As many of you know, Jenny and I have been planning for two years now to go to Italy with close friend Gene and Holly Spagnola. The original trip planned in March of this year had to be postponed due to Geno having a small injury, so it was rescheduled for November right after the World show. We have been home for less than a week now, and are already dreaming of our return to this wonderful country. Wow, as I have begun my last few blogs with, does not even begin to describe to amazing experience that we had. Rather than break the trip down day by day, I have decided to break it into subtitles to better describe the entire experience.

Food

How can one go to Italy and not first discuss the fabulous cuisine that they have to offer. To sum it all up, I am not sure whether or not I will be able to eat Italian food again anywhere but there. Fresh pasta, amazing Bolognese sauce, and steaks that would leave even the biggest Texan speechless topped the menu each day. Breakfast normally included fresh pastries, meats, and local cheeses from each region. Though the coffee was outstanding, their definition of decaf and mine are on totally separate levels. Somehow I kept ending up with very strong espresso that kept me on my toes well into the afternoon. One very unique thing there is that people do not seem to eat while they are driving. Every single gas station we stopped at included at deli window with fresh sandwiches and a coffee bar that would put all local coffee shops here to shame. No Starbucks for these folks let me tell you.

For any of you whom have ever had the pleasure of a nice diner with the Frid family, you know that I enjoy turning each course into somewhat of a competition of sorts. Though it threw the Spags, Gene and Holly, for a loop at first, they soon jumped on board the game with true east coast gusto. Every course gets awarded a best tasting as well as best presentation award. Now there is no possible way for me to remember each day, here are the highlighted results that I can remember, and yes I am the judge and jury as always. Best pasta had to go to Jenny on the last evening in Rome. We ate at a restaurant named Ad Hoc, which was amazing. She had three separate kinds of cabonara pasta that blew us away. Best meat went to Florence’s Buca Mario. Geno and I shared a t-bone that was so large that Emma dog would have passed out at the size of the bone. Though not as good as Del Frisco’s, as Jenny and I always say, it did Italy quite proud. Most adventurous had to go unanimously to Holly. She would try the off the wall dishes almost every night, and never went wrong. The wild boar in San Gimignano had to have taken the top prize. Last but almost certainly not least is the dessert award. Though it was a close race, Geno and Holly both had a tiramisu in Rome the last evening at was to die for. All of our meals were absolutely outstanding, so if you read this and are offended that we did not rank your favorite restaurant or meal we truly apologize.

Traffic and Driving

Absolute madness is the only possible way one could describe this part of our adventure. The start things off on a positive note, the highway driving seems to work very well. Unlike in the US people pass and then they actually move over to the right lane to allow faster moving vehicles to pass them. Strange theory I know, but it really does work. Once you exit the autostrade as they call it things become far more challenging. My first piece of advice it GET A GPS. Whether you rent one with the car, or use an I pad or telephone, do not, I repeat do not leave home without it. Without this crucial tool we may still have been looking for our first hotel. The street signs that they do have are hidden on the sides of buildings. Some streets do not even have signs; you just have to use the force to figure out where you are. The second dilemma is that very few streets even begin to run straight. They run in all different directions and inter mingle with one another, causing a tourist nightmare.

As stated the highways really do work great and run quite smoothly, however in town the term “every motorist for themselves” holds extremely true. A two lane street is easily turned into a four lane street at a blink of an eye. Scooters roam the neighborhoods like starving dogs headed to the feast. They zoom in and out of traffic and crowd the red lights ready to pounce through at the first sign of green. My advice in this realm is Take A Taxi!!! Really it sounds negative, however looking back it really was entertaining watching it all.

The Sights

With this section I truly do not know where to begin. We saw so many beautiful places, pictures, sculptures, and pieces of architecture. Let me first list off our destinations, and then I can zero in a bit on them. Milan, Venice, Florence, San Gimignano, and Rome. Our trip started in Milan, getting to visit their gorgeous Duomo and Fashion District. We tried hard to see DaVinci’s “The Last Supper” however were unaware that you may only view this famous painting by appointment. The second day Jenny had a business meeting outside of town, so when completed we took a quick and spontaneous afternoon trip to Venice. Ah Venice how wonderful. This is one place that I think everyone must see at least once in their lives. Having the chance to walk over all those beautiful bridges and view the Grand Canal will be a memory I will never forget.

Our next trip was to Florence to see the Baptistery, Boboli Gardens, and of course The David. Florence was a much slower paced and more laid back city. We walked everywhere we went taking in the sights and sounds of Tuscany. My goal is to attach some photos to this bog, and I took one picture that in my opinion explains the beauty of this region and the city of Florence. Beckie and Kevin Peskin hooked us up with a wonderful hotel named The Lungarno just footsteps away from the Famous Arno River and the even more famous Ponte Vecchio Bridge. There are so many sights to take in here one could spend weeks touring and still not take it all in. For me the highlights include walking through Boboli Gardens, climbing the stairs to the Top of the Duomo, even though I was scared to death, and of course seeing David. When you turn that corner and see a statue with that much life and detail it truly leaves you speechless.

Our next destination was the small mountain town of San Gimignano. Located in the heart of Tuscany, this quaint mountain fortress was the most laid back part of our journey. We wandered slowly through the streets stopping in small shops and simple just enjoying the breath taking countryside. I have been fortunate to see some wonderful scenes in my life, however I dare any others to compare to the splendor we saw that day. Not only was it sheer beauty, to add to it the moment we got out of the car all the church bells in towns where chiming. What a wonderful memory.

The conclusion of the journey brought us out of the country and into the majestry of Rome. Just like Florence I think you could spend weeks there and still find new things to experience each day. Our first day included St Peter’s and a tour of the Vatican. Until you see it for yourself one cannot appreciate the magnitude of this holy place. Definitely take the guided tour here. We were so fortunate to have a guide with endless amount of knowledge of the history of St Peters Basilica.

Our tour of the Vatican included the vast museum and of course the World Famous Sistine Chapel. You know it is funny, I watched the movie Good Will Hunting last nice, and there is one scene with Robin Williams and Matt Damon. Robin Williams is explaining to Matt how he may have worlds of knowledge, however has he ever known the smell of the Sistine Chapel. Has he ever looked up at that gorgeous ceiling? You cannot believe how true that statement is. You spend so much time looking up, trying to take in what you are seeing, that you become somewhat light headed and dizzy. Guaranteed the next day your neck will be so tired you can barely move it.

Our final day of travel included my personal favorite site, the Coliseum and the Roman ruins. I know it is kid of a cliché to say that is your favorite, but let me tell you, this is one impressive place. To quote our tour guide, if you watched the movie Gladiator and saw the coliseum, it was all wrong. It did give a good general view of what it looked like, however there were several historical facts that may have been a bit off. To give you, the arena itself was much too small to have large chariot race style battles in it. When you look down at the floor, and really try and envision it, this fact becomes quite apparent. Those battles did exist, however in a different local all together. One other little tid bit is that they had the ability to flood the arena and have battles in small boats. The Romans were truly highly educated and inventive people.

In Conclusion

I am not sure or not whether I want to conclude this memory or not. The final night at dinner we went around the table and tried to recount each of our personal best memories of the trip. Rather than leave it until the last I will say that I do not remember Holly chiming in, but if I had to guess for her if would have been the all the wonderful art that we experienced in Florence. I know for certain that for Gene is was turning the left corner in the Galleria dell Accademia and seeing the David. Jenny’s most fond memory was the fashion of Milan. She talks daily about how stylish the Italians are how impressed she was with all the young women in Milan. As you all know I have a hard time narrowing things down to one specific moment, so my best memory, other then my beautiful wife, was the City of Rome. To quote another movie, Russell Crowe in Gladiator had a line “there once was a dream that was Rome.” I will tell you, the majestry of this city took me by storm.

Thank you to our dear friends Holly and gene Spagnola for inviting us on this extraordinary adventure. Jenny and I both cannot wait for the next.