BACK TO 8/09/07 A Taste of Tuscany

After spending several hours in the second hand bookshop in Florence, Mikhaila, Greg and I picked up our packs and took a taxi out to Florence Airport. Or perhaps it was actually a Formula One racing car disguised as a taxi, since that's how the driver saw it. It was possibly THE most scary drive we've had anywhere. At one point we overtook 4 cars all waiting at an intersection for the light to change from red to green.
It was also rather odd going to the airport to pick up our rental car and not to catch a plane. Our snazzy Renault Clio neatly fitted the 3 of us and we curved our way down the SS222 through Chianti. Greve, Chianti has a very modern, huge tasting centre with 1200 different bottles available. You can buy a little card with varying amounts of credit to slot into the rotating bottle holders and select your 20mL taste. We happened to catch the annual wine festival, held in the piazza, but sadly it was over-run by loud English-speaking tourists who'd certainly had their quota of tastings. The area is also very well known for it's cured meats such as prosciutto. Greg drove us girls on to Siena, only needing to be told to get back on the right-hand side of the road twice during the entire day. We stumbled on a festival here too! Each section of the village, or contrade, (of which there are 17) had an extra long trestle table set up along a main road where we presume the whole 'suburb' would be eating together. Originally the neighbourhoods were formed as battalions for the city's defence. Many people were dressed in their contrade's traditional costume and flags and colours were strewn along the narrow roads. We walked the whole town searching for a cheap dinner and eventually got what we came for (but we wouldn't recommend it).

The following day we walked to Il Campo, the large central square where the infamous horse race "Palio di Siena" is held. Il Campo means the Clam in Italian so guess what the shape of the piazza is based on?
The 17 contrades of Siena each elect a rider in the Palio, a violent, medieval style competition.
The cathedral in Siena is so spectacular with its slightly Egyptian-looking, marble stripes throughout the interior. The mosaic floor tiling inspired lots of photography - some pictures we may use for future decorating!

Down the road we arrived in Asciano, where we ate the most fantastic home-made pasta and gnocchi and found ANOTHER festival with people dressed up in traditional costume. Perhaps the parties were for us?!
We visited a peaceful hilltop monastery "Abbazia di monte oliveto maggiore" in amongst a forest of pine trees, but sadly the buildings were all closed up for several hours at lunchtime.
A short drive brought us to the village of Pienza, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The entire village was built as an ideal Renaissance town. Intended as a retreat from Rome, it 's urban planning was used as a template for many other villages and cities in Italy and throughout Europe.That night we stayed just out of the stunning village of Montepulciano which sits on top of another Tuscan hill. The area is famous for Brunello wine which we thoroughly enjoyed sampling. At dinner we were seated at a table with 2 other Australians from Adelaide, a cardiologist and a physio, and we had a great laugh swapping stories of our Italian encounters.
Mikhaila and Jane wake up early for pilates in the most idyllic setting: a olive grove with views over the misty plains below Montepulciano. Following a brief stroll through the village in the daylight, we drove on to the lakeside town of Castiglione for more views and terrific food. To the left is a picture of Mikhaila's heavenly Panna Cotta.
Cortona was the location for our final night in Tuscany. Cortona means crown and the name fits: another town built high up on a hill. Greg very nearly busts the clutch on our little Clio, trying to reverse and park on a 60 degree sloping, one-and-a-half-car-widths across, lane. We visit the little theatre where The Chamber Strings of Melbourne (the orchestra Jane travelled with in 2000) performed in January 2000. It's now a movie cinema and the hostess was kind enough for us to steal a peak since there wasn't a movie showing.
Our Tuscan Trio finished the trip off with a 1300g Bistecca Fiorentina (T-bone steak the Florentine way) and a bottle of Cortona Syrah "Il Bosco" - the favourite from our tasting back in Greve.

BACK TO 5/09/07 Under The Tuscan Sun At Last

If we had the opportunity to return to somewhere we’d already visited in Italy, we’d go back to Florence. We loved everything about the city, especially the art and the food. Once again, we were treated with lovely weather and another great hotel right in town on the banks of the River Arno.

From Naples we caught a fast train to Florence via Rome. After checking in to Hotel Alessandro, we visited the Galleria Accademia where David stands. Actually the statues that line the corridor leading to David are impressive on their own . They're huge pieces of marble, partly carved into (ie. unfinished) and human figures appear to be climbing out of the rock. We also caught an exhibition of rare musical instruments including a Stradivarius Violin and an ivory harpsichord. That night we had a memorable dinner at Locanda Giovani, a restaurant run by a father and son team. Jane ordered the Nero (black) pasta seen below. Not something to eat on a first date as your teeth do become decidedly black also! A reminder to anyone eating in Tuscany: Don't get sucked in by the offer of a free grappa to end your meal. It will almost certainly be the end of your night out as well.

On 6th of September, on a bridge over the Arno, we met Keith (Irish) and Andy (Scottish), our bike tour guides for the day. There were 5 of us on the tour (they have bikes for 40 for the busy summer season!) and we piled into the boy's combi bus to drive to Castello di Popolo, a very impressive castle sitting atop a Tuscan Hill.First we saw the olive oil pressing equipment. Oil is made in November for just one month since the olives must be pressed within 24 hours of picking. It's amazingly green oil. They don't export since the demand is so great within Italy for this terrific stuff. We thought we'd better buy a couple of bottles. The wine production here is on a grand scale. The variety of wine is Chianti, made using mostly Sangiovese grapes. There are very strict rules about when you can call your wine Chianti Classico or Riserva. The major difference is Classico is aged 1 year in barrels and Riserva is aged 2.
Popolo also make Vin Santo, the sweet after-dinner digestive used to dunk your almond biscotti. Vin Santo has to be stored for five years in the elements and the castle tower is used for this purpose. And for showing the cyclists 360 degree views.

Following a taste test of the products we picked a bike and helmet each and made our way down the hill to lunch (about 12km down the road but all down hill), stopping for plenty of photos. Tuscany really is just like in the books and movies. So beautiful we know we'll be back for more!Apparently us bike tourists are the only non-Italians who ever visit this lunch spot... VERY authentic pasta and tiramisu to help us on our way back up the hill. Okay, maybe is was flat for 25 minutes and then one big hill at the end (aided by the ever-present combi bus driving behind to pick up those who let the hill get the better of them). Greg pedalled his little heart out while Jane helped Keith not to feel too useless for driving the bus.
The next day we'd booked into the Uffizzi Gallery, one of the oldest and most famous art museums in the world. The gallery has been open to visitors by request since the sixteenth century, and in 1765 it was officially opened to the public. To do it justice we hired audio guides and spent 3 hours walking through time from the earliest religious art to Titian and Caravaggio.
The afternoon was spent meeting up with Jane's old friend Mikhaila (our future travel buddy), drinking wine, eating antipasti and perhaps the best sandwiches in the world at the oldest sandwich bar in the world: I Fratelli est. 1875.
A visit to Florence wouldn't have been complete without seeing the Duomo ie. the church who's tremendous dome is a symbol of the city. Duomo is actually a generic Italian term for a cathedral church, not -as we thought- the nickname for the building because of it's shape! Actually the church is also called Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore. The design for the dome itself was a competition, eventually won by Filippo Brunelleschi. Brunelleschi got his inspiration from the great dome of the Pantheon in Rome. However, somehow the Pantheon was built using concrete and no one could remember how they did it. He would have to build the dome out of bricks. This enormous construction weighs 37,000 tons and contains over 4 million bricks. Work started on the dome in 1420 and was completed in 1436. It was the first 'octagonal' dome in history (The Roman Pantheon is a circular dome and was built in 117–128 C.E. with support structures) to be built without a wooden supporting frame and was the largest dome built at the time (it is still the largest masonry dome in the world). To complete our stay in Florence we walked up the hill to Piazzale Michelangelo for twilight views over the magical city.

BACK TO 31/08/07 Trendy Italians living under their BIG Threat

This blog takes us back to early September '07. We'd spent several days in Rome and then caught the train all the way down to Salerno, just south of the famous Amalfi Coast. Here lie several pretty exclusive little villages. It was really tricky to find reliable but cheap accommodation but the Internet did us proud. After a gruelling bus trip (worse curves than The Great Ocean Road) we arrived at Fico D'India (meaning Prickly Pear in Italian) to meet our fantastic friendly host Pino.Our room had the most fantastic view over the Gulf of Salerno. The meals were the best value, terrifically tasty and we couldn't possibly finish the food on our plates despite it being so good. Here's the view from the Breakfast Terrace.We spent several days taking the bus and boats to the various villages. We admired the view from Ravello where Wagner lived for a long time.We explored the cathedral in Amalfi and the colourful pottery so common in the area. Of course we were obliged to try some Limoncello too.

We lay on the beach at Positano and climbed through it's steep streets.The boat brought us past our B&B in Furore, a town built along a fjord (glacially carved valley) on the coast.A day trip brought us to the island of Capri where all the rich and famous go. Jane had been very keen to see the famous Blue Grotto where various films have been made but bad weather meant the tour boats were not taking passengers there. They said "bad weather" but the sky was blue and the sea, almost still. Hmm..Perhaps they were filming again?
Our bank balance didn't fit with the island's other tourist traps (mainly shopping in Prada and the like) so we wandered through the free Augustus Gardens, walked down from the hilltop town centre and lay on the very pebbly beach before catching the boat back to Furore. Of course we did have spectacular views of Mount Vesuvius from Capri.In the following days we travelled to Naples which was to be our base for visiting Pompei and Herculaneum. On the morning of August 24, A.D. 79 Vesuvius began to erupt. At dawn on August 25, a violent explosion of toxic gases and burning cinders devastated the city. The decision we made not to do a tour of the excavations at Pompei resulted in two very frustrated Altmanns. Although our guide book pointed out many particular sights we were overwhelmed by the huge area of the city and annoyed that many beautiful mosaics were so far off the restricted walking path, we couldn't see them well. Despite the difficulties we marvelled at the Baths and several beautiful mosiacs.In the afternoon we travelled home via Herculaneum. This place is definately worth a visit. The particular details of the Eruption of Herculaneum allowed the preservation of wooden and organic materials like foods, furniture, papyri, cloth and skeletons, unlike Pompei which was comvered in Pumice and ash. Archaeologists have learnt a lot about the Romans from this period due to their discoveries here. And there's evidence of continued excavations in layers below the current site. The colours in the mosaics are still so vivid.

BACK TO 28/10/07 Life's a beer at Oktoberfest!!

Late September after spending a lovely couple of weeks with Jane’s parents in Lyon, France and Barcelona, Spain we said our goodbyes to Bron and Greg and jumped onto a plane for Munich, Germany. Don't worry. You didn't miss a blog. We'll go back and tell you about that in a moment. Greg wanted to try his hand at writing a blog of his own so here goes...
In Munich we met up with the usual suspects for Oktoberfest 2007. The biggest Beer festival in the world traditionally takes place during the sixteen days up to and including the first Sunday in October. We arrived on Friday the 28th of September half way through the fest, hoping only to make it through the weekend.

The Festival began originally as a Royal Wedding Party on 12 October 1810 for Crown Prince Ludwig, later to become King Ludwig I, who married Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen. The citizens of Munich were invited to attend the festivities held on the fields in front of the city gates to celebrate the happy royal event. The fields were renamed Theresienwiese ("Theres'a Fields") to honor the Crown Princess, although the locals have since abbreviated the name simply to "Wiesn". Horse races in the presence of the royal family marked the close of the event that was celebrated as a festival for the whole of Bavaria. The decision to repeat the horse races in subsequent years gave rise to the tradition of Oktoberfest.

In the first few decades, the choices of amusements were sparse. In 1818, the first carousel and two swings were set up. Vistitors were able to quench their thirst at small beer stands, which grew rapidly in number. In 1896 the beer stands were replaced by the first beer tents and halls set up by the enterprising landlords with the backing of the breweries. The rest is history as they say.We had no idea of what we were about to experience. We heard about drinking tents and beer, but that was all. It’s hard to explain but the best we can do is that it’s something like the Melbourne Royal Show minus the Agriculture and with the addition of BEER!!! In the centre are these big beer Halls (pictured above) surrounded is a carnival with rides, games and food.Many of us were brave enough to try this ride out for fun. Perhaps with some Dutch Courage for good measure. Its called HIGH ENERGY for obvious reasons.The inside of the Halls are crowded with tables and bench seats and the atmosphere is electric. People everywhere dressed up in traditional clothes all drinking from massive beer steins. The air is filled with music from a band in the centre of the Hall. Later in the afternoon, table chatter gives way to tabletop dancing and rowdy singing.

In the midst of all this action there is a faint haze in the air. Not the one you are thinking of though. The haze tantilises your taste buds as the local cuisine is cooked off to the side. From roast chicken to pork knuckle and sausages. As a matter of fact, over half a million roast chickens and the same number of sausages are consumed during the course of each festival.

The steins are made of a solid 1 inch thick glass and hold one litre of the amber ale. This amounts to a very heavy drinking experience. The waiters boasted they could carry 16 steins at one time however the rules of the festival stated they could only carry 8 for safety reasons. Here's John having a go.

Our first day at the festival coincided with the last Saturday in September. All Australians know what that means. At 5am in the Morning we were sitting in the local Irish pub (there were no Aussie ones available) rally behind Geelong as they won the Grand Final. As you can see from the pictures, it was a once in a lifetime experience. We had a ball and even learnt a German word. Prost! (Cheers!)

MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Hi all. We've just returned to Scotland for a relaxing week off before work starts again on the 7th. We wish you all best for the coming year. Looking back we marvel at all the places we've visited and wonder if perhaps this year may be a little less exciting in the travel area. We're exhausted from our flitting around!
We really missed everyone over Christmas so we had a quick trip home to Melbourne last week...no sadly only Melbourne, Derbyshire, England, but they have a good pub lunch!

Late 2007 we managed to catch up with Jane's old school friend Melissa and her husband, Ben. Together we wandered through the empty Spittlefield markets (now we know well that its closed on Saturdays) and made a group decision to take to bus to the Borough Markets for "the best chocolate brownies in the world" says Ben (and now Greg and I!). A choir was singing carols and we drank some warming mulled wine whilst listening and perusing the stalls. Following the fabulous food we decided a rest was in order and so we watched the new film "The Golden Compass" at Canary Wharf in West London. It was thrilling to see places in the film that we'd actually been to during the year, eg. Oxford University and the Painted Hall in Greenwich (see below).

Back in Kilmarnock the Radiology department held their Christmas party at the Ayr Racecourse. It was a terrific night with lots of dancing and laughs. And might I add we scrubbed up quite well!

Work finished on the 21st of Dec for us when we drove almost 11 hours from Irvine to Brighton. We seem to be getting into the habit of driving hours and hours at Christmas. Last year we had a great time in Adelaide with Greg's family.
Our great friend Beck had arranged for 9 of us to rent a town house right in the centre of Brighton. So with 5 radiographers, a radiotherapist (and their partners) we tried not to talk about X-rays for the whole five day break. We ate vast amounts of fantastic food, played trivia games well into the night, spoke to family using Skype, shopped in The Lanes, danced the night away at the Honey Club and even managed a jog somewhere between all that.

Zaidee was horrified at the amount of food on her plate. And she hadn't seen the dessert options yet!

Sherryn enthusiastically popped her Christmas Cracker to reveal a trending looking hat (required attire for the day), a hair bobble (these crackers must have been on the shelf since the 80's) and a terrible joke (not worth repeating).
On Boxing Day we said our goodbyes and drove to Guildford to recover at Bron and Jerome's lovely house. To break up the drive back to Scotland we had a lovely 2 night stopover in York where Jane first went to school. It was great to test her 4 yr old memory. Unfortunately Dad told us the wrong house number so we made fools of ourselves taking pictures outside the wrong house for nothing. Lucky we didn't get arrested. The Minster (Cathedral) is just as impressive even though I've grown a bit since the last time I saw it.
Again the free walking tour of town did us proud - the volunteer was full of interesting facts. York has the most amazing varied history. It feels very Medieval walking through the narrow streets with houses leaning right over you.