Travels with Jean

A bit of an eventful journey from Verona to Innsbruck mainly due to severe delays on the line north of Innsbruck but our train which had come from Venice was an hour late so it was good that the hotel was close the station and very nice it is too! (Central Hotel).

First thing was to find food as another snag was that there was no food on the train. Not so bad for us as we had bought a sandwich in Verona but some people had an 8 hour journey with no food or drink! Off we went therefore to the main streets only to find most of the nearby places were pizzerias and having just come from Italy that wasn't really what was wanted. Eventually we settled for burgers at Hard Rock cafe which went down very well with some beer.

Oh my its hot. Today we did the hop on and off bus to try and see as much as possible. There are two lines and we did the blue line in a smaller vehicle first. The big double decker couldnt have got through the narrow cobbled streets. To say it was a bone shaker is understating it and trying to take photos whilst rattling over cobbles wasn't easy. We did get an amazing panoramic view when we actually stopped for 5 minutes.

We then switched to the other big red bus but this really didnt take us anywhere very interesting other than seeing the castle and various bridges on the river.

We then walked back to see Juliets balcony and courtyard bit of a rip off costing us €5 each just to see abalcoby but it had to be done really. Tomorrow we are off to the Arena to see the Opera so little point in oaying to look around today too. This is clearly the highlight of the city!

Up early and breakfast in the hotel, not a bright idea as it wasn't the best but ok. Then we were off out and walked up to the main sight namely the Leaning Tower. Even though we were there before 9am it was already heaving with people but we did manage to get a restaurant seat right opposite the Tower for a cold drink which was much needed as even at this time of day it was well over 30 degrees.

A short 17 minute train ride found us in Pisa with a hotel minutes from the station. Given the heat we decided to leave the sightseeing until the morning when we could make an early and hopefully cooler start so we asked receltion fuf a restaurant suggestion and my, did that turn out to be excellent. It wasin a small square just off the msin shopping street called Tora Tora and for any foodie this place is a must, simple home cooked food with a twist. I had risotto with blue cheeze cherries and almonds and it was so delicious and this was followed by cheesecake with a crmble base not biscuit. Andy had pasta followed by tiramisu in a flower pot! Yummy!

We walked into the city mid morning for coffee and a pizza lunch for Andys birthday and then at 2pm set off on a wine trip with another family of 3. This took us to a small family run vineyard in the Chianti Classico area called Lornano where we sampled several reds and a lovely rose, all really expensive together with olive oil and balsamic both again yummy but i cant justify a 25cl bottle of oil for €25! Then it was on to the village of Castellina in Chianti where we had a 20mins wander to the Rocca (fortress) dodging the impending thunderstorm. Then it was on to the walled village of Monteriggioni, another pretty little place with walled fortifications. It was just getting ready for 2 days of Medieval Fayre which it would have been good to have seen.

Our final stop was another very posh vineyard Poggio ai Laghi, this time outside of the Chianti Classico area. Whilst the wines, oils and vinegars were all again very nice i think the cheapest bottle was €52 and they did try the hard sell which i found annoying!!!!

A different andcrelaxing day spending the morning by the pool in the burning heat (and shade) which also allowed us to dry some washed clothes. After lunch at the hotel we watched some tennis and then at 5pm ish we walked into tiwn as tonight qe are off to the Italian Opera in Siena. As this starts at 9pm there was plenty of time for a nice meal in a lovely family run restaurant who even opened up early for us. They were attentive and the food was amazing and i even sampled Ossabuco the local veal dish as I wouldnt normally eat veal.

First day to explore Siena where we are staying for a few days. Our hotel is a 2km walk to city centre a good 35 mins walk mainly slightly downhill entering the old city through Porta Camollia. It was a pleasant walk despite it being hot but once in the old town the hilly nature of the place comes to the fore and it was hard work. Our main aim was to locate the meeting point for various trips we are doing which we did first and then had a nice pizza in the centre.