MoseleyWorld

Without further ado, some more photographs from our recent trip to Tuscany. Our home base was in Lucignano a great little town in southern Tuscany. We ventured all around Tuscany during our trip. We had brought our Garmin GPS, which was pre-loaded with European maps, but it was completely blown away by the TomTom GPS provided to us once we arrived at our house. The TomTom won in every category, directions, detailed mapping and map display.

We met Carey’s sister Ashley and her husband Mike at the estate of the Il Borro Winery owned by the Ferragamo family. The Ferragamos also purchased the tiny medieval village you can see in the background.

On the tour at Il Borro

We visited the Duomo in Siena. Highly recommended. I suggest getting a guidebook (like Rick Steves Tuscany) and skipping the sugar-coated audio guide, which skip minor details. For example, no mention in the Church-provided audio guide of this painting depicting Catherine of Siena marrying Jesus as his mother watches. It’s odd how upset Catholics got with Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code, a work of fiction , because it suggested that Jesus had a girlfriend. But 700 years ago, not only was it OK for someone to write about their "mystical marriage" to Christ, you got canonized for it!

Trompe-loeil painting on ceiling at the Duomo. A carefully crafted illusion.

An incredibly graphic depiction, in marble, of the Massacre of the Innocents. Seeing all the mothers clinging to their babies (and the babies without heads) made Carey sad.

So, it was on to brighter things, like dinner. Here are our homemade pizzas in our wood-burning pizza oven.

Before this trip, it had been 8 years since Carey and I had been to Tuscany. We were amazed at how commercialized and "touristy" Tuscany had become. Siena was still the same but with more boutiques and a lot more tourists. Two of our favorite Tuscan hill towns, Montalcino and Pienza were nearly unrecognizable due to the "improvements" made to the towns.
Montepulciano, in southern Tuscany, must be off the beaten path just enough to have retained the old world charm that seemed be slipping away elsewhere. As we walked up to the ancient gates of Montepulciano, we realized we were in the midst of a bike race.

Here’s some of that old world charm we found in Montepulciano.

And again. One of my favorite photographs from the trip. A man who lives on a fairly busy street, watering his plants on his balcony, while wearing his coat & hat. So, so old world! The old guy noticed me after the first click of the shutter and wandered back into his apartment.

From Bologna, we rented a car and headed south to Tuscany. A beautiful drive through hills and small mountains took us to our final destination: Lucignano.

So, let’s start with some of my favorite photos. Our home away from home in Italy was “Rigo Salcio,” a 17th century farmhouse that was recently renovated after sitting in near ruins for the past 40 years.

These two photographs (above) show part of the beautiful view from Rigo Salcio, which sits on 20 acres.

Living room at the house

Typical street scene in Lucignano

We visited Cortona, the Tuscan hill town made famous in Frances Mayes’ books.

Cortona, built on the side of a mountain, is very hilly and has very steep streets.

Trees

next to a tiny vintage fiat in montepulciano.

Carey and I went to Italy last month to enjoy a big boy & girl vacation - probably the last in a while considering the scheduled arrival of Moseley Girl #2 in August.

Traveling to Italy, we definitely took the scenic route. DFW to Wichita (overnight layover to drop Saxon off for “Camp Patti” at Mimi & Pops), Wichita to Chicago (6 hr layover), Chicago to Frankfurt (9 hr flight), Frankfurt to Bologna (4 hr layover) - and upon arriving in Bologna, we were still a 2 hour drive from our final destination.

However, one highlight of the marathon travel was flying to Europe in American Airlines “next generation” business class with their newly-redesigned, lie-flat seats. Champagne before take-off. In-flight amenities bag (eyemask, socks, shoe bag, toothbrush, lotion, etc). Pillows & duvets. A menu detailing wine and meal choices - with actually good meals…Oh and make mine a hot fudge sundae with nuts - from the ice cream sundae cart - and, oh sure, a little Bailey’s poured over the top never hurt anyone! Gotta love those AAdvantage miles.

high-tech seat controls & in-flight amenity bag

Were it not for Nancy, the oh-so-crabby flight attendant (and by crabby, I mean snapping her fingers in front of Carey’s face saying, “I’m not done with you yet” when asking Carey’s menu selections ) it would have been the perfect flight. But we did experience AA at its finest on the return non-stop Frankfurt to DFW flight!

So, we finally made it to Bologna, where we stayed at the modern Una Hotel. Great location, great staff. Quiet room. Very quiet. We slept until 11:00 am which was something like - oh who knows what time it was in the US and who cares - we’re in Italy!

Bologna is a very old city (founded by Etruscans in 534 BC) often overlooked by tourists. The city may be old but the people are young. 100,000 students attend the oldest university in the world (founded in 1088) Alma Mater Studiorium, aka the University of Bologna.

me at the Una Hotel cantina

Bologna is well known for its architecture, especially the arcades or porticoes - of which there are over 38 km of in the city center.

Palace of King Enzo - built in 1245. Poor King Enzo, from Sicily, was imprisoned here for 20 years.

Statue of Neptune in Piazza Nettuno (1564)

Bologna’s tribute to a mother’s commitment to breastfeeding.

Bologna is very well known as one of the main epicurean centers of Italy. In fact, Bologna is also known as la grassa or “the fat.” We had a fantastic lunch at Bologna’s equivalent of a super-sized Italian section of Central Market (too bad nothing close exists here!). After lunch, we loaded up with some “typical” provisions: prosciutto, wild boar salami, cheese, fresh, house made tortellini and gnocchi al porcini (potato pasta with porcini mushrooms).

Our last stop in Bologna was for gelato at Gelateria Gianni. We have to thank Matt who wrote an article at Slow Travel and ranked Gianni the best Gelateria. Not only was it the best in Bologna - but best we had in Italy.

the menu of gelato choices. decisions, decisions!

yummy.

Next post: on to Tuscany.

Somehow missed posting these photographs from our trip to New York last fall.

yep. no car seat. and saxon’s digging it. just don’t get used to it kid.

in times square with her aunt meredith

hanging out in the park

at the shops at columbus circle (in the time warner building)

enough pics dad (putting lens cap on camera) - lets shop

Well, first some news. In a previous post, we announced the upcoming arrival of the newest addition to the MoseleyWorld family. Thanks to the marvels of modern medicine, we are excited to be able to share that Saxon will soon be a big sister to her little sister. ETA: August 16.

Carey and I just returned from a long weekend trip to New York. Saxon spent her first nights without Mom or Dad. According to Carey’s mom, aka Mimi, we missed Saxon a lot more than she missed us. I guess that’s good, since we did miss her a bunch.

For Christmas, Carey gave me tickets to see Spring Awakening again. We saw the Tony winning musical in September, but I’ll admit being somewhat guilty to being “obsessed” (a term Carey has used to describe my feelings about SA) with Spring Awakening.

photo taken by my sister Meredith, who braved the rain to join us at the theater.

Spring Awakening the musical, is based on a 1891 controversial play, a coming-of-age story which was scandalous in its day. Duncan Sheik (of the hit song “I am barely breathing” fame) wrote the incredible music. The 2nd row seats were awesome! To see a little about Spring Awakening click the link to see a short video. Headed to New York? Don’t miss Spring Awakening!

Also joining us at Spring Awakening, Miss Lindsay Lohan! Who knew? We saw the paparazzi, but missed LiLo.

We schlepped all over Manhattan, from Wall Street to 110th. Highlights included seeing the funky new art at the Whitney Biennial, grazing in Chinatown (where dumplings are 5 for $1), shopping at H&M. We had lots of great food, including meals at Fatty Crab in the Meatpacking District, Dim Sum Go Go on the Lower East Side and housemade pasta at Roberto Passon.

The day after we returned, Saxon was sitting on our bed with Carey. When I sat down, Saxon reclined, smiled and looked up to say, simply, “Mama and Dada.” Ahhh…