“Hi Matteo,
Finally made it through our 2,000 plus photos. I’m attaching pdfs of just of few for you, but I have many more if there is anything specific you’d like – or let me know if you’d like any jpegs.
Where to start?!? The Dolomites were literally breathtaking. As you’ll recall, I was kind of scared to do the hike in the Dolomites based on the photos I’d seen, but our guide Kurt took us to Drei Zinnen, and I am please to say it would have been considered an easy to moderate hike in the Colorado Rockies. I have short legs, and I am a “slow” hiker. Kurt never let on that he was being very patient with me. Tony and I both appreciated all of his stories and insight into these mountains. Kurt said the conditions were very unusual that day. He said he’d only seen cloud cover like we experienced several times. I think he took as many photos as we did. It was so beautiful. Unfortunately after we hit the half way point, the clouds came up to our level, so we retraced our steps back to the restaurant, totally in fog, rather than doing the loop around Drei Zinnen. Guess we’ll have to come back and try another trail or two.
Then on to Aquileia and Redipuglia. We loved our time with Alessandra and Jim. Both had so much information for us. Hope I can remember at least a quarter of what they told us. So much history I’d never heard before.
We happened to hit Trieste during the lead up to the Barcalona 51. What an experience. I feel like we only scratched the surface in Trieste. Another place that would be interesting to come back to. Again so much history we’d never been exposed to.
On to the cheese factory in Modena with Guiliana. Oh my goodness, we had no idea what it took to make cheese. So interesting, and so tasty, as was the tour of the Balsamic production. And then there was the winery. While of course Italian food is always amazing, I think the best food we had the whole trip was at the winery. The homemade bread, and locally sourced meat and cheese, and of course the wine, were SO GOOD!
Like Trieste, we probably only scratched the surface in Bologna. So much to see, and not enough time to try all the different foods Guiliana described for us.
We knew we didn’t have much time in Milan, so appreciated the quick overview tour with Georgio of the sites near our hotel.
As expected, all the drivers were gracious and helpful. Including the one who drove us to Milan. Tony’s wallet had fallen out of his pocket in the car. The driver found it shortly after leaving us. He came back to the hotel to return it. I never doubted his integrity, but he had me go through the wallet to make sure everything was there, which of course it was.
The hotels were all so fun. We probably didn’t get to enjoy as much as we should have, since we spend very little time in our rooms, but still so beautiful, and of course the breakfasts are always good. Oh, and wow – the meals at Hotel Monika were so special. Glad you said we should have all of our meals at the hotel. By the way, we were telling one of our friends about Hotel Monika. His wife is from Europe, and they visit once per year. He said next trip will probably include the Dolomites, and Hotel Monika would be perfect for their visit.
I think I mentioned before, Tony and I both were suffering from bad colds, starting about the time we got to Trieste. We are sure we caught the colds due to the rain and cold in Germany and Austria, so we are holding our other travel agent responsible for the weather conditions in those countries ?. Unfortunately for us, the colds made us a little foggy and lethargic, but we still had an incredible visit to Italy.
Once again, THANK YOU so much for this great visit to Italy. And let me know if you need any more information or pictures from us.
Judy Wiese”
Judy Wiese (Denver, CO) – OCTOBER 2019
Trieste
Bologna, Asinelli tower
Duomo cathedral in Milan
