It’s always a treat to visit one of our favorite countries, Italia, which really is our “seconda casa,” as we love to say. As always, the food, hospitality and warmth of this country is truly nothing less than spectacular. And Italy has had a beautiful love affair with Ronn for decades. It has been six years since we visited the region of Puglia. The last time we were there, we renewed our wedding vows because it was so romantic, so being back there was like another honeymoon for us. We spent time relaxing by Fasano beach at the Canne Bianche hotel and spa for a few days and even though the weather was a bit rainy, we couldn’t have been happier.
I have enjoyed their wonderful spa and had a four hand massage, which was incredible! Nothing like two massage therapists giving you a massage at the same time! The “Pepper Aroma Peeling” scrub left my body silky soft and the staff was fantastic. Ronn did a great appearance for their annual car racing event and from there we headed over to stay a couple days at the beautiful “Masseria Torre Cocarro.” We both experienced an olive oil massage and a grotto like pool. Unfortunately, we didn’t make it to the “Borgo Egnazia” where we renewed our vows in 2012 on this visit, but hope to return to Puglia again soon.
We then headed to see friends like Gina Lollobrigida in Rome and celebrated my big 55th birthday with Lavinia Biagiotti. As always, the food at the Marco Simone Golf Restaurant is incredible and the hospitality we experience at the Biagiotti castle is like home for us. We then made our way to Florence to catch up with American friends, Wayne and Rhonda Nelson. Wayne is the lead singer in the American version of “Little River Band.” We had an amazing dinner at one of the oldest restaurants, “Il Paiolo” in the center of Florence and also caught up with Ronn’s ‘Ballando Con Le Stelle” dance partner, Sara DiViara and her family. It was great to see them and experience a Florentine steak at the “Trattoria Dall Oste” which is a must when visiting Florence.
We then continued on to the countryside of Tuscany to visit the “Tenuta Chiudendone” vineyard and see our dear friends Isabella and Francesco who just had a new baby boy. Prince was a bit jealous of me holding the baby and we had fun doing a cooking class after picking vegetables from their garden. Its always a wonderful peaceful experience at the “Tenuta Chiudendone.”
We are also excited about some new opportunities we are planning to produce for next year just for Italy! In the meantime, we are truly in gratitude for this scrumptious treat we are experiencing so far. Our last weekend journey continued in Amsterdam for a few days of meetings for Ronn’s upcoming European tour, which will start in Belgium and the Netherlands this fall. Ronn has a new song and music video dedicated to our love for Italy coming soon, along with new Ronn Moss merchandise for his tour, which will include his own signature fragrance line, scarves, T-shirts and a new CD! A cover story on Ronn for Primo magazine in Belgium talks about all the exciting upcoming plans!
We go every year to the high sierra mountains with the kids. The tiny cabin that has been in Ronn’s family for 100 years is very special to him and the girls, so we are finally getting the ball rolling to fix the place up.
Apparently, the forest service has a lot of required permits for renovating something that old because it is nestled in the heart of the forest, so the process will be long and tedious one. Nevertheless, we are expanding it and turning it into our dream cabin for future vacations with friends and family. I’m sorry I seem to be having tech problems with my site. I have alerted my webmaster and it is fixed now. I so apologize to those of you who were trying to order autographed copies of my book and thanks to those of you who alerted me to the problem. But, I had no Internet at the cabin except for limited cell usage. Technology is great when it works, but it’s not always perfect huh? Anyway, it’s good to be home in my own bed, yes I am sooo spoiled, hahaha. I felt like I was roughing it for two weeks in the woods! Here is the link to order my book on Barnes and Noble 
The past couple of days were pretty rough, both Ronn and I were only averaging about 6 hours of sleep with the aid of a sleeping pill to get back into our time zone. I spent most of the day catching up on emails, phone calls, bills and mail urrrghhh! So I became a little cranky by the end of the day. I happy to say I feel more like myself today and will do some more catching up, but I wanted to post some of the photos from our trip here and on our sites
. So check them out
. Ronn shot so many amazing shots, especially in Sanremo.
My birthday is on Thursday and I just want a quiet dinner this year, no big party as I don’t have the energy for it. Tomorrow Ronn and the kids are cooking me dinner and that’s the best birthday present spending it with them.
Finally we are back online in the London airport heading home today. It was hard to distinguish the Internet in France since both Ronn and I don’t read French or speak it. We have decided we want to learn and have already started with a few basics. Our time last night in Paris was magical. We walked for hours taking in the Louve, corner cafes, shopping and a romantic dinner before saying goodbye to our now favorite city together. Everywhere we went, people recognized Ronn and asked for pics and autographs. Even the female taxi driver in little town of Onzain, which was near Lorie Valley asked for his autograph. The women at the counter where we exchanged dollars for Euros did also. Seems I can’t go anywhere with him without this happening. The security guys in the Louve asked for a photo with him. The chef at Loire Valley who prepared the best french meal we have ever experienced asked for an autograph for his mother! Will post pics from this dinner later, it was a work of art! The show is very well the most watched in the world, that’s for sure. At one point we had people from Italy, France, Morocco and Zanzabare asking for autographs and pics! We both have very much enjoyed this vacation and consider it one of our best. But, we are missing home now and can’t wait to see Nayo, Romeo and the girls. I’m glad you guys got to share some of our trip from our blogs here. Will post more pics and we are working on our video from the whole trip on our plane ride back.
After having some amazing tastings in the chateaus of LaGrange, Margaux and Lynch Bages in the Medoc region of Bordeaux and then experiencing some chateaus of the St. Emilion region, home of Petrus. Ronn was fascinated with the wine education he had and found we both loved the older wines from the Medoc, but still appreciated the Merlot blends of St. Emilion just as much. We bought a few bottles to keep for the future, as well as a few to drink now. 2005 was a great year for all of Bordeaux and we fell in love with LaGrange and savored a bottle in our room while catching up on emails in our lovely room we had in this 18th century chateau. So I can safely say, Ronn is very relaxed now and loving France. We both want to learn French and can’t wait to go to Loire Valley, which is so beautiful today. We will stay in another 18th century chateau and visit one more vineyard today there before returning on Friday for our final day in Paris. Then it’s back home on Saturday. So far this has been an amazing trip. We have shot lots of video and we are organizing the clips together for an edited DVD to share soon. Will try to take more pics to post later.
After a grueling week of press and gala functions, Ronn was ready for a much needed vacation. The last press interview was in Amsterdam. We had a wonderful time in Amsterdam and visited with a long time friend of Ronn’s, Amanda. Amanda and some of her friends took us to dinner and we got to experience herring, which is very popular. A stop in the red light district was funny when Ronn would walk by windows of girls recognizing him. I checked out the coffee shops and we both admired the beauty of this amazing city. Ronn and I both would love to see Player kick off a European tour in Amsterdam. Paris has always been one of my favorite cities. It had a been a while since I’d been there, over 10 years to be exact, so I figured what better place to visit with Ronn, especially since he informed me that he had only been there twice and didn’t really remember much about it.They say, you should only go to Paris with someone you love, so it was great to share walking the stairs of the Eiffel tower and shopping on the Champs’ Elysee’. We both love red wines and since I’d been to Bordeaux before and found the train ride from Paris to Bordeaux to be quite pleasant; I suggested this as a good alternative the tremendous amount of driving Ronn does daily. He was so relaxed, he slept the entire three hour train ride! We are staying in a private 1780 Chateau that is ironically owned by a Dutch family. It is so relaxing, beautiful and peaceful and we were greeted with a wonderful bottle of wine and cheese to kick start our day tomorrow of wine tastings in some of the best regions.