The Brandt Blog

(Title trans. Morning Joe in Our Villa) So… after mastering the arts/sciences of home barista-ing back in the ‘Ville, searching out that ‘perfect’ brew whilst out of town can be difficult and discouraging. Even in a caffe-centric culture such as Italy, convenience breeds a contemptible compromise. Hence, the utter disappointment seeing that in our villa […]

Some pics of the Fiume (translated: River) Arno from/with it’s famed crossing. Looking: Upstream, Downstream and Mainstream. Yup – EVERYONE who passes through Firenze takes a pic with the revered Ponte Vecchio as a background. Well, everyone except for the little cold-blooded critter who posed for this pic simply on the GROUND of the Ponte […]

Anne asked me how I can concentrate on riding when the views are so beautiful. I reminded her that it’s SAFETY FIRST and CRASHING HURTS! That said, I must have pulled off the road six times to take pics … and this is just the first ride. That dome in the distance … it is […]

Yes – he packs the bike stand, too. 😊

Enjoying our first morning coffee in Firenze

With a little help from (enthusiastic product endorsement) Ambien, we slept soundly across the Atlantic… transferred with relative ease through Munich and hopped over the Alps en route to Firenze. Our hostess Ginerva greeted this jet-lagged duo with a warm, N95-masked Italian, “Buongiorno” and a plate of meat, cheese and bread, of course. We chatted […]

And so… we’re off. Leaving Hannah with big hugs and toting big bags.

Bonjour, Family and Friends – As promised in the 2nd installment, this final Brandt Travel Log follows our visit to Lyon, France. Ahhh, Lyon. The city where someone is at this moment walking around with Hannah’s iPhone, undoubtedly claimed from the train seat upon which she rode from Bern! Merci,beaux coup Mademoiselle Americane! It was […]

Hello, Friends and Family – As promised, we’re checking in after our second stop of this trip having just departed Bern for Lyon, France. Bern offers up a nice contrast to the sprawling, hyper-commercialized and modern Milan. As the capital of Switzerland and its center of banking, Bern is a very modern city but its […]

Greetings, Family and Friends – We write this whilst in the Alps – having just departed Milan for Bern, Switzerland. Milan isn’t what I’d call a “classic” Italian vacation city (i.e. Rome, Venice, Florence…) but has plenty to see, do and eat. It’s in northern Italy, you know and the Milanese would tell you that […]