ADVENTURES, CHALLENGES, AND INSIGHTS OF A COUPLE IN EARLY RETIREMENT
Every year we make a pilgrimage to Nice, France to pick up our residency cards. This year we decided to take a car from there and drive through the south and middle of France to get to Bordeaux. On the way, we made a number of stops and our first stop was Chateauneuf-du-Pape the premier wine region of Cote du Rhone.
Sure, Naples can lay claim to pizza and every region of Italy has something special to offer the palette. But I contend that the Emilia-Romagna region and its capital, Bologna, have a legitimate claim to being called the Food Capital of Italy.
Our first trip to Florence years ago wasn’t that good, so we decided to visit again and see if we could have a better experience. Since we were one hour by train from Florence, we decided to spend two nights so we wouldn’t have to rush the churches and museums.
As our visit to Bologna was cut short two years ago, we didn’t have time to see some of the attractions nearby that we really wanted to. But this time, we prioritized visits to the Ferrari and Lamborghini factories near Modena as well as a visit to a balsamic vinegar facility.
Our trip to Romania included a few days in Cluj in Transylvania. Several things prompted our current visit to Cluj: First, to show Mike my great grandfather’s grave in a small town close to Cluj called Dej. Second, I wanted to visit several UNESCO-fortified towns in the area of Cluj.
