camanoescape – The Wagnerson's Travel Adventures

After a couple of hours back at the villa, we headed out for dinner about 8 pm.  We set out for a particular restaurant in a neighboring town but decided after a brief stint of driving exploration, that we were too hungry to do much exploring right now.  We turned the car around and headed to another town, called Civitella.  We had visited there three years ago and found a wonderful/awful restaurant there where we had eaten twice before.  Wonderful/awful?????  Well, the food was amazing and totally wonderful, however the owner we found to be a bit Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.  He would absolutely ignore to the point of being rude to one of the four of us.  The first time we visited there he was completely rude to me.  The next time we visited there a few days later, he was chummy with me but was totally rude to Lynda.  Now that settled it with me and I swore that place off for the remainder of our stay three years ago.  Now, however, we were hungry and perhaps the owner had received the mental health help that he so desperately needed.  Arriving in this hill top village, we parked down below and walked up the stairs to the town.  We walked to the restaurant however it was boarded up and closed.  Apparently enough of the patrons found his good cop/bad cop antics unacceptable to the point he ultimately went out of business.  Well that’s one way to bring closure to a good/bad memory.

Anyway, we still needed to eat.  We struck out to find the original restaurant that we initially set out for tonight and lo and behold, we found it.  Parking in a small town is not particularly easy, however with three cheerleaders in the car with me encouraging all the way, I finally managed to bring the car to a stop in a parking place.  Actually not a parking place, which I didn’t know at the time because I was too busy striking the curb on the right side of the car before I smacked into a handicap sign at the head of the space.  Before I moved out of the “non” parking space, I looked off to the right and what did I see?  A sign that struck fear in my heart with visions of villagers and torches chasing us down with pitchforks.  It was a sign for San Pancrazio….and those awful memories from three years ago.  Let me just say that the CRAZY in San Pancrazio is well earned.  In case you missed that story from three years ago, I’ve put the link here.

https://camanoescape.com/2013/05/13/who-put-the-crazy-in-san-pancrazio/

Swallowing my fear, after finding no angry villagers, I backed our trusty Fiat SUV out of the non space and we were able to find parking in another location.  We then walked to the restaurant where we were the only patrons there.  While that is not usually a good sign, for this place it didn’t matter.   The meal was splendid and the chef who was also the host, waiter and dishwasher was a gentle and kind soul.  He spoke almost no English but he had his phone with a google translate app and he would communicate with us that way.  A very fun meal and an even better time meeting and talking with the chef.  We said good bye and promised we would be back in two days, on Thursday evening.  What a great day today was.  Heading home we arrived at our villa and headed to bed for some rest.

We set off for Pitigliano, or what is known as Little Jerusalem on Tuesday morning around 10:00 am.  Heading south out of our little village of Pergine Valdarno, we were armed with an Italian road atlas and our sometimes not so trusty friend, Lucille.  You see, Lucille is the name we’ve given to our Garmin GPS who tells us in her monotone voice what roads to take or where to turn.  She earned that name from us during our first trip to Italy three years ago, while exploring Tuscany.  As we crested a back mountain road and were faced with an intersection with three different directions to go, the GPS unit lost its satellite signal, the monotone voice fell silent and we were forced to choose blindly.  We chose wrong but didn’t discover that until we had travelled 20 minutes over one of the most winding, twisting roads you will ever see.  Realizing our mistake, we turned around to retrace our steps and the Kenny Rogers melody came to mind, “You picked a fine time to leave me Lucille.”  That name seemed to be a good fit for her and we’ve called her that ever since.

Our adventure to Pitigliano started off this time with Lucille directing us almost at once to take a road that I didn’t think was correct but we followed along blindly anyway.  I’m doing the driving on this trip and Doug was still learning the ropes as a navigator.  He still had more trust in Lucille as we started off this day than I did.  He soon learned however that she is a person not to be trusted.  Apparently Lucille likes the twisty, turny routes because she took us on a course that should have taken 25 minutes but instead took about an hour and ten minutes.  With our new navigator realizing Lucille’s penchant for misdirection, he charted a different course and we soon found our way back to civilization and back on track for Pitigliano.  From that point, it became a question of checking everything Lucille told us with the map and then either following her direction or choosing our own course which she would then fall in line with and come up with a new plan.  This is a very exciting way of traveling in a foreign country with roads that are mostly unmarked and signs in a language you don’t understand.  Again, this is where the Wagnerson motto, “Attitude is everything, enjoy the journey” comes to the forefront!

We arrived in Pitigliano around 1:00 pm., after a two hour and 45 minute road trip that should have taken around two hours.  The city is perched on top of a massive bluff with walls dropping down hundreds of feet.  Some of the walls were built 700 B.C. and the remainder were built in the 1400s-1500s.  It was pretty spectacular.  We had a nice lunch at a restaurant perched near the edge of the city wall.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

After a two hour visit to the city, we piled back in our car and headed back to Pergine Valdarno.  On our way back we passed through the hilltop town of Orvieto.  This like Pitigliano, sits on a massive raised piece of volcanic rock.  Again, the word spectacular comes to mind.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

After an all day trip, we arrived back at our temporary home in Pergine Valdarno a little after 5:30 p.m. in order to rest up before dinner.

On Monday here in Tuscany, after keeping a pretty hectic schedule the past two and a half weeks, we decided to hunker down and stay at our villa.  The weather was windy and rainy and was not very enticing for exploring this land.  We cooked our own breakfast and settled back to read and catch up on all things going on back home.  When it came time for dinner, we all pitched in and made some bruschetta and spaghetti carbonara.  Quite tasty and satisfying.  Early to bed was the order of the day to rest up for our continued explorations tomorrow.  There is a village called Pitigliano, the Little Jerusalem, that we hope to visit tomorrow.  It is about two hours from here.

On Friday, May 20^th, we arrived in Pergine Valdarno, a small village in Tuscany, after renting a car in the city of Chiusi where we arrived by train from Bologna.  This place is so enchanting and beautiful.  It is now Sunday evening and we just finished dinner.  This is the place where we have stepped back and relaxed a couple of notches.  We were sitting on our front porch and greeting the neighbors as they happen to walk by.  One lady lives in nearby Montevarchi, a town about 20 miles away.  She comes to Pergine Valdarno every year for a week or so to stay because as she said, “This is where you can rediscover the real spirit of Toscana!”  Here is a photo taken as we approach our villa on our walk back from a local restaurant tonight.  It is so absolutely peaceful here.

Earlier today we drove to the Florence American Cemetery, about six miles south of Florence.  It is the final resting place for 4,402 Americans who were killed in the battles in northern Italy as the Allied forces advanced on Hitler’s troops in Italy after liberating Rome from the Germans and continued their advance past Florence to Bologna. It was a sobering memorial and left all of us thankful for the freedoms we enjoy as a result of the sacrifices of those now long since forgotten.  Each grave is marked with a marble cross or star of David.  There were the two brothers who are buried next to each other.  Private Walter J. Lis died in battle on October 1, 1944 and his brother,Private First Class John A. Lis who was in the same unit was killed in battle a month later on November 5, 1944.  There is a Medal of Honor winner in the cemetery.  There were countless graves marked simply with the words, “Here rests in honored glory a comrade in arms known but to God.”  We found also a quote from General Dwight Eisenhower on a wall which rings true to this day, “Freedom from fear and injustice and oppression will be ours only in the measure that men who value such freedom are ready to sustain its possession – to defend it against every thrust from within or without.”   We are all so, so blessed.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

We were sitting eating a sandwich for lunch on our last full day in Bologna near our hotel along a narrow alley where vegetable shops, seafood shops, and gelato places abound.  We were always getting hit up by healthy and robust looking beggars holding out their hat for money.  When one approached us as we were eating and he held out his hand and said Bon Giorno, I simply looked at him and said, “A churly goot, a marney snooker.”  I just looked passively at him after I said that.  He stepped back and gestured to Barb and said, “La Senora?”  “A churly goot, a marney snooker.”  He just nodded his head and walked off.  Since that was just made up, does anyone know what language that might sound like…perhaps a combo Swedish, German and my own roots, native American?  Anyway, we weren’t bothered again.

Barb wanted to visit a fabric store to pick up some Bologna fabric in order to make a quilt with Bologna memories.  She looked and found some great material while we cheered her on and encouraged her.  She wanted 2 yards and the lady told her it was 45.  Barb asked me if I thought that was 45 per yard?  Oh no, I told her, there is no way.  And it wasn’t either.  The bill came to 90 euros or $101 American dollars as Kristin would say.  See Barb, it’s not sold by the yard but by the meter.  Wow, that was a great buy and even Doug was excited about that $101 purchase.  We are all looking forward to this wonderful expensive quilt that Barb will be making.

News of the Egyptair flight going down was received by the four of us.  After checking the State Department travel warnings and no new information, we decided that keeping a low profile was a prudent course to follow.  And for THIS reason, I decided to ignore Barb and Lynda’s encouragement for me to buy a red plaid suit with mustard colored shoes.  They reminded me that Milan is the fashion setter for the world and that I would REALLY be making a statement when I walked into court wearing that.  They also encouraged me to get a mustard colored briefcase.  I don’t think I could purchase such an outfit and not want to wear it all of the time and THAT would not be keeping a low profile.  In other words, IX NAY ON THE OOT SAY.  Friday morning, May 20^th and it’s on to Tuscany for a week.

We arrived in Bologna after a one-and-a-half-hour train ride from Venice.  Taking a taxi to our hotel, we found ourselves in the middle of the central historical district about a block from the Piazza Maggiore, the main plaza in Bologna at the main cathedral.  When we were in Italy 3 years ago, our very first meal in Bologna was a restaurant where we sat outside and had lasagna.  Doug swears it was the best lasagna he has ever had and we all agreed.  We figured we would try and find the same restaurant and see if our memories matched reality or if we remembered it better than it really was.  With not much searching, we were able to walk right to the restaurant.  We sat down and ordered our standard water drink, two bottles, one with gas (fizzy) and one without.  The waiter brought our water and within two minutes, he came back with a wood fired pizza with sausage and cheese and set it down at our table.  “It was a mistake, enjoy” he said as he explained there was no charge for the pizza.  We looked at each other and the word serendipity came to mind.  The pizza was delicious as an appetizer and the four of us ordered lasagna.  Seriously folks, that lasagna was as amazing as we remembered it.  After our lunch here, we walked back to the hotel so we could rest up for dinner.  I mean, what else are you supposed to do in the food capital of the world but get ready to eat?

And eat we did.  For the next four days we sampled different restaurants, never returning to the same restaurant in order to keep trying the different “possibilities.”  Without exception, it was all wonderful and delicious food….even our last night in Bologna when we were unable to get reservations and we just walked into a quiet unassuming place, the food was spectacular.  How do they do that?  We took a cooking class here in Bologna.  It was at the Culinary Institute of Bologna or CIBO.  The class was supposed to go from 9:30 am to 1:00 pm and we didn’t leave until after 3:15.  We made prosciuotto wrapped melon, bolognese sauce, rolled out pasta for lasagna, tortellini, ravioli, and even made zucchini flowers stuffed with cheese and baked.  It was all scrumptious and we left our class in basically a food coma.

Bologna is a wonderful city which boasts the oldest university in the world.  Buildings which are over 1000 years old are common place.  I’ve attached some pics and a couple of short videos in order to give you a little bit of a feel for the sights and sounds here in Bologna.  We’ve seen a man playing a saw.  That’s right, I said a saw.  We also heard a guy playing what Doug told me was a Didgeridoo.  Uhhh, okay.  I especially like the way his other hand sort of waves up and down in the air.  I can’t seem to upload both of these right now and will do so later if possible.

Our three days in Venice was wonderful.  What a beautiful and enchanting city of no cars, just boats of all shapes and sizes.  Instead of streets, there are canals.  The public buses to transport you around the city are yes, just bigger boats.  A three day pass let us get on and off at our leisure.  On our second day in Venice, Saturday, we took a “bus” to Lido, an island outside of Venice where the word was we could walk the beach and find sea shells.  Barb and I were all over that and we soon found ourselves on a beach that was over two miles long.  There were thousands of sea shells that had washed up on the beach for those inclined to sort through the numbers.  Once again Barb was out in front scouring the beach along the way and filling her pocket with these natural treasures.  We topped off our beach walk outing with perhaps the best little bit of Italian nourishment – gelato!!  It comes in all flavors and always seems to make a great day even better.  It certainly did not disappoint.

Later that evening, the four Wagnerson’s hooked up with Sam and Ruby and Linda who had arrived in Venice for their flight back home to Washington State.  Another excellent Italian meal and a celebration of Sam and Ruby getting engaged.  After finishing our meal, we headed back to our hotel for an after dinner drink of Tequila that we brought from home.  It was a fantastic evening of laughter and fun that included another thunderstorm with exciting streak lightning and heavy rain.

We said goodnight and goodbye to the three of them as they would leave for home the next morning.  On Sunday morning we awoke to a boat race out in the canal in front of our hotel.  Canoes, kayaks, 12 person racing shells, stand up rowboats, and even stand up paddle boards.  With the crowds lining the canal cheering and banging on pots and pans to encourage the racers this spectacle went on for more than three hours.  It was another great day as we explored Venice and yes, we got lost.  The cool thing about Venice is that while it’s easy to get lost, you can’t get too lost because you’re on an island and will be able to find your way eventually.

On Monday morning, we had breakfast, checked out of our hotel in the Jewish ghetto and made our way to the train station to catch our train to the food capital of the world……Bologna.

Our 6:00 p.m. Italian cooking class in Milan on Thursday was three subway stops away from the Duomo subway entrance nearest to our hotel.  Trying to find an address in a city that is over 2400 years old can be challenging and so we planned to leave our hotel in plenty of time to get lost a couple of times and still arrive on time.  Since we would be heading out into the weather which was lightly raining at the time, Barb was able to extract a promise from Doug to be on his best behavior to avoid further thunder claps and deluges of water pouring from the sky on both the just and the unjust.  We were able to arrive at the subway entrance with only the occasional sound of thunder but no corresponding heavy rain.  We caught the correct subway train and rode it to our desired stop in no time at all.  Climbing up out of the subway, we hardly needed the extra time we had given ourselves and arrived at the appropriate address 30 minutes early.  We found a bench along the street to sit on and rest until it was time for our class to start.

It was only the four Wagnersons in this class which was taught by a retired master chef named Aurora.  Her husband Claudio greeted us and immediately got out wine glasses and started pouring us prosecco.  We knew immediately this was the kind of class we would fit in with famously.  This was not a demonstration class, but a hands on “you better do it if you want to eat” class.  The menu we would all be cooking included fresh mozzarella and ham stuffed panzerotti (dough filled wonder of fried deliciousness); ravioli stuffed with fried pork, nutmeg and parmesan cheese; eggplant stuffed with more deliciousness; and for dessert – panna cotta with cherries.

We made two different types of dough.  The dough for the panzerotti needed to rest at least two hours and that was what we made first with Doug being the primary dough kneader.  While Barb was heating the cream and sugar and gelatin for the panna cotta, Lynda was hollowing out and chopping up the eggplant, Doug was still kneading and I was tasked with frying up the ground pork and mixing it with parmesan cheese for the filling for the ravioli to be made later.  It was a literal whir of activity with an additional glass or two of prosecco thrown in along the way over the course of about two and a half to three hours.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

The four of us each had our 100 grams of 00 flour measured out perfectly thanks to Doug and one egg apiece.  At individual workstations we each took the flour and egg and kneaded it into dough for ravioli.  Aurora showed us how to make both ravioli and tortellini, and then left us to our own devices where we all chose to make only ravioli.  Then, with everything finally done and cooked, we sat down for an absolutely wonderful meal.  This memorable class will be a highlight of our trip I’m sure.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Finding our way back from the class to the subway in the dark was another adventure that the four of us embraced with gusto….some more than others.  Once we found the subway entrance, the rest was old hat for us and we caught the subway back to the Duomo.  Emerging from the subway into the wide open piazza di Duomo, Barb and Lynda decided it would be fun to ride a lion.  Where would they find a lion to ride you ask?  How about in the middle of the massive plaza at the Duomo…yes that Duomo that has all of the Carbinieri (the Italian paramilitary force) with machine guns guarding all of the stuff.  There is a lion guarding each side of the statue of the King of Italy riding a horse.  That’s the lion they chose

Lynda and Barb did a “slow scamper” up a couple of walls and “tamed” that lion like it was nothing at all.  Climbing back down and apparently now safe from arrest, the two climbers high fived each other in congratulations.  What say you Ron Simmons?  Apparently they were following the example Doug set riding that giant bronze turtle you noted earlier.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

After a long and full day, it was back to the hotel for some sleep and we’re off to Venice Friday morning.

This morning after breakfast, we set our sights on visiting the main cathedral in Milan, or the Duomo.  We purchased tickets to gain entry which is guarded by automatic rifle carrying soldiers.  Upon entry into the cathedral, one is struck by the massive size of the interior.  Rental of a couple of audio guides was easily accomplished by trading in my Washington driver’s license for two smart phone type guides.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

The audio guide explained that at the front of the cathedral, high up where the red light burns is the “holy nail” supposedly one of the nails used to nail Jesus to the cross.  You can see the red light in these next two photos.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Once a year in September the Archbishop of Milan is lifted high up to the holy nail where some ceremony is performed.  He is lifted up on a contraption invented by Leonardo da Vinci.  When Doug heard this, he pulls a lighter out of his pocket and proclaimed “I have here in my hand the lighter of Jesus which you can have for 5 euros.”  Barb was not impressed and wondered aloud whether lightning would strike him for his irreverence.  It was right about that time that a loud thunder clap sounded. We all edged a little further away from where Doug was standing.

The stained glass throughout is spectacular and so brilliant with vibrant colors.  There was a sculpture of Bartholomew, one of the twelve disciples of Christ.  As the story goes, Bartholomew led several leaders of a ruling family to the Lord which ticked off others of a different persuasion.  He was taken captive and had his skin flayed off of him before he was beheaded.  The sculpture depicts Bartholomew with his skin removed and wrapped around his shoulders, before he was beheaded.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Although taking the stairs would be free, we paid the extra 6 euros each to take an elevator to the roof of the Duomo.  It was at this point that the skies opened up with rain, thunder and lightning.  We snapped a few wet pictures and decided the prudent thing to do was to get down off the roof and head back to our hotel.  Barb reminded Doug that the rainstorm was probably his fault for making the jokes that he did while in the cathedral.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

After we returned to our hotel and dried off, we next headed out to a café where we could have lunch and people watch.  As the heavy rain continued while we ate lunch, we watched people scurry about trying to escape the rain.  Doug, still smarting from having been told of his responsibility for the thunderstorm, offered to Barb that it couldn’t be from his comments in the cathedral because all of these other people are also getting wet.  Barb was having none of that and reminded him of the scripture that “the Lord causes the rain to fall on the just and the unjust.”  Hmmm.

Today we set off for a day trip to the city of Florence.  We took the fast train from Milan to Florence, a 189 mile trip that took only one hour and 40 minutes to complete.  We reached speeds of 180 miles an hour.  Sam and Ruby and Ruby’s mom Linda, met us at the train station and we were off.  We saw a giant bronze turtle which seemed a different sitting there with all of the renaissance statues, etc.  Some of us (there were only 2 left when we got there) were able to sample a sandwich billed as perhaps the world’s best chicken sandwich.  Ehhh!  It was good but not necessarily world best good though.  Clearly however, the highlight of the day was when we visited the museum where many of Michelangelo’s statues were housed.  The detail that Michelangelo was able to carve out of the block of marble was amazing.  His masterpiece, the David, was stunning.  Lifelike detail of muscles and tendons carved out of marble – Wow!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

It was a very long but wonderful day and we returned to Milan for a dinner at our hotel and then onto bed.  We have a four and a half hour cooking class scheduled for tomorrow evening at 6:00 pm.