Congratulations Drew and Simona!

The reason for our trip to Italy this summer was to witness the nuptials of Drew and Simona and enjoy a fun-filled wedding weekend with their friends and family from around the world.

The fairytale wedding was held on July 11th at Villa Mocale in Montefiridolfi, Chianti and the settling could not have been more beautiful.

But Simona and Drew didn't plan just a day of festivities, but a whole weekend of activities with their family and friends from around the world - literally. Our table at the reception was representative of the diversity of their friends. There were 8 people at our table, composing 4 couples, and all 8 people were from different countries: France, Spain, Italy, Greece, UK, Serbia, India and the US.

Our hotel was absolutely beautiful. with awe-inspiring views of vineyards from the pool! When we weren't relaxing there, we spent an afternoon in Greve in Chianti, followed by a lovely lunch at Ristoro di Lamole and a pre-wedding dinner at Ristoro l'Antica Scuderia. We also managed to squeeze in an afternoon trip to Florence where we met up with Armen and Nyree, who were also staying nearby for a friend's wedding!

All in all, the wedding in Chianti was amazing. Thanks Simona and Drew for allowing us to be part of your celebration!

Happy Independence Day!

Today, August 15th, India celebrates 63 years of independence from British rule.




To my disappointment, the holiday falls on a Sunday, which means we don't get a day off from work. No three day weekend here. Boo.

Hiking in Cinque Terre

To start, here's a view of the five towns of Cinque Terre that we captured over the course of our two days there.

The five towns of Cinque Terre, from top (clockwise): Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore.

On our first of two nights in Cinque Terre, we immediately headed to the furthest most town of Riomaggiore for a brief peak of the trail and the easiest of the walks, "Via dell'Amore." We were treated to amazing views of the cliffs and a spectacular sunset.

On the second day, we set off a bit late, but finally entered the trail in Monterosso, where we were staying. From our reading, we knew that the Monterosso-Vernazza trail was one of the longest and should take us about 90 minutes to complete. While we stopped to enjoy the views (and to catch our breathe) at almost every opportunity, we finished the first trail in just over 90 minutes. Our reward was the view of the town from above on the trail, probably the best view of the entire day.


We had pizza for lunch and contemplated whether or not to push on and hike to Corniglia. Feeling recharged after lunch and lots of water, we decided that we could handle another hike and that the hardest one was behind us. Well, in hindsight, I would say that Monterosso-Vernazza and Vernazza-Corniglia are equally hard with their fair share of steep climbs and unstable stairs. And once again, the views and the satisfaction at the end were worth the struggles of the hike. Once in Corniglia, we hung out for a bit before deciding to travel by train to Manarola, the next town. What we didn't realize was that the walk to the travel station was half of the walk. We could have easily pushed on and walked in about the same time it took us to wait for and ride the train.

In Manarola, we found a nice perch on some rocks and used this as our launching spot for dips in the water. The water was clean, cool and super refreshing. We ended this part of our day with gelato (of course) and a ferry ride back to Monterosso. This gave us the perfect opportunity to view all of the towns from the water.

Back in Monterosso, we talked to the hotel staff about our planned travel to Chianti (via Florence) the next day. We were fortunate enough to be there right in a middle of a country-wide train strike. We decided not to let the impending strike get the best of us (like the American family sitting next to us at breakfast that morning who decided to leave one day early as to not risk missing their flight home). I guess, because we had another week in Italy, we weren't as pressured as many other people. We were told by Drew and the hotel staff, that despite the strike, some trains would be running the following day, probably in the early morning. The hotel staff called the station a few times to find out which trains were still scheduled and urged us to run back there to buy tickets for the next day. We (well, I) did just this and encountered a long line of other travelers frantically trying to ensure they could make it to their next destination.

Content that we had our arrangements sorted for the next day, we ventured out for dinner and to enjoy our last night in Cinque Terre. We headed to the New Town of Monterosso and selected a restaurant called Miky's, a popular local spot, which did not disappoint. After dinner, strolled back to our hotel and prepared for our early train to Florence (fingers crossed).

Bye, Bye Cinque Terre