August 21, More Tuscany

Basking in Brunellos

Tuscany is the place for walled cities, rolling hills and WINE, WINE, WINE. Steve and I love to drink wine but we are not collectors and are more of the Vin Ordinaire or Vin du Maison. We do know what we like from a glass of bubbly to a smooth, full bodied Cab but our traveling companions have a new wine closet to fill, therefore, we must drink our way through the Chiantis, the Montelpucianos and the ultimate, the Brunellos, made to hold for ten to twenty years.

So today we headed to Montalcino, THE place, and the only place, that is entitled to produce Brunellos, 100% Sangiovese grapes. We had a reservation and wonderful tour and tasting at Il Pioggione, where handsome Danny and knowledgable Francesca lead us through some new technology and taught us the difference between Rosso Brunello and Brunello Reserva.

They then directed us to the best (and only) trattoria in Sant Angelo di Castel for a great lunch on a sunny terrace. We started with Pecorino served with honey and bruschetta with tomatoes.

A word about the tomatoes here. Remember tomatoes from your youth (if you are over 40)? When they were red and ripe and warm and juicy and delicious and slightly acidic and full of flavor? Well, that's how they still are here and served on warm grilled bread with nothing more than fruity, spicy EVOO. The pastas were homemade with pomodoro, garlic and oil and even topped with breadcrumbs.

Carafes of house wine now empty, we headed for our next tasting reservation.......but we really had no idea where the winery was so we bagged that and went into the town of Montalcino for what has become the rhythm of the day- walk, shop, espresso, walk, wine, drive, get a bit lost but always get home.

One more wine stop to taste seven or eight more wines and select a case for shipping to your new wine closet. Lay it down and let's drink one bottle each year to remember Tuscany together.

A View from Montalcino

On the Piazza

Down the street

Looking over the flags

Past the rooftops

To the hills

With the plowed fields of wheat

The leafy vines

The fruit laden olive trees

Straight to the horizon.

Tuscany.

Comments

July 31

Taking the Waters in Marianske Lazne There are three 'famous' spa towns in Czech, the most popular Karlovy Vary, but we choose to spend a couple days in the smaller spa kingdom of Marianske Lazne, or better known in German as Marienbad. Before we got on the road for the spa, we decided to head into Plzen town to visit the reputedly second largest in Europe and third largest in the world synagogue. It was impressive and big but we are not sold on the claims, it didn't seem much bigger than synagogues at home. But we also got in a little walk around the town square and saw interesting fountains and some wonderful sgrafito on buildings. Perhaps the funniest moment on the square was hearing a group of Czech children singing Heads Shoulders Knees and Toes in English, as a way to start learning the names of body parts. We were tempted to join in. In about an hour, we arrived at the Falkensteiner Spa right on time and checked into a beautiful room in a lovely hotel not really kn...

August 7 Last Day in Pest

Budapest-Strolling About and Rolling Out After our leisurely day of almost nothing but swimming, we had to cram in as much walking, seeing, drinking, eating and feeling Budapest as possible in one long day. Coffee, post office (yet another box and another $75 to send home more of our clothing we no longer needed and a few souvenirs), and then into St. Stephen's Cathedral to see another ornate interior of dark rose and dark gray marbles, detailed decorative painting in lieu of the usual bright mosaics and the shriveled blackened hand relic of St. Stephens. Planning and cramming the day was a bit difficult as the sites are more spread out than in other city centers with only three metro lines that connect at one station. So, we figured we would knock off the northern most site first, the huge and spectacular looking Parliament. It was already hot enough that we were walking only on the shady side of the street and I had even started copying the Japanese tourists and was using ...

#21 - Phu Quoc - The island part

AHHHHHH......Finally, the beach This trip has been go, go, go. Even on our leisurely Mekong boat, breakfast at 7:00, excursion at 8:30, out again after lunch for another interesting trip onshore. But finally we land in Phu Quoc, a small island off the southwest coast of Vietnam, only an hour flight from Saigon. This is Vietnam’s comer, hoping to be an answer to Thailand’s Phuket in another ten years. We have finally left behind guides and drivers and have simply a hotel shuttle to a beautiful resort on Long Beach with five star service. We are welcomed straight into the bar for a passion fruit martini.....none of that cheap champagne or ginger tea ( not that we haven’t enjoyed those also). And we have also finally arrived at our vision of Vietnam’s French Colonial past with green shuttered pale yellow buildings and wicker and palm trees. Steve has already asked if we could possibly never leave the resort for our stay but I will give h...

Marci and Steve Go Back to Europe

Search This Blog