Thursday, 22 June – continued
Whereas it was a relatively quiet day for me, others had more enterprise. This included:
* Amani Factory visit as already mentioned
* Enzo Ferrari Museum visit
* Luciano Pavarotti Theatre visit
and then there was Julie.
Julie departed that unusual experience but learned also that Pavarotti’s house was very nearby.
Thursday, 22 June, 2017 – Weather HOT
It is a good breakfast at our new Hotel.
We are on the bus at 9:30 to go to the cheese factory. Sadly, there has been another screw-up and it has been cancelled today. Instead, the bus is to take all willing to the Armani factory. I am a fast exit off of the bus as are several others. I am sure that the remaining had a good time??
I decide to follow the troops that jumped off the bus. Simone & Toto, Chris & Jeremy and Chris Love.
Simone does not get past the first shop before she disappears into the morass of shopping. The rest of us guys have a coffee, I want a Tea and they are making me an Earl Gray – yuk. So I change it to a Darjeeling which is much better. Eventually Toto suggests that we move on without them, so we do. The guys spend time in various shops but eventually we reach the Market destination.
We move out of the market and around various shops. Jeremy pops into one and finds some T-shirts he likes albeit there being sizing problems for a number of them.
We walk along the street a bit and Jeremy kindly gets some water from a random café.
I decide I have had enough and go back to the Hotel. Shortly after Julie shows up from her Armani trip, with a purchase. She encourages me to go across the street to the Deli as it will probably close for mid day break. So I do. I have the young guy serving me and he is not as friendly as the older one. Back to the Hotel where I work on this Blog. Eventually the cleaners come to the room so I move downstairs and get some suitable lubrication, G&T to enable smooth blogging.
We are walking to our restaurant tonight. Capo has advertised it as the world’s smallest, only 4 tables and only open one day a week. I go down early for a drink and there are two other groups there and it is very loud. We start our walk and the restaurant is just next to where we had coffee this morning.
Then the food starts coming.
Then it is time to go. I wait for Julie only for Tony to convince me that she has already left – abandoning me. She does come back eventually on our way back.
BTW: has anybody noticed that there has been no Salmon in the Tags for the last 3 days. Unbelievable.
Wednesday, 21 June, 2017 – Weather HOT
So, we leave today for new lodgings in Modena. We get our bags down to the lobby by 9:30 and on the bus at 10:00. Trek down that blasted hill one more time.
The trip up is largely uneventful. We stop for a loo break and just following us is a large group of Black young men. Turns out that they are a Cameroon Soccer team.
Capo explains that Modena is the food bowl of Italy and its richest town. It is home to Ferrari, Maserati and other such racing car teams / cars. Also it was Pavarotti’s home. The town just looks like another largish city. Capo does not care for it much.
He explains that when we get to the Hotel, we will likely be unable to check in. We unload our cases and stuff outside the Hotel.
Turns out most of the rooms are ready and we get our key and go up. It is a beautiful room.
Another big deal is that the Internet is lightning fast, much better than even at home. I was able to do a Post in the same time it took to upload 2 photos at the last place.
We have a big dinner tonight but we are hungry so we go across the street to a deli there. It is great.
Get on the bus to the restaurant. There is a dispute as to how long it will take to get there / return to connect the driver with an early start tomorrow for the cheese factory. Any way, it takes a solid 90 minutes to get there, even though we were opposite to the traffic flow.
We start with a tour through the cellar. They cure their own prosciutto and hams etc.
There was a lot of discussion what this was. Some thought Rabbit, others Pork. Me – Duck and it was. The waitress brought a picture of the Wild Duck.
The Guys certainly made a dent in the desserts. I had to get some of the slice for Sue.
Then we are out the door at 10:00 in order to get home by 11:00. Of course that was not possible, got home at nearly 11:30. Not starting until 9:30 AM tomorrow.
Tuesday, 20 June, 2017
I went to bed too early and wake up before midnight. I had been getting zero response time from the Net while trying to do the Blog so thought I would give it a go now. Response times were still not great but I managed to push some stuff through. It was 4:00 AM before I finished a Post on which I had been working for 3 days. Hooray!
A bit of sleep before a very busy day. Julie is up before me and goes on another of her long walks. After Breakfast we get on the Bus to go to a world famous winery Brancaia.
On the way after we turn off the main road, there is a large number of cars parked. They are a bunch of Archery Teams in some sort of contest. There is a set-up like a Golf Course in the various woods with fake animals, etc.
We tried all of these wines plus a couple more.
* Il Bianco, a white fruit salad primarily Sauvignon Blanc. During this tasting Susan performed one of her songs.
* Rose – only Merlot.
* TRE – a trio of grapes and areas: Sangovese, Merlot and Cabernet. Susan performed another of her songs.
* Chianti Classico – 100% Sangovese.
* Chianti Classico, Reserve
* Il Blu – the Blue is their most famous wine: 50% Sangovese, 45% Merlot, 5% Cabernet
* 2013 Cabernet – not in the photo
* Ilatria – 40% Cabernet, 40% Petit Verdot, 20% Cabernet Franc
* Two Grappas, one a 2004 reserve.
* Olive Oil
Our Host showed us a trick for the nose of the grappa, rub some on the back of your hand and then nose that and the glass – totally different experience.
We bought one of each of the Classico, for a later side by side comparison, and Julie picked up a Grappa as a sleeping tablet.
On the bus, Kevin the Kangaroo makes another appearance, apparently he was famous on a previous Gusto. Susan and Ben ask him questions and Ben plays back Trump responses as if they were from Kevin.
Rather than going straight back, we decide to stop at one of the small towns in the area Castellina for an hour. Some go shopping etc. Me, I set down at a bar for a G&T. Eventually Julie, who has bought me a shirt, returns and has a coffee.
We get back home and I have to fight my way up that hill again – it is hard work. A few photos from Julie at that time.
That night we go to Siena for dinner. I had not been to Siena before although all around it. It is a quite large town with the usual old town at the top of the hill. We stop at a cash point and get a ticket to go to the gates of the old town with the bus – it cost e130.
When we arrive at the old town, we find it is another long walk uphill. Part way up, the group splits with one part going to the cathedral and the rest of us directly to the Piazza. Again lots of ups and downs, actually a lot more of the latter which is a great concern for the trip back.
The booking at the restaurant is for 9:00 and we arrive at the Piazza early so we settle in for a drink.
The other group goes by the famous cathedral which is quite impressive.
The other guys show up and some of them have drinks too. The bar brings a whole bunch of snacks with the drinks which we really do not need. It is another decent walk to the restaurant, with more up hills. Finally we get there and settle in towards the back near a serious cellar.
The dish in the foreground is magnificent. It is a potato soufflé with gorgonzola and truffles. I would go as far to say that I expect that it would be considered the best dish for the whole trip by the end. Wonderful.
The top left was bacon with red onions, also very good, and the other porcini mushrooms. An auspicious beginning to the meal.
I had talked to Julie about the difficulty it would be to get back through the hills and she and Chris Love talked to Colin. As a result, the ordered a taxi for me and Nola. It was a Maxi so eventually 9 of us jumped into it for a smooth and quick ride to the bottom where the bus was waiting. The others arrive and we go back to home base.
One last trudge up the hills and then to bed for me.
Monday, 20 June, 2917
We are up early today. From 7:45 breakfast is available.
Julie then goes out for a long walk while the others have a shorter one in town.
There is a bit of a humourous episode after we load onto the bus as we can’t get out of the gate. Capo and driver go down and argue for 15 minutes before coming to an agreement. But still can’t get out the gate. One of the officials comes by and spends a while at it but still can’t open the gate. Capo & Driver back down again. Finally, they come up and are able to get the bus out. It has added another 30 minutes to the journey this morning.
We drive and drive to get to our destination. Capo gets on microphone to state that it is only 8 KM to go but a sign at the side of the road says 32. We continue and finally reach our destination – Arezzo.
Arezzo is another walled town with steep incline. Capo indicates a 4-5 block walk – it is much more. Once again I struggle with my breathing and fall behind the pack. Tony stops to help me keep going, then Julie and then Chris Love. Sites along the way:
We finally reach the top. The people there seemed really nice.
Capo had indicated before how beautiful the piazza was but there had been some sort of function there and workers were busy dismantling bleachers. There was litter everywhere. Food starts arriving.
Julie wanders around the town for a while as we sip on our decent red wines. Some snaps from her.
I get told to start the long walk down hill early so I won’t hold up the troops.
Reach the bus, there is a delay as the banks are mis-playing Colin’s credit cards. Then the long drive back home. The even longer crawl up the hill, it is really hard work for an old guy. When reach the top time for a nap.
After that, join the troops at the pool and have a G&T or two before bailing out for the night.