Montalcino and Firenze

Brunello, Nobile, Rosso, and Grappa.  These are a few of the wines (made from the Sangiovese Grape) we have learned about and tasted in the last week. 

 

Tuscany has been a wonderful relaxing atmosphere after the hustle and bustle of Rome.  These italians are a bunch of shisters.  We stayed at a wonderful little winery with a great swimming pool for the hot afternoons.  Our days went like this.  Wake up (usually around 10am), have some breakfast, drive into little town and have a cappuccino, then we would have some lunch, go back to the winery, relax by the pool, read, take a nap, then off to a winery to taste some wines, and back into the little town for dinner.  What a life!  The owners of the winery (agriturismo), Barbara and Roberto, gave us a personal tour of their winery -- it was very special and informative -- an amazing process and fun to hear it from two very passionate italians!

 

Now we are back in the touristy parts of Italy, first in Florence and then off to Venice.  We've discovered that italians make the most amazing gelato, pasta, pizza, and coffee.  But we were surprised to find they bake horrible bread in my opinion and the american in us wants to have a to-go latte of their really good coffee to savour as we walk through the streets!

 

This morning we saw Michaelangelo's David in the Accedemia Museum.  No wonder it is called a masterpiece! 

 

so long.

 

rome in a day!

we are just starting our second day in italy. yesterday we did rome-in-a-day! whew -- it was a little bit exhausting -- but highly worth the effort. rome is beautiful with all of its old old gorgeous buildings, ruins, and fountains. we toured st. peter's basillica, the vatican and sistine chapel, the pantheon, the forum, and the colloseum! all were wonderful. i think i enjoyed st. peter's basillica the most. today we're off to tuscany!

I'll just add a couple thoughts. Rome is beautiful reminds me some what of London and therefore ranks up with one of my favorite cities in the world. Huge old buildings fill every street in the city area. Beautiful fountains flow everywhere and where else can you walk around and see the works of Rafael, Michelangelo, and Bernini everywhere you look. Its really quite remarkable.

The food and wine is great, not to mention the coffee. Chianti tastes so wonderful here and in the hot weather you can't match a cold Peroni Beer. As Tash mentioned we are off to Tuscany, we pick up our rental car and start our driving adventure through the crazy italian streets.

Ciaò

another picture in granada

thanks lyd for this picture -- Daniel, Peter, Dad, and Lydia in Granada!

Granada

Janet, Peter, Daniel, and Tasha in Granada Spain.

The Alhambra in Granada, Spain

This is an old Moorish Palace and Fort in Granada, Spain.

spain

daniel and i are feeling better. i think we've both been able to get
over our colds.

spain is a pretty cool place. i've always heard the spainiards take a
siesta in the afternoon -- but i'm not sure i ever really believed it.
it's true! it is so hot here. it reaches 100 degrees usually every
day by noon. thus, the stores open around 10:00 am and then close
around 1:00 pm. everyone goes home and really does take a siesta.
you can tell by the streets - they're empty. and then around 5:00 pm,
all the stores open back up again and things really get to hopping
around 9:00 pm. we even see families out with babies and small kids
playing in the park and eating a light dinner at 9:00 in the evening.
people are out because it's cooler. a siesta makes a whole lot of
sense.

spainish women love to dress fasionably - the streets are lines with
shoe shops, jewelery shops, purse/bag shops, and clothing shops -- and
it seems the women are always shopping. especially now in the summer.
in late july and all through august the shops have sales. they start
around 30% off and gradually increase. right now things are anywhere
from 50-70% off. it's pretty cool.

the food here is not what i think of spanish - or latin at all. they
eat a lot of potatoes, fish, chicken, salads, and cold soup (like a
tomato soup called gazpacho). the coffee (coffee con leche - coffee
with milk) is wonderful. they also traditionally serve churros for
breakfast. they are fried dough-like things that you dip in warm
chocolate -- very tasty.

that's all for now. we are headed to spend one last night on a
spanish beach before we leave for italy on friday. love to you all --

... simply memories

well ... by the push of a single button .. with no confirmation
required ... we erased the entire memory card in our digital camera.
it was more that frustrating at the time, but now I am resolved to
just being sad we have lost so many captured moments of germany,
almut, and the world cup! we also lost quite a few pictures of the
inside of the Alhambra (a magnificent old moorish palace and fort here
in granada). this happened on saturday. it is a pity! ah well --
you'll just have to believe us -- we really did attend three world cup
games, tour many castles, and clank 1 liter steins of beer in germany!

Spain and the World Cup Final

we arrived in Spain on Friday evening. Daniel's dad and sister, Lydia, picked us up at the airport in Malaga. We then drove about 2 hours to Granada. Daniel's cold continued to get worse -- but he got some antibiotics yesterday and that has been helping. i have had a sore throat and feel like i've been on the verge of also getting his cold - flu - or whatever sickness he has. however, i have been able to hold it off. it is good to be with family. there is a whole crew here - Daniel's parents, Lydia and her boyfriend, Gabe (who just arrived today), and Pete (Daniel's brother) and his girlfriend, Janet. Tomorrow we are leaving early to go visit the Alhambra. Should be very interesting.

well...after a month of intense soccer ... Italy has won it! i can hardly believe all this soccer excitement has come to an end. the final was a hard-fought game. we were pretty disappointed in Zinadine Zidane - who head-butted an italian player in the chest in overtime. he was given a red card and sent off the field. Zidane is usually such an amazing and stand-up player, it was astonishing he lost his head in his last world cup game. ah well. we were excited that Italy won.

it is really really hot here in Spain - 106 degrees today. the only consolation is that there is very little humidity. and a blessing for us, that Dad and Gini have air conditioning in their apartment.

i'm out -- hope everyone had a blessed sunday.

Off to Spain...

the semi-final in dortmund was quite an event. the stadium was filled with
german fans singing songs and chants. we had hope the it would come down to
penalty kicks against italy. italy however scored twice in the last minutes
of the game. they were amazing goals -- but so sad for germany. then
france beat portugal in the second semi-final game. we were sad about
outcome also. it seems the teams we cheer for lately are losing. well --
so now its italy vs. france in the final game. Go Italy!!!

Daniel has developed quite a bad cold in the last two days. I'm hoping he
gets better soon.

Daniel and I take off for Spain this evening -- we are so looking forward to
seeing Daniel's parents, Pete and Janet, and Lydia. Aufwiedersehen
Deutschland -- Hola Espana!

Rothenburg and Strawberry Punch

last night we watched Germany beat Argentina in the center of Nuremburg with
about 15-20 thousand fans. it was absolutely crazy. there were so many
people pakced in around some televisions in a beer garden. we sat with some
germans that spoke english and were very kind. Germany won the game in
overtime with penalty shots -- the germans erupted with whistles and shots
and screaming and even crying when the team won.

today we visited Rothenburg with Almut. it is a nice town - we visited a
few churches, a medival torture and crime museum (quite interesting and a
little horiffic), the city hall, bought a few famous christmas ornaments,
and walked on the wall surrounding the city. it was a fun day.

tonight we ate our last dinner with Andreas and Gescha -- we had some
wonderful frankonian brautwurst, bread, and cucumber, tomato, and olive
salad. And then ... the Waggershausers served daniel and i their famous
strawberrz puch. it's a wonderful mixture of white wine, strawberries, and
champagne. it tastes marvelous -- i'll have to try and make it at home
sometime!

wow -- Brazil just beat France -- truly unbelievable. well ... love to you
all -- i'm off to have a little more strawberry punch!