We left San Francisco on Monday April 27th at 3:45pm and landed in Rome on Tuesday the 28th at 2:45pm Italian time. From San Francisco to Cortona took us 19 hours so we were really glad to finally get here!

The trip was really nice, we flew Air France and it was really comfortable considering.  We were lucky as John had the window seat, I had the aisle and there was an open seat in the middle.  we changed planes at the Charles de Gaulle airport in France. As we were landing there it was a spectacular view. There were fields of bright yellow as far as the eye could see.  The fields are of Colza, Rape Seed which are lovely vivid yellow flowers. These are used to make canola oil.  There are a few fields of them that you can see down in the valley from Cortona, but nothing like we saw around Paris.

When we arrived in Cortona it was evening and we visited with Maria, the lady that owns the palazzo we rent an apartment in. Over the years she has become a special friend and we keep in touch through Skype when we are not here. Her daughter, Laura is visiting from France with her fiancée Frederik so we got to meet him.  We stayed and visited with them for a couple of hours drinking champagne and getting caught up to date.

We have been getting over jet lag so just spending some mellow time walking around town, visiting with people we have come to know over the years and getting settled in.

Wednesday John went with Maria, Laura and Fred to a local man for wine tasting. I stayed home and kicked back. The winery they went to is a very exclusive, not well known one just outside of Cortona in Pergo.  They were not given a street number, just told to look for the red gate! it is called Cantina Doveri and owned by Fabrizio Doveri. He produces just one wine, L’Usciolo Syrah. in English it means Small Door Syrah.  His process is completely natural, he refuses to enlarge his business so supplies are limited even though the local enoteca wants to carry it.

Yesterday (Thursday), we went down the hill to Camucia to the local market and bought produce. I have yet to figure out why our strawberries in America are so different from the wonderful ones you can buy here.  We spent some time visiting with the owners of Bar 500, Rob and Emma who we have come to know over the years. While visiting with them we met Eric and Molly who are here visiting from Portland, Oregon, they are really nice couple and we arranged to stay in touch through email.  The last couple we met here, Leisa and Mark, also from Oregon have turned out to be very close friends of ours. Last night John got his wish and we went to his favorite restaurant for dinner, Fufluuns.

Today Maria leaves to visit her brother near Naples for a week so we will be helping her load her car for the trip. We walked around Piazza Signorelli today as there is a market there. mostly flowers and plants but some antiques. Today is their Labor Day so there was a brass band marching down Via Natzionale. So strange to us to see the communist flags flying high as part of the group marched by!