and the adventure continues...

Onward and upward !  After a wonderful time with Mike and Chelsea, we flew off into the wild blue yonder on American Airlines...a nice trip...even the food was pretty good (or else we were pretty hungry...).  We had some lovely wine with our meal, then told the flight attendant that it was our anniversary...she promptly went to First Class and brought back two glasses of champagne for us to toast each other...we're going to milk this anniversary thing ...again and again...for all it's worth !

We arrived in Milan at 8am local time (about 2am US time), and checked into the Sheraton at the airport...what a good idea !  The room was beautiful...we napped, showered, and relaxed for 5 hours (all for $38...what a deal !).  Then we caught the flight on EasyJet to Palermo and arrived about 7pm or so...picked up the rental car and drove to our first stop...a beautiful villa in Balestrate.  The caretaker, Rosanna, was there to greet us...she speaks NO ENGLISH ...so it was quite an adventure trying to understand how to turn the lights on, maintain the heat, run the washer, etc.  Needless-to-say that the minute we said we didn't speak Italian - in Italian - she began to rattle off everything about the villa in rapid Italian !  We told her we could understand if she spoke slowly, so we got about 2 sentences in "slow", and she was off and running again.  We obviously won't be fooling around with the heat or the washer !  She asked if we had eaten dinner yet, and when we replied "no", she herded us into her car and drove like a maniac through town showing us all the sights and dropping us in front of a restaurant...luckily it was close to the house, or we'd still be roaming about in our jet-lagged stupor !

Talk about a wonderful meal...we were, of course, the first customers (at about 8pm), and the owner met us and settled us at a table...he introduced himself as Stephano, but by the end of the evening, he was "Stefi" to us.  He shared a glass of wine with us. and we soon found that he speaks NO ENGLISH....hmmmmm.....somehow, it didn't matter.  Before the meal was over, we had met his Granddaughter, Clara ( 6 weeks old...), and learned about the rest of his family.   After dinner, he brought us two glasses of limoncello - on the house, of course - and asked if we wanted more, but we were exhausted.  He gave us his personal phone number and said to call him any time while we were in Balestrate over the next few days.  I think he kissed Joe more than he kissed me, but Stefi said that it's always that way...a sign of affection between men....It was certainly an evening to remember !

We got up this morning feeling a bit fuzzy around the edges, but went out for a walk around town and to shop for the essentials...unfortunately, all the store had was Diet Coke, but I'll make do.  We visited the bakery, the fruit and vegetable stalls, the fishmongers...everyone was amazingly friendly.  As we stood at an ATM, I felt someone touch my bag of Diet Coke - oh no, you don't !  Lo and behold, it was Stefi !!  He hugged and kissed us both and invited us for "un caffe" at the local bar...there was no refusing that offer...he laughed when I ordered diet coke instead of coffee - I wonder why ?

Chris and Stefi's new paisano

What a way to start a trip....we landed at JFK and cabbed it to the Roger Smith Hotel on Lexington where Joe proceeded to tell the receptionist that it was our 43rd wedding anniversary (a man after my own heart !).  She upgraded us to a beautiful suite....hugh living room, dining area, kitchenette, separate bedroom with king bed...nice !  All for $90 a night...what a deal !

We checked in, walked a block, got two slices and a soda for $5, came back and took a nap...again, nice...

We met Mike and Chelsea at their apartment and saw the pics of their Asian Adventures...amazing !  It was soooooo good to see the two of them - and the puppy, of course - glad they're finally back in the good old US of A.

That night we went to New York Vintners for a wine tasting and dinner.  We did a vertical tasting - all cabernets for 12 different years ...1986 up to 2008...- from Dunn Vineyards...one of the preeminent wineries in Napa.  Talk about a party !  The wines were spectacular ad the food was great...by the time we went through the sparkling wine to start, the 12 tastings, the bottle for the table, the extra pours from the magnums, and the after dinner whisky, we were ready for our jammies big time...the most difficult part of the evening was trying to fit the card key into the hotel door !  Let's just say that it was slow going for all concerned the next morning....

Sunday we had a late brunch near Grammercy Park, took another nap (what are vacations for, right ?), and went back to Mike and Chelsea's for pizza - and a beautiful bottle of wine ...

Today we'll pack up, have our "last" burger for a while - at Shake Shack, of course - and cab it back to JFK for a 6pm flight to Milan.

We might do without wine today...just sayin'....

Love to all....Chris and her wino husband

ok...almost time to get on that first plane to NYC...luckily, it's Jet Blue - we know we can pretty much count on them to be friendly and on time.  The laundry is done, the bags are packed, and I'm having a pretty good hair day, so all is well !

Can't wait to see Mike, Chelsea, and our Grandpuppy...then out to a wine tasting/dinner tonight in the City.

Let the Adventures begin !

Here we go !  It's Thursday night, and instead of watching the Sabres (horrors !!), I'm creating this Blogsite so you guys can follow our adventures - and misadventures - in Italy...  I'm not sure how often we'll have internet available (although it IS the WORLD WIDE WEB, right ?), but I'll try to keep up with this and send some pics as we go along our merry way...stay tuned !

Chris and her "I can't wait to drive those Italian roads" husband