Planet Stoppenhagen

A trip to London Tate Modern for the Frida Kahlo exhibit

See http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/kahlo/ for more on Frida

St Pauls - on the Thames

Monique met us for the show.

Punting anyone? Grandma's Wolff's arrival - only to be taken punting.

Who is happy to be on holiday in England!?

Ethan Ryan loves the boat!

The infamous Kings College.

Cambridge intellects.

THEN OFF TO OUR FAVORITE LOCAL PUB

Pint, anyone?

A Day with the Crabs - crabbing on the North Sea

Crabbing for the 1st time - No, not so warm of weather, but yes, we do live in England?!!

Ohh, caught one!

This way to the beach

Beautiful North Sea

Wonder dog's 1st time in the sea!

Perfect picnic - eating crabs??

Alex content.

Trouble on our tail? Nah, it's only the bobbies - ha.

Really 'Under the Tuscan Sun'

About a week has now passed since my mom and dad (Stoppenhagen) came out to visit us. Since this was their second trip to see us out here, and last year we stayed in England, we decided to take them to likely our favorite destination in all of Europe - Tuscany.

We have now been in the UK for twenty-one months or so and have had the extraordinary opportunities to travel to some fantastic places. Hence, the reason for this website/blog in the first place. Topping the list of destinations are places as diverse in culture as well as geography and weather - Budapest, Stockholm, Barcelona, San Sebastian and Nezignan l’Evique, France, among others, all occupy a very distinct and precious place in our memories and scrapbooks. One, I am confident to note, has given us the most fond memories and has, thus, called us back a second time. No other destination has yet to do that to fruition as of yet, although we would certainly visit all of them again. Its just that there is just not enough time to see everything and do everything we would like to before the time comes to venture back to the States. Tuscany has accomplished just that. The draw was just too strong.

This trip proved to be a whirlwind tour, to be sure. Their flight arrived at London Heathrow on Tuesday morning and by Wednesday afternoon we were off to Italy, getting into Rome at 8:00 or 9:00 pm. Our first port of call in Tuscany was the medieval hilltop village of Montalcino. Last year we came here with Steph's mom, Boni and her friend, Moni. It was a first Tuscan trip for all of us, but we vowed we'd return. You can read last year's Tuscany trip log HERE. Our vow to return came to reality once again this year. Since our arrival in Montalcino was so late (11:30) there wasn't much time for doing anything so off to bed it was. Morning soon came, however, and we were quite thrilled to step out into 80-plus degree sunshine and no clouds in the sky. The only bad thing about the morning was the increasingly heavy breeze, which made our sidewalk-cafe breakfast a little tricky. We thought a stroll around the village was in order before we hit the vino. Our stroll went quickly. We headed to the fortezza, an ancient fortress where, inside, was a fantastic Enoteca (wine bar) with over 15 wines available by the glass. There we each got a great glass of locally produced wines, sat under the shadows of the fortress and nibbled on cheese and salami. Not a bad way to start the trip.

Here, however, is where the dream sequence would begin if this were a movie. Last year we were fortunate to have the experience at Sestadisopra (check out the link, above, for the story from last year) and this year we were to go back. I had arranged with Ettore and Enrica of Sestadisopra via e-mail that we would like to come back to the estate again and bring my parents this time and taste the new vintage (2000 for Brunello di Montalcino and 2003 for Rosso di Montalcino). They were very gracious and said they remembered us and that they would enjoy seeing us again. When we finally did get to their place, it was around 2:00 or so and they inquired if we had gotten their other e-mail. After indicating that, in fact, we had not, we were saddened to learn that they had invited us to a full-on Tuscan feast for lunch at their villa. Oh well. What ended up happening was just as fantastic. First, Ettore gave us a ride out to view the Etruscan burial site in a cave that they discovered when cultivating the land. On the ceiling of the cave was a carving of the Etruscan sun that now is the logo for their wines. Then, we piled back into the truck and drove out to the Brunello vineyards to look at the budding vines each starting to produce tiny green clusters of grapes. After Ettore cut a couple of roses for Steph and my mom, we drove back to the villa to taste the latest vintages of the Rosso and Brunello. Both, but especially the Brunello, were sublime. They have just recently begun exporting the Brunello to the States and it is available at a shop in New York for about $150.00 a bottle, or more realistically, via an Internet merchant called K & L Wines. You can find it HERE if interested. I highly recommend it. Finally, after the tasting, we were invited down to the cellar to view the barrels, barriques (smaller oak aging barrels used for different wine) and stainless steel fermentation tanks. It is astonishing to see that a whole vintage of Brunello is aging in just one of the barrels! While we were down there, we were very fortunate, indeed, to do a barrel tasting of the latest vintage of the Rosso di Montalcino which was harvested in late September/October and will be bottled in July and will be released in 2006.

What a day, I can tell you. Even though we missed the lunch (I can only imagine how that would have been) we had an extraordinary day. In fact, the rest of that day is basically a blur due to the euphoria that had enveloped us earlier. Essentially, we got back to the village where Steph and Ethan went to the room to lay down and mom, dad and I headed out for...wait for it... yes, more wine. After a quick one, we got Steph and Ethan and went to dinner. The sun went down on a truly glorious day. The sun, the scenery, the food, the people, the wine, etc. What a day.

The next day we were on to Cortona. Cortona may possibly be like nothing else we have seen. You see it from miles away because it is situated so high on a hill. Encircling the hill on the way up, it seemed like we were going up and up and up. And we were. When finally reaching the pinnacle, looking back upon the Tuscan/Umbrian landscape, it looked as if we were looking down on it from an airplane. You could see for miles. The village center was abuzz with a late afternoon glow and activity that seems totally unique to this area of the world. The elderly sit, lean on their canes and walking sticks and chat away the afternoon and evening all while children race past giggling and shouting. The young adults sip espressos in their chic shades and pull drags off their American cigarettes. In the main piazza, a wedding had just finished and the entire wedding party and guests were having photos taken standing on the mountainous steps leading from the piazza floor to the church above. Having gotten to Cortona in the mid to late afternoon, we had some time to just relax, stroll around and do a little shopping. Oh, and of course, have a drink or two. Dinner was at a great pizzeria just off the main piazza where the waitress spoke great English and we were made to feel very welcome even though we got the table without previously making a reservation. After dinner, we took a bottle of wine back to the room, put Ethan to bed and sat around talking, drinking wine and nibbling a bit on some cheese, cured meats and pears. When the bottle dried up, dad went to fetch some more while mom and Steph ventured out for gelato (Italian ice cream). I stayed back to make sure E stayed asleep and comfortable. After polishing off the retrieved goodies, we retired to well-needed sleep, ready for the next day.

Saturday was to be our last day, having to be back at the Rome airport for a 10:00 pm flight. But, since we did have some time, the morning was spent exploring the Cortona street market where anything from Incredible Hulk flip-flops to intricately painted ceramics could be found. My favorite was the pork sandwiches being served from a whole pig roasted on a spit. When we packed up the car and left Cortona, we took a round-about route back towards Rome and stopped for a late lunch in a small town called Castiglione del Lago. Another walled city that was quite a bit less touristy. The view of the lake (Lago) was spectacular - it surrounded the city on three sides. The crowds were less here, as well. As we walked through the streets looking for a place to eat, classical piano music (Chopin) emanated from the main piazza. Turning the corner, we were astonished to see a piano and music students ready to begin their piano marathon. We located a table at the perimeter and enjoyed a light lunch while listening to wonderful music. After we were done, but long before the musicians were, we forced ourselves to leave because we had a long scenic drive to Rome.

Other than being redundant and describe the drive to Rome, let's suffice it to say that it was very relaxing and beautiful. The only thing that was a downer about the rest of the trip was the busy-ness and chaos of the Rome airport and the late flight. I don't need to go into that.

The trip was amazing and the company on that trip was amazing. It may go down as one of the best trips.

TO VIEW THE PICS OF THE TUSCANY TRIP CLICK HERE TO ACCESS OUR GALLERY.