Tuesday turned out to be a long day with a 9 a.m. train to Cinque Terra and a return to La Contessina at midnight. We changed trains in Pisa, then after what seemed a long morning, we arrived at the first of the five beautiful hillside villages. The walk along the coastline between Riomaggoire and Manarola was great and the weather was perfect. We explored the villages and had a delicious dinner in Monterossa. It was a pleasure to show the Bishops and Shapiros this enchanting part of Italy. After barely catching the last trains back to Florence, we were happy to fall into our beds! More later!
I HAVE SET UP A NEW PHOTOBLOG SITE FOR THE 2014 TOURS. YOU CAN STILL SEE PHOTOS FROM 2008 TO 2013 HERE. TO VIEW THE LATEST TOURS GO TO: WWW.INTUSCANYWITHPATRIZIA.BLOGSPOT.COM
Classe de Cucina e Cina - Cooking Class and Dinner
Monday - today's highlight was tonight's dinner preceded by our cooking class! What a fun time we had as we joined twenty other folks at a Florence cooking school for a four course meal and hands-on participation! We made tiramisu, meat-filled zucchini, gnocchi with tomato sauce and delicious chicken with peppers. You'll see by the photos what a great time we had! Earlier today we visited the Bargello Museum. It was filled with sculptural masterpieces and many other treasures. The Bargello was once the city's jail and place of executions, but is a much happier place now! Al and Margaret were delighted to finally see one of their bike cases packed with clothing and other much needed items show up from Switzerland today. Hopefully the second one will arrive tomorrow! More later!