Montalcino

Seriously beautiful up there huh?  So in 3 days, I will have been in Montalcino exactly one year ago.  I'm not really sure what happens to the time, but I'm ready to blog our day adventure.  As you can see, I'm totally on top of things over here.

So Montalcino.  I explained in my Siena post that our one truly spontaneous moment took place when we decided to take a day trip to Montalcino.  With some help of Carlotta, we figured out how to buy bus tickets and where to catch the bus (not the main bus station).  It's important to know that neither Ben nor I speak any Italian.  We learned some basic words, like hello, please, thank you, glass of red wine, but that's pretty much it.  I was pretty proud that I learned to order two bus tickets though.  Anyway, we waited at a bus stop on the side of the road outside the town gates constantly repeating the bus number because we only had one chance to catch the bus that day for the hour long ride to Montalcino.  When it came, it was FULL.  And I mean full.  We didn't really know what to do, and we couldn't really ask.  Two or so people pushed their way on in front of us so we did too.  I mean it was our one chance!  We were standing in the aisle, past the little line, basically crowding the bus driver who didn't seem to care at all.  Remember this was an HOUR long drive along country roads.  I was sweating up a storm sure I was going to fall right onto someone, the bus driver, or the windshield.  Every stop I kept hoping someone would get off, but no one did.  Then at one stop, this little old lady got on and pushed her way on just like we did.  At that point, I had one hand able to grasp the back of a seat, and Ben, behind me, squeezed my knee between his legs to help steady me on curves.  Finally at some stops, a few people would get off, but that meant we all had to get off the bus in order to let them out.  The little old lady at one stop just started chuckling, saying something to me in Italian, and rested her head on my shoulder.  So apparently the fullnes of the bus was not normal, and it was nice to commiserate together without even being able to understand each other.  About half hour or so into the drive, about half the bus, all teenagers, got off in a small town, and we were able to get seats and breathe the rest of the way.  It was an experience.

When we arrived in Montalcino, we were blown away by how pretty it was.  We walked around the walls of the city and went to a wine tasting room in the fortress.  We tried another glass sitting outside of Caffe Fiaschetteria Italiana, a cafe founded by the creater of Brunello,  until the cold got to us.  We walked some more and ended up at a wine store where you could swipe your card, taste a bottle, repeat as many times as you wanted, and then pay at the end.  If you bought the bottle you tried, the tasting was free.  Unfortunately we didn't have any room to fit wine bottles into our backpacks especially at the beginning of the trip.  We finally ended up eating dinner at a random restaurant where the entire back windows were the view of the hills.  Amazing.  But really the Brunello was the star of the day.  That wine is good, let me tell you.  A bit pricey over here, but oh so delicious.

The wine tasting was in here

Happy

We sat outside in the seating you see there on the right.

 

This wall had the stone painted on it.  It cracked me up.



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Now do yourself a favor and go try some Brunello!

Siena & A Super Long Post For a Day and a Half

So I know I said Siena and Montalcinio would be up next in my Italy journal, and they are!  Just a couple weeks later.  If you are able to spend some time in central/northern Italy, I highly highly recommend going to one or more of the smaller hill towns.  You don't need much time, and it just gave us such a great feel for Italy. 

Initially, when we planned our itinerary, we just planned on going to Siena because so many people we know raved about this town.  We pre-booked rooms at a hotel in Siena for two nights, but we didn't pre-book any train/bus tickets TO Siena because we wanted to give ourselves some flexibility with the timeline.  We knew it wouldn't take long to get from Florence to Siena and that there are lots of trains/buses that go between the two.  We didn't know if we would want a bit longer in Florence to do anything or if perhaps we would take a short trip to Pisa to see the famous leaning tower.  I had seen the tower as a child so I was really leaving that decision up to Ben.  ANYWAY...our one truly spontaneous moment was then allowed to take place.

When we went on our day trip out into Tuscany, our tour guide, Marc, raved about the town Montalcino.  We like wine (hence our day trip to taste wine), and he said if we could fit it in, we absolutely had to go to Montalcino to taste the famous Brunello wine.  Well, it intrigued us.  We asked my cousin Jessica about it as well, and an idea was formed. 

We decided to take an earlier bus from Florence to Siena to have the full day in Siena and bypass Pisa.  Ben truly didn't care (again, his decision), even though he was passing up on one of the great wonders of the world.  Let's concentrate on Siena now though.  This town is truly amazing.  We stayed at the Albergo Bernini which I have to recommend.  You do have to share a bathroom, but there were several for the 11 rooms, and we never had to wait.  Plus there are sinks in your room.  It was clean, in a good location, and the terrace was truly unreal.  That's why I have to recommend it.  It is a large terrace with several tables and has an incredible view of the town.

Um, yeah, incredible.  We had lunch on that terrace both days and snacks the second night and just enjoyed being there.  We were lucky to have great weather that day in Siena.  It was really the only day on our trip warm enough to wear one of my dresses.  After we settled in, visited the local grocery, and ate lunch, we were ready to explore.  With our trusty Rick Steves guide in hand, we knew exactly where to head.  I felt like Rick was my best friend after that trip, just an FYI. 

We set out to the main part of town to the Duomo.  We payed the nominal amount to go inside, and it was there that I found my favorite church/museum in Italy.  It was so beautiful and full of fun facts.  If you go to Siena, you have to go inside.  Promise me!

Here's a fun fact for you courtesy of Rick.  In the church, the heads of 172 popes are lining the main nave.  If you look at them, it's really the same 4 heads, repeated over and over.  See the picture below.



After being awed by the Duomo, we went and hung out in Il Campo, the main square, to enjoy the sun.  In the summer, they hold a huge horse race on this square.  We bought some ricciarelli, one of the local sweet treats in Siena, to enjoy while relaxing.

 After some relaxation, we headed back to our part of town and visited the Church of San Domenico.  The church holds many of relics and paintings of St. Catherine including her head. Truly, her head. It's interesting. However, we actually couldn't figure out how to get into the church and since it was almost closing time, we gave up and decided to try again the next morning. We ate at restaurant called Osteria Il Campaccio for dinner which came recommended from some friends and was located just below our hotel. The wonderful daughter of the owner of our hotel, Carlotta, actually just yelled down to them that we wanted to eat there. When we arrived, they asked if we had reservations, and we said no. Turned out, we did. That was the reservation. So we ate in a lovely little courtyard and had some of Siena's trademark pasta, Pici. I also had it with some of the trademark cheese of the region, Pecorino. So I went all local. 

After dinner, we went back to Il Campo to enjoy the square at night. We got some traditional Italian drinks (Limoncello and Agrappa--don't care for either) from this bar, Key Largo, and went up their tiny little stairway to enjoy the evening out on their benches overlooking the square. Beautiful.

(I felt very Alice in Wonderlandesque)

The next day we went back to the square to eat breakfast. It was pricy, but we felt like we should do that at least once on our trip. I enjoyed a nice croissant and cappachino while Ben had some espresso. He came back from Italy an espresso fan.

When then tried our luck again with the Church San Domenico, and this time, we were successful. In a serious departure, St. Catherine is the patron saint of many things and one is the patron saint for miscarriages. Upon arriving in Italy, I had received an email that a close friend had suffered a second miscarriage. For some reason, my phone wouldn't let me send outgoing messages, and let's be honest, I'm not techy enough to figure out why, so I wasn't able to send her my support and sympathy. I am not Catholic and I don't pray to the saints, but I did send some prayers there for her. I was overwhelmed by thinking about her in that church.

And so ends the majority of our time in Siena. After the church and lunch on the terrace where we had some panforte, another local delicacy, we caught the bus to Montalcino. But that's for the next post after I just realized how ridiculously long this one is. Probably too long, but Ben's my only reader, and this really is going to be my journal of our time there so so be it. On to Montalcino and WINE. 





Firenze

Ben and I were fortunate enough to take a two week trip to Italy and Nice, France following his graduation.  It was pretty much amazing as was expected.  I feel truly grateful that this trip happened, but as usual, it also sparked my MUST TRAVEL gene.  Unfortunately that's not always possible, especially with new jobs.  However, I will always have incredible memories of our trip, and I want to document it here.  We arrived in Florence and stayed for three nights.  We then stayed in Siena for two nights and took a day trip to Montalcino while there.  After that it was 2 nights in Venice, two nights in Cinque Terre, two nights in Nice, and one more night in Florence before taking off.  The only unfortunate thing (besides a migraine in Cinque Terre) was that it was a lot colder than the weather reports had predicted.  My one pair of jeans was worn everyday, and the majority of my pictures will have my trusty sweatshirt and often either my jean jacket or green jacket on over it.  Thanks heavens I brought those 4 items and a bunch of v-neck t-shirts.  My poor, cute, summer dresses didn't really get the showcase I thought they would.  I don't think I have ever wished I had packed my boots as much as those two weeks.  In the long run, it doesn't matter though.

So this blog post is dedicated to the great city of Firenze, our first stop.

We stayed at the Hotel Dei Mori which was a wonderful B&B.  Peter and Danny were incredible and made us feel so welcome.  Here was our room:

It was right by the Piazza della Signoria which was a great location.  Once we arrived, jet-lagged of course, we just went for a walk.  We stumbled to a random pizzeria for our first meal and had some wine on the Piazza della Signoria.

The next day we visited the famous Uffizi Museum in the morning and stopped by local shops to pick up our lunch which we ate on the terrace at our B&B.  

In the afternoon, we took a tour into Tuscany to visit some vineyards.  We really loved the wine at the first one and the olive oil at the second.  It was beautiful out in the countryside, and I'm so happy we were able to go for at least an afternoon.

That night we were able to meet up with my second cousin, Jessica, and her boyfriend, Nicco, and eat at Quattro Leoni which was across the Arno.  It was great to be able to see some family and get some advice from people who live in Florence!

It was a long but amazing day.

The next day we were up bright and early to visit the Accademia.  We were awed by the David.  I had seen the David when I was only 12 and visited Italy with my family, but age definitely adds a lot to the experience.  We also walked up to the Piazza Michelangeo across the Arno to see some absolutely incredible views. This was the one recommendation from Jessica and Nicco that they insisted we do, and it will be my major recommendation from now on as well. 

We did a lot of walking around, eating gelato, and drinking good Italian wine.  Here are some more pictures of our time in Florence.

So there were more pictures than anyone other than our parents need to see, but trust me, it's only a tiny little bit compared to the actual amount we took.  Next up on my Italy journal--Siena and Montalcino!!  Arrivederci!



It's Thanksgiving, and I'm thankful

 

It's Thanksgiving, and I really am thankful for so much.

• My adorable, healthy nieces and nephew
• My family.  I wish we lived closer, but it makes me that much more grateful for the time we are together.
• My faith
• Oliver, my faithful, fluffy buddy
• Purdue
• Old friends
• Sports
• A good historical fiction novel set in England (quite specific, but my favorites)
• TV that makes me laugh
• DVR
• A job
• Buffalo Wild Wings (What?  It's true.)
• Wine, french bread, and brie
• Pasta
• Blogs
• Memories from wonderful vacations (Ah, Italy)
• The dream that I could someday have a beach home
• My mom's mashed potatoes
• Music and the ability to keep a tune
• The Avett Brothers
• My random, new found love for baths and french dip sandwiches (not at the same time)
• My favorites Anthropologie mug
• Rivalry games.  (Go Clemson--Beat the Gamecocks!  Go Purdue--Crush the Hoosiers!)
• My health
• Ben.  Last, but never least.

*Picture of Ben and Ollie watching a Clemson game.  All things for which I'm grateful. :)