Our Own Amazing Race

Chris and I applied to be on "The Amazing Race" this past spring. If we got on, we were going to do the race instead of Ironman France. I think part of the reason we were both so slow to start training for IM France this year was because we were so sure we would get on.

Sadly, we were not cast. (Loss to The Amazing Race!) Accordingly, we decided to treat our post-Ironman travels as our own Amazing Race, complete with matching travel backpacks (no matching outfits, however).

We made a few blunders that might have cost us the race along the way (wrong directions on highways, missed turns), but we had a fabulous trip.

ST. MAXIME, FRANCE

St. Maxime is a little town about 10 kilometers from St. Tropez, in the South of France.

I arrived in St. Maxime a week prior to Ironman France, where Chris and our friend Phil had been for the prior two weeks, training and acclimating to the course.

My week in St. Maxime was far from restful, as getting ready for an Ironman event is not stress-free, however the town was lovely and a great place to start my European adventure.

Phil had arranged for the rental of a home in St. Maxime that was located up on a hill, which had a wonderful panoramic view of the coastline and the surrounding hills. It was a quiet, private retreat.

My first evening in St. Maxime, Phil and Chris made me dinner and Chris and I headed to town afterwards to start our gelato tasting (which went on for almost every day of my three weeks in Europe).

The night life in St. Maxime was off the charts. The town was buzzing with locals and tourists, all out for very late dinners and socializing. It was a beautiful little town. We made our way to the town center many times during my five days in St. Maxime, to watch the locals playing the French version of bocci ball, to sample additional gelato locations and to enjoy the local restaurants.

We adventured into St. Tropez as well, on our bikes. The yachts in St. Tropez were larger than any I had ever seen and were everywhere. (I thought they were large until I saw a monstrosity of a yacht later in our trip in Portofino.) It was a good thing we were on our bikes, as it prevented me from shopping in St. Tropez.

Our time spent in St. Maxime was relatively quiet, as we were tapering for our upcoming race. On Friday, we packed up our bags and headed for our Hotel in Nice.

NICE, FRANCE

All my time spent in Nice related to Ironman.

Nice was a loud, large city. There were people everywhere and by the time our race was over, I was itching to get out of town. The day after our race, Chris and I parted ways for a few days from our Ironman travel mates and made our way to Garlenda, Italy, just across the France/Italy border.

GARLENDA, ITALY

The drive to Garlenda was a tough one for me. I was very sad and distraught over my race, but my disappointment did not last long. Our Relais & Chateaux retreat in Garlenda - La Meridiana - was exactly what I needed after the craziness of Nice.

Garlenda is a quiet little town less than 10 kilometers from the Italian Riviera Beach towns of Andora and Alassio.

La Meridiana was tucked away onto a little hillside and was a quiet little retreat in the country. After the drama we had endured earlier in the day trying to ship our bikes home, all we wanted to do was lay by the pool, and a lovely pool it was. It was at the pool that afternoon we had our first introduction to our bartender/host, Franco.

As Chris and I settled into our lounge chairs, books in hand, Franco introduced us to local wines and "salumi" and melon. The cantaloupe in this region of Italy was the best I have ever tasted.

After a relaxing afternoon by the pool, where I reclaimed my tan, we readied for dinner at the hotel. Our dinner was served on the back patio of the resort and was perfectly romantic and lovely. It was during this dinner that we learned Franco is a self-proclaimed Richard Gere look-alike and a total Italian schmoozer. The meal was lovely and a nice change from the heavy pizza and pasta of Nice.

Franco not only recommended another great local wine, but also treated us to some local champagne. By the time we got up from the table, I was a bit tipsy and almost fell over.

The following day, we decided to head to the local beach in Alassio, as recommended by Franco. We both, likely due the serenity of our retreat, expected Alassio to be quaint and quiet. We were in for a surprise when we arrived in town. The beaches were overrun with beach clubs, consisting of hundreds and hundreds of rental umbrellas and beach lounges for sunning and swimming. After treating ourselves to pizza and gelato popsicles for breakfast, we decided our day would be better spent at our retreat, and we returned to our hotel for another lovely day by the pool.

Our quiet time in Garlenda would be the only true downtime of our trip.

The following day we awoke excited for our adventure to Tuscany, and as we had many stops to make along the way, we headed out early.

TUSCANY

Chris found a lovely Tuscan villa that became the highlight of our planned trip, as it was by far to be the nicest accommodations of the trip. We booked a room in a castle and were very much looking forward to our time at Castello di Vicarello in Cinigiano.

However, before we made our way to Tuscany, we had a few stops to make along the way. First up - Portofino. Two of my colleagues had visited Portofino on their respective honeymoons and talked nonstop of the beauty of the town. We decided to stop for breakfast in Portofino, a stop that we did not regret.

Portofino was beautiful - a truly stunning Italian Rivera seaside town. As we drove along the waters edge, making our way to town, the electric blue-green water seemed to call your name. All I wanted to do was jump in. We were treated to a perfect day as we enjoyed breakfast on the local square and walked around town taking photographs. It was in Portofino that I took my favorite photo of the trip, one that will forever remind me not only of the trip, but also of where I grew up, as the photo was of boats.

Sadly, we could not linger in Portofino, as Tuscany was a bit of a drive and we had other planned stops. Of course, everything always takes longer than expected and we scraped some of our plans, but I held fast on Pisa, as I just had to have the super-cheesy touristy photo of me looking like I was holding up the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Pisa was a dirty little town. So much so, we literally drove in, took said touristy photo, and immediately left. I don't think we were in Pisa for more than ten minutes. However, it was pretty entertaining to watch hundreds of people holding their hands just so to look as if they were holding up the tower. It made me burst out laughing. We both, of course, now also have these photos.

After departing Pisa, we made our way to our Castle nestled in the hills of Tuscany.

The Tuscany region reminds me very much of Napa. The similarities struck me the entire time we were in the region.

We didn't have the greatest directions to the castle and at one point we kept driving and driving and driving and hoped we were going the right way. Good thing we were, and we finally stumbled upon our home for the next few days.

The castle was STUNNING. It was perfectly set upon the top of a hill and was incredibly well maintained, with perfectly manicured gardens. Randomly, we were greeted by a young woman who had recently graduated from USC, who was spending some time in Italy working at the castle, as the owners were business associates of her parents. This young woman was the one who delivered some unfortunate news. We were told that there had been a booking error and that the room we had booked had been double booked, but not to worry, we were to stay in another lovely room, at a discount.

I was disappointed, as the room we had chosen was perfect and I had been very much looking forward to our private patio, but one quickly realizes there isn't much you can do. We were shown to our perfectly lovely room, that was quite spacious and was literally the size of my home. But, we were both sad, as it was not where we had been planning to stay. Our replacement room was up above the kitchen and was quite loud in the mornings. The room we had requested was a quiet retreat on the valley side of the castle - quiet and tranquil.

Regardless, we settled in and enjoyed a lovely home-cooked meal by the owner of the castle, Aurora. It was at the castle that I sampled stuffed zucchini flowers for the first time.

Most of the produce used in the kitchen is grown on site. The castle had a wonderful garden, complete with squash, tomatoes, lettuce, carrots, onions - really anything once could need to concoct a fabulous meal. They also had a pen full of ducks, chickens and turkeys.

The castle also had a pen full of six week old puppies, that we were given permission to play with at anytime. We visited the puppies many times while at the Castle. They were too cute to stay away from - that is until they started eating our shoes.

Our arrival in Tuscany was perfectly planned, as the day after our arrival marked the day of the Palio horse race in Siena, and we were planning on going - that is - until we found out that tickets were 350 Euros each. We pondered the ticket price and finally decided to pass, realizing that we could send home a pretty amazing collection of Tuscan wines for the same price. (Good thing too, as it turns out the event was postponed due to rain.)

Instead of partaking in the Palio, we headed to Montalcino to sample the local Brunello's.

We lucked out in Montalcino. We were hungry and we stumbled upon a little cafe that not only had fabulous food, but also presented us with a Sommelier, Stephan, who knew his Brunello's. After engaging in the tasting of a flight of Brunello's over lunch, Stephen spent quite a while with us educating us about Brunello wine. We ended up shipping 12 bottles home, which we cannot wait to delve into in about 5 to 10 years. Our day in Montalcino was one of my favorites of our trip.

After wine tasting, we made our way back to the castle to lounge by one of the pools for a bit before dinner. There was a family from Holland staying at the castle with three little adorable children, who Chris quickly entertained by doing a back flip into the pool. Of course the two little boys were enamoured and spend the next hour trying to do back flips too. It was very entertaining to watch.

After another lovely home-cooked meal, we turned in for the night and planned our adventures in Rome.

Our departure from the castle was frustrating, as we learned that the owner's idea of a "discount" was that our replacement room cost less than the room than we had originally booked. After a discussion of our disappointment of not being able to stay in the room we had booked, the fact that no one had bothered to contact us to let us know of the issue when it was discovered, and the fact that we were awoken each morning at dawn to hustle and bustle of the kitchen, we departed with a discount on our room, yet we were both very frustrated with the owner. As much as I loved their property, I would not go back.

ROME

Our departure from Tuscany marked the beginning of our Rome adventure. In Rome, we would be joining forces again with our Ironman travel mates Phil and Jake, and Phil's girlfriend Thayer, who had all spent the previous few days in Florence.

Our drive from Tuscany to Rome was a long one, without any major stops along the way, as we were anxious to get there and start our tour of Rome.

We were in for a pleasant surprise upon our arrival, as our hotel was GORGEOUS and perfectly located on the top of a hill in a quiet neighborhood, yet near enough to all the sites that we could walk. Our room had not only a bath, but also a shower, and the bed was not two twin beds pushed together to make a king (this was a common occurrence on the trip).

After checking in, we met up with Phil, Thayer and Jake and saw the sites of Rome. We visited the Pantheon, the Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain. After partaking in our daily dose of gelato (we decided no day was complete without gelato, cappuccino and/or caprese salad) we all headed back to our hotel for a little wine and cheese tasting. Afterwards, we all headed to a local restaurant for dinner, which was a bit of a challenge, as the boys had consumed 6 bottles of wines and many beers between them over the course of the afternoon. Having spent dinner with Thayer trying to keep the boys under control, I was looking forward to bed.

We all decided to tour the Vatican the following morning and planned to meet early so we could beeline for the Sistine Chapel before it was overrun with tourists. Beelined we did. We almost ran through the Vatican to make our way to the Sistine Chapel, for which we were rewarded with far less tourists than the usual crowd. What a sight. It was so amazing to see paintings I had studied for months and months as an undergraduate student in person. And, for me, it was just special to be at the Vatican.

Post touring and post lunch, we headed back to our respective hotels for a siesta before touring the Coliseum.

When we met back up, Phil and Jake had dressed in their holiday best to celebrate the 4th of July in Rome, complete with matching blue and white dress shirts with obnoxious red plaid ties. It was a great look - rather entertaining, actually. Surprisingly, not too many gave them odd looks. I am sure they dismissed us as silly Americans.

The Coliseum was a sight, particularly in the moonlight as we made our way back to our hotel our last night in Rome. On our walk back, we found that the local garden that was usually locked and guarded by men holding machine guns was not only open, but the site of an outdoor ballet performance! (Every time we walked by this garden we wondered why it was guarded.) I was sad we had missed it - as it could not have been in a more perfect location and I would have loved to have gone.

The next morning we gathered Phil and Thayer (Jake has sadly had to end his trip and head back to the real world) to head to the Amalfi Coast. They were, like us, enjoying three days in Ravello, before heading off to Greece for the remainder of their trip, when we were to head to Barcelona.

AMALFI COAST

We had heard that about an hour south of Rome lies Italy's Campania region, where the mozzarella buffalo roam, and in particular, a dairy by the name of La Felice.

We were on a buffalo mozzarella mission. We may have gotten lost, but we did indeed stumble upon La Felice and knew we were in for a treat when we discovered that all the locals were buying at least 20 mozzarella balls each. We finally made our way through the queue and bought 14 of our own little balls of heaven, as well as the local buffalo yoghurt. When were we going to be able to find fresh buffalo yoghurt again in the near future?

As we departed we sampled our aloe vera honey yoghurt (we were scared), only to discover that was indeed fabulous.

Mozzarella in hand, we made our way to the Amalfi Coast, which was by far the scariest driving adventure of the entire trip (and I thought Romans had been scary drivers).

The roads to Amalfi were literally built to be one lane, yet two cars managed to squeeze past one another on the narrow roads resting upon the sides of cliffs. It was so scary, I was literally white knuckled as we made our way from the valley, over the coastal range, and back down the other side to the Amalfi Coast. Once you reached the coastal towns, these same roads connected the villages along the coast. It made for an interesting three days.

After dropping Phil and Thayer off at their hotel in Ravello, we made our way to ours only to discover that if we looked out our window, we could see Phil and Thayer's pool, as we were literally on top of their hotel. Too funny.

After settling into our beautiful hotel nestled into the hillside, we met back up with Thayer and Phil and set off to investigate the local town square. The square in Ravello was the place to be. Children gathered to ride their bicycles and play soccer, while parents shared stories over cappuccinos. We made our way up and down the little side streets, looking at all the beautiful pottery and perfume shops, the two clear top sale items of the region.

Our first night in Ravello, we dined at a local restaurant that proved to be an adventure. The owner, "Mama," either loved us or saw euro signs. We ordered, she declared that was not what we wanted and she ordered for us. She ordered twice as much as we had orginally ordered, declaring all the while that we just had to try it. It was quite an evening.

Our time on the Amalfi Coast was spent exploring the local towns, particular Positano. Chris and I made our way into Positano twice - first on our own to explore the local shops and a second time with Phil and Thayer for dinner our last night on the Amalfi Coast. Both adventures to Positano were horrifyingly scary, as we again had to travel along the single laned cliff-side roads that the Italian's viewed as double-laned highways. Chris and beep beep got us there safely each time. (Beep peep was our Peugeot 207 Trendy Diesel leased car that took us on our adventures. The name "beep beep" was "borrowed" from my dear friend Cheryl who referred to one of her prior cars as "beep beep." The name was appropriate for our little French car.)

One morning we all piled into little beep beep to make our way to the ruins of Pompeii. I had seen a National Geographic program on Pompeii when I was about 10 years old and have wanted to visit the ruins ever since, so this adventure was one I was very much looking forward to.

Pompeii is a ruined and partially buried Roman town-city near modern Naples, in the territory of the comune of Pompei. Pompeii was destroyed, and completely buried, during a catastrophic eruption of the volcano Mount Vesuvius in AD 79.

It was BLAZING hot the day we toured Pompeii, but I didn't care. Each turn of the ruins revealed another amazing painting or building waiting to be photographed. I was shocked by how advanced the community had been.

We concluded our Pompeii adventure with lunch at the local restaurant that had so kindly supplied us with superior parking for our Pompeii adventure.

That afternoon we were treated to wine tasting at our hotel - a tasting that featured the hotel's very own wines made from grapes grown in local vineyards. The wines were fabulous and the afternoon was wonderful. We were able to incorporate our buffalo mozzarella into the tasting with local Positano heirloom tomatoes, as well as a local tomato that greatly resembled a roma tomato that was the tastiest tomato I have ever eaten. It was quite a feast. Our wine tasting concluded with a tour of the Hotel's wine cellar.

That evening, as part of our package with the Hotel, we were hosted to a romantic dinner for two on the hotel's incredibly beautiful balcony nestled into the hillside that overlooked the entire Amalfi Coast. It was a stunning evening, and incredibly romantic, as we were the only two dinners. (In fact, we think we were one of three couples in the hotel the entire time we were there.) Our dinner that evening proved to be our most adventuresome of the entire trip.

The tasting menu featured items we would not normally eat - sardines and octopus. However, recognizing a local menu, we decided to partake in the tasting menu and set off for a culinary adventure.

The entire meal reminded me of various food challenges on the Amazing Race, but we took it in stride. We tried to ignore the fact that the tenticles of the local octopus were sticking to our teeth. While texturally challenging, the octopus was actually rather tasty. Regardless, it was a wonderful evening, topped off with yet more of the hotel's wonderful wines.

For our final day on the Amalfi Coast, we did some last minute shopping and enjoyed the day with Phil and Thayer before we headed off in separate directions - us to Barcelona to watch the tour and they to Greece to enjoy a final week before heading back home. It was a lovely, relaxing day, topped off with dinner at Chez Black on the beach in Positano.

Post dinner we headed back to our respective hotels to ready for another travel day. I grew excited as Barcelona meant the Tour de France.

The following morning Chris and I headed out early for Rome, where we returned beep beep and jumped on a flight to Barcelona.

BARCELONA, SPAIN

Barcelona was a bit of an afterthought. We knew we wanted to catch the Tour de France, and after sitting down with a map and realizing the first mountain climb of the race was just outside of Barcelona, we decided spend our final days of traveling together catching the Tour in and around Barcelona.

Of course Barcelona was my favorite City of the entire trip.

Barcelona is beautiful. The people were wonderful, the food was fabulous, the architecture was spectacular and the company was perfect. Our hotel was my favorite hotel of our entire journey. It was a boutique hotel located in the heart of the Gothic District and it could not have been more perfect. We had a beautiful suite, with not one but TWO flat screened televisions, which featured Versus in English (a necessity for watching the Tour coverage). The breakfast buffet was off the charts. Hotel Neri. A must in Barcelona.

The day of our arrival we spent the afternoon walking around the alleyways of the Gothic District. It was wonderful. I never knew where I was going, but around every corner there was another wonderful boutique or little shop or restaurant or whatever it was I didn't know I was looking for until it was discovered. I loved every minute of it.

My favorite dining experience of the entire trip took place that same night. A fellow foodie attorney I know informed me that we just had to go to Cal Pep, as it remains the single favorite dining experience of his life. As that was quite a statement, it was first on our list.

We had been forewarned that the restaurant seats very few, and that the locals start to line up about an hour before it opens to secure a spot at the bar. We made our way to the restaurant about 30 minutes before it opened and we could not have been any luckier. It opened early the moment we arrived and we scored two seats at the first bar seating, directly in the center of the bar. A young waiter took pity on us non-Spanish speaking tourists and took the liberty of ordering for us - thank goodness, as we had a perfect menu. We sampled tomato bread, chickpeas, clams in a delicious garlic broth, the most buttery fish I have ever tasted, tuna tartare and other rediculously delicious dishes along with multiple glasses of wine. It was quite a dinner - and a very special one.

The next day marked something I had been looking forward to the entire trip - watching the Tour de France. The daily Tour stage ended in Barcelona that day and would be starting from Barcelona the following day.

After enjoying a delicious leisurely breakfast, we noticed the weather wasn't looking so great. We hoped it would not rain, as we would be in trouble, as our mode of transportation in Barcelona was a scooter that we had rented to allow us to make our way to the mountains the following day to watch the first mountain stage of the Tour.

We headed out in what little "rain" gear we had and of course, on our way to Mont Juic, it started POURING. To the point I was so drenched I could have been submursed in a pool. When we arrived at the stage finish area, we noticed the few die hard fans were all wearing bright yellow Tour de France ponchos. After learning where we too could obtain one, we beelined over to the merchandise area to purchase our own super flattering yellow rain ponchos. Let me tell you, we were looking hot with our ponchos and our scooter helmets, in the rain.

The rain was horrible. It was a true monsoon. Even with our ponchos, we were soaked to the bone, so much so we were shivering with chattering teeth.

We didn't have much better luck the following day when we headed out to watch the first mountain stage on our scooter. Of course it rained. Of course.

However, rain or no rain, it was amazing to see the Tour in action. In the past I have not been the biggest Lance Armstrong fan, but this year I was a huge fan. I wanted him to win so badly and I yelled as loud as I could as they flew past us somewhere outside of Barcelona.

My last night in Barcelona we enjoyed one last meal before heading back to the hotel to pack. I was very sad, as I knew it would be an additional few weeks before Chris returned home, but I was also excited to sleep in my own bed, as living out of a backpack for three weeks had started to wear on me.

As I headed to the airport the next morning I was shocked to see how many people were still out partying at 4:30 in the morning. My 27 hour travel day was just starting, yet they had not yet ended their prior day!

MARIN COUNTY, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES

I cannot tell you how wonderful it was to walk into my home after 27 hours of traveling and to crawl into my own bed.

Too bad I now am in need of another vacation.