Full house!

Beautiful day in cinque terre

So much has happened since our 2nd night in Spain.  The rest of our time in Spain was amazing. We saw the Gaudi villa (casa batllo)which was breathtaking and especially fabulous for my mom who had studied his work while in design school.  We went to markets, ate tapas, went to the sea, took an aerial view of Barcelona and visited the sagrada familia (final resting site of gaudi) --an unfinished cathedral which should take another 30 years to complete making the total construction time over 130 years!  After our whirlwind trip to Spain it was back to Tuscany to receive our newest visitors ... Michael and

Gaudi by day...and night.  Beautiful!

Josh who were arriving from Prague just a half hour after our flight arrived.  With some coordinating everything went according to plan and the buys arrived safe and sound. It was great to have them here and we had planned a few fun filled days.  Michael smuggled in a "sleeve" of thin mints from the US and u can only imagine how excited we were to get them!! First night dinner was at a yummy lical pizzeria. When we woke up on Friday it was a beautiful day so we headed to cinque terre for a scenic day of lunch and light (very light) hiking.  Definitely a different rigor than our last trip to cinque terre but magnificent none the less. After cinque terre it was a visit to lucca followed by dinner there and home for some much needed sleep. On Saturday the boys ventured by train to Florence for the day while Howard, my mom and Emma enjoyed a bit of down time.  Last night we decided to stay in and have an Italian feast at home.  Great decision and we all enjoyed pizzas, salad, truffle pasta and ragu pasta, wine and laughter.  After dinner my Mom, Howard and I broke in the new Mahj card (thanks for sending it Wendy!!) which was great fun.  This morning started at 3:30 am as I drove my mom and michael to Florence airport to catch their early flights back home.  We had a wonderful time and now villa life consists of just Howard,Emma and I until next Sunday when the final member of the stern family makes an appearance.  Can't wait to see you dani!!! Love to all xo

Love having our special visitor from Prague...and Michael spend the weekend! 

Mother daughter breakaway time in barcelona at the sea!

No rain in Spain!!

One of the charming streets in the gothic area

That's luggage for 4 people for our 3-night trip!!

We were up bright and early yesterday to head out for a quick flight to Barcelona.  While the weather report was a bit ominous, so far the rain has held off (except for showers at night!) allowing us to walk all over this beautiful city. We started out with a tapas lunch (believe it or not I was actually ready for a break from Italian food!) and then a walk through the charming gothic area and a stop at the cathedral di Barcelona. (Howard couldn't resist yet another cathedral visit!). For dinner we looked for a traditional Spanish

The much awaited...paella dinner 

Having a great time at the Mercat!

style restaurant serving paella.  It was good...not great but fun nonetheless.  This morning we woke up and headed out (by foot) to conquer the city yet again. We started out wih a morning stroll down la rambla heading towards  the Mercat boqueria, the local market which was by far one of the best we have ever seen. There were selections of spices, vegetables, fish, cheese, nuts and anything else you could imagine eating.  All displayed so perfectly!

Hard to believe this is for real!

After that we headed to the liceu area and visited some beautiful galleries and shops and alas Howard and I bought some art!!! No more empty walls when we get back to Calabasas -- we will have some beautiful pieces to remind us of our wonderful trip.  Next it was back to the gothic area to go to the Picasso museum which really was something special. Tonight we are venturing out and having sushi!! No idea how it will be but it has been a while and we are all anxious to give it a try.  Love to all.

Florence for the day

Yesterday was the first "lazy" pajama day that we have had since arriving in Italy.  The weather helped motivate us to stay in by being a chilly rainy Sunday.  Additionally, we were all a bit wiped out after a fun filled Saturday in Florence.  We took the morning train to Florence and spent hours walking the streets, shopping and of course eating.  Emma and my mom loved the hustle and bustle along with the incredible energy.  The threat of rain loomed all day long but it wasn't until we were on the train headed home that the skies opened up!  Luckily we were able to enjoy the entire without a drop of rain. Made it home safe and sound and finished off the night with a couple of hours of mahj!

In front of the duomo

Inside of Eataly

Looking for that Joker!

Mom in front of the Duomo

The herbs at Eataly

Cooking up a storm

We made this all by hand pasta and all!

Mom's Masterpiece

The perfect afternoon with Mom
Today was a wonderful day. We started with a true Italian breakfast (as in they don't really have breakfast) with a quick stop for cappuccino and a pastry just like the locals! After the stop it was off to San Gimignano where my mom and I had an amazing cooking class and Emma and Howard explored the beautiful walled city.  Our cooking class was completely hands on, given by a women and her uncle who also run a b&b but when they are not busy they offer a cooking class and lucky for us it was available.  We started off making our own homemade pasta which we rolled each "pini" (slightly thicker spaghetti shaped pasta) by hand and followed up by making a delicious but very simple checca type sauce wih tomatoes, basil, garlic and oil. Next sauce was a "cream" sauce made without cream but actually emulsified cannelloni beans.  Not being a bean person I really didn't expect to like this true Tuscan dish but it was incredible and felt very rich even though there wasn't a drop of butter or cream in the entire dish!  We also made two different antipasti dishes..bruschetta and a simple salad with tomatoes, cucumber and soaked bread. All beautifully presented. Next was the "secondi", the main protein course.  We had a very simple chicken saltambucco made with a sage leaf and one slice of prosciutto.  Unlike the rich dish served at home, this was simple, flavorful and much smaller than anything they would serve at home. The flavors rather than the portions are huge here!!! All of these dishes will most definitely be making an appearance at future dinners in Calabasas.  Can't wait to share them with all of you. In addition to the amazing food, each course was paired with a fabulous local wine that enhanced every bite!  After the class Howard and Emma picked us up and we had just enough time to go back to San Gimignano so my mom could see the medieval walled city for herself!  To end a glorious day we made it back to the villa without even one wrong turn. Look at us.  Feeling like locals.  Back home safely and looking forward to a quiet dinner at home....and some MAHJ!!!   Love to everyone.    

Couldn't pass up this shot...looks like a backdrop 

Magnificent Tuscan hills

The "girlies"

Guess who came to dinner

Always excited to get in on the pizza making action

This almost looks like its not real!

After much anticipation, the long awaited visitor team of Emma and Mamma arrived!  All flights were on time and they arrived to magnificent weather. It was so great to see my Mom and Emma...I couldn't believe they were finally here! After everyone got settled in we had arranged for our house manager to make pizzas for us since I thought dinner out would be too exhausting.  I never knew that Danielli owned a pizzeria so we were in for a real treat.  He made the dough from scratch and the evening was not only delicious but also an abridged cooking lesson combined with instruction on how to use the pizza oven! What fun!!! Danielli the house manager is a fabulous pizza maker but he is also a classical guitarist who makes custom guitars! You can only imagine how excited Emma was to have him lend her one of his special guitars while she is here.  After dinner, Danielli treated us to a private concert and then Emma played a few songs as well. The perfect way to wrap up day 1.  This morning after a light breakfast, we headed out to Lucca for some shopping, walking the streets and lunch....It was fun to take our visitors to some of our favorite spots...luckily, they loved lucca as much as we did.  Back home for an afternoon nap and then a local dinner....two great days and more to come. XOXO

Danielli teaching me how to become a master pizza maker 

Start with the freshest ingredients and....be patient!

Emma with her first glass of Vino Rossi

Dinner in Massarosa

Relaxing the day away

Lunch al fresco

The past couple of days have been pretty mellow as we did
some easy day trips and stayed close to home. Today we woke up and headed to the massarosa farmers market and bought some things for lunch and made our way back home to do absolutely nothing!  After running around for a month it was just perfect.  The day was magnificent so we read, took in the views, talked and had our farmers market lunch al fresco.  Today two very special visitors are en route to see us from Los Angeles!!! Travel safely Em and Mom can't wait to see you both tomorrow. Xoxo to all.

Perfectly relaxed

High speed train to venice!!

The beautiful venice canals 

Woke up Saturday morning to a magnificent day and decided to do something totally spontaneous.  We packed an overnight bag and headed to the lucca train station and four hours later we stepped off the train and into one of the most magnificent cities in the world...Venice!!  While we had been there before this time felt totally different.  Spring was in the air, the streets were crowded but not jammed with tourists and it felt like the ideal venitian day. We quickly found a hotel right near San Marco square and hit the streets, not wanting to waste a minute. Howard had a "spritz" while I enjoyed a glass of vino overlooking the canals.  Next it was a bit more walking followed by a late dinner and some more walking before we finished off the night with a gelato!  (Some things never get old!). The next

It really is as good as it looks

morning we hit the local mercado and I took in all of the beautiful and fresh food being displayed. Not much buying or eating (thankfully!) but lots of pics.  For all of us foodies, you had to know these pics were coming!!! After the market we went to Basilica San Marco. The church was built in the 11th century and has some of the most magnificent gold and marble mosaics.  It really is incredible to think of how this work was done hundreds of years ago without any modern machinery and has withstood the test of time. Pretty amazing.  Next order of business was a gondola ride.  We know its pretty cheesy which is probably why we didn't do it the last time (plus it is a bit pricey!) but this time we decided we may as well go for it!!!

Basilica San Marco 

It really was beautiful seeing how they navigate through some of the smaller back canals and the views were out of this world.  After a late lunch and some more walking around in venice it was time for our train back. The train was very relaxing and the perfect time for a little nap before arriving in lucca. Got there just in time to walk the streets and have a bite before returning to the villa. This morning we woke up and decided to head to the sea (one of our favorite Sunday events).

Seaside stroll in Forte Dei Marmi...What a nice touch with the heart shaped design!

The seaside area of forte dei marmi is bustling with young upscale families enjoying each other, walking, talking and eating...what could be bad!!!  After a capucinno and a walk we headed to one of our other favorite spots...viareggio.  A bit different and less upscale than forte dei marmi but we love them both.  As the clouds rolled in we headed out and back home for the night and the end to a perfect weekend. Xoxo

Wahls...Wine and so much more!!!

First order of business...a tuscan winery!

What are two nice jewish girls like us doing in a place like this??

It has been a whirlwind of fun, laughter, travel, road trips but mostly, a wonderful time spent with dear friends.  We completely lucked out on the weather and the Wahl's arrived Thursday night to balmy (by Tuscan standards) spring weather.  We started out on Friday morning with a stop on our way to Lucca with a wine tasting at Maria Teresa.  After a brief visit to the winery it was on to Lucca.  Lynne and Joey loved the walled city and since it is one of our favorite places we decided to walk around, hike to the top of one of the many towers and have lunch there.

Top of one of Luccas many towers

Lunch fit for (2) Kings!

The views on this day were truly amazing so it was the perfect way to start our weekend. We visited San Michele in Foro church in Lucca which was built in the 8th century and renovation began in the 11th century.  Crazy how magnificent and well preserved the history is here!  On Saturday, we took advantage of the amazing weather and headed out to the beautiful towns of Cinque Terre, five seaside towns that are a national park and known for the natural beauty and amazing hiking!  Howard and I had been there many years ago but only did a limited amount of hiking since the kids were younger but rather took the ferry from one town to the next. This time however, we saw Cinque Terre as it was meant to be seen, by foot!  We hiked from one town to the next through the most amazing hillside paths, through forests, over rivers all while taking in the sea views.  The hike was largely uphill since we started off at sea level.  A bit daunting to look up at the hills and realize that you are hiking the entire way up...and down.  It took us close to three hours but we all loved it and were so thrilled to have had such a remarkable experience.  After a very long and tiring day we made it back to the villa in time for a nap and shower and headed out to a local restaurant for dinner.  On Monday, we woke up bright and early

Loving every second of our time in Cinque Terre

Cinque Terre on a perfect spring day!

to drive to two medieval "walled" cities, Volterra and San Gimignano.  Both were fascinating and quite different.  Volterra is a 13th century etruscan town ... there was no shortage of torture chambers and in fact there was a torture museum (pass!) and is also well known for Alabaster.  Volterra was the first fortress built in Tuscany and is considered very historic.  From there we drove through some of the most picturesque hillsides on our way to San Gimignano.  These hills were exactly as you would imagine tuscany to be.  San Gimignano was a bit larger than Volterra but had a similar feel.  We walked, shopped (a little) and just took everything in.  This area is known for their Pecorino cheese so of course we had to buy some of that and a bit of salumi for our dinner appies!  Heading back to the villa proved to be a bit more difficult than getting there as our 2 hour ride turned into a stressful 3 hour ride and to top things off when we got back we realized that we had locked ourselves out!  Luckily, Joey was quick to start a fire in the pizza oven and within an hour, our house manager had us in the house ready to start dinner!  A late (10pm) dinner wrapped up another fabulous day with the Wahls.  On Tuesday we decided to chill locally so Lynne and I took a beautiful hour long walk from the villa down the hill into town.  Nothing like scenic views and girl time to wrap up a perfect visit.  As we dropped Lynne and Joey off at the Florence airport, Howard surprised me and told me that he had packed an overnight bag and off we went for a fabulous overnight in Florence.  A dose of city energy sounded absolutely perfect to me!  That was a great surprise.  Today we visited a smaller museum San Marco Museo. It is a museum now but was originally a 12th century monestary.  So interesting to see the monks cells as well as the beautiful frescos on each of their walls.    As we were walking the city, we stumbled upon Mario Batali's,  Eataly.  That was a great find and I walked around for almost an hour! What fun.  Bought a few things to bring back to the villa and cook while we are here.  Wish I could have each of you over for a big feast!  Love and miss all of you!  

Camaiore farmer's market

Surrounded by spring flowers

all the pretty things we saw today

al fresco lunch under the terazza

Today we were spoiled by another magnificent day. We headed out to a farmers market which is a combination of clothing and produce along a terrific pedestrian street. As always, things close up by 1pm so we got an earlier start today (finally catching on to the local ways!). We bought some flowers to spruce up the villa for our weekend guests! and also stopped at a local bakery to pick up a sandwich for lunch (€1.5 each...$2!) can't beat the local prices.  Tonight we are venturing out to a nearby restaurant for dinner (haven't done that since arriving in massarosa) and awaiting Lynne & Joeys arrival at around 10pm. They were delayed in paris so wound up spending the day there before heading to Florence.  Nice problem to have!!! Can't wait to see them. . Xo 

Spring is in the air

Forte di marmi

Forti di Marmi with snow capped mountains in the background

We woke up to an absolutely beautiful spring day....no clouds, gentle breeze and no rain in sight! We scrapped our original plans which included a two hour drive to a small village and instead, opted to lounge around the villa, enjoy breakfast outside and then head to the sea.  We visited two small seaside towns, Viareggio and Forte di Marmi.  Both towns are mostly supported by tourism and since this is an extremely quiet time most shop owners are readying for the months to come and many are not yet open for business.  We mostly window shopped but did manage to find a few open stores --leave it to us! Many of the trees and flowers are just starting to bloom and just walking around without jackets or gloves was a huge treat--definitely a case of spring fever for us and everyone we saw outside today.  We also had a delicious fish lunch when we visited a restaurant that we were referred to by someone that we met while we were in Florence.  Yesterday we spent time exploring Lucca outside of the historic (walled) city center.  We stumbled upon a winery that wasn't open but one of the workers let us in for a simple tasting anyway and with our (very) broken Italian managed to buy a couple of bottles to take with us. Along the way, we admired the river (little

Along the road to the wineries

arno) that ran along the road for miles and miles.  Managed to stop, take a quick picture and still make it back before sunset....life is good! XOXO

Sucking up every last drop from the barrel!

On the road again...

Instead of heading to siena yesterday we wound up in Pisa and a beautiful small village called san minieta. We still haven't figured out the street signs or autostrada directions but we are trying to be spontaneous and go with the flow(definitely a new thing for me especially!). If we get lost we are seeing it as a new, unplanned adventure!  While we were expecting to pass by Pisa yesterday, our wrong turn put us right in the heart of Pisa and directly in front of the tower so in we went!

Howard found a new girl at Pisa Museum

 After an obligatory shot with the tower we went into the museum and then the cathedral.

One of the few shots of us together

 It really is overwhelming to think that all of this amazing work was created without any machinery so many hundreds of years ago (1400s).  Next it was on to miniato where we were planning to have a truffle lunch and make it back to home base before sundown (we are still not comfortable driving the hills at night!).  We were so encouraged when we finally pulled up (just around 3pm) and saw that the restaurant was

Beautiful San Miniata

open!  Excitement quickly turned to disappointment when we were turned away since the chef leaves promptly at 3pm.  This seems to be a common occurrance for us in Italy. If you

Lunch and some amazing scenery!!

are not eating by 2:30 you can forget it until dinner!!!  Luckily we found another very tiny place that was willing to make us a hot meal before we headed back.  Not to worry. We will return for our truffle meal this Thursday for lunch!  Got a little lost (ok.  More than a little lost!) on the way back home so last night we decided to light a fire (Howard found duraflame..what a splurge!)  and stay put! Perfect after our long day on the road. Today we decided to check out some local vineyards even though we really had no idea of where we were headed nor any reservations.  Luckily we got google maps working and that seems to have helped.  We stumbled upon a wonderful local (lucca) winery

Gardens at Maria Teresa

called Maria Teresa   The duchess of lucca originally owned the grounds and homes so you can only imagine how beautiful they are.  We were very fortunate that someone was there and that they agreed to show us the grounds and offer a

tasting.   We sampled (and purchased!) some great wines and olive oils.  Next order of business  (before the restaurants closed!) was to find a place to stop for lunch.  Bingo.  We finally were in time for a hot meal.  We had a terrific (very local) 3 course lunch for €10 (including wine!). That's about $13 for a terrific lunch.  The great news is that we made it back home before dark AND we didn't get lost.  Both howard and i are ovewhelmed by the natural beauty that is all around us. Another great day. Xoxo PS This post wouldnt be complete without wishing Lynne a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! Can't wait to see you.

Overlooking lucca from winery

In front of the production house at winery