Slept in this morning and it was awesome! Went down to breakfast and came back up to pack up for Florence! We had a reservation in Tuscany for a wine tour and tasting! Yay!! I took sometime the past few days looking up various places and was happy to find Castello Il Palagio it was a cute looking place, had a driver that would take us from the train station straight to the castle and it was decently priced! We checked out of the hotel and took the ferry to the train station making it within minutes! That was a little nerve racking ;)
It was about an hour to an hour and a half ride and once we got to Florence we had some time to kill until the driver picked us up so we decided to stop in a café just outside the station for some lunch. We all got some delicious pasta dishes and a round of beers. We even got some gelato for desert! Yum!! After that we headed back to the station and met Giovanni our driver :) He was very nice and helped us with our bags and we we're off.
We talked with him along the way and he pulled over two or three times to let us take pictures! We got a great shot of the Duomo from the hill and he even stopped and told us about a monastery. It was a great ride until just in front of us we witnessed a car accident on the turn off ramp. It was really really scary! I had forgotten the intensity of a car accident and seeing that in front of us really riled me up and brought me back to my car accident. I sort of lost it and began bawling. Giovanni got out and called 9-1-1 and a couple other cars stopped too to help out.
It was quite an intense part of the trip and still very scary and sad to look back on. Giovanni was great though and handled the situation really well. It was weird feeling so helpless in that situation because we couldn't speak the language. I counted my blessings Giovanni had let us stop to take pictures because it was a mere two cars in front of us, we really had an angel watching over us that day.
We got to the castle and I ran to the bathroom when I got out the lady instructing the wine tasting had a glass of water waiting for me. Giovanni had explained to them why we were late and what we had witnessed. Once I had calmed down we set out to tour the Castle. It was a small little place really quaint. The vineyards were huge though and they specialized in olive oils too! It was way more personal feeling compared to the one we had done with the school. It was just me, my mom, and Gerry with the lady who worked there. She brought us around the place, let us take pictures and ask questions. We got to see the cellar with all the different barrels inside. It was really fascinating! She told us all about how Tuscany is an area in Italy and Chianti is a smaller area of Tuscany and even smaller in that area is the Chianti Classico area which the Castle we were touring was a part of and very proud to be specific to that area.
After we toured the Castle she brought us up to a dinning room with a bunch of tables set up. It looked like a family had just finished before us. We got to try out four different wines. A bottle of Pinot Grigio, Chianti Classico, Chianti Classico Reserve, and a dessert wine a.k.a Grappa. We got a small plate of toasted bread with cheese and salami to sample the wine with. It was really cool, I liked the Chianti Classico Reserve the best, she even let us keep the wine we didn't finish :D
After the wine tasting we went down to the store and picked up a few extra bottles to share on holidays with the family and then headed back to the train station. We hung out around the train station for a about a half hour and then took the train back to Rome. It was nice because not a lot of people were on the train and it was really quiet.
We got back to Termini in Rome the train station and walked to Mom and Ger's hotel. I kind of forgot how far it was when we were walking with three bags and wine… lol it was a bit of a struggle and we probably looked pretty ridiculous, but eventually we made it :) We checked in, dropped their bags off, and headed out to find some dinner. There was a really cute brick oven pizza place right across from their hotel so we decided to make things easy and just eat there.
It was awesome pizza, the best I think I've had yet in Rome! I'm guessing it was because it was associated out of Naples, which is the best pizza I have had in Italy by far with Becky! This pizza was a close second! We got some sort of spicy pizza with bacon and it just melted in your mouth! After dinner mom and Ger walked me home and we said goodnight :) It was by far a very eventful day!
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Day 60-Venice!-Friday-4/1/11
Woke up to the sounds of the boats clamoring on the canal. Got dressed and went down to breakfast. It was a nice set up. After that I showed Mom and Gerry around Venice! We went to St. Mark's Basilica and toured through that. We bought a guide book which was sweet because it had a ton of other church's in it and we got to use it on a couple other churches throughout the day. After that we went back to the hotel and changed. It was absolutely gorgeous out! We walked around quite a bit and then decided to stop at a café for some bruschetta and a bottle of white wine. It was a nice little snack. We continued walking around for awhile after that. We visited another church and found a bunch a cool masks… all of which I kept hoping to find better and I'm still kicking myself about not getting one!
We got a round of beers and a crepe with nutella and bananas. It was alright, I'm definitely picky now that I've had the most amazing crepes in Paris :) After we decided to go on our gondola ride. We got a bottle of white wine and sipped it as we paddled through the back canals of Venice. It was absolutely beautiful! The gondola man was really funny because he only knew my name and when he wanted my attention he'd be like Ash-a-lee! Haha I enjoyed it. I took a ton of pictures and he told us where famous people had stayed and all sorts of history about Venice and how the whole island is sinking! Crazy!
After the gondola ride it was too early for dinner, but too late for lunch so we decided to stop in a pizzeria and split a pizza between the three of us to get us by for a few more hours until dinner. It was actually a fantastic pizza! Great pick by Gerry! We devoured that and continued walking around the island. We found a park that I had never seen before which was weird because it was my third time back and I still had not been to this part of the island. We walked in and out of a lot of shops while cruising around the island. I swear by the end of the day we had walked the whole thing!
I was trying to find a certain store and getting frustrated when the sun started to set and I still couldn't find it. I left mom and Ger at a bar to have a cocktail and watch some baseball while I ran off trying to find it. It took a while and a ton of weaving, but I found it! Unfortunately, it was closed :-/ I almost cried because I had a certain something to get someone and it was my third time back and I still wouldn't get it :-/ Oh well… I will tell them the story about it when I get home and I'm sure they will be ok with it :)
After that I walked back found Mom and Ger and we decided to get some dinner. I took them to the Tratorria Becky and I found, but this time we ate outside :) It was a beautiful little deck enclosed with vines growing around it. It got a little chilly though, more than I had expected it to. We had some delicious food despite being cold and crabby. I had the seafood spaghetti which was amazing, Gerry got lobster spaghetti and they literally gave him a whole lobster! Like the claws, body, tail, everything! It was hilarious! Mom got spaghetti carbonara I think?? She said grandpa used to make it for her back in the day :) All of our meals were delicious, by the time we got home everyone was pretty worn down… Mom skyped with Steph, Grandma, and Grandpa, and Ger and I hit the hay. It was a pretty good night despite the tension after running around the island all day.
We got a round of beers and a crepe with nutella and bananas. It was alright, I'm definitely picky now that I've had the most amazing crepes in Paris :) After we decided to go on our gondola ride. We got a bottle of white wine and sipped it as we paddled through the back canals of Venice. It was absolutely beautiful! The gondola man was really funny because he only knew my name and when he wanted my attention he'd be like Ash-a-lee! Haha I enjoyed it. I took a ton of pictures and he told us where famous people had stayed and all sorts of history about Venice and how the whole island is sinking! Crazy!
After the gondola ride it was too early for dinner, but too late for lunch so we decided to stop in a pizzeria and split a pizza between the three of us to get us by for a few more hours until dinner. It was actually a fantastic pizza! Great pick by Gerry! We devoured that and continued walking around the island. We found a park that I had never seen before which was weird because it was my third time back and I still had not been to this part of the island. We walked in and out of a lot of shops while cruising around the island. I swear by the end of the day we had walked the whole thing!
I was trying to find a certain store and getting frustrated when the sun started to set and I still couldn't find it. I left mom and Ger at a bar to have a cocktail and watch some baseball while I ran off trying to find it. It took a while and a ton of weaving, but I found it! Unfortunately, it was closed :-/ I almost cried because I had a certain something to get someone and it was my third time back and I still wouldn't get it :-/ Oh well… I will tell them the story about it when I get home and I'm sure they will be ok with it :)
After that I walked back found Mom and Ger and we decided to get some dinner. I took them to the Tratorria Becky and I found, but this time we ate outside :) It was a beautiful little deck enclosed with vines growing around it. It got a little chilly though, more than I had expected it to. We had some delicious food despite being cold and crabby. I had the seafood spaghetti which was amazing, Gerry got lobster spaghetti and they literally gave him a whole lobster! Like the claws, body, tail, everything! It was hilarious! Mom got spaghetti carbonara I think?? She said grandpa used to make it for her back in the day :) All of our meals were delicious, by the time we got home everyone was pretty worn down… Mom skyped with Steph, Grandma, and Grandpa, and Ger and I hit the hay. It was a pretty good night despite the tension after running around the island all day.
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