Just a few weeks to Tuscan ecstacy

In just five weeks, 6 months of planning and preparation will be put into action.  Nace and I will be off on an Italian adventure to Italy.  We have an excruciating flight itinerary to Florence via Miami, JFK and Rome.  A direct flight was not possible given the need to use Skymiles for at least one ticket.  Mercifully, the return trip is direct from Rome to Miami.  It has been 10 years since we traveled to London and Paris with our friends Rod and Glenda in the spring of 2001, just five months before 9/11.  Travel has changed radically since then and I suspect there will be elevated tension as we are traveling during the 10th anniversary of this horrible event.  


But let's dwell on the fun stuff.  In 2009 we did a "bikation" with Backroads http://www.backroads.com/ and had a wonderful time touring northern California.  Our guide/hosts took care of everything from the minute we were picked up by the shuttle in San Francisco.  All we had to do was zip up our suitcases in the morning, put on our bike kit and head off on the next route which included stops at wineries and gourmet lunches under the redwoods.  By the end of the week I had already made a personal commitment that this would not be the last bikation, despite protestation from my beloved spouse.  Further enticement was needed, however, to make this Italian adventure happen so we are going to spend a few days in Florence and Rome on either end of the bike tour to round out or 10 days in Italy.   


We employed the services of a travel agent to get the big travel details done and now we can start to daydream about our strolls along the ancient cobblestone of Florence and Rome, eating delicious Tuscan food and drinking great Italian wines.  We have been "studying" our Florence and Rome travel guides and deciding what we would like to see and do.  I have also been working through an on-line Italian language course provided via our public library and driving Nace crazy with spontaneous outbursts of mi chiamo Philippe!   Hopefully she will be more impressed when I put these hard earned skills to use in Italy.  


We are also happy to have Nace's brother Brad staying in our place in Naples and taking care of Jazz.  That will put our minds at ease.


We are sorry that some of our California bikeation friends could not join us this time, however Gus and Karina have also succumbed to the lure of this once in a lifetime trip.   Thus, any grumpy Canadians should be forewarned that we will use whatever means are necessary to get them to smile.  Please refer to my previous 2009 blog for enlightenment.


There is no good way to prepare our legs for the hilly terrain in Tuscany given our pathetically flat terrain here in Florida.  We do plan to make up for this shortcoming with heroic efforts in the gustatory and oenophillic realm.  I also hope not to repeat the last trip's preparation that resulted in a trip to the ER and several stitches in my right palm a week before we departed for California.