So for tomorrows class we have over 200 pages of reading. I am not nearly done with it, but then again, neither is anyone else. I should be working on it, but I wanted to update everyone on wine tasting, as that is much more interesting. Also, the professor, while I think she is brilliant and really knows a lot on the topics she covers, really goes off on tangents and random paths that have nothing to do with the topic. So, I will get to my reading, I promise. But for now, a quick update on life at the Villa.
First, Sunday wine tasting. This was an event done through a company called Florence for Fun, and they provided transportation and three winery visits for tastings for 40 euro. Not too bad. The trip was to taste Brunello wine, which is made of 100% Sangiovese grapes. The sad thing was we had to be at the train station in Florence by 8am. This meant getting up at 630 and catching the 715 bus. There were 7 of us from the program who went: Lee Catherine, Aaron, Pat, Charlotte, Rachel, Tiffany, and me. Also on the trip were some high school girls, or if they werent in high school, they sure acted like it. Total, there were about 35-40 of us.
So off we went at about 815. I slept for a bit on the bus in the ridiculously uncomfortable seats, and we arrived at the first winery around 945. We had a tour, and then by 1030, we were tasting Brunello. As Lee Catherine said, it was double digits time wise, so we were ok. Also important to note...it was freezing and rainy. I dont know what I was thinking, but I thought Tusacny would be warm come late May early June. Apparently I was wrong. In any case, we tried two Brunellos at this winery, and while I really liked the first one, I decided not to buy anything.
Our next stop was just a hop, skip, and a jump away, and it was a winery owned and completey run by women. This made me really want to like the palce, but it just didn't happen. Then even had a cool wine called Cinderella, and had lots of art all over the place. Still, it jsut didn't quit do it for me. We also got to try multiple kinds of wine there (I only tried 2 of the 6 options), and while they were good, they weren't nearly as good as that first wine I had. At this point I was wondering if I should have bought that one bottle.
So off we go to lunch, and magically, our bus starts leaking from the rain. Of course, this wouldn't be my life if I didnt happen to be sitting directly underneath one of those leaks. So we jerry-rigged the curtain and tried to stay dry that way. In addition, it literally took the bus 20 minutes to finagle its way out of the place it had parked itself. Crazy fun, really.
Lunch was a free 2 hours in Piensa, a cute little Tuscan town. What was not so cute is that this was a day when the wineries open their doors to tourists, and so Piensa was packed. On top of that, it began to really rain. and we could not get a table at any restaurant for 4 people, much less 7. So we split up, and Lee Catherine, Pat, and I staked out a table, but then some other people snaked it it from us. So we turned our attention to a smaller table, and stalked a couple until they left, at which point we took their table. This was a cute table under an awning next to a huge Italian party. About 15 minutes into our lunch, it started pouring. It literally seemed like the sky was dumping buckets of water on us. We were attempting to stay dry, but the wind kept blowing the rain under the umbrella we were sitting under. So we went inside to pay our bill, then ran outside under an archway. A couple minutes later, the rain let up a bit, so since we had about 20 minutes til the bus was supposed to come, we wandered to a gelateria. Lee Catherine and I got distracted by a store however, where we each bought our moms a gift. Then we made our way to the gelateria, and the skys proceeded to open up again, soaking us as we ran to the bus with our gelato.
Next we went to our third and final winery, where we were greeted with a fabulous glass Rosso and some toasted bread with amazing olive oil. This is a winery owned by a family, and one of the sons gave us the grand tour. After the tour, we were let into a tasting room, and plied with sandwiches and cheese, in addition to 2 types of Brunello, grappa, and a dessert wine. We stuck with tradition and all in the tour had the grappa together. I found it nasty and will be happy never trying it again. I felt the same way about the dessert wine, lol. The Brunellos though, were fantastic. The atmosphere was great too. The father came in and flirted with the girls and took some pictures with us. The mother came in and scolded him in Italian. The mother also shooed away all of the Italian men who were coming in to see us since we were mainly a group of girls. all in all, it was fun and we got a lot of wine there. So, to pay them back for their generaosity, I got my 2 bottles of wine, the Rosso from when we first came in and one of the Brunello's, in addition to some olive oil. We can take back to bottles, so thats it for me. :-) Finally, we all got together...minus the boys...and took a picture for the winery. We then made our way back to the bus, and slept peacefully all the way home.
We missed dinner at the Villa, but Bridie, our keeper of sorts, pulled out some leftover for us from the fridge in the kitchen. And that was pretty much it for the weekend.
Today, we had a guest speaker from the DOD come, and he spoke mainly about WMD's. Apparently this was his first time teaching a class, but he did a grat job and I really learned a lot. For example, for our academic fact of the day, we looked at case studies of nations with nuclear weapons and those who don't. Fascinating to me is that South Africa had them, and gave them up when they decided they didn't need them anymore. Sadly, not all countries agree to do busniness that way.
Also, today was a holiday, so there was no staff at the Villa to help wth lunch or dinner. So, as I was on scullery duty at lunch, I had a lot to do. It was all good though, we got it done and lunch was delicious as always, though not as filling as usual, seeing as it was all cold stuff, and not the big pasta meal we are used to. For dinner, the 12 of us went up to Fiesole and met Dr. J, one of our professors, and Chris Bidwell, the guy who lectured us today. We had a great big dinner and lots of fun conversation. Im happy that though I do not necessarily like all of the people in the program, I can get along with them just fine. All in all, its a pretty sweet deal.
I meant to mention it earlier, but so ar I have only gotten 4 bug bits. One on my right foot, one on my left ankle, one inside my right wrist, and one on my forehead, and none of them have gotten as infected as I usually get.
I will get to the wine tasting pictures hopefully tomorrow. We are going to the Uffizi in the afternoon, but I should have some free time. Just keep an eye out on the left for links to the pictures.
And on that note, I am off to do some reading before going to bed. Night!
No comments:
Post a Comment