The drive to Volterra was just breathtaking! Although we only ascended 1,000 feet, we have entered a new world. Cooler for one even with full sun. Rolling green hills with beautiful fields,  small farms, stuccos buildings with tile roofs, and groves. The rape (canola) fields were a beautiful, bright yellow. Pine nuts trees, my local favorite, were everywhere. Very Switzerland in its way. Such a contrast to the absolute power that Rome was designed to convey with it massive scale and grandiosity.

Volterra is a small city in Tuscany and was one of  12 major Etruscan centers. In its heyday it was much bigger than its current 11,000. More details on the Etruscans after the guide fills our heads tomorrow, but for starters I do know they predated the Romans and had a very sophisticated culture that was copied in many ways by the Romans later.

Our hotel, in a 16th century building, has an amazing view of a valley and is down a hill too narrow for the bus to turn around. So we were dropped at the top of the hill and walked down dragging our luggage. The room keys are very Old  Hollywood … large, metal, embossed. They are to Be left at the desk when we are out … a practice we find odd for security reasons.

The whole group met in the lobby at 7:00 for the short walk Back Up the Hill to a four course meal. This is the life!

Up and at ’em after a wonderful night’s sleep. The group rallied on the sidewalk with their luggage at 8:15 after breakfast in our hotel which, by the way, is a small, modest tourist hotel smack dab in the middle of town convenient to all the gelato you can imagine. It has a wire cage elevator that holds three adults. Very old Hollywood. When overloaded it buzzes and will not operate until someone gets off.

The morning was spent in our group of 26 with as amazing a tour guide as I’ve ever had. Her style, if you will, is to paint a picture in our minds of how it was back in the day. With Rome being 3,000+ years old, back in the day is Way Back. We all had headsets so we could hang on her every word.

We toured the colosseum first and learned that it was one of 200 colosseums at the height of the Roman Empire. It held tens of thousands of people, was only used three or four times a year, and is oval, not round. The guide decribed how colorful it, along with all public buildings and monuments, was, not gray and drab like today. What did not have a colorful marble veneer was painted stucco. None of that remains today because it was judiciously recycled and used for other purposes over the last 2,000 years. The guide described the life of a gladiator, where the different classes of people sat, and how the practice of showcasing and killing exotic North African animals  decimated the wild populations.

From the colosseum it was a very short walk to the Forum … the epicenter of Roman life. The guide explained the life and times as well as the ruins and how colorful and vibrant everything was. Among loads of other things, we saw the temple of the vestle virgins,  a couple of triumph arches, and walked on a paved Roman road leading into the Forum.

Tid bits: At it’s height Rome had one milion citizens!!! Most of them lived in apartment buildings with no bathroom or kitchen facilties. There was one statue per every two people in its heyday. Bronze statues and decorations were popular but they were  all gone (read:  melted down) centuries ago.

After we turned in our headsets and left our wonderful guide, we headed out of town in the direction of Tuscany. Guess what the bus has? WiFi. I am blogging from a moving bus taking short breaks to look out at the beautiful scenery. Matt has his headphones on and he, Dan,  and Emily are sleeping. Murf and Josie are taking advantage of the WiFi and the scenery.

Our destination is Volterra, about two hour north of wherever we are now. We’ll be there two nights.

In closing, a quote from Josie that was first uttered by Charles Dickens referencing the colosseum: “The most impressive, the most stately, the most solemn, grand, majestic mournful sight conceivable.”

We were on our feet for 13 hours and walked 11.5 miles! The weather was perfect with need for a jacket to start and end the day and otherwise we were in shirtsleeves enjoying the sun and clear skies..

The morning started with a quick subway ride to the Vatican. We rode  the bus (very clean and efficient) last night, so it was fun to see how the subway worked. The group spent the morning in a private tour of the Vatican Museum, the Sistine Chapel, and Saint Peter’s Basilica, the largest (by a long shot) Catholic church in the world. We each had a headset so we could hear our amazingly well informed guide dazzle us with facts, figures, ancient tapestries, paintings, statues, and mosaics. It was all truly amazing, so it was easy for the guide to keep us spellbound. Favorites for me were seeing marble tubs made in Egypt and shipped to Rome for the baths; going downstairs in Saint Peter’s to see where 100+ popes are laid to rest; and being inside the Sistine Chapel.

We had the afternoon free, so we six laid out a walk that took us to all sorts of easily accessible ruins, sites, monuments, and outdoor sculptures and fountains. We did it all at a leisurely pace and had such an enjoyable afternoon. Everywhere we looked there was yet another amazing thing to see. We stopped four times to snack in spite of having had a wonderful lunch. Our favorite was a rooftop restaurant with amazing views of the city where we enjoyed Prosecco,  soft drinks, and snacks. It could not have been a half hour later when we shared a paper cone of French fries. Next was coffee.

Biggest surprise of the day: a bird pooped on Josie’s head. I hate to say we laughed, but we all did get quite a kick out of it. What made it funny in part was that Matt had mentioned earlier in the afternoon that he read about this possibility and the advice to let it dry and then it will brush right off. Who knew how handy that tidbit would be?

Best toy of the trip so far: the selfie stick that Josie bought on the street. That little thing has brought us joy.

It’s a bit embarrassing to say we also had dinner, but we actually did. To tone it down a bit we shared dishes so we’d have room for gelato. We had to earn the gelato though since it was a 20 minute walk from the restaurant.

We got back to the hotel at 9:15 with the task of getting organized for an 8:30 departure tomorrow. First order of business was to take off my shoes!

We had a friendly lady cabbie this morning from the airport to the hotel who mentioned that the Pope is in town and would be giving a blessing at noon today. We dropped our bags at the hotel around 9:30 and strolled our way to the Vatican. With a stop for breakfast we, along with tens of thousands of others, made it with 10 minutes to spare. He spoke from the balcony window. It was amazing and we marvel at our luck. Mostly we knew we’d having bragging rights that no one in our group would have. No one said  we are above being shallow. It is actually the second Pope we have seen, but that is another story.

We stopped at numerous places on our way back to the hotel. It takes exactly  zero effort to run into some fantastic ruin, reconstruction, wall, fountain, etc. that has been around for 2,000+/- years. Some new-ish buildings have even incorporated columns, for example, that are ancient. Romans were into repurposing long before we were.

As we were making our final approach to the hotel, who did we walk right into but the Junior Mongeons who had arrived from Venice on the train, had checked into the hotel, and were off to look for a quick snack. They invited us to join them, but we decided to get checked in and put our feet up for the 45 minutes remaining before the group meet-up at 3.

Our fellow travelers are all Americans and seem very nice. The group leader, Jamie, is a Brit who is very personable walking encyclopedia … FULL of amazing facts about art, history, politics, architecture, and government. He wowed us right off with a trip orientation and a walking tour before our four course dinner.

We have been up for 36 hours and the bed is looking like a welcome treat. We opted for twin beds throughout the trip since we had no idea what sizes Italian beds come in.

Italy here we come! Dan and I are all checked in and ready for our 5 pm flight to Rome where we will meet Murphy, Josie, Matt, and Emily. The six of us are booked on a 9-day Rick Steves’ Rome to Florence tour that begins tomorrow night. It’s Murf and Josie’s turn to choose the family trip this year and it seems they’ve come up with a winner.

M&Em and M&J added a little pre-tour of their own … a couple days in Venice. They will take a train to Rome tomorrow.

All room charges have to be made before checkout at noon, so you can understand why I had to double up on breakfast. I decided to dine (vrs eat) in the beautiful dining room at the circa 1928 Inn. Corned beef hash, fruit, eggs, and toast served by uniformed waitstaff. No lunch before we head to the airport since I can’t use cash or personal charge cards here. Who lives like this?

How to kill the four hours between brunch and my meetup with Dan at 3:15? How about a facial she tosses out? Well, OK then. The facial is at the salon which is collocated with the spa, so dang it all, I’ll have acces to the warm pool, steam, sauna, etc. once my face looks like it belongs to a much younger person.

We have an evening flight home and then a 68-hour turnaround before adventure #5. Stay tuned.

Dan’s official activities began at noon with a golf outing and will go through cocktails and dinner tonight and meetings until 3:30 tomorrow. So, how to spend the time on my own? On a whim I went to check out the 30,000 square foot spa!!! A small aircraft carrier could fit in there I tell ya. They had me at ‘purchase a treatment and use the facilities all day.’ I booked a 4:00 massage but spent the entire afternoon reading, lunching, and sipping on flavored water and green tea out by a huge warm pool. I popped into the hot tub a couple times too. Massage was great; I now smell like mangos. A delicious salmon dinner for dinner in the room with the leftover wine from last night and another pat of seahorse shapped butter. Overlooking the water needless to say.

Did I mention the turn down service? Two totally chipper ladies came to freshen our untouched room by putting little cotton mats the size and texture of very large placemats on each side of the bed. I guess so our bare, finely pumiced (from walks on the beach) feet wouldn’t have to touch the beautiful carpet. We thought the Ponte Vedra monogrammed slippers in the closet were for that purpose, but I guess they are not taking any chances with our persnicketiness. Four mints were left on the bed, each in it’s own wax paper sleeve, tucked into a mini-envelope with the name of the resort printed on it.

After dinner we plumped our pillows, figured out the TV, and watched the championship game. A first for me. Having heard Coach K speak once, I was for his team and Dan was for the other guys. I slept through the 2nd half waking just in time for Duke to seal the deal.

I rolled over this morning just about the time I would ordinarily be getting to work, made coffee in the mini-pot in the kitchenette side of the room, and sat outside to greet the day. I was way too late for sunrise but the sun was still low on the horizon and beautiful so close to the water. In room dining (the term ‘room service’ won’t do) was our choice for breakfast. The delivery person set us up on the corner table with a table cloth on top of a table cloth (get out), monogrammed coasters, seahorse-shaped butter, and a view of the beach. All enjoyed in the comfort of our monogrammed robes. Stop it!

We had a yummy breakfast and enjoyed parting conversations with our fellow guests: A San Diego couple celebrating their 3rd anniversary, North Carolinian retirees driving home from a chaotic (think spring break) grandchild’s birthday celebration @ Disney, a couple from Nashville on a quick getaway, and a couple from Florida just getting out of town for the weekend. He’s  from the French speaking part of Belgium so every word he uttered was irresistible.

Being a lady of leisure and all, combined with having no particular place to be, I’m staying on in Florida with Dan to while away my time when he attends a conference at Ponte Vedra Inn & Club in none other than Ponte Vedra, just east of Jacksonville, right on the ocean fronting a deep white-sand beach. Yawn…stretch…grin.

To get here we drove the length of Amelia island, a whopping  13 miles from our B&B. My favorite thing is the moss drapped Gone with the Wind trees. There are not loads of them like further north, but what’s here are old, huge, and beautiful. We passed a few resorts which were in contrast to the huge old homes in the downtown area, a few of which were made of some sort of concrete made with sea shells back in the day. Kind of ugly in their way, but interesting and perfect for the salt air.

Our exit off the island was via a two minute car ferry ride. Lunch was fresh sea food at a crab shack sort of place. We ate on the deck looking out at the ocean. Dan and I have to reconsider tattoos. They are the rage here, especially on the legs. We got to the resort in time for a two-hour walk on the beach where Dan hunted vigilantly for sea glass, just like he had done on Amelia Island, and again found none.

Dinner was room service…a mega club sandwich and wine…which we enjoyed on our deck overlooking the water. If I a) had a smart phone and b) could download pictures, I could make you wish they were married to Dan so you could tag along.

Dan and I flew to Jacksonville, Florida, bright and early Saturday morning and by noon were having lunch downtown Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island, about a half hour north of the Jacksonville airport. We had a lazy afternoon walking in and out of the cute shops, settling into our B&B (Addison on Amelia, which is right downtown and within walking distance of the shops and restaurants), and getting organized for cocktails and h’ordeuvres at 5:00. It’s island time, so when they say it’s five o’clock somewhere they are not just talkin about Key West. From cocktails, we headed to dinner at Le Clos, a tiny French restaurant in a small renovated house. We had been warned that the food is great but the acoustics awful and, sure enough, by the time the place filled to capacity at 7:00, we thought we were at the World Cup and were leaning across the table to talk. Small price to pay for the to-die-for grouper. Plus, let’s just put it out there, Dan and I can pretty much finish each other’s sentences, so we didn’t need to hear anyway.

Today was another lazy day. Other than a stroll downtown to buy same-day tickets for a ferry that was not running today (go figure, it’s Easter), a 3-mile round trip bike ride to and from the beach, and the hour and a half stroll on the sand, we pretty much just whiled away the day. The B&B has granny bikes at our disposal. The kind with plump seats, jumbo tires, high handle bars, pedal breaks, and …thank heaven for the flat terrain… no gears. We grabbed snacks in the dining room in lieu of lunch since we had a big breakfast and knew more free wine and h’ordeuvres were coming at 5:00. Dinner was at 29 South, a stones throw from our accommodations. The fried green tomatoes had a layer, miraculously, of goat cheese on top of the tomato; the duck spring rolls were divine; and our entrees were wonderful. The concept for the restaurant is locally sourced ingredients and veggies and herbs from the backyard garden. Northern Virginia prices for locally sourced ingredients right here in Northen Florida.