Where In The World…
…are we going in 2017?
We’ve been making travel plans, and have some great trips in the works! In March, we’ll be heading up to Napa for a long weekend to celebrate my 60th. We haven’t been since 2010, when I snapped the photo above during an early morning hot air balloon ride. Le monsieur has been busy making dinner reservations and we’ll definitely visit some wineries. Still mapping out rest of the itinerary….
Later in the Spring, we are going back to Italy! We visited for the first time in 2011, and have been wanting to go back ever since. I’ve noticed that the second visit to any destination is often SO much better than the first. We return better oriented, and with more of a sense of the place. We’ve often ticked off the list the most obvious tourist spots, and on subsequent visits can be more targeted with how we spend our time.
On that first trip to Italy, we spent the most time in Florence, sandwiched between 2-1/2 days in Rome and finishing with 3 days in Venice. I feel as though we gave Rome short shrift, so we’re going back for a few more days this time, and will have a more focused itinerary. (I swear, that first visit we spent an entire afternoon walking in circles trying to find one particular gelateria that our neighbor had insisted we try…)
Then we’re heading up to Lake Como for three days, as it’s been on my travel wish list for decades. We’ve learned to pace ourselves on these trips, and build in a couple of days that are a little more restful, and Lake Como would seem to be a good spot for this.
After that: Venice! I had not expected much from Venice before our first visit, but fell in love with it. Yes, there are the crowded touristy bits, but it’s SO easy to get off the beaten path and this city is truly magical. On our first visit, I’d tripped over a lintel in a dark church and hurt my knee, so lost the first day there because I wasn’t able to get around easily. There’s so much I still want to see here.
We may take another shorter trip in the fall. We’re batting around some ideas, and keeping an eye on airfares. We’ve been thinking about Vienna/Salzburg, but haven’t yet decided.
I’ve begun compiling a Paris City Guide with my recommendations; should have the first installment posted in a week or two.
Do you like to re-visit favorite travel destinations?
Lake Como image via Pinterest.
Packing List: March In Wine Country
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Revisiting favorite destinations is a great thing. The first time, you just get an impression; it’s only after going back that you really understand a place.
After having hit the main sights, I started to explore off the beaten path, not just in cities but in countries–getting outside the capital. The U.S. isn’t just Washington (or New York); same with other countries.
You will love Lake Como!
Have you read Miss Garnets’s Angel by Salley Vickers? It has wonderful descriptions of off-the-beaten-track Venice. On our last visit we managed to track down the church with the Tobias pictures. You have to put a coin onto a slot to put the lights on them. Well worth it!
Yes, we try to go to the Amalfi Coast every summer, and love it more each time we go. Rome is an amazing city, very dimensional and you can always discover new things, I hope you enjoy it.
Lake Garda is beautiful too, and Isla de Borromeo, the island where the Borromeo family had their summer house is absolutely glorious. If you have time in the northeast, Padova is a 45 minute train ride, and the Scrovegni Chapel is so worth the trip. I liked it better than the Sistine! Enjoy your trip, Italy is so much fun!
Loved lake Garda. Hidden jewel.
My daughter lives in wine country so we visit every year. Hope you have a wonderful birthday celebration there! Loved the food in Italy. Hope to make it Venice one day.
We finally took a tour of the Coliseum and Paletine Hill last time in Rome. I highly recommend it to you Susan. In Rome, sometimes the tour is the best bet. We went back to Forum the day after our tour to wander amongst the ruins, (and yes, the tourists), for hours. Taking a long time in a small area is a luxury that can’t be underestimated.
Trastevere is another area we loved in Rome. The people who have lived there for many generations consider themselves the true Romans. I would go back there in a heartbeat! In fact, I’ll be there in May!!
Lake Como is magical. We spent our honeymoon there.
So much to see in Rome. We have been to Italy many, many times. North of Rome is Bracciano where we lived for a month doing day trips. Also Spent a month on Amalfi coast a couple times. Drove from Positano to Portofino ….Drove all of Tuscany.
This year we flew to Munich where we rented a car again. Easier than in Italy. Saw Austria…Salzburg lovely. .. then drove to Venice. Rented a beautiful apartment and it was not too crazy busy in Oct. We then drove to Bassano del Grappa for another rental. Visited Arqua’Petrarca, Marostica, Monselice, and Asolo.
All beautiful and not far from Venice. Check them out. Car is a must IMO. Moved on to lake Como house rental..and finally house on lake Garda. It was a more than a month…gorgeous trip. Cannot wait to return. My favorite country! Hope you enjoy 🙂
A car makes those destinations easier, but I don’t drive and have still visited many non-urban Italian destinations, as I was studying and doing graduate research there.
After an initial visit, I’d tend to hone in on a particular region and discover it thoroughly, but to each her own. A very central Italian journey to Tuscany, Umbria and Lazio (Rome’s region) would be rewarding indeed. Rome is a large city, so although it gets many tourists, they tend to stay in certain specific areas and there are many where tourists are far and few. I find that the crush of visitors in Florence can get very oppressive.
I like study trips, but you need the time. They can be very economical though, and there are many Elderhostel study groups for retired people.
Looking forward to your Paris Guide. We just made plans to go to Paris in April! Our son and his family recently moved to Germany, so we will begin there. We are taking my 10 year old granddaughter ( and my daughter also). My granddaughter is obsessed with Paris, so we told her that we could all go there also!
Your travel tastes seem to be very similar to ours! We were in Como a few years ago and just loved it. Rather than stay in Como, we rented an apartment in less-crowded Menaggio, just across the lake from Bellagio; we were up a little from the town itself and had a magical view of the lake. I imagine that you can’t go wrong, no matter where you stay. Lake Como is indeed one of the most beautiful places on earth.
Happy birthday in advance! We love Napa and are headed up in June. We also really love the Sonoma side; it’s a little less of a ‘scene’ like Napa is but still has some great wineries and great restaurants.
Looking forward to your Paris guide. I’m headed over at the end of March and have just started making reservations and plans (and a packing list). My husband thinks I’m crazy for being such a planner but for me, that’s a big part of the fun of vacationing. It seems you’re in full planning mode right now; enjoy!
J’aime beaucoup vos billets
Do you speak french ? We also are going back in Venice in april this year, a surprise from my monsieur, I’m in love with this place since the first Time I came…. I was ten, 50 years ago !
Im looking for a great hotel near Lake Como. Reccomendation?
Italy is our place! Having been there many times, I highly suggest time in Lucca inside the walls. While Como is lovely, a lesser tourist draw and more of an Italian resort is another lake up there, Lago Maggiore and the little resort town with elegant lakeside hotels is Stressa. I think depending on how much time you have, a geographic focus works best rather than having to travel far distances. By the way….Salzburg is magic. Have fun!
Happy Birthday in advance! We are die-hard francophiles, so we have been traveling to France every year for the past 30 years. Sometimes we add on a place outside the “hexagone”, like Spain, Italy, Hungary, Austria, all easily accessible to France via rail or Easy Jet.
As you now know, Paris is the gift that keeps on giving! Never tire of re-visiting this magnificent city.
I would love to visit Salzburg again. It was one of my favorite cities on a tour of Switzerland, Germany and Austria. I would also spend time in Lucerne. Very old cities with so much to see and do.
I would also love to return to Ireland, especially the west coast. Spending a little more time in Galway and touring the wild and beautiful coast again is something I plan to do.
Your Italian itinerary sounds divine. I’ve spent a good deal of time in Rome. I love the city and find every level of it interesting. However, my husband (who adores Paris and whom Paris adores) does not care for Rome. Once upon a time a rude waiter there pissed him off, so he has brushed the whole city with that brush, which I think is silly — but he has so many other good qualities I will forgive him this error. 🙂
This coming spring we’re heading for the first time to Portugal. Lisbon is our destination at the end of a leisurely transatlantic cruise, and we’ll spend three days there before flying home. We realize our views on Portugal will be limited after this brief introduction. But you have to start somewhere, eh?
Return destinations for 2017 may include another trip to London / Paris and possibly, for the fourth time, New Zealand. Honestly, we can’t get enough of New Zealand.
We’re also pondering a long Canadian train trip topped with a comfy hotel visit in Vancouver, another of our favorite haunts. Vancouver’s natural beauties and fabulous restaurants are hard to resist.
On the domestic front, I’ll be visiting friends in Chicago, NYC and NOLA, great American cities I know well that still offer new and old pleasures every time I go.
So far, that’s the long list. If we make it to half of those places this year I’ll be pleased. 🙂
Your husband is very lucky never to have encountered a rude waiter in Paris! Especially in the posher districts.
The first time I arrived in Rome, I do admit to being a bit disoriented after arrival from a few weeks in Paris, though I speak both French and Italian fluently. Paris is much better organised with clear signage, and it can be very difficult to orient oneself in Rome, moreover the public transport is infinitely better in Paris and even the inner suburbs. My first sight of Rome was the Termini railway station, which at the time had many junkies hanging out in the area (it has since changed for the better, and to be fair La Gare du Nord in Paris had the same problem). Eventually I grew to love it though; my longest stay (for graduate research) was spent in a neighbourhood above Trastevere, Gianicolo, where there were many small neighbourhood businesses and few tourists.
I’m always torn between returning to a place I loved and exploring new destinations. Unfortunately our budget permits European travel only once every 2 or 3 years, so it’s a real dilemma. (Clearly a first world dilemma.) What websites do you monitor for airfares?
Enjoy your trip to wine country! If you need a break from wine tasting, check out Oxbow Public Market in downtown Napa (lots of little eateries and markets). It’s next to what used to be Copia, now part of the Culinary Institute of America (CIA). CIA offers classes to the public and has a very nice shop. Or stop at the California Missions Museum at Cline Cellars on Hwy 121 on the way from Napa to Sonoma. It houses the to-scale models of all CA missions that were part of the 1939 World’s Fair. We just visited wine country a few weeks ago and enjoyed these finds.
We have family in Napa and so visit every year, and we love the Oxbow. We go down for a casual breakfast and people watching. And I always come home with spices from the shop there.
Wow, Susan! Sounds like 2017 is going to be a great year of travel for you. Lots of wonderful destinations. Look forward to your photo’s.
You’re coming up to my part of the world! Of course Napa is a four letter word for Sonoma county (kidding!). My husband and I just stayed at Meadowood Resort in St. Helena for my 70th — it was heaven. There are SO many wonderful restaurants and wineries in the area! have fun! XO
Hi Susan! Haven’t commented in awhile but couldn’t resist when I saw your last post. Always turn to trip planning during the blah days of winter-we are heading back to France in the fall, with the first week in Austria-Vienna, Salzburg possibly Innsbruck then over to Alsace region. We did Amsterdam about the same time as you, too- funny! I agree with you re Rome, close second to Paris IMO. Favorite part of Venice was boat trip out to Burano for lace. Amazing. Lake Como is my ” most beautiful place”- we stayed in an amazing Albergo in Varenna right on the water with that view 24/7 and quick ferry trips to Bellagio, Villa Carlotta etc. Bliss!
I have a photo of me naked in Lake Como – but I was only two at the time ! Have visited different areas of Italy since then . If you get to Lake Maggiore the very different islands on the lake are all worth a visit .
We used a tour guide in Rome for a private tour and I would do it again. Great guides and highly recommended! http://www.througheternity.com/
Love returning to pkacesi’ve enjoyed. I’ll be returning to Italy in the fall. Can’t wait to see what and how you pack for your spring trip. Maybe new luggage. How will I put it all in a carry on. Taking a carry on because I’ll be on a cooking tour so I need to be able to handle the luggage on my own.
After the 3 day tour of Rome, we spent a week there, while our daughter was on a semester abroad in Siena. Each day we took our maps and set out for destinations far and wide: cathedrals, cemeteries, chapels, museums, etc. It was wonderful!
I have been a regular follower for several months, but this is my first time posting. Thank you for your inspiration! I wanted to share a few of our vacation finds. My husband and I visited Sonoma and Napa last summer. Our best memories are from Sonoma, perhaps due to the more relaxed atmosphere and fewer tourists. We particularly enjoyed our sparkling wine tasting on the deck of Gloria Ferrer, staying in a cozy room in the Madrona Manor in Healdsburg, and our fabulous dinner at Valette, also in Healdsburg.
A few years earlier, we spent a couple of weeks in Italy, including 4 nights in Rome. Of all of the museums that we visited on that trip, the Borghese Gallery in Rome stood out, even for our young teenage children. We paid extra to have a guided tour with an art historian. The Bernini sculptures are incredible!! If you haven’t been there, I highly recommend it. We can’t wait to go back ourselves.
Looking forward to seeing photos and style inspiration from your travels!
Sometimes I feel like the queen of revisiting. We head back to Theoule-sur-Mer in June. People do ask me why we have been staying in the same apartment for the past nine years in the same little town in the same country. Fact is. I love the Cote d’Azur. It’s fun for me because that is where Vincent spent his summers growing up so I have a built-in guide. And with every return I feel less and less a tourist and more like I belong there. Besides–with his consulting and my job, our travel time during the year is limited. Why not go where we know we will always have a great time? We are also planning another trip to Paris in the fall. Paris is another place that gets better and better and really feels like home to me. I think it’ll be maybe the 15th or 16 visit. I’m happy that we will be going back in the late Fall. I kind of like Paris better in the colder weather. It is less crowded.
Other than that, weekend visits to NYC to see the boys. Cincinnati to see my daughter and DC–just because!!
Hey. Hurry up with that Paris guide. I wanna read it!!!
Early Happy Birthday Susan. Napa should be dried out by the time March rolls around. They’ve had more than their share of the rains in Northern California recently. If you are ever looking for quick trip to the country in Northern California, I think you’d love Healdsburg. Wonderful food, wineries, and cute downtown boutiques.
Susan, I do hope you’ve had some serious (though not flooding) winter rains; it was sad to hear of the degree of drought this past northern-hemisphere summer. Now there are serious fires in Chile and parts of Argentina, in the southern-hemisphere summer.
re Venice, have you come across the Donna Leon series? She is an American expat resident in Venice thirty years, and her Brunetti stories make it come alive, with lots of off-the-beaten path details.
No, but I’ll check these out and try to read before we go. Thanks for the recommendation!
Brilliant books about a brilliant city.
Susan D
Love her Brunetti books, but there are a lot of them. She also wrote or co-wrote a couple of non-fiction books that I’m going to read before our trip to Italy this fall. One called “My Venice & Other Essays” and another is “Brunetti’s Venice”, which describes walks the detective takes through Venice. I’m hoping they’ll spark some ideas for our own walks in October.
FLORENCE,I HAVE FRIENDS who are TOUR GUIDES!!!!!!!!!One who will drive YOU AROUND and she is from LA!!!!!!!!!ROME is the city where my husband grew up…….Never enough time THERE!LAKE COMO two days is all you need there………..Venice is wonderful there is a used book shop there with an old GONDOLA you must find it!!!!!!FASCINATING to SEE!
I was married in FLORENCE in the BASLICA on the hill SAN MINIATO AL MONTE…………..say CIAO for me!
You’re so right about second visits! We adored Florence and would love to go back. Venice was fabulous and I’ve been anxious to revisit for some time. Maybe next year.
I am with Karen! The Borghese Gallery in Rome is fabulous, and the Bernini sculptures in particular. It was astonishing to me how he made marble look like flesh. We went to Rome a few years ago with our kids and some friends…we rented an apartment near the Piazza Navona, and it was the most fun trip ever. We happened to be there the week Pope Francis was elected, so there was extra excitement!
Regarding Napa/Sonoma: we went last Spring (again with the kids, once they both turned 21). We stayed in Sonoma, which we had been told was less pretentious! It was great…walking distance to the square. If you go, The Girl and the Fig was a great restaurant right on the square, and I’ve never had a more delicious quiche. Also the Domaine Carneros winery was fabulous….we scheduled a tour, but we four were the only people to show up, so we got a private tour (with generous pours). It is such a beautiful place!
Hi, Susan, I’m planning to visit Lake Como in April, for my 50th. We’ll also take in Milan and the Italian Riviera, and Hong Kong on the way there (from Australia) and back. Will check your packing tips before I go and compare impressions afterwards.
Your travel plans sound fabulous! I turn 60 later this year, and would love a birthday trip–my husband and I were even thinking we could get to Europe again this summer! But instead, we will have the joy of going to Oregon for our daughter’s wedding about a week and a half before that birthday. Couldn’t be a better trip, I think!
I am going to suggest something a bit radical for your travel planning down the line–you might want to try Tucson, AZ. It would be an easy day’s drive for you from So Cal. Tucson is a fun and diverse city in so many ways. Lots of great hiking and walking (and biking, but I don’t think you are into that.) Amazing food and drink to take advantage of, increasingly produced locally/sustainably. The summer is rather hot, but the thunderstorms are incredible to experience in July and August. It’s chilly in AZ right now, but often quite temperate in the winter! Spring brings beautiful wildflowers. . .If you want to know more, let me know.
Oh Susan! I used to live in Lugano just a little north of Como- I have some great suggestions for special dinners or hotels if you want!! It is a wonderful part of the world.
M
I do love to revisit favorite destinations. I was editor of a travel magazine focusing on historic inns for 5 years, and would love to go back and see how those places have changed, if at all. I’d like to get back to Europe again, too, but am a bit hesitant to travel outside the country until the current crisis in our country settles down. Worrisome times!
Hi Susan, I was just checking your travel wardrobes because I was surprised by my husband & grown children this weekend with a little trip for my 60th! How funny to see your post on your upcoming trip to Napa. We are going to Sonoma! My birthday is this week & the trip is coming up soon…not a lot of time to plan. I am delighted to see so many items in your packing list stylistically similar to what I was planning to bring! Since it will be my first time there, I guess this means I’m on the right track. Early Happy Birthday to you…looking forward to rocking 60…what a wonderful way (for both of us) to start!
Happy Birthday to you too, Judy! Enjoy your trip! I’ll be posting my Napa travel wardrobe tomorrow.