caramelized bacon, while I added to the ever growing macaron collection.

Those things didn't suck.

In NJ, we have this thing called Teacher's Convention. It's a basically a boondoggle for teachers where they get together in Atlantic City each year. The thing about this convention though, is that it isn't during the summer when teachers and therefore pupils are off from school. It's in November. And it's not on the weekend; it's on a Thursday, Friday, and I think part of Saturday. So once you get past the whole inaneness of the scheduling of this "convention," you realize it's a pretty good time to take your kids on a trip somewhere - off season, and the only other people you may run into are fellow "Jerseyians" or is that "Jerseyites?"

Well, that didn't take long - set the plan yesterday morning and by yesterday afternoon, it changes. Such is life.

So here's what happened. Yesterday Representative Rush Holt's office called me. That's who I contacted about arranging a White House tour. They wanted to get my travel information to see if they could set up something for us. I explained to the nice aide, that my husband was able to arrange a tour of the West Wing on Saturday (again, long story, short) to which he replied, "Well you can't be that."

But then he asked, "So do you have any interest in touring the Capitol while you're here?" Turns out they're setting up some tours on Friday and he could get us on the 3:00 tour (maximum 15 people). I said, "Sure!"

So now it will be zoo in the morning, then head over to the Capitol in the afternoon for the tour. Still not sure when we'll squeeze in the National Archives but we'll do it. Three days just isn't long enough!

Chris and Sammi lounging on the couch/bed

I'm sitting in our room at the Homewood Suites on Massachusetts Avenue. I opted for this hotel because of the good rate ($169), the kitchen and the fact that it's two rooms. I like two rooms when traveling with the girls because it gives us the opportunity to spread out. I like the idea of the kitchen because it gives us the option of meals (at least breakfast in the room).

As it turns out though, breakfast in the room is not necessary as the hotel offers a full breakfast in the lobby seven mornings a week. On weekdays from 7am until 9am and on weekends until 10am. The breakfast buffet includes, eggs, bacon/sausage, biscuits, toast, bagels, donuts, muffins, hot and cold cereal, yogurt and fruit along with coffee, tea, juice and water. Seating didn't seem to be a problem as the tables turned pretty quickly, filled with families taking advantage of the offerings.

Four nights a week (Monday - Thursday), the hotel also offers a "light meal" for dinner from 5pm until 7pm. It's one offering and according to the schedule in our room, they have things like deli subs, grilled chicken, tacos, hot dogs, and more. They do not appear to repeat during the entire month. We opted to skip these offerings on our Thursday night stay, and instead, walked over to the Whole Foods Market on P street (about a 5 minute walk), and picked up sushi (for Becky), pasta (for Sammi), and soup and salad for Chris and I. Along with some beer, snack foods, fruit, and various cookies for dessert, we had a little picnic in our room once Chris arrived (after 8:30). Oh I should also mention that during the light meal, the hotel also offers small cans of soda (sprite, coke, diet coke and ginger ale) in addition to wine and beer.

Oh and let me mention, our "kitchen" consists of a wall with a dishwasher, sink, microwave, full size refrigerator and two-burner stove. There are a basic amount (four) of plates, glasses, bowls, utensils etc. No wine bottle opener, no beer bottle opener that we found and some glass bowls and a couple of metal pots for reheating. We were able to get a wine bottle opener from the front desk.

In the same room as the kitchen is a TV, two-person couch, and chair with ottoman, in addition to a little "bar" at which sits my laptop (because it's where the free hard-wire Internet access is), that has two seats. Our bedroom (separate room), consists of two full-sized beds, sink, shower/tub and toilet room. There are five drawers, and one closet in the suite.

Chris and I ended up sleeping on the couch, which folds out into a bed, so that each girl could have their own bed. We found it satisfactory - not as comfortable as the beds but not horrible. The girls found the beds to be extremely comfortable (also note, the bedroom has its own TV).

It took us about 15-20 minutes (maybe more because we stopped at Au Bon Pain along the way) to reach the Washington Monument on foot - probably about 25 minutes to reach the National Archives, and the Smithsonian Air and Space would probably be another 10 minutes beyond the archives.

Unless something drastic happens in the next twenty four hours, I would definitely recommend this hotel.

When we were in San Francisco some ten years ago, we stopped for lunch, or was it dinner, one day at Gordon Biersch and were introduced to their addicting garlic fries (which we later chowed down upon at a Giants' game). Not realizing they're a chain now, Chris grew quite excited when we walked past one of their restaurants on 9th street yesterday, on our way to the National Archives. No matter what else happened the rest of the morning, he made up his mind that we were having lunch there that afternoon.

Last night we went for dinner at Sette Osteria, recommeded by Chiocciola on the Slow Travel Talk Forums. I was looking for an inexpensive place, near our hotel, where both the kids and adults could find something good to eat and this fit the bill just fine.

More later, but I just wanted to throw these pictures up that I took with my cell phone from our West Wing Tour today.

Sammi and Becky in the Rose Garden.

We have a bunch of other shots on the cameras but forgot to bring a cord with us to upload to the PCs.

Sammi in the Press Room

Hope they come out okay. The West Wing is much more compact than I would have guessed and not nearly as busy as depicted in the movies and on TV (of course the President wasn't there today, so that might have something to do with it).

Oh, and the eagle's head always points to the olive branches now - since we're always striving for peace.

More later.

Had to start a new category for this. After all we're going to Paso Robles in a few weeks (need to put some more info up about that), but also because we won! Yep, last night the sisterhood of our synagogue sponsored Passover Poker. Yes, I know, it's not Passover but the game really isn't Poker either. It's just last year when we had the event, we did have it during Passover, and we liked the alliteration (okay, we couldn't come up with a better tag line), so we kept it. Actually, here's the slide we used for information in the synagogue lobby (I created it).

Anyway, as part of the event, we also had a silent auction and a tricky tray. One of the silent auction items was for a weekend stay (two nights), including breakfast and two spa treatments (or two rounds of golf but we don't play, so massages for us), at The New Rancho Las Palmas.

And our bid won! Not a steal, but definitely not the advertised value and heck, the proceeds go to charity, win, win!

So now we need to figure out when we can go. Chris wants to go soon, like March because he has carry-over vacation he needs to use up by March 31st. I was thinking October, since we'll be in Paso Robles in February and Savannah in April but heck, twist my arm, not, and I'm up for March as well. Time to call Mom for some begging and pleading!

Well, it's done. We booked our airfare for Palm Springs yesterday. There's something so exciting about taking that step, that commitment. We're leaving on March 19 flying into LAX on a 6:45 am flight. We originally had wanted to fly into Orange County but it was a later flight and about $40 more expensive, so we opted for LAX. We return on Saturday March 22 on a 3:45 flight. Now I need to find out if there's any hiking in the area as Chris really wants to do that. Me, I'm up for sitting by a pool, reading some good books.

Also on the California travel front, we booked our rental car for our Paso Robles weekend - $35 a day for a Ford Taurus or equivalent, not too bad. I had started looking into booking a car for Palm Springs and out of curiosity looked at the convertibles, but they wanted $95 a day - way too much considering I can drive one at home for free.

Thanks to Jerry's suggestion here, I contacted Kaydee who mentioned that she went hiking with Terry in the Slow Travel Talk forums here. Follow that? Anyway, Kaydee sent me the link to Palm Springs Aerial Tramways (click on Things to Do for hiking information), which looks really cool. Lots of trails to choose from so now we need to remember to bring some warmer clothing. Very excited. Of course, Chris is already planning a morning hike followed by lunch in one of the restaurants up there.

Cannot wait.

Yes, it's freak out time - time that I realize, I'm leaving in less than 24 hours and need to get ready for this trip. I have the added wrinkle that Chris's Dad, George, is watching the girls on this trip. It's not like when my Mom watches them. I can't leave with laundry that needs to get done, knowing she'll do it. I can't leave without food in the house, knowing she'll buy it. I can't leave without making sure every single detail is written down because she'll figure it out. George has a good heart but he's fairly clueless so every detail must be handled ahead of time, otherwise there will be endless phone calls explaining everything over and over and over again, probably at 5:00am because he'll forget there's a three-hour time difference.

These lists will updated as the day goes along

So here's the to dos.

• write-up girls' schedule for George
• cook baked ziti
• take chili out of freezer - leaving for Becky on Saturday
• food shop
• finish laundry
• pack
• straighten up house
• put towels in guest bathroom
• get cash (still owe Shannon $50)
• print directions to Albertson's
• print directions to house
• put cell phone numbers into cell phone, Shannon's Marian's and Gloria's
• Gym - get cards signed
• Gym - directions to gym in next town
• Feed birds
• Refill Fala's food
• Call Rena - carpools for Sunday
• Haircut
• WW
• Work
• Pump iron - I'd really like to slam some faces but this will have to do
• Farm pickup - or see if Lisa wants this week CSA share
• recycles

And here comes packing...

So this is the second year for the Paso Robles Slow Bowl. Unfortunately, Chris and I missed out last year but when we heard about the great time had by all, we knew we had to go this year. Shannon has worked out an incredible itinerary for us, check it out:

Friday: Gathering at the house - mac and cheese cook-off

I think everyone is scheduled to arrive around 6:00 for a mac and cheese cook-off (I'm making a vat of chili in case anyone wants some chili-mac - plus it's a little easier on the WW points than the mac and cheese). I imagine there will be much chilling, and socializing throughout the evening.

Saturday

10:30 coffee and pastries at the cottage
11:30 Trolley Pickup at the cottage
11:45 Trolley Pickup at the Melody Ranch
12:00 – 1:00 Castoro Cellars (rumor has it they make a fantastic tempranillo)

Trolley riders – the trolley will drop you off and pick you up at all of the next three stops. Drivers - I will bring some maps for you.

1:30 – 1:50 arrival at Tablas Creek more wine tasting - yum.
2:30 – 2:50 pickup at Tablas Creek
3:30 Trolley drop off at the cottage

4:30 - 5:30 book swap at the Melody Ranch (I think we're going to pass on this and veg)

6:00 party at the cottage

Sunday

10:00 brunch at Artisan
1:00 Wine tasting at Justin Winery
3:00 - ? Super Bowl/Veranda sitting at the Paso Robles Inn for whoever is interested. The veranda is a fairly football free zone, while the bar just inside has all your big screens and yelling. I was going to hang in the football free zone but now that the Giants are in....

Monday

Chris and I hit the road for the journey back to SFO and our flight home. Sounds pretty cool doesn't it?

I don't know where in my life I heard empty beer and wine bottles referred to as dead soldiers but that's what we call them. And many a brave "soldier" gave its life for us at Paso, 24 on Friday night and plenty more than that on Saturday night (we lost count because we kept discovering them around the house, all day Sunday). But at this point, I'd like to note, the "soldiers" that came home with us.

We started our tastings at Castoro Cellars on Saturday and I don't know if it was working out at the gym, or not eating enough breakfast, but halfway through that first round of tasting, I needed a break and my notes lost, remember very little. Yet, a package showed up yesterday, containing six bottles of Castoro wines, three Due Mila Sei 2004 and three Venti Quattro Anni. I'll trust to Chris's taste whether these were good or not because, unfortunately, I do not remember and can't find my notes.

No ... not me, though I wish. It's Becky! Can you believe that? My daughter is going to Australia before me. All at once I'm excited, jealous, nervous and a bit scared. I'm excited at the prospect of traveling so far (until of course I remember, I'm not going). I'm jealous - well because she is. But nervous and scared because I'm her mom and that's just a natural reaction to the thought of your fifteen year-old travelling half-way around the world without you.

She's heading overseas with People to People, which I had been vaguely aware of before she received her invitation letter. Now, I've come to realize it's a huge organization. I can't believe how many kids I know that went on one of their trips and I just didn't realize it.

The process goes, first you get your invitation letter. Then you attend a 60-minute informational meeting. Then you must apply. As part of that, you have to submit three letters of recommendation, two from teachers, one from someone else. Finally, you have an interview (which turned out to be a group interview - with 9 other kids), and then you're in. It sounds more involved than it actually was.

Once you're accepted you have between four and six meetings where the kids learn about each other and about the country (or countries) of their destination. These meetings last from two to three hours each. Last night we had our first one and parents were encouraged to stay (we're not required to stay for the second or third but must return for the fourth). We didn't do much other than organize into committees (food - three hour meetings - there must be food, bon voyage party, reunion party, and then some research committees). The research committees need to get information on cell phone rentals and purchase, Visa buxx cards, and hiring a bus to get the kids to the airport on departure day. I didn't sign up for any of those, choosing reunion instead - hey what can I say it sounded like more fun. Though I will do some research on my own using SlowTrav into the cell phone thing. We're still not sure if she's taking one or not.

Since Becky was in the first round of interviews, I (along with the other parents at that interview), got snagged into bringing snacks for last night's meeting. I thought I'd go with the theme.

We served kangaroos, crocodiles and sheep. People got a kick out of them, but man they were a lot of work. Next time, maybe airplanes.

Stupid MT! I had this entire entry typed, went to publish, found an error and lost the entire entry. This is why you should always save as unpublished first - urgh!

Okay - finally Saturday night, after waiting, and waiting, Becky finally received her departure date. They were supposed to let us know 45 days after our initial meeting (back on January 13). They had indicated, it would probably be earlier. But 45 days came and went and nothing.

Parents called, and they'd promise a few more days, a few more days. Then this past week, after I spoke to someone on Monday and he promised Friday. Then I spoke to someone Friday and he promised Saturday, the date came through.

It irked me a bit because one, they had already hit my credit card with the first payment (which they shouldn't have done without a departure date). What if the dates didn't end up working for us? I should only be out my deposit (if that), not 1/3 the cost of the trip. Plus, they were holding us up planning our own summer vacation. As it is, one of our leaders (aka chaperons) had to back out because the departure date conflicts with family commitments she has during that period of time.

Anyway, cool thing, there's a count down clock on the website (days, hours, minutes). So Beck's out of here in 121 days! (July 8th to you and me).

So very exciting.

Yipee!

So our plan for this brief respite, is to sleep, hike a little, sit by the pool and read, and some nice dinners out. That's it. We just want a quick recharge. But before that can happen, we first must get some things done at home.

• As always - laundry!
• Send in Becky's health form for her trip
• pack
• leave check for Anna
• arrange carpool for Wednesday
• arrange ride home from school for Becky Wednesday (worse case - she can take the late bus)
• go over schedule with Mom (or lack there of)
• clean house for Anna
• trash cans to curb Tuesday night/or make sure Becky can handle them Wednesday - they're huge and I don't want George, with his bad back moving them
• taxes!!!!! - forgot about these - everything's organized, so hopefully it won't be hard
• make hamentashen
• make sure extra sheets/towels are ready for Mom in guest room
• pay bills
• blog missing days - no need, bringing laptop.
• call haircut appointments - girls
• Mail package to Deborah
• Mail Goldilocks contract.

Better get cracking.

Okay - wipe your dirty minds. I'm not giving you details of that activity but instead tell you about the hike we did today, here in Rancho Mirage, called the Bump and Grind. At first, after I had slept late, we thought we'd bag it for another day of sitting by the pool but feeling like slugs, we changed out of our bathing suits, and hit the road (with a stop first at Starbucks for breakfast) before beginning our climb up some stark but beautiful hills.

I’ve been meaning to blog about Savannah every day since we’ve been here but just haven’t had the time. Staying in the house with Shannon, Marcia, David (and Chris who joined us very late Friday night), there’s always someone to talk to, hang with (not to mention having the planners right around the corner), so writing gets pushed to the back burner. Plus, writing that Blue Screen of Death saga, took a lot out of me and I needed to recharge. Being here definitely gave me an opportunity to do that. Plus, this morning, after another late night (to bed after 1:00am), I’m the early riser, with everyone still sleeping, so the perfect time to start organizing my thoughts.

I have to admit, to be perfectly honest (as opposed to semi-honest?), that I wasn’t 100% looking forward to this trip. We’ve been taking so many of these short hops over the last two months, that I’m a bit frayed around the edges, and wanted to just plant at home for a while. But man, I’m glad I came.

First off, one never turns down the opportunity to hang with Shannon. Besides the fact, that she’s the ONLY person, I’ve ever vacationed with who gets the coffee going before me, she also does dishes (yes, that was me guiltily slinking off last night to bed while she washed our champagne glasses and other assorted items – I just couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer. Guess I’m more of a morning cleaning person). Plus, she’s so laid back and mellow, you’d be hard-pressed to hang with her and not relax and have a good time.

Let’s talk about David for a moment too. He’s the hero of the trip. First he figured out how to get the a/c going downstairs (although cloudy much of the time we’ve been here, it has been warm and a bit muggy), then he figured out the a/c upstairs, and finally, got the hot water heater going enough so that we all had hot (as opposed to lukewarm) showers! Go David!

Marcia’s another mellow yellow. Just sit back, chat and drink some wine. Although, I think we wore her out a bit. Yes, Marcia, I saw you doing a bit of rubber-necking on the ghost tour last night. :D!

Now there’s everyone else – and I mean everyone. It’s a strange sensation, to arrive in a city which you’ve never been, start to unload your car, and run into not two, or three or even four people you know but a dozen! With the planning committee staying around the corner, and Jane, Ken and the famous Casey, across the square, we had met all our “neighbors” within the first 10 minutes of our arrival. Because of that, I immediately felt at home in this foreign city. (I remember living in St. Louis, it’s one of the things I hated, going out, and never running into anyone I knew – because I knew so few. I like this feeling, it makes me feel connected. My Mom and Dad seem to be able to run into people they know no matter where they are in the world; I think that’s cool).

Now, here I sit on the last morning of this whirlwind trip, as I hear the others stirring, and I want to organize all my thoughts and get them down, so I’ll always remember them. Luckily, I face the possibility of about 4.5 hours in the JAX airport (unless I get stand-by on the earlier flight), to do some serious writing. Hopefully I can find a place to plug-in.

When we head up to Vermont next month, we're hoping to do three or four bike rides over the course of the week. One we know we'll do is a repeat of the first ride from last summer's vacation, the Stowe City Ride. If you remember, this one killed me; it's where I realized they don't have hills in Vermont, they have mountains.

The other ride we definitely want to do is the one I chickened out on last year, the Ferry to Ferry ride.

Yes, it's got 2200 feet of climbs, with that one big hill, but heck, you do get the break of the ferry in there (twice), and there's something cool about riding in two different states.

Waiting to Board the Bus

One More So You Can See the Luggage

One of the things the chaperons on Becky's trip do is initiate a phone chain whenever they fly and touchdown in their destination. Yesterday, Becky left for LAX where she'll catch a connecting flight to Sydney. What does that mean? At 1:30am (flight was an hour late) my phone rang but it wasn't Allison, the chaperon, it was Becky! It seems Natalia let Becky use her phone. Beck didn't know if she should call because she didn't know if it would make her feel bad. She felt better but I felt a bit sad after talking to her. Though, still good to hear her voice (even at that crazy hour) and know she's okay. Five minutes later, my cell phone rang (that's my designated reach number), and it was Allison telling me everyone was good, the flight was a bit delayed and to initiate the phone chain.

It looks like her flight to Sydney may have departed late, so I should get another phone chain call in about 11 hours.

Stowe Pinnacle View
With all the commotion over Becky's departure, I totally haven't focused on my own departure Saturday to Vermont! Chris has really stepped up and done a bunch of planning (in regards to hikes and bike rides) for this trip, and having this as our second time to the area, makes it easier too because we know what to expect (and where we want to eat out).

We're doing a couple of things different this year. One, since we're not going while the girls are at encampment, we can leave on Saturday morning and take advantage of the Stowe Farmer's market on Sunday to stock the cabin. Two, since we don't have to leave in the afternoon, and can hit the road early, we're going to make some stops along the way. Three, we're extending our visit by one day going Saturday - to Sunday as opposed to Saturday to Saturday.

Back at it - lots to do today and I'm in pre-trip panic. At least I get to copy last year's packing list and tweak it.

So what do you do when you wake up at 5:00 in the morning and your husband is snoring cheerfully beside you? Get out of bed, turn on the computer and see if your daughter has updated her blog from Australia.

She hadn’t and after taking care of some things (like checking the weather forecast, it was supposed to be miserable), I decided to go for a bike ride. Nothing too complicated, but I really wanted to go down the road our house was on to see where all those cars were going to and from the night before.

Some of you may remember this entry from our last trip to Vermont, I'll Take a Century any Day. It describes the first ride we did in Vermont. Well, this year, we decided to do it again - sort of a gauge to see how are training was going. And I have to say, it's going well!

The long and the short of it - I had to get off my bike twice on Ferry, once to rest on the steep uphill (but I never walked) and once to answer my cell phone, as it was the phone call from Becky's chaperon, telling me they had landed safely in Darwin and I needed to call the next parent in the phone chain. Panting, I listened and then dialed. But after that, I didn't stop on any of the hills! Not on those two hills on Stagecoach and not going up Stowe Hollow road either! Slow and steady but I did them!!

Now for the almost Fledgling disaster ... while we were on Randolph Road, we saw a fledgling in the middle of the road who couldn't fly. We could hear the parents above us going bonkers as we approached (experienced from our time with the Robins earlier in the spring, told us that this little gal must have leapt from the nest a day or two early.

We couldn't just leave her there and Chris got off his bike trying to figure out a way to pick her up (without touching her - though Becky later said that we could have touched her, it would have been okay). The mother swooped down near us but knew she was no match for Chris. As he came back to his bike though, thinking he could use his route holder to scoop her up, the fledgling managed to hop from the middle of the road into the grass under her tree where her parents waited. Phrew.

I love how Chris rescues animals we see in distress on our bike rides (I told you about that turtle last year, right?).

Anyway, after the ride, we hit pie in the sky, did a bunch of shopping, and headed down to Waterbury for another Brew pub but more on that stuff in another entry.

I've mentioned this store before but I just want to give a little shout out to these guys. One of the things we looked forward to on this trip, was stopping by this store and getting wine? Why? Not because it's a cool looking store (it's literally in someone's basement, crammed floor to ceiling with racks and crates of wine), not because of the great prices (though I think these guys are really good and snooping out close outs and deals on unknowns if you're open to trying new things) but because they're just some really cool guys to talk to that know their wine and with a little information as to what you're looking for can make some great suggestions, at least we think.

Last year they turned us on to a Merlot we actually liked (the Kiona from 1998) and we're not typically Merlot drinkers. They also gave us some O'Reilly's Pinot Noir that we enjoyed and now we have three Burgundies in our cellar waiting for us to open that they recommended.

This year, we went in on Monday, looking for something from the Rhone region, a white to go with a spicy lobster dish, and something fun to sip whilst sitting outside in the summer sun.

We came home with a Patrick Lesec 2005 Gigondas (we'll give this a go tonight), a Charles Koehly Riesling (for the Lobster), Weingut Michlits a mildly fizzante rose from pinot noir grapes out of Austria (I'm sipping it now as I type and it's very refreshing for a summer drink - not too fizzy, not too sweet), and lastly a Kiona Cabernet that we'll try (and perhaps compare to the Merlot when we're home).

Oh and the last reason, they deserve a shout out, they told us the Gigondas isn't really ready to drink yet, but they wanted us to try it. So they sent us home with a Riedel decanter, told us to let it sit for an hour and then drink it and to just bring the decanter back later in the week. I love that type of service!

Here's their contact info if you're interested: Fine Wine Cellars

It came pretty darn close to that on our ride yesterday. Humbled again and forced off the bike. Though Chris likes to say, it's because we did two hard rides, two days in a row, so we were tired. Whatev, as Sammi says. All I know is they have flipping mountains over in NY State too.

Other than those six miles on Highland Road, the ride was pretty cool and pretty fun. I'll have more updates, and pictures to come (as soon as Chris gets our stuff out of the car). We were so tired when we got home, we picked up a pizza, took the bikes of the car, left everything else, opened more beer and ate and went to bed.

Oh, and keep checking for random updates because I'm going to post date them as I do them now (so remember to page down and check for dates), but for now, I need to get going b/c I'm freezing here and getting hungry (supposed to get hot later though - back in to the 80s with 90s tomorrow and no a/c - yikes)!

Yesterday, after our bike ride, we continued our trek through the Breweries of Vermont, on our quest to get 10 stamps on our passports and obtain the coveted Vermont Breweries t-shirt for free. So after we returned from our ride, changed out of our grubby biking clothes (and freshened up with some baby wipes in a local bathroom), we walked into the town of Burlington (yes, I know it's a city - but hey - the population of Burlington matches my home town, so I find it hard to call it a city). Up a hill and a few blocks and we stopped first at Three Needs on 207 College Street.

Now I have to say, I think if my friend Shannon drank beer, this is the type of place in which Shannon would hang. We arrived about five minutes after opening (at 4:00pm), and the place was already hopping (by the time we left 20 minutes later, almost all the tables and bar stools were filled and there was a line six deep for the pool table). The place had a definite funky vibe with the friendliest and perkiest bar maid I've yet to meet.

And it was she that provided me with my epiphany. Beer brewed with coffee - yep you read that right, coffee! First she offered us tastes and I had to go for the pint. And boy did that go down well. Chris had the IPA and enjoyed that too. Two more great things about the place, one, with that coffee beer, I didn't get my usual sleepiness during the rest of our stops (more to follow on that) and when the bar maid found out we had just ridden 43 miles on our bikes, she comped us!!! Can't go wrong with that.

Last year when we came to Vermont, Chris and I scoured www.bikely.com, looking for potential bike rides. We came across the GMBC Double Ferry ride

And we thought that would be fun. But then I got a look at the hills on that route, and decided against it. But this year we opted to do it, and although, a biker almost killed her husband on Highlands Road, I'm here to tell you we both survived and saw some incredible scenery along the way.

As I've mentioned several times already, we're trying to get 10 brewery visits on our Brewer's Association passports, so we can get a free t-shirt on Saturday at the Vermont Brewer's festival. We had five so far (after realizing we missed a chance at one in Norwich, near King Arthur's Flour), but Burlington afforded us the chance to hit five more in a single afternoon!

So, after changing from our bike ride, we climbed up College Street and hit Three Needs, after enjoying an IPA (Chris) and a Coffee-Porter of some sort (me), we headed back down College Street to visit the Vermont Pub and Brewery where I had their red ale (can't remember what Chris had) and we enjoyed some sustenance (aka nachos).

Notice the biker tan line on my leg!

We had a hard time getting our act together this morning but finally ended up at The Bagel for breakfast (a NJ for Chris and a NY for me), then decided to hike up to Nebraska Notch.

Trout Lake (which is Private) - From the Trail

We used the book Day Hikes in Vermont for this one, and I have to say, I'm not thrilled with this book. I just find the information in it sketchy and/or inaccurate. A couple of examples from this hike:

1. It tells you to drive to the parking lot by the Trout Club. What it doesn't tell you, is as you're going along the road you'll see a sign in front of you that says Private Property Trout Club and another that points to public long term parking on your right (in an open field just to the left after you make the right). Well, don't park there. That's for people hiking the long trail (i.e., gone over night). Yes, there's a trailhead there (but no sign-in sheet) and you can follow a trail that goes through the woods (which we did), but it goes through the woods at the edge, about five feet from the road and I felt totally silly walking along there as two woman, walking on the road, passed us.

Instead, stay straight on the road until you actually see the Trout Club, which is private property, straight ahead. There will be a lot to your right and the trailhead with the sign in sheet.

2. The other piece of missing information, they don't often tell you what color blaze sign to look for. Given many of these trails are marked for snow shoeing, hiking, cross country skiing, with different blazes, it would be helpful to know the color. By the way, for Nebraska Notch, use the blue signs.

Brad commented a few days ago that our trip with all the hard rides, and sliding down mountains doesn't sound like much of vacation and he wondered why I do it. There are a few reasons, but first let me start off with a bit of an analogy.

For me, hiking and/or biking is sort of like giving birth. You're in pain , uncomfortable, maybe even fearful but eventually that ends and you forget those moments and are left (eventually) with the joy and elation. I feel the same when I hike or bike. There may be moments when I'm uncomfortable, or in pain or afraid, but eventually, I succeed, the other emotions, and sensations are gone, and I'm left with a sense of elation and pride and looking for my next hike or bike ride.

But as for reasons, well, first, for me, the more active I am, the more I can eat and drink without gaining weight - huge, huge reason.

The second, well it's to see things like this.

Falls in the Woods towards Nebraska Notch

View From Taylor Lodge atop Nebraska Notch

And that's just yesterday's hike. There are some things we've seen that a camera just couldn't even capture.

Now, all that said, as I sit here sipping on my morning coffee and chomping on a blueberry muffin, we're trying to figure out what we're doing this morning (we're going kayaking in the afternoon), and the idea of a lazy morning sounds very appealing. :)

Originally, Chris wanted to do a complete hike of Mount Mansfield, up the Sunset Ridge Trail but that takes about five hours and is rated difficult and let's face it, I didn't think I was up to it. So as a compromise for Thursday morning, he suggested driving up the Toll Road (which takes you up to about 3850 feet and walking along the ridge-line to chin (Mount Mansfield's profile is like a man's face lying on his back, face-up, with the chin being the highest point at 4,393 feet. The ridge trail basically follows the Long Trail, marked by a series of White Blazes.

Pantheon - Rome 2003
Yep, things are coming together for our fall trip to Italy! It's been 3.5 years since we've been and I'm looking forward to it.

First off, we booked our airfare last week. I had wanted to fly out on November 5th so we'd have two free nights before being joined by my bro and sil on Saturday, plus I wanted a longer vacation. But crazy airlines, flying out on Wednesday was producing fairs of $1300 while leaving on Thursday was producing fairs of $700. Yes, I could have gotten cheaper routings on Thursday on airlines other than Continental (but it was Alitalia, and I'm done with them for now), or if I had flown through multiple destinations (one stop I could handle but given the choice between a 45 minute layover at CDG - impossible - and a six hour layover at CDG - well, it was going to eat up the time we got for our earlier departure. Oh, on the return the 12 hour layover at CDG could have been fun - can you say trip into Paris but I didn't think we could foster the girls on to George that long). Anyway, last week there were rumors of fair drops (finally), so I popped on and sure enough, the flights I wanted on Continental had dropped from $1300 to $800 (still twice as much as I paid 5 years ago) but only $100 more than flying out the next day and worth it, so I snagged it.

I'm putting together a high level packet of informatin for Andy and Katy, who will be joining us on our trip in November to Montalcino. So I figured I might as well copy the info here too in case anyone else can use some of the reference. I'll also have this in pdf format, so if anyone is interested in a copy, just let me know. Remember though, I'm just copying and pasting the stuff I'm sending it to them, so it's written as if they're my audience.

Let me start by saying that Andy really has no idea where we're staying so I started with that information. I think Katy's probably more on the ball, but she's just so excited to have a vacation where she can just show up, without any planning, I haven't felt like I needed to bore her with the details.

Where We’re Staying
We’ve rented a house outside of Montalcino in Tuscany.

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Montalcino is about 2.5 hours northwest of Rome and about 1.8 hours southeast of Florence. It’s a walled, hilltop town known for its production of Brunello di Montalcino wine in the surrounding areas.

We’ve rented the house through Italian Journeys via Isabella and Luigi Dusi, an Australian couple that relocated to Montalcino several years ago. The house though actually sits just outside the walls of Montalcino on the property of Enzo Tiezzi’s winery.

By the way, Chris and I drove up to Stirling NJ on Friday night, to visit Stirling Fine Wines and buy some Tiezzi wines. We got a bottle of the Rosso di Montalcino and the Brunello and enjoyed the Rosso later that evening with dinner.

If you’re interested, you can read more about Montalcino through these links:

• Dean’s Montalcino Notes
• B. Dupree’s Notes

San Giovanni D’Asso

This small town is about twenty five minutes from Montalcino. We passed by it on our way from Castelmuzio to Siena during our 2003 trip. They’re known for a Tuscan white truffle (the town has more truffle hunters per capita than any other place in Italy). On Nov 8 and 9 and Nov 15 and 16, the town celebrates their White Truffle Festival. You can check out Paradox Place, for some pictures of the 2002 and 2007 festival.

We could start this day with a walk in the area of San Giovanni d’Asso. We have two choices, both from the Sunflower Guide for Tuscany.

San Giovanni – Monterongriffiolo – San Giovanni (5km/3miles/1.5 hours)

Or

San Giovanni – San Marcellino – San Giovanni (7km/4 miles/2 hours)

If we don’t feel like walking, this might be a good morning to visit Monte Oliveto Maggiore famous for its circuit of Il Sodoma frescoes as well as their shop, selling soaps, honey and wine for example, manned by the monks who still live at the monastery.

Afterwards, we can explore the White Truffle Festival and then, I’d suggest a 1:00pm lunch reservation at Ristorante del Castello. If you look at the 2007 pages on the website above, you can get an idea on the type of lunch served at the Ristorante during the truffle festival. Another alternative, we could just wing it – I do not know if there will be food booths or not at the festa.

I would say we should play dinner by ear, especially if we have that large lunch at the Castello. My suggestion, picky foods (e.g., sausage, cheese, olives), or eggs or something easy at the house in front of a fire with plenty of wine.

I know that the forecasters are drastically bad at predicting the weather but I hope this forecast is right. The first two days in Rome, we don't care if we get rain but look how gorgeous it's supposed to be in Siena next week (1 hour north of Montalcino).

Just waiting to check in. There is Internet in the lobby!

On lobby computer and do not know when, or if, they will kick me off. So highlights and remember, different keyboard so forgive any typos.

Flight - uneventful. I slept from dinner until breakfast (thank you Simply Sleep). Chris did not.

Got to hotel about 930 but room not ready. Headed over to Piazza della Rotunda for our first cappucini and cornetti con crema. Paid 12e but sat on the piazza. Chris got fidgety so we headed to pantheon. still cool. Then to see if our favorite wine bar, Nicks, was still there. It is not. Then got some charms for Sammi and Becky (which it turns out they may already own). Then to AS Roma store and then to the Ara Pacis. Both a bit bleery-eyed by then and we did not stay too long - wonder what we missed.

Headed to pasquales for lunch ... mmm... then our first gelato (I think grom in nyc was better) back to hotel. Chris fell asleep mistakenly, for about 15 minutes, then we hit the road again, up to the Borghese for our 3 oclock reserveration. Got lost in park but eventually found map at zoo and made it to museum at 2:50 to get our tickets and get in. Such a great museum - love Berninis David, Chris loved the Rape of Persephone (had to tell him the story behind it).

Later, found a new wine bar to hang, also enjoyed a drink (actually a water for me) on the Cesaris roof-top deck. Very nice.

Then off to dinner, where we got ripped off by cab (more later) but enjoyed another good meal at Checchino dal 1887 (I think that is the year). Got another Buon Riccordo plate - yeah.

Returned back to piazza della rotunda, had one more gelato - pistachi and bacio for me, fiore de latte for Chris - got it at Nice Ice near Hotel Pantheon. More expensive e3 each but darn good. Then returned to Cesari and collapsed into bed.

In years past, one of our favorite restaurants to visit was Trattoria Sciame. We stumbled upon it during our 2003 trip and returned a couple of times during our 2005 trip. Since then though, it has changed names, now going by L’Agnolo. There’s a salumeria just down the street from the restaurant with the same name. I’m not sure if they changed owners, or just passed it on to the next generation, because we saw the original owner (from 2003, 2005), in the salumeria and again, later in the evening at the restaurant. Anyway, we popped in here on the early side – about 7:40 for dinner. (Oh that reminds me, we asked Isabella what would be an appropriate time to have dinner out in Montalcino this time of year, and she said 8:00 – later in the summer).

We started with an order of aciughe con pesto (anchovies in a sauce of garlic, oil, and parsley) which were amazing – these also had some crushed red pepper for a little kick – real good.

Then, we each started with a primi followed by a secondi – for me, a vegetable and bean soup, for the other three – tagliattele with a truffle mushroom sauce that they all loved – the portions were huge – much bigger than we expected and filling. Yet, we all had secondi coming too. For Chris and I, wild boar stew with polenta (we could have shared a single order), for Katy, roast chicken and for Andrew, a fillet with a mushroom sauce – his steak was cooked perfectly but he wasn’t expecting the “gravy” and said because of that, he wouldn’t order it again. The rest of us were all satisfied. We also made the mistake of ordering some fries, which we had remembered as being fantastic in previous years, but were now just fries. Washed this down with some vino della casa (think we had enough brunello today), some aqua fizzante, and three limoncelos (Katy passed), and I believe the bill came to about 110euro. As always, good, basic food, in a simple restaurant, nothing fancy. I’d return, but I wouldn’t order as much.

After we returned to Montalcino, we walked over to the café next to the restaurant Porto al Cassero (think that’s the name), and decided to share a bottle of wine and some snacks. It took Chris a moment to communicate to them what we wanted, and at first the girl seemed a bit snippy as we struggled, but when they didn’t have the wine we originally wanted in the year we wanted (2001), Chris chose another, from a smaller producer, in 2001, she seemed to warm to us (who knows maybe she liked the producer we chose). Anyway, they brought our wine, and a plate of salami and cheese on which we snacked.

Eventually returned, and asked in Italian, if we would like to try some different Brunellos from some smaller producers from some different geographic zones around the area – of course we agreed! She brought a glass each of four different brunellos, all from 2003, and we passed them around, noting the differences. Then she returned again, asking if any of us spoke Italian, to which I replied a little. She spoke slowly and clearly to me, using their wine list as a guide, explaining about the smaller producers in the area, and how, because they are small, and aren’t exported to other countries, their wines are not as well known, nor marked up as much but still good wines. It was very interesting and I was glad I was able to understand her. Eventually though it was time to move on, and we thanked them for our education (they didn’t charge us for the tastings), knowing we’d be returning there.

Next, we did a bit of our own “passegiatta” but you all should know where our focus lies and it wasn’t long before we ended up at another wine store just off the piazza (Enotecca di Piazza I believe). Great selection and at least one of the sales girls spoke English, and after asking a few questions, she showed us where they had another location at which we could try 75 different wines from Tuscany.

We made our way over there, stopping at a ceramic store along the way where Andy tried to purchase a ceramic chandelier, thinking it was a bowl in which he could serve chips and dip. :D. We’re returning there though Wednesday, because they did have a wine canister I want.

The other location of the wine store, reminded me of Union Square wines. They have tons of different types, hooked up to machines. You get a card, and put it in the machine and press a button, selecting which wine you like, the card makes a tally, as each grouping of wine can have a different price. At the end, they know what to charge you based upon what is on your card.

Andy and Chris partook in the tasting but Katy and I just plopped on a couple of stools, taking sips of wines they thought particularly interesting. At the end, Andrew ended up buying a Brunello Reserva from 1997 (can’t remember the producer), and one from Pian Macina (I think), which are funky because they only make 2500 a year, don’t export, and each bottle is numbered (like a work of art). We may go back for more of these because it’s such an interesting concept.

Chris had been hyped to go to this truffle festival ever since our 2003 trip when we missed it by a day. He loves truffles and it’s one of the reasons why he enjoys coming to Italy this time of year. So after finishing our tour, we hiked back up the hill to the top of the town, then back down the hill to our house, hopped in the car and decided to head over there late in the day. Isabella thought the activities would still be going on into the evening, so we thought we’d give it a go.

Navigating over there wasn’t too difficult, again, used the dot-to-dot method, and while we were worried about parking, it wasn’t bad. We didn’t park anywhere near the festa, but at the base of San Giovann’s hill, near the train station, along a side road.

Now the question was, how to get to the top of the hill. Chris approached an officer directing traffic and surprisingly to me, he spoke English, and told us there was a shuttle bus running from the circle to the town, cool. We headed over there and hopped on just as it arrived (turns out it went down, past our car, and to the train station for pick-ups along the way, so we didn’t have to walk to the circle, but who knew – at least that way, we had a seat).

It was all of a five minute journey (including the aforementioned stops) to the top, and he let us out in the middle of the town, as there was a “parade” going on in front of us, with flag tossers and music.

Now basically, at one end of the town is an exhibition tent where you can buy jewelry, cloth items, taste and buy olive oil and wine – basically an eclectic assortment. Just outside this tent was another “covered” area, where there were chafing dishes, and dishes with antipasti, crostini, and wine that you could also purchase, but no where did we see any truffles or smell any truffles, and honestly, while there were tons of people milling about, walking up and down the street, it felt as if we arrived too late for lunch and too early for dinner. There was someone selling these huge fried dough thingy’s (giant, giant zeppoles or donuts) but Chris of course, found the only other English speaking woman there and she had no idea what they were either when we asked.

After checking out that area, we walked through town which was maybe only a bit bigger than Castelmuzio (i.e., pretty small), but every shop was open, with their wares spilling out on to the street, oil, honey, cheese shops, house wares, a gelato place and a couple of small trattoria closing up from lunch. There was one little stand (outside a salumeria), selling porchetta, so we bought a sandwich that Chris and I shared (Andy thought it needed mustard). Finally, we found the association, and Chris popped in (actually we all took turns), where they were selling truffles, just truffles, and it seemed everyone was doing as we were, just popping in, seeing the prices (starting at 280 euro for a small one) and leaving. I wonder if anyone bought any?

Andrew ended up buying a soft pecorino con tartufo and that was it. Chris was disappointed that he didn’t see random food vendors selling pasta with truffles but I don’t think that’s how this works, and it wasn’t long before we decided to hit the road. Following the crowd a this point, we found a path and some stairs that dropped us pretty much at our car, without having to walk on the winding road down the hill. The old steam train was there, getting ready to leave it seemed.

As we were leaving, we noticed that it had gotten more crowded, with parking becoming a premium as people were arriving in a steady stream. Not sure if we just timed it bad or if we missed something, or if we just don’t get it, but while it seemed a bust to us, people were flocking to it.

Originally, the plan for this day was to head to San Giovanni d’Asso for the white truffle festival. Then Chris decided he would like to see the Church of San Pietro in Pianello, home of the UFO painting. So before we left, I contacted Isabella Dusi, author of Vanilla Beans and Brodo as well as Bel Vino (by the way she’s working on a third book now), and asked if she still gave tours. She does, but requires a donation to the church to help pay for the restoration – no brainer. So we arranged to meet her at Fiaschaterria between 9:30 and 10:00, and then figured we’d head over to San Giovanni afterwards for lunch (but if you saw previous entry about complete loss of focus, you should know at this point, I forgot to make a lunch reservation, which ended up being a good thing).

Anyway, at about 9:25, we headed up our hill, into town, and then down the hill to the garden square, hang a right and into the Piazza del Popolo (we’re pretty familiar with this route now).

We noticed a small group (of four people), sitting in the corner, chatting, but since we expected Isabella to be on her own, didn’t expect one of those people to be her (of course one was). Anyway, we went outside and had some cornetto and cappuccino all around. Shortly later, a gentleman approached us after hearing us speak English, asked if we were waiting for Isabella, said his wife knew me and said that was Isabella inside, and they would be joining us on our tour today – no problem. Oh, and as I’ve now discovered on this trip, if someone says they “know me” it’s got to be from SlowTrav. His wife turned out to be Fur Kids Mom from the SlowTrav forums, www.slowtalk.com. They had moved to Pienza in August.

We finished our breakfast and took off. Now our tour did not just consist of Pianello or the church, but Isabella does a complete program in which she gives a fabulous introduction to life in Montalcino, a bit of its history, and describes the life as a member of one of the four quatiere in town. It really was a fabulous experience as we slowly walked around town, listening and asking questions. Eventually, we did find ourselves at San Pietro, and lucky for us at the exact right moment and here’s why. You see, there are three huge paintings in the church, who’s artist escapes me now, but when I get home, I’ll let you know. One of those paintings if famous for having a UFO in it. I kid you not. So you’re saying, okay a picture of a UFO – not so strange. A picture of a UFO in a Catholic church, maybe a bit more strange. But how about a picture of a UFO in a Catholic Church and this picture was painted in the early 1600s? How about that UFO looks remarkably liked Sputnick launched by the Russians in the 1950s? How about the fact that the UFO is being held by Jesus on one side and God on the other? I kid you not!

Now here’s why we were there at the most fortuitous time. Last week, they removed those three paintings from the walls in order to begin restoration. In a few more days, visitors will probably not get to see them but not only did we get to see them, we got to see them as they were lying on their sides, on the floor, up close and personal – I’ve never been so close to any type of artwork (well, that wasn’t hanging in my parents’ house), let alone one that has such mystery behind it – pretty cool. Oh, and another strange tidbit about this painting – there are five others, done by different artists, all around Italy, all painted within 20 years of each other and they all have some sort of UFO in them (not necessarily our Sputnick clone). Isabella swears there’s even one, that when you look closely, looks like it has a window and a little face inside of it – funky!

After we finished the tour, we stopped by Bar Alle Loge, for a glass of Carparzo 2003 Brunello and some snacks and a bit more discussion – it really was a great morning that led into afternoon, as we finally departed about 2:30pm. So it was a good thing I forgot to make lunch reservations for us at San Giovanni d’Asso because we would have left this tour early.

Strange as it seems and feels, we're back. You know, it was weird, while we were in Italy, the world on this side of the ocean seemed like a dream (all be it, a bad one right now). And the world over there seemed real (like if I just stayed in Italy, nothing bad was happening or would happen). Now we're back, and it feels like Italy was all the dream already.

Anyway, flight home was easy peasy though long (watched three shows on Chris's computer, a CSI, a Closer and the pilot episode of Fringe, which by the way was real intense). Got through immigration (no problems), Customs (almost problem), and home (no problems). Went out for Mexican last night (yummy spicy food and margaritas), then to book club, and managed to sleep from about 9:45 until just about 5, then dozed to six.

Seeing the oncologist today at 11:00 but until then, I'm sifting through mails, catching up on e-mails, paying bills, laundry - you know the drill.

I'll be posting more stories and pictures during the week, so stay tuned!

Well, there's nothing like some incredibly horrible news (not related to my health, don't worry), and jet lag to get you up at 3:00am. So I took Pauline's advice, and wrote up another entry to take my minds off things. I still need to upload my photos (and Chris's and Andrew's) from the cameras but will do that later today and may go back and pepper some of these posts with them. Anyway, here's part of Day 5 at Avignonesi.

After meeting Dorit and her friend, who had been staying in San Quirico, for breakfast at Bar Alle Logge (by the way, Dorit, you missed Chris by five minutes), we hit the road for Avignonesi. Now, I have to say, we left a bit late as two of our party, who shall remain nameless (A&K), slept in, just a bit – let’s call it delayed jet lag.

I actually arranged today’s activity through our SlowTrav Classified (#3311) which I no longer see listed (but I’ve contacted IB to see why it’s no longer there). Anyway, you can get the info off Avignonesi’s web site – Common Table. We headed out in the direction of Montepulciano, and me, not realizing how far out the Fattoria, Le Cappezzine is (it’s past Montepulciano Stazione and Valiano), we arrived about 15 minutes late. But no worries, the other couples (two other Americans staying near Siena), got lost in the “Black Hole of Siena” and arrived late too.

Shoot – see this is what happens when you don’t take notes, I do not remember our guide's name but she was a lovely young woman who speaks excellent English (well, her and the big white sheep dog from the Maremma that tagged along as well. Her name I remember, Bella).

We started first in the vineyards between the property and the main house, identifying two different methods for growing the vines, the more traditional and a newer method that allows the vines to grow almost like an individual bush. They produce less grapes this way, though more concentrated, but can have more vines within the same area, allowing for the same yield in production.

After the vineyards, we hit the wine cellars, saw the lovely oak caskets (yes, I now know the difference between Slovenian oak and French Oak - the big ones are Slovenian ; D – though this may also be the winery we visited that used American oak, yeah I think it is), then we saw the room where they dry the Vin Santo grapes. Avignonesi is a bit famous for its Vin Santo but we’ve never tried it (can you say expensive? It goes for over $100 for a 1/2 size bottle) and had hopes for a sip today, but no such luck. Anyway, after learning about the 10 year process it takes to make their Vin Santo, I guess I do get why the high price tag. That’s an awful lot of time and space invested in something that won’t pay off for ten years.

After our tour, we got down to the serious business, lunch. Let me just go on record, right here, right now, this was one of the best wine-meal experiences I’ve ever had, no let me correct that, probably the best.

We entered the small dining room, where two long tables were set for four each (our two groups toured together but after the antipasti, dined separate). At one end of the room, a fire roared, and there were some chairs gathered all around it. There we sat, enjoying a cool fruity sauvignon blanc (who knew an Italian winery made a sauvignon blanc – oh, and I really enjoyed it; it would be great in summer), while we munched on salami made from Cinta Sinese pigs, Pecorino cheese from Pienza, some of the best foccacia ever (a nice change from the saltless Tuscan breast), and a bruschetta topped with some just harvested greens that were amazing.

Now, let me tell you a pet peeve I have about some wine dinners, the tiny, un-refilled pour. I’ve been to a few where the glass gets barely a two-ounce pour and never shall the wine be seen again. Okay – I get the whole moderation thing, but don’t charge me over $100 for a wine dinner, and barely give me eight ounces of wine over the course of the evening.

Happy to say, not so here, almost to the point where it was too much. The moment someone emptied a glass, it seemed as if the Chef (chef and server all in one), was back, refilling – poor Chris, of course, he being the driver, had to pace himself, but I’d say the other three enjoyed a bit much.

Anyway, after our co-mingled antipasti in front of the fire, we went to our separate tables where we were served a pasta dish along with their Chardonnay – sort of strange pairing but that was a strong Chardonnay and could handle the tomato and cauliflower sauce on the pasta (cooked perfectly by the way). About halfway through the pasta course, the Montepulciano Nobile made an appearance. Now Chris and I love the Nobile, a blend predominately of Prugnolo Gentile (aka Sangiovese) but as we learned over the course of the week, Andy and Katy prefer the “Super Tuscans” or cabernet blends, though we’re anxious for them to visit next week so we can introduce them to an older Brunello (now that they’ve been drinking young ones for a week, we want them to see what they can become).

After the pasta course, we were served a pork roast dish, along with some of the best roast potatoes (large chunks of caramelized potatoes) and a salad that were all good. With this course, they served another bottle, their Desiderio, a Merlot-Cabernet blend, grown in the “Cortona” province (literally though, right across a dirt road from the Montepulciano province where the nobile grapes are grown).

For dessert, they served an espresso-flavored crème caramel along with a dessert wine, not produced by Avignonesi but distributed by them (bummer again on the lack of Vin Santo but I get it). The dessert wine was pretty good though, an orange-honey flavor that I enjoyed.

Lastly, we had espresso and some of their grappa made from the remains of the vin santo grape, that I had hoped would be a bit sweet or that we would like, but again, no such luck on the grappa. It still is not my favorite beverage though I can stomach it now.

Finally, over four hours after arriving, we rolled out of there, stopped by the store to make some purchases (bummer, no olive oil yet, they’re just starting to harvest), and after playing with two of the local basset hounds (adorable), we hit the road. We all felt this entire afternoon was well worth what we paid and probably one of the best experiences of the trip.

I think I totally forgot about day two.

So after a pretty exhausting day on Thursday, I was feeling it when we woke Friday. We did manage to sleep in though. I have to say the double-shudder system at the Cesari (shudders outside the windows, closed windows and then another set of shudders inside) not only blocked out noise but light. When we woke past eight, we thought it must still be around five in the morning, it was so dark in our room.

We showered, dressed, and headed to the rooftop bar where we enjoyed a nice, if standard (at least it seems to us) Rome hotel breakfast of assorted meats, cheeses, yogurts, pastries, cereal, juice and cappuccino or espresso upon request. Chris needed to check his e-mail from work, so I was more than happy to sit and rest and write in my journal in the breakfast room (it was a bit too chilly to sit outside this morning), and then I too headed down to the hotel lobby’s computer to check my e-mail.

Eventually, we did make it outside and decided to walk down the Corso, to the Victorio Emanuele monument (aka the Wedding Cake), named such, I think, for the steps and stark white marble used to build it.

From our recent Italy trip, a street performer. Obviously, not really metal but he so reminded me of the bronze sculpture done by George Segal that is part of the FDR memorial, the Bread Line, I couldn't help but snap a picture or two.

I know I've talked about this but haven't really given much details so let's play a little catch up before jumping into the apartment discussion. Mom takes each grandchild on a trip after his/her b'nai mitzvah. Becky went to London. Kevin went to California for a surfing contest. Jake wanted to go to the All-Star game last summer but that became too problematic (can you say extremely ridiculous prices?), so he asked if he could join Sammi in Paris for her trip. Now Dad really has no desire to go to Paris again, so I said, if he's willing to watch Becky, I'd go in his place (I know, huge sacrifice). He jumped at the chance and everyone was happy (oh, and of course we said Jake could go - I think it will be way fun).

Originally, we had planned an April trip but then "It" happened, so we postponed (luckily no deposits had been made). Well, last week the doctor gave me the go ahead to start planning summer trips and of course, I jumped right in with apartment searches.

Since now, we're planning on going in the summer, I had to start from scratch. You see for an April trip air-conditioning wasn't required but now, in the summer, it is (and please don't try to change my mind unless you're willing to listen to my mother and daughter whine during a heat wave in Paris - and heck who are we kidding - really for the rest of their lives).

So here's where I stand so far. I have yet to contact any owners/agencies but all the apartments I've found to date are plotted below. If you continue reading, you'll also find links and some notes I made on each.

What I did not factor in are the Paris Perfect apartments, which are of course, lovely, and from past experience with London Perfect, have wonderful amenities, but are downright expensive, starting at €2415 for a two bedroom and rapidly rising in to the threes. I didn't include them, but Mom may decide she wants the splurge - who knows. I also want to double check with an agency I was in contact with before, just to make sure they don't have any air-conditioned apartments I overlooked.

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I got a lot of comments on last week's Photo Theme, Bridges
, as I posted a picture of Emily's Bridge just outside Stowe Vermont. Most wondered as to the origins and locations of covered bridges so I thought I'd fill in some details.

First off, some facts gotten from Wikepedia:

• Covered bridges originated in central Europe (who knew) and can be found in countries like Switzerland, Bulgaria, and even Italy (hey - the Rialto is a covered bridge after all).
• Pennsylvania is the state with the most covered bridges in the United States, 200+ but "Vermont has more per square than any other place in the world."
• Now, like you Chris and I argued over the purpose of covered bridges. I would blithely comment that maybe they were made to keep snow and things off the bridge and I wasn't too far off. Apparently, wood bridges decay pretty quickly but if the floor of the bridge is covered by other material, can last up to eight times longer.
• The other reason for the covered bridges - animals. Seriously, apparently, they made these bridges to look like barns (enclosed on the side) so when they would move animals (e.g., sheep, cows) across, they wouldn't get spooked.

Emily's Covered Bridge in Stowe

Me on Emily's Covered Bridge in Stowe

Also known as Gold Brook Bridge, resides just outside of Stowe on the appropriately named Covered Bridge Road (from 100 make a right on to School Street, at the corner of the store Col'd Lizard, then bear right onto Stowe Hollow Road and again on to Covered Bridge Road). I heard it gets it's nickname from a jilted lover (aka Emily) who killed herself on the bridge (hanging) and now, apparently haunts it (i.e., don't drive over the bridge at night). If you want to read more about Emily's Bridge check out X-Project, Paranormal Magazine.

Biking Covered Bridges in Vermont

If anyone does happen to be in Stowe and wants to bike covered bridges, I'm including Chris's Covered Bridges from Hell (and it really is - serious mountain climbing). Oh, and Chris warns that some of the roads turned out to be dirt, and he didn't end up with the complete ride, but you can see where there are covered bridges - maybe you'll want to drive it instead.

C'mon did you all really think I was just bringing workout clothing and books to Hawaii?

Okay - let's see what else:

Packing

3 - 4 pairs of capris
3 - 4 pairs of shorts
Tops - hmmm....5 - 6 (need to go through closet and see what fits and looks good)
1-2 cover-up
1 dress
underwear
bras
sandals (which ones still up for debate)
pjs (2 silk tops perhaps)
sun glasses
reading glasses
toiletries (tooth brush, toothpaste, deodorant, I'll use the hotel shampoo)
makeup
brush - NOT (still don't need one, which is kind of cool)
travel scrabble
travel rummy cube
suntan lotion
Tylenol Extra Strength
Simply Sleep (for the flight home)
Instant Oatmeal
Vitamuffins (for snacks)
Father's Day cards

Things to Buy Still

Suntan lotion (we went through almost four bottles in the Bahamas for 5 of us)
Cold Medication (all this rain and Sammi's illness has me feeling a bit sinusy)
Cough syrup (for Sammi)
Toothbrush (must throw out Sammi's old one)
Contact Lens case (must throw out Sammi's old one)

Is that it? I feel like I'm missing stuff.

I don't have a lot of time to write at the moment (we're supposed to go snorkeling in 30 minutes) but I wanted to upload some pictures so far.

We arrived on Thursday night and immediately got laidleid.

After arriving at the hotel and checking in, we headed to the pool bar for our first round of drinks.

Don't worry - that's a virgin drink for Sammi.

This morning Chris and I went for a bike ride. We rode past Lahaina for a few miles, and then turned up towards the mountains. Rumor had it that after a climb (911 feet), there's a path that runs along the midpoint between ocean and the mountain base. About 3/4 of the way up the hill, I had to break but we met a biker coming down and asked about the path and he gave us the best directions, so after a bit more climbing (and another break), we found the path which you had to take slowly (lots of dips, sharp climbs and some hairpin turns) but had some incredible vistas. We took it down to the sugar cane road, and then from there back to the main highway into Lahaina where we stopped for breakfast before returning to the hotel. Not a long ride (a bit over 20 miles), but great fun and I felt great at the finish.

Once we boarded, we had the usual 60 minute wait at Newark airport before we took off. There was a young girl, traveling solo, in the row behind Mom and I (Sammi and Jake sat together in a different row). I felt so bad for her because as soon as the doors closed and we pushed away, she started to cry that she wanted her mommy. Thank god for the man sitting in the row with her. He started talking to her, distracted her and calmed her down and I believe the rest of the flight went uneventful for her, as I slept a good chunk of the way.

By the way, the plane was a 757-200 series with those cool, seat-back, personal entertainment systems - over 40 movies to choose from, games, television shows plus plug access for two in each row. I wish we had that for the flight home, but I don't think we'll have that kind of luck.

Oh, and though we had our one hour delay, we still landed on time, through immigration, got our bags (a wait similar to Newark), and then we met our driver from Paris Shuttle Inter with no problems. There was an accident on the highway into Paris but our driver navigated through the local roads and we still made pretty decent time. He showed us where to meet him on Saturday for our return trip, as the area in front of our building is a pedestrian zone.

I have over 40 videos I took today but I wanted to get this one uploaded quickly. Our view of the Tour.

We headed out to Versailles on Wednesday, hoping that the opulence of the palace and grounds would wow our teens and impress them. We were partially wrong. Jake seemed impressed (at least by all the gold, Sammi - not so much).

Getting to Versailles wasn't as easy as I hoped. We walked over the RER Station for the C line (C5 to be exact), on the road on the left bank, opposite Isle St. Louis, only to find it closed. A glace down the street a bit led us to a crowd and a nice, young lady, with an information vest (yellow), who told us the that a shuttle bus would be along in a bit to take us to the Invalides station as the line between Invalides and ... shoot will need to look it up ... is closed from mid-July to mid-August. The bus did come, packed, and we squeezed on and road it for two stops before arriving at Invalides. That was the only hiccup of our travels.

Once in the station, we approached the ticket booth and I said Chateau Versailles, and held up four fingers. To which he replied by making a back and forth motion with his hand to which I nodded. In a few moments I received eight tickets (or four round trip), tickets for RER line. He told us quai B and we went through the machines with our tickets and found the train.

After a few minutes of waiting, the train took off and maybe a dozen or so stops later we pulled into the last station, and our stop at Versaille, us along, with the hundreds of other people left the train and took the five minute walk to the palace. I don't recall signs, but there were maps, but basically we followed the crowds like lemmings.

Every Friday afternoon from 3:00 (arrive at 2:45) until 3:30pm the Galeries have a fashion show on the 7th floor (8th American - take the escalator up), in their private salon. The fashion show is free but you need to make a reservation ahead of time by e-mailing them (address on their website). I booked about four weeks out - maybe less and had no problem. It was definitely an interesting experience - one I'd say any fashion conscious teen would enjoy.

On Tuesday we did the Paris Walks Catacomb Tour. This two-hour tour, offered a couple of times a month, takes a small group (I think we had about 19), down into the catacombs giving the history not only behind their creation (as limestone quarries) but how they were turned into one of the largest burial grounds ever (6 million people - three times more than the current population of Paris). Oh, and I should note, this is one of the few Paris Walks Tours that you must pre-book and pay (€15) for ahead of time.

Underground Sculpture in Catacombs

We met our guide, Chris, at 11:00 at the entrance to the catacombs at the Denfert Rochero metro station. Actually, we were a few minutes early, so we gathered on a bench with the other Americans and Canadians waiting for Chris who apparently went for a cup of coffee. He did arrive on time though, pulled us into a group, checked us in, and collected our money for the entrance fee to the Catacomb (not included in the group tour price €6).

One extremely nice advantage of this tour (besides the humorous Chris and his history lessons) was the line-cutting aspect. The line for the entrance, snaked around the corner of the square and they only seemed to let about 10 people in at a time. After Chris gave us our above ground information, we cut the line and headed in.

The first few rooms are well lit and airy with pictures and information about the catacombs but eventually you get down into the tunnels, often walking single file as you snake your way through the darkened passages. Most of which are now twice the size in height than they were during the days of the limestone quarries.

You cover almost a mile underground, most of which is bone free (though fossils from 45 million years ago, and the sea that resided here then can sometimes be found/seen), before you hit the ossuary filled with bones. This was the part Sammi dreaded - the thought grossed and freaked her out, so she kept her eyes tightly closed from the time we passed under the sign that said, "Stop! This is the empire of the dead," until we emerged on the other side and made the climb out.

Did I mention this by the way? The climb? The catacombs lie lower than the cellars, metro lines and RER lines of Paris so be prepared for the steps. Oh, and as I said, when you leave the catacombs you're about a mile down the line from the metro station at which you arrived.

We said our good-byes to Chris, and headed over to a cafe for some lunch before we returned to the inner arrondissement.

This tour cost us €15 a person plus the €6 entrance fee and we found it fun and interesting and would definitely recommend it.

I shot some video of our time below but as you can imagine, it was quite dark, and hard to capture much on film. Of the 15 or so minutes, most of it was dark but I've got some clips below. Oh, and one other thought, some people brought pen lights with them on the tour - I thought this a bully idea.

On Thursday afternoon, we ticked another thing of the kids' to do lists, climbing the tower at Notre Dame. I don't remember exactly what time we arrived but if I had to guess I'd say between two and two thirty and the link snaked from the entrance (at the left side of the church, as you're facing the front), and into the plaza, not reaching the back corner where the crypts lie.

Gargoyle atop Notre Dame

I feared it could be bad (like two hours), but by 3:10 we were at the entrance. Now here are some things to note, the museum pass gets you in free and children under 18 are free. At first, I thought I would climb with the teens, but I hit a wall sometime after our morning chocolate walk and was worried about my vertigo, so we decided to let them go on their own while Mom and I ducked across the street to an inviting cafe.

No sooner had mom ordered her wine and I ordered my beer, than Sammi came running across the street. They would not let them climb the tower without an adult so off I scooted, leaving the shade of the cafe for the winding, stone, confined staircase of the tower.

Something less than the 400 total steps later, we emerged mid-level for a bit of viewing (by the way, almost forgot to mention there's a gift shop halfway up), and to find the wooden steps to the actual bell area, which of course we climbed. We then queued up for our final ascent to the very top of the tower. At this point, Jake suggested we return to the ground but Sammi said, "We didn't start this to only go half-way," so on we climbed.

They limit your time at the top of the tower to about five minutes, which is just about perfect. I mean, after all, you walk around, you take some pictures, what else is there to do?

So once done, we queued up once again for a few moments, (they control the flow in the upper part as there's only one stairway for both up and down) and then we climbed the 400 stairs back down.

Luckily, my beer, though warm, was still waiting and I'm glad I did the climb after all.

C'mon you all, sing it with me!

Okay - seriously, we traveled to Paris and I just felt it a shame if we went through our entire trip not visiting one of the major museums (yes, shoot me, I didn't count the Pompidou in the ranks of major museums - though it probably should be). In my mind, I was thinking Louvre or D'Orsay. So with that in mind, we asked the kids if they had any desire to see any work of art, to which they replied, "We could see the Mona Lisa."

Of course, that statement was quickly followed by, "But that's all we want to see in that museum."

So on Thursday afternoon, after climbing the Tower at Notre Dame, we didn't make an exact b-line for the Louvre, but instead, hopped on the Batobus (boat that travels up and down the Seine), and got off at the Louvre stop, where we arrived a few minutes late for entry (5:46 - the museum closes at 6:00pm).

So, after some photo-ops in the courtyard, we headed home.

On Friday morning though, after letting the kids sleep in a bit, we headed back to the Louvre, taking the 1 metro line to the museum exit, walked through the Carousel (aka shopping mall underneath), with promises of post visit shopping, quickly through the underground security and right into the museum, flashing our museum passes along the way (love the no lines thing).

It was really almost a jog, past the ancient Greco-Roman sculptures, up the stairs, following the signs pointing us to the Mona Lisa all the way. Once we arrived, it was a matter of worming our way through the crowds, eight deep, for a few seconds thirty some odd feet from the painting. Honestly, I thought it a ripoff the first time and I'm still thinking it this time. I just don't get it.

Anyway, once we left the Mona Lisa's room, which, by the way, was the only area nicely air-conditioned, we managed to convince our charges to walk up and down the great hall outside, where we saw pictures of King David in various outfits and in various states before and after killing Goliath, John the Baptist, Jesus and assorted other saints. But once that was done, they were done, and we quickly made our way back to the carousel for some shopping (a few more gifts purchased) and then on to lunch.