Early Morning Camera Club

Siena, Italy - The rest of the trip

Siena, Italy - Day 2

Photos:
Slept until 5:30, Skyped with the family, then we out in my pj's for a little Early Morning Camera Club. It was foggy this morning, and I took pictures off all the same things I did yesterday, but with fog and totally different light. It was equally satisfying. I discovered dewy spiderwebs, more hairy bees and beautifully textured rocks that line the drive up to the house. I walked down to the hunting platform, after being reassured by Is-aaah-BEY-aaa-laaa that hunting season was over. The noise of the local wildlife was deafening and hilarious. Some brids were crowing in Italian, and there were some of the loudest frogs I have ever heard. They would not pose for me, as a matter of fact, they went completely silent when I approached their little pond. As I walked away, I think they were relieved and went back to their Italian gurgles and grunts.

Went back to sleep

Food:
We drove into town (what town? I have no idea) and went to the local co-op, which is the supermarket. Even in the junky supermarket, there were cured meats, fresh pasta, and fresh cheese. What else do you need in life? How about giant chocolate covered, toy filled easter eggs? Because there were plenty of those. I am starting to think that Easter is a big deal around here. The market was full of old ladies moving slowly and with no thought to traffic flow. In that way, it was exactly like Vicente Foods. We went home and ate tomatoes with burrata, the holiest of all cheese, bread and olives.

Photos:
After practicing endlessly how to pronounce it, we drove to San Gimignano, another tiny walled town on top of a hill. The narrow streets housed tiny gelaterias and pizzerias and more food shops that featured taxidermied boars than you would imagine. They really do like their boar here. There was beautiful light on every street, and it made me wonder if the city was planned that way. In New York, you are generally in indirect light or harsh sun, rarely the gentle glow that compliments every single street here. Down every alley was a peek at the surrounding countryside and tonight's pink sunset. We were there during all kinds of light, from full sun to darkness, and every street was beautiful all the time. I regret not photographing the crowd of Italian boys smoking on the steps, but you all know that I sometimes get lost in the buildings and the sky and forget to photograph people. It's a problem.

Dinner:
Worried that the gelaterias would close by the time we were done with dinner, we stopped quickly at one that claimed to be holder of some prestigious gelato competition title. Who can argue with that? Nocciola (hazlenut) of course. Good choice.
Then to Ristorante Bel Soggiono for dinner. Artichoke salad, vegetable risotto, local wine. All pretty good, although I would have been equally as happy with one more gelato instead. The dessert claimed to be cheesecake, and was good, but I know cheesecake, and this, sir, is no cheesecake. They don't even have philly cream cheese here! But it was good nonetheless. It tasted exactly like clotted cream.

Got lost on the way home and absolutely car sick. Glad to be back. Now need to sleep.
Buonanotte.

Siena, Italy - Day 1

See more pictures from Italy in my SmugMug Gallery.

Isabella is the Exclusive Resorts concierge. This is how she pronounces it: Is-ah-BEY-a-la. I respect anyone who can add that many syllables into their name. You may now call me Aaaa-sh-oooo-ley-eeeee. 
The way I get to know a place is by taking pictures and eating. So here is my log:

Photos:
Got to the house, it was beautiful. Ran outside to take pictures. We are on a hilltop, as all houses seem to be here. There is not much around us, at least not any buildings, but an endless array of textures. The olive trees on the hill are grey and look like a smoky mist. Giant swaths of every shade of green, fat hairy bees working on the purple flowers of the rosemary that lines the property. Decaying wood, crumbling stone. The sun started to fall behind the hills and the sky lit orange and yellow. I spent some time on the age old photographer's dilemma or bright sky, dark foreground, and as always, stuck to my fixed 20mm lens to help me get the "big picture". 

Food:
Wine from the estate on which we are staying and a platter or cured meats and cheeses were waiting for us, which we ate, no as not to insult them. Then off to some tiny (piccolino) hilltop walled town made of crumbling stone, where we walked down the tiny narrow street to a tiny crumbling stone ristorante. It couldn't have been more perfect. Into this little cave with the arched stone ceiling we sat for our first proper meal in Tuscany. We were the only people in the restaurant, and I got the distinct impression that we were the only people awake in the entire town. I was pretty sure that if the restaurant owner and his family didn't know we were coming, their would be tucked away in their crubling stone house with quaint shutters too. We shared "aubergine parmigana" which was superior to and nothing like the "eggplant parm" back home, and I had a comforting spaghetti bolognese (that's spag bol to you, S & J) and it did the trick, along with a bottle of Chianti. Perfecto.

Buonanotte.

Siena, Italy - Getting There

Sinus pain. That is the defining characteristic of my 24 hours of travel.

After recovering from a month of Bronchitis and a cold, I boarded United to Chicago a realtively heathy person. The flight was unremarkable; the United first class is comparable to coach on Southwest, and there was a lap baby next to me, about Charlie's age, who mocked me with her eyes. I know she thought I was a bad mother for leaving him, but what could I do? Italy calls.

My sinuses flared up on the pane, and by the time I was waiting in O'Hare was possibly the lowest point of the trip. My nose was running like a faucet and my head hurt and I was dead tired. After going through security, and then finding and briefly hanging out in the Swiss Air lounge, trying not to fall asleep in public, I realized that their demure tidbits could not sustain my level of agony, and set off to find comfort in the food court. 

Two Advil, one Chicago style pizza, and a giant Coke later, I was forced to go through security again (my third time today, but not my last) to return to the Swiss Lounge. Nose was drying up, and I no longer felt like I am going to cry. For now.

Now boarding the Swiss Air flight to Zurich, the merciful gods of travel granted an empty seat next to me. They either did me a favor or someone else, I thought as the cabin re-pressurized and my nose once again began to run. Can you stuff toilet paper up your nose in public? Or is that just for your own bed? That is the question.

An overwhelming gourmet meal was served, followed by a dessert that seemed to be a glass of frosting. Those crazy Swiss. Then lights out and excellent sleep for about 5 hours, as good as any night with the baby at home. Breakfast. Then the Zurich airport, or as I like to think of it - that land of bountiful chocolate. There's even a Hermes in the airport! I went through customs, where my belief that the Swiss have many positive attributes, but humor is not one of them, was confirmed. My exchange with the customs man went like this:

"Why are you here?" 
"I am going to Italy" 
"For what?" Which was a question that for some reason shocked my feeble brain. 
"...uh..." then what do i do when I am nervous? you all know - make a joke. "Eat cheese? Drink wine?"
He glared at me.
"Vacation with friends?" Apparently that was the correct answer. Awkward customs interaction over.

More security, and I asked myself why I insist on wearing boots and a belt on the plane, making it so difficult to dress and undress in the airport. I met up with Margie and Maryanne here and we boarded a smaller plane for the short jaunt to Florence. They served some very strange tidbits, many of which I could not identify and did not eat. I noticed that they served the coffee with two small chocolate bars, and even thought I only marginally like coffee, I majorly like chocolate, so I got the coffee and just ate the chocolate. I still feel like I got away with something. 

Once again, my sinuses went crazy and I tried to control it demurely so as not to disgust the precise Swiss gentleman in the next seat. Despite my agony, I managed to look out the window and see the snow covered Alps, which made me want to take off my nun's habit and sing to the hills like Fraulein Maria. The hills were, in fact, alive, with snow and clouds and were absolutely beautiful.

We quickly found Kathy in the airport and got in our little rental car (stick) and were on our way. A little worse for wear, without hearing in one ear (sinuses/cabin pressure/descent, you get it) but excited for the trip ahead. If you can still stand to read, I can promise the complaining will end here.