The Tuscan Adventure

On Tuesday morning we discover that Catherine and John's skype is online. We talk to our little granddaughters Ella and Holly :)

How do you explain to a 3 and 5 year old that we are so far away and its only breakfast time for us, and yet they are ready for bed?

Had a lovely chat and heard about Ella's first wiggly tooth, plus news of school and friends etc.

But its time to go exploring in Tuscany......

Today we decide to head off towards Forli. Its a fairly ambitious route for one day, but it is very interesting terrain.

After an hour of driving that had speed signs which varied between 30 and 50km per hour, we decide to stop for coffee and a bite to eat and re-evaluate our ambitious plan. So we stop at a wee place called Dicomano and had the best coffee of our whole trip. THE very best :) Sorry Thomas!

We decide to head back along a different route and stop at the very pretty town called Pontassieve. This translates to 'the bridge on the river Sieve'. We have another coffee and a nice cake and a look around the old centre of a pretty town. As per always, the shops are shut for the 3 hour siesta and its very quiet.

On our way back I see the signs for 'Designer Outlet Shopping Mall'. Now, I am thinking....'here we go for some good shopping time - finally!' WRONG. Our idea of an outlet store, and the Italian idea seems somehow to have got lost in translation. Its a mini city, and it took only 5 minutes to realise I couldnt even afford a scarf!

Sorry to everyone I had planned to bring a gift home for. But you name it, it was here...Gucci, Prada, Salvatore etc. As well as that, there were bus loads of tourists - mostly Japanese and Americans from Florence for the day, who were shopping 'big-time'.

The best part about this stop was the awesome derelict homestead and farm right next door. Great photo opportunity :)

Back in the car and head for home.

Have a lovely late afternoon stroll in our own little village and take another 50 pictures.

This one is to show how small some of the alleys are, and that Craig actually managed to get the car down this one without a scratch :

Tonight we decide to go to a restaurant called La Torre (The Tower). Its cute, old, up several flights of narrow stone stairs and has more character than you can imagine. No English spoken, so finally, I can speak Italian! Its been very frustrating during this trip to speak to someone in Italian, and then have them answer me in English! Fair enough if they cant understand what I am saying, but I have waited years to get another chance to speak Italian!

We had beautiful meals of fish and salad, and then Craig decided to have tiramisu for dessert. He thought about the creme brulee, but saw table next door with tiramisu and he was sold. The waiter bought 2 spoons and was hilarious making a big show of giving me the extra spoon to try to get a share of the dessert! I did have one wee spoonful and it was so lovely, but I left it for Craig and I had a lovely espresso instead.

Then after all that, we had finished our dinner, and our bottle of lovely red wine, and our lovely waitress came over with an orange liquer for us to finish. Yum and more yum!

We ended up buying a bottle, and if it makes it back to NZ unopened (which I seriously doubt) then we will share it.

Today its Wednesday and we head off on another adventure towards the little scenic village called Greve in Chianti.
On the way we stop at Gaiole in Chianti and also Radda in Chianti. yes we are in Chianti Country :)

All of these little villages date back around 500 years or more and they have most, or part, of the original city walls intact. The scenery on the road between these stops is breathtaking. Little windy mountain roads with lovely views of countryside, grapevines and terracotta coloured buildings at every turn. Semi derelict castles on the hills and men working the vines. Its a peaceful and relaxing drive.

The weather on these last 2 days has been lovely. Warm spring days, a little cooler to start and finish but still bare legs weather.

Thursday another adventure....

Our Italian experience begins...

Well we arrived in Florence (Firenze) after a nice smooth flight on Lufthansa.

Florence airport is tiny! We have never been here before and Craig said its no bigger than Invercargill :). Well maybe a little bigger :)

We have decided to get a cheap little hotel for the night, as near as the airport as possible, because tomorrow morning we pick up our rental car and head south.

The outside of Hotel Francia is shabby chic but inside is newly renovated. Did I mention the gorgeous young Italian man on the front desk?  :)  The room was comfy and the breakfast the next morning was good. Off to the airport and the rental car :)

The car is a Fiat Bravo 1.6L diesel and brand new.

A few minutes siting in the car in the carpark and then Craig has to drive. Its been 7 years since our last European experience! Left hand drive manual car on right hand side of the road!

Rather him than me!

We manage to negotiate our way out of the airport system and onto the autostrada and head towards our next adventure.

We arrive at the small village of Loro Ciuffenna without any problems and as we are a little bit too early to check in - decide to have a glass of wine in the piazza a few 100 metres from the resort.

The resort was way more gorgeous than we were expecting. It is a lovely sunny spring day and we have a walk around the property.

Its a bit too cold to swim yet but the pool is lovely. It also catches all of the afternoon sun.

We have the mandatory 'orientation and happy hour' and then its time for dinner. We decide to eat at the resort dining room tonight as its close and its also starting to rain.

The whole town of Loro Ciuffenna is like straight out of a tourist magazine. Its cute, old, unusual and has many interesting little nooks and crannies. There is a lovely little river that goes through the town and has been used to power flour mills and an iron works over the years. 

Lots of lazy cats sitting on warm paving and also lots of slightly scruffy little cars parked in interesting ways. Give the Italians a tiny little spot and somehow they will find enough space to park a car :)

On Sunday, most of the little shops are closed and so we head off for a drive into the countryside instead. Its drizzling and a lot cooler than we have been used to. The weather in Germany has made us soft!

We find a nice wee provincial road to explore and enjoy the countryside. A mixture of olive trees and grapevines just starting to sprout. Lots of activity and planting going on - its spring!

Have a wander into our wee village in search of some dinner and find a lovely little trattoria below ground level. We dine on rare beef for me and crumbed rabbit pieces for Craig. Lovely and intimate little place.

Today we went exploring in a different direction towards Arezzo.  It was a beautiful drive along a small narrow provincial road and we detoured a few times to get the feel of the area. Arezzo itself was not overly spectacular but still pretty on a lovely spring day. We enjoy a nice lunch of bread and ham and a bowl of olives from a tiny wee cafe on a cobbled, steep side street near the Duomo.

We went inside the Duomo for only a few seconds before everyone was ushered out for the siesta! So no inside pics. The outside is very plain, but the quick glimpse we had of the inside was of a gorgeous gothic? church with a lot of painted frescoes on the ceiling. Shame not to see more but it was going to be closed for 3 hours and we decided not to wait around.

This picture above is one of the original entrance gates into the walled city of Arezzo. Most of the walls are still fairly intact. Not bad after nearly 600 years!

Now I am up to date with my blog as I sit here, in real time, drinking a glass of local chianti and writing this before we go in search of another interesting little place to have dinner tonight.





Last Days in Germany

Its hard to believe that its Thursday already and we have been here a week. Its our last full day and Thomas is taking us to a lovely little historic town called Bensheim. Its about halfway towards Heidelburg.

We arrive on a lovely sunny afternoon where there are lot of locals wandering around going about their business. Apparently its not the tourist mecca of other places, and its hard to understand 'why not? '. It has a lovely village feel to it and the houses and central piazza area are very old and very original and protected by law. There's even a wee stream running through with a lovely medieval bridge to cross.

After a nice look around Thomas directs us up to the top of the hill to a wee vineyard. During the walk the views are wonderful. The grapevines are all starting to move and they have around 800mm of new growth on each main trunk. All the wine produced here is white.

At the top we sit at a table overlooking the valley and drink some wine and taste some local specialities. Lovely, relaxing and warm.

Tonight we are going to dance at the last milonga for this visit. Its in Heidelburg and so we go back to Thomas' apartment to eat and get ready.

This milonga is run by 3 lovely ladies - Irma, Anneta and Birgit. What a lovely wee bar they have found to host it in, and we want to take it back to Wellington.

The following day its time to pack and try to assemble together all the stuff we have spread all over Thomas' apartment. It takes a while! But I think we found it all.

Frankfurt airport - final goodbyes over coffee with ladybird cups - promises to come back....

Thankyou Thomas and Simone.....

Thankyou to all the lovely new German friends who made a huge effort to speak to us in English and include us in their plans.

German hospitality is awesome :)

Tonight we cook .....

After 2 serious amounts of dancing on Tuesday, we decide that Wednesday would be a relaxed day which involved some laundry and then a lovely wander through the city of Darmstadt in search of some ingredients to cook our dinner. Simone is coming and together we are all going to work together to produce something typically German but with a kiwi twist :)

So Thomas accompanies us to the supermarket to buy pork fillet and salad items. Plus we need more wine - I wonder who has been drinking it all???? Meat is marinating and the chefs are thirsty. Time to head off for a walk and in search of some beer.  A lovely yeasty local beer.

After beer and a casual walk, its time to head back to cook dinner. We didnt make it back without having to stop for a 2nd beer at the gorgeous wee corner pub only 50m from Thomas' apartment. We were still there when Simone arrived!

However we did eventually make it home and then got into some serious cooking. There were vegetables being chopped, salad being constructed and meat browned prior to finishing in the oven. And hilarity with me standing on my tippy toes to reach the bench. I have never seen such a high bench before. Then the masterpiece of the night - Simone made us a typical dumpling which she learnt from her Grandmother as a wee girl. It involved fresh yeast and was relatively fast - compared to regular breads. I am not giving all the technique away - because I want to impress dinner guests with it when I get home. I now have the secret recipe :) It is just delicious!

The meat was tender, the dumpling was divine and all washed down with a beautiful German Riesling - everything was just perfect.

So we managed an earlier night - but only just!

Thursday was our last full day and Thomas was taking us exploring to Bensheim

Sleepy Sunday

Yes we are a bit sleepy on Sunday morning. We have all woken a little later, and compare the tightness of various muscles in our legs. I seemed to have gotten away without any. I am sure my shoes had nothing to do with it though, as they were just flat street shoes. After a bite to eat around the big table in the kitchen, and some lively conversation and reminiscences of the walk the day before, we all head to Wiesbaden, 45 minutes away. Simone wants to show us her beautiful city.

We start with a ride up a hill in Nerobergbahn water cable car. Its a very innovative way to move people up a steep hill. As I understand it ... and I am no engineer.....there are 2 cable cars on separate tracks side by side. One at the top and one at the bottom of the hill. Each car has a water tank underneath. The tank of the car at the top is full, and the one at the bottom empty - and therefore much lighter. When car at the top starts to come down the slope, it pulls a cable which pulls the car at the bottom to come up the slope. They pass half way. The new car at the bottom now gets the water emptied out and it is pumped back to the main reservoir at the top to full the top car and start the process all over again. Its very clever and fun to ride on.

Riding in the cable car.

The park area that Simone take us to is gorgeous and becasue we are now high up (having ridden on the cable car) we get panamoric views of the city and parks below. Simone showed us a band rotunda that she has danced tango on a few times with a tango group. I have a quick look in my new (and very clever) cellphone and find a lovely piece of Canaro music which I start to play and Thomas and Simone danced on the rotunda in front of some fairly amused locals.

After this, its a quick change at Simone's apartment and we are off to an afternoon milonga at the Rowing Club. It was a lovely spot overlooking the Rhein River and we all thoroughly enjoyed the company and the dancing. There were several people there from the previous milonga and we felt very relaxed and at home in their company. Such a lovely group of people and what really surprises us is the amount of English spoken by them all.

We just had a quiet day on Monday catching up with washing, and I had also volunteered to cook for us all, and had to come up with something fairly typical of what I make in NZ. Craig and I went to the supermarket on our own and had a hilarious time trying to find what we needed - with everything written in German. I wanted to make a favourite dish of Tuscan chicken that I make regularly. I needed chicken thighs - but could manage OK with chicken breast. So we found the chicken section and then bought what we thought was chicken breast. I must say at this point that the dish was delicious and I was pretty happy with it considering the ingredients available. The chicken turned out to be turkey, but it was delicious and very tender and less inclined to dry out like chicken breast does. And it was so cheap!

The next day was 1 May here and its a bit like Labour weekend at home but not Mondayised. So it was a Tuesday this year.

The plan was to go to friends of Thomas and Simone (Bernd and Hedda) who were hosting a tango party at their home in a very small village about an hour away. Bernd is a forest ranger and lives on the edge of the forest that he manages. The area is quaint and quiet and very picturesque. It was a continuous pot luck lunch/afternoon tea/dinner.

We made a dish of white asparagus called Spargel, which was rolled in thin slices of ham that had been spread with mayonaise. Like asparagus rolls at home, but with ham instead of bread. The night before, we had also made a dish called GRUENE SOSSE (I wish I could use the correct german characters!) which was a mix of plain yoghurt, mayonaise and then an enormous amount of finely chopped mix of 7 fresh herbs. these included parsley, chervil, borage, common sorrel, cress, chives and burnet. I havent ever seen some of these herbs and we have fun translating the recipe and tasting the herbs.
There was a huge amount of food and we had fun with Thomas and Simone trying to explain what everything was. Lots of new tastes and flavours to sample. Lovely dancing in their huge family room and friendly people. More new people to meet and dance with. Both of us are struggling to remember all their names now though. We are so comfortable with the people here. They are so relaxed with us and even though we are strangers to them all, we dont feel like that.

Home from here for showers and then out to the Darmstadt Tuesday night milonga. It is just a comfortable 10 minute walk from Thomas' house and  on the 6th floor of a building and is gorgeous and very intimate inside. Lovely dance floor and excellent music from our DJ Karl-Heinz.
Its a beautiful warm and calm evening as we slowly walk home.What a lovely day we have had and we chat and reminisce, while we sit around Thomas' big table sipping a glass of wine.

Saturday Stroll

Saturday morning arrived - rather quicker than we are prepared for I must say. Not quite enough sleep but thats all forgotten as we get prepared for our day of 'walking'. Now, I am calling it 'walking' as that is what our new friends called it. The Germans love to get outdoors, and where we would have a bit of a stroll to the nearest cafe or pub, and a sit down in the sun to have a drink, they seriously walk!

So...the adventure begins.

Firstly we drive to Wiesbaden, which is where Simone lives, to pick up a few items from her fridge that she prepared the day before. Plus get her hiking shoes. I knew there was something else I should have packed!

Its a fantastic morning and promises to be at least 28 degrees today.

Then we walk a few 100 metres to the train station where we meet up with the rest of the walking party -  Albert, Torsten and Irmgard. Board the train - us and half of Wiesbaden - and head towards the start of our walk. The train was electric,very modern, clean and quiet. No graffiti. The wide rail tracks make the ride very smooth. On board the train, the people are many and varied. There are several groups of walkers, a 'girls day out' group complete with a half empty bottle of bubbles, couples with little ones and buggies, several people with their bicycles, a man and his dog (I kid you not) and people with shopping trolleys obviously going to a farmers market along the way somewhere. Train travel is very easy and cheap. During the journey we follow the Rhine River (Rhein in German) which is smooth and wide and populated with a lot of very long thin boats carrying freight, as well as several of the 'cruise ship' boats with people sitting on top in deck chairs.

We disembark at a wee village called Lorch. Its a quaint, chocolate box village on the edge of the river. We take the car ferry across to the opposite side of the river. A very cheap (only 1 Euro) short trip where we just stand on the deck and mill around and chat. We are heading for Niederheimbach, another chocolate box village.

                         Left to Right: Craig, Simone, Albert, Thomas, Torsten, Irmgard.

Our real walk begins here. We walk through the village, steadily climbing, then veer off to the left and start to walk parallel to the river. All along the walk we have delicious views of river, working boats, rows and rows of grapevines, and the pretty spring gardens. Some flowers we recognise, others we do not.

The walk gradually increases in its intensity as we climb higher and higher through a forest - heading towards the goal of the lookout above the castle. Oh yes, its the castle we are coming to see :) I forgot to mention that!

We arrive at the lookout very hot and weary, but the view......

We all sit down and share a lovely meal with contributions from everyone. There is a beautiful bowl of Spundekaese made by Simone which is like a dip made of philadelphia cheese and red paprika and eaten with Laugenbretzel (a type of bun tied in a knot like a giant prezzel). I have tried to use correct german characters in the german words but the laptop is not having a bar of them unfortunately. Then there is 'handkaese' which translates to 'hand cheese with music'. This was a lovely delicate soft cheese with a very subtle flavour. Simone said its low fat, low calorie, but very high protein. We have such a lot of fun with the translations and everyone is surprised we enjoy the new foods so much. Lots of nuts and fruits and bread and cheese. Great basic healthy food.

 Then we go about halfway back down the track to the castle. The majority of it is original medieval, plus a restored part which is nearly 200 years old. It is beautiful.
We wander around the castle and then decide its time for a beer and sit in the shade inside the castle and reflect on our day. Its magic.

Burg Sooneck (Castle Sooneck)

Then back down the hill to the ferry. Once we are on the other side of the river again, we all head to a small cafe restaurant which is part of one of the vineyards, and drink local wine and eat gorgeous light meals. Everyone has to translate the menu for us and its all a lot of fun. Lovely wine and lovely new friends and a beautiful sunny day. What else is there in life?

Torsten tells us we have walked 12km today. He has a portable GPS which he has used throughout the day to ensure we didnt get lost.

We doze a little on the train back and arrive home very weary and very happy. A truly memorable day.

Sunny Darmstadt

Darmstadt is a lovely small and very typical German town. Well probably a city actually, but small enough to be quiet and feel more like a town. The street in which Thomas lives is one of the original streets of Darmstadt that wasn't bombed during the war. However, a large percentage of the city was completely destroyed and a lot of other major historic buildings and landmarks were seriously damaged. Loss of life in excess of 5000, so a huge big deal for this small city. However, there is no evidence of this now of course and the city is a mix of very old, and more modern buildings. Exactly how Christchurch will look in a few years time maybe.

Our first morning in Darmstadt was lovely. Craig and I got up first and wandered down the street and our noses led us to a cute wee bakery shop where we bought some fresh bread rolls and a loaf of handmade bread. The smell from this bakery was just gorgeous and its not just the usual mouthwatering smell of yeast and hot bread, but something more, something deeper. Its a mix of different seeds and cumin and other things I cant pronounce !

This picture above, is of the tiny wee village square only a few doors along from Thomas' apartment. It is set in a corner where 3 streets intersect and in the afternoon a small bar uses the area for outside drinkies.

Later in the early afternoon Thomas took us on a guided walking tour of his city. As I have already said, its partially old and partially new but it has a lovely feeling. The city is so clean. Thats what strikes you first. Maybe coming from Buenos Aires where it is just the opposite - I dont know. It is the site of a technical university and so there are a lot of young people carrying bags and riding bikes.

But the streets have a lot of areas with very old cobblestones - impossible to walk on these with any sort of heeled shoe whatsoever. We walked through the city centre where a large amount is dedicated to pedestrians. There are huge numbers of bicycles. A lot of young university students. Very large areas of trees and parks.

The overall impression you get left with, when you reflect on the day, is of a happy and peaceful city with huge areas of parkland and young people quietly going about their day.

We stopped walking after a while and Thomas took us to a tiny little pub where they brew their own beer and offer a small selection of light meals. The meals are rustic and very tasty and I had a rich vegetable and meat soup with crusty bread and Craig had slices of cold brawn called (suelze)with hot fried potatoes. He has good memories of eating brawn as a youngster - I do not! Shudder!

We got ready for a milonga that evening which was about 45 minutes away at a small place called Gross Gerau. I am unable to spell this correctly as my keyboard lacks the correct german language letter, but it looks a bit like Grob Gerau. The b is a bit like a capital B with a long tail and equivalent to sz in sound.

It was a great evening and we were made to feel very welcome by the whole room of people. We both danced with so many different ones and the whole night was quite memorable. Neville had told us that he thought the dancing in Darmstadt was a good as anywhere in Buenos Aires. I must say I was a little skeptical - I mean Buenos Aires is a mecca - but he was right. Not only was the dancing wonderful, but the music was also superb. The people we friendly and we felt very comfortable there. The end time of 1.30am seemed to come too quickly.

Home for more wine and cheese and another late night of 3am. Or maybe we have to stop thinking of it as a late night, instead think of it as a normal night. Whats normal???

The next day is Saturday and we went on a fantastic hike with a small group of Simones regular tramping buddies. No proper shoes or clothes, but still we went anyway. It was only around 12 kms - up a large hill and around :)

But thats another story.....