Day 9: La Bella Vita

Today we are going on an tour of all the fantastic hill towns around Montalcino with our friends Ryan and Carrie as a wedding gift from them.  And man was it a doozey of a tour!  Our guide, Gianni, picked us up around 9 - 9:30 and we all piled into the minivan for the tour of a lifetime.  Gianni was quite the personality!  He immediately fit right in and was hysterical and super knowledgable about all the places we went and not in a boring way.

We start off in the town of Buonconvento which is just up the street from our villa.  He shows us a few things and then leaves us to have some breakfast at a caffe.  He meets up with us when we are done and takes us to the Abbey at Monte Oliveto Maggiore.  This is an abbey where there are still Benedictine monks and there is a courtyard with a hallway running around it with some amazing art depicting the life of Saint Benedict painted by Luca Signorelli and il Sodoma (Giovanni Antonio Bazzi).  The church was stunning.  There were these seats that lined the wall that were hand carved and inlaid and you would not believe how intricate they were!  They also had these tiles in the floor that were made of this orange marble which is not found in nature anymore so it is priceless.  And we were just walking on it.  There was also a giant "sink" made out of it with carvings of animal heads all along it.  We had to leave before noon because they kick everyone out so the monks can come down and have lunch and prayers in private.

 

After the Abbey we went to this super quiet little town called Chiusure.  We barely saw a soul there.  Except for this fuzzy orange cat who followed us every step of the way though the town.  So cute.  It was our first hilltop view of the area and we were blown away.  It was very romantic.  So romantic we forced Carrie to kiss Ryan ;)

After that Gianni took us to this cool town called Bagno Vignoni.  This town had a very ancient and intricate water purification system.  There was also a big man made "pool" in the center of town that is mineral water that is used for medicinal purposes.  Unfortunately, becasue it was so popular, the hotels in the area began to syphen off the water to use in their hotel spas.  The area where the purification system was is high on a cliff overlooking the hill country and the river that the area is named after.  The water there is this icy blue/white due to the minerals...very cool looking!

Montecchiello is the next stop.  Here we had one of the most incredible meals of our trip.  Gianni took us to this small restaurant where they hand make the pasta.  We had a starter of different ages of Pecorino cheese (their local specialty cheese made of sheep's milk) with condiments to match.  The main course was a mix of pastas: A cheese ravioli with truffle sauce, spinach gnocchi with butter sauce and picci (a local specialty pasta) in a pomodoro sauce.  The side dishes were fresh steamed spinach and roasted potatoes.  Of course the wine was incredible as well.  There is a lot to be said for simplicity and fresh ingredients.  After lunch we went to this little unassuming church where there was something interesting that happened during the war.  There were frescoes on the walls of the church.  The vibrations from the bombing ended up crumbling off the frescoe to reveal there was another fresco underneath!  Both exist now because when they went to scrape off the newer one it was ruining the fresco underneath. 

The next town we went to was Montepulciano.  We went into the cellar of the Brunello winery to see the casks down there, pretty cool how giant those are!  When we came out of there we walked past a big arched door and inside was an older gentleman seated in front of an anvil, working.  Our tour guide told us he was a coppersmith and one of the very few left and asked if we wanted to meet him.  Of course we did!  His name was Cesare and he welcomed us in and showed us some tools that his Grandfather made that he is still using to this day.  As a matter of fact, he found out we were getting married and made us a custom little piece which blew us away!  After that he gave us a personal tour his family's museum which has pieces that he made when he was just 7 years old and pictures of him presenting the Pope with a piece as well as antiques he's collected and other pieces he and his family made.  You just don't see something like that anymore.  After that, we see more sweeping vistas and beautiful old buildings and interesting stories and off to the next place.

Pienza.  What an interesting town Pienza turned out to be!  The history of that little town is kind of funny.  For the sake of this blog not running too long I'm going to tell you to look it up but it just speaks to the decadence of the Popes throughout history.  Part of that history is a church that is built on the cliffside that is going to break in half and fall off one day.  The Pope knew that would be the case but ordered it built anyway.  You can see the crack in the side of the church!  They have sensors on the cracks so if one day it happens the people inside will get a warning and can get out.  Yes, they still hold services in there.  Pienza was such a pretty town.  I wish we had time to get back to it and spend a day or two there....oh well, next trip. 

We ended with a quick trip to San Quirico d'Orcia to see a particular garden that was gifted to the town.  It was very peaceful and pretty.  Also, this town is known for it's archers.  Every town we went to seemed to have some sort of interesting annual competition they were known for and this town has archery.  Outside the gates where we were waiting for Gianni to pick us up is the bust of an F1 champion from this little town.  Very cool!  This was the last town and even though we were exhausted and our brains were swimming in a million facts about all the towns we'd been too I could have gone on and on.  Gianni was so good, I can recommend him enough if you go to Tuscany.  He does all sorts of different tours so whatever you are looking for let him know and he will make it unforgettable.  Tours Around Tuscany -  http://tuscany.sharepoint.com/Pages/default.aspx

We swung into Buonconvento and picked up Dan's brother and then headed back to the villa to find an almost full house and everyone fixing some dinner and setting the table and getting to know each other!  What a sight.  It was so weird and wonderful to sit at a giant table full of our family and friends IN ITALY!!!  La Bella Vita indeed.
All 362 pics from this day are here http://flic.kr/s/aHsjzFmXij

Tomorrow...the day before the BIG day!

Day 8: Lost in the Fog

Today is the day we head to our villa in Montalcino where our family and friends will be joining us!   We run and grab the Fiat, pay a ridiculously large fee for parking and pack that baby to the gills.  Then we try and program the GPS to get us to the villa.  The problem is that the name of the villa is Pian dell'Asso which also happens to be the name of the region the villa is located in.  And...to compound that problem there is no street address.  It's off of a long road, on a road with no name and there is no house number.  That's just how it goes in Italy.  You spend half of your time utterly lost.  So we type in what we have and head out.

The day starts out beautiful and sunny and the scenery is amazing.  At some point we get off the path the GPS has plotted out (which happens a lot) and it recalculates and it seems that we weren't off after all.  We eventually get hungry and in the middle of absolutley nowhere is a little rest stop.  We pull in and there are two buildings.  One seems to be like a convenience store and behind there is a building with food.  We go in and realize quickly that there isn't anyone who speaks English but there are a ton of people ordering some very handsome sandwiches and it smells delicious.  Dan has to run to the bathroom so I hang back and watch how it's working until he gets back.  We have to go to the register, tell the lady what we want, pay and then take the receipt to another lady who will then make our sandwiches.  It's a little rocky and we aren't quite sure what we ordered but in the end we were rewarded with a succulent porchetta sandwich and a salumi sandwich.  YUM!  Back on the road.

We start to get more into the mountains and there is tunnel after tunnel and we wind our way on some roads with steep drop offs but it's fun.  GPS starts to give us some more turns to take and judging from the time we are close!  I pull out the "detailed" directions the wedding planner emailed us and start looking for the cues.  We find the road SP14...yes!  As we start driving on this super windy road the fog starts to settle in and it is THICK.  We drive and drive and drive and I realize that we should have been seeing our landmarks long ago.  But the GPS shows that the villa is right around the bend!  We get around the bend and...there is nothing but fields.  GPS: "You have arrived at your destination."  Me: "F U GPS!"  I try turning on my roaming on my phone to see if I have any better luck with that.  Nope.  We reach the end of SP14 and pull off into some warehouse parking lots and try to figure out what the heck to do.  We reset the GPS and even though we are about in tears we are hopeful as it seems to have found someplace different.  As we start driving back up SP14 the fog is clearing up.  The GPS tells us to make some turns and we find a dirt road that leads up to some villas.  But not the villa we are looking for sadly.  We end up in the middle of someone's vinyard and I'm about to lose it.  Dan gets out of the car, regains his composure and we start driving again.  We get back to the end of SP14 and pull back into the warehouses to finally break down and cry.  It's at this point that I realize there is a road way in the back of this parking lot and it clicks...this is where the directions said to go but we got off course way back and came from an entirely different road which is why the directions made no sense!!!  We take the dirt road and find a tiny sign for Pian dell'Asso and pull in and there is a guy there and we are stoked.  We weren't exactly at the right place but he directed us next door to a gorgeous villa.  Our villa.  It should have taken us 2 hours, it took 4.

We pull up and get out of the car, excited to finally have made it and anxious to see the house.  There is a car there already and I figure it's someone to let us in but there isn't anyone.  So we walk around the house testing doors until we find one that opens and go in.  There is nobody.  Weird.  Anyway, we start to check the place out.  It's dark and a little scary frankly but we start to throw open shutters and when the light hits the rooms they are beautiful.  I open one door and see feet at the foot of the bed in the dark room.  It's Ryan and Carrie!  Zonked out.  So we left them alone to sleep and continued to explore.  Gradually people started trickling in and it was so amazing to realize that we were in Italy with some of the most special people in our lives and we were about to share our wedding day with them!  That night we ventured up to Montalcino to find some food and ate at the Grappa Blu restaurant and it did not disappoint.  My brother's kid was so tired that he literally fell asleep on the table.  We all felt his pain.  Then what?  Gelato of course!  Then back to the house to settle in for the night.

Tomorrow, tour of a lifetime with friends.

Day 7: We love you too Firenze

Dan was saying that he was starting to look like a crazy bird because his hair was getting so long so today's journey started out with the mission to find someplace for Dan to get his hair cut.  Easy you say, right?  Welllllll, we had walked past a lot of salons but who knows who speaks any english or how good they are?  Anyway, we were on a mission.  We stopped into a new little cafe today and had a yummy breakfast with some more good coffee.  While we were there we saw an old man get a big plate of pasta for breakfast and wash it down with wine and a younger couple have Campari spritzers for breakfast....guess we've been doing it wrong this whole time.  Also, Dan noticed out the window that someone had tied a very old Malamute looking dog to a scooter in the street.  He looked blind and he kept moving closer and closer to the exceptionally narrow street that had scooters, cars and busses hurtling down it.  The old guy seemed to know the limit of where he should put his nose though.  After a few minutes and older man comes over to the scooter, puts on his helmet and gets on.  I was thinking that I was going to be chasing this guy down and punching him off of his scooter if he thought he was going to make that poor old dog run next to it.  In the middle of that thought the guy said something to the dog and it proceeded to climb ONTO the scooter at the guys feet!!!  They drove off like that...a happy little couple! 

We walk into the city center and I realize that my dress may never come and so in my head it also becomes a mission to see if there are any replacements that I could get last minute.  We have been walking past a Salvatore Ferragamo store the last few days and there is a gorgeous dress in the window that I love but I'm guessing it probably costs as much as we are spending for the entire wedding.  I am starting to feel the weight of this reality today and it's finally getting to me :(

Anyway, as we are walking around we find an Aveda salon...WooHoo!!!  We go in and wait and Dan gets a haircut and looks very handsome!

I just realized as I was looking through the pictures to piece this day together that I haven't been updating you with my gelato of the day!  Tragic, but I can not remember this far back what I had.  There is a pic from today and I can tell you that it was Chocolate and Blackberry and it was seriously almost as big as my head and that was just a medium.  The irony was that I really wanted the cone but ended up never making it to the cone sadly.  We stood and ate these under an awning while it poured down rain so it was pretty romantic.

After that we headed back over the bridge towards where our apartment is becasue there was a cool clothing store I had my eyes on for a few days.  Dan bought me some pretty things and we picked up a few gifts.  The girl in the store asked us if we were going out to the White Night celebration that night.  We had seen posters around town for this but we didn't realize exactly what it was.  Apparently this is an annual festival that is across Europe and that they are trying to make worldwide and it's promoting peace through the arts.  It's a 12 hour party where they close down the streets from traffic and everyone is supposed to wear white and there are all sorts of cool things happening on pretty much every corner and square.  If you make it to 8am there is free breakfast all over the city.  So we decided that we would definitely get out and see it.  After a little leftover Gusto pizza, we get dressed up in as much white as we had and hit the streets.

 Good picture of us all dressed up, huh?

This had to be the absolutely coolest event/party I've ever experienced!  We started out on our little street in the art district and it had a very cozy, family feel to it.  There were white baloons and lights in every store and all up and down the streets.  We saw a flash mob and a restaurant brought out the biggest pan of mussels that has probably ever been made.  There were dj's and drinks in a bunch of shops and we came across a Led Zepplin cover band outside a church.  They were really good!  At the Pitti Palace, the WWF was projecting a gigantic movie of animals and nature up on the front of the palace and they lined the front "yard" with white runners so people could sit and have drinks and food and watch.

When we crossed the bridge to go into the city center you wouldn't believe the crowds!  Masses and masses of people out partying.  In the piazza behind the Uffizi was a woman playing a grand piano and opera singers, in another piazza was an oldies band, near the Duomo was a choir, in a bar was a jazz/blues band, on a seedy street was a guy dancing in a pig mask with another guy playing guitar and singing.  Our favorite thing we tripped upon was a tall church where there was a dj playing music from the third floor window.  There were lights strobing along the front of the church and it was a big dance party crowd out front.  At some point they were throwing money out of the window.  We grabbed some beers and joined in!  I loved the mix of an old historic church with techno music blaring out of it.

Needless to say, we didn't make it to free breakfast since we were packing up and leaving for Montalcino the next morning but man did we have a BLAST!  Thanks for the farewell party Firenze, we are truly in love with you.
All day 7 pics here http://flic.kr/s/aHsjzDeL1b

Tomorrow...the a-hole GPS.

Day 6: Full of Gusto!

Off to see the David!  It's kinda funny, at this point we are wearing down and both admit to each other that we don't really care if we go or not but we keep hearing such amazing things so we suck it up and go.  We stop for some lunch at a restaurant recommended by a friend and I get the spaghetti with clam sauce and Dan gets gnocchi (we think).  *Sorry, we are at the airport in Munich right now piecing this together since we were so bad about keeping up with it so there may be a lot of details we forget.*  I should also mention that at this point of the trip my wedding dress has still not made it through customs and we are mere days away from the wedding and I am desperately trying to keep my shit together about it.  So anyway… off to the Accademia to see what all the fuss over this little David statue is.  Since we had our Friends of the Uffizi pass we sauntered past the line that was multiple blocks long and were inside in a jiff.  There were a few rooms of more religious art and a room with antique musical instruments and some statues that you wind your way through and then you turn into a room that is lined on the sides with giant slabs of marble that are partially chiseled into statues.  This is called the hall of slaves.  They were statues (I think about 10 or 12) Michelangelo started but never finished and at the end of this hall stands the tall and lovely David in a room built specifically for him.  You hear from people all the time how beautiful and breathtaking he is and you think to yourself, “He’s just a statue, what’s the big deal?”  And then you see him and you do stop breathing and you are mesmerized.  The absolute perfection and the fact that this giant was carved from one piece of marble that he found just sitting around in a church courtyard or something like that makes you realize what a wonder this statue is.  Dan and I never realized that David was THE David from the story David and Goliath until we were reading about him at the museum.  DUH!!!  Anyway, we spent a good deal of time walking around him and marveling about the details and what a great ass he hasJ.  Then we went into the last room of the museum and it was full of statues but then we realized they are plaster casts of busts and statues so it turned out to be very underwhelming aside from a few really nice paintings they had in there sort of willy nilly. 

This is the only pic I could take at the Accademia. It's the bathroom door.

Off we go to the Pitti Palace to see the Boboli Gardens!  They are stunning!  We had read a few reviews on them and one person gave it a very low rating because “There were no flowers”.  What an idiot!  First of all, there were some flowers.  However, it is a typical Italian garden which is full of trees and manicured bushes and statues, art sculptures and fountains and it was amazing.  If you were standing in the middle of that and disappointed then you should just immediately go blind and accidentally walk off one of the hillsides that look over the entire city of Florence to your death.  Anyway, we wandered through there and found what felt like some secret dark trails and just took our time and enjoyed ourselves.  We even saw a gorgeous owl!  At one point we went to go to the bathroom and as usual the men’s room had no lines and the women’s had a long line.  So Dan was done and I was waiting in line and Dan sat down on a bench and started sketching in his book.  Along came 4 young Italian boys who saw what he was doing and immediately crowded around him asking him about it.  It was the cutest thing ever!  Everywhere they saw him in the park they waved and yelled hello.  Dan’s now got his own little Italian fan club. 

After the gardens we walked back over to the piazza where Gusto Pizza was.  They weren’t open yet so we decided to get some beers and potato chips and sit on the church stairs and people watch.  Btw, Italian potato chips are SO good!  I want some now.  As we were sitting there some punk kid had a cute Shepard mix dog that he was playing fetch with…with a beer bottle cap.  It was a very cute dog but for some reason decided to go after an old woman randomly.  He called the dog away and he and his friends must have laughed because that woman’s friend proceeded to give that kid hell for like 15 minutes about it!  It was awesome. 

Off we go to Gusto Pizza when it opens and I’m psyched!  We walk in the door to order and one of the owners is at the register.  How do I know this?  There is a gigantic picture along the back wall of him and the other two owners.  Anyway, he was talking to an employee and turned around and liked what he saw because I got the eyes and a big reaction…hahahaa.  He was totally flirting with me even though Dan was right there and obviously with me.  When he took my order he drew a big heart around it and showed me.  It was very funny and a good ego boost!  We ordered some beers and went to grab them from the fridge and sat at a table with another random couple.  The place is super tiny and super packed so they just cram as many people at the tables as possible.  Needless to say, Italy should stick to wines.  The beer in Italy is for the most part crap.  Our number is called and Dan wades through the crowd to grab our pizzas.  When he puts mine on the table I realize it’s in the shape of a heart.  We dig in and it is amazing!!!  I can see why this place is so hoppin’!
All day 6 pics here http://flic.kr/s/aHsjzCviRu

Tomorrow…Florence throws us a major farewell party ;)

Day 5: Religious art anyone?

Slept in this morning and then decided to head down to the Uffizi.  We found this museum pass called the Friends of the Uffizi.  They are an organization that through donations funds restoring art at the Uffizi as well as many other museums around Florence.  We bought a family pass for 100 euros (which would cover a couple and two children) or you can buy a single pass for 60 euros and all of that money goes to restoring art.  What this gets you is free entrance into about 20-some museums and gardens and such around Florence as well as discounted tickets to theaters and shows.  To us though the best thing about the pass is, you skip the lines!  You go to the front or to a special entrance, show your pass and they let you in.  Voila…you just got 2 hours of your life back at each place!  And it’s good for a calendar year, which doesn’t do us any good.  Unless we decide to move here ;)

Now that we secured those (mine with the name Honey Pisano-Beaulieu teeheehee), we were off to get our bellies full of some deliciousness since it was about 1:00 (or 13:00, the Italians use what we consider military time) and we hadn’t eaten anything yet.  We didn’t have any plan for where to go, as usual, and we were afraid of all the restaurants right around the Uffizi.  So we picked a few random streets leading away from the Plaza and just when we were about to go feral cannibal on each other from hunger we came across this little restaurant with a cool buffalo on the front.  In we go and the first thing they have up front is a wood stove for pizzas.  A good sign, right?  We pick a secluded little table and get the menu and it is buffalo centric Italian food.  We ended up getting nothing with buffalo even though we were stoked about the idea.  I got the gnocchi with tomato basil sauce and Dan got the margharita pizza.  Both good and filling.  Dan was getting laughed at by some Italians for cutting his pizza into wedges and picking it up and eating it.  Here, they eat pizza in bites with a fork and knife.  Actully, they don't really touch pretty much any of their food with their bare hands.  It's always in a piece of paper or a napkin or eaten with utensils.  After eating our fill, off to the museum!

When you go in they have security like at the airport.  No biggie though, you go through the metal detector and if it beeps they just wave you through.  Up some stone stairs we go, and then up some more stone stairs and then up some more and you are in a hallway of windows filled with gorgeous statues and busts and the top is lined with portraits.  We saw a statue of a man that we are POSITIVE is a relative of Ryan Stephenelli.  For real – it looked JUST like him with a beard and in robes.  Eerie.  Anyway, you can look out over Florence through the windows and it’s beautiful.  There are rooms off of the one side of the hall that are filled with art and from what I could tell it starts with older art and as you progress moves forward in time.  It is, of course, mostly religious themes.  I’d say about half of the art we saw was the Madonna with the baby Jesus.  One of the rooms we would have loved to have seen (with Rembrandt and his contemporaries) was closed off for the day.  Boooooo.  I think the most powerful piece, for me, was one of The Slaughter of the Innocents.  You walked into the dark room it was in and it immediately commands your attention and as beautiful as the painting technique is, it is truly horrifying and affects you emotionally.  You are pulled into the moment.

After a few hours we finished up and went to look for the exit.  Of course, we had the same flights of stairs down and then they did a few funny things.  You were forced to walk through a tapestries exhibit that was pretty long.  I mean, they were impressive if you think about what it takes in man hours to produce a tapestry that is about 12’ x 12’ at minimum but they stank and we were tired out from the last few hours and just wanted to get out of there.  After you finally get through that display you go into the bookstore.  After the bookstore, a museum gift store, after that it looks like you are free but you go through a Salvatore Ferragamo store (weirdest thing of all), then a children’s museum bookstore and then another museum gift store.  Disney’s got nothing on these guys on the sales department!  And then we were free!

How cute is this pic of Dan?  He's looking at me and a little heart is coming out of his head!

It was nice out so we wandered around and over to the Ponte Vecchio.  I wasn’t sure what to expect here but it is literally lined with ALL gold and jewelry shops and it was packed!  We didn’t really stop into any shops because I figured there were no deals to be had for sure in such a tourist trap.  Not that I’m in the market for gold jewelry anyway.  We decided that instead of taking our chances on another crap place for dinner that we would go back to the first place we ate, Chingale Bianche since it was so good.  We showed up at about 6:30 and they weren’t open yet but we were invited to sit and look at the menu while the staff all finished up their meals before getting to work.  Dan decided that he loved the dish he had the first time so much that he wanted it again.  I think that he has secretly been craving it this whole time.  I ordered the Baccala Livorno in a tomato sauce with white beans.  Neither of us are disappointed, another stellar meal from this restaurant.  Highly recommended should you find yourself in Florence near the Ponte Vecchio. 

After that we were walking back to the apartment and got to a meat market.  There was a man outside cutting off little slices of porchetta and handing out samples to people and of course we stopped.  I’m a porchetta FREAK now!  If you have never had the real deal, get on a plane and get your ass to Italy and have some immediately.  So this adorable older gentleman who didn’t speak any English pulled me behind his little counter and signaled to Dan to stay on the other side and take a picture.  He put his arm around me, raised his gigantic knife into the air and yelled “Bansai!!!”  So funny!!!  We left there and decided once again to explore an area we hadn’t been to yet and found the public square that I accidentally drove through and terrorized the other night.  A beautiful square with giant trees, a big fountain in the center and a plain but gorgeous church with a long expanse of stairs that the locals would sit and drink beer and wine and chat with their friends.  There was some amazing smelling food there and we swore to come back the next night and get some pizza from a place called Gusto Pizzaria that was jammed full of Italians.
All Day 5 photos here http://flic.kr/s/aHsjzBnJk5

Tomorrow…The Big D!