Uno Per Settimana

Siena vista

This is meant to say "once a week" but who knows. My Italian is best when I look up all the words and write them down. I keep trying though and everyone is nice about figuring out what the gestures and the hodgepodge words( including some in Spnaish and French to which I resort when I don't know the Italian equivalent) mean to convey.

The latest word I may need is "bedbugs"! As of yesterday when a red spot appeared on my face and other smaller ones appeared on my body, I was mystified when I had been anywhere to get bug bites. Today my shoulders and across the top of breasts have many spots which look especially like the Internet photos of bedbugs. With my proclivity for allergic reactions, of course mine are the worse of the three of us and we can only assume we were bitten at this very cute place we stayed in Siena on Friday night.

The past week was very routine...we've definitely gotten this down to a science. Mostly Rider and I do the household chores, stroll on the property and Rider plays in the large grey tub Betsy bought to use for a swimming pool on our patio. We put in about four inches of water, take off his diaper and he is content to play 30 or more minutes at a time.   Then we empty the water on the parched grass and flowers. It's now hot here during the day and cools off at night but still not one drop of rain since arrival.

Betsy continues to paint a lot during the day and has already completed 12 pictures. It's fascinating to see how all the painters have progressed in their crafts since beginning. Naturally each came with different amounts of experience and skills and have grown proportionally. As an outsider, it appears that taking the time to paint as much as possible leads to the most progress. The instructor is Russian and is an MFA professor at BU and Betsy thinks he's quite good. What luxury to have the time and the instruction to perfect one's passion.

Betsy's paintings

I'm definitely jealous and hope to find some time to try watercoloring. I did do one small thing this week but it was fairly pitiful so I'll enlist Betsy to give me a lesson!

San Gimignano

Friday was a field trip day that proved to be more than anticipated. Betsy, Rider and I followed the group in our car and we started out for San Gimignano with a following visit to Siena. We made it as far as the entrance to the A1 and got ourselves in the "easy pass" lane, had to back up and get in the regular lane by which time the other two vehicles were long gone. This still could have been salvaged but we weren't sure of the route and didn't have our map out so we made a 50% decision and peeled off in the direction of Bologna instead of Florence and couldn't turn around for many kilometers. That time did give us a chance to set up the GPS for the destination of San Gimignano and to try to text the director, Mark. Now to complicate matters, Betsy had to explain to me how to work the GPS and text message while driving insanely fast on the autostrade as other cars flashed lights indicating to move to the slower lane.(again mostly short Italian men driving Mercedes, BMW, or Audi in a reckless fashion ). By the time we navigated ourselves to San Gimignano and parked, Rider had completed his nap and I had acquired a raging headache. I do have to say the headache was probably a symptom of an allergy attack that had commenced earlier in the week complete with runny nose, aches, sore teeth and chest congestion. Probable cause....sleeping in the immediate vicinity of many feathered animals.

San Gimignano is an ancient walled city ( site dates from the 12th century as a pligrim's shelter and the walls from the 13th) that is designated by World Heritage as a landmark and looks like a Disney set except that it is completely overrun with tourist shops and other tourist attractions. The class was there primarily to see the religious art so we knew that we could intercept them at one of the two main churches which we did. Hooray...lost but found.

Piazza

Piazza near church

 Rider was just along for the (stroller) ride so he was content to be wheeled around and check out the many dogs and children we spied. After the church tours, free time sent us straight to the gelato shop where Betsy had cheesecake and I had coconut and we both shared small bites with Rider.Later I found we had picked my buddy, Rick S's, favorite gelato shop on Piazza del Cisterna where the gelato maker Sergio was a member of the team that won the official Gelato World Cup. I can attest that my coconut was blue ribbon. Yum!

Always strollin'

It was a case of dessert before lunch as we met at noon and had wild boar(cinghiale) and pecorino cheese sandwiches washed down with the local wine, Vernaccia di San Gimignano.
I learned that pecorino cheese starts at the consistency of cream cheese which is what we had on our sandwiches and is allowed to age until it is dried out much like aged parmesan. In the cheese shop the various stages were wrapped in differing hues of papers with the black foil reserved for the aged pecorino. The sandwich was quite tasty and Betsy and I both remarked how much Paul would have enjoyed not only seeing the wares in the shop marked by two wild boar heads flanking the door but tasting the goods as well. After quite a wait while Mark retrieved the van (we had parked close to the gate...yet another concession to a baby but only costing about 3 Euros more for the time we were there), we were off to Siena. The drive ,as did the drive down to San G,demonstrated that Tuscany is not all geographically alike. The terrain down that morning and over to Siena appeared much more like I think of as Toscana.
More open valleys with the patchwork of yellow and shades of green.    

Beautiful Tuscan view

Rider and Mimi enjoy bella Italia

Every sight is lovely
Trying to find a place to park outside the walls in Siena was a challenge and necessitated a later start than we planned. With several of our group scheduled to take a train on to Rome for the weekend, it was decided to allow free time and plan to return later to Siena forMark's guided art tour. Betsy and I opted for letting Rider play in the park grass near our car and then head to check-in for night's accommodations.

                                                      

In a Siena park
With GPS, we found the check-in for the hotel and got directions on how to actually get to L'Aja B&B. It was within 6 minutes of the city and had beautiful grounds with lovely casitas. 

Bedbug haven ?

Rider's first McDonald's experience

beautiful flowers everywhere

What a view!
There was a delicious breakfast the next morning but in between there was no working air conditioning, no way to open the window fully, lots of street noise, a small dog that yipped all night and, apparently, bedbugs! Combine that with no baby crib so Rider sleeping between us and it adds up to two grouchy adults on Saturday morning as we set our sights and GPS for Volterra.

                                            

Art in Volterra

Volterra is another one of the walled cities in the region and known primarily as the site of Etruscan civilization dating back about 2000 years, presaging Roman civilization of course. Because it was market day, we chose to park close to the market and approach the portal along a scenic route. Luckily, we did find a parking place near the market which is located right beside the Roman Theatre.

Roman Theatre at Volterra

Volterra feels extremely different than San Gimignano. We saw few tourists and many locals shopping, eating and enjoying the perfect weather. The market was mostly clothing so we traipsed through rapidly and entered Porta Fiorentina. With a reasonable climb, we reached a panorama point above the Roman Theatre (built in 10AD) which gave us a sense of how spacious the original Etruscan city had been. In the distance, one could see some of the original walls of the Etruscan age.

                

Volterra baptistry

Religious art

Illuminated hymnals

We visited the obligatory Museum of Scared Art, the Bapistry and an exhibit of Volterra's own leaning tower constructed in alabaster for which the town is also famous before strolling to
to the Etruscan Museum (if you reach the district prison, you've gone too far). I was getting exited because I really wanted to see this particular museum! Unfortunately, our timing was a bit off and Rider was hungry. At least he didn't have an explosion diaper as he did at many of the other famous spots.

The museum itself is a step back in time.  

Etruscan Museum
Mostly it's filled with funerary urns that were fascinating. Evidently ( not much was translated into English so I must speculate and verify later), the dead body was cremated and the remains placed into a vessel that was typically 18 or inches wide by 30 inches long. The sides were reliefs with a lot of animals depicted while the top was carved with a likeness of the person usually reclining as if at a feast. Presumably the likenesses were prepared ahead of the death as each was unique as to that Person. Everything was just sitting out and available for touching though I guess one can not harm a piece of stone that's already withstood a lot in 2000 years.Some were of alabaster but most looked to be made from the "tuff" which is a local volcanic stone. While I perused, Betsy took Rider in the garden while he played among the priceless artifacts.          

Rider touching priceless Etruscan art but not breaking it

Thankfully, even he couldn't harm these things!

We had pushed our luck by then so we headed to a pastry shop and had hot panini, expresso and cannoli. Rider thought the bread from the fromaggio panini suited him best.
        

Lunch time

It would have been nice to have sampled the regional fare but he needed a pronto lunch and a subsequent nap. We didn't spot Edward or Bella in this town famous for its' association with the Twilight books/movies! We did buy three postcards though and will send them to three Twilight fans...wonder who that could be.

Our retreat was through the market and back to the car, Rider strapped into the car seat and we were off to Capitignano. We did stumble into another walled city literally ( we drove through the middle of it as the GPS had a hiccup in our routing )and will have to consult the map to even know which city we accidentally visited! There was more fabulous scenery to observe on the 2 hour drive home and quietness as he slept the entire distance. Lots of places to buy vino and olive oil but no time to stop. Downside of traveling with the baby, one can not always be spontaneous when you are at the mercy of their schedule.

Another unknown walled city

So we were home well before sunset and in time for Betsy to paint, I strolled Rider and made a quick dinner after I put him to bed. A full week indeed.

Adaptation

Olive trees and the mountains in the distance

The pool is always enticing ( but cold )

Amazing how humans adapt to the environment. We've been at Capitignano a little over a week and we are settled into a routine of sorts and think little about zipping into Borgo to the Coop to pick up groceries and our new discovery....spumante. We(I am leaving Rider out of this.) both have drunk Spumante in the past but we discovered yesterday when we decided to celebrate (that it was Sunday ) with a mimosa, our .88 € Contri Spumante was bella. This may be the best thing about Italy so far...definitely the least expensive very best thing!

Road to the art studio

One of the main buildings...al fresco dining under the awning

 Actually all the wines so far have been good and extremely reasonable. Food is about the same prices as the US except for beef which is more expensive. Clothes are a lot more though probably the really fine Italian brands like D&B, Prada and such are a deal. I certainly wouldn't know because I don't purchase those brands anywhere. I may buy a purse or shoes in Florence because the colors are SO tempting. The jewelry is likewise amazing but I don't think I'll go for that. Paul actually makes the best selections with jewelry.

Driveway at Capitignano...the only straight road in the area

So, how is driving in Tuscany? I have to admit that the countryside is less frightening than the cities though everyone must be on the way to deliver a baby or put out a fire. Maybe it's just Italian men making up for the fact that they are so short but, to generalize, they are exceedingly aggressive on the road. The autostrada was not intimidating but our country lane from the villa to the main road is exceptionally narrow with numerous blind corners. This lane makes Bent Tree roads look like I75! I have visions of headlines about American women with a baby being hospitalized for auto accident. In fact, the resident chef was hospitalized last Saturday night on a nearby, winding road when he ran off the road and hit a tree. Now he had been drinking but it could easily happen stone sober.

Yesterday, we took Rider and joined the others on the "hill" for the festival in town. Locals were dressed in early 1900 garb and there were demonstrations of folk dancing, spinning wool, cooking traditional food, mattress making ( stuffed with wool and we are sleeping on such an item),lace making (tatting), wood printing and various other things.

Everyone involved in the demonstrations were obviously having so much fun and it was enjoyable to be involved though it would have been improved had we spoken enough Italian to understand the explanations. Rider loved the crowd, the music and the general atmosphere though he especially liked looking at the dogs who accompanied their people and the chickens, ducks and rabbits in the cages. PS: we discovered rabbits in pens in one of the outbuildings today and I'm speculating they are not pets. This freaked Betsy as she does not like the idea of eating bunnies. This is definitely a working farm in every sense.

Rabbits live in the building on the right
        We sleep right above a large yard where the chickens, turkeys and geese live and once in a while we get a whiff of them though not very often.     

 

Truffle dogs...their only job is to hunt the elusive truffles

The night sounds are interesting to say the least for someone not accustomed. Everything here is kept pretty picture perfect. In fact, cars are parked in specific areas so that the views are not sullied. Each accommodation also has a private patio so that one may contemplate the vistas. No televisions and no telephones except the private cell phones which may or may not work due to the
erratic internet.

We live up the stairs

View of the art studio from the Sacred Grove

                     

No cars in sight

Today was wash sheets and towels day and they are out to dry on the portable drying rack...no
driers. For those of us who remember clothes lines, everything smells wonderful but everything is also stiff and a bit scratchy. Maria delivered us clean sheets for our bed though and they were IRONED. I don't see how she keeps up with all the day to day here. She reminds me of dear Ursula T from school who seemed to run circles around all of us on the staff and still had energy left at the end of the day and a smile on her face.

As you may have surmised, I still haven't puzzled out the photo problem but I continue to work on it. If anyone knows how to insert photos from the iPad to the blog, please email me very simplified instructions. Meanwhile, cin cin in honor of Spumante.  Note: All photos were added upon our return stateside.

Occasionally chicken

Add some tuna to change it up

Plenty of pasta

Fresh cheese from the market

Start with sauteing garlic in olive oil and add the veggies.  Then toss with al dente pasta.

Sometimes pork

Salad and fruit with lunch and dinner

Our meals were simple but delicious.....

One Week Down

One Week Down

Just some random thoughts...diapers are available at the two
supermarkets here. Both Conad and Coop carry even Pampers though the
local brands look fine. We also saw Swimmy diapers which we brought.
We haven't seen the formula Rider drinks though we haven't been to a
farmacia.

Remembered to bring washcloths since they are almost never provided.
It seems a bit too intimate to ask a European how they wash their
bodies but I may get bold before summer ends. I did forget to bring a
universal size drain stopper. You need one of those cheap white rubber
ones from the grocery, Target, Home Depot or such. A lot of sinks have
just the drain with no way to plug it when you need to wash out
underwear or dishes. Note: it works fine to wash out panties when you
shower and put them on the towel rack to dry. Just remember to bring
your thin, nylon ones rather than the big, white cotton ones which I
usually prefer in the hot weather.

It's also very useful to have a "picnic kit" with a wine opener, a set
of plastic eating utensils, small pack of wipes, small sanitizer, tiny
clear rain poncho and bug spray. I keep this assortment in a quart
plastic bag so I can just throw it in the suitcase for a trip. I have
another bag with emergency items like a sewing kit, a 13 gallon
garbage bag, antibiotic ointment, more wipes, a few safety pins,small
Kleenex package, etc.

We'd like to get to the Tuesday Borgo market this morning but we'll
definitely not wake the sleeping baby. Betsy had an 8:30 painting
class and I have washed clothes in the tub ( new washing machine needs
another hose to get it operational ), taken trash to the assigned
point and completed all the other little homemaker chores once I put
Rider down for his nap.



As I write this, I'm looking out over an olive grove toward the valley.
The vista is a patchwork of assorted shades of yellow and green from
the fields and trees and the congregation of golden buildings with
their rusty, red tiled roofs in Borgo San Lorenzo. Between the estate
and the valley there are small mountains with some outcroppings of
rock. Beyond the valley, partially obscured by the light mist , are
the pale violet outlines of the mountains. The sky seems endless with
billowing cumulus clouds.

Apparently figs are abundant here as there are numerous large fig
trees on the property with the promise of a large crop later in the
summer. I haven't yet seen other fruit trees but we had some
delicious peaches from the market and there is an array of fruit to
purchase. As one might expect, the large supermarkets present the
bounty of the EU with every conceivable commodity. I look forward to
an extended visit with a well rested little fellow.

So we made it to the local market and saw only Italians which makes it
pretty darn authentic in my estimation. It was late but there was
still much produce so we chose greens, leaf lettuce, tomatoes of a
variety that we would probably call heirloom; at home, bananas and
nectarines. Then we visited the cheese merchant and bought a kilo of
salami ( a rather hefty stick ), a meta kilo of Parmesan cheese for
cooking, and a meta kilo of another cheese with holes in it for eating
in hand. There was yet another kind of Parmesan that cost less and was
for just eating as is. I think the difference might be in the age as
the cooking one was dry and more crumbly with a stronger taste. We
were offered samples before purchase and Rider liked them all. He has
eaten everything he's offered. After a brief visit to buy pane (bread)
and a dulce (sweet), we came home and made a lunch with the findings.
We are literally less than 10 minutes from town!

Settling In

Date: Wednesday, June 15, 2011



Settling In                                                  

Pool Time Again

Betsy started classes and Rider and I attempted to establish a
routine. I realized today that I rarely spent this much time alone
with my own children as infants. Rider is an amazingly easy baby but,
yet, he is a baby and requires constant attention when he's awake
which was pretty many hours today. He is everywhere and is on the
verge of walking so today has been a three ice pack day from tumbles.
He does take both a morning and afternoon nap and we took strolls both
morning and afternoon. I'm thankful we have a lot of room in the
apartment and he can ramble around in the house as well. Plus I take

him to a grassy area for playtime ; we visit the large area housing the hens, rooster, chicks and turkeys. Dov e la gallina?

Strange Italian hen

 There are several dogs to visit like Carla, the German Shepherd, Stella and

 the Bishon ( maybe) hunting dogs in the pen near the caretakers' house.

We have learned to navigate the pathways where there is the least
amount of gravel as gravel makes the going very tough. Actually
strolling on the tennis court is the easiest but the most boring.

Strollin'
Vistas near the building that is used as a studio are, to me, the most serene....just forever the mountains and trees. Other vistas are similar to our views at Bent Tree of distant buildings and other mountains. There are different trees to see...tall cypress in particular and olive as well as many rows of grapes. 

Exploring a tree

The vineyards obviously do their thing as we have been purchasing wine based on what is on sale and have yet to pay over 3.5 Euros and have drunk delicious red and white wines.

We are cooking our own meals and making them super simple... tonight
sauteed greens with Italian sausage and spinach and cheese ravioli
topped with shaved hard cheese. Wine, of course, was part of the meal
and finished with coffee and gelato.

Today for lunch...salami, cheese, sliced tomatoes drizzled with olive oil, baguette and fresh peaches.
Just maybe we Americans make cooking and eating too complicated.

Betsy went into Florence today with some members of the class to
purchase art supplies and found it as delightful as she remembered
from her previous visit when Anthony C was at the NYU campus. She also
came home with a few Italian toys for Rider. He'll now always have a
copy of The Cat In The Hat in Italian!