Day Four

San Gimignano was on today’s list but we kind of slept late. We took the Cabrio back to the rental place. Was sorry to see that one go! It was fun driving the ziggity-zagetty

Bought more wine (must never run out of wine!) and food! Wow the food from the grocery store was good and the deli was fantastic!

Eventually we hit the road, got lost, went thru a few alleyways in small towns, stopped at a rather unfriendly winery in Castellina, got lost some more and then eventually made it to San Gimignano. I thought it might be a real test for Allison’s foot but it turned out not to be a problem. She walked farther than Grace and I!

The food in San Gimignano was wonderful and the walled city was beautiful (first of several walled cities we visited) it dates back to the 2nd century BC and therefore is older than any city or town in America. Full of history and Renaissance culture, architecture and art, we enjoyed walking thru the streets and piazzas. And then surprise:

Drummers and more drummers, as young as ten and as old as sixty-five or so. Just wonderful!

Day Three

Nicholas really was wonderful! Found us a rental car in Gaiole and we were off. Oops, we need gas…how do we use the automatic gas station/dispenser that has instruction in Italian? Oh well, we got it and drove the back road (Rt. 222 better known to us as the “wine road”) most of the way to Florence.

I simply don’t have words to describe how beautiful was the landscape, vineyards, and villages. The winding road forced the driver to pay attention to driving but sometimes, you just had to slow down or stop to gaze around. Each new turn or crest in the road brought a new vision of beauty. From some of the higher hills, we could see for many miles.

Eventually we arrived in Florence and picked-up the new car. Florence dates back more than two thousand years and was considered the center of Italian art, architecture and culture. After finding the best parking spot of the entire trip we walked thru the Boboli Gardens behind the Pitti Palace. At its highest point, it overlooks the entire city of Florence. We didn’t want to leave…

Please note that most museums in Florence do not permit you to carry any dangerous weapons into the museum (including swiss army knives). They’ll keep it for you but don’t be late coming back to pick it up. When the office is closed, they don’t like having to go back to get a stupid tourist’s checked dangerous weapon.

We came back to the villa and over greedy and wine, told each other of our day’s travel. The others went to Sienna. We weren’t able to do it every evening but hearing the stories of where everyone went and looked at the pictures they brought back was always my favorite time of the day.

Observations:

The first wine of the day was often the best.

You learn a lot about yourself when you’re away from home.

Sharing unhurried meals will make even me eat more slowly.

Manga ! buno appittooo !

Untitled from Val Zdrada on Vimeo.

Driving me crazy or just a trip on the R408 up, around, down and over again

Mario at the wheel chainti tuscany from Val Zdrada on Vimeo.

Day Two

Where the hell am I?

And that smell…oh yeah, hydrogen sulfide…read about it in a book. The waters safe to drink but smells like rotten-eggs. I learned later that the water from the frig door dispenser had a filter that took all the smell away but I didn’t notice it was even connected that until later in the week.

Left-overs! God that meal last night was fantastic and there’s plenty of left-over for breakfast (actually, it lasted several days!). Coffee? Hmmm…how about espresso? Better settle for some green tea. (Ed! It’s getting long again).

BTW, it’s a national holiday in Italy. It’s the 150th anniversary of unification. It’s a BIG deal and everything’s closed, except for the restaurants and bars. Sounds like the United States…so much for a replacement for the rental car.

Speaking of the rental car, Val and Allie’s Matt went with the rental agency’s tow-truck to get the broken-down rental car. We were having language difficulties with the cooks on the previous day but and Betty’s (Villa owner) son, Nicholas, saved us. When asking the tow truck driver if he could speak English, he said “no,” Albanian…

Bought our first chianti. After drinking the villa dry last night, at least we won’t run out…

In the bedroom, I found an original edition of Winston Churchill's "History of the Second World War." Much better reading than the books I'd brought with me from home.

Gaiole is a nice little town. The church always had parking and was a convenient 2-3 minute walk to the markets and piazza. I like resting on vacation and could easily see me daily visiting the piazza for lunch and wine and then napping back at the villa. Alas it was not to be…

Day One

I’ve never done well being awake in excess of 24 hours (let alone 30 or 35, I lost count). Can’t sleep well in cars or planes... Took off an hour late and landed on time in Madrid (that was different). Madrid’s airport was cool. Big terminals with lots of shopping (but no Starbucks, believe me I looked!). Starbucks came up in discussion a few times but more about that later.

Americans have many good qualities but teaching children multiple languages isn’t one of them. Sitting in an airport restaurant (Madrid) having just dealt with the check-out person’s (he might have been from Spain but with the European Union, who knows?) roll of the eyes at my attempting to order a salad by sign language and then his speaking English (to my great relief) was the beginning of my chagrin over not having studied more with the Italian language CD that Grace had purchased. Paying was easier as I could look at the register display.

Okay this is already too long.

We got to Florence (small airport), got a brand spanking new Peugeot 5008. Bob took time a couple days earlier looking for an Alfa-Romeo but none would fit 4 people and their luggage (darn!). The Peugeot only had 24 kilometers on it and a new car smell that seemed real (Kelly told me a while back the smell comes from a spray can, oh well).

Then it broke down. Water and anti-freeze at Bob’s feet was somewhat unwanted and unexpected. SHEE-TA!

Sitting somewhere in the Italian countryside wasn’t terrible. Doing it after being awake for what seemed like a week (yes, sometimes I exaggerate), being hungry, and really needing a glass of wine made it not so much fun. Everybody was cool and we came up with credible plans to deal with the situation. Not exactly a minor feat considering no one had any more sleep than I did.

Eventually, we got to Betty’s Villa (Noeth likes driving the ziggity-zaggety) and there was food and wine (and a bathroom). Yes! (Did we play greedy?)

Welcome to Villa Betty

As the broken down car occupants made their way up the switchbacks and passed through the quaint town of Gaiole for the first time, memories of the mess on the side of the road were overwritten by the beautiful villa that awaited us. It was much more extravagant than any of us expected. The true icing on the cake was the aroma of authentic Italian food emanating from the villa’s kitchen. Two cooks were preparing our “welcome dinner”. Antipasti, caprese salad and pasta with homemade sauce was ready for the dining room table at our arrival! We were ravenous and this all tasted so very good and definitely welcoming! We ate the pasta to our heart’s and stomach’s content… when the two platters of melt-in-your-mouth lemon chicken arrived. There was enough food for 20 people. We did our best, but enjoyed the lemon Danish-like cake for breakfast the next day…along with several helpings of the welcome dinner leftovers!

When we ran out of wine with our dinner, (please, just a couple bottles of wine for 7 wino travelers and Bob? After 20-some hours of travel? What were they thinking???) the cooks got in touch with the villa owner who also happens to run a nearby restaurant. We got to meet Betty as she came to our villa, loaded with more wine. What a Dear she is!!! In return, we gifted her with a couple of homemade treats from Pennsylvania and a “beautiful relationship” was born!

Speaking Italian

I've got to say that I think we communicated well with people throughout Italy without knowing any Italian before leaving. There is something to be said for the expressiveness of Italians' hand gestures. Anyway, we quickly learned the basics - bonjourno, ciao, grazie, prego. Of course, with our enthusiasm, curiosity, and a healthy serving of creativity, we also learned a few other phrases to help make ourselves understood. I'll start with some of the more creative ones that are the founding names of this blog.

1. Ziggity-Zaggety Though most Italians don't know this one, we found it a perfect way to describe the country roads that led us to our villa and many of the other hill towns we visited.  Hopefully we'll get a video up here to demonstrate what words can't describe. Of course, the various types of cars we rented also made the experience different!

2. Shee-ta! This one is always pronounced as an exclamation. This one is thanks to Mr. Puliti and his family (am I allowed to hold them responsible for this?). Use it interchangeably with "Oh-no" or "crap!" You get the message.

3. Tartufo, Prosciutto, Carpaccio These are a few of my favorite things! Food, food and more food! So good! The three mentioned here are just a few of the wonderful foods that Italians are know for...and that we couldn't get enough of while we were living it up!

TARTUFO! Holy cow that's a lot of truffle! Yes please!

Prosciutto!

Salmon Carpaccio

 4. Italian Direction "Words"  Okay, so it's not like we actually learned how to say "left", "right", "straight", per say, but anytime we stopped for directions, we wound up on the right path immediately. "San Miniato"  was  down to the bottom of the hill, make a left, go up a hill, down a hill, and you're there.  And to think of the number of times American TV shows, etc, have made fun of the over-zealous use of hand gestures by Italians...we literally would've been lost without them!

5. Refrere Culo  The spelling is probably wrong. It's not one that we asked anyone to write down for us or anything. On our arrival at the Florence Airport, day one, we rented two cars for the eight of us. A little over an hour into our drive, the lead car pulled over, announcing that the car had over heated and there was a large puddle of liquid at the driver's (Bob) feet.  The men conferred and agreed it was an anti-freeze puddle. A big red light in the dashboard of the car read STOP. There's more to the whole saga, but for now, suffice it to say that the villa owner's son (Nicholas) spent three days dealing with us, the rental company (Dollar) and a taxi service in an attempt to get a replacement. At the end of the ordeal, Mom (Grace) asked Nicholas how to say "pain in the ass" in Italian. "Refrere culo."

"...Nicholas, have we been a real 'refrere culo' or what?"

Unfortunately, this was not one of the 5 (total) cars we rented.

Anyone else have any good Italian (with or without the quotations) words that you/we learned?

A Collection of Stories from 8 Refrere Culos in Italy

Matt and I thought that a good way to TRY to describe our Italian vacation with others, and to remember it in perpetuity, would be to post a blog using the journal that we kept (attempted to keep) during the journey.  Of course, this will also be a way to showcase some of our favorite photos, too!

As to be expected, since life doesn't slow down even when you go on a vacation, it may take a while for us to finish this project. But it's coming, don't you worry.