After a last night in San Gimignano we head south-east to Perugia, where we will stay 4 nights to attend some Concerts of the 38th Umbria Jazzfestival. That means also we shift from Tuscany to Umbria, from the rich to the poor region but in any case Umbria is less known but at least as interesting as Tuscany.

Before we finally reach Perugia we do a stop in Sant Antimo. In this quiet and hidden (almost no tourists) monastery which is still active you can "feel pure religion". This romanic church with roots back to the 9th century (!) breathes, you get slower and feel it - its not really explainable to us but it is somehow special, we have the impression being closer to our dead friends and relatives than before. Quite an experience not only as we finally had the chance to listen to one of the 7 daily prayers of the padres in the church.

Sant Antimo

We cross the beautiful cities of Montalcino, Pienza and Montepulciano but we almost reached an overflow of cultural impressions - there is so much to see!

Later that afternoon we reach Perugia and our hotel this time is around 10km outside the town a huge park with pool to relax and wonderful rooms. A great hideaway for the next days - mornings at the pool, later music or sightseeing. That will be the plan for the next days.



In the evening we enter the first time Perugia city. On the corso - the main street where all the sights are - there are already a lot of people around. In front of the duomo the big stage for the free of charge concerts is already placed, in all corners some people are playing - Umbria Jazz festival started. At 9pm we listen to the concert of

Caro Emerald live in action

Caro Emerald - a dutch singer between Pop, Rockabilly and hiphop. Interesting music, interesting lady. Not bad for the beginning.

The second concert was Dee Alexander's Evolution Ensemble. This performance was dedicated to Jimi Hendrix and it was interesting how a band replaces the guitar of the guitar-god Hendrix with a violine, a chello and a bass player. To make it short: from our point of view this experiment was not successful. The power of Hendrix was replaced by noise. All his great songs like All along the watchtower, Little Wing, Hey Joe, ... couldn't reach the original and the scat-singing of  Mrs. Alexander could not replace the guitar solos of Jimi. Only the dress of Dee Alexander was impressive: colourful and she reminded us of a character of a Disney movie: the head of "Munsters Inc".

Dee Alexander

MANHATTAN MORNING & a WINE TOUR

Tuscany feeling in the morning

Today we tried something new. As there are so many people during the day in our 'Manhattan'-site called San Gimignano and as the 'light' for our photos is not that nice during the day we decide to start at 6 (!!!) a.m. for a tour around the city - and it was great! The city was not as empty as we expected but we only saw locals starting their work (including the preparation for the week-market on the main piazza). We could take a lot of pictures without a single tourist ruining the atmosphere. Beside that the light during the sunrise was perfect and we happily we had later our breakfast at 8.

Morning atmosphere in San Gimignano

Piazza della Cisterna (without tourists)

Shortly later we started with our today's highlight. We had an appointment with Francesco Mazzei at hin winery (ok, not with him but with some of his employees showing us the winery of Fonterutoli - this is for a long time our favorite wine (Villa Marie, Dresden or Wein&Co, Vienna) and it is only logical that we try to learn more about our favorite. Finally we had an one our tour around the production place, we shook hands with Francesco Mazzei, we saw the cellars and at the end we had the chance to test the wine - and of course to buy some for our celler at home. Great experience but wine tasting around lunch time makes tired ......

GUE working hard to find the best wine

These two hours makes it hard for the afternoon but we try our best. First we find some Mazzei-lavendel-fields where especially Seda is more than excited as you might see. Then we continue driving on the byway in direction of Siena. This takes us for the 30 km around 1 1/2 hours in the most beautiful environment you can imagine!

Seda in heaven No 2 this day

Normally Siena should be the top event of a day trip - but for us it was only the final (short) excitement not the highlight. The city is beautiful: like in many other cities in this region: a wonderful dome but the speciality the famous red place - which is the largest and most impressive place built in Renaissance.  That place gives  a good impressions how it is when the yearly main attraction takes place there: the Palio, a horse riding where the riders are dressed like in the middle ages.

All in all - a perfect day but at the end too hot and ... getting up at 6am is not our life (we know that for a long time!!).

IN THE HEART OF TUSCANY

Today we leave Firenze for a two days trip where wine is in the focus of our action! To be more precise: we are heading south to the area of Chianti Classico. As our navigation system is not willing to charge anymore we are travelling from now onwards the “traditional way” with maps and the “try and error” game.

After we left the big city, the landscape turns exactly in that what we expect, what most probably all people expect from Tuscany: soft hills, cypress-trees, wine and olive plantations, green is dominating. We escape all highways and try to find our way in small streets where the real life is.

Our first stop today - beside many short ones for several foto-shootings - is the lovely Greve in Chianti. Basically it was a mistake going there because Guenther tried to find Gropina and not Greve but this small town with his triangle shaped place with all his arcades is more than worth this stop (Gropina and the search for the holy Lucas will come next week). 

Cheece production in Greve

Hungry GUE

Small shops around with everywhere typical foodstuff of this region! The best place to shop for our first picnic: some wine, tomatoes (the best in the world), bread, spicy salami and some fruits and water. In the main shop we can find almost everything and it is difficult for us NOT to buy some cheese or a whole ham which are hanging around everywhere in that shop.

Later we have our picnic - somewhere in the middle of nowhere, on top of one hill there is a small bench with a view. Perfect for us. What a great lunch we had!

Seda preparing a wonderful lunch picnic

The next two nights we spend in San Gimignano. We reach this town where the clock stopped in the 15th century in the later afternoon. We park the car outside the city-walls and enter the main gate to reach a complete different world. A world without cars, a world of homogeneous buildings and places where everything fits together. It looks like we would imagine the middle ages. The main difference to that time: busses full with tourists are spreading around and trying to find peace there. Only in the evening it is getting better! Our hotel is directly located at the main place, Piazza della Cisterna and the imagination works. 

San Gimignano from far ...

Beside the atmosphere itself the main attraction of this city is the fact that around 15 towers (built by several families in the middle ages showing the wealth of the families) are dominating the scenery. At that time it is said that the town had around 70 towers but most of them didn’t survive. The main tower we climbed up and we had a breathtaking view from the top! What a feast for the eyes!!

We completed that romantic afternoon with a dinner in the restaurant Bel Soggiorno where we had again wine and regional oriented dishes - that time it was more a feast for the body.

USA must be empty these days ......

The USA must be empty these days! We assume that almost all of them are here in Firenze - at least the youth together with their teachers. In every corner and especially in every line waiting for entrance to the museums they are dominating! We tried today to see the original of David in the Accademia and later we tried to get into the Museo di Uffizi (La Primavera, ....) - everywhere the waiting time was more than 2 hours so we gave up quickly. Time is too short to wait for that long time (if you are going there - there are some possibilities in internet to make early reservations, this could reduce the waiting time).

David, the copy

By the way: the backside we showed yesterday belongs to Neptun - a statue close to David!

So, what to do - no problem is this city!! We started some shopping (the next wedding is coming soon),  strolling around in funny hidden downtown shops where mainly locals are shopping. After a short lunch in a micro-trattoria of family Noe we had some rest and started later a tour with the Cabrio! First destination: Piazzale Michelangelo - the famous lookout point of this lovely town where you have the best overlooking view possible.

Very close Gue's most favorite church is located: San Miniato al Monte! What a great place to rest: a romanic church (roots back to the year 1000) with a wooden, painted ceiling and two-colored marble (white from Carrara, green from Prato) everywhere and a padre was playing on the pipe organ!!! This is much better than waiting in long cues!

San Miniato al Monte

Later that afternoon we shifted to the other side of the Arno river and entered the outskirts of Firenze - FIESOLE. A very small city, much older than Firenze. Etruscans lived there 600 years before christ!!! Another church of the holy Francis, an old roman theatre, a lovely main place with much less tourists and nice restaurants - perfect for a dinner. Wine, bread and ..... a Bistecca Fiorentina for two. This type of steak (in USA most probably called T-bone steak) is prepared in a special "fiorentene" way and one of the culinarical highlights (as our guide-books mention) in this area. So we tried it. Our piece of meat was about 1,3 kg heavy and more than enough for two. The grappa later was necessary to digest!!!

Seda with the rest of our huge steak

Fiseole downtown atmosphere

WHOSE ASS IS THAT?

A full sightseeing day in Firenze!!! One of the first things today was this ass ... any idea to whom it might belong?

We started our tour in the Basilica Santa Croce, which is also the graveyard of many wonderful people of the Renaissance and later. We said HI to Michelangelo Buenarotti, we met Galileo, Macchiavelli and the tomb (not the body) of Dante Alghieri and finally the composers Giacomo Rossini and Cherubini. What a selection of great guys - what would happen if they would meet alive after midnight in the church and have a chat?

The next stop was of course the Duomo of Firenze - the wonderful church which is said to be the 5th largest in the world with this famous cupola of Bruneleschi. We tried also to get up the campanile or the cupola but the waiting time was too long due to the number of tourists. Later we found the perfect place to enjoy Firenze from the roof without having too much waiting time or efforts to climb up 500 stairs. There is a hidden department store with a lovely terrace where we had our afternoon Espresso!

Duomo and Campanile from a roof top bar

Cupola of the Dome Santa Maria del Fiore

Later the third cultural highlight waited for us: after several exhibitions of Dali, Miro and Picasso in Istanbul and Barcelona we found in Palazzo Strozzi an exhibition of the youth and the development of these three heroes of the modern art! The main topic was how they influenced each other - and you really can see it in all these pictures. Beside the pictures the didactical concept of this exhibition was phantastic: we got so called 'art cards' where we got some additional information of some pictures with the invitation to discuss this or that ... it worked.

Ponte Vecchio

After some strolling around, shooting Ponte Veccio during the sundowning period we had our dinner in a lovely winebar with excellent wine (of course Chianti Classico), local cheese, salame and prosciutto. There is no way to finish a day in a better way. If there is really heaven exising - it must be something like that!!! (No wonder that most of the popes in the last 2000 years came from Italy).

GOOD MORNING MONDAY

What a sweet day a monday can be!!!

With our best wishes to everyone who has to work today: have fun, enjoy, be proud of your work and never forget to live DOLCE VITA....

Lovely Regards from Firenze

A DAY OF SURPRISES ....

The idea of this day was to head south to reach Firenze and to see the one or other interesting spot on the way and we did!

Our breakfast was some brioche and a strong italian espresso still in Oggiono.  We found on top a fuel station with unbeatable prices for diesel. We tried to get our tank full but this is not as easy as it seems. There is only a machine and if you don't work correctly the other guy next to you will get your fuel! It was a lovely discussion with an Italian guy until we had our fuel.

Later on the half way to Parma we left the freeway and we found the Chiaravalle della Colomba. This monastry of the Zisterzienser is a lovely spot in the middle of nowhere but on Sundays there is a lot of action. We saw part of a catholic service with a beautiful choir, a fleamarket and it seems that everyone knows everyone - we were the only tourists there.

Gothic Colums-knots in Chiaravalle

The whole area on the way to Parma is filled with music again - this time classical music. We passed the birth place of Stradivari (the guy who made this wonderful violins), in Busseto Guiseppe Verdi was born and almost every small place reflects the fact that this important italian musician was living there.

In Parma we wanted to celebrate the most important export articles from this town: Proscuitto crudo and Parmgiano Reggiano. Before that we visited Dome and the Baptisterium - a wonderful place much too big for this small city. Beside these buildings the most impressive monument was the Theatro Farnese - one of the oldest theatres in the world made fully out of wood. It smells gives atmosphere and on top we could enter the stage!! We acted without audience in Parma ... our debut!!!!!

Duomo di Parma

In a very small street cafe we found a perfect lunch with a so called "Mama" organizing everything. Great food (of course fresh pasta, some proscuitto und parmigiano) for very, very reasonable prices. Mama (more granny as she was at least 65) organized everything and pushed the whole team in service and bar to do their best. Well organized and excellent price/quality ratio. As a customer you can feel happy there!!!

Late afternoon we reached our hotel in Firenze and we started a nice evening walk downtown. We had a romantic dinner on the Piazza della Signoria and were surprised that the museum of the Palazzo della Signoria is open until midnight!? A federal museum open during the night? Yes and it worked because the atmosphere in such a museum is completely different then during the day! A great palace where the Medici lived and the Signoria (a sort of parliament) worked in the Renaissance time!

Palazzo della Signoria & unfriendly animal ...

CHANGES ......

Today is the day of changes...

...we changed the country, we are in Italy/Oggiono at Lago di Como, we crossed the beautiful Swiss (quickly with the help of  a 17 km Gotthard tunnel )

...we changed the rainy weather with the sunny weather, now we can drive cabrio

...we changed our style of driving : from passive driving to active driving in Italy

...we changed the original Leberkaese with the original pizza served (even here) by a turkish guy

... we changed the music from jazz to classical music with a modern dance performance of the "Spellbound Dance Company in Carmina Burana". This was a spontaneous decision and we were lucky that we could find the tickets without a problem. The venue was also amazing Parco di Villa Olmo in Como !

... we changed from "to be planned" to "to be spontaneous" : )

and we change the times... we are now waking up later, eating later, enjoying the day till late in the evening.... It is really DOLCE VITA...

GUESS WHO?

Someone really loves you / really loves you.... guess who
Someone really cares / really cares... guess who
Open your heart
then surely you'll see
oh, that the someone who really cares is me .....

BB King, July 1, 2011 at the age of 85

How simple lyrics can be and how impressive at the same time!  This old smash hit of BB King, live performed in Stuttgart between rain showers by this young guy at the age of 85!!! The word "impressive" gets a whole new meaning!!!

After we left Dresden we cruised to Stuttgart - around 500 km away in the south-west of Germany. No traffic jams, sometimes (heavy) rain. We reached our todays destination around 2pm and after a short lunch with german stuff we checked in and went directly downtown where the concers of the Stuttgart Jazz open started around 6pm. Three concerts on one evening - no seats for us but we had the chance to stand close to the stage.

James Hunter

The starter was James Hunter. This british guitarist is said to be one of the best blues musicians alive (at least his mentor Van Morrison mentioned that) - to make it short: excellent music, mainstream oriented soul, blues and R&B. Not bad - at least a perfect start. The atmosphere is nice. The weather changed to sun, its warm and the mood is good. A good warm-up for the main act later?

The second act is Mothers Finest. Very powerful band but for our understanding too loud, too much rock and not enough soul. Very colourful dresses - this was the main impression.  All in all a little bit too long and too boring. Everyone is waiting for the main act!!!

During the preparations for the BB King set it started raining again but after 15 minutes the rain has gone, a rainbow showed up and the sun came back! With the sun also the godfather of Blues, the most influencial blues musician entered the stage with his band. Mr. King is already 85, he is sitting during the concert but his voice is still breathtaking, his guitar play perfect and he entertains all 3000 people. At the beginning we thought he is tired and it could be too much for the guy but the longer the concert lasts he makes jokes, distributes candies to the audience, chats with the people especially with the young ones. The atmosphere he creates is brilliant. What a rare talent, what an entertainer!!!! We experiened that only twice before (Jamie Cullum and Pink Martini). He also sang from his last album the song "See that my grave is kept clean" ... a sad thought - may this day be far away!!!

Around 10:30 he had to stop, he gave his best and we are happy having seen this living legend! Especially GUE is happy having seen now all of the 3 giants alive (beside BB we are talking about Buddy Guy and of course Eric Clapton).

Now we are tired and trying to get some sleep. Tomorrow will be a new day with new adventures. This time not too much music but nature pure. We will cross the alps in Switzerland and will hopefully reach Italy!

We enjoyed our first day and we hope you got some impression!

Seda being tired!!!!

WE START NOW - with the first HIGHLIGHT

Dear Friends,

in less than two hours we will start our DOLCE VITA tour and we start getting in a sort of holiday mood. All things related to business are finished, haircut is done, things are packed we are ready!!!!

Today we are planning to reach Stuttgart where we hopefully will enjoy in the evening our first highlight, maybe THE highlight for gue. We have tickets for the Stuttgart Music Festival and today Mothers Finest, James Hunter and B.B.KING will perform. BB - a dream will come true. Seeing Riley B. King live with Lucille (his guitar) are on the wish list for a long time - in the meantime BeeBee is 85 years old but if it is true still performing like a young guy ... we will see. He is a legend and definitely influenced the whole world with his hits and his music!!

The photo shows BB King as a young guy at the age of 17 in Indianola - the hometown in the center of the Mississippi Delta where he performed in his youth, where he started his career.

In his greatest hit he shouted: THE THRILL IS GONE --- for us the THRILL STARTS NOW!