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Sunday was our first full day at the Farm and the family plans an orientation from 9:30am – 11:00am to give you an overview of the area and also walk through all of the activities available for you to explore during your week visit.

When you arrive, there is an itinerary called ‘A week with Isabella Daily Options’ – along with a thick 3-ring binder with detailed explanations for everything for you to explore in the surrounding area. From hikes, to restaurants, to towns. You really don’t need to plan a THING before you get here because they go to great lengths to offer you amazing options.

During the orientation you are encouraged to really saturate yourself in the surrounding area verses trying to make yourself tired with all kinds of long day trips where you leave the area. We are staying in the ‘Val D’Orcia’ which is really what you think of when you think of Tuscany. All of the picturesque rolling hills, eucalyptus trees, and hill towns are as far as the eye can see. It is truly breathtaking.

We really enjoyed Isabella’s orientation and tips on how to be a good guest in Italy and really appreciate the culture and what Italians in this area have preserved for over 1,000 years. For example, if you buy property in the area – it is very controlled, everything is decided for you – what materials you can use to renovate, what colors, etc. They have strict laws on no pools or fences – which preserves the landscape. You have freedoms in Italy as long as it doesn’t infringe on others freedoms. If what you want to do with the property changes the ‘view’ of another, then you are not allowed to make that change.

After we signed up for just about everything we headed back to our little house. I was so tired, I needed to lay down. I had a BRILLIANT idea to have espresso after dinner the night before because I thought the cups looked so cute and all of the Italians seemed to be doing it. Well, I payed the price with about a 2 hour night of sleep. Yikes.

Dana decided to take the car to the local co-op to get groceries for our lunch and allow me to rest for a bit. She returned with fresh made pasta and sauce, and a few other things we needed for the mornings. While she prepared the pasta, I went to the garden and picked the fresh veggies for our salad. We have the tiniest little cupboard that is or ‘kitchen’ – it has as sink and a stove and all of the supplies we need and somehow – it works!

Our lunch we absolutely delicious and we enjoyed it with some complimentary wine the family produces that they included as part of our welcome. As it was Sunday, after our late lunch – we finished around 3pm, it was time for another nap. I will MISS these Sundays when I get home. LOL.

I did try to sleep – but still couldn’t relax, so I got up and wrote another blog. That usually helps me – to get all of the thoughts out of my head out and recorded.

We had them makes us dinner reservations at a place that had the same name as one of my favorite places in Florence. Soon it was time to get ready and go and we were on our way. We had 8pm dinner reservations and gave ourselves about 45 minutes ahead of our reservation to walk around the the little hill town of Montefollonico.

We arrived at the perfect time of day when the sun is setting and hitting the buildings with the softest light. You feel like you could point your camera anywhere and take a great photo. You don’t have to be a good photographer in Italy, really. Most everything you are looking at feels like beauty at its finest, so you just point and shoot and voila, you have an amazing photo.

We arrived at the restaurant at 8pm, sat down and looked at each other and realized we weren’t hungry! We started laughing thinking why are we here, we were still full from lunch. And yet still, we stayed and ordered dinner and a glass of wine each.

We are constantly amazed at just how good the wine is here and how cheap an amazing glass is – about 5 Euro. We ordered salads and Dana had a bowl of Tuscan soup (which she couldn’t stop raving about, she said it had layer upon layer of flavors). I had their house speciality which is a pasta that they finish at the table in front of you in a gigantic pecorino cheese wheel that they have made into a big bowl – so that they can really coat your pasta in cheese.

When they brought it to me I said, ‘Wow, I basically just ordered a fancy mac and cheese.’ But it looked delicious so I ate it and we somehow finished our dinners. Still, we were so full and decided we needed to do SOME form of exercise when we got back – like wind sprints in the front yard. Not really, but we needed to do something!

We ended up taking our flashlights and went on about a 30 minute walk out on the property under the pitch black sky. You could see so many stars it was amazing. We only decided to turn back when we heard a ‘rustling’ in the bushes. That was enough to get our cardio up all the way home and we were done for the night. We had signed up for a 6:30am 7 kilometer hike with Carlo the next morning, it was time to get to bed.

 

For the last 2 years I had wanted to come to this farm house run by a family that accepts different visitors in different specialized rooms within the farm house. I read that it is quite an exeperience to stay with this family for a week and have them recommend all the best to you in the area and help you with anything you need. They also recommend that you stay at least a week (they don’t accept reservations for less in the summer), and for this reservation I had to commit to 8 nights.

It can be a gamble because if you get there and it is a ‘bust’ you are stuck for 8 nights. On the other hand I had read so many ‘if you can do this once in your life, you must’ reviews and also many people said they return annually. It felt like a good decision to just rest somewhere for 8 days and see what happens. No stressful travel days, no packing and unpacking….so we decided yes back in March and booked the stay.

As we approached the property, we couldn’t have been more thrilled. It was everything we hoped for and more! We were greeted by Isabella who escorted us to our room. The ‘old chicken house’ – which doesn’t look anything like a chicken house and was prepared with everything we would need to be comfortable upon arrival.

Only one thing was missing, I had asked for it to be prepared with two beds and it looked like one big bed. No problem, two ladies came in and switched out all of the sheets and bedding happily. These beds and pillows also looked like such quality (compared to our last hotel where the pillows were flatter than pancakes and the sheets felt itchy).

After we got settled, Isabella made us a dinner reservation in town. We were delighted with her selection at a place 10 minutes away in a small little hill town. We dined outside again were pinching ourselves to be in this part of Italy with a whole week ahead of us in our little farm house.

After 3 nights in Stresa on Lake Maggiore, it was time for us to journey to Tuscany where we would be staying at a Tuscan farm house near Pienza for a week.

The travel included a train ride from Stresa to Milan, change  of trains in Milan and then speed train to Florence, where we would pick up our rental car to drive to Tuscany.

Our first train from Stresa was at 9:40am, but we ended up sitting there on the train in Stresa for over an hour as there was ‘an accident involving a person’ that had to be investigated. We were sad for what happened but also going a little nuts as the man assigned to one of the 4 seats in or little section must not have had a shower in a week. When you are stuck on a hot non-moving train and smelling in really bad body odor, it makes an hour seem endless and I was literally gagging and coughing at one point. It was so odd too because he was a really good looking young man from Geneva who was super polite and brought us water and chocolate that the train station was giving away because of the delay.

Another challenge of the delay was that we would miss our connection in Florence and need to take another train. There are pretty much trains going from Milan to Florence every hour, but unfortunately, the next 3 trains after the one we were missing were already sold out in 2nd Class. I could only trade my ticket for another 2nd Class ticket and the next available train would put us into Florence to late to pick up our rental car. What to do? I end up buying business class tickets for us on a 2:20pm train – the next available train – at a cost of $175! It’s these decisions you make when traveling that can make or break the connections you need to make, so you need to just fork over the money as you can’t always depend on public transportation to be on time. Especially in the summer with the crowds.

As it turns out, when we got to Milan, the conductor said ‘oh no problem, you can go on the next train at 12:20pm even though it is sold out, just go to train car #5.’ That turned out to be a luxurious dining train car with all leather reclining seats and just a few people sitting there. Versus the 2nd class cabins that were packed like cattle. What a break!

Except that…we now had non-refundable $175 train tickets for a train we were never going to need to board! Ugh. We decided to at least try to get a refund when we get to the Florence train station. I wait for 35 minutes in the customer service line at the train station in Florence which felt like a sauna and was packed. Also it is known for pick-pocketing and begging from tourists. Dana stood against a wall and watched several shady things go down, while giving the death stare to anyone approaching her while I waited in the line.

When I got to the front of the line, I explained my ‘situation’ to the customer service rep. He said, ‘this is a shame.’ He went away, came back, went away, came back (I’m melting in the heat while I wait). Then he comes back with paperwork and says ‘We need to fill this out.’ I’m not even sure if I am getting a refund, but it seems I am making progress. I fill out the paperwork, write out what happened. He stamps it and says, ‘Okay, you will get your refund back on your credit card.’ YAY! This must be the trip of refunds.

We then proceed to get a taxi to the rental car place. The lady taxi driver asks us where we will be driving. I say ‘Tuscany.’ She says, ‘You are IN Tuscany, this whole region is Tuscany.’ LOL. I guess it is like someone arriving in Los Angeles and renting a car and saying, I am driving to California. LOL!! Touché.

We get to the Hertz rental car place and our met by the friendliest rental car rep I have ever met at a Hertz counter. She says, ‘We have upgraded you to an Alpha Romero, brand new.’ Wow. Yay.

We then ask about a bathroom for Dana. She says, ‘We do have bathroom, but it is not suitable for the ladies, if you know what I mean. For a suitable bathroom, you must go to a bar.’ I was all, ‘A bar?’ She says, ‘Yes, a bar.’

So Dana heads to the bathroom at the bar while I figure out the car and our directions. She comes back to our car with cold waters and cookies for the 2 hour drive and says the bar bathroom was indeed perfect.

With that we are off on our driving journey to the Tuscan Farm House near Pienza.

When I think of the most breathtaking hikes of my life – 3 locations come to mind, the Cinque Terre on the Italian Riviera Coast, the Napali Coast on the Island of Kauai, and a hike in the forest area off of Hood River, Oregon. I now have a new jaw-dropping hike to add to the list – the one we embarked on Friday morning from Verbania to Mergozzo.

We had two options this morning – the more touristy option to take a ferry to Isola Bella – to go to an another island and tour the Borromeo (well known power Italian dynasty family) Estate and gardens, etc. Or to take an off the beaten path hike. We both agreed we wanted to do the hike. Half because we are eating so much (carbs galore) and wanted the exercise, and half because we wanted to do something less touristy. Although I must say, Stresa on Lake Maggiore is a town with more European tourists than any other kind. It seems to be a vacation destination for Europeans. Being on a lake, there is no access to Cruise ships so you don’t have the ship loads of people dropped off into town in the morning that you have on the coastal towns. This is very refreshing.

Dana had researched some options before we left (once again – I am so grateful for her advanced research on these details that I didn’t have time for before we left). She found us a hike that was just 2 stops away (about a 10 minute train ride and 1.90 Euro each). It’s amazing what you can find on the internet from generous travelers that share there experiences on blogs, etc.

We were at breakfast by 7am this morning so that we could catch a 7:40am train and get an early start. Not having to ‘get ready’ helped – it was like going to the gym first thing. Hair in a pony and workout clothes on and you are out the door. With temps in the mid-80’s with high humidity mid-day – we knew an early start would be important for us to make this hike enjoyable. While the blogger had said this was a moderate 2 hour hike. You never know how ‘fit’ the person writing is – especially when they are Italian and you see Italian grandmas scaling mountainsides in flat sandals with little effort.

We arrived at the Verbania train station before 8am and followed the directions of the blogger to get to the start of the hike. The beginning was basically a 25 minute uphill hike on a switchback asphalt road with lots of stops for breaks before you get to the first little charming Hamlet town of Montorfano. Along the way we stopped at an old small cemetery, impressed that so many old graves are still paid respects to with beautiful flowers planted and cared for there. We also enjoyed nature growing off of the side of the road that you typically don’t see on hikes in So CA – blackberry bushes everywhere, etc. After you reach Montorfano, you begin the most beautiful part of the hike that hugs the Lake Mergozzo edge and ends in the center of the town of Mergozzo. Along the way we passed so many beautiful scenes – rows of cornfields, stacked wood that looked like art, a ‘mini stonehedge’ side of the road marker set-up with granite.

Throughout the shaded hike in the woods with views of the lakes and little waterfalls, we did not see but one other person on the entire hike. An older gentleman walking his dog. This was unheard of, to be enjoying so much beauty and have it all to ourselves. When I mentioned my other top hikes at the beginning of this blog – this was enjoyable at a different level and I will now add to my top 5 because to have such beauty and to feel like you were the only two on the road less traveled was priceless.

We also ran into an old farmer and his helper along the way that tried to help us with directions. They both spoke no English – so that was fun. One look at Dana and he asked ‘Deutschland?’ – he thought maybe we were German. Okay, okay, I know it wasn’t me, but Dana that was giving that impression. Regardless, the communication was fun and friendly and he asked if we wanted to go to the town of the ‘Discotheque’ while he made dancing motions. We were like, no grandpa, no discotheque, for us, we are trying to get to Mergozzo. Then he was saying ‘Man and Woman’ with a thick accent. Like he was a man and we were women. Wasn’t sure if he was suggesting something or just taking the opportunity to practice his 10 words of English. We just laughed and went on our way – he really seemed harmless. He also wanted to make sure we had enough water, which was really nice.

When we finally landed in Mergozzo, we stopped lakeside for cappuccinos as it was still too early for lunch. We then walked around the little town to see locals lake side at a small park enjoying the day with their families. It was nice to see multi-generational groups all picnicking together and enjoying the beautiful summer day. We then headed back to our original lake-front spot to enjoy a delicious lunch of wine, pasta, and pizza (with lots of water to stay hydrated). It was breathtaking to sit at the waters edge, hear the lapping of the lake against the shore and look at the scene of the town on the water’s edge. Another ‘pinch me I must be dreaming’ moment of the trip.

Another great aspect of this hike was, we didn’t have to hike back the way we came. We could just take the train back. We found the Tobacco shop to buy our train tickets. In Italy a tobacco shop sells everything from tobacco, to lotto tickets, to train and bus tickets, to snacks, to stamps, etc.). You basically feel like you can solve most needs you may have in a tobacco shop.

Soon enough we were back in Stresa and headed back to our room, ready for well-deserved naps! Ironically we both tried to nap but just couldn’t relax. It’s similar to when you are a child and you are tired and your mom wants you to nap, but life is just too exciting outside so you can’t relax. That’s what it feels like to be in Italy and need a nap but you get hit with severe FMO (fear of missing out) and so you lay there for a while thinking about all you could be doing or seeing and just get right back up.

We had a big agenda that afternoon – Laundry and Blogging. See, all so exciting! Well, when you are in Italy…yes, it is ALL exciting and all an adventure.

As a funny post script to this day. While Dana was graciously doing our laundry so I could blog at local cafe, she caught a glimpse of the boat back from Isola Bella (the other option for the day that we didn’t take to see the Borromeo Estate. I laughed when I saw the photo as it looked so crowded and unappealing, we had definitely made the right choice for the day.

So Thursday night we were ready for a new place to try for dinner. Feeling like Dana has done so much good research for our trip, I offered to find us a place for dinner. I looked on Trip Advisor at the top restaurants in the area, really not knowing what to expect. #1 was closed on Thursdays, and #2 didn’t look appealing, so we went with #3.

I called down to the front desk and asked them to get us a reservation. He said, well, that place is often booked full and they have two seatings. It is too late for the first seating, do we want the 9:30pm seating? Since it stays light so late, we thought, sure, why not. It was already 8pm anyway and we weren’t tired since we had a rest day.

Dana was getting dressed up in a dress and I just was dragging my feet wanting to get dressed up – as it was still so hot. But then the front desk called back and said – I got you in and your private boat will be coming to pick you up in 30 minutes. You need to walk down to the dock, can you be ready down here in 15 minutes? I hear ‘private boat’ escorting us to an island and realize, I MUST change. So I do, and then we walk down to the boat dock and wait for our driver wondering, how much is this dinner going to cost us? So far, food has been so cheap in Italy, we figure, well, maybe this will be our ‘birthday dinner’ and we will splurge.

Not quite sure how to describe how the rest of the evening transpired except to say it was ‘magical’ – from the after sunset boat ride to the island, to the setting of the restaurant, to the views, to the view, to the service. It was another ‘Be Our Guest’ moment (on steroids) for both of us. We were giddy and thrilled to have that boat ride and that 3 hour dinner in a fabulous setting and once again grateful for the opportunity to be here, to be almost 50, and have these unforgettable moments in Italy.

After several days of being on the move, including the flight  over, we were both ready to sleep in and not have an agenda. I ended up missing breakfast (they serve until 10am), so Dana was kind enough to head out around the little town with me once I was ready and have a few more cappuccinos. 🙂

We found a cute little place and people watched for a bit. Dana was ready for a pool day at the fancy adjacent hotel that we had access to use, and I was ready to start blogging. I know if I get too far behind, I will never catch up!

Getting to blogging was so much drama. Trying to find wi-fi in this little town that didn’t keep crashing seemed almost impossible. I almost missed the days when you could ask for an Internet cafe and be assured of dependable wifi. Nowadays, all of the hotels and public spots offer ‘free wifi’ but depending on how many people are using the network, it can be so slow it is not worth the effort. Our hotel’s wifi, for example, is horrible…it works great between about 2pm-4pm, but that is about it.

I finally found a spot at a nearby restaurant bar that let me order minimal food and start blogging. Cheers to ‘Paulon Di Vino Caffe’ – Yelp review coming right up! I felt the release I always feel when I blog, so happy to process and get it all out before I forget. And Dana, she was happy as could be poolside next door. It was a great day and afternoon!

 

So after all of the thrills of Alpyland and not getting back to the hotel until around 7:00pm, we decided to find the town grocery store and possibly just pick up ‘snacks’ to eat on our balcony and watch the sunset in the comfort of our room. The store closed at 7:30pm so we had to hustle.

Our main goal was getting ‘big waters’ for the room as we had been paying 2 Euro a pop for the little water bottles. We found the big liter water bottles thinking they were 1 euro per bottle, such a deal! Only to find out the next day, they were only actually .19 cents per bottle. What? How can we be in a country where great wine is 4 Euro a glass and a liter of water is about 20 cents? Italy is truly a marvel.

Anyway, we get to the store and Dana finds some ‘to go’ salads. We then try to roam around and find salami and cheese. I suggest we forgo the pressed salami meats in the cold section and buy some of the good stuff in the back. The only challenge is they won’t slice the salami for you. That was fun to try to slice back in the room with a table knife. I feel lucky to still have all of my fingers. I pick out a local salami and cheese to go and then Dana says, ‘Hey, should we grab a bottle of wine?’ Sure, why not? We peruse the wines and NOTHING looks familiar. We could go with a 5 Euro Chianti or a 22 Euro with all kinds of awards on it. We figured, we had a cheap dinner tonight so lets splurge on the wine. Happy with our selections we head back to the hotel to begin our picnic.

The sunset doesn’t set here until like 9pm or something. You can still see light in the sky at 10pm and the sun is up by 5am. It makes for long days and so much opportunity to see and do a lot in the daylight. It was fun to have this evening to relax in the room and eat our picnic.

I start unpacking more of my clothes and Dana opens the wine and goes out on the balcony to read a little bit and sip the wine. After 10 minutes, I ask her ‘how is the wine?’ She says, ‘Oh I don’t know, I’m hoping it grows on me.’ I decide to try it and pour a glass. And oh my! First it comes out like a brownish color – the same color the wine is when you save the bottle way too long and it may just be okay for a cooking wine, but probably not. I taste it and want to spit it out. I say, ‘Hey, it’s not you, I think this fancy bottle we got has been spoiled on the shelves of that hot grocery store.’ We bemoan that we spent so much and a spoiled bottle of wine.

Dana is not going to let the evening be ruined. She goes downstairs to get another bottle. She tells the sad story to the old bartender who she said was very empathetic, not making her feel bad – kind of like ‘hey, we have all been there, but don’t EVER buy wine at a grocery in Italy! The grocery is for grocery. Let me fix this for you and find you something worthy of sipping on tonight!’

He comes through…so now we are 44 Euro in with the wine and I am feeling more and more annoyed at the injustice of the grocery wine fail and wishing/hoping the grocery was like Trader Joe’s where you could just go back and say, ‘Hey, it’s no good.’ And with a smile, they refund your money. I tell Dana, ‘Tomorrow, I will go speak to the manager, we at least have to try.’ She said, ‘Good, good, I will not say a word but stand behind you for tall moral support.’

So the next day, we did go to that store and we found the ‘manager’s’ counter, which kind of looked like it doubled as a tourist office. I said, “Hi, we bought this wine and well, when we poured it, it was brown.” She replied, “Well, OF COURSE, it’s brown, it’s a (ees-a) Barrolo.” I said, thinking how can I say this delicately, ‘Well, it tastes like vinegar, please try it.’ NEVER dreaming she would try it. At Trader Joe’s, you basically just have to say ‘Hey, I actually decided I feel like Chardonnay tonight’ and they say, “Of course, here is your refund!” Not quite, but love me some TJs. So she goes and pulls a mini-Dixie cup and starts pouring the wine.

Our eyes get big and we both start internally doubting our wine tasting abilities for about 2 seconds. It only takes that long for her to taste and say ‘Oh, that’s TERRIBLE!’  While they don’t refund money, she says we can go  pick out another bottle of the same wine. We say, um, we don’t trust that wine anymore. She then says, let me help you and personally walks us over to pick out another great wine of equal value. We both are so relieved and felt a small win – Dana and Lisa =  1, Grocery Store = 1 (giving them a point for being great and acknowledging it was a bad wine!) Giving us a big point for being almost 50 and not afraid to go right wrongs.

One experience Dana wanted to make sure she did again this trip that she had enjoyed when she was here 2 years ago. Was a visit to Alpyland. Which is an alpine slide roller coaster where you are ‘in control.’ As it required taking a ‘cable car’ lift to ascend to the 5,000 mountain – we figured it was also a good day to go as the air would be much cooler than it was down at the lake on this day. It was at least in the low 90’s with high humidity – so you were feeling hot and wanting any relief. This seemed like a great idea.

It only required a 15-minute walk to the cable car lift station. The 15-minute walk felt like an hour walk in the heat and it gives you time to think about what you brought in your suitcase to survive the rest of this heat wave the next 2 weeks. I was recalling every non-cotton top I had packed and thinking, why, why, why?

We finally made it to the cable car station and took the ride up. Halfway up you change cable cars, and then to get to the tippy top where Alpyland is…it requires getting on one last lift, which is basically a 2 man chair lift. In the winter, this is a ski-resort.

Up at Alpyland (I like saying Alpyland), Dana tells the ticket guy, ‘Three rides each please.’ I was thinking, ‘Wow! She really IS into it.’ Couldn’t imagine I’d want three rides, but I trusted her judgement. Here to say the ride did NOT disappoint! It was thrill to whip around on that alpine slide which they said was completely safe at full speed, but still you had to wonder…really?

We did our 3 rides each and couldn’t have been happier to be cool and feel like a kid again on this ride. It did all of the same things to your stomach that Space Mountain does at Disneyland and made you laugh and scream all at once. I’m certain thousands of vacation happy endorphins were released this afternoon all over Alpyland!

We had pre-purchased rail tickets prior to our trip which made travel super easy and guaranteed seating during busy summer travel. The Milano Centrale train station was hopping and definitely has the feel of place where the center of Europe converges and travelers from all over the world pass through.

The train station was hot and we arrived a little early so passed some time in a lavishly air-conditioned Sephora to cool down. We then people watched as we waited for our train to arrive that would take us to Stresa on Lake Maggiore.

It was absolutely fun to people-watch at the train station, busy with the hub-bub of summer travel.

As we waited for our train to make it to the station, we laughed when we heard them announce ‘Stresa’ – realizing this whole time we had been saying ‘Stressa’  – like how we felt prior to leaving. Stresa (stray-sah) had a much better feel to it.

We boarded our train and for only $10 Euro each were in the first class train cabin with tons of room and more reclining seats. You are required to store you luggage above your head on the racks and I am thankful for Dana’s height to get both of our bags above our heads. And I am IMPRESSED that she can lift hers above her head that far – she went with the ‘I am 50 and want more options’ method of packing this trip and is carrying around more than usual. She is up for the task though and willing to carry the best up and down any stair case and over her head at any time. I would never last – but size is all relative right? Our luggage kind of looks like us standing next to each other.

The train ride was only about an hour and a very smooth ride. Soon enough we were in Stresa and easily took a cab to our lakeside room. Although the decor in the room is a little gaudy, we coudn’t be happier with the balcony and views. We are excited to have the next 3 days and nights here!

By now we were ready for a little lunch. Dana had remembered a great place when she was here 2 years ago with her daughter, Megan. It did not disappoint. We enjoyed a most delicious lunch under the shade, completely thrilled with our lunch selections and Chardonnay selection.

Such fresh, local ingredients. The tomatoes were unreal as were all of the flavors together. We were in heaven.  #lunch #winning

Milan was really just a ‘landing’ place for us after our international flight before we headed to our first destination, Lake Maggiore.

Our hotel had a cool downstairs restaurant for dining. We enjoyed our breakfast here, but for the life of us couldn’t eat anyone to bring us our FIRST Italian cappuccino. I decided to ‘yelp’ a good coffee spot. You can’t mess up your first coffee experience in Italy, it might mess up your whole trip! Thank you Yelp, we found a spot just an 8 minute walk away. Couldn’t have asked for a better cappuccino or more patient barista. Dana asked for a ‘latte’ and he said ‘milk only?’ She said, ‘yes’ as in ‘don’t need sugar.’ He said, ‘hot?’ She said, ‘yes.’ So that’s what she got, hot milk. LOL. When he served it up right in front of us sans coffee and she saw my cappucino, she said ‘no, no…that is what I wanted, the cappuccino.’ He was so gracious and quickly disposed of the hot milk drink and we had 2 cappuccinos presented as our ‘firsts’ of the trip. Vacation saved! Ha ha.