Tuscany...So Much To See, So Little Time.

We are going to be in Florence for 5 nights and want to spend at least two days out in Tuscany.  The question is....where to go?  There looks to be so many wonderful towns, how are you supposed to choose.  We want to eat wonderful food, drink great wine, shop and just stroll around people watching.   It sounds like every town offers these options, and more, so I guess there isn't a bad choice in the bunch.  That being said, choices need to be made and we are having a difficult time making them.   It is certainly more difficult since we will not have a car.

We are considering the Original Slow Day in Tuscany Tour.  It is a small group tour with a maximum of eight people although in reading the reviews, often times you have the tour all to yourself.  Pretty much all the reviews give it five stars on Trip Advisor and it sounds wonderful.   Here is a snip-it from their website.

Your day starts at 9.30am at the meeting point. From there we head straight to the family-owned vineyard. After a leisurely wine tasting and the opportunity to learn about chianti wines, we go on foot through the vines and olive orchards to the Medieval hill town.

Lunch at a family run slow-food restaurant is for many one of the highlights of the day. For those wanting to taste the typical local recipes that have made Tuscany renowned for foodies the world over this is for you!

In the afternoon you will be able to explore one of Tuscany's most charming villages, with a piazza where the wine harvest is held each year, arcades of artisan shops and local produce.

 It is also quite inexpensive at 125 euros for nearly 8 hours and includes lunch and wine tasting.

We are also considering a private tour by Sergio at Scenic Wine Tours of Tuscany.  They have some fantastic day tours.  They are more expensive at around 200 euros per person, but you have the guide all to yourself and can customize your experience.  There are 13 reviews on Trip Advisor for him and every one is 5 stars.

I just found this website today....Globetrotter Girls.  This is a very interesting blog about two women who took all of 2011 off and traveled the world.  They spent some time in Tuscany and list the following as their top 5 towns to visit when visiting.

• San Gimignano

• Siena

• Volterra

• Lucca

• Barga

It is a very interesting blog that I will have to spend more time exploring.

Not sure why or if I am really complaining.  We should probably book these two tours and move on, but....there are so many great towns and we want to see them all.   If anyone has any suggestions, we would love to hear them.  We will keep searching and exploring and will eventually do a post with what we decide to do.

Off to Europe...but where should we go?

Well I guess the title of the blog kinda gives it away but here's how we got there.

My wife Kris and I have talked about going to Europe for years but just never pulled the trigger. We never really even got close until a couple years ago. After considering going in 2011, our friends invited us on a 14 Mediterranean Cruise in 2012. We were all in and ready to go. We had saved up enough frequent flyer miles to go first class both ways and just were not going to put it off any longer.

The cruise started in Barcelona and ended up in Rome after stops in Monte Carlo, Greece, Turkey and other exotic ports of call. It sounded like a great first trip to Europe, giving us the ability to see many cities and countries without us having to do a lot of planning. We researched the fares and started looking at different things to do in each city and were very excited.

Somewhere along the way we started to get less excited. Not about seeing Europe, but about seeing Europe on someone elses schedule. Drink, eat, sleep....Ok, 8 hrs in Rome...GO GO GO GO GO!. I mean how do you get a feel for a place like Rome or Athens in 8hrs. The thought of running from tourist attraction (ie. Historical Landmark) to tourist attraction just didn't sound all that appetizing. What about the neighborhoods...the cafes....the gelato...the wine...let alone the actual PEOPLE. Both of us realized that this was not really the way we wanted to visit Europe.

The cruise was out, but we still really wanted to go to Europe. Historically my wife and I have enjoyed traveling to more tropical places like Hawaii, Cabo or even just a tropical Las Vegas pool. I mean what's not to like about drinking cocktails in the water surrounded by bikini clad ladies and handsome pool boys??? Well there we go....Amalfi Coast and Greece...it's perfect. We get to do all the things we like and still be in Europe. Let's do it.

Not so much...been there done that here. While I am sure we will do that trip someday, it is not what we really wanted to experience this trip. We wanted to see the amazing history of a European city. We wanted to sit at an outdoor cafe with a baguette and some cheese and watch the world go by. We wanted to see the countryside, the beautiful old castles and the amazing art. Italy has always been the country we talked about seeing first. How can you truly live and not see the Colosseum or the Vatican? Italy it was going to be.

The Amalfi Coast was out....we will eventually do that on our beach trip through the Mediterranean. The two places that we both agreed topped our list in Italy were Rome and Tuscany. Rome with it's ancient history and Tuscany with it's more relaxed pace and natural beauty and Renaissance Art were must do places for us. We discussed hitting Venice as well, but after looking at the flights we had available to us we decided that another fantastic European City was available to us....Paris. We could not fly directly out of Italy with our miles on the dates we wanted to go and the best other option was Paris. Well why don't we just spend a few days in Paris on our way home??? There it was, out itinerary was set. We are going to see Rome, Tuscany and Paris in September of 2012.
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LET THE PLANNING BEGIN!!!!!