Home Sweet Home

We made it back safe and sound and on time-what a delight! Everything went just as planned, with an added delighted provided by Backroads. We were scheduled to catch a train from the end of our Backroads trip back to Florence, which we were not looking forward to due to our luggage situation. It happened to work out to be be shuttle by tour bus and dropped off at out hotel door-absolutely delightful! Thanks to those of you thinknng of us on Friday-it payed off more than you can imagine!

A zillion THANK YOU's to the entire Burrell family (Matt, Becky, Austin, Mikey, Huck and Joon) for taking such loving care of Lucy, I don't think she even noticed we were gone! Also, for picking us up at the airport-we owe you guys BIG!

It has been a long day so we are off to bed. We will upload some more photos tomorrow once we find the camera.

Thanks so much to everyone for being a part of our journey!

Kara and Brain

Posted by Brian and Kara at 9:00 PM (MDT) | 0 comments  

Greetings from Montepulciano!

We are having an amazing time! The biking has been fantastic and the people on our trip have been wonderful-we hightly reccommend a Backroads vacation anywhere. Last night we went to an amazing private home for some wine tasting and cooking class-we made pici, a spaghetti like pasta. The home was an old 12th or 13th century church with an amazing tower and incredible art throughout. The weather took a nasty turn this morning with massive thunder bursts lightning and torrential downpours. All is good though now.........we gave it an hour and now we are back to sunny skies.

We are going to spend some time in a few smaller towns today and end the evening with a private wine tasing at a 5th generation vineyard and possibly do some olive oil tastings as well. Thanks to all of you for following our journey, we love hearing from you.

Too many thoughts and things to share with limited time. We are thinkning off all of you and cannot wait to share it all when we return.

Kara and Brian Wilkinson

Posted by Brian and Kara at 4:38 AM (MDT) | 1 comments  

Saturday 6/11/05

Thanks again to all of you who have replied on either the website or via email. We have had a great time reading your comments and look forward getting new ones daily. Today is our last day at Locanda Dell Amorosa and we are off to catch the train here in a few minutes and head back to Florence for the night. Today has been very nice........we havent done anything except lay by the pool and soak up the sun. As much as we are going to hate leaving this place we are looking forward to starting our bike trip tomorrow and discovering new places. We will post more info and pictures when we can.....Ciao!

Posted by Brian and Kara at 6:37 AM (MDT) | 9 comments  

Day after the wedding

It is official! We had an amazing day, the ceremony was even more than we had expected, and we looked amazing if I do say so myself. One of our witnesses sent us to his restaurant for a fantastic lunch, the table was covered in flowers and they had champagne ready for us. It was like our very own parade all day. It rained on us a little during our walk back to the hotel after lunch, but according to an Italian man, it is good luck. The sun came back out shortly and we enjoyed a bottle of wine at our hotel before taking off for the train station. The bartender at our hotel says you should have 3 bottles of Chianti a day and we are doing our best!

We arrived at Locanda Dell Amorosa around 9:30 PM and they immediataley took wonderful care of us (Thanks Andy-this place is truly amazing).

Kara is surprising even herself with trying the stuffed hen neck (compliments of the chef). Brian is in heaven with all of the meat choices, the bacon this morning was as big as his plate! Kara is in heaven with her bathrobe and slippers that weigh more than she does.

Today we plan to lounge by the pool (in our bathrobes of course) and rest in this gorgeous place.

We cannot believe how each day can possibly get any better, but it continues to get better and more wonderful surprises everyday!

Lots of love,
Kara and Brian

Posted by Brian and Kara at 3:18 AM (MDT) | 4 comments  

Day before Wedding!

We have been having fantastic weather and started off our day with a 440 step hike to the top of the campanile bell tower, next to the Duomo-the views very amazing. We have photos but cannot upload them at the internet cafe. After the big ceremony we are off to Siena for a few days to let our feet catch up with us. We have walked our poor feet to the bone, but are enjoying every minute of it.

We also went to the market. Brian got excited about all of the meat and I loved all of the purses! We got some bread and cheese and of course some wine and headed off to the Boboli Gardens for a picnic.

We have actually stayed awake tonight and have dinner reservations like
true Italians. Nothing like stuffing yourself before climbing into a wedding dress!

We love getting all of your emails and think of all of you every day.
Lots of love,
Kara and Brian

Posted by Brian and Kara at 1:13 PM (MDT) | 6 comments  

We made it!

We made it safely-26 hours total. A 10 hour delay in London took the wind out of our sails, but we are here and enjoying ourselves.
We got pre wedding paperwork taken care of this morning (US Consulate, police station and Italian Town Hall). We roamed around Florence for awhile and then had lunch in a great little family owned restaurant. Our waitress was from Des Moines, Iowa and had just recently married into the family. Iowans are everywhere!
Nap time, Ciao!

Posted by Brian and Kara at 9:50 AM (MDT) | 8 comments  

Ciao!

We are so excited to able to fill you all in along the way on our big adventure.

We are busy packing and getting everything in order this evening. It is hard to believe the day is finally here. We are excited, nervous, sad (to leave Lucy) and a little overwhelmed, but mostly excited!

We arrive in Italy Sunday evening and have appointments at the US consulate and Italian Town Hall first thing Monday morning. We then plan to do some sightseeing and shopping.

Check back every few days to see what we have been up to and maybe catch a photo or two.

Posted by Brian and Kara at 7:02 PM (MDT) | 7 comments