I realize tonight that it's far easier to get photos from my camera into the blog (although with an iffy internet connection that is far from easy) than to include the ones from my phone. If you're a Facebook friend, you've seen today's photos. If you're not, just be patient.
A good part of today was spent on one autostrada or another. Over €26 worth of autostrada, as a matter of fact. We stopped at several rest stops along the way and had late lunch at the rest stop in Chianti. Another bread less grilled cheese for me.
By 4pm we were winding our way through the hills of Tuscany towards Agriturismo Cretaiole, our home for the next week. Once we arrived, we mediate lay felt like we were visiting family. We were shown to our efficiency, La Cantina, which in its previous life was a barn. The bounty of food that welcomed us was astounding. It wasn't until about an hour after we arrived that we met Carlotta who welcomed us and helped to get us settled.
While we waited, we met most of our fellow guests. Everyone staying here is here for the week. I believe everyone is in Europe for 4 to 6 weeks. We're all at.various points of our trips. We'll be spending a lot of time with these folks this week.
Lou prepared our pasta dinner tonight prepared from pasta in our welcome "basket" as well as tomatoes, basil and peppers from the garden. We topped the pasta with cheese we got at the dairy near S. Pellegrino Terme. Yum.
While he cooked, I got acquainted with Luciano, the owner. We drank some wine and attempted conversation. I can understand a bit of Italian but have no speaking ability at all! The only foreign words that came to mind were in Hebrew. That's not going to work here.
Luciano promised us all grappa, a nasty distilled beverage made from the already pulverized skin of grapes that had been "stomped" as well as the pits and the stems. In Italian style he was late. But that's okay. Six of us were still up when he arrived. We drank, we talked, we laughed. Lou was our best translator. One woman even danced with Luciano. Women were served vin santo (like sherry) while the men got grappa first we ate grapes, biscotti and nuts.
The view, the food and drink, both taste, aromas and sheer beauty, the Italian are all contributing to my sensory overload.
Orientation is at 9:15 with Carlotta and Isabella, Luciano's daughter-in-law. We'll learn more about what's planned for us. It's after midnight so for now, buona notte.
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