Traveling to Italy with Willa

Allow me to set the scene... 2.5 hours to Toronto, Canada. Then 4.5 hour layover. Followed by 8.5 hours into Milan, Italy. Arrive 7:00am local time. 2 hour drive to Diano d'Alba which is 7 km south of Alba. After 10 days, to get home, reverse this schedule but tack on a 5 hour drive from Tuscany to Milan. And we survived fine with a 2-year-old. How? Read some tips at the end of the page.

Alba, the home of white truffles...the most expensive food per weight in the world. It's 9am on our first day and my tummy is growling.	We arrive at Locanda Rizieri. Its chef/owner is also a winemaker. Our room is rustically elegant, and Willa checks out the view onto the Barbera & Nebbiolo vineyards.	This 200+ year-old inn had a dynamite restaurant underneath, as evidenced by our little cubby in which we dined. The owner has some unusual art as well.	The next morning I arose to catch the sun coming up in our little town of Diano d'Alba--about 7km south of Alba. All of these little villages have at the center a church.

Not a sound except for the occasional bird that morning.	I return back from town and a breakfast of fresh coffee, homemade breads, and local jams & honey. A very Italian breakfast--as opposed to the big German ones we like.	These sweet ladies run a farm for making Toma, a classic Piemontese cheese. These were made the day before.	How fresh was the raw milk used to make the Toma cheese?

This was our 2nd cheese-making farm that day--again, Toma. What you see in the case are all cow's milk, but varying degrees of maturity.	In Diano for dinner that evening. Not sure why I took this pic...actually, now I remember.	The veal tartare, home-made butter sage pasta, and rabbit were all delicious with the Seghesio "La Villa" Barolo. However, the true worth of a chef is the panacotta he makes.	A family excursion of tasting Barolo's in Barolo. Ended up buying a few.

A sign outside this enoteca shows the mischievous Bacchus.	Next stop...the village of Monterosso, part of the Cinque Terre. We arrived in the morning for a swim.	My wife is less than thrilled with the octopus in her bowl. She threw me a tentacle to munch on.	Some early morning shots of sleepy Monterosso.

The view on the walking trail "via dell'amore" between the villages of Riomaggiore and Manarola.	Looking back on the via dell'amore (the trail of love).	For dinner tonight, our chef begins with making a fresh pesto, showing us the proper way, while we gulp prosecco.	It looks ominous but we never got a drop from it.

I witnessed an amazing feat as this kid jumped into 6 foot waves from the pier, then used the wave to carry him back up onto the pier.	Finally, we arrive in Tuscany for Jennifer's first wedding ceremony. We take a funicular up to the old town of Certaldo for the civil ceremony. Her 2nd was the next day on the wine estate where she wore her wedding dress.	Our third and final stopover is Tenuta di Sticciano, an agriturismo making great Chianti and offering rusticly elegant accomodations.	Sticciano had a 300+ year old wine cellar, and allowed me to conduct a wine tasting for 100 people in there. 10% American, 50% German, and 40% Italian. The wines were international and were brought over with me from the states.

Tips with a 2 year old continued... We packed a 25 lb. backpack chocked full of games, puzzles, books, DVD player/movies, a separate bag of snacks (crackers, chips, gummies, raisons, and other pseudo-healthy munchies). We encouraged drinking on take-off & landings to ensure her eustachian tubes would clear properly by swallowing. When she became antsy we guided her around the walkways inside the plane. We remained calm on the plane even when she wasn't. One father 8 rows up from us picked his child up by one arm when both were completely exasperated. It didn't help the situation. While in the car, we took time to pull off and take breaks.