Barcelona.....

   Well, I made it to Barcelona without any trouble.
   It was a good flight from Geneva.  In fact, a young girl sat next to me and midway through the flight she started rubbing my arm!  And then she offered me a magazine!!  We played several games of peek-a-boo and hide your hand in a bag and see if you can find it.  Her mother kept apologizing, but for a girl younger than 2 on an airplane, she was fine.
   Mother seemed to speak multiple languages.  She asked me a question in French, I told her I did not understand, she changed to English and spoke Russian to the child, who also seemed to understand French.
   Once I got to Barcelona, I took a bus to the city center.  There was a protest going on...people beating on drums, blowing whistles, chanting....it took forever for the bus to get there.
   I took the metro to the train station to buy my ticket for France.   I took the metro back to the Catalunya Square and got directions to the hotel and here I am.
   It is hot here....I just realized, at almost 9 p.m., my room has an air conditioner.  So I put it on.  There is a school group of about 40 kids here from Denmark.  One girl thought she was in my room, much to her embarrassment when I opened the door.
   My room is about 10 x 12.  There is a bed, a wardrobe, a toilet and shower...that is it.  The hotel has a central open air courtyard...I took some pictures but they are in my room and I am in the lobby, because that is where the Wifi is.
   Spent most of the afternoon wandering down Ramblas.  Went to the open air market, the harbor, and had dinner.  Not all restaurants are alike.  I picked one and sort of regret it.  It was a 35 Euro meal and all I had was tapas.....fried calamari, ham, olive soaked bread, and fried zucchini.  I think it was the sangria that did it......must have been half a gallon of the stuff!!  And yes, I finished it.  Took me over an hour, but I did it.
   But I am a little woozy and my typing skills are deteriorating.  The Sangria was red wine with a liquore mixed in and served with ice and filled with fruit.  I can't remember what the liquor was.... something like brandy....or whatever.
   Needless to say, I am tired and hot.
  Wife is in the lobby, so I am sitting here watching the amazing amount of people walking up and down the streets.  People are going out in droves......
   The hotel is old but has a lot of character.  It will do for two nights.
   I also realized today I don't travel well alone.  This is only the second time in my life I have gone somewhere where I know absolutely no one.  No traveling buddy to make sure I go the right direction, take the right train, follow the map correctly.
   But most of all, it is the companionship.  Not having someone to talk to.....
   Anyway, I am her....the kids are going out....life is loud.

My room is on the third floor, at the rear, which is the right side

Sure, now I find them

My dinner drink.....at 11,50 Euros!!

My first experience with tapas..olive bread, squid, ham, and fried zucchini

That went fast!!

   Two weeks sounds like a long time.  But our two weeks in Tuscany flew past in a flash.
   I could do a photo book on food that I ate....because I took pictures of almost every dish.  I could do a photo book on the arches, curves, and doorways I loved.  Or the door knockers.  Yes, Dan, I am now obsessed with the knockers of Italy!!
   Had a great time.  Met some great people.  Saw some great sights.  Ate some great food. Made some great memories.
   Now I'm in Switzerland, Jackie and Emily are back in Rochelle, Carl and Ruth are in Rockford, John and Kathy in Chicago, John is in Toronto in transit back to Illinois.  Their adventure is temporarily over, mine continues with a trip to Barcelona and southern France.  A short trip, but hopefully a memorable one.
   Despite having almost two weeks of sunny, bright weather.....I waited until a misty, cloudy day to take a picture or two I had wanted to take since day one.  Go figure.
   Anyway, here's a last look at Italy for 2013.

Our handicapped bathroom...worked well!

Loved this door and arch that led into the villa

Second floor apartment had three bedrooms, and large kitchen/sitting room..

Twin beds in this room

Upstairs sitting area with massive working fireplace, dining area and kitchen.

Arch separated upper apartment from lower and could be locked.

Ground floor apartment dining, sitting and kitchen area.  Also had a large fireplace.

We ate several meals, had several glasses, and shared several laughs on this... my favorite part of the house.

One of the neighbor's dogs, visited regularly and was always happy to get a pet!

We seemed to have found one we liked!

Bed and breakfast near our villa.....never saw a lot of cars parked there, but it was late in the season.

Fruit of the vine.

Panzano

Another side of Panzano, church in the center was town focal point.

Only drawback was the road to the villa.....pretty bumpy!

For the first three days, we had no idea what these racks did or why they were there.  When Connie came in to cook, she washed dishes and put them up there.  What an ingenious, simple drier!  Wash, rinse, set the dishes in the racks, and they air dry.  The water drips down into a tray, which has a central drain that drips into the sink.  Space saving and environmentally friendly!

Oh my, that was good!!!

   It finally happened.  We ran into the Butcher of Panzano.  We had heard about this unique man and his, shall we say, talents.  Suffice it to say, blood runs when you run into the Butcher.
   And boy did it run last night!
   Dario Cecchini is the Butcher of Panzano.  His family has a history of over 200 years in the meat trade. Dario has taken this to a new level.  If you know Lyle, also a famous butcher, you could say Dario is a Lyle on massive steroids.
   His butcher shop is small....I think my bathroom at home may be larger.... but the product is huge.  He sells meat, sings, plays opera on the stereo, but balances that with Blue Brothers, Queen and a whole bunch of other lively music.  He performs for the busloads of tourists who stop in the shop.
He has staff pouring little glasses of wine for those in the shop and on the street in front.  There is usually some bread to sample with some olive oil, or some cheese, or something.
   I don't know when he started doing dinners.  He has bought the house across the street, where there are three dining rooms and a kitchen.  He has a store next to the butcher shop where he can seat people for dinner.  He has space above the butcher shop where he serves food.  There is a restaurant on a terrace behind the shop.
   He offers two main meals:  Solociccia and Officina Dell Bistecca.  Due to a slight translation problem, I made reservations for Solociccia when I really wanted the Officina Della Bistecca.
   Let me take you through the night.
   We arrive at about 6:45 for our 7 p.m. seating.  We are ushered into an upper room in the house across the street, and sit at a communal dining table set for 11.  Carl, Ruth, Julia, Emily, John and I take up six seats, some people from Wisconsin and Canada take up four.  Jackie has opted out of the meal.
   Water is out, bread is out, wine is out...we are ready to start.
   Appetizers:  musetto al limone e brodo vero.  Muzzle and broth.  I have some of the musetto al limone ... a thinly sliced meat.  Then I look at the chart and discover it comes from the head and hooves of a cow.  Although it is good, I don't eat a second piece. (Or as Emily said:  Don't you know what muzzle means?)
   Crostini di sugo all'uso di Natale is next.  A spicy meat ragu on toast. This is very good. Plates go around the table and those are almost finished.  The fresh vegetable bowl is relatively untouched.
   Next an item comes out that looks like onion rings:  Fritto del macellaio, which is essentially bacon deep fried.  That is good.  Those bowls empty.
   Ramerino in culo.....rosemary up your bum....is the next appetizer.  This is basically steak tartar with a great seasoning.  I actually eat two of these meatball sized offerings. Quite yummy.
   The vegetables are still pretty full.
   A bell dings, the dumb waiter opens, food comes out.
   Mischianza di fagioli e ceci...garbanzo and white beans in olive oil...is next.  Great flavor.
   We eat.   At a certain interval, new plates arrive with delicious offerings.  After a few minutes the bell dings ...food comes out.
   Arrosto Fiorentino o fiocco al forno....beef roast... comes out next.  I like it, but it is very rare.  Some people pass, so I eat their share.  The beef is flavorful, and tender.
    Tenerumi in insalata...boiled beef and vegetable salad...is absolutely a knock out!  It had such a great flavor....and it is something I could make at home.  Much like a pot roast.
   Umidi..braised meats...come out.  This rosemary seasoned dish was good, but not as good as the boiled beef.  Seemed to some to have a little too much rosemary.
   Then comes olive cake and coffee, followed by an invitation to step over to the butcher shop and enjoy some grappa, because they needed the tables for the 9 p.m. seating.  We did.
   The cost?  Only 30 Euros a person and we had more beef in a night than in a week.
   The menu I wanted, at 50 Euros a person, included 5 different steaks!  5!!!  That's Five!!  V!!
I am getting that next time.....then I'll probably get a valve job so my ticker restarts.
   Anyway, it was a great night.  Besides the restaurants and the butcher shop he also has apartments to rent and maybe a bed and breakfast, I could not tell.
   But he is a good businessman, and a pretty darn good butcher to run into.

The crowd in front of the butcher shop

Dario...the Butcher of Panzano

Inside the cooler

Enjoying dinner

All done...eating dessert

Olive oil cake was delicious

Butcher shop was open after dinner for grappa

Need I say more?

A final salute....in front of the cow in front of the restaurant in front of a camera that didn't focus quite right!

Life can be a blur

     The last two days have been kind of a blur...and not one caused by the several bottles of wine we have consumed.
     Towns are beginning to look alike!
     We went to Monteriggioni and Montepulcianoo and Montalcino and Castellina and Pisa and Lucca...and..... wow!  I can't even remember!
     Pisa is one of those must see towns in Italy.  After all, the Leaning Tower is there.  (Side note:  If you don't want to go to Italy, go to Niles Illinois.  They have a replica there.  It used to be in front of the Leaning Tower YMCA but that was 100 years ago when I was a kid.)
     Pisa is a great place to watch people.
     People of all ages, races, creeds, nationalities...all coming to do one thing, achieve one goal.  Is it global peace?  NO.  Controlling global climate change?  NO.  Answering the great debates of Cubs/Sox, Bears/Packers?  NO!!!
     They come to take pictures of them holding up the tower, or pushing down the tower.  It's a matter of perspective. (No, I am not really holding up the tower in the picture below.  Perspective.  And my stomach is not really that large.  Perspective.
     Anyway, after spending some time at Pisa, watching people push over, hold up, or whatever to the most famous landmark in Italy, we motored on to Lucca.
     Lucca is a walled city that dates back centuries.  It has a 2.5 mile wall surrounding the old part of town. The wall is complete, so tourists can walk it or bike it.
     So I rented a bike and rode the Lucca wall.  I had expected it to be flat, but I did not expect it to be a four lane highway!!  This baby is wide.  Lots of shade trees, lots of parks, built on the footprints of long gone churches and forts, and lots of people out enjoying the day.
     Lucca also holds a distinction of being one of the two towns in which I have not had a gelato.  Or two.
     Remember:  Perspective is why my stomach is so big.  Really.

tion

Connie made us dinner....pannecotta with figs and pomegranates picked on the farm we are at.

Getting some air in that leap of joy!!

Field of Miracles

All thses people are posing for pictures of them holding up the tower

One of the entrances to Lucca.  Cars enter through this portal.  Traffic lights control the flow

Protector of the portal

Sculpture along the wall

The wall at Lucca is wide!  Bikes, runners, walkers....a heavily used path

Modern Romans still leave their marks

Perspective does it!

Entry into Lucca

Bread of life and other food oddities

Some things are not easy to get accustomed to over here.
Food, for example.
When Jackie and I go to the store we buy for several days.  Ribs we buy at Headon's on a Thursday can be cooked on a Sunday.  Chicken can be held for a day or two before cooking or freezing, and buns and bread can stay for a few days.
Over here it is a little different.
We have about 7 loaves of stale bread stacked up in the kitchen.  One loaf actually fell off the counter into the dishwasher and shattered a wine glass, like a hammer or rock would.  That bread was one day old.
I swear we bought a loaf at a bakery today and by the time we got it home, it was as hard as a rock!!
And meat....we bought ribs on Thursday expecting to cook them on Sunday.  When we opened the package, the odor of rotting meat was enough to knock us off our feet!!
I guess that is why people over here shop daily.  Buy it, cook it, eat it........ all in the same day.
Wine however, seems to be a different story.
Maria and Mario owners of the villa, stopped buy last night to see if they could see the boars.  They seemed surprised we have gove through 27 bottles of wine so far.  That seems a lot, but we bought at least that much yesterday!
We went to southern Tuscan hill towns of Montelpulciano and Montalcino.  Montalcino is where brunello wine is produced.  I love brunello wine.  I opted against the really great offer of shipping 6 bottles home for about $100 and bought two bottles to carry in my suitcase instead...no shipping needed, just sipping.
The scenery near Siena is totally different than the scenery near Panzano.  We have wooded, steeply rolling hills.  Siena has gently rolling terrain with lots of sunflowers, corn, what looked like sorghum. grapes...and the typical Tuscan houses with lanes lined by lombardi poplars.  Two very different regions.
No boars last night.  And I am sure some day someone will laugh about her experience, but I can't really say much about it or I might get hurt.
Here's a few pictures from Monday.

Lunch in Monteulciano.... seating is family style.  Great lunch for about $10 !!

People buy steak by the kilo...tell how much you want, they slice it off the slab, show it to you, then cook it in a wood fired oven.

Heading down to the wine cellar

We passed lots of casks where wine was still being stored...but not in these.

So if they put a sign announcing it, is it still a secret passage??

A quiet weekend

   Well, here I am.  Sitting on the terrace, working on some Chianti Classico from a local vineyard, not doing much of anything.
   We made the trip to Florence last night to pick up John W., so we are not at 7.  Traveling the twisting roads at night is quite an experience.  We did see two deer and two foxes in the headlights, and when we pulled into the lane for the villa, we saw a buck in the parking lot.  That was pretty cool.
   I just met with Connie, a local woman who is cooking us dinner in the villa Tuesday.  The main meat dish takes three hours to cook, but she said it is very tender and we will love it.
   Everybody is on the road, first going to Greve to a potters fair.  Next they were going to visit some vineyards and do a little wine tasting.  I was happy to sit on the terrace, read, have tea, and now some wine.  The weather is beautiful.  In the sun you are hot, but the breeze makes you cool.  Our terrace has a huge canopy, so there is plenty of shade.
   Just a few pictures to show about the last two days.

Dinner on the terrace

Hey Klindera....this is our Tuesday through Friday collection.

Emily was on toad rescue at the pool.

Just another view from the road.

Panzano is on the top of the hill in the center...that is the church