Category Archives: Travel

England – days 5, 6 and home

Our fifth day was a Saturday. We woke and went to the kitchen to fix our breakfast of crumpets with butter and jam, hard boiled eggs and French pressed coffee. We stared in disbelief at the wet snow coming down outside! It didn’t last long but was a surprise.

We had decided we would go to Chipping Norton and on to visit the Hook Norton brewery nearby this day. It was very much colder and spitting rain on our drive. We were very surprised that the countryside was snow-covered! Luther said it is the highest point in the Cotswolds so they would be colder. We found the brewery and learned you have to book for the tours so we just went to the museum and had a pint of their beer. Not bad ale.

Old photo.

Present day brewery after renovation.

We were just about ready for lunch so headed over to Stow-on-Wold. Before we got there we turned off into Oddington where a brown signed pub was supposed to be. We have learned, a little late, that the best pubs have the brown highway signs like tourist sites do. They seem to be of a better quality. This one, the Horse and Groom, was extremely nice. We sat by the huge, see through fireplace and ordered. The things on the menu were very intriguing, especially the appetizers. But I hadn’t yet had my fish and chips and the man said the haddock was fresh yesterday. So I got that. It was very yummy. An oddity in this area. Fish and chips are always sold with mashed peas. Don’t ask me why.

We headed over to Stow and passed through. A nice town, it was too cold for strolling around. We went back to Lechlade near where we are staying and bought something for dinner, some wine and some firewood. We were going to go to the Plough, a nearby pub but it was just too horrible out.

We had a fine dinner of veal chops with mushrooms, potatoes and broccoli made by yours truly! The fire was toasty.

Sunday, our sixth day, dawned bright and sunny with brilliant blue skies. A great day to go see the chalk horse in Uffington and the standing stones in Avesbury. I have always wanted to see the horse. It has intrigued me as it is across a hillside and carved into the chalk so it is white. It is made of very simple lines but most definitely a horse. Beautifully done. And over 3000 years old. Over the centuries the local folk have cared for it and probably used it in religious ceremonies. Turns out you can’t really see the horse. It needs to be viewed from above. Which has sparked UFO theories over the years. It DOES make one wonder why, since they couldn’t really see it back when it was created. We climbed the hill and could see the head and front legs from close up. We just couldn’t get the real impact of the figure. So I borrowed an aerial picture from above the horse from http://www.hows.org.uk. We were standing about where the red dot is to take the next photo. Don’t you love the minimalist way it’s created?

We also visited Uffington castle or what was left of it. Just earthworks.

Next we drove across country, and beautiful country it was, to Avesbury. The standing stones there are really impressive. They were erected 6000 years ago. The stones are huge and rough hewn, not smooth and square like Stone Henge. They spread over a wide area and surround the little village.

There is a pub called the Red Lion amidst the stones. The sign out front says they are the only pub in the world inside a standing stone circle. Probably true! We had a beer there.

We headed north and kept a lookout for the brown pub signs. We passed several and stopped at The Baker. This place taught us that not all brown signed pubs are the same. This one was only OK. We had our lunch and headed back, taking the back roads. Such pretty countryside! We stopped at the Plough, near our cottage. Being as it was Sunday, it was packed with families enjoying the “Sunday Roast” which all pubs serve on Sunday. Roast beef, yorkhire pudding, mashed potatoes and assorted vegs. We only had a small beer there just to take in the ambiance. Nice place.

Last day. We were off to stay near the airport overnight. We drove across country on small roads. The scenery was pretty. When we got to Blechly we saw a sign to Blechly Park. That is where they broke the codes in WWII. It probably won the war. It is no longer used but they have a good audio tour and numerous multimedia stations. Very interesting. We left and stopped at the White Horse for lunch. It was probably one of the better pub lunches we had. I had chicken Brest stuffed with smoked cheese and ham on a bed of peas, broccoli and greens. Very tasty. Luther had grilled catch of the day.

Finally, a pretty little bird in the yard of the cottage on our last day. I looked it up in my bird guide and it’s a European Robin. A favorite bird.

We will leave very early tomorrow morning. Looking forward to getting back to my boys, Rocky and Simba!

England – days 3 and 4

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The third day we decided to take the walk from our cottage through the National Trust buildings in the tiny town of Buscot next to us. There are one or two buildings not owned by the Trust but most are. We left the cottage and were wished “good morning” by the raucous cawing of the rooks. It sprinkled rain on the walk but it wasn’t too bad. There is a beautiful church at the end of the village which has had a place of worship since the 1200s and maybe longer. It is a place that exudes a sense of peace. I sometimes wonder if places on this earth are preternaturally spiritual and that’s why places of worship naturally gravitate to them over the millennia.

After our walk we drove into Lechlade, the next town from us, only a couple of miles. I wanted to explore the village. It is a lovely place as so many of these villages are but not so beautiful that it is overrun by tourists. Lots of little shops. A very pretty 12th century church essentially unchanged since it was built except for a new roof when the first one burned. This lets the church retain its symmetry which is not the norm in British churches. We ran into an eccentric man wearing a hat adorned with many pins and ornaments walking his little Jack Russel named Elsie. He was pleasantly plump and rumpled. I complemented him on his hat and he was very pleased. We petted Elsie who was dumped by some idiot and he rescued her. I enjoyed meeting him and even more, I enjoyed talking to him. I really miss that in Italy. I seldom can ask the questions in Italian that come to my mind when meeting people.

Here is a stone roof being repaired. A lot of work. Each stone is removed, piled up and cleaned and then replaced.

We stopped into a shop called Cutler and Bayliss – Butcher and Greengrocer. We cursed ourselves for shopping at at Sainburys yesterday. This place had beautiful meats and poultry and also cheeses and veggies. Everything for a lovely dinner. We decided to go back Saturday for our last dinner ingredients. We also spied a cheese we’d heard much about called Stinking Bishop. My sister will recognize this and tell her husband Bill because it was in Wallace and Grommet that we heard of it and he’s a big fan. We bought a small slice and it certainly lives up to its name!

We next drove to Burford. This is another pretty village that HAS been discovered by tourists. It has a street of shops and we had lunch in a pub there. We drove back to Buscot and decided to relax for the afternoon. I took some photos of the nearby Thames. There is a walking path that goes to Oxford many miles away. There are lots of narrow boats that navigate the river and it is on a side spur where they negotiate the lock near our cottage.

We had lunch here.

Our fourth day was spent at Blenheim Palace north of Oxford.

This is the birthplace of Winston Churchill and the seat of the Dukes of Marlborough since the 1700s. A magnificent place. Huge. Acres and acres of landscaped gardens, lakes and fields. We paid the princely sum of £40 for the two of us to go in. It was drizzling and quite cool with a stiff breeze. We walked the fairly long distance from the car park to the palace. Once inside your ticket gets you into the Churchill galleries, the gardens and access to the guided tour. We skipped the gardens because of the rain. Extra tours cost extra money, for example, the upstairs-downstairs tour which I thought would be interesting. The Churchill galleries showed the lineage of the Dukes and how Churchill fit into that. It gave a pretty detailed story of his birth and childhood and formative years. He was mostly raised by a nanny and his Grandmother as his parents were busy with their own lives not to include their children. The rooms went through the courtship of his wife, his military service, the onset of WWII and his becoming Prime Minister and the war years, and finally his death. It even had a gallery of his paintings, some of which I thought were quite good.

We joined the guided tour through the apartments, salons, library etc. Tons of significant art, tapestries depicting the first Dukes wars and subsequent Dukes and their wars. They are on their tenth Duke now I think. The family still has apartments in the Palace.

At the end we were regaled by an old gentleman playing the magnificent pipe organ in the library. We finally ducked out on him. I think he could have talked for hours!

The organ.

Detail on the organ.

We tried to find some pubs that had been recommended by our friend but the first town was so jammed we couldn’t park. And the second town we could not find at all. So we headed back to Burford and the Lamb Inn. We sat in front of the crackling fire and had a nice lunch. We ate in for dinner and had a fire to warm the drizzly cold afternoon and evening.

Last days.

Merrie Olde England – trip report – days 1 and 2

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Another long trip report. If you are not interested just skip this post.

We are just back from Merrie Olde England. Oxfordshire to be precise, just at the edge of the Cotswolds. We flew RyanAir from Perugia to Stanisted. It took about two hours to get to our National Trust Cottage in Buscot village. It is called Lock House and used to be the lock keepers house. It was built in 1790 and has meter-thick stone walls throughout. We’ve stayed in four of these cottages so far and I think this one is the least comfortable. It does not have wifi which, in the future will be a priority. I like to keep in touch with my cat sitter via email. It’s also quite loud outside as it sits just beside a waterfall that roars. I am not sure if this is seasonal as it has been quite wet here. That said, it is fine for our six night stay.

Lock Cottage.

Rookery. Rooks, like big crows, live in neighborhoods called Rookeries and are raucous. Also, if you park under them your car is trashed. Our rental definitely was!

Just outside our cottage this torrent rushed from the river into a wier and thence back into the river. Very loud.

Path along the canal over to the river.

The Thames river itself. There is a path the whole way to Oxford.

Our first day we arrived at about six in the evening and were pretty tired. We drove the two miles up the road to the Trout Inn, a pub. Inside was kind of odd because it had two long tables and a few small round ones in front of a cheery fire. The barman was large, cheerful of face and friendly. The menu was on chalk boards above the fire. At the other end of the room a band was setting up. It was Tuesday so that was kind of a surprise. The gents in the Thames Valley Jazz band as well as all the people in the place were older than us by a good bit.

We ordered the trout (what else?) and it was fried with lemon and butter with two generous bowls of sides. One was veggies, assorted. The other was french fries. The trout was excellent. They farm it in this area.

Trout by the fire. Cozy.

The band got going and were playing jazz from before and during WWII, which I enjoyed. There was a coronet, clarinet, stand up bass and a banjo. They were all pretty good. Too bad they couldn’t sing.

The second day was sunny and cool. We decided to take the train into Oxford. It is a lovely city. Britain’s oldest university is here. It was founded in 1290. It is made up of many individual colleges, I think about 40. Some of the more famous are Brasenose 1509 (named for the brass nose-shaped door knocker on their main door), Christ Church 1120, Exeter 1314 etc. we picked up a little guidebook and it lists a few of the famous people who attended the colleges. Christ Church had William Penn. Brasenose, Michael Palin. Exeter, J.R.R. Tolkien. Magdalen College, Cardinal Wolsey, Oscar Wilde, C.S. Lewis, Prince of Wales, Dudley Moore and 14 prime ministers. Anyone who is anyone went here! Oh and there is a HUGE rivalry between Cambridge and Oxford. The architecture spans the centuries and so is quite beautiful and remarkable. Just a few pictures of the many I took are below.

This is the pulpit in one of the college chapels.

For Harry Potter fans. This statue in front of a college building was who Nearly Headless Nick was patterned after. Recognize him?

Room where the students go to gown-up before graduation. It is a glorious room. These ceiling carvings are each made up of a college donors initials. You had to give 500,000 pounds to get up there.

One of the beautiful windows in the same chapel.

The whole room. This also was in the first and third Harry Potter movies. It was the hospital where Hermione was taken when she was hurt.

Main cathedral.

Some of the college buildings.

We had lunch in the Turf Tavern, a 14th century pub. It is famous because it was the place that Bill Clinton said, “…but I didn’t inhale”. Pretty good pub food. We returned to our cottage in late afternoon after shopping for dinner provisions. A nice day.

Days three and four.

A day in Siena

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On Sunday we took a day trip to Sienna. It was many years since our last trip on a long ago vacation. We are only 1 1/2 hours away by car on pretty good roads. We had thought last summer to go but decided to wait until there would be less people. We parked in one of the numerous lots and walked into the center. The Piazza is one of the largest I’ve ever seen and it is where they hold the Palio horse race two times a year. The city is divided into 17 contrade, or distinct neighborhoods each centered on a main street with a church. They each have a banner with animals or symbols to identify them and each contrada has its own long history and complicated set of heraldic and semi-mythological associations. The neighborhoods are fiercely competitive and each contrada has a horse running in the Palio. I am told if you marry outside of your contrada each member of the couple still must remain loyal to their own contrada and split up for the meetings and to cheer on your horse.

Enough of the history. There is tons more. This Sunday happened to be one of two weekends a year that they have a really big market in the Piazza. About half of the vendors were food sellers. The rest were selling clothes, scarves, hats, and trinkets. Here are a few photos of the market. This one shows the scope of this square and the market.

Cheese.

Prosciutto and meats.

Beautiful rosemary encrusted cheese.

These are not contrade flags. We thought they may have been the flag of the Hapsburgs who used to rule the city. They were pretty anyway so I took their picture.

The Duomo is one of the prettiest in Italy in my opinion. It was hard to get a picture. The facade was so ornate.

Inside the cathedral.

Beautiful marble scenes embedded in the floor. Vibrantly colorful. They keep them covered mostly, and randomly uncover some for a while. You can’t walk on them.

We also toured the building across from the Duomo. It was the first hospital not run by the church and was built for the common folks as well as the wealthy. They spared no expense on the frescoes inside! A civic hospital dedicated to caring for abandoned children, the poor, the sick, and pilgrims. It is the oldest surviving hospital in the world. According to legend, the Hospital was founded in 898 by a cobbler named Sorore. However, the first known document mentioning it is a “deed of gift” from March 29, 1090. Too bad we don’t care for our sick like the Sienese did way back then.

Frescoes in the hospital.

And finally…lunch! We had an excellent lunch at PorriOne. Very upscale food. Very unusual combinations

Two appetizers.

My secondi.

I didn’t take a photo but they brought a scoop of gelato kind of as a free pre-dessert. It was sprinkled with coarse salt and drizzled with fruity olive oil. Amazing combination and it worked!

Buona Pasqua a tutti!

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Pasqua or Easter is a big deal here in Italy. They start on Palm Sunday with a Mass held outside with olive branches in lieu of palm fronds. Then on Good Friday they have a procession through town. They have a body representing Christ that they carry behind all the priests with big torches burning. The band plays a dirge and the faithful follow behind with candles. It is pretty moving to watch. I took a film which is below. It is from our third floor window down into the street below as the procession passed by. On Easter Sunday they have the traditional big lunch after Mass. Lamb is the tradition. Tomorrow is Pasquetta (also a holiday) and traditionally all the Italians go for a picnic but sometimes to a restaurant for ANOTHER big lunch! Their reward after Lent I guess.

We have been trying to get out and about more lately now that the weather is improving. We took a trip to Cortona (of Under the Tuscan Sun fame). We had been once before on a vacation and in all this time here we had not returned. It was a blustery day and the parking lots, normally full, were empty. The front of the theater has this cool lantern on it

We went to the Osteria del Teatre for lunch. It is a very old fashioned Tuscan place with friendly service and was pretty popular. Note the projector and retracted screen for presentations on the beamed ceiling.

I had the baccalà, or salt cod. It has to be soaked for days to go from it’s totally dried out state to something edible. It was good.

I don’t normally have dessert but my interest was piqued by this odd looking thing below. It had a handle inserted into the center which they turned and a blade shaved it into curls. It is made of white chocolate and ground pistachio nuts. I had it on homemade gelato and it was divine!

Our wine had the same name as the house from Under the Tuscan Sun. I don’t think they are related, but maybe?

View from the town. See Lago di Trasemeno in the distance? Also the town, named Terontola, on the flatlands has the main Rome to Florence rail line. You can see the straight arrow of the tracks. This is the station we use to go to either place. It has safe, free parking.

Then on Friday we drove down to DiFillipo winery in the Montefalco area to taste and buy some wine. They don’t call this the “Green heart of Italy” for nothing!

And continuing my food theme. Another of the odd differences between Italy and the US. This time of year there is a lot of lamb for sale. Not other times very much. It is hard to find. So I indulged in the lamb shoulder roast as I had a recipe. As I unwrapped it I noticed that it had the actual leg attached to the shoulder. And on the leg there was what looked like the hoof! Or what was left of the hoof. Note below. I am here to report the lamb was very good. I just ignored the hoof!

Goings On…

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Spring has sprung when the Monk’s Beard shows up and here it is!

I also decided to ask our butcher for flank steak. I know it exists and I wanted to make fajitas. One of the butchers speaks some english so I asked him if he was familiar with them. He said yes and trotted off into the back. He brought out what is the most enormous flank steak I’ve ever seen. He held his knife on it to see how much I wanted. So what I ended up with was this.

As you can see it is a very thick steak and I got a chunk of it. I grilled it in the fireplace without marinating it or anything else. It was a tasty bit of meat and worked fine in the fajitas. Always something new!

Our weather has been unrelentingly gray and wet but not particularly cold. The Tiber overflowed its banks again but not as bad as last year. All the little rivers were roaring torrents! And we’ve had some storms. This one loomed up over the mountains with the sun still shining in the foreground.

This week we finally saw some relief…So when we saw the sun was going to be out we planned a trip to a winery in the Montefalco area. We head for one in particular but as often happens ended up at another because we couldn’t find the first one. We ended up at Antonelli. This is a very big operation for that area. They were very nice and poured generously for the tasting.

Nina the dog liked attention.

Packing up the purchases.

The tasting room.

They also produce olive oil and were pruning the trees back. See the piles of branches?

After the tasting we went into the town of Montefalco and tried to visit the museum but it was closed on Tuesdays. One of these days we’ll get to see the purportedly beautiful frescoes of the life of St. Francis. We chose a little enotecca with restaurant and had a pleasant lunch. There were even two brave tables of folks sitting outside in the sun.

Montefalco piazza.

View from Montefalco across the valley to Monte Subasio.

An artist paints stylized pictures of local scenes. Here is one that was hanging in the restaurant. I want to buy one of his paintings sometime. I’ve seen them in a shop in Assisi.

Finally, I wanted to address something that I have been hearing over and over in the US press. And this is not a political opinion at all but it does have to do with the presidential election. It is the fact that many people are looking for so called “exit strategies” if Trump gets elected. Wanting to immigrate to Canada, or Mexico, or wherever to get away. Well, as an expat who has already exited let me tell you…you can run but you can’t hide.

As a US citizen anything that happens in the US affects all of us no matter where we live. We, as Americans, still have to file and pay US taxes every year. I was surprised to get a letter with an additional tax form I have to file this year to prove I have enough health insurance over and above my Medicare. This is a new one for me. It will be amusing to see how my accountant handles it! As most of you know we are in the Italian health care system.

We also have to comply with a lot of regulations that Uncle Sam creates just to keep tabs on us and on all our financial dealings. For instance, FBAR (Foreign Bank Account Report) and FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act). Depending on our situation we must file these before June or face fines and possible criminal charges.

Yep, the long arm of Uncle Sam will always find you. You might as well forget that “exit strategy”.

Bologna

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We decided to do a quick overnight trip to one the cities we once visited for a day – Bologna. It is called Bologna la grassa, or Bologna the fat because it is said the best food in Italy can be found there.

We took the local train from Terontola to Florence and changed to the Frecciarossa or “Red Arrow” train. It took only half an hour to get from Florence to Bologna on the fast and super comfortable train. Complementary newspapers, snacks and drinks were served. It is very like business class on a plane. In fact there are three different classes to choose from – Business, Premium and Standard. Here is a photo from TrenItalia.

The weather was surprisingly beautiful. Bright blue skies and moderate temperatures. Here are a few pictures I took.

Reflections.

The Christmas decorations were still up. This mall was full of the very high-end shops. AND the January sales are on!

Pretty wrought iron.

Square with pretty architecture and trees.

Shop where you can get totally hand made shoes. Old school…

The city has some of the prettiest architecture. It was not bombed in the war so it is intact. One of the endearing features of this city are the 37 kilometers of covered arcades. Beautiful arches and columns allow you to shop and walk quasi indoors. Nice when it rains. So pretty to see. They are all different.

Bologna has the oldest university in Europe, over 1,000 years old. The city is full of young people who bring their energy to the vibe. It also has a warren of tiny streets with nothing but food. Food of every sort. A feast for the eyes and the stomach. I am surprised the city is not more of a tourist draw given all that I’ve seen there.

Speaking of food… We just had the one night so we opted for Trattoria Serghie. It was written up in Gambero Rosso and Osterie e Locande d’Italia. We booked because it is a very small place. I counted space for 22 diners. Surprisingly they had no Antipasti, just primi, secundi and dolce. That was fine. We really enjoyed the food. the Stinco di maiale was the best we’ve tasted. I also had the tagliatelle with bolognese sauce…what else!

2016 begins

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I have been busy what with the trip back to the US and other holiday type things. I felt the need to do a little catching up.

Our trip back home was nice. It was great to see my Sister and spend the holidays, not to mention two significant birthdays (hers and mine) together. We stayed with her on top of her mountain in the Blue Ridge of Virginia. It is beautiful there. We had warm weather and lots of fog. More likely cloud as in we were up in them at 3,700 feet. She fixed many of my favorite things to eat to include a gorgeous standing rib roast and chili as well as several southwestern and Mexican things. These were all things I had missed in Italy so it was great. I was sad to leave after six days.

We had gone to the US with two ginormous suitcases. One was mostly packed with Umbrian specialties like olive oil, lentils, faro etc to give away as gifts to friends. Then we did some shopping for things we cannot get (or are hard to find) in Italy to fill up the, now empty, suitcase. Mostly things like heavy duty aluminum foil (they have very flimsy foil here), ziplock bags, medicines and spices. Carolina rice is a special rice we like so we stocked up on that and pozole for southwest recipes. We also got some things for friends. And I bought some new clothes. A lot of it I had ordered online in advance and had them sent to my sister.

During the trip we had time to catch up with many friends and family. We got to see all my nieces and nephew at a lovely Christmas dinner in Old Town. I also got to meet Alex, Niece Rachel’s boyfriend, and congratulate my nephew on his recent engagement. Lovely family. Thanks to Mike and Anne (Luther’s brother and his wife) for a lovely dinner!

Another thing on my list to do was visit a couple of ethnic restaurants in hopes of getting that spice I craved. Alas, I was disappointed in both of them. Maybe my tastes are evolving? nah…

We had a beautiful view of the Alps on the way from Germany to Rome. Much more snow on the way back than on the way over to the US.

We’ve been back for six days now and our jet lag is mostly over. The logistics of the trip worked fine. The air tickets were half the cost of tickets coming from and returning-to the US. I have NO idea why this would be but it was good for us. The car park in Fiumicino turned out to be great. Very efficient and quite cheap; only 38 Euro for 13 days and included the shuttle to and from the airport. A very easy and convenient way to use the Rome airport.

Our weather has settled into the typical cold and damp winter. The final days of the Christmas season were this week with Befana, the witch, visiting the children to bring candy or lumps of coal. We celebrated with a lovely lunch at Calagrana. There were about 14 people there.

And finally, last night I decided to try cooking on our kitchen fireplace. I am slowly getting the hang of using this fireplace. It takes a while for it to warm up enough to draw well so I keep the glass doors closed for the first couple of hours. Then I slowly can open them and use the fire to cook on. Last night it was Spigola or Sea Bass. Easy to do and it came out crispy and fluffy white inside. Future plans will be grilled vegetables, steak, lamb, other fishes and bruschetta. Maybe even flat breads. I am on the lookout for an iron pot.

Here is the fish-a-cookin’.

Buon Anno to all! I hope it is a Happy and Healthy 2016!

End of Autumn, beginning of winter, fireplace, l’Imacolatta and Christmas!

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I am very late with this post. It has been pretty busy here. First a final farewell to Autumn color.

And a hello to winter. It has gotten cold here. Real wintery. Snow on the distant mountains.

Our town Christmas tree looks nice. Smaller but there are more lights.

Along with the tree and the lights, Baba Natale came to our town to visit the kids. A wonderfully chunky horse pulled the kids in a cart. Isn’t he magnificent?

We went for a short break to Chianti last week. Two nights. Pretty there with lots of fall color still. We stayed in Locanda il Gallo in a little town called Chiocchio. Fun to say – chee-ooch-che-ee-oh. It was comfortable and we ate there both nights. Quite good food. We also visited about 5 wineries. I enjoyed the pretty Tuscan scenery. This picture from one of the wineries.

We got our new fireplace doors in the kitchen. Yesterday we built a test fire and it burned pretty well and the chimney drew. We have arranged to buy wood from a friend of ours whose husband who will actually bring it up here to our house. Nice! Also more pellets for the stove and Luther won’t have to tote them up the stairs.

First/test fire.

Other mundane things. We did a shopping trip to the big IperCoop for supplies and gifts. It was surprisingly empty considering the proximity to Christmas. Never in America!

We went to a new installation at Galleria Grefti. Our friend Joseph has teamed up with Francesco and opened a small art gallery down the street. Interest is great with lots of potential artists showing their works. This new one is sculpture made with wire and chickenwire. There was even a nearly full-sized rhino. The gallery is a nice addition to Umbertide

Our downstairs neighbor was so proud that he scored all the “seconds” from the market for free and somehow with the language difficulties I ended up with a crate of apples. Not sure how I can use them up! I made two cakes yesterday and took him one of them.

We went for pizza at Calcio e Pepe our new favorite place here in town. They are just so welcoming and Italian! They have great pizza too! They are from Napoli. There were families with many kids there so it was boisterous and happy and, did I mention, Italian?! The proprietors know us and we get many double kisses.

December 8 is l’Imacolatta or Day of the Immaculate Conception. We looked it up and discovered we were wrong about what it meant. Turns out it is the day that Mary was conceived to her mother. I had thought it was Jesus’ conception but was confused as it is only two weeks before his birthday. This picture shows the procession of people who walk through the streets following the priests. The band plays music. I leaned out my window to get this. Sorry it’s blurry.

And finally, I will be spending the holidays with my sister in Virginia. I am pretty excited about going back to the US after a year and a half. Doing a bit of shopping. Eating exotic things!! Reservations at Raisika (spicy Indian fare) YUM! I am not religious but I still like to wish folks Merry Christmas! Please accept it in the spirit it was offered. Merry Christmas to you all!

Trip to Abruzzo

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This is another trip report so if you are not interested just skip this post.

We decided just last week to take a trip for two nights to the province of Abruzzo. We had long wanted to go to Ascoli Pecena in the Marche region too and it is just north of the Abruzzo border. This province is just south of the Marche on the Adriatic coast.

We left in a rainstorm which only got worse as we drove along. We headed east when we reached Spoleto and headed into the magnificent gorge through the Appinine mountains. In fact there is no way to get to any of the coastal towns on the Adriatic without braving some very rugged countryside. In this case the Corno river cut a deep gorge to Norcia, which is famous for it’s lentils, cured meats, and truffles. After we left Norcia and headed up into the next range of mountains the skies REALLY let loose and we could hardly see the road. We also were behind a truck. This all made for a very slow trip.

We finally came down out of the mountains and passes into a pretty valley in which Ascoli Pecena is situated. We bypassed the town this day and headed south into the foothills to find a recommended lunch place. Little did we know that this was a hill town and presently, we were in a cloud! We groped our way up and up with fog lights blazing and very short visibility until finally the GPS said we had arrived. We actually couldn’t see them but the city walls loomed just ahead. Later we found out you can see the Adriatic from there. There are lots of benches for viewing. Also there is a large fortress. Who knew!?

We walked around in the lightly sprinkling rain. It was a very pretty little town and is supposed to have the narrowest street in Europe.

We found the restaurant in a hotel on one of the main squares. Zunica 1880 has been a family operation since 1880. The dining room was lovely and empty. We were well taken care of by a nice waiter who right away brought us the Nuovo Olio pressed just two days ago! It was bright green and grassy and very peppery in the throat. A treat.

We had a lovely Montipulciano d’Abruzzo to accompany the fine meal.

I was amused at the picture hanging on the wall. It was obviously a painting of the room we were sitting in. Notice the chandelier in both the room and the picture. And the walls, curtains and furniture were the same.

After lunch we visited Iluminati winery. Everyone was very busy with the crush. This winery was bottling and labeling wine to go to Russia. It is a big operation as you can see from the pictures. They took time to let us taste and we bought a few bottles.

We headed back to find our Agrigurismo, Emidio Pepe. It is an organic winery and normally serves dinner. For some reason they were not doing so on our visit. We were the only people there the first night and were joined by two other parties the second night. We had such a big lunch we had bought a picnic and had it in the common area where we watched TV and sat out on the porch. It was still raining and foggy so we would have to wait until the next day to see our surroundings. The next morning was rain-washed and partly sunny and I really loved the view. As you can see they haven’t brought in the red wine grapes yet. We snagged a bunch for our picnic and they were so Sweet!

After breakfast we headed out towards Pescara. Luther wanted to visit more wineries and I had hoped to see Pescara which is on the coast. There is a good, fast, toll road all the way down the coast. We got off and fought our way through sprawling, ugly suburbs and lots of traffic. Ugh! finally got into the hills and started looking for some wineries. We tried the GPS. It was not much help. It could find the towns but not the street addresses which were generally outside of town. It was beautiful countryside though and I snapped some very nice pictures of the olive trees.

After much looking we homed in on one place called Torre dei Beati. We asked and got directions. We couldn’t find it. We stopped again. We went – no go. Again we stopped. This time I asked and what a surprise. We were at the end of a tiny road that dead-ended into a farmyard. The woman I approached to ask if she knew where it was asked me what language I spoke and I said Englese. Turns out she was from NYC and had a very thick NY accent. How strange and what a small world! She clued us in that there was bad blood between the two wineries on her road. We again looked and found a very big operation but that was all. We gave up and went to find lunch.

We stopped at a fish restaurant called Carmine. Loved the name. The food was excellent and we had the wine from the winery we had still not found. Yum.

The seafood wasn’t bad either!

After lunch we were still determined to find. That. Winery. Persistence wins the day and we did find it. It had no sign at all. They were heavily into the crush too but the wine owner and maker was super nice and spoke good english. We enjoyed tasting his wines and looking around his place. Of course we bought some wine!

This is a picture of the big crusher at the winery up the hill.

Vines heavily laden with grapes.

At Torre dei Beati they hand picked and sorted their grapes.

The tasting room.

Luther with the winemaker

I am not sure if The Wine Guy will write about this place so the rest can wait.

Following another picnic dinner we left for home on Friday. I had wanted to go to Ascoli Piena so we first visited a winery (what else?) then the town. It was a lovely place, said to have the most beautiful piazza in italy.

Colonnades around the square.

We headed homeward planning to stop in Norcia for lunch. We went up through the passes and mountains, passing a place I really want to return to called Castelluccio. We had chosen Vespasia for a fine, last lunch.

We were the only people there. It is a hotel so has to stay open. Our captain named Andrea was super nice and had spent 15 years in Orlando, only returning to Italy last year. For love. He married and has a 2 month old son. Her family lives in the Montefalco area and has a winery with apartments that they run.

The lunch was spectacular with many “gifts”. I had the poached egg on potatoes and potato foam with black truffles. yum. Luther had the trout. We both had the special pasta. Here are some pictures. Sorry I took so many! Gift one, olive oil and crackers.