The John Feikema Family

We got an early start Saturday morning and took off for Tuscany. The Autostrade out of Bologna quickly turned into more than just getting passed by big Mercedes and BMWs at high speed.

It became a game of tunnel, bridge, tunnel, bridge as we approached Firenze. The hills of Tuscany make building roads a lot more challenging. We got off of the highway on the outskirts of Firenze and headed south. Everything changed right away.

We spotted the castle of Poppiano as we negotiated the hairpins and single lane roads (they carry traffic in both directions but they are slightly wider than a driveway).

We pulled into the driveway of Le Torri at 11:00, quite a bit early. Check in isn’t until 3:00 but we wanted to know where our final destination was. We trucked into the local town (San Quirico in Collina) just to wander.

Town to town travel is interesting. Since the majority of these ancient towns were built on hilltops (you could see the approaching enemy better), there is no way to the neighboring town except down into the valley and back up again. I would suspect that you go through a lot of brakes and transmissions here.

Every town it seems has to have its own tower and they are often picturesque.

As you’ll see in coming posts, I’ve developed a liking for the cool doorways in Tuscany. It seems that 90% of the place can be in need of significant TLC but the doors are always perfect.

Finally after a nice lunch, some leisurely wandering and a stop at the local coop for groceries, we were ready to head back. The place (Le Torri) is great.

Our room/apartment is the second floor set of windows in the right side of this picture. We checked in, and decided to relax in the pool. Then the rest of the week’s travelers arrived. 12 mad Hungarians (including two ex-pats living in Toronto) and four of their Canadian friends. What a hoot. They certainly livened things up. There was an interesting mix of Hungarian, Italian, English (Hungitalish?) as the night progressed.To our new Hungarian friends – “mad Hungarians” is a term of endearment – you guys are great.We experienced the infamous buffet of local Tuscan cooking, prepared by the matriarch of the family (Maria Pia), and tried their family Chianti. It was quite nice. We bought a bottle but I am sure that it won’t survive the trip. She is cooking again Wednesday evening so we’ll give a run down of both at that time.

Renting a car in Italy is a fun experience. You’d better be in a relaxed mood.

We decided not to have a car for our time in Milano (which was a good move). This morning when we checked out we headed directly for the central train station to pick up our car. We were originally scheduled for a 2:00 pm pickup but decided to get on the road early (or so we thought).

We got there at about 10:00am. After waiting in line an hour, I finally got to the agent and he told me he couldn’t find my reservation. I handed him the confirmation sheet. He saw 2:00pm and mumbled that I’d have to come back in an hour and it might be ready. We chilled for an hour, and came back at noon. The line was now 5 minutes long (not bad). When I got to the agent again, he said all was in order and they would drive my car up in 5-10-15 minutes. That should have been a clue. It was another hour waiting in the parking lot before the car made it from their off-site lot to the station. Mary grabbed this picture while I was waiting. Fortunately I was chilling Italian style or I’d have been in the back of this truck rather than just waiting by it.

We jumped in the car and headed for Bologna. Nice trip, pretty fast on the autostrade but quite windy. It felt like an amusement park ride where the car was pushed from side to side with trucks on one side going slower and the BMWs, Mercedes, et. al. on the other side passing us going at least 150 kph. I was certainly ready to arrive.

I like the car as you can tell.

Dinner tonight was great. We had dinner at the Hotel Savoia where we are staying – just outside of the city of Bologna. We had read that the in house restaurant, “Garganelli” was great so we tried it. It didn’t disappoint, and cost us almost half what we spent on our dinner in Milano. We split a mixed salad and Mary ordered the ravioli Garganelli (pink ravioli) stuffed with fresh Mozzarella di Bufala and Aubergine (eggplant), garnished with fresh San Marzano tomatoes and basil. I had the pork fillet wrapped in Prosciutto dolce di Parma (a special “ham”) and served with grilled green peppers and an aubergine puree. Both were molto bene (I know because of course we split them both)! We had a bottle of Erik Banti’s Carato, a blend of sangiovese, cabernet, merlot and syrah. Worth looking for at home, especially given its low price. Outstanding!

Night, night.

Well it was a planes, trains and automobiles day. Fortunately without most of the drama, or John Candy or Steve Martin. It was a long day. We left Mpls. at about 8:00, airport delays and all. We flew NWA/Delta on an Airbus 330 (one of them that didn’t drop into the Atlantic). We were in 1H and 1J. I haven’t flow international on an Airbus before. I really like their seats in business class – talk about tricked out. Two lumbar actuators, foot rest and a nice entertainment center (we watched the new Star Trek movie – at least it was new to us). An added benefit of the seats is that you really can sleep in them. At least for about three hours before they wake you up for landing.

One we landed in Milan’s Malpensa airport, we took the train to MIlano. It was about 50 km. Not a bad ride. It was then only a 10 minute cab ride to the Hotel Jolly President. We checked in at about 4:00, in but forgot to ask for the renovated section. Ah well, our room was small but reasonable. Fine for one night. Our first stop was the Duomo. Wow. I had seen it before but it is still breathtaking. Mary was expecting a dark, gothic structure and was stunned by the pink and tan marble exterior, over 157 spires and 2000 statures and gargoyles.

Fortunately we had time for Mary to audition at La Scala. We won’t know the results for a while but at least she enjoyed it. 🙂

We took a short trek through the Galleria Via Emmanuel, oohed and ahhed at the designer shops, then stopped for a Heineken to quench the thirst and it was back to the hotel to get cleaned up for dinner.

Dinner was at Peppino. Two blocks from the hotel. We shared a Caprese salad, Risotto ala Milanese and Linguini with Vongele. We figured Risotto Milanese was a must-have in Milan. We were not disappointed. The Vongele was also delicious. Rosso di Montalcino was our wine of choice.

I got up early to catch the early morning light. I was pleased not only with the light but how few people are crowding the Piazza at 5:30 AM.

We checked out this morning, and picked up our rental car. Now we are off to Bologna. More later.

Ciao.

From the top of the mountain

Unfortunately I did not take this picture. I say unfortunately because if I had, I’d be there. It won’t be long now. We leave September 2nd and we are psyched. Once we get an itinerary fixed, I’ll post it.