Hoca Hola

And now a special performance of "Blog in Reverse"

We safely and merrily and a little hungover arrived in Rome (Roma to the natives) today the 7th of August (Happy Birthday Ahmad, Berg, Frederic and the rest of y'all with early Augusto birthdays).

For the last five nights we've covered most all of Tuscany and been getting to know the locals. Last night the owner of our Villa, Franchesco, ended up throwing a good old fashion Italian BBQ. His buddy Stephano (funny how close to Seph that is the pork BBQ master) went to the meat market and got a ton of pork chops, pork ribs, pork sausages, two tons of wine, and three tons of Olive Oil (actually it was oil from the Villas Olive Grove), and four tons of the local cheese (pecorino from pienza the town closest to where we were. The BBQ included our host and his girlfriend, the cook and his lady, another mid'twenties couple from Lake Como Italy, and a couple with their twelve year old son. We all pitched in about $25 per couple and the food and wine just kept coming and coming and coming. The conversation flowed from Italian to English and back, aided by the vino of course, till two or was it three in the morning. Woke up at eight with a bit of a head pounding but "oh what a night". Last night is where the title comes from, thats how they pronounce Coca Cola in some parts of Italy other parts just say regular old coca'cola. Oh and weird they say ki ki ka dee instead of cocka doodle doo for the sound of a rooster. That day Megan and I toured around in our little Fiat Punto, heading out to St Francis of Assisi. Look him and his compatriat St Clair up good message also where the names San Francisco, Santa Clara, and Los Angelos come from. We could all use a little of what he was preaching. Oh also gorgeous medival town and nice simple basilica in his memory and another in hers. Oh and like most days at the Villa we also enjoyed a nice swim in the Villa's gorgeous pool overlooking the rolling hills of the Tuscan countryside, unbelievable!!

The night before we cooked up the whole BBQ plan at about two in the morning. After a full day of touring Megan went to bed and I ended up staying up with Frankie, Stevo, and their ladies. I was asking about a cooking class which we could never quite pull together so Stevo suggested he was the best cook around and the BBQ idea was born over a couple shots of Grappa. Grappa by the way is the local end of the night drink, the one that comes after all the vino and after the late night shot of espresso it tastes terrible but I'm now convinced it clears the mind for good thinking. Earlier in the day we toured Montalcino (home of the famous Brunello wine which of course we tasted), San Gimigano (not much to report there just try saying that one fast five times), and the four hour walking tour of Florence. I love Florence and stayed there for four days during my Europa 1999 tour after college. I waited for hours in the lines for the Basillica, the Ufizi Gallery, and the Academia Gallery (to see David sans clothing of course). This time we did it on Sunday after everthing was closed and didn't go into anything just walked the core city and looked at the beautiful architecture and sculptures and piazzas and of course the Ponte Vecchia. By the way I'm sure I'm butchering the spelling of this stuff just after days of reading signs in English and German and French and Italian I can't remember which is the right english spelling. I really do think someday Megan will want to go back and see it for real as Florence really is one of the highlights of Europe but for now four hours will do. We also paid 8 euro for a beer, actually 16 for two, thats about twenty bucks if you've been following the falling dollar. The day before we slept in way way late and just toured Cortona the town made famous by Under the Tuscan Sun. You'll have to see the pictures I can't describe it but all these towns are way cool, maybe even totally rad man. That night, Saturday, we headed out to the Montepulciano (home of the soon to be famous Vino Nobile) winery called Il Greppo and had a great meal cooked with all products coming from their family farm and pork of course!! All with a swim in the pool squeezed in at some point.

Friday was our last night in Montepulciano old town where we staying in what must have been a castle at some point with a view to die for. We started the day with wine tasting at a couple wineries. They don't do walk up tastings like in the US, you call and make an appt and the wine maker meets you and personally tours you through his family vineyard that might be fifty years old or might be five hundred. Then you sample all their best wines, we even did a 1995 reserve at one of them and you sample their farm products, cheese, olive oil, ... Harder to set up than how we do tastings back home but worth the extra effort. Since we had hoped to stay in a villa and didn't have a place to stay that night, after two in town, we just drove around and as luck would have it found the perfect place, il machionne and franco!!

The highlight of our time in Montepulciano was an unbelievable dinner in town where we ate the local specialty Pici noodles and chatted with a couple Italians at our table. We probably sat there for three hours laughing and chatting, it was one of those weird "they don't speak a lick of english and we don't italian" but somehow carry on a conversation type nights. Good stuff.

We arrived in Siena, from Cinque Terre (Italian Riviera) and rented a Fiat Punto from Europcar again. Not quite as nice as the Skoda but it will do for five days in Tuscany.

Still missing and lost in time and space are three relaxing days in Cinque Terre, three power touring days in Venice, and five glorious nights overlooking the Adriatic in Dubrovnik. Maybe someday those will come to light for now I will sign off and dream of ice cold hoca hola.