Jenni
& Joe
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Tuscany,
Italy
Friday,
November 16
We
are tired and could both sleep another 24 hours, it feels. But today we are moving
on from Rome to San Miniato, a small town in the Tuscany region a half-hour train
ride from Florence. A Truffles Festival is taking place there over the weekend.
After a few minor mishaps in the train station - it's been months since we rode
the trains! - we arrive in San Miniato to a beautiful pink Bed and Breakfast called
"Marrucola." The sun is setting and the yellow light is lovely! Inside
we are pleased to find a warm, family-like atmosphere headed up by Sylwia (pronounced
"Sylvia" - she's Polish. She's cooking dinner while loudly bantering with Lucia,
the lively 12-year old daughter of the house. Dinner is at 8:30, so we grab a
quick nap and refresh ourselves in time for a fabulous meal of antipasti (cold
cuts of ham and slices of cheese), lasagna for the second course, and roast beef
for the main course. Our last course is a dessert called biscotti, which we dip
into a sweet wine called vin santo. This is Tuscan cuisine at its finest! During
and after the meal we also drink Chianti; a red wine particular to this region
of Tuscany. We are thrilled
because dinner is included in the price of the B&B and it's "all you
can drink wine as well!" And, after dinner, the
best part…karaoke! We sing until we're exhausted and quit around 2 AM.
Saturday,
November 17
This
is a small pension, and there's only one other couple staying here. 
They're
from Rome, and have come for the festival as well. We see everyone at breakfast
again - Silvia and the family who lives at the B&B, and walk off the meal as we
head into town. It's a peaceful 45-minute walk, and we explore what there is of
the small town before giving in to the calling of a nap. The Festival starts around
6:00 PM, so we wake in enough time to watch the sun set over the rolling Tuscan
hills as we walk back into town.
We sample many different kinds of truffle dishes and pates and even buy some truffle
sausage. A marching band plays music in the streets, completing the small-town
festival atmosphere.Dinner time is again around 8:30 tonight, and make our second
trek to the outskirts of town in complete darkness on a narrow, twisty road with
no shoulder. Maybe the Italians are accustomed to walking in such conditions,
but it's nerve-wracking for us car-conditioned Americans! Dinner is a repeat performance
of wondrous cooking, again with antipasti, spaghetti, and ribs, topped with wine,
after-dinner drinks and more karaoke!
Sunday,
November 18
It's
dreary outside today - gray, cold and rainy. There's such a familial feeling in
this house that it's simply more fun and more comfortable to stay indoors all
day rather than catch our death of cold. We catch up on finances and research,
enjoy a lovely lunch of pasta, ribs, and Truffle sausages with the family and
their friends, and Joe and the father, Ezio, proceed to while away the afternoon
belting out tunes on the karaoke machine until their voices almost give out. While
in the kitchen, Sylwia is the absent-minded translator between us and the family.
We ask her "como se dice 'intelligent' in Italiano?" From the far end of the table
she replied, "I? I am intelligent?" She completely missed the point that we were
asking for a translation! This became a source for a running joke. Whenever we'd
ask her for a translation, we'd joke, "I? I am beautiful?" Lucia got a big kick
out of making fun of Sylwia, and was constantly saying, "I?" We appreciate Sylwia
being the translator. It's just that she would sometimes get her four languages
(Polish, English, Italian and German) mixed up and struggle, which would provide
entertainment for the entire family.
Monday,
November 19 
A
beautiful day today, and we are headed to Pisa to hold up the Leaning Tower! It's
a short 45-minute train ride away, and we arrive in the early afternoon. Seeing
the tower and the Duomo are our only goals here…noting else. We meet some fellow
travelers from Colorado and Miami, and spend some time talking with Brad and Stacy
from New Orleans. They stopped us to take their picture by the Duomo and we end
up chatting for some time. A little souvenir shopping and we're on our way back
to Marrucola in time for dinner - another grand spread of antipasti, penne pasta,
and breaded chicken and french fries. The couple from Rome has gone, so it's just
us and the family at the formal dinner table…we're thinking of asking them if
we can just eat in the kitchen, since we know that's more comfortable for them
- but they bet us to it! Sylwia asks us if we would mind taking breakfast in the
kitchen, and we suggest dinner as well. She's so excited, we've made her day!
Tuesday, November
20
Florence has been calling our name since we arrived here, so today
we embark on the day trip there. We take the early morning train from the San
Miniato station, and it gets crazily crowded with a bunch of kids who have drunk
several cups of coffee, apparently. We are thankful to have seats! On the way,
we make a lit of the things we want to see in Florence…we know we'll go a second
day, but we want to make good use of our time since we are not staying here, but
in San Miniato. Once we arrive in Florence, we have an agenda.
All our guidebooks say to get to the Accademia as soon as possible in the morning,
to see Michelangelo's David. We have to keep in mind that these guidebooks are
writing as if we are visiting in the height of tourist season, and we aren't.
While the Accademia was not empty, there was plenty of room to stand around and
admire the 13-foot tall David with his piercing gaze at the unseen Goliath. (Sorry,
no pictures allowed.) It's perfection, and while neither of us are acclaimed sculptors
and would never dare question Michelangelo, both of us wondered if maybe the oversized
right hand was a mistake that Michelangelo passed off as representing the power
of the people of Florence. We'll never know, but I have a sneaking suspicion that
Michelangelo was a great salesman as well as a great sculptor. Then we toured
the San Marco Museum, a former Dominican monastery in which Fra (Friar) Angelico
painted gorgeous frescos inside each monk's small cell from 1438-1435. We also
saw Savonarola's rooms, where he led the backward move into the Dark Ages by burning
Renaissance books and paintings as being "of the devil." He was a religious fanatic,
and believed in a theocracy in which Florence would be under religious rule and
the people would be judged in a court of law by what the Bible says. Sounds a
little Osama-ish. Eventually, driven by his increasingly forceful behavior, the
people turned against him and he offered to undergo Trial By Fire - an ordeal
in which he would be burned at the stake…but if he were innocent, he would walk
away unharmed. He chickened out, was arrested, and hanged instead. Good riddance.
Next up, the bell tower of the famous Duomo. It's 413 steps up the top, and we're
both left gasping for air when we reach the top but it is indeed an extraordinary
view of Florence!
The
stairwell is as it originally was - tiny and stifling. It's unimaginable what
it's like in the summertime, trying to squeeze past sweaty people on the way up
and down. Lucky for us, not many people were braving the stiff winds, so we didn't
meet many people in the stairwell, and none of them were sweaty! Back on the ground,
we loitered in the courtyard area between the Duomo and the Baptistry, oldest
building in Florence. The area is known as "Paradise" in part because of a remark
Michelangelo made about the elaborately carved doors on the Baptistry that face
the Duomo. He said they were so beautiful they were like the "Gates to Paradise"
and the name has stuck ever since. For lunch we grabbed simple pizza slices and
ate with the birds on a park bench, then checked email and did some Spain research
for an hour. It's almost time to catch the train home, so we wander through the
Central Market for a while and come across some great gift ideas! We also unexpectedly
met Stacy and Brad from New Orleans again, and walk to the Ponte Vecchio with
them. The Ponte Vecchio, lined with expensive shops, is the oldest bridge in Florence,
and was the only bridge to survive Germany's destruction during WWII. We invite
Stacy and Brad to San Miniato for Thanksgiving. 
They
both are craving some real Tuscan food and chianti, and we tell them there's plenty
of that at Marrucola. We decide to make plans via email. On the way to the train
station we stop off for some of the famous "gelato", or ice cream, and freeze
our hands as we hurry to the station. We get back in time for dinner (in the kitchen
this time!) of antipasti, spaghetti, and roasted rabbit with olives. Topped off
with Vin Santo, a dessert wine in which you dip biscotti-like cookies, and we
were ready for bed!
Wednesday,
November 21
We are staying right here in San Miniato today - it's a gorgeous
day, and we set out for a sunshine-drenched walk along the country lanes. Daytime
is bright and warmish, but as soon as the sun goes down it gets downright chilly!
But we want to see the sun set, so we bundle up in preparation. The countryside
is quiet and peaceful, and since San Miniato is at the top of a hill, we are treated
to light-softened views of sheer beauty. The light in this part of Italy really
is different in a very special way. When we return to Marrucola, Maria is there
showing Sylwia how to make a new Tuscan dish. Sylwia has been in Italy only two
and half months, and employed at Marrucola for only one and a half. So she has
to learn the traditional dishes, and Maria comes every other day or so to show
her a new dish. Today it's a bread soup - rich vegetable soup ladled over thin
bread slices in layers. It's so yummy, but you can only eat so much since the
bread is so filling. It's for dinner tonight. In the meantime, we work on the
Web site and help set the table for yet another gorgeous and delicious Tuscan-style
dinner. After dinner we went out with Sylwia and her date (at her insistence)
and it was a real nightmare. See the Journal for more. Tonight we have also learned
that we made a huge mistake when making arrangements to stay here. Joe thought
the price was $50 per night. But, it turns out, it's $50 per night PER PERSON!
That fact was not made clear when we made the arrangements, so now we will be
paying twice the amount than we thought! One hundred dollars a night is extremely
reasonable (especially considering the amount of food and drink we are consuming)
and we're having such a great time so we decide not to make a fuss. But ouch!
And now we told our American friends Brad and Stacy that they could stay here
for (relatively) cheap and they are planning to spend tomorrow night here as well.
Double Ouch!
Thursday,
November 22
Happy Thanksgiving! We have arranged with Sylwia to help her
prepare dinner so we can learn the secrets of Tuscan cooking. It can't be all
that hard - after all, she learned how to cook such delicious meals in a short
time from Maria! In the morning, the electricity went out. Since Brad and Stacy
from New Orleans were coming that afternoon for Thanksgiving at our urging, we
were a bit worried that we had invited our new friends into a less-than-ideal
situation…but it turns out that some electrical-company workers were replacing
a pole near the house, and it was back on by 2:00.
We also have to break the news to them that - OOPS - we underrepresented the hotel
bill by 100 PERCENT! Oh well, we hope they'll understand and enjoy themselves.
There's not much choice. We take a walk to get some fresh air, and wander down
into the closest valley for a couple of hours. Back at the house, we lounge around
and wait for Brad and Stacy to show up. The cooking lesson starts at 6:00, and,
accompanied by plenty of wine, gets noisy and fun in short order. We learn how
to make ragu (spaghetti sauce), 2 kinds of antipasti (one made of butter, tuna,
salt and olives…surprisingly good!), and a roast beef rubbed with fresh rosemary.
They use so many fresh herbs here - an entire corner of the kitchen is reserved
for fresh rosemary, basil, parsley, plus some others. We eat dinner late, around
10:00PM, and a good time was had by all!
Friday,
November 23
One last shopping day in Florence! And we still need to see
some of the highlights of the town. We hop the 11:16 train into Florence and spend
the entire day being star-struck tourists. First stop was the museum set to close
at 1:30 - this museum holds Donnatello's David, a sculpture highly acclaimed but
that looks like a young girl compared to Michelangelo's 13-foot tall David we
saw earlier! It also houses Michelangelo's Baccus, god of wine, who looks drunk-happy
and a little unsteady on his feet. Next up, the Piazza della Signoria. 
This
was the main square of Florence for years, where the original David statue by
Michelangelo was placed to inspire the people. It's paved with the stones from
a palace that originally stood in this square, but whose family was routed out
and everything was confiscated. The giant fountain in the middle is of Neptune,
and we think it's admirable. But Michelangelo didn't. He said to the sculptor,
"Why Ammancetto, what a wonderful piece of marble you've ruined!" and it's said
that the fountain has never been taken seriously since. Several great statues
are scattered all over this square, including one of Perseus, slayer of Medusa,
and of the Rape of the Sabine Women, a striking sculpture both for its topic and
the twisting placement of the characters. The story behind the Rape of Sabines
is this: The original Romans didn't have enough women, so they swooped down on
the Sabines, easily defeated their men and carried off the women. Years later,
the Sabine men staged a comeback to take the women back, but the women, having
grown accustomed to their new lives and with families of their own, stood between
the fighting men to put a stop to it. The painting showing this scene is hanging
in the Louvre in Paris; it's fascinating to see the first part of the story in
such a fabulous three-dimensional sculpture.
After Joe takes a pit stop to catch up on the news, and Jenni tours the Duomo
Museum, we grab a quick bite to eat and head to the Medici Chapel. The Medicis,
the most powerful family in Florence in the 1500's (and much of Italy) lived in
the center of Florence and did their best to hide the evidence of the wealth by
keeping all outward appearances simple and never ostentatious. But they spared
no expense indoors. 
Their
gardens and courtyards were littered with works of art, including Donnatello's
David, the original of which we had just seen in the sculpture museum! The family
chapel was a tiny room barely big enough for a handful of bag-toting tourists.
The walls of the chapel are painted beautifully, showing the chronological scenes
of the Gifts of the Magi. Several members of the Medici family are painted into
the crowd scenes, and we can even pick out the artist. It's humbling to realize
that these people had their very own chapel in their home, and it's this gorgeous!
The market is nearby, and we have a shopping list. Markets can be so confusing, fun, colorful, interesting, and a great place to people-watch, but they are always intimidating when it comes to bargaining. We find two vendors who have lived their whole lives in Tuscany and are a joy to deal with, and walk away feeling like we gave and got a good deal. THAT'S a good feeling! Whether it's true or not is beside the point. We indulge the salesmen on Joe's videocamera as we ask them for a "cola cola with a straw" in Tuscan dialect. (Ezio had told us that Tuscans pronounce their c's like h's … So, it sounds like Hoha Hola hon la hanucha, horte horte). It's too late to see the Uffizi now…but since you can't go to Florence without seeing the Uffizi (so we've been told) we make a deal to come again before we leave. We've told Sylwia that we'll eat dinner in Florence, so we search out a diner recommended by one of the guidebook. While the food is decent, the service and atmosphere is not, but the bill makes us think we were at a five-star restaurant! Marrucola's food is much better. We catch a train back to San Miniato and thankfully the owner's son is waiting for us at the station. We don't have to catch the bus into town and walk!
Saturday,
November 24
It's funny how you don't feel tired until it's time to wake
up in the morning. Then it all catches up with you and you simply cannot move.
We don't stir until almost noon, and then we spend the day doing not much at all.
Yesterday apparently took a lot out of us. The family is eating lunch and Sylwia
invites us to eat with the family (which we consider a great honor).
But we don't want to impose especially because we're not paying for lunch, so
Jenni talks to Ezio about it and he jokingly replies, "No problem. I am American."
Ezio explained that folks in this area use that expression, "No problem. I am
American," when they're spending a lot of money. It means they consider Americans
rich. Oh well, we don't consider ourselves "rich" but we do feel like we've won
the lottery sometimes! Jenni sits with Sylwia as she prepares dinner; taking notes
on meals and watching her disembowel and dismember a rabbit. Ugh. Tonight's dinner
is antipasti, spaghetti and fried rabbit. The rabbit is surprisingly good meat,
although its hard to watch it being made. More singing around the karaoke machine
after dinner until around midnight.
Sunday,
November 25
Today is a "takin' care of business" day. We leave
tomorrow morning for Venice, and we have to find a place to stay and make contact
with some friends who live there. We also are going bak to Florence because we
still need to visit the Uffizi, one of the best museums in the world. It takes
us 2 ½ hours to get to the train station…no one is available at Marrucola's to
take us, so we walk into town to catch the bus but it seems they aren't running…apparently
the last day of the Truffle Festival has the bus system all screwed up and we
go in search of the new bus stop, where time is at a standstill as we wait for
the driver to get back to his bus and head for the station. On the bus and the
train, we both nod off. In Florence, the Uffizi is a short half-hour walk away,
and the brisk weather wakes us up a bit.
All the guidebooks warn against long lines to get into the Uffizi, but since this
is the off-season, we breeze right in and rent some audioguides for the tour.
The Uffizi is said to house the highest number and quality of paintings off the
Renaissance, from its beginnings to the end. The paintings are indeed beautiful,
and all the more meaningful since we've read up on the significance of the Renaissance
and the world-shattering ideas it brought forth. It's especially interesting knowing
the history before the Renaissance…that the graceful and enlightened life led
by the Greeks and Romans and the knowledge they contributed about art and architecture
was forgotten completely in Europe during the Dark Ages, and rediscovered to even
greater beauty during the Renaissance. Three hours later, we're back on the crowded
train to San Miniato and again fall asleep. 
For
dinner, Sylwia has talked Ezio, the owner, into ordering in pizza. We expect a
typical pizza dinner with paper plates and soda, but we should have learned by
now that a Tuscan dinner is never just pizza. The meal again consists of antipasti,
penne pasta, and then followed by the store-bought (but still delicious) pizza!
After dinner, everyone is tired but we have several swan songs with the karaoke
machine to our stay in San Miniato at the wonderful pink B&B that is Marrucola.
We promise we will return and tell all of our friends and family to come here
too!