On The Road Again (A Lot)

Roma has been excellent these past couple of weeks. The blistering heat that lasted from late June into late August has begun to break. It has only been in the mid-80s for the past several days. The crowds have come back too and - now that it's a little cooler - the energy and buzz they bring is welcome.  The late summer city has been nice.

Grattachecca: a traditional Roman (not Italian) shaved ice.  This is different than the much more common granite.  

The oculus of the Pantheon

But it's time for more travel. I head up north this week to a region of Italy I have never visited: Piemonte. The truth is that - other than a couple of days in Venice with Oomps back in 1999 - I haven't spent any time in the north. I'm looking forward to it.

I am on the train right now to Torino (Turin). Torino is the biggest city in Piemonte by far, and it has lots of history. Torino was Italy's first capital after unification. It is allegedly much more elegant than the south, and is supposed to feel a little like Vienna or Paris. We shall see. After 2.5 days in Torino, I will drive east and go explore the Monferrato area - one of Piemonte's wine regions. A good friend and California wine grower has connected me to a couple of wineries in Monferrato, so I hope to visit them on Thursday and Friday.

After this excursion, I'll be back in Roma for a week. Then comes one of this year's longer trips. Twelve days with a California pal in Marseille, Barcelona, and Cinque Terre. This should be awesome. Everyone always raves about Barcelona, and that will be my first time in Spain. And Marseille has been in the press a ton this past year. This southern France port city is one of 2013's two European Capitals of Culture. All the travel mags have been featuring it this year, and the NYT just ran this piece over the weekend: travel.nytimes.com/2013/09/08/travel/marseille-polishes-its-image.html?pagewanted=all

Pulling into Torino now. Ciao!