Italy November 2001 Journal

 
ITALY NOVEMBER 2001
 
I traveled to Italy this November with my cousin Reenie Clancy from Andover, MA.  My friend Dawn and I were supposed to travel together; however, after the events of September 11, 2001, she decided not to travel at this time.  I was fortunate to have Reenie go with me.  She had never been to Europe before, so she had to expedite in getting her passport.  I had asked her to go with me only 3 weeks prior to traveling.  In those 3 weeks, she was able to get her passport, a debit card, some lira, and everything else she needed to take with her for this trip.
 
1 November 2001:  We met at Dulles International for our international direct flight to Milan.  The flight was over booked as United Airlines decided to consolidate two flights into one.  Reenie got her seat assignment when she arrived in Boston, but I was placed on a stand-by list, which angered me.  I bought my tickets at least 5 months in advance!  However, it worked out and I got on board.  Reenie was able to move to a seat next to me, across the isle after we got four people to play musical chairs.  The flight was smooth and the food was good. 
 
2 November 2001: We arrived around 7:40am at the Milan Malpensa airport and were out of the airport in no time.  We bought our tickets (8.000L each) for the 8:20am bus to the Milan train station, between exit doors number 5 and 6.  There is a sign, "Airport 2000."  The ride to the train station took about 50 minutes.  I was hoping for a 10:05 am train to Venice, but the next one was at 11:05am, which actually left at 11:20am.  We picked up some panini for lunch and ate them on the train.  We made the mistake of sitting in a 1st class car and were asked to move to 2nd class.  I had been more concerned about getting a non-smoking car than looking for "2nd Class."  The train was packed and we had to sit on our suite cases for almost 3 hours in the train "hallway."
 
We were tired, but excited to be in Italy.  We arrived in Venice about 2:15pm.  Venice is my favorite city and was anxious to visit it again.  We bought our vaporetto tickets, got some lira out of the ATM machine, took a couple of photographs, and hopped onto vaporetto #1 to Ca d'Oro stop.  It was a 5 minute walk to our hotel, Locanda Leon Bianco.  At first, I couldn't find the hotel as it was down a tiny, narrow street and thought we made a wrong turn.   The entrance to the hotel is not attractive at all.  We were greeted by Andrea, our young host just as we got to the door, up 42 steps!  Our room, #5, faced a side canal.  It was pretty noisy at night and really had no view.  I would have loved a room facing the grand canal, but the place was completely booked as it was a holiday weekend.
 
The day was beautiful with clear skies and temps in the high 50s.  It felt warmer when we were in the sun.  We unpacked our bags, freshened up after a long trip to Venice, then headed to the Rialto bridge.  There were many people out shopping and taking photos of the canal views.  We walked around a bit, then found a place for coffee and a glass of wine for me.  For dinner, we went to nearby Trattoria Tre Spiedi.  I had a small meal of a salad and fried (delicious!) calamari, while Reenie enjoyed a pasta dish with prosciutto in a cream sauce.  We had arrived just in time as the place filled very quickly with locals.  After dinner, we walked a bit and picked up a pastry (for Reenie) and tiramisu gelato for me.  Yummy!  Went to bed around 9:30pm after a nice hot shower. 
 
3 November 2001: What a great day!  I woke up at 7am with the nearby church bells ringing.  Another beautiful day with temps in the low 60s; not a cloud in the sky.  We walked all around Venice, exploring the many streets and canals.  We visited the Rialto market and enjoyed looking at all the wonderful fresh fruits, vegetables, and seafood.  Along the way, Reenie picked up the most devine olive bread (the bread shop is past the market, heading away from the Rialto bridge, on the left).   We got lost, found neat streets, and took many photographs.  We visited the Basilica with the crowds.  Reenie was amazed at all the sights we saw.  She especially admired the marble floors.  We stopped at the ticket office at the DogesPalace and purchased tickets for the next day for the "Secret Tour."   Then we headed to the top of the Campinile tower for some wonderful views of Venice. 
 
We did some window shopping for gold.  I wanted to purchase a pendant of the Winged Lion of Venice.  Reenie loved the one I picked, so she bought one too.  For lunch, I was interested in having pizza and read in one of my books that the best pizza was at Pizzeria Al Vecio Canton in Castello, not too far from the Piazza San Marco.  It took a while to find it as there were many tiny streets.  The restaurant was very nice.  We had delicious pizza with fresh buffalo mozzarella.  Mine included sausage, while Reenie had hers with porcini mushrooms. 
 
After lunch, we wandered around and window shoppped along the way.  We walked to the "tail" of Venice and found a residental area.  This was near the Arsenal, which used to be the ship building area, but is now used by the military.  Some of the canals were filled with boats and would have been great for picture taking, but the sun was setting at that time.  It got dark around 6pm.  We found a place on Fondamenta Sant' Anna (which is where Via Giuseppe Garibaldi starts from the grand canal) that sells local wine by the jug.  Residents were coming in with their empty bottles and jugs and having them filled with wine.  There were a dozen different wines to choose from.  I had to have my own!  So, down the street in a little grocery store, I bought a large bottle of water for about .41 cents, drank a bunch of it (we were thirsty anyway), watered some flowers at the nearby Viale Giuseppe Garibaldi park, and went the store to have my bottle filled.  I bought a Merlot and paid 4.800L for 1.5 liters of wine!  That's about $2.35!!!  Amazing. 
 
We walked all the way back to our room and were pretty tired.  While freshening up for dinner we had some of the wine.  It was pretty good.  We took the Vaporetto to the Accademia stop and had dinner at Taverna San Trovaso, a restaurant that Tony and I found back in 1998. We had a delicious meal of various seafood.  The wine, ½ liter, was only 7.000L.  The place was filled with mostly locals and a few tourists.  We walked home to walk off our dinner. 
 
4 November 2001, Sunday: Again, we had another beautiful, blue sky day.  I didn't sleep well at all.  There were a few mosquitos in the room and the boats kept going by our window all night long.  We were up and out of the room by 8:30am to give ourselves a full day of sightseeing and wandering around Venice.  We had coffee and tea along the way at a bar and then headed to the Doges palace for our 10:00am secret tour (24.000L each).  It lasted over an hour and was very interesting.  We got to visit several rooms, which those on the regular tours, don't visit.  This was on the 3rd floor where we also visited some of the prision cells, including the one where Giaccamo Casanova was imprisioned.  The tour guide spoke English very well and was intertaining in telling the story of Casanova.  In the attic area, there was a small area of artifacts to view: swords, helmets, other weapons, etc.  There were about 25 in the tour group.  We were glad we took this tour and highly recommend it.  Thanks Dan for telling me about it!
 
Next we headed to Burano.  We walked to the Fondamenta Nuove to catch the Vaporetto to Burano, which took 40 minutes to get there.  Burano is absolutely lovely!  It's so colorful with many, many different colored buildings.  I hope my photographs come out well.  Apparently home owners who want to repaint their home must paint it in the same color.  There were many shops selling lovely lace products such as table linens, pillow covers, etc.  In one shop, a woman was in the middle of making a lace product by hand.  She had just started on it, so I couldn't tell what she was making.  For lunch, we found a small store and bought fontana cheese and hard salami and ate it on the Vaporetto going back to Venice. 
 
Back in our room, we had some wine and relaxed a little. Then we headed out for more shopping as Reenie needed a necklace for her new pendant.  She found a beautiful one, that I even asked the sales woman if she had a second one for me.  I just loved the style of it.  This was a nice heavy gold chain, which was much more appropriate for the pendant we bought rather than the thin necklace I was wearing. Now I needed to find one for my pendant, which I did, but in a different pattern. 
 
So looking like twins wearing our new gold, we headed again to the Accademia vaporetto stop to have dinner at Ai Cugnai with Julie, a fellow fodorite, and her friend Betsy.  We had some time to spare, so we walked to S. Maria d. Salute.  Our feet were sore and we were ready to take a break, so since we still had time, we had drinks at a bar next to the Accademia bridge and my old "home," Hotel Galleria.  We had a great time with Julie and Betsy.  Both were staying at hotels on the Dorsoduro side of Venice.  Our waitress, Eda, one of three sisters working at the restaurant, was very entertaining.  Every time she brought out a dish for the other guests, she would stop by and tell us what it was, explaining it was "delicious" or "you must try this."  Reenie and I had a delicious seafood risotto, then I had fried calamari, while Reenie had a veal dish.  Both Julie and Betsy had a fish dish and I think salads.  We also had white wine, which Julie paid.  Thanks again!  Julie and Betsy really enjoyed their meal of some sort of fish (as we did) as well as the restaurant.  This was a restaurant that Tony and I found back in 1998 and now is in several guidebooks.  We took the Vaporetto home instead of walking.  It had been a long day and were ready to crawl into bed.
 
5 November 2001: I have to say: Another beautiful day.  What good luck we have had so far.  We headed to the Rialto market area to pick up that wonderful olive bread for breakfast along with some cheese.  What a way to start the day!  We headed back to our part of town and toured the Ca d' Oro museum.  It was filled with many paintings along with some sculptures.  It was nice, but we expected to tour the place as it was originally built. 
 
We walked to the train station via the Ghetto to buy our train tickets for Verona.  After wandering around the Ghetto, I stopped in a store near the train station and bought a beautiful glass winged lion for my fire mantel.  I had been pricing them for the last couple of days and this was the best priced one along with being the nicest.  Plus it was signed and "stamped" that it was made in Murano.  The salesman tripple wrapped it in bubble wrap, which I added another layer when I got to the hotel room.  I love it!
 
After buying our trian tickets, we took the Vaporetto to the Rialto stop, and picked up lunch at Bartolomeo's a great restaurant/cafeteria.  We did a take out of eggplant parmesan, a meat/gren noodle lasagna, and a mixed seafood salad, which we ate in our hotel room with a glass of wine.  All was delicious and only about $12.    After lunch and a short rest, we took the vaporetto to the Accademia stop and walked around the Dorsoduro area.  I wanted to see the floating market, but most of it was closed down by the time we got there.  Along the way, we saw a young man in a gondola singing (in a tux) while he was being filmed.  Maybe for Italian MTV? 
 
We headed back to Piazza San Marco so Reenie could buy a glass bowl, but we couldn't remember where the store was locaoted.  She ended up buying a pair of black leather gloves for $57, which was more practical than a glass bowl.  They were very nice and lined with cashmere.  We stopped for drinks around 5:30pm at a bar and sat outside in the cool air watching all the tourists walk by.  There we many Japanese tourists in groups.  Back at the hotel, we asked the hotel owner if he would recommend a good trattoria for us.  He recommended Osteria da Alberto, which was near our hotel.  This was a great choice!  We both enjoyed their delicious risotto with shrimp and rock salad and their steak (cooked rare) with gorgonzola cheese sauce.   On the way home, we stopped at the internet cafe next to the hotel so I could email Tony and some friends.  It cost me 5.000L for 15 minutes.  I had about 4 minutes left, so I could use it the next day.  Time for bed.  Tomorrow: Verona!
 
6 November 2001: We woke up at 6:10am to catch the 7:45am train to Verona.  The next train to head to Verona was at 10:00am, which was too late to take for a full day's visit to Verona.  It was an overcast day, but we hoped that it would clear up.  That didn't happen.  Our train left 45 minutes late because of mechanical problems.  We met a young couple on the train from California, Tony and Rosa, who were also on their Verona before heading to Florence.  They had no clue as what to see in Verona, so I gave them my extra notes/map of Verona.  They were very appreciative. 
 
The bus from the train station took us to the Piazza Bra, which was next to the Amphitheater, called the Arena. We climbed to the top for some city views.  Some of the steps were quite high and we had to be careful because everything was wet (all marble).  Operas are performed every year here along with plays, ballet and festivals. I bet the acoustics are great! Verona is a lovely town and would have been even more beautiful if the sun were out! 
 
We headed along the pedestrian street to Piazza de Erbe where the market is located.  Unfortunately not many food stalls were open.  Many touristy stalls were filled with lots of junk.  We were a little disappointed as we expected to see similar sights as the market at the Rialto.  We climbed the nearby tower, Torre Lamberti, for some great views of the city, but the weather was lousy for picture taking.  As a tip, take the elevator, then the stairs to the very top.  We did all of the steps and were tired.  We also visited Juliet's home.  There is a statue of her in the courtyard.  All of the men who stopped by rubbed Juliet's breast for good luck in love.  The walls were filled with graffiti, which we took a picture of as it was quite colorful.  There were lots of messages about love! 
 
For lunch, we dined at Osteria al Duca, in (supposedly) Romeo's house.  We had a very good lunch.  We dined upstairs, which was quite comfortable and cozy.  In the afternoon, we walked to the Roman theatre, which was spectacular!  Along the way, we stopped to take photos of the old bridge.  The entrance ticket included a museum filled with wonderful artifacts.  I think this was Reenie's favorite sight and told her she needs to visit Rome!  After this, we headed to a nearby bus stop to get back to the train station for our 5:08pm train.  We had to transfer to a second bus and got to the train station around 4:20pm.  I noticed there was a train at 4:34pm, so we took that one.  Our tickets were not marked for a specific time, so we had no problems taking the earlier one.  We were tired as it was a long day.  We headed back to our hotel and again asked for a restaurant recommendation.  Andrea suggested Hosteria Al Vecio Bragosso, which was on Strada Nuovo near our hotel.  He called and made reservations for us.  We had a very good meal at reasonable prices.  There was a large group from England that were very noisy.  Once they left, it was quite nice and peaceful.  They did enjoy their evening.  I had fried calamari as it was our last night in Venice and figured the best fresh seafood would be in Venice.  It was delicious and fresh!  Reenie had a delicious pasta with porcini mushrooms and scallops.  We also shared a tiramisu for dessert.    
 
After dinner, Reenie went to the room, while I got onto the computer to email home.  I also took a quick walk to the Rialto bridge hoping to buy a key chain for Reenie that she saw, the most of the stores were closed by then.  Back at the room, we packed, then went to bed.
 
7 November 2001: We got up early (another cloudy day) and headed to the vaporetto to get to the Piazzale Roma, where we picked up our rental car.  I rented a Fiat Punto, their economy car.  Tiny, but perfect for the 2 of us.  We left Venice at 9:45am and got to Assisi at 2:30pm.  We stopped a couple of times along the way.  Missed one road at the beginning, my first experience with Italian road signs.  Italy has terrible road signs as we discovered along the way.  The toll to Assisi was 32.500L.  We drove through some mountains, saw many towns along the way.  Perugia is hugh!  Asissi was a great sight as we neared the town.  We drove into Assisi and I found Hotel Sole easily on one of the main streets, near the main piazza.  We checked in and dropped off our bags in the room, then parked the car at a nearby free parking lot.  It was about an 8 minute walk back to the hotel.  No problems with parking at night when returning from our day trips. I imagine it would be difficult to find a parking space at that free lot during the high tourist season.  Our room, #62, was in the annex, which was across the street from the main building.  Our room, which was nice, had great views of the valley below and roof tops of the buildings in front of us.  We unpacked a few things, then headed out for the rest of the afternoon.  Assisi is a beautiful town with many small streets and stairs to climb.  We walked all around and ended up at St. Francis Basilica.  It was amazing to see it, especially after seeing it in the news back in 1997 with the earthquake.  The only signs of an earthquake were the 2 sections of the ceiling which lacked any frescos.  Even the marble floor looked great. 
 
For dinner, we went to a restaurant recommended by a young man at a bar where we had coffee and tea earlier in the day.  We dined at La Pallotta, which was off the main piazza.  The place was very nice.  We ran into a couple that we meet earlier in the day.  They were with a tour group, but with just one couple for dinner.  I had told them about this place as they were looking for a place for dinner.  They said they enjoyed their meal.  We walked a bit, then headed back to our room.
 
8 November 2001: This day we took a walk up to the fortress.  It was an overcast day and very windy.  We did have great views of the area, but there was lots of fog in the valley.  We headed back to St. Francis to see it in the day light with all its beautiful stained glass windows.  There were many tourists there, including many nuns. 
 
We drove to Deruta via Betona.  It was a great drive as we saw several town along the way.  We shopped in Deruta for ceramics and bought a few things.  Some ceramics were extremely expensive and quite beautiful.  Some day I'll splurge and buy a very large platter/plate to hang on the wall.  We had a nice lunch at Ristorante Fontanina. 
 
We drove back to Assisi in the late afternoon.  Prior to parking the car, we drove to find a restaurant that Reenie's friend recommended, called La Stalla.  It was outside the town, only a mile or so away.  I ran in to make reservations, but was told we didn't have to since it was just the two of us.  Back in Assisi, we wanted to go to a shop we had seen the previous day.  This particular store had lovely small ceramic magnets that we wanted to buy but didn't when we first saw them thinking we should shop around. No luck as the shop was closed for the evening.  We didn't seem the any place else, so we decided to go to the store the next evening.  Restaurant La Stalla was a neat place.  It has a large fireplace where the cook grilled all the meat dishes: lamb, boar, wild game such as pigeon, etc.  Our meal was very good (I had the grilled lamb and Reenie had quail or something similar to that).  We were the only tourists there. 
 
9 November 2001: We got up early to drive to Orvieto for the day.  It poured while we drove, but stopped by the time we got there.  Along the way we saw Todi in the distance as well as another lovely town we wanted to see after visiting Orvieto.  We drove to the top of Orvieto and found a parking lot with 1 last space next to the Duomo.    What luck!  I paid 5.400L for 5 hours of parking.  We saw several sights with a combined ticket, including the Duomo, the tower with great views (got to the top just in time for the bells to ring!), the main museum, and the underground caves, which was very interesting.  The caves were originally made by the Etruscans, then used by those from medieval times, who made the caves larger to store their wine and olive oil.  They also had caves for piegons to sell and consume.  During WWII, hospital patients were moved to a new cave built during the war. 
 
For lunch, we dined at Ristorante dell' Ancora which had good food, but lousy, rude service. The young guide at the caves had recommended a restaurant, but when we got there it was filled, so we searched for another place.  It is supposed to be a great restaurant with authentic Umbrian cuisine.  It specializes in pigeon and I believe the name of the restaurant is Pigeon.   
 
We drove home and wanted to stop along the way to the little town near Todi, but I got confused with the road signs and ended up on A1 instead.  We "crossed" over the countryside and got back to Assisi via many small windy roads.  At one point at an intersection, we saw two signs to Perugia, one pointing to the left and the other to the right!  A car stopped, guessing we were trying to figure out which direction to go.  He had me follow them and about 1/4 mile later, pointed to a turn in the road to Perugia.  Nice guys!  We later saw a sign for Assisi (oh good, we're still on the right track) then no sign.  We ended up in Perugia on the south side and had to turn around to head to Assisi. 
 
Back in Assisi, we again went to the shop that sold the lovely ceramic magnets, but again, they were closed!  They must close early.  We were so disappointed.  So, any fodorites out there that plan to be in Assisi, please let me know!  I'll send you money if you'll get some for me.
 
We had coffee and wine at a cafe in the main piazza, then dinner at La Fortezza.  This was the best meal so far in our trip and the service was excellent.  The hotel/restaurant is set within some Roman walls. 
 
10 November 2001: We woke up early, 6:30am, to high winds and a very cold day. We had packed the night before so we could leave early to get to Siena at a decent hour for touring the town.  I had Reenie wait in the room while I went out all bundled up to get the car.  As I walked out the building and closed the large wood door, I realized I would need the key to get back in!  Oh well, I'd figure it out when I came back with the car.  I had to ring the hotel manager and have her open the door for me.  She came out in her robe and was upset at me.  I explained with the little Italian I know that I left the key with my cousin. 
 
In any case, we were on our way to Siena after filling the car with gas.  We drove in the rain for a while, then it let up.  We got to Siena about 1-3/4 hours later.  I found our hotel easily as it was located just outside Porta Romana.  Piccolo Hotel Oliveta was a very nice hotel.  Our room, #G, was very nice and large.  Our window looked out to the valley to the left and reception building to the right. 
 
After checking in, we had breakfast there; then headed out to see Siena.  Siena is another beautiful town.  It was a miserable, cold day.  It rained the whole time we walked around (about 3.5 hours).  We didn't bother going to the top of the tower at the campo.  We did walk to the fortress, where Reenie bought a bottle of olive oil.  We were able to sample 5 or 6 varieties of olive oil, all delicious.  I couldn't stand the cold weather anymore.  My feet were damp and my hands were numb, so we headed back to the room.  We were disappointed that the afternoon was wasted.  It was too cold to even sit out at a cafe.
 
While in our room writing in our journals or writing postcards, Oliver called.  Miriam and Oliver drove from Frankfurt to visit us in Siena.  They were in town at their hotel on the north side of Siena.  We had dinner plans with them  along with 4 other fellow fodorites at restaurant Cane e Gato.  Miriam and Oliver came by our hotel around 6pm via taxi and we had some wine before walking to the restaurant.  It rained lightly as we walked the 10 minutes to get to the restaurant.
 
Cane e Gato was FABULOUS!!!  Everyone else was there when we arrived at 7:45pm: Judi and Paul, and Christine and Paul.  The place is small (seats maybe 25 people), yet comfortable and lovely.  Nice decor with paintings on the wall, glass tables, candles and leather placemats, which were for two people sitting across each other.  This family run restaurant was our best meal of our trip and most enjoyable evening.  Mama cooked dinner while papa and daughter, quite lovely, served our dinner.  Both had smiles on their faces all evening long.  One could tell they enjoyed what they did.  Our dinner event lasted 4 hours and no, it didn't seem long and drawn out at all.  We enjoyed our great talks and fabulous food.  Do go there if you have the chance!  We walked back to our hotel with Judi and Paul.  Miriam and Oliver took a taxi home.  It was a late evening for us, but a great evening!
 
11 November 2001: Another overcast and rainy day. Another disappointment.  This day we drove to to San Gimignano, stopping along the way at Monteriggioni, a lovely little walled in town.  It's very small and one could see the whole town in 10 minutes.  San Gimignano was a neat town to see with its 14 remaining (out of 70?) towers.  We saw it in the distance before getting there.  I'm sure it's very impressive in the sunlight.  We walked around town, but didn't do any museums.  We wanted to be outdoors to see the town.  We walked everywhere.  We stopped at a meat shop and sampled wild boar (our lunch) in various forms and flavors: salami, proscuitto, etc.  I bought some of it for Tony.  We also stopped for some delicious gelato.
 
We drove to three towns: Castellena, Radda, and Gaiole.  But with all the rain, we just drove by them.  We definitely want to return to Tuscany so we can visit these towns properly.  We stopped at an old castle, Melete, where they had tours, but the next tour was only in Italian.  Back at our hotel, we freshened up for dinner (Alexandra had made reservations for us), and chatted with Antonio while having wine and cheese. 
 
For dinner we dined at Fori Porta, just down the street from our hotel and opposite direction of Porta Romana.  Judi and Paul had dined there two nights before and said it was very good. Yes, the food was good, but we had poor service from the male waiter/host.  He ignored us, we had to wait a while for things, and it took over 30 minutes to get our bill after asking 3 times!  We couldn't figure out why he was rude to us.  Reenie sensed it from the beginning when he opened the door and I walked in and he let the door go before Reenie could enter.  I should have said something to him at the end of the evening, but he probably wouldn't have cared.  Although the food was very good, I won't return here.
 
As we walked out the restaurant, Miriam and Oliver showed up in their taxi. We walked to our hotel and had some wine and chatted with them and Antonio until about midnight.  It was great that Miriam and Oliver drove all the way from Frankfurt to see us.  Thanks again Miriam and Oliver!  You are special friends to me!!!
 
12 November 2001: I decided to sleep in a little since it was raining.  After breakfast, the sun came out, so we took a quick walk to the center of town to take some photos.  We checked out of our hotel around 11:30am and headed to Milan.  On the way we drove by Certaldo.  We wanted to visit it, but didn't want to leave our car with our luggage in it.  We did stop along the road to take a photo of a town nearby when the sun was out.  As we drove north to Milan, it got cloudy again and rained off and on.  We got to Hotel Cervo, which was near the Malpensa airport, just after dark.  Miriam had called me at the hotel just after we checked in after hearing about the American Airline crash in NY.  She was concerned about our flight not knowing if the crash would affect flights from Europe or if it was from a terrorist act.  I had her call Tony, who called me to say the crash was because of mechanical problems.  I felt better knowing it wasn't a terrorist act, but still upset by the crash.  I was saddened for New York as this could have happened anywhere and it happened in New York. 
 
We had dinner at the hotel's restaurant.  The food wasn't anything to write home to, but the house wine was fine.  There were just a few other people in the restaurant that evening.  We took a walk after dinner and headed towards the airport.  Planes were coming and going while the little town we were in, Casa Nuovo, was sound asleep.  Back in our rooms, we watched the news on CNN, then went to bed.   
 
13 November 2001: We got up at 7:00am, showered, had breakfast, then checkout of our hotel.  The drive to the airport, terminal 1, took only minutes.  The car rental return was located at the underground parking (take the left lane out of four lanes when entering the airport property).  After a quick return of the car, we headed to the terminal.  We were one of the first to check in, which was easy.  Lots of guards at the airport and lots of questions about our luggage, packing, when did we buy it, etc.  We waited 2.5 hours for our flight as we were told to check in 3 hours ahead of time.  The time went quickly as I wrote in my journal and people-watched.  Reenie bought some balsamic vinegar at the duty free shop.  The flight wasn't full, so everyone boarded quickly and we took off on time.  The flight was good, but we had  some turbulence.  The views of the Alps were beautiful.  Lots of snow on the peaks.  The food on board wasn't that great compared to the food on the way over to Italy.  We watched a movie, napped a little, wrote a little.  We got to Dulles about 45 minutes early.  Reenie and I parted at Dulles, where she went off to catch her flight to Boston.  I got my suitcase and went through customs without a blink of an eye and waited outside for my ride home.  Tony and Lucy showed up at curbside 5 minutes after I walked out the terminal. 
 
It's good to be home, but always sad to end a wonderful vacation. This trip was great!  Reenie was a great travel partner and she enjoyed every minute as I did despite the rainy weather we encountered in Umbria and Tuscany.  She (me too) is ready to return to Tuscany to hunt for Tartufo (truffles) and visit the many wonderful towns of Tuscany.  So, it looks like I have given my travel bug to yet another person.
 
Monica

With Alexandra, Reenie, and Antonio