7.30 a.m we are up and packing,this is the way traveling is when you are trying to capture as many moments as possible. We all need to be at the station by 11.30 to catch the train via Milan to Como but the real high tide is expected as well , so we leave at 10.30 to miss that  nasty tide. All is good,catch the train  and we start the last leg of our Italian adventure. Approximately 4hrs later we arrive at The Palace Hotel in Como, check in,get our rooms, set...

Well Shirley seems to pick exotic places to celebrate her birthday in the pass 5 years, and this year is no different. Oggie (today)we're off to the Dodgies palace.there is only one thing that is wrong with what we are about to do and that is it is peeing down with rain. We take the waterbus from near the train station and Shirley has it all worked out as she always does,catch the No2 she crys out , so on we get ,it like riding on the fast train to Newcastle, lim...

Our room is beautiful, looks right over the canal which is a working canal. Shirley and I wake about 7.00 a.m.,down for breaky , met the group, all decide to explore their own way . That done Shirley and I are off to the famous ponte di Rialto ( Rialto bridge). We meander through the lane ways of Venice stopping at a number of shops and stalls, just enjoying the surrounding, it so hard for us to accept that we are actually here. You will be please to know with t...

I start this blog with our last day in Certaldo Tuscany and finish it with our arrival in Venice. Friday started slowly ,rainiing, still tired from the wine tour,so just lazed around to lunch. Soon after Shirley and I were off to San Gimignano, a small village surrounded by a wall but inside there are many different types of shops and craft as well as historic buildings. Shirley, Di and I all went on a spending spree,I known its hard to believe, but yes I spen...

To Steven, Kim and Mitch read it an weep. This is the wine tour not to miss when in Tuscany. Day 6,  Shirley, Balty, Karen And I are off on a wine tour of the famous wine  Brunello region Montalcino. We are picked up by Silvio who just happen to be part of cooking class we went to on Tuesday .  The first winery we visit is called La Fornace, set high the hills, the view alone is spectular. There 12 acres under vines, they yield approximately 60 thousand lite...