Europe Part 3- Italy

Time flies...I've been meaning to post the final leg of our trip to Europe for awhile but all of a sudden it's May!

Soooo...after all the fun and skiing we had with Megan & Justin in Serre Chevaliere we decided to change it up a bit and head east to Italy. We were looking for somewhere to go biking and wine tasting on a budget. Piedmont was our huckleberry!

We ventured into a town called Alba and found ourselves on more cobblestone streets in between buildings and shops. It was apparent the weather had changed as we were now instantly in spring time! Blossoms, rolling green hills, and vineyards everywhere! Wisely we stepped into a tourist office and inquired about renting bikes and where to go for the next three days. Wow, we were in luck!

It was still early wine drinking season in Italy so we were luckily finding vacancies at Bed & Breakfasts along with once again no one to compete with for any activity. We stayed at a great B&B in a town called Barolo.
The owner of the B&B, Rapheala, had spent a majority of her life renovating a two story farmhouse into her dream business. A wonderful homemade breakfast awaited us every morning before we headed out on our bikes. We had one main biking day and road from village to village, winery to winery, castle to castle, enjoying the lush spring countryside while tasting our way literally around the Piedmont region. It was exactly like what I would have envisioned Italy to be. The "civilized" history trounces anything we have in the States. It felt like we had jumped into a story book.

We said farewell to Megan & Justin, then our group of four crowded into a little car and headed North to Torino for our final stop before heading back to Idaho. It was unanimous that we all liked Torino! More cobblestone streets, fun shopping, eating, and sight seeing. Zach and I managed to squeeze into their amazing Egyptian museum. Apparently before WWII the Italians did major excavation (looting) of burial grounds in Egypt so they have the best collection of artifacts next to Cairo. And of course we made sure to eat some gellatto before leaving :)

Delicious food, wine, sites, and people! We LOVED Italy and our time in Europe! We feel so lucky to have gone on this adventure! Thanks to everyone who helped in making this dream a reality!