La Bella Vita

The tour guide took us into the Civic Museum for a tour. Siena was ruled by nine leaders and there were nine columns that converged to the Palazzo Publico.

Inside is where the horses converge prior to the Palio race. Siena is divided into contradas (think houses at a fancy boarding school but on a city level) which each has a horse and jockey that race. Horses are randomly selected, jockeys are picked, and the starting order is randomly selected. When wondering through town each contrada area has lamp posts which are painted their specific color. Despite being mostly luck, the contradas take great pride when their horse wins. As we entered the building there was large carving of Romulus and Remus with the she-wolf, this image seems to be everywhere in Siena.

The first room we entered was the Hall of Italian Unifcation. There is a graphic fresco of the Battle of San Martino on one wall and illustrations of Victor Emmanuel II. The 19^th century paintings were the most recent on our tour.

In the next area we entered there were large frescos covering every inch of wall and depicting the entire history of the region. Two of the frescos of particular interest were of St Catherine of Siena and St. Bernardino. I read a bit about Saint Catherine and she seems, perhaps like most saints, bizarre.

St. Catherine of Siena

Anyway, we ventured next to the Sala della Paca or Sala dei Nove (the hall of peace or hall of nine for you English speakers). It refers to the Council of Nine who rule Siena in the 14^th century. The frescos were breathtaking. One wall told the story of what it is like when good government rules while the opposing wall told the story and dangers of a bad government, these frescos are aptly named “Allegory of Bad Government” and “Allegory of Good Government.” The council ruled from 1287-1355 and met in this room- how’s that for a history lesson?!

Allegory of Good Government- Siena is the bearded guy on the throne and is surrounded by six virtues

After the tour in the Civic Museum we walked to the Duomo of Sienna which is Saint Mary of the Assumption. The Assumption of Mary is a Catholic holy day occurring on August 15^th (if you remember your lessons from Father Bob) and, therefore, the Palio horse race takes place on the 16^th. Construction of the cathedral began sometime in the 1220s. On each sides of the façade of the church are two tall columns again depicting Romulus and Remus and connecting the city to both the pagan tradition and, more importantly, to Rome. The church was begun during the gothic period and continued during the Romanesque period so the church has combination of both gothic (pointy) and Romanesque (curvy) arches. To the right of the cathedral is a large wall with gigantic arches which was supposed to be an expansion project. Unfortunately the plague hit circa 1300s knocking out half of the city of Siena and the kibosh was put on the project- despite being short on manpower, they felt God was punishing their pride.

After the tour, we headed back for a quick change at the hotel and Nina and I headed to Il Pomodorino for pizza, courtesy of a suggestion from Rick Steve’s guide book. As always, Rick did not lead us astray. We ordered a white pizza with truffles and a red pizza with prosciutto, arugula (known in the English translation as Rocket) and parmesan.

Nobody does pizza like the Italians.

We split a bottle of the house wine- a smooth red that was perfecto. Our view from the table overlooked the cathedral. Given recommendations from the hotel the rest of our travel group ended up at the same restaurant and we ended up pushing the tables together and having a fun night. It was a hilly walk back to the hotel and time for a good night’s rest.

Last night was unfortunately unrestful. Morning came early and I was cursing myself for not being a beach vacation person.

After the usual breakfast we hit the bikes and headed south through the Chianti hills, known as the Colline del Chianti in these parts. The climbs and descents were much more gentle than the previous days and this proved to be my favorite day in the saddle so far. The extra loop came early in the ride today and, not wanting to miss out, I couldn’t help but count myself in. It was an extra climb to Castagnoli, but the effort was worth the view. The landscape was unending rolling terrain filled with sangiovese vineyards. I stopped several times to snap photos of the fields, vineyards, and small outposts used to protect the area from Florentine invaders.

We hit the road again and rejoined the main course before stopping at Madonna a Brolio for a brief snack of prosciutto, pecorino cheese, and pears. Afterward we winded our way into Castelnuovo before turning onto a gravel road lined with Cyprus and olive tress arriving at Felsina for wine tasting and lunch.

We toured the ancient cellar which dated to 1730. The new cellar was built much later, circa 1970s in the area that formerly served as the horse stable. Each wine barrel was marked with the amount hectoliters (yes, that’s 100 liters!) of wine that they held. The barrels had green glass “corks” on the top which were used to tell how far along the wine is in the fermented process.

For lunch we gathered in the main area of the vineyard. The first wine was a white wine made from sangiovese grapes. It was smooth, not sweet, and not too dry. The second wine was a red and very smooth, the third I didn’t like, and the fourth was desert wine. This was served with pasta, breads, cookies, omelets, and ended with an espresso. I’m not sure how I was able to get myself back on a bike after such indulgences.

The winding, rolling hills continued into Siena. The last five kilometers was spent on a gravel bike path with trees and bushes growing into the path. We arrived at the Porto Romano entrance into the city (it faces Rome). Siena is a city enclosed with walls in all directions and this was one of the only places to enter the city. We winded our way into the city and arrive at Villa del Sole, our hotel for the next two nights.

After a brief shower we walked to Il Campo, the gathering spot in the middle of the city. The Palazzo Publico is the city hall and was built in the 14^th century as the center of the Siena government. Black and white shields flank the building and serve as the official crest of Siena. The building includes a mix of secular and religious icons- including a large IHS symbol within a sun at the top contrasted images of Romulus and Remus suckling from the teet of a shewolf. According to legend Remus was the father of an Italian boy with a name similar to Siena (that’s where the town got is name).

The tour guide explained about the Palio race- a horse race in which contestants from each area of Siena are randomly selected a horse and a position. The area around the Palazzo Publico is covered in dirt, the square is filled with 50,000 spectators and the horses race three times around. It sounds crazy and awesome at the same time and I’m pretty sure it was in the most recent James Bond Movie.

I am very tired, the rest will have to be added tomorrow…

Scusi, the internet was out yesterday making posting impossible.

On my last trip to Italy I was usually the last person to roll out of bed and make it to breakfast so I decided this trip would be a new leaf for me. It was indeed. I ate breakfast solo but still greatly enjoyed a second morning of prosciutto, café Americano and the rest of it. We rolled out for a day of unending hills. We cycled to Greve in Chianti and stopped for some coffee- I opted for a strong espresso which was perfect. While there I walked into the Salami store which was packed with prosciutto, salami and sausages. It all looked so delicious, but I resisted the urge to avoid an upset tummy on the bike. The town square was a flurry of activity as they were getting ready for the Chianti Classico festival that will take place at the end of the week. We headed out of town with a brutal climb to Sugame pass and Lucolena. The climbs and descents a few harrowing switch back turns. The Giro d’Italia traversed these roads recently and the markings on the road cheering on the likes of Vincento Nibali are still on the road and definitely provided additional cycling motivation. After more climbing my legs felt lucky to break in Badiaccia a Montemuro for lunch. We had pasta with tomatoes, pasta with wild boar sauce, frizzante water, and (of course) chianti. It was a welcomed break.

I felt better after lunch and, despite the advice from Steven to hold off on doing extra loops early, I couldn’t help myself. The extra miles included a long, steady climb to Badia a Coltibuuono and a winding descent into Gaiole. In Giaola we stopped at the L’Eroica store. A famous race takes place from near this area which takes place mostly on gravel roads and all bikes have to be at least 30 years old. The store was filled with retro wool jerseys, leather old fashioned cycling shoes and cycling memorabilia- it made the extra miles worth the effort. After leaving we headed back with a final climb back to Radda in Chianti.  Nina and I stopped for a gelato before rinsing off. I had a nocciola gelato, which means hazelnut. Oh. My. Goodness. It was heaven in a cone. Not too sweet, a little creamy, and a perfect nutty flavor.

Nocciola gelato, perfecto!

After a quick shower we convened for an Italian lesson and headed to a nearby restaurant for dinner. The first dish was homemade ravioli stuffed with spinach paired with a local white wine. The second dish was a filet with a fruit compote paired with (surprise) chianti. We had our choice for dessert and I chose the crème brulee. It was served on fire, but there was still a strong alcohol taste after the flames extinguished. My legs could definitely feel the miles on the brief walk back to the hotel.

Ciao, time to rest up for another day on the bike!

After a very good night sleep it was time for breakfast. For those of you who know me I have three great loves in life (after my family, of course)- cycling, Rudy, and prosciutto. Prosciutto was available for breakfast and I was more than content. I topped it off with yogurt with local honey, fresh juice, fruit, a hard-boiled egg, and a café Americano. Nina and I headed out on foot to see the town of Radda in Chianti. There were male cyclists everywhere- forget Dante and his inferno, Emily has found heaven! Five minutes into our walk we discovered a store filled with cycling jerseys and I couldn’t help but get one to add to the collection. The town is a series of small winding streets, little cafes, and cyclists were abundant.   I made a mental note that is a town I plan on revisiting. We came back to the hotel and I had my necessary nap. I began reading the Rick Stevess’ guide to Florence and Tuscany and quickly remembered why Rick Steves is one of my favorite writers- he incorporates history, humor, art, and, most importantly, gives step by step directions. Included in the book is a two day itinerary for visiting Florence, which will come in very handy during my few days in Florence.

We met up with the rest of cycling tour group, introduced ourselves, and sat down for lunch. Lunch included a vegetable salad, pasta with tomatoes, bread and olive oil, and… champagne. After changing and fixing up our bikes we headed out for the first ride of the trip. The roads were windy and beautiful. We rode to Castellina in Chianti. According to our guide information the district is part of the League of Chianti that has protected central Tuscany since the 14^th century. The view was breathtaking. Of course we paid dearly for every descent with climbing, something which my legs are not used to. Halfway through the ride we stopped for gelato, it was just as good as I remembered. A hilly ride back to the hotel and a hot shower later it was time for dinner.

For dinner we ate as a group at the hotel. We had a carpaccio of zucchini over a bed of salad to start. For the second course I chose risotto with funghi followed by a third course of pork medallions with fruit compote. Desert was pannacotta. We had two different wines with the dinner- don’t ask me what they were I didn’t understand.

I hope my legs will recover for tomorrow…

Buongiorno!

I was surprisingly organized with the packing for this trip and have learned from past trips to book my flights at any time but in the morning. After a brief jaunt to Chicago, a long layover, a longer flight to Frankfurt and a short flight to Florence later, I found myself reunited with Italy after a five-year hiatus. I met up with Nina in Frankfurt and it was good to share the rest of the trip with an old friend. We ordered two coffees and a croissant; however, despite Nina being fully fluent in German, we were served up two beers. Apparently this is standard fare. After a conversation I didn’t understand, the beers were exchanged for coffees.

We landed in Florence on the shortest runway I have encountered in my travels thus far. It required a full u-turn feet from the end of the tarmac to make it back to the gate. Thanks to Nina’s planning, a driver was waiting for us.   It was a tortuous, hilly drive to Tuscany. I tried to enjoy the beauty of it, but motion sickness quickly got the better of me. Tuscany is much like Indiana if you replace the oversized pick-up trucks with cars the size of my Golf, the flatness with unending, rolling hills, and cornfields with vineyards. On the drive we explained to the driver that we would be spending the next week riding our bikes and explained where we were headed. He laughed pretty hard and said what I think equated to “oh my God.” Then he explained that it’s hilly and hot, but you’ll be fine. We arrived at the hotel, a rustic, cute little stereotypical, but very Italian lodging. A hot shower was a much needed comfort after a long day of traveling.

Nina and I headed to the hotel restaurant, which was outdoors and overlooking a Tuscan hillside. We started off with cantaloupe melon balls with prosciutto, mozzarella with tomatoes and balsamic vinegar, and bread with local olive oil. For dinner I had freshly made pasta in a black truffle butter sauce and Nina had homemade noodles with a wild boar ragu. Some local Chianti wine topped off the dinner perfectly. Time to go recover from the travel and jet lag.

Breakfast was at Skillet, by far the most hipster place we have gone so far.  I ordered the Disassembled Corned Beef Hash.  It was perfectly cooked corned beef, roasted onions and fingerling potatoes with two eggs over easy on top.  Accompanied with a hot coffee made for a perfect breakfast.  Steven ordered biscuits and gravy which looked like it contained enough calories for a month’s worth of eating and Lib ordered a side of flap jacks.

After breakfast we headed to Ballard Coffee Works and then off to do a little shopping (yes, none of us are big shoppers, but some times it’s necessary).  We passed a microsoft store and I couldn’t resist stopping into to try Vive, the new virtual reality gaming program.  It. was. Amazing.  First I went through the night sky and then I was in a virtual reality gun fight with aliens.  I played with an art app where I drew my name in cursive and then could walk all around it.  The experience was surreal.  However, it compounded a pre-existing headache that could only be relieved by a nap.  We skipped the afternoon bike ride in exchange for recovery time. 

For dinner we met up with Dwyer and John at 10 Mercer.  The food was mediocre and not worth an exhaustive review.  We then headed to Bluebird for ice cream.  Bluebird was worth the review.  I had coffee ice cream that was creamy and cofffeey and cold and wonderful.

It has been an amazing vacation and it was over too quickly.  It has been so much fun spending time with Libby and Steven (and Baker).  I will probably cry tomorrow at the airport, except my flight leaves at 5 am and I can’t cry before I’ve had my morning coffee.

Cheers Seattle until next time!

Sisterly Love

The day started off with an early alarm clock…  Followed by a few snoozes.  I finally rolled myself out of bed to a toasting hot coffee and an egg and avacado sandwich to watch Le Tour.  It was a time trial stage full of glory, tongue waging, wailing, and grown size men collapsing over their bikes at the end; it was glorious.  Steven and I loaded the bikes and headed northward while Libby nursed her sore back on the sofa with a heating pad.  The bike ride was momentarily delayed thanks to a mishap back home that was gracefully handled by Adrienne, my many thanks to you.  We went to Skagit Valley- a small fertile agricultural haven tucked between the mountains.  It was a gorgeous ride.  We were surrounded on every side by blueberry patches, strawberry fields, wheat fields, and the occasional broken down VW vanagon.  We biked for a few miles on gravel travels through the inland salt fields before heading back to the lush valley.  Halfway into the ride we pulled into the oasis town of Edison for some coffee and pastries.  I’m not sure if it was my hunger or if was truly the best coffee and buttery pastry I’ve ever had, but it was amazing.  The rest of the ride was mellow regarding the incline and the pace. 

It was a perfect day outside with not too much sun and not too much wind.  We headed back to the car after the 50 mile ride and were already running late for our dinner engagement.

Arriving back at the house we had just enough time to secure and drive a car2go, a rental you book on your phone, to meet Libby and Steven’s friends Dawn and Kozo and their two munchkins.  The rental car is a smart car and Steven, suprisingly, fit into it. 

We drove the mile and a half to the pedal brewery (I refused any more cycling at this point).  Our dinner engagement went well beyond hipster to full on smelly hippy level.  You know you have reached smelly hippy level when the restaurant has port-o-pots as their primary facilities (with a sign letting you know how much water is being conserved by using such a stinky, slightly unsanitary method of relieving oneself).  The hippiness continued as the band took the stage and started encouraging crowd members to pedal their stinky bikes in order to power the pedal cycled generators for their amplifiers.  I’m not sure what the band was called, but if I were naming them they would be the “Supportless Wonders.”  The lack of support knew no gender divide and the googling eyes of onlookers couldn’t help but notice too.  It was all very Pacific northwestish.  We enjoyed spending time with Dawn, Kozo, and their kids and Steven, being the gem that he is, even ran to a nearby restaurant, to provide tater-tots to prevent a toddler meltdown.  We got food from a nearby food truck- I went with the apple and brie on a potato pancake sandwich; which was greasy and all kinds of delicious.  I enjoyed meeting Libby and Steven’s friends. 

Steven pedaling to provide power to the amps…

After dinner we headed into Ballard for Hot Cakes.  I got chocolate decidadence.  A partially cooked lava cake that was oozygoozy in the middle and accompanied with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and caramel.  Wow.  We headed back to the home front afterward for showers and snoozing. 

Hot Cakes!

It was another glorious morning of sleeping in- ahhhh vacation.  Lib and I then headed to another Seattle staple, Starbucks, for v-lattes and chonga bagels with cream cheese.  We picked up Baker and made the hour drive to Maple Valley to meet the dog trainer.  I could tell this trainer meant business by her camouflage baseball hat emblazoned with a paw print in the middle.  We spent an hour describing the behaviors of Libby and Steven’s schnauzer. 

His Life is Going to Change

During the interview process the trainer brought out her (un-neutered with balls that would scare a grown bull) doberman.  She was able to cue him to sit and bark with just hand motions, this lady really was the dog whisperer.  Unfortunately the goal of this was to observe Baker’s behaviors.  I’ll skip the details suffice to say that she recommended the anti-social aggressive dog training for Baker. 

We made the hour drive back to Seattle and Lib’s ouchy back wasn’t handling car riding very well.  After dropping Baker off we headed to grab some Ramen.  Lib went with traditional ramen noodles in a pork broth and I went with the spicy miso.  Oddly enough you can order the spicy miso as mild and, perhaps not surprisingly, it wasn’t mild.  He had pork, beans, and cleared out my sinuses pretty quickly. 

After a quick nap, Baker and I headed to Discovery park for a walk before Steven returned home from work.  We went to the local grocery store and picked up fresh king salmon for dinner.  We also picked up a 6 pack of Rainer beer to try because my favorite character in the tv show Longmire (think modern day Walker, Texas Ranger) drinks it.  Thankfully the cans only cost a dollar each because Steven and I only managed a swig each before dumping it. 

At least it’s only a dollar a can.

Lib and I headed to her favorite breakfast and coffee spot, Essential Bakery.  The vanilla lattes were a perfect combination of vanilla sweetness contrasted with a slight bitter taste of the coffee.  Anyone who knows me knows that I love cycling and I love prosciutto.  I couldn’t resist ordering an egg, prosciutto and white cheddar cheese sandwich.  It was on a light sourdough bread and was absolutely heavenly.  I enjoyed my sandwich too much to notice what Lib was eating.  We finished and headed to more appointments for the day; unfortunately the ouchy back continued.  After the appointments I took a little (actually long) nap, driving through Seattle was exhausting. 

Steven came home from work and it was time to load up the bikes for some mountain biking.  We drove to the outskirts of Seattle to Duthie Hill for an introductory ride.  I had Lib’s mountain bike which boasts dual suspension, 29 inch wheels, and a drop seat.  We rode Bootcamp trail which is winding, has nice banks, and some big tree roots.  We decided to do a different route called Deuces Wild.  At the top of the course I stopped to allow a women’s mountain bike camp to go past me.  The group of about 15 women said I should go first- apparently geared out in my Black Sheep Velo kit and Lib’s mountain bike I look significantly faster than I am.  Steven let them all know this was my first day on a mountain bike and the head of the camp looked at me and said “well, then we’ll all be cheering for you!”  I went screaming down the trail.  It was awesome.  It was smooth with deep banks that allowed you to gain a lot of speed.  It was so much fun, I had to do it again and again and, of course, a fourth time. 

We returned back to the home front for some pad thai with Libby and Dwyer.  They introduced me to virtual reality with the android phone.  Mind. Blown.

Zoom zoom!

Lib has been suffering what we call in medical lingo, an ouchy back.  Today was primarily the rest day of the vacation.  Lib had several appointments and errands scheduled and was in no shape to be driving.  Steven was working, so I gladly served as the chauffeur for the day.  Driving in Seattle has left me with two major conclusions about this city: 1. Seattle is in serious need of some civil engineers 2. No one in Seattle cares about landscaping.  After errands were completed we grabbed some pizza by the slice and headed to the Cinerama movie theater with Steven and their friends Dwyer and John to see the BFG. 

Original Darth Vader costume at Cinerama

Roald Dahl was our favorite author growing up and “The BFG” was one our favorite books, so we couldn’t resist the chance to see it on the big screen.  The Cinerama is no ordinary cinema.  It’s owned by Paul Allen, one of the Microsoft founders who has more money that he knows what to do with.  The lobby has original Star Wars costumes in it.  The concessions included: fresh pretzels, chocolate drizzled popcorn (which oddly enough tastes like cocoa puffs), crafty beers and hard ciders.  The chairs are huge and squishy and the screen is bigger than a standard movie screen.  The movie was… okay.  The imagery was good, the story was good, it was a little corny at times; but one of those wholesome, feel good movies.

We walked downtown for a bit and walked past the new glass spheres being built by Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.  Apparently he was going to build two of them next to the large Amazon tower he built, but the clever engineers figured out pretty quickly that is was an ode to his small junk and thus a third sphere was added.