I'm reminded again why we live here! We just enjoyed a fantastic May long weekend out at the lake; on the drive out we saw close to 20 deer, and on the way back there was a huge herd of elk. Even the single scruffy mountain goat deserves an honorable mention as he looked a little hungry and lonely. To make the drive and wildlife sightings even better they all had the gorgeous Rocky Mountains as their backdrop. The snow pack in the mountains is still unusually high due to an insanely cold winter and a very late spring, but that only made the view more beautiful as we had the green grass and trees juxtaposed against the snow capped mountains and brilliant blue sky.
But, with that being said - Italy still beckons! So, while admiring the lake and wildlife I used the very handy wi-fi to put some serious time and effort into our trip. Looking back I see that the last major push I did for this trip was mid-April. Oops. Although nothing had been put into action it was playing around in my brain and letting my subconscious do the work. Or at least that's how I justify it.
So, with my general outline in place I started searching for accommodation. Our entire trip is 21 days and 20 nights. As I wrote in my post from April 4th some of the places and dates had been narrowed down but nothing had been actually booked. Knowing that Amsterdam at the end was already finished (the tickets are booked and we are staying with family) I decided to start from the end and work my way back to the beginning. We know that we will be in Verona for 3 nights near the end of our trip (visiting with vacationing family) which leaves just 2 nights in Venice at the end as we fly from Venice to Amsterdam. I booked us in to the Venice Novotel for two nights and the price is phenomenal! For less than $300 CDN (total) we have two nights accommodation with a buffet breakfast each morning. I'm very interested to see what the hotel is like as it's a chain that touts itself as family friendly with great value.Continuing to work backwards I knew we needed 3 nights in Verona so I did some searching but never followed through. (Note to self - I will do that this afternoon!) What I spent the majority of time on was Tuscany… the land of movies and dreams! We had 9 nights allotted to it and ideally we wanted to base ourselves in one place and take day trips when we felt like it; a pool was mandatory as we wanted to also use this part of the trip as our 'chill' time. I searched and searched and sent out numerous requests. Some were available, some were not, but one place I stumbled across absolutely captured my heart and nothing could compare. It was only available for 7 nights, and although that wasn't part of our original plan I couldn't resist it. This is a perfect example of needing to have a little flexibility sometimes! This place (Podere Patrignone) has unbelievably positive reviews on both Trip Advisor and Home Away and sounded like it had everything we wanted and needed to experience the true Tuscany. So, it's booked! (Insert excited hand waving here.) We now have two days unaccounted for before going to Verona which need to be figured out but that's a fun 'problem' to have.
What's left to do? Find accommodation in Rome for 3 nights, figure out those extra two days, and book the Verona apartment. Well, that and determine the car rentals and any train travel we need to do between cities. So, not much, but still quite a bit. Off I go!
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