FOOOOOOTBAAAAALLLLLLL!!!!!

Last night there was a soccer game going on at the stadium in Florence.  The stadium is about three miles from where we live and we are separated by several tall buildings but we could hear the roar of the crowd from inside our apartment with the windows shut.  The entire time the crowd was singing, yes SINGING and the singing would only stop when it was broken by the riotous wave of a roar when the Florence team scored or even came close to scoring a goal.  It was absolutely contagious -the sound of joy, pure joy.  I was ready to open up

 our kitchen window and start cheering and singing along with them. What fun!  Everytime they roared I'm sure that the level of adrenaline in my blood system went up.  We have talked about going to a game before but the sound of the crowd from across town makes me even more anxious to go.  For the record, I haven't been to the stadium yet and that is not my photo. 

And speaking of adrenaline, on Monday we went to see the new James Bond move (in English).  I was excited the instant I realized that the opening scene took place in a Tuscan town that we had been to just two days earlier.  Siena!

SHORT TRIP                                            

The photo here is of Nick and I during a day trip to 

Siena.  (I don't know why I look a bit too serious here.  We were having fun.) Siena is one of many beautiful hilltop towns in Tuscany.  Now, it's true that I usually find myself writing about our trips and various adventures but I promise that this is not a year long vacation.  We are busy with many mundane day to day activities - cooking, cleaning, etc. which are very boring to write about.  I thought I would be able to keep up this blog on a more regular basis but, I often find myself sitting down at the computer only to stare blankly at the screen and wonder why anyone would want to know what I bought at the market today or how long it took to walk to school.  So, anyway, Sienna was beautiful but kind of a blur to see only in one day.  It's a small town with all of the picturesque cobblestone streets and beautiful churches and cozy corners where someone is hanging out laundry (so maybe mundane things are interesting?) near a beautiful terrace full of plants and trees.  We climbed two towers, visited two museums and went inside the main cathedral of the town which had stunning floors where various stories of church history and saints had been inlaid and carved in various colors of marble.  I confess though that my favorite part of the day was our long, four course lunch (appetizers, pasta, meat and dessert) at Boccon del Prete which was recommended to us by one of the attendants at the Civic Museum gift shop.  Siena is also the home of a very famous horse race (done bareback!) called the Palio whose history dates back to ???  the date eludes me right now.  We are hoping that we can try to see it this summer though I hear that you need to plan for this at least a year in advance to see it so who knows.  We'll try.  If you have time it's worth it to google the Palio race.  I have found the best information about it here 

www.slowtrav.com/italy/tuscany/siena_palio.htm .  

Also in sienna we found this cute little shop, closed of course, where they made these beautiful little clay horses with the jockeys on top and even a 

a track to go with it.  The sign for the hours of the store said something like "Open: every now and then.  Closed:  After we open". There are a dozen or so specific neighborhoods in Siena and each neighborhood gets the chance to enter a horse in the race so not just anyone can enter a horse in the Palio.  Each neighborhood has it's own flag which determines what colors the jockey's wear in the race.  And at what event in Siena does the new James Bond open up?  The Palio!

Also this month we had a short trip to Rome with the students.  We have been to Rome together before when we visited Italy two years ago but I wasn't feeling well most of the time and we had decided to stay outside of the city center which turned out to be poor pl

anning on our part.  So, long story short, my memories of Rome were mostly annoying and tiring and I thought I'd be happy to never set foot in Rome again.   However, this time we had an absolutely fabulous time and, dare I say (?), that I even liked Rome better than Florence.  It might have been the fact that we didn't have to cook or clean the entire time we were there or the fact that we had our own personal tour guide (Janet) to show us around, or it could have been the fact that the weather was absolutely PERFECT the whole time we were there with 

sunny skies and beautiful little clouds intermittently floating around as if to say "Hello, and welcome to Rome.  How may we serve you?" We also happened upon several great restaurants while we were there.  Good food can make a bad day good but this time it made a great day better. One neighborhood in Rome, the Trastevere, particularly struck my fancy.  It was an area that had the feeling of being in San Francisco or the French Quarter of New Orleans.  Very artsy & hip & fun.  We stumbled upon a shoe store that looked more like a modern art museum.  Once I realized that there were no prices anywhere I was not so sad that the store was closed.  We also found more than one cozy little bookstore and other artisan shops. I hope to get to go back.

FINDING MY WAY

I've been doing pretty well with getting around Florece and typically I don't need a map anymore but one particular day I ventured outside of the city center to go to a market I was curious about.  I took the bus there and wondered around the market (which was disappointing) for at least an hour, an hour and a half perhaps.  When I was done I was really done - tired, hungry, feet aching, the works but I quickly came to learn that the return bus stop was not where I expected it to be.  So I walked a bit further down the route from which I came thinking that I would eventually hit a bus stop.  I went further and further and took a few turns until finally I was completely disoriented and did not know where I was or how to get where I needed to be.  One guy tried to tell me in broken English where the station was and I headed that way but it just didn't seem right to me so I turned another way.  That was a bad instinct.  I should have kept going because I ended up being lost for 30 or 40 minutes and what seemed like an eternity.  I conceded to the idea that I just might have to sleep on the sidewalk that evening.  My only source of happiness during this time was an older woman with a little 4 or 5 year old boy who was laughing at a small pile of dog poop. I listened to the grandmother explaining about how little dogs sometimes have to "fare un po-po" too.  Eventually, I managed to squeak out enough Italian to find out from someone where the river was and in which direction the big cathedral is and someone was able to point out in which direction the train/bus station was and I finally managed to find my way back.  It was a long morning.  Ironically, on my way back I gave directions to an American couple who didn't know how to get to the train station.  

OLIVE PICKING

Nick and I and a few students had the good fortune of being able to help out with an olive harvest during the last weekend of October.  Friends of Janet and Giovanni own about 50 Olive tress and agreed to let us come out and help - a few students went each day.  We spent about four hours in the morning raking olives off of the branches with these bright orange little, plastic hand rakes (some with extension poles to get the olives high up) and trying very carefully not to step on the ones we'd raked off.  Each tree was surrounded on the ground by a large net to catch all of the olives and when it appeared that they were all down the net would be used to corral them all together and dump them into a basket.  We broke for lunch for about and hour and a half and then, with our bellies very, very full, it was back to work for another two or three hours.  So why don't I have any pictures of this adventure?  Well, a couple of reasons.   Reason #1 was that I had been told that the boss was a stickler and was easily irritated when people weren't working diligently so I didn't want to be the goof off running around taking pictures.  Reason #2 was that, well, I forgot the camera.  Ug.   There was one student taking pictures whom I will get copies from someday soon but until then you'll just have to imagine it.

On a separate occasion we were able to taste fresh olive oil at a food festival (the olives which we picked were just pressed last week and we haven't received our bottles yet) and I was very surprised to find it very spicy and bitter.  I almost wasn't sure if I liked it but we bought a small bottle and now I find myself drizzling it onto every meal (even breakfast!) and snack that we make in the kitchen.  A little pepper, a little salt and some bread to dip.  It's like nothing we'll ever taste at home - well, outside of California anyway.

GREVE IN CHIANTI

Yes, I remember over a month ago promising to tell about our trip to Greve...

The dog pictured here is Rocky.  Rocky was one of two dogs (I didn't get a picture of Luna) who lived on the property of the Podere Torre - the name of a bed and breakfast/farmhouse where we rented a tiny apartment for a couple of days in the region of Chianti.  Several of you have heard me talk about how I only knew Chianti wine from what I've seen in our Illinois grocery store so, up until recently I only knew it as something that looked to me like instant headache in a bottle.  While I've never ventured to try the stuff at home, tasting Chianti in Chianti was very special.  Mildly dark and fruity and it doesn't put me to sleep like most red wines.

Of the two dogs, Luna was the protector of the house and always barked for the owner when visitors came near the main door.  Rocky was the playful one always vying for your attention and sort of adopted us during our stay.  He stuck around our apartment for most of the time.  It could

have been because I gave him back rubs from head to tail everyday, or, it could have been that I cracked open walnuts for him to eat, or, it could have been that we played fetch for hours throughout the weekend OR it could have been the bones from that huge steak that I gave the owner to give to the dogs.  Who knows but we had a very faithful friend during our short stay.

Staying at the Podere Torre was a bit of a challenge because we do not have a car and it was a 50 minute walk to and from town.  We used a taxi to get groceries but pretty much stayed at the apartment for most of the time except for one or two walks into town just for fun.  "Slow travel", I believe it's called.   The view from the Podere Torre was so spectacular that I barely needed a book to read.  We were up in the hills looking out over the Chianti valley with the olive orchards and vineyards heavy with fruit but not quite ready to be picked.  It was dreamy.   We cooked outside on the grill and enjoyed a fire during some of the first of cooler fall nights.  The one surprise at the Podere Torre was waking up each morning to the sound of gunshots from the hunters near by.  It was not the season for wild boar (a Tuscan specialty) so they must have been hunting wild fowl.  We were in the county though so we should have expected it.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and we'll be having dinner with all 25 of the ACM students plus Janet and Giovanni.  Orignally we were going to split the group and we would host half at our house and half at Janet and Giovanni's but none of the students wanted to be separated for the Holiday.  I can't blame them.  So, at the last minute, Janet has found a public space to rent where we can all fit cozily together and a few students are coming over to our house tomorrow morning to help make pies. It won't be the same as home of course but it will be very, very memorible.  Can't find canned pumpkin anywhere so we're making that from scratch.  Can't find pecans so there won't be any pecan pie.  We do have apples though, lots and lots of apples so it will still count as an "all american" pie for Thanksgiving - it's just that the apples were grown in Tuscany...and the turkey and potatoes and everything else for that matter.

Happy Thanksgiving everybody.  I hope this finds you with a full, or soon to be full, belly and, more importantly, friends and family and at least one tradition to engage in besides eating.  Sorry if this is long winded.  

Take care & happy holidays,

Sunshine