Italy!

We got back from Italy Sunday night and had a wonderful, albeit not necessarily "restful" vacation. James was a very good little traveler and we definitely learned lessons on the France trip that helped us this time. Having the Baby Bjorn with us in the airport was probably the biggest. He's much happier "hanging" out in that thing than he is strapped into his stroller.

The trip started out a little rocky... we showed up at the airport to find out our flight had been canceled. Not because of the ash, ironically, but because of some "technical" problems with the plane. We were fairly lucky with the solution they were offering... a 3pm flight to Bologna instead of 10am to Florence. We were able to rent a car from the Bologna airport and drive directly from there, which was only about an hour further than Florence. All in all, it wasn't too bad, even with a baby.

We arrived in Tuscany late on Saturday night and were exhausted. James didn't sleep very well for most of the trip, so we didn't get a lot of sleep either. The weather in Tuscany was gorgeous - very warm and sunny. We spent our days eating really long lunches while James napped and walking around the agroturismo where we were staying (I'll write more about each hotel in separate posts). Having spent so much time in Italy and Florence specifically, this was our first trip to Tuscany and we loved it. The countryside is gorgeous and the food and wine amazing as well. Our most memorable lunch was two miles out a dirt road in the middle of nowhere at a small, family run place. We sat at a picnic table outside and ended up spending almost four hours at the place. After lunch we walked around and ended up talking with some of the other people who were having their Sunday family lunches there. Lots of kids running around so James felt right at home. The next day we had a delicious lunch at a slightly nicer restauarnt with amazing food. And we were some of the only people there which made it nice.

After three nights at the Salvadoncia in Tuscany we made our way by car to the Piedmont region, close to the town of Alba (where we went a couple years ago to the truffle festival), which was about a 4 hour drive. This part of northern Italy is gorgeous wine country as well, but slightly less well known and therefore less crowded than Tuscany. The good weather held out and we stayed in a great hotel called Villa Tiboldi. The yummy meals continued... the food in Piedmont is very "culinary"... if that makes sense. It's where the slow food movement started and chefs take their cuisine very seriously. Where Tuscany felt a little more rustic and simple, Piedmont food was a little more refined, but still with the same focus on really good ingredients and letting their flavor come through. One lunch, our favorite of the whole trip, was at a place in Canale called 'All Enoteca. We were the only people there and the chef came out and spent a lot of time with us before and after the meal. We did a nice long tasting menu and one of the first course was pig "from head to foot." We were very adventurous, eating everything from tongue, to head, to stomach, to foot. I was very proud of myself for trying everything and it all tasted pretty good (if you could get over the fact that you were eating a pig foot...). The chef had a daughter James's age, so we promised to bring him back when he's a little older for their arranged marriage. I could think of worse things for the little guy than marrying a great Italian chef's pretty daughter!

We spent five nights in Piedmont and left on Sunday for a flight from Milan. The drive to Milan was only a couple hours and pretty much a straight shot. We got home last night without incident and the traveling overall was much easier than when we went to France. James was THRILLED to be home. When we laid him in his crib he looked up at his mobile and just started squealing in delight. He didn't stop smiling for the next hour... just so excited. It was really cute.

He was a huge hit in Italy. Italians LOVE babies and James, it turns out, loves Italians. I'm not sure if it's the language, which sounds like a song, or the big smiles. But, except for one fussy day, he smiled more than we've ever seen him. Everywhere we went he was making friends and people constantly said "que bello" and "simpactico" which basically means that he's a beautiful, sweet baby. We agree!

The videos and pictures are up on Flickr... enjoy!