Menu
Cool Annie's Travels
  • Blog
  • Italy 2022
    • The process before leaving town...
    • About
    • Annie Hart Cool
  • Life as it appears to me
  • Blog
  • Italy 2022
    • The process before leaving town...
    • About
    • Annie Hart Cool
  • Life as it appears to me

Cool Annie's Travels

Picture

Notify Me

"Dreaming in the tea pot"

9/24/2015

2 Comments

 
Picture

"Les Reveries dans la Theiere"

It's a 400 year old stucco row house on a quiet village street ...we have the whole place to ourselves. Don, a handsome 50's something french man opens the home for us and gratefully speaks English...  He's right out of GQ magazine. Tall, slender, salt and pepper hair with the coolest eye wear ever... I need a pair.


Ron and his wife Ann own the house.   They bought it 5 years ago and turned this 3 bedroom into a 5 bedroom guest house.  They live above their tea shop across the street.  


Don says they moved permanently here from Paris center 5 years ago when their children started to show preteen signs of difficult times ahead.  

The attraction to this village was simple: Smaller schools, less of a hoodlum element and a quieter existence made this a good move.

Their tea shop is like no other.  Over 450 tea blends.  Every Tea accessory ever manufactured and then upstairs on the roof level is a secret garden.  


The garden is lush and beautiful.   Probably 30 tables with colorfully pillowed chairs sit among the honeysuckle and climbing hydrangeas...every table placed in a spot where Alice in Wonderland may take tea.  

They serve a wide variety of pie (quiche), wines, tea and even some French microbrews.

There are white Christmas lights and little fairy ornaments hanging from the trees.   This must be cool at night.   Don said he had a full house at lunch.  People come from all over to try his pie and enjoy their garden. 


If we spoke french we probably could have read the sign inviting us to this magical place but alas. We were happily surprised and captivated.


Don is an executive turned innkeeper.  He said he used to travel to Boston frequently in his other life.   Says he was usually there in the snowy months and has no desire to go back.  


I want to ask what his other life was?  Fashion model, perhaps?  Swoon.


Our guest room is pink, lacy and done in miniatures.

Marks 6 foot self dangles off the 5 foot pink bed.  

It's cute. A little like living in a comic strip.

 Complete with shuttered windows that open into the room and look out onto a courtyard of common living space for the 5 guest rooms.  The courtyard is decorated in varieties of old watering cans and gardening tools with cast iron patio furniture and cushions of yellow. Orange and green.


Simply gorgeous.


#donteverneedtoleave

Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
2 Comments
Leanne Schmidt
9/24/2015 08:42:53 am

Eloquently described ! It took me there with you! Xo

Reply
Marcy
9/24/2015 08:50:22 am

Maybe Don would prefer the Carolinas?!? Hmmmm.....

Reply



Leave a Reply.


    Archives

    August 2021
    July 2021
    September 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    November 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    May 2017
    December 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    October 2015
    September 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
Picture

Our Bike and Barge Itinerary!

Day 1: Individual arrival in Mantova


Day 2: Mantova, 21 mi. (35 km)


Day 3: Mantova - Governolo - Zelo, 32 mi. (50 km)

Day 4: Zelo - Ferrara - Adria, 31 mi. by bike + 37 mi. by bus (50 + 60 km)

Day 5: Adria - Po Delta Nature Reserve - Pellestrina Island, 25 mi. (40 km)

Day 6: Pellestrina Island - Venice, 19 mi. (30 km)

Day 7: Venice, free day

Day 8: Venice,
​departure following breakfast
Picture
Mantova is one of the most beautiful towns in Northern Italy as many worldwide know artists have left their masterpieces for us to enjoy, thanks to the famous Gonzaga family! Benvenuti a Mantova!
Day 2: Mantova - round trip tour - 21 mi. (35 km)


This entire day is dedicated to the discovery of this wonderful city and its surroundings, dominated by the wealth and influences left by the Gonzaga family, who owned the city for over 400 years.

Mantova was considered one of the most important cultural cities in the Renaissance and it still maintains a lot of the landscapes and the building that made it famous during that period.

​ In the late afternoon, a local guide will lead you through the most known highlights of the town.

Picture
Day 3: Mantova - Governolo - Zelo, 32 mi. (50 km)

After breakfast, on board, you navigate from the "lakes" of Mantova and cruise through the lush wetlands that lead to Governolo Lock, where Mantova's Mincio River flows into the Po.

​ From here, by bike, you follow the broad sweeps of the levee towards Ostiglia, renowned for its medieval fortress and fierce fighting in 1945, as the Allies drove Hitler's forces back.
Bergantino, home of the distinctive Museum of Fairground Rides and its collection of street organs, all expertly restored (and thunderous!).


This village is also in the heartland of Grana Padano, the arch-rival of Parmesan. A visit to the local cheese factory, sampling some well seasoned Grana, is a must-do.

​You meet the barge in Zelo, a sleepy village on the Canal Bianco, the waterway which runs parallel to the Po.
Picture
Picture
Day 4: Zelo - Ferrara - Adria, 31 mi. by bike + 37 mi. by bus (50 km by bike + 60 km by bus)
Following breakfast, you will start cycling towards Ferrara. Once you have reached the town, which earned the name of "city of bicycles", you will be enchanted by the historical center, still surrounded by the old city walls.

​You will enjoy a guided town tour. From Ferrara, a short bus transfer will bring you to Adria, an ancient Greek port, famous for trading amber coming from the Baltic. It's a remarkable museum that also bears witness to its Etruscan, Roman, and Venetian Heritage.
Picture
​Day 5: Adria - Po Delta Nature Reserve - Pellestrina Island, 25 mi. (40 km)
After a short ride on board, you cycle into the delta of the life-giving Po. This unique wetland is the prime reserve in Europe for herons and home to a sizeable colony of flamingos. Weather permitting, as you continue towards Chioggia, you can also enjoy a stop at a beach and a dip in the Adriatic - not forgetting a hot savory piadina! Chioggia is also known as "Little Venice", a colorful fishing hub. The overnight takes place on the island of  Pellestrina, just in front of Chioggia.
Picture
Picture
Day 6: Pellestrina Island - Venice, 19 mi. (30 km)
Venice beckons, but first another world altogether: Pellestrina, the first of two islands you traverse today – a humble and tranquil fishing backwater, picturesque as ever with its cottages, boats, and nets. A short island-hop by ferry transfers to Lido. Fashionable in high society ever since the Belle Époque, the Lido di Venezia is now home to the International Venice Film Festival and its galaxy of stars.

​ After rejoining the barge, you will enjoy a leisure cruise in front of St Mark’s square to the final destination. After dinner, you can savor Venice at night, now free of the crowds and at her most romantic: Benvenuti a Venezia!
Picture
Day 7: Venice, guided walking tour and free time
A guided walking tour of Venice begins around 11 am and lasts approximately 1.5 hours. It begins in St. Mark square and continues towards the bigger "sestiere" of the city, Castello.

You will visit Campo Santa Maria Formosa where you can experience a characteristic market and then a city hospital and large gothic church in Campo dei Santi Giovanni e Paolo. Later, you will go to Campo Santa Marina and to the Rialto Bridge. During this tour, the guide will explain these sites from the outside, no entrances are planned. 
Picture
Picture

I guess I always knew this… but forgot?

As we prepare to leave on vacation the energy in the house is a mix between excitement and dread. You know the anticipation? The expectation ! And all the things you forgot.

I take a breath and lean in to my suitcase. I don’t know why I fret. The few things I pack can be washed and reworn!

If Covid taught us nothing it taught us sweat pants can last a week if handled carefully! Two weeks in Italy requires comfort clothes and something a little stylish… but wait, I live on Cape Cod!

We have completed most of the requisites. The note to the Dog sitter, the walk about with the gardener, the cleaned out refrigerator… but then it dawns on us…
what about the storage on our phones?

​TONIGHT. Tonight we will be deleting everything. Sorry, but it’s true.
Picture