Le due sorelle Murphy in Italia!

On our hike from Monterosso to Vernazza, overlooking Vernazza.
It was a HOT day!

Lauren and I are absolute nuts when we are together. And we love it! She took her “two weeks” of vacation for the year and spent them with me in Italy (I know, tough decision). We had entirely too much fun! We ate the most amazing and fresh food, experienced traditional Italian family life, tasted some of the best wine of our life, visited beach towns, lake resorts and wineries and learned a lot about Italian agriculture.  What was most special about this trip was that we only had each other and we spent every waking (and technically sleeping) moment together. We did everything together from harvesting tomatoes, to hiking, to washing dishes (and we did a lot of dishes). We were fortunate to be able to spend some vacation time in some beautiful places taking in all the touristy requirements, and also had a lot of down time to just enjoy each other and talk, a real treat for us. We spent an entire afternoon under the hazelnut trees just catching up on our lives for the past year. It was beautiful. We loved it. And surprisingly we were both “ready” to continue on our own after the two weeks were over. We were satisfied for this trip and knew we could look forward to seeing each other again for Thanksgiving (just 2 ½ months away). Here are a few of the highlights…

In Vernazza

We started the trip in the Cinque Terre (5 lands) on the Ligurian coast. Loving the water, the sunsets and the hiking we also indulged in some delicious pesto, limoncino and seafood.

Lauren is squeezing the hiney!

All the other kids were jumping off the rocks so I wanted to too!
It was awesome! This is in Vernazza.

I made it my mission to swim in as many of the 5 Cinque Terre
villages as possible. I swam in all of them except for Corniglia.

Sat and watched the sunset fall over Manarola with a bottle of
white wine and my sister. Nothing could be more perfect!

Happy girls

Sunset in Corniglia

Beautiful Cinque Terre

Our next stop was in Rivalta (near La Morra in the Alba province, just north of Barolo) to work on the Azienda Agricola L'Amaranto. A family farm who produces beautiful organic vegetables and baked goods (mostly gluten-free). We had a few afternoons off so we explored the area by doing wine tours and tastings, visiting nearby towns (Alba, Bra, Saluzzo, Barolo, Montforte d'Alba, La Mora).

In front of vines...yummy red grapes = delicious vino!

Sunset on the farm

Winery/Vineyard tour and tasting at Roberto Voerizo Winery

Barolo barriques

Barolo is one of the most well known red wines
produced in Italy. Lauren and I enjoyed two
wonderful tours and tasted some of the best
wines of our lives! These bottles are from
the Sandrone Winery in Barolo.

Overlooking the Barolo vineyards

Took a day trip to a local town called Saluzzo

Had a great day in Saluzzo

After a wonderful week on the farm, we took a train to Lake Como and spent a day riding the boat up and down the lake, visiting Varenna and Bellagio. 

Boats are constantly taking tourists all over the lake.

On the boat, the city of Como is in the background

This is where Lake Como splits

Pathway in Varenna

View from Belliagio

Lauren being silly. Love it!

Ended our day in Milano at the Duomo.

Lauren's knee was hurting from all the bending over to harvest veggies at the farm so I was elected to carry the suitcases up and down the stairs at the train stations. Good workout. Also a guarantee that my pici pasta, vino and other items made it home!

The two weeks flew by. We had a wonderful time and can't wait for Thanksgiving this year! Italian - Murphy - Goldsmith- Fusion 2011!!