Italy!

It only took one day for me to fall in love with Italy! I went the first time with my son, his wife and my mother. We had traveled in Eastern Europe by boat and train and took a train to Milan to begin our adventure in Italy. My son struck up an acquaintance with the conductor, and he treated us royally. He opened up our compartments during the day so we could have a suite and then made it into separate compartment at night. Early the morning of our arrival he served us cappuccino and a croissant for breakfast. We had dinner our first day in Italy at a local restaurant just outside of Milan. We were the only tourists there-it was filled with people from the neighborhood. It was a fun crowd and the food was wonderful. That place gets my vote for the best ravioli. I especially remember the cheese we had for dessert. I can't remember what kind it was, but they cut it from a huge slab. We rented a car and traveled to Topino, a restored hamlet. It was to be our "home away from home".

Topina

What a beautiful place. I had my first dinner in Tuscany at Osteria Nastasi, a restaurant in Lornano, just down the road from our hamlet. I had for my main course petto di pollo rosolato al radicchio con patate bollite aceto balsamico, a chicken dish. For me, it was just what I had envisioned food to taste like in Tuscany. Heavenly! A delicious sauce! I do believe it was the best meal I had the entire visit, even though I never had a bad meal in all of Italy.  We ate outside under the trees. The weather was perfect.  For dessert I had a scooped out lemon filled with  lemon sorbet. This was just the first night and I was already in love with Tuscany.

A note about eating in Italy. Be prepared to relax and take your time and be prepared to eat a lot. You will walk it off!! . Every single place we ate (even the tiny restaurants by the side of the road) had tablecloths, cloth napkins and flowers. The service was outstanding. Meals are served in courses, and they never rush you. Obviously the Italians take great pride in their cooking. I never had a bad meal the entire visit. However, I do have to say that the best cappuccino I ever tasted  was  in Gdansk, Poland at a Greek restaurant!

Italy is a beautiful country! The scenery is outstanding. We toured around Tuscany--the only problem was finding a place to pull over on the narrow roads so we could take photographs. One of  the prettiest views was from our little hamlet. 

View from our hamlet

One of the houses in our hamlet

We spent the week touring all around Tuscany. In my next post, I'll tell you about some of my favorite places and also about one of my adventures! I have more photographs on my web site: www.notecardsandmore.com. Stay tuned!!