Italy 2010 Day 5

We awoke very early to drive to Chiusi and catch the train to Firenza (Florence). It was a nice change from some of the long drives we’ve been subjected to. I once wrote that I was in Florence… Florence Oregon . Now this was the real thing.

Florence

No photography of David allowed, although I saw a few trying to sneak in a shot (no respect). He was truly amazing.

They just had to try a McDonald’s while in Italy.

For dinner we decided to go back to our local favorite Tre Stelle. All of the alcohol indulgence backfired that night when Uncle Dave inspired by David started making penis jokes. Everyone was brought to tears.

Although some could not bear to hear it.

Exhausted, everyone went straight to bed when we got home. So I thought…

Italy 2010 Day 4

Podere Spedalone

Day 4 started with a drive out to a farmhouse, Podere Spedalone on the outskirts of Pienza. Giancarlo, the proprietor, was quite charming and he immediately made us feel welcome at his place. In the backyard where drinks and appetizers were served, we met Maggie the Magpie, an injured bird nursed back to health at the farm. Maggie was quite social.

With lunch ready, we shuffled into the dining area. Needless to say, the multi course meal was fantastic. Standouts were the vegetable ravioli, braised pork in milk, ice cream with pink pepper corns and a fig desert.

After the meal, we spent some time entertaining ourselves wandering the property and playing with the resident dog. We never got the dog’s name. He was  shy at first but slowly warmed up to us and then started demanding attention and play.

Later that afternoon we drove into old town Montepulciano for shopping. I understand this is where part of the movie New Moon of the Twilight saga was filmed. We also had an appointment for some wine & olive oil tasting.

ASCII Kolor stitching | 10 pictures | Size: 14801 x 3395 | FOV: 209.77 x 40.16 ~ 19.77 | RMS: 3.16 | Lens: Standard | Projection: Cylindrical | Color: HDR |

Italy 2010 Day 3

Pisa

A trip to Pisa of course meant we had to take six million photos of the leaning tower. If I had a euro for every time I saw someone doing the hand on the tower pose, our airfare would have been paid for. This was also the beginning of the ever repeating theme of being awed by historical sites and then disappointed by the sight of vendors selling cheap plastic miniature reproductions within close proximity.

These photos don’t do justice to the scenery. This and other sites were just jaw dropping. I wish I would have brought my flash that day. What was I thinking?

For lunch we separated into two smaller groups and went to look for a place to eat. I can’t for the life of me remember the name of the restaurant we ended up in but we had the back room all to ourselves.

Of course we had to have gelato after.

Sadly I found that graffiti is a universal problem.

Dinner that night was memorable in a good & bad way. We all agreed this was the worst meal of the trip so far, so I won’t go into details.

Perhaps to compensate for a bad meal Jimi performed his childhood impressions of Jon.

Italy 2010 Day 2

Day 2 started out with breakfast made by Jimi. A simple egg & potato dish and a fruit platter… well he made it look simple.

Pienza

For our first day trip, we drove the clan to Pienza. This was our first exposure to the small meat and cheese shops we quickly fell in love with. No fast food in these towns. The old architecture and narrow streets were picturesque. I’ve never seen so many ding dang cameras in my life. Speaking of cameras, lighting was difficult with the bright sun and dark shadows. I also realized I forgot to pack my 24-70mm. This meant I had to use a 16-35mm the whole trip but it actually worked out quite well. So I was either using my G11 or my big camera depending on what I “thought” I would need. There were times I would kill for a flash on my MkII.

I think this was our first of many gelato experiences. Eating gelato fast became a daily event with the COE (Council of Elders).

In the afternoon we had some downtime. The ladies played analog/digital scrabble… that means the old tiles on the board scrabble but they used the iPad to check the validity of the entries. Women.

Later that night we had dinner at Il Covo where I had the greatest gnocchi with gorgonzola cheese sauce I have ever tasted. It was by far the most memorable dish of the trip.

After dinner, Jimi forced us to work in the kitchen to prepare for the next day’s breakfast. After hours at regular pay!

Italy 2010 Day 1

Podere Monti

After the stress and chaos of waiting for everyone to arrive, renting 2 huge diesel vans, ramming everyone’s luggage into said vans and driving for 3 hours, we finally arrived at our temporary home, a villa in the small town of Montepulciano. Podere Monti is a 7-room bed & breakfast and we managed to take all the rooms and have the whole place to ourselves. This allowed us access to the kitchen which became very important as we had Jimi, our top chef. After settling in our own rooms, we explored the local area. Thinking we were back home, we set out to find something to eat at 5PM. No restaurant in Italy is open at 5PM! Later that night we had dinner at Tre Stelle our local favorite. This was also the start of the Italian meal protocol. This begins with multiple bottles of wine, antipasta, followed by a 1st course and a 2nd course.  It doesn’t stop there. You have to have dessert, espresso and final drink of lemoncello.

There are a lot of smokers in Italy and that was hard to get used to.

Italy bound

Bonjourno, today our Italian adventure begins. We’ve been talking about this for months and I can’t sit still. I packed all sorts of camera gear and 2 shirts… We’ll fly out of SFO, stop over in Washington DC and then on to Rome. I’ll try to update the blog daily but I don’t know what to expect for internet access out in Montepulciano.

We arrived @ SFO. The weight limit for checked bags is 50 lbs. I made it with 1/2 a lb to spare. I have heavy underwear.

The flight to Dulles was pretty uneventful except for that elderly German gentleman that spent 1/2 the flight taking photos at the emergency exit door. Oh I forgot the rude dude that had 5 bags and cut in front of everyone. The 2 women in front of us kicked his roller bag. I wish I would have gotten that photo.

48 in the 50th

Made a quick trip to Honolulu for work. When I checked in at the Sheraton, they informed me that I would receive a complimentary upgrade to an ocean view room. My enthusiasm was quickly dampened when I opened my curtains.

As usual I was only there for about 48 hours and worked long days. I have to apologize, I’m a creature of habit. I frequent the same places and eat the same things which make for boring photos. BTW the last photo is Princess Kaiulani. Her life has been made into a movie, it’ll be out soon.

Labor Day 2010

This year’s Labor Day celebration was a little tough as I was out sick the entire week before. We tried to keep it simple as we are preparing to go to Italy soon. Thanks to everyone for pitching in and helping. Also thanks to Jen for using my camera to grab a few shots.

To get ready for the Italian Scrabble challenge I initiated a WiFi session. We lost. I’m gonna study the dictionary on the flight to Rome.