Back in December, we both participated in a chorus that sang Charpentier’s Messe de Minuit, a baroque masterpiece. (You can see the recorded concert here.) While doing that, we learned that the couple running the chorus were going to be teachers on a summer trip to Italy. The plan was to sing madrigals in a real Italian castle, while exploring some of the finest wines and cuisine on Earth. Where do we sign up? We booked this trip to Italy long before the Alaska vacation was conceived, which is why it may seem as though we are jetting from one trip to another with only a few token days at home in between. Or perhaps not just seem — that’s exactly what we did!

The contrast between the two trips was interesting. Getting to Alaska took three separate flights. For this trip, we had a direct flight from Boston to Milan. We saw mountains both times, but very different in look and history. Our plane came right over the Alps on its way in. From Milan, we rented a car and drove it to Torino, where we picked up another couple from western Massachusetts who are also joining our larger group. From there we proceeded to our hotel in Ivrea, nestled in the foothills of said Alps. Not wanting to make a big production out of lunch, we settled for a trip to the Lidl right across the street from our hotel. They have fine DOCG wines there for 2 euros a bottle.

For this opening day, no singing was planned. Instead we had a social gathering on the terrace of the castle so that everyone in the group could meet each other. This is a real castle dating in part back to the 9th century, set on a hill, and only reachable via a steep footpath from the carpark below. We’ll talk more about the beautiful interior tomorrow. For now, we’ll just share the beautiful views from the top. Amazingly, this place is the childhood home of one of the group organizers. Although she had not been back since her family sold the property a few years back, she remembers the place vividly.

After the gathering on the terrace, we all trooped back down the hill to one of the restaurants in town for a more formal dinner. Our group seems very friendly. Almost everyone hails from the Vancouver region, because the principal organizer of the trip is based there. Many of them already know each other, but they’ve been very welcoming of us.