Arezzo

I woke up before my alarm went off this morning at 1:15am and managed to find my way downstairs in the dark without bonking my head on the beam that supports the roof. By the time I got the game queued up on the laptop, they were just starting the National Anthem. Perfetto! Although it didn't turn out to be the pitchers duel that it was advertised to be, the result was good. Now.....if we can get just 3 more of those, all will be good.

Judy & I got back to bed at about 5:45am knowing that we had to get up by no later than 8:15 to make our train to Arezzo. It was tough when that alarm went off, but we did it and got to the train station with a few minutes to spare. We were going to Arezzo today to visit one of our oldest family friends, Irene Giannini. She and her late husband, Domenico, were friend of my parents since I was a little pup. Domenico was one of our group of 49er season ticket holders dating back to the Kezar days, along with his brother, Mike, my Dad and me. I last saw Irene 3 years ago when Judy & I were last in Italy, so we were both looking forward to catching up with her.

Arezzo is a small town in Tuscany southeast of Florence about an hour's train ride on the Rapido or an hour & a half on the Regolare. It was once one of the richest towns in Italy due to it being renown for its production of gold jewelry. However, times have changed with the global Recession and the price of gold skyrocketing, this industry is really hurting and Arezzo is feeling the pinch.

We were really glad to see that the sun broke out in full force and was the warmest day we've had yet. The Tuscany countryside with the vineyards and olive trees couldn't have looked nicer. Irene met us at the train station and we walked into town and sat in the square and had a cappuccino. We are turning into real Italians.....even Judy!

After a short stroll through the town, we headed up to the house where Irene lives along with Ivo and some of his family. It is in an incredible spot that has a spectacular view of the town and the surrounding countryside.



Ivo & Irene took us to lunch at a place that we've been to before, La Capannaccia, a real local treasure atop a hill overlooking the town of Arezzo. I remember that my Dad always talked about this restaurant, as it really left a mark on him. The main course is cooked in a hearth over an open fire. Judy had a papardelle con chinghiale and I had a risotto con porcini as a starter. We both had chicken that was cooked in the open hearth and we both agreed that this was possibly the best chicken we've ever eaten. There was not much left on our plates when we were done.

After this wonderful lunch and enjoyable visit with Irene, Judy & I headed back to Firenze. Upon arrival, Judy managed to steer me to and shoe store and then to some other store where I waited outside and people-watched while she was inside. I guess it could've been worse.............she could've made me go in the stores. Anway, it was back to the apartment for a quiet evening and an early bedtime, so we can get another 4 hours of interrupted sleep and, hopefully, the same result as yesterday...........another World Series win!

GO GIANTS!

Montepulciano Wine Tour Addendum

I am writing this while we are awake at 430 am following the World Series and loving what is going on with the game.
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Today's wine tour went well. I loved the first winery and appreciated all the family and winemaking tradition involved in making their Nobile di Montepulciano wine. It was a treat traveling by car on the smaller hill town roads we took to get to the wineries. The ride back on the autostrada was a bit nerve wracking. We were FLYING.....passing trucks like they were not even moving! Good thing I had some wine to relax me.

For our dinner plans, we decided to give our livers and arteries a rest and have a light meal back at the apartment. As we were walking back and planning a stop for food pick up, an unfortunate event occurred that quickly changed my plans. As I was walking down a narrow street in the dark, an unknown liquid substance came pouring down from a window or deck above me and hit me in the head! Good thing we were close to the apartment. Mark ended up doing the shopping while I took my second shower and hairwash for the day.

Off to Arezzo tomorrow morning to visit Irene.

Giants just scored again in the 8th inning of game one making it 11 to 4!

Ciao for now.

Wine Tour to Montepulciano

We headed out to meet up with our guide, Vittorio, for an all-day wine tour to Montepulciano. Judy & I have been on a couple of wine tours in the past in Italy, but not to this town. Montepulciano produces a red wine that is made from Sangiovese grapes, but is not as dry or full bodied as its neighbor, Montalcino, which makes a very dry full-bodied wine from the same grape variety. Montepulciano wines are lighter, easier to drink and are "more elegant" in the words of our tour guide.

The meeting place was at the Biblioteca Nazionale in Firenze which is located right across from the bank of the Arno River. This seems to be a popular meeting place for tour guides as this is the 3rd wine tour we've taken with 3 different guides and we've always met at this location.

The drive to Montepulciano, complete with narrow roads and accompanying switchbacks, took about 90 minutes through some of the most scenic rolling Tuscan hills that one could imagine. Being late in the season, some of the fields had been plowed under & tilled to get ready for the next season. Our guide said that a lot of those fields would be planted with sunflowers, so I can only imagine the colors when those have come in.



We arrived at the first winery by the name of Villa S.Anna, a winery that had been in the family for over 300 years. We had a nice tour of the facilities and were treated to a wine tasting accompanied by some salumi & pecorino cheese. Anna, the owner's daughter, was a very interesting guide and quite simpatica. The estate was quite nice and the workers were busy transferring the grape skins that had been crushed to a cart to be taken to a grappa producer.



We bought a couple of bottles at this winery and then we all headed out to lunch a a little hill town called Monticchiello. The food was very typical of the Senesi (Siena) region and was quite tasty. After lunch we took some photos outside the restaurant that had quite a panaromic view of the vineyards of Montepulciano.





From there we went to our next stop, the Boscarelli winery, It was another similar tour of the facilities and a wine tasting afterwards. This winery was also harvesting their olive trees, so the aromas from the grape crush and the olives were something. After a short visit, it was back to Firenze.



We got back to the apartment and decided to have a quiet dinner at home. We are going to bed early as I have set the alarm for 1:30am to get up to watch Game 1 of the World Series! 

GO GIANTS!

Day trip to Siena

This morning we had a leisurely breakfast at our apartment and headed out for our bus ride to Siena. We arrived at the bus station about 2 minutes before the Rapido to Siena was leaving, so Judy managed to coerce the bus driver to wait for us to buy our tickets before he left. The sky was in between sunny & threatening to rain on the way over, but about 10 minutes into the ride, the sun broke out and allowed us to see the colorful Tuscan countryside on the way to Siena. The ride was pretty smooth, except for one point where the traffic slowed because a truck that was delivering empty wine bottles spilled some of his load out his back door onto the autostrada.

We caught the 10:20 am bus to Siena and the ride was about an hour and a half, so one of the first things we had to do when we got there was to figure out what to do about lunch. Duh!!! On the walk down from the bus station to the city center, we passed an incredible food shop that had everything typically Italian in it. We went in and got some prosciutto, mozzarella, bread, water & biscotti for lunch all for 3.5 Euros! We took that with us down to the main square, Il Campo where the Palio is held, and had a picnic lunch.

After lunch we explored around the town and eventually worked our way up to the amazing Cathedral complex that Siena has. This stop was worth the trip alone just to see the Cattredale facade and its inside along with the unbelievable panoramic view from the top of the Panorama dal Facciatone. Sweeping views of not only the town of Siena, but all of the Tuscan countryside with its rolling hills and vineyards as far as the eye can see. Truly worth the visit!

Upon our return to Florence, we did make a brief stop to take a picture in front of the church of Santa Maria Novella. Most people associate that name with Florence's train station, but the adjacent church has a very nice facade. We took this picture because I seem to remember my Mom telling me that this church was her favorite. I don't remember why, but it might have something to do with her childhood as she lived in Florence until she was 14 years old. Too bad my mother doesn't have any use for a computer......if she did she could see this picture.

We are going to hit the sack early tonight as we have an all day wine tour scheduled for tomorrow to Montepulciano. We are both looking forward to that. We are hoping that the weather will cooperate, which it appears to be happening judging by the clearing we saw later in the day today.

Firenze!

After a short train ride (30 minutes) from Bologna, we arrived in Florence. Having been here a few times before, we felt pretty confident about finding our way to the apartment that we rented for our 4 day stay here. The walk to the apartment was only about 15 minutes from the train station, assuming that we weren't going to get lost.............and amazingly we didn't. We found it on the first try without any backtracking which is kind of an upset of the highest order.

The apartment is a really nice studio on the 3rd floor of a building from the 16th century located very near the Bargello. Since it is an historic building, they are not allowed to put in an elevator. So, we headed up the 67 steps to the apartment with our bags in tow. Luckily, the owner came down to carry Judy's bag up most of the way. During the course of the day, we went up & down those stairs 5 times equalling 335 steps, which is just short of the 413 steps it takes to get up to the top of the Campanile next to the Duomo. Looks like that will be on the agenda at some point this stay.

As you can see, it is a very unique place that is appointed with some nice antique furniture and even a piano......yeah, like we are going to use that! All this for just 100 Euro a night....it's a steal. We found it on the Homeaway site, so if you are ever planning on going to Florence, here is a link to the rental listing: Florence Loft.

Once we got settled, the first order of business............what else?......find a place for lunch. Judy got the name of a restaurant that was supposed to be one that locals went to.....and it surely was. The name is Trattoria Mario and it is on a small side street near the Mercato Centrale. It's not much to look at and you sit on stools at a table that might have other diners at it, but the food & local flavor were a joy to experience. We both got a salad and pasta pomodoro and, I have to say, the pasta sauce was to die for. We sat at a table with 2 Fiorentine businessmen and behind us were some locals that were having a good time laughing & singing out loud. It was a kick!

After lunch, we walked around and took in some sights, bought some stuff at the Mercato Centrale, and.....made our dinner reservations for La Giostra. No visit to Florence is not complete without a trip to the Duomo. No matter how many times you see this architectural wonder, it still takes your breath away. The colors of the marble, the intricacy of the detail and the enormity of the 3 structures (Duomo, Campanile, & Baptistry) are truly amazing.

We had a couple of hours to kill, so we walked around some more and saw the Palazzo Vecchio, Piazza Santa Croce, Ponte Vecchio, etc. It was time to head towards the restaurant, so we started moving over there and..........we got a little lost. What a shock!  As we eventually, worked our way back on course, we passed a little theater just a few blocks from our apartment that had quite a few people out in front. We went to check it out and discovered that Sting was playing there that night. Amazingly, tickets were still available........albeit somewhat pricey. We almost bagged the dinner and went to the concert, but didn't...........much to the dismay of a very aggressive ticket scalper that cornered us as we were walking out of the box office. He was very difficult to shake and wouldn't take no for an answer. He was incredulous that we were saying no to him.

Dinner at La Giostra was nice and the food was good, but it seemed that it was full of Americans. Judy & her sisters had gone here a few years back and really liked it, but Judy said it was really different and more expensive. Allessandro, our tour guide in Bologna, had warned us that the original owner (father) had died and the son was running it now, and he was not a fan of this guy. We should've listened to him.

Tomorrow it's off to Siena.

Bye bye Bologna

Here we are at the train station waiting for the train to Florence. It's been pretty cold on this trip but now that it's raining, it has warmed up.

Judy at the Bologna train station blogging away.

Got up early today to explore Bologna. I won't mention Mark's snoring last night because I am too nice to do that. We will post our Bologna pictures tonight. Our goal was to walk to the top of Torre di Asinelli but when we found out there were 500 steps to the top we realized we didn't have enough time ;). The old city center of Bologna is beautiful. There is quite a bit of restoration going on right now.

Looking forward to Florence. I have my list of sights to see and places to eat ready!

Well, ciao for now.