Castello di Amorosa

Entrance

Linda entering Castle

Inside

Another Inside View

Great Hall

Note Frescoes on Walls

Fresco

Like I said, you could be in a European castle

Napa Valley Part II

While in SF I had found an ad for hot air balloon rides in Napa and

decided I wanted to do that. We knew Wednesday was not a good

day so booked for Friday. We had to get up really early because they

go up around sunrise. We waited about an hour before being told

the weather would not allow us to go that day. They were fully booked

for Saturday.

When we got back to hotel, we found out there were other balloon

companies and so booked for Saturday. Unfortunately we went through

the same process. So I’m still waiting for that balloon ride.

However we did get back to Castello di Amorosa for a tour and it was

great. The owner is of Italian descent and his great grandfather had a

small winery that he lost because of prohibition. He decided he wanted

to revive the family business and opened the winery several years ago.

He traveled to Italy and fell in love with the Tuscany area and log

ruined castles. He decided he wanted to build a castle in Napa and

wanted it to be like the castles of Tuscany. He bought rocks from

old ruins, imported bricks from Austria, and hired painters to paint

frescoes on walls. It is a beautiful castle and you can imagine yourself

in Europe in a real castle.

Napa Valley Wine Train

Napa Valley Wine Train

Train Car where we had Appetizers

Foster enjoying Train Ride

Train Engine

Napa Valley, Part I

On Wednesday we headed to Napa. My preconceived picture

was of a few wineries and lots of vineyards and countryside.

Instead there are lots of wineries, some of them called boutiques

which only sell locally or ship.

After checking in we headed out to find a winery built as a castle.

Castello de Amorosa, but when we got there realized camera was

back at hotel so decided to come back another day. Instead we

stopped at a boutique winery and had a tasting on the lawn. I had

on a shirt I had bought on a Princess ship which had “PC” on it so

we began talking to the couple sitting next to us about Princess

cruises, and they were regulars on Princess, so we had a nice

 conversation. They had picked up lunch at a local grocery store and

purchased a bottle of wine at the winery and were enjoying their

lunch with a view.

 On the second day we took the Napa Wine Train.  It was great.

We had appetizers and wine on trip out and lunch on trip in.

The train was beautiful.

Views of Yosemite

Yosemite Falls

Through the Trees

Ponderosa Pine

Cloud over Mountain

Huge Rock

Train to Yosemite

On our last day in SF before heading to Napa we took a trip

to Yosemite. Since we like to go on trains when available, we

chose the tour that went part way by train. It was the first train

tour of the season. We went about half way by train and half by

bus. The bus ride was through beautiful country.

We had about 3 hours in Yosemite and were supposed to take

a bus tour around the valley, but because we were late arriving

(trains are notoriously late in America), some of the tickets were

sold to standbys and we got left out. So we walked around the

nearby area which was nice. All in all a good day but would have

liked to see more.

Scenes of San Francisco

Linda on Cable Car

Scene in Japanese Tea Garden

Another View in Japanese Tea Garden

Span of Golden Gate Bridge

Golden Gate Bridge