intimidated by the pickpocket stories ive recently heard about the rome trainstation. leaving in 2 hours for hour drive, 2 hr train to rome
- MsMr
Hurricane - Tristan Prettyman
I Was Gonna Marry You - The Violet Burning
Blind
Rome Adventure
May 23rd, 2009Hill Towns
May 22nd, 2009May 22
Looking Over Tuscan Countryside Of Orvieto
Had breakfast at the Internet cafe/modern wine bar while trying to finish a post finally from the Cinque Terre. Afterwards, we went to the mall/market that comes to town once a week on Fridays, and the fish store that is only open with the fresh fish on Fridays.
We hired a cool driver today, Alesandro, and he drove us first an hour away to Orvieto. Its a small town on the top of a cliff, that was once covered by water, then later volcanic substance. Eventually, all the water went away, and they needed a way to get to water, especially during the 2 year siege by Rome. So they built these underground caves, wells, pigeon coops (for food), and they basically created an underground city. We traversed through 2 long tunnels of caves and rooms that once held olive oil mills and fully situated cities. There are currently over 1000 caves discovered like these here, basically a hollowed out cliff that the town sits on.
On this town is even a giant, beautiful, cathedral. My guess is that in some time in the future, this entire town will collapse. The last giant erosion was in 1992.
Our second town that we drove to was Todi (no, not the soccer player Totti). We spent an hour in its town center that for the day was the flower market and gift market. My mom bought some home made acacia honey, and I lounged on the church stairs. This was a pleasant town, with what seemed to be pleasant people. We ate lunch there. I had ravioli with spinach and ricotta in a creamy sauce and of course, it was quite delicious.
We drove to a third town called Deruta–the porcelain capital of Italy. Yawn. I ate a gelato, had a coke, and milled about.
This entire day we have been chauffeured (whats the Italian word for that?) around in a Mercedes Benz mini van, toting 6 adults and the driver. We have been on extremely winding roads and I have battling car sickness. Kathy Blenkush has brought along these cool wristband type thing that has a bead in the middle of it that is supposed to apply pressure to a pressure point in your wrist that eases motion sickness. I am not sure if it helped me or not, but I am glad I didn’t go without it.
Made it back to Montalcino and had a glass of wine while working on the Internet. I needed to email our Rome apartment to let them know our approximate arrival time, as well as try to book a room for Kathy and Jeane in
Rome, as well as trying to secure ticket reservations for them to the Vatican museum with us. Talked to grandad via skype while there and he told me m a racist Italian joke (ok, I told him, but I’ll give him credit since older people can say whatever they want and get away with it).
Made it back upstairs and ate some yummy pinchi and sausage pasta my mom made, and then settled down with some wine and a game of chance (card game similar to golf card game).
Yes, I’m Behind
May 21st, 2009Just posted, backdated, to May 14. Yes, I am behind
Pinch This
May 21st, 2009May 21, 2009
Started the morning the same way most mornings here in Montalcino would start for me, and that was downstairs at the winebar/internet cafe. It is such a great convenience having it just outside the front door. Almost as convenient as having it inside the apartment, but with better coffe.
We were meeting up today with Ceylan Tumgoren, who runs the winery at Casanuova delle Cerbaie Winery in Montalcino. When we ran into her this morning, she wanted to sit with her mom for some coffee first, so we took the opportunity to walk over with my parents to a church that was currently being restored. My mom has taken great pride in this little town and all of its events and undertakings. You 
could see the pride in both of my parents faces as they discussed this church, its sinking, the art that was hanging, and the statue of peter that was here.
Rather than squeeze 6 in the car again, Lisa and I rode with Ceylan while the Volvo was behind. We learned a lot about Ceylan on this car ride. Her mother lives in New York and is divorced. Her father is from Turkey. To go along with her American citizenship she also held citizenship of Ireland. She worked for a wine distributor out of NY called Zachy’s. She then spent time working for a vineyard in Bordeaux France before moving to Montalcino where she has been for almost 2 years. She speaks fluent French, Italian and some Turkish. She told us how it was first a tough transition having an American work ethic while working with Italians because a coffee break would sometimes last 3 hours.
We arrived and we walked amongst the grape vines as she told us some of the history of the winery and some of the patterns of growth. She told us about Brunello-gate(tangent: I’m really tired of something controversial being called blank-gate. Watergate was the name of the office complex in the Nixon controversy. It had an actual reason of being called “gate.” However, now everything gets labeled “gate” and its flat out annoying. One recent example was when the Patriots were caught cheating, it was labeled “spygate.” For an inconclusive list of many others read here).
She also told us about pinching the grapes and how they do not want too many grapes growing on any particular vine because then all the energy of the vine is spread out through larger numbers, rather than focusing all its strength and flavors on a smaller number of grapes. We walked up and down some vines, pinching the vines.
We then went into the barrel rooms where we were gonna taste some of the wines that were in the middle of the aging process as well as some fresh wines.
In order for a wine to be classified as Brunello, it must be 100% sangiovese grape, grown in the region of Montalcino. It must age in the barrel or vat for a minimum of 5 years. If it is bottled after 2 years it is called a Rosa di Montalcino. If it is less than 2 years it is called “Tabalo” or table wine. I can’t imagine the patience that goes into a bottle of Brunello. Not only do you have to grow the vine for a certain number of years in order to yield fruit, but then once you do you have to wait 5 years for it to properly age.
We tasted some of the wines that had been in the barrel for 2 years, and others that had been longer. On one taste she immediately said “this one is ready to be moved out of the barrel” and she took note to make sure that got done immediately. To me it just tasted like wine, as I am not sure I would have noticed it was ready to move.
It was a great experience and I really enjoyed the first hand tour and imparted knowledge.
We made our way back to Montalcino and I spent some time posting to this site while at the internet wine bar. We then all went to St. Antimowhere we spent time at a 30 minute service of Gregorian chants. It was a really pretty church whose history dates back to the late 8th century. After the beautiful service, we walked around the grounds and made our way back to Montalcino.
Back in town, we walked around, ate some gelato, and then had dinner of wine and bruschetta, and then risotto with chicken. All very delicious as we watched the moon come up over this beautiful valley.
Our conversation started toward Bridge and how my parents play often with Kathie. We then spent 20 minutes trying to give me a bridge lesson and playing a hand.
Time for bed.
Making Homemade Pasta
May 21st, 2009
Yummo
May 20th, 2009Had a great cooking class today that lasted 5 hours in a home that was built in the 1500’s by a person that makes her own wine and has her own roaring winery business. We made homemade pastas, tiramasu, and eggplant. its 10 hours later now from when we started, and I’m still full. Obviously when i catch up on my journals, youll see.
Fattoria Resta
May 20th, 2009May 20
We piled all 6 of us into the tiny volvo convertable. It was tight. We closed the roof so that we’d be less visible to the local police, and we drove over to Fattoria Resta where we were scheduled to meet and have a cooking class with Anna Lisaat 10:00 am. Anna Lisa lives in a former monastery that even houses its very own chapel. We received a tour of the grounds that has a great view out towards Montalcino. She showed us her gardens, and of course her vineyards where she grows mostly sangiovese grapes that produces a wine that yields approximately 4, 000 bottles per year. She took us down to the wine cellar and on the way we passed a stone inscription that basically said that Napoleon stayed there back in the 1805. Once down in the cellar she told us a wonderful story of how they named their 
wine. In the cellar etched on the stone wall, was an inscription that was chiseled by the builder, Martin del Nero in 1573. The carving was a humble prayer asking for blessings on the cellar, and hopes that he did a good job tending the land, and that he was sorry if he did not. Anna Lisa was touched by the humility and tenderness of this prayer that she named her wine after him. The wine recently scored 87 pts from the Wine Spector. She described for us the white feather artwork her friend made for the label and how she didn’t want a very pretentious crest label. It was a great tour, a great property and what was the beginning of a great day.
It was now time to cook. On top of caring for the grounds, running a winery, having a family, Anna Lisa has a passion for cooking. Today we were going to cook a fine Italian meal together. You may have jumped ahead of yourself and already seen the pictures of our noodles, or read my mom’s site, but we also made focaccia bread, eggplant with tomato and mozzarella, and tiramisu for desert.
We donned our aprons and began with the focaccia bread. We kneaded it out and seasoned half of it with her special seasoning, and half with some fresh herbs. We then started on the noodles. We were making pinci and tagliatelle noodles. Pinci is made from just water and flour and the ladies took turns mixing the flour and the 
water right in a pile on the table. Once there was a dough, they cut strips and then came the hard part of rolling the noodle. We all tried. Most of us failed. It’s an act of rolling the noodle between your palm and the table so that it becomes perfectly round, shaped like a pencil. Most of us had the problem of squishing it flat instead of keeping it round. It was very frustrating, and a lot of work for a pasta noodle. But I thoroughly enjoyed the attempt, and later the eating.
The next noodle we made was tagliatelle, a long flat noodle that is 
similar to a fettuccine noodle. This dough we took and spread through a pasta machine/roller over and over till it stretched and thinned itself out. There was more pasta than space on the table so our long strands would sometimes be touching. We learned the hard way that this was not good, as the noodle dough would stick to each other and we’d have to back track a little. Steve and Lisa ran the noodles through the machine over and over till we had a really large flat pasta, which we later sliced into noodles. This was a really fun experience. I once attempted to make a fettuccini noodle on my own back in high school. Without the machine to stretch and thin the noodle, I tried it by hand and rolling pin. I was always proud of myself, but my noodle definetly was thick and not so great back then.
Our next dish was eggplant. I have had eggplant once or twice in my life and did not enjoy it at all. Anna Lisa taught us a trick. We thinly sliced the eggplant and placed it on a rectangle pan. We drizzled it with sauce and then found something heavy to place on it. We let it sit for about 30 minutes and the salt and the pressure would leak out the bitter flavors leaving a fine tasting eggplant. After letting it sit and soak all its horrible juices out, we patted them dry and then topped them with tomatoes and mozzarella and put them in the oven.
The final dish we prepared was Tiramisu. Much like eggplant, I have never been a fan of tiramisu. However, I would later find out that this was the best one I have ever tasted. It was a simple recipe where we took these Italian cookies, that were these thin wafers. We dunked them in espresso, but we had to dunk them really fast so that it would merely coat it, but not soak in it. Then in a dish it was a layer of coated cookie, followed by a layer of mascarpone cheese, then another layer of cookie. We 
did this till we reached the top, and then we grated fresh chocolate on top. We let it set in the refrigerator till desert time.
I loved our cooking kitchen. It was quaint and we had herbs, olive oil, and flour spread across this table that the 7 of us worked around. We were all dressed up in our aprons as well. It was very picturesque.
We made some tomato based sauce and then we sat down on the patio to enjoy the cooking, the wine, and each other’s company. We drank some white wine with the appetizer of the focaccia (the side with her spices was the best!) and some artichokes and homemade pate. Then it was the main dish time where we ate both of the pastas, drank some of her Martin del Nero red wine. I could not get enough. It was delicious!
And now for desert. Wow. I have never tasted tiramisu so tasty. It was very light in flavor and was a perfect finish to a grand time. Although, I could have easily gone for more pasta if only I had room.
We took a group picture and said our farewells. I knew that I would never forget this experience. It was splendid and perfect. Anna Lisa was such a gracious, kind, and fun host today. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for blessing my family with your time, your spirit, and your great teachings. We had a delightful day that we will not forget.
We left her place around 3:00 PM and made our way back to Montalcino. We parked the car and started our 10-40 minute walk back to the apartment (depending on whom I was walking with). On our walk we stopped at one of the cathederal’s where my mom played the organ. As we further progressed through the town, my parents told me stories of Montalcino and how they have 4 quadrants that take communal competitive pride with each other.
The rest of our evening went like this: grocery store, walk through town, ceramic shop, wine, shop, wine, finished with meats, cheeses, and more wine on the patio.
Tuscany has a charm of its own.
What A Pitti
May 19th, 2009May19th
Today we are leaving to go to Montalcino. However, we do not meet up with JeanE and Kathie till 5pm at the train station, so we have the whole day here in Florence. However, due to my mom’s fall, she can barely move as her whole side is in pain. So we decide to do very minimal today. Nope, we will not be hitting the Pitti Palace or the gardens as intended. I actually didn’t mind as I wasn’t really looking forward to that long hike again up the hill. If I could have done something tourist this day though, I think I would have hit the Duomo museum (Mary Magdalene statue) or the Borgello museum (Donatello’s David and other sculptures).
After a great night of food and fun, and lots of wine, it was a slow moving morning. We took our time eating breakfast, and then packed up our rooms and left our baggage with the front desk. And then we just sat in the bar area. We discussed things like bidet usage, we did work on the Internet and computer, and we looked at pictures. My dad ran all over town looking for my moms cross necklace, chain, and angel pin. He was successful on 2 of the 3, but quite sweaty after literally running around.
We ate lunch down the street at a pizza place, and we were approached by a lady about a charitable organization.
We head thru the market one last time for shopping. My mom bought more scarfs, probably, I don’t really remember. But it was time for last minute shopping in Florence before we headed out. We got towards the end of the market, and we sat my mom down, left her a couple bags, and my dad’s camera. Then the 3 of us walked back to the hotel to grab all the luggage.
We got the luggage and then trekked it through the town. Luggage is heavy when you are carrying multiple pieces for multiple blocks. We have had to do these long walks usually when we first get to a city, and when we leave the city. I didn’t want to get any hotels right near the train station, as that tends to be more of the seedy parts of town, as well as a little bit of distance from the city centers.
We made it back to my mom, and then trekked through the city some more until we arrived at the train station. We were scheduled to meet our new travelers here, as they were coming in from Venice.
We waited about 20 minutes, protecting our bags from pick-pockets and crowds, and eventually JeanE and Kathie met up with us at the McDonald’s there. We then walked to binari 2 and waited about 45 minutes for our train.
We took the train, and the first stop was about 5 minutes away, it was a secondary Florence stop. Then it seemed that everyone got on the train. Meanwhile, my dad is asking my mom for the camera and she has no idea where she put it, or if she even had it. I have visions right now of when my dad emptied the entire suitcase of clothing once, in the paris airport, looking for something that K.C had misplaced. We have stacks of luggage now, all over the seats on top of each other, and there is no way he could possibly do that now. Though, I am sure he wants to. He is frustrated and agitated, as travelling with many people is not easy. We try to calm him down by letting him know that at this point, its either in the bags, or its not, and there is nothing he can do. But more than likely, it is somewhere in the bags and we will find it when we reach our destination.
It’s really crowded on the train right now, and we have our luggage taking up seats and people are irritated with us. This Italian guy sat down across from Lisa and is breathing his bad breath in sighs of frustration on us. I’m having a hard time concentrating on typing and its really hot and uncomfortable. I think it must be train rush hour time. Meanwhile, my dad is irritated because he thinks that he may have lost the camera or misplaced it somewhere in Florence. Meanwhile, we have met up with 2 new travelers and so there is always transition time of getting used to people and group dynamics. I am curious to see how this will all work out.
We sit on the train for about 20 minutes without it moving, when over the speaker in Italian, they announce that the train is having problems and we would need to exit and find a new train. Brilliant.
Downtown Buonconvento
We hop off the train, high-tail it to a different track, only to see the train that we really wanted, was just leaving a different track. We hop on a new train. Lisa runs down the track to ask the conductor if it is the train we want, and he says no. We all quickly jump off the train with our luggage before it takes us to an unknown destination. We eventually find the right track, after lugging the luggage up and down stairs. At one point, I thought there was a nice citizen. I was carrying multiple bags (mine, Lisa’s, Jeane’s…I don’t remember anymore), and taking my time up the stairs. Someone came by and grabbed the side of one of the bags, and helped me carry it to the top. How nice! How kind and caring these Italians are.
Five minutes later, he came by begging for change. I was set up. The “norm of reciprocity” strikes again. Eventually our train arrived, and it was the nicest train we had been on yet. We enjoyed a 2 hour train ride through the country side. We were covered with green hills. It was beautiful.
We arrived at the Buonconvento train station and saw for the first time my parents new car. While my dad was walking the couple blocks to pick it up, we rummaged through our bags and found his missing camera. He will be so happy. Because they have a convertible, we couldn’t fit everyone (this time) and our luggage so Lisa and I stayed behind to wait for trip #2.
We walked thru the streets of Buonconvento, used the restroom, checked out the 7-11 type convenient store, and eventually sat outside the tiny train station at a little restaurant and ate a snack of pasta with bolognese sauce.
Dad came back and picked us up, and we drove the 10 minutes to Montalcino, with the stars above us, the top down, and my dad blasting Michael W. Smithmusic because its the song on his ipod that gets the most bass and he wanted me to experience the woofer in the back. Very funny when a 1980’s Christian pop/worship music singer is your idea of heavy bass. It was a beautiful drive. One that I wish we could do again, over and over. It was a very pleasant evening and it was nice with the wind in our hair.
We arrived in town, walked our bags up and down hills and made it to the cute little apartment with a fabulous view of the green country side. There was pizza waiting, and jugs, yes, jugs of wine waiting. We ate, we drank, we looked out through the peaceful valley, and we enjoyed catching up with everyone.
Ciao Firenze
May 19th, 2009I know that I owe write ups on the Cinque Terre still, and then Florence. Hopefully I can accomplish that on the train today. Its our last day in Florence. We catch the 5pm train to Montalcino tonight. Last night we had a great dinner that Mom commented would be one of the half dozen meals that she remembers for the rest of her life.
Golden View, Open Bar
May 18th, 2009May 18th
We did email for awhile this morning after breakfast and then left around 10:00 am to head to the market where my parents bought lots of scarfs. We did some more shopping in the market, I love that place! We made our way towards Santa Maria Novella train station as my Mom wanted to visit one of the oldest Pharmacies that is nearby it. It took us some time to finally find that place, and along the way shopped some stores inside the train station, where my mom bought a cd of organ music as a souvenir, and I bought a live Radiohead cd as well as an Eels cd. We finally found the pharmacy and it was room after room of history of herbs and remedies and even some fresco’s. It is one of the oldest businesses to still exist with the same name, having started around the 1600’s.
We ate lunch next door at a curbside cafe and had a pizza.
We went back to have our 3 hour tour, via segway, of Florence. I was really excited about this. I have heard so much about them, and how much fun segways can be, plus I am a fan of Gob and his segway riding ways. I thought this was going to be an awesome way to travel around from site to site and see the city. Plus, with a tour guide, I was happy to perhaps be learning something new.
I love traveling to places I went back in 1997, because I learned so much before, and it is nice to share the little tidbits that I have learned, with those that I travel with now. I really feel that the history, the cities, the architecture, and the overall travel experience comes to life when you know just a little bit more about a church, about a work of art, about a time of life. When it isn’t just a painting anymore, but about a cultural struggle to find relevance and to survive harsh times. And although I learn a little bit more on these trips, most times its just a rehashing, or a remembering of things I have already learned. So I was really looking forward to the time with the tour guide.
The segway tour did not start well though. My Dad was the first one to get the little training session, and he was very shaky and hesitant at first. He would push and tug on the segway and move really herky jerky like around in a little circle. The tour guide stood next to him to make sure he didn’t get out of control at all.
So now that my Dad got it down, it was my Mom’s turn to step onto the segway. She had noticed my dad’s hesitations, and decided to go balls out in learning. She was much more convicted in her pursuit, and went for it. However, the trainer did not stay near, and did not give her proper verbal instruction, and before we knew it, she was bailing off the back, twisting her body, falling on the hard cobblestone with a segway almost falling on top of her. It was a very awkward fall with a twisting knee and body, and a painful thud on the stones that were laid in the street thousands of years earlier.
We lifted her and her bloody cut open knee of the cement, and my Dad walked her back to the hotel while the rest of us did our training. My dad came back and we then took off for our tour. There was another couple, then myself, Dad, and Lisa. We started at the Duomo and the bapitstry doors. The square was filled with people, and I thought to myself “I’ve had a hard enough time walking on two legs in this square, how am I supposed to control a segway.” But I managed. It’s really like Lisa told me. She said that you just stand there and merely think about which direction you want to head, and the segway magically takes you in that direction. We hit major stops, learning new things along the way. Every new stop, my Dad would ask our tour guide a question. Even though she corrected him every time, every time he would mis-pronounce her name. And his question at every stop, was about jewelry stores, angel pins, and cross necklaces.
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We went by church’s, the river Arno, the ponte vecchio, the uffizi. We were showed the flood lines when the city has flooded in the past. Ironically, the last two major floods in the city, both occurred in November. So don’t travel there in that month.
We were shown the fashionable district, we passed the ferrari store where I took a picture for Juan (though, I don’t think I ever sent it to him). I learned about the Strozzi family, and the opposition they had with the Medici’s. Our tour guide showed us these “wine windows” that were about a foot or two off the ground, on some of these palaces. Apparently, when the palace owners had had enough wine for themselves, they would stick the bottle out these little wine windows, where the peasant waiting there, the citizen waiting there, could then have some wine of their own.
I want a wine window.
We also learned, that the Piazza Republica began as the Jewish ghetto, and a flower and food market. That it is the exact center of town. And that the Arch building and the saying on it, is hated by most Florentines.
We learned that in the Piazza Signoria, that most of the statues are still, in fact, the originals. Even though yesterday at the Accademia, we saw “the rape of the sabine woman,” that that one, inside the museum, was actually the copy. The original still stood in the square.
We learned that at the top of the Santa Croce church, there is a star of david, and that the architect was jewish.
We also went by the little studio where Michelangelo carved his david statue. By the way, on this trip I read the wikipedia entry on David, and learned a whole lot about it. For instance, did you know that the 26 year old Michelangelo beat out Leonardo Da Vinci, to carve the statue?
After our great tour (surprisingly, dad’s and my legs were rather sore), we went back to the hotel. Our hotel was one of the stops along the tour. Apparently they had renovated it and found that it used to be a look out tower, it used to be a roman bath, and it used to be a prison. Part of it was now a museum and you could climb down the stairs to see it. It was rather cool. I liked this hotel a lot. It was perfect location and had great service. You can read my review of it…if I ever finish these journal entries and write my reviews.
We changed and cleaned up for our dinner reservations. We had made reservations for the open bar, golden view restaurant again, even though Lisa and I had eaten there 2 nights earlier. The view was unbeatable, and the food was delicious, so we thought it would be a grand evening. With live music starting at 9pm, we made reservations for 8pm.
We took our time walking there, taking pictures on the ponte vecchio, looking at jewelry stores for my mom, and enjoying each others company and the beauty around us.
We arrived at our reservation, and they had a window seat prepared for us, and glasses of champagne. The windows were open and we were basically in a little open terrace, with the river and the bridge right next to us. It was breathtaking. We took many pictures, and got started on the first of what became three bottles of the vino della casa rossa. Yum.
The meal and our time was very precious. My mom would remark the next day that it would be one of the half dozen meals that she remembers for the rest of her life. We laughed, we told stories, lisa told some great jokes (who tells jokes about organ musicians, and funnier yet that my mom would know it), and we drank and ate till we could eat and drink no more.
Black truffles were in season, and our waiter told us how they train dogs to retrieve truffles. We decided to give them a try in our appetizers on top of crostini. We also had a cheese plate with different melon, a pear and honey spreads. Had a great and weird pasta noodle with bits of octopus. I’m getting hungry again thinking about it. I think I better wait to show the food till I do my food picture review post soon.
We enjoyed all of our foods, including the steak florentine that my Dad had longed for. We lingered. We finished 3 bottles of wine, had desert, enjoyed the live jazz music. It was a gorgeous night. We lingered over 3 hours there, telling stories, getting to know our waiter, enjoying the food, the fun, and the company.
Just Her Type
Afterwards, around 11:30 pm or so, we walked back to the area of our hotel. We laughed. We stumbled. We fed a pig a coin. We looked at the chalk drawings on the ground.
Lisa went back to bed (after our gelato stop), but Debbie, Steve and I found ourselves in a street, where a street performer was trying his trade. However, the best part of his act was when a garbage man came down the street he was working. Obscenities ensued.
We grabbed walked back to our hotel. It was a beautiful night.
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