Our time at Masseria La Selva has come to an end… For seven glorious days, two dozen of us lived together in an 18th century farmhouse and roamed the southern Italian countryside in a jovial pack, learning how to make pasta, tomato sauce, bread, wine and cheese (what else do you need???), exploring caves painted with Byzantine frescoes, sampling gelato in ancient hill towns, finding shards of pottery dating back 2500 years, tasting olive oil in groves tended lovingly by generations of proud Puglians, watching the swallows swoop between the trees at dawn and dusk, singing and eating together in happy kitchens and under warm night skies filled with shining stars. Thanks to my amazing sister Julie Marr and her Kitchen Culinaire partner Sarolta Dobi for inviting us all to Cook Eat Learn and Share a most delicious taste of Italy’s sweet life…

En route from Roma to Altamura… The best part of any road trip is discovering weird regional snacks along the way. FONZIES?!?!?!

The big lesson learned on our last day in Rome: Take that nap! Leaving later means you’ll get to see the Angelica Library (opened in 1609 and still going strong!), gaze at the beautiful Caravaggio in Sant’Agostino, pick up a few lovely pencils and notebooks at Ditta G. Poggi, and eat the best salad of your life in the little restaurant in the little square in front of the little church called Santa Barbara die Librari. Go with the flow… Go slow… The universe will reward you…

Usually our travels revolve around teaching. This trip is all about learning.

Instead of heading back to VanTech with the rest of the kids, our nephew Max is taking his ninth grade year off to explore the world… We’re not sure whether to call it Home Schooling, Unschooling, School of Life, the Grand Tour or just a plain old good time but we’re excited to see where it all leads.

Our dear friend Sheryl is a talented artist with a passion for Renaissance painters. This is her very first trip abroad. All of us are new to dealing with the often frustrating issues and surprise perks of mobility-challenged travel: How the heck do we get up those stairs? Hey! We get to go to the front of every line! No access?!?! Free admission! Experiencing the world from this new viewpoint is a humbling lesson in strength, faith, patience and perseverance.

There never really was a question of where to go first… Max loves history. Sheryl loves art. All roads lead to Rome. And the magic of Rome leads us to discover the wonders of the past and the beauty of the moment one ancient, bumpy cobblestone at a time…

Oh, the beautiful doors of Rome!

We are ready for the Roman experience!

A new journey begins… Goodbye rainy Vancouver; Paolo, Lisa, Max and Sheryl are bound for sunny Italia!