Catching up - Friday

Hi all,

We've gotten a little behind on posting this weekend, so I'm writing things in arrears. Friday was a pretty lazy day. It was THE hottest year to date for this neck of the woods. Absolutely stifling. Good thing we hadn't planned on traipsing around any hot villages!! Instead, the kids alternated between pool dips and napping. Joel and I drove a very short distance to a winery to do some tasting in their lovely air conditioned digs. The winery was Felsina in the town of Castelnuovo Berardenga. Aside from the slight awkwardness of drinking wine with someone staring at you (we're not very good at that and actually prefer to drink and talk about it in our own kitchen - ha!) we enjoyed hearing about the various combinations of grapes to make the various tastes.

As is the case with most vineyards here, they also have olive groves. We're way too early in the growing season to actually see olives on the trees as flowering just finished. Harvest is in November so that will be the timing of our next trip to Italy. We did taste a few oils though and bought a collection to compare at home.

Other than that short venture out, we tackled the grocery store again and a farmacia for some cold/allergy medicine for Alex. I now know how to say nasale congestione and all sorts of other drippy and drainy sort of terms in Italian.

We went to our now favorite restaurant in the area - Il Bivocco. It has simply delicious Tuscan food and we're trying to get a taste of everything for our palates to remember when we leave. Everyone has decided that we need one more visit to get the job done!!

Calvin and Joel are now beating Drew and me at our euchre marathon seven games to four. Ugh! We haven't given up though. This may have to continue once we return to Indiana.

The photo today is of all of us at the entrance to our castle apartment. Alex had just enjoyed doing some rock climbing on the walls - fun to watch, but she's forbidden us to post any of those pictures as they are always aimed from below looking up. So Joel set up the tripod on the ground beneath and then Calvin pressed the timer and hustled it up to the top of the stairs in 10 seconds to get this family shot. Whew!!

Saturday in Pienza

After reading about several of the nearby cities for daytreking, we opted for Pienza, a little town southeast of us about 50 km. Pienza is known for its Peccorino cheese - a sheep milk product that ranges from very mild and smooth (fresco or young) to quite pungent and tasty (secco or aged.) The shops in the pretty little town are filled with all varieties and it's quite easy to see (and smell) the progression from looking at them stacked on the shelves. The mildest Peccorino has a bright orange wax coating, the interior fairly white and hardly an aroma at all. The most aged has a dark black almost moldly looking exterior and a darker yellowish brown interior that is harder and dryer. And whew! Quite aromatic. In fact, just walking by the shops offers a breath of aged Peccorino.

We stumbled upon a little diner for lunch that offered all sorts of bruschetta and crostoni with various toppings, most with Peccorino, of course. And we also felt obliged to get the Peccorino tasting plate and were instructed to eat from least to most mature so we could best appreciate the progression in flavor. It was served with a fig-type jam offering a really tasty complement. Wonderful!

Drew also had the good fortune to order Ribollita, a hearty Tuscan soup with bread in it that he said was outstanding. Of course, by the time he offered his review his bowl was empty and I couldn't try a bite. Smart boy. If you're interested, the diner's website is: http://www.latavernadireartu.com/offerte.html.

You may think by our food descriptions that all we do is eat! We actually did visit a palace in Pienza in addition to smelling and eating cheese. The Piccolomino family (peek-oh-LOH-mee-noh) were basically the head honchos there and when their son became Pope Pius II, they remodeled the entire town to suit such an honor. The remarkable thing is they did this huge rebuilding in only three years and renamed it Pienza (previously Corsignano). Voila! The family lived in this palace until 1962 and they had some ingenious ways of fooling the Nazis during WWII (so as not to loot the art) so the place is very much intact with outside frescoes visible and original wall silks, etc.

Of course we did the usual lounging by the pool and cooling off when we got back to the castle. Then we made our own dinner of pasta, salad and bruschetta. Turned out great!

Pictures today of us posing in front of a street in Pienza and a close-up of the Piccolomino family crest that adorns everything in the town.

xo

Day Trip to Florence

Yesterday we spent the entire day in Florence. Much to our own surprise, we left the house -- all five of us -- by 7:00 am to catch a train out of Bucine (boo-chee-nay), arriving in Florence an hour later. This was SOOO much better than trying to drive and park in Florence, which is akin to Rome in terms of crazy scooters, trucks, narrow streets, expensive lots, etc.

Our first stop was the Accademia Museum where the famous statue of David resides. It did not disappoint. I really thought all the hype would make the moment anti-climatic, but it is an astounding piece that changes in mood and temperament as you walk 360 degrees around it. At 26 years young, Michaelangelo Buonarroti immortalized himself.

In the hallway leading to the dome where David stands are six unfinished Michaelangelo sculptures that were supposed to be part of Pope Julius' tomb; Pope Julius is the one who commissioned (forced) Michaelangelo to paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling and many other things. Modern scholars have collectively named these pieces "Prisoners", as they almost appear to be trying to escape their native marble blocks. With these pieces you get a much better feel -- and appreciation -- for how a slab of stone can be turned into a David and how much work that must take. In some respects, I actually more enjoyed these pieces than David himself.

No pics allowed in La Accademia, so postcards will have to suffice.

After lunch we then toured the Duomo, home of "Brunelleschi's Dome", the largest free-standing dome since the Parthenon. I've provided pictures from both the outside and inside, although the inside pics are hampered by protective plexiglass. The science to build such a dome was known by the Romans in 450 BC, but was then lost for nearly 2,000 years until Brunelleschi figured it out. He used no supportive scaffolding to raise this dome, which was incomprehensible at the time -- even the Romans used an internal scaffolding skeleton to raise the Parthenon dome. In fact, the Duomo was built with the intent of having the world's largest dome, but sat "topless" for several hundred years until someone could figure out how to cover it. The five of us climbed the 462 steps to the cupola at the top for an amazing view of Florence.

Later in the afternoon Ellen and I toured the Museo dell'Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore, while the kids sat in a bar for cool drinks. This museo is home to Michaelangelo's Pieta (see pic), another amazing piece. The Pieta was to be Michaelangelo's own tombstone and is actually a self portrait. He used his own face for the carving of Nicodemus, the tallest figure supporting both Jesus and Mary. Michaelangelo was an old man when he carved this and, insightful to his personality, decided the marble wasn't perfect so took a hammer to it knocking off limbs and fingers. A friend/protoge put it back together, but it never became part of his tomb.

We'll spend a second full day in Florence later in the week. For some it is the art capitol of the world, so there's plenty to see.

Bye for now.

Joel

Alex Safely in the Fold

The E&J Sauer brood is all together in Italy. Alex successfully navigated the Rome Airport bus and train systems and made it to Chiusi, where we were waiting for her in the train station. Her only glitch was that her flight was delayed by three hours out of New York; inexplicably the Delta web site stated "on time" at both ends so we arrived in Chiusi three hours before necessary. Oh well.

The extra time allowed us to take a tour of the Etruscan water and cistern systems, and as I've always said, you haven't lived until you've seen an Etruscan water system! Actually, it was pretty cool. A series of tunnels literally under the city, with a monster cavern (cistern) for major storage. The system dates back to 200 BC and supplied year-round clean water for the entire city. It was such a good idea, the Roman sacked the city and started copying it as part of its empire.

When we got back to our apartment, Alex was pretty bushed so we all went down to the pool for a refreshing dip, then some serious "laying out". Since we were unsure how the entire day would go and what time we would actually arrive back "home", we ordered dinner from the castle (they have a catering staff where you simply put in your order(s) two days in advance -- I guess some people get most of their meals this way). Anyway, at precisely 7:30 pm two woman knocked on our door carrying trays of food; lot's of food!! I am not exaggerating when I say we only at 25% of what the brought, so we actually bought four meals in this one shot. It was such beautiful food that's what today's picture shows.

Today it's off to Siena! Another day in the mid 90s with a cloudless sky. Great lake weather!

Counting the hours

We're down to counting hours rather than days when Alex joins us. She arrives at 8:30 a.m. Italy time tomorrow morning (Tues) and we sorted out that the best place to meet was in Chiusi. That little Tuscan town is one hour from us via car, two hours from Rome via train, and the main terminal where all trains converge heading north. Driving into Rome was a daunting venture so we sought out another option. Hopefully all will go well with her negotiating the Rome airport and finding the proper train. Cross your fingers, say your prayers, and hold a good thought that we are lunching in Chiusi tomorrow with all of our chicks in the nest on our 25th anniversary day!!

Today was another relatively lazy day here. Joel and I drove into Siena to check out the computer glitch situation. An interesting adventure in charades to describe electronics problems without speaking the prevailing language. Thankfully another customer came to our rescue. Nonetheless, not the greatest news for the computer...it will still need attention when we return home...Joel is slowly adjusting to that painful outcome. On the way back, we stopped at a grocery store in a tiny town 5 minutes before they closed for their afternoon siesta. Can you say, 'power shop'? And can you pantomime kitchen garbage bags in less then 30 seconds? I can. So fun.

Anyway, while we were gone, the boys played tennis and swam. We ate lunch and dinner at our apt and just took a night swim. The group of Germans that were here for a wedding left this morning and a few other couples have arrived...much quieter around here! Joel and I also had a nice Italian lesson with the hostess here, Diana, which was SO helpful. She is American born so 'gets' the struggles we have with the language.

Enough for today. I know Joel already blogged a bit, but the photo I'm adding is of Joel preparing to imbibe lunch in our tiny kitchen.

Off to play more euchre...Joel and Calvin are one game ahead of me and Drew and we just can't go to bed with that situation, now can we?

xoxo

Castle Pictures

Not a whole lot new to report. Yesterday we took a quick trip to a nearby "sculpture garden" (see pic of family inside one of the sculptures) and then back to the castle. I'm publishing a couple shots taken on the grounds here -- there are 750 total acres. Very cool place, despite the critters.

Computer Glitch

Sorry the last post did not contain any pictures. We've been using an electric adapter to convert Italian power to American and it destroyed my laptop charger. Hopefully we can find a new one in Siena in the next couple days. For now I'm posting from Calvin's computer which is still fully operational. However, I can't get to the pictures previously mentioned as they are on my dead computer. Oh well. More pictures tomorrow.