Oktoberfest started out like many trips we have now do... a really long car drive. We drove thorugh Switzerland, Austira and then to Germany all within 5-6 hours. It always gets me how close everything is in Eruope. In Austria, you have to get a toll pass from a gas station in order to drive on the freeways. Thank goodness we got one since right when we were about to exist Austria, there were police at the border checking each car. Supposedly the fine's 250 euros. Damn.
We got to the hotel quiet late and checked in, then went to sleep. We stayed at the Ibis Munich West. It was a fairly nice hotel. They completed it the Tuesday before the first weekend of Oktoberfest. Probably too much of a loss to have it delayed after the first weekend. The hotel was PACKED. We comfortably fit 3 people into our room. It was a fairly standard European bedroom.
The next day, we all geared up to go to Oktoberfest. Tom Faussett was even wearing lederhosen. Fantastic! the site itself is massive. I was thinking there'd be one tent, but there was probably upwards of 30 tents where people were lining up to get in. With 7 people in our group, it was a mess. The line we stayed at wasn't letting people in, they were fully closed by 9AM! It seems you can go in and out of tents until around 2PM, when there's just too many people and they stop letting people in. To get into the tent offically, you have to have a table reservation for a certain time slot. We didn't get a reservation because we were too late. You have to book it a year in advance, basically, to get anything. I hear weekdays are easier, although all we had was a weekend.
We went into the tent where they tap the first keg and almost got a table, but it was way too crowded and there were too many of us to get sit with anyone else. We ended up just sitting outside of the tents. It was a good thing we go there early, though (we arrived at this tent at like... 11AM) because even the area we were at filled up fast. It wasn't as exciting as being in a tent, but it was still fun. Unfortunately, I had a cold so couldn't drink that much! what bad timing...
We stayed all Saturday at the Oktoberfest site and didn't have a chance to go into any of the tents. I think my time would've been far better if I hadn't had a cold. It's not so fun being the only sober one amoungst a large group of drunk people. We did meet some fun people and I got a great hat, though! The next weekend was far far better.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Monday, October 19, 2009
September 5-6 - Brussels
I know I switched it up a little with Berlin. I missed Brussels by accident. We went here to go to the Brussels beer festival. It showcased different Belgian beers, which are extremely strong and wheaty. You can actually be a Belgian beer if you have a license from a Belgian beer brewing company, although they say true Belgian beer has its unique flavor from the water in Belgium.
The first night we got there, we had a doner kebap and wandered around. We happened across a really interesting converted train station to art gallery and bar. Then, we migrated to another bar with a white guy with dreads who recommended to us some sweet Belgian beer. It was filled with smoke. Later, we went to an Irish pub which was playing 80's music.
The next day, we started off the day with Belgian waffles and watching a parade go by for the beer festival. The waffles were too sweet, in my opinion, and didn't taste at all like Mrs. B's waffles. The beer festival was already going strong and we grabbed a quick lunch, then went into the festival. This was the beginning of a long day of drinking. We started off with a Trappist beer, which I think was delicious. I had a Rochefort 8, a sweet, malty beer. I only bought 9 euros of beer caps and ended up spending all of them. We met a couple who was from Texas and had some escargots.
Sometime during the day, we met some rather obnoxious Aussies and Brits. They were all dressed up in costume and seemed like they pre-gamed the beer festival. They were funny at first, but then just got a bit annoying. Ally, Tom Tom and I wandered off later and met a bunch of Dutch guys who were prepared for the festival and brought in a giant bag of food from the Netherlands.
Eventually we found Tom Faussett and Kyle again who were chatting with some girls. I said they were big boys and could take care of themselves so we went to get dinner and left them to their antics. Little did we know that wasn't such a good idea. We had a nice dinner and went back home. I had an early night because I was exhausted. Tom Tom went out and later came back. We heard Tom Faussett and Kyle get back and Kyle saying "I think I got beat up really badly... Do I have a fat lip?" I assumed he and Tom got back together.
The next morning, Ally and I wake up first and take our showers. As I get out, Kyle sits up and asks us what he was doing last night. I thought he was joking. Later, he's taking pictures using his camera of the bruises he has all over his body. Somehow, he got into a huge fight and lost Tom Faussett during the night. He also lost his camera. Tom Faussett lost his wallett (which was just in front of the hostel) and was waiting for Kyle as he got back. It was nuts. We probably should't've let them be, but they seemed so normal when we left. During Sunday, Kyle and Tom were recalling bits of their night.
Two other highlights of Brussels were the pissing boy, which was very small and very strange... perhaps not worth seeing more than once, and the atom-shaped worlds fair structure. this one was very large and very strange...not really worth seeing again.
We did have Belgian fries, which I don't understand how much better they are. They tasted a lot like fries in the States...
I think Brussels was awesome, but not really worth more than a weekend, even with a beer weekend. There's probably far cooler things in Belgium.
The first night we got there, we had a doner kebap and wandered around. We happened across a really interesting converted train station to art gallery and bar. Then, we migrated to another bar with a white guy with dreads who recommended to us some sweet Belgian beer. It was filled with smoke. Later, we went to an Irish pub which was playing 80's music.
The next day, we started off the day with Belgian waffles and watching a parade go by for the beer festival. The waffles were too sweet, in my opinion, and didn't taste at all like Mrs. B's waffles. The beer festival was already going strong and we grabbed a quick lunch, then went into the festival. This was the beginning of a long day of drinking. We started off with a Trappist beer, which I think was delicious. I had a Rochefort 8, a sweet, malty beer. I only bought 9 euros of beer caps and ended up spending all of them. We met a couple who was from Texas and had some escargots.
Sometime during the day, we met some rather obnoxious Aussies and Brits. They were all dressed up in costume and seemed like they pre-gamed the beer festival. They were funny at first, but then just got a bit annoying. Ally, Tom Tom and I wandered off later and met a bunch of Dutch guys who were prepared for the festival and brought in a giant bag of food from the Netherlands.
Eventually we found Tom Faussett and Kyle again who were chatting with some girls. I said they were big boys and could take care of themselves so we went to get dinner and left them to their antics. Little did we know that wasn't such a good idea. We had a nice dinner and went back home. I had an early night because I was exhausted. Tom Tom went out and later came back. We heard Tom Faussett and Kyle get back and Kyle saying "I think I got beat up really badly... Do I have a fat lip?" I assumed he and Tom got back together.
The next morning, Ally and I wake up first and take our showers. As I get out, Kyle sits up and asks us what he was doing last night. I thought he was joking. Later, he's taking pictures using his camera of the bruises he has all over his body. Somehow, he got into a huge fight and lost Tom Faussett during the night. He also lost his camera. Tom Faussett lost his wallett (which was just in front of the hostel) and was waiting for Kyle as he got back. It was nuts. We probably should't've let them be, but they seemed so normal when we left. During Sunday, Kyle and Tom were recalling bits of their night.
Two other highlights of Brussels were the pissing boy, which was very small and very strange... perhaps not worth seeing more than once, and the atom-shaped worlds fair structure. this one was very large and very strange...not really worth seeing again.
We did have Belgian fries, which I don't understand how much better they are. They tasted a lot like fries in the States...
I think Brussels was awesome, but not really worth more than a weekend, even with a beer weekend. There's probably far cooler things in Belgium.
September 12-13 Berlin!
Berlin was a lot of fun. Before we went to Berlin, I e-mailed Fabian, Oliver and Jens to see if they were there. Ally did the same for Randy. Fabian said he'd be in town, but Oliver never replied and Jens was in Munich.
On the first night, Brian, Tom Tom and I arrived finally after our flight was delayed by an hour for no real reason. It's the easyjet way, I suppose. We also didn't know which train to take, so we ended up on a long train which took 2 hours to get to Berlin's downtown. On my way, Fabian called and asked if we wanted to go out tonight. Definitely!
When waiting at the train station to go to our hostel, we saw Fabian and his friend, also coincidentally named Fabian, on the train. They came with us to the hostel and we dropped off our stuff, then left. It was 2 AM by the time we left the hostel to go out. We went to the corner market, got some beers and started to drink them on the street. We met up with some of Fabian's friends and started to go out.
Flunkyball is a German drinking game which involves flunky pins, in our case empty glass beer bottles, and a flunkyball... This time, it was a leather loafer. Fabian taught us how to play Flunkyball while we were in the middle of an intersection with cops down the street from us. The game requires two teams and a couple of beers. In our case, it was one beer and several bottles of Jager. One team throws the flunkyball at the flunky pins and starts to drink. The other team runs up as fast as they can, tries to put the pins back up and brings the "ball" back. If you're ahead of the other team, you've been drinking more. Unlike American drinking games, where the loser drinks. Here, the winner drinks. It feels like such a better reward.
The next day we went to sightsee a bit. We met up with Ally at noon and had lunch at a Moroccan place, we think. Then, we went off to see the Wall, Checkpoint Charlie and all that good stuff. First up was Checkpoint Charlie, which is actually checkpoint number three (alpha, bravo, charlie). I thought it was named after a person. There was a museum near the checkpoint which records the events of the Berlin wall and the fall of the wall. It was a bit of information overload.
Next was the wall itself. Over the years, ingenious businessmen went to the wall with jackhammers and drilled off chunks of the wall to sell to unsuspecting tourists. People are willing to pay up to 20 euros for a chunk of perhaps slightly painted concrete. I paid 5 euros for my chunk, so I'm just as guilty. Because of this, the wall is a sad, skinny, bumpy concrete sliver which is now fenced off so people don't drill off any more and create holes.
From there, we went to Postdamerplatz, a square which shows much of modern Berlin. It's crazy that just 20 years ago, this place was completely deserted. Today, it had tons of buildings and shops around it. There was a fair and an open air concert going on.
The Holocaust memorial in Berlin is the only one I've seen thus far, and so it's the most striking. The memorial is a bunch of concrete blocks in the shape of graves at varying heights across a square of Berlin. Beneath the blocks is a Holocaust museum which has notes and information on the systematic murder of a wide array of people. It was sobering, but made me wonder why we're so focused on the Jews. There were a lot of other people who died. Also, there was a lot of other terrible things which happened in WWII to the Chinese, Filipino and other people in Asia. Why aren't they recognized. I think part of it is the power of the Jewish community in the US, which won... Another aspect is possibly the lack of power on the Chinese side to force the Japanese to recognize their mistakes. Also, the Japanese murders weren't systematic. They were barbaric, but they weren't systematic in the sense that they were calculating to eliminate an entire culture. They were just the "generic" rape, pillage, destroy. Not less disgusting, but I think far less disturbing.
We also got to see the Brandenburg gate, which was a originally a symbol of peace, later a symbol of separation of the wall. I knew very little about the division of Berlin and WWII, so this was really interesting to see.
From the gate, we went to see Reichstag, the Parliament building, which was beautiful and really cool, but had a 2 hour or something line, so I didn't want to go.
The Berliner Dom is quite an interesting building. Located behind (or in front of depending on your perspective) Lustgarten, it was built in 1451. In 1940, the Allies bombed it and a lot of the building became rubble. Then in 1944, a bomb of combustible liquids was placed inside of it and the fire couldn't be extinguished on the top part of the dome. The dome collapsed and they eventually built a temporary roof over it. There's a lot of controversy over whether to fully fix and restore the dome, removing the black charring. It's a testimony to the horrors committed during WWII and what people did to each other. Some felt fixing the dome was like covering up that part of history.
On our way back, we walked to Alexanderplatz to look for some food. When we got there, we saw something that looked like a circus from afar. it looked like it had tables outside, so we got closer to see what was inside and if we could have dinner there. Turns out, it was Berlin's first Oktoberfest. There was only one tent, the Hippodrom, which would then be taken down the next week and brought to Munich. This was the unintentional addition to the 3 beer weekends I was already going to in September.
That night, Fabian took us out again and we went to several more bars. No more flunkyball, but a lot of fun still. We went to a bar/club which had free chili as its food of choice. There was a projector which projected a horse on a wall and it was staring at you. Additionally, in another room, there was a DJ and a singer who was in a wolf man mask, a wife beater shirt, jogging shorts, elbow and knee pads. It was terribly strange, but hilarious.
I loved Berlin and would definitely go back again. It was awesome having Fabian there to show us around as well. I wish we could've said good bye to him formally on Sunday. He was awesome to take us around!!
On the first night, Brian, Tom Tom and I arrived finally after our flight was delayed by an hour for no real reason. It's the easyjet way, I suppose. We also didn't know which train to take, so we ended up on a long train which took 2 hours to get to Berlin's downtown. On my way, Fabian called and asked if we wanted to go out tonight. Definitely!
When waiting at the train station to go to our hostel, we saw Fabian and his friend, also coincidentally named Fabian, on the train. They came with us to the hostel and we dropped off our stuff, then left. It was 2 AM by the time we left the hostel to go out. We went to the corner market, got some beers and started to drink them on the street. We met up with some of Fabian's friends and started to go out.
Flunkyball is a German drinking game which involves flunky pins, in our case empty glass beer bottles, and a flunkyball... This time, it was a leather loafer. Fabian taught us how to play Flunkyball while we were in the middle of an intersection with cops down the street from us. The game requires two teams and a couple of beers. In our case, it was one beer and several bottles of Jager. One team throws the flunkyball at the flunky pins and starts to drink. The other team runs up as fast as they can, tries to put the pins back up and brings the "ball" back. If you're ahead of the other team, you've been drinking more. Unlike American drinking games, where the loser drinks. Here, the winner drinks. It feels like such a better reward.
The next day we went to sightsee a bit. We met up with Ally at noon and had lunch at a Moroccan place, we think. Then, we went off to see the Wall, Checkpoint Charlie and all that good stuff. First up was Checkpoint Charlie, which is actually checkpoint number three (alpha, bravo, charlie). I thought it was named after a person. There was a museum near the checkpoint which records the events of the Berlin wall and the fall of the wall. It was a bit of information overload.
Next was the wall itself. Over the years, ingenious businessmen went to the wall with jackhammers and drilled off chunks of the wall to sell to unsuspecting tourists. People are willing to pay up to 20 euros for a chunk of perhaps slightly painted concrete. I paid 5 euros for my chunk, so I'm just as guilty. Because of this, the wall is a sad, skinny, bumpy concrete sliver which is now fenced off so people don't drill off any more and create holes.
From there, we went to Postdamerplatz, a square which shows much of modern Berlin. It's crazy that just 20 years ago, this place was completely deserted. Today, it had tons of buildings and shops around it. There was a fair and an open air concert going on.
The Holocaust memorial in Berlin is the only one I've seen thus far, and so it's the most striking. The memorial is a bunch of concrete blocks in the shape of graves at varying heights across a square of Berlin. Beneath the blocks is a Holocaust museum which has notes and information on the systematic murder of a wide array of people. It was sobering, but made me wonder why we're so focused on the Jews. There were a lot of other people who died. Also, there was a lot of other terrible things which happened in WWII to the Chinese, Filipino and other people in Asia. Why aren't they recognized. I think part of it is the power of the Jewish community in the US, which won... Another aspect is possibly the lack of power on the Chinese side to force the Japanese to recognize their mistakes. Also, the Japanese murders weren't systematic. They were barbaric, but they weren't systematic in the sense that they were calculating to eliminate an entire culture. They were just the "generic" rape, pillage, destroy. Not less disgusting, but I think far less disturbing.
We also got to see the Brandenburg gate, which was a originally a symbol of peace, later a symbol of separation of the wall. I knew very little about the division of Berlin and WWII, so this was really interesting to see.
From the gate, we went to see Reichstag, the Parliament building, which was beautiful and really cool, but had a 2 hour or something line, so I didn't want to go.
The Berliner Dom is quite an interesting building. Located behind (or in front of depending on your perspective) Lustgarten, it was built in 1451. In 1940, the Allies bombed it and a lot of the building became rubble. Then in 1944, a bomb of combustible liquids was placed inside of it and the fire couldn't be extinguished on the top part of the dome. The dome collapsed and they eventually built a temporary roof over it. There's a lot of controversy over whether to fully fix and restore the dome, removing the black charring. It's a testimony to the horrors committed during WWII and what people did to each other. Some felt fixing the dome was like covering up that part of history.
On our way back, we walked to Alexanderplatz to look for some food. When we got there, we saw something that looked like a circus from afar. it looked like it had tables outside, so we got closer to see what was inside and if we could have dinner there. Turns out, it was Berlin's first Oktoberfest. There was only one tent, the Hippodrom, which would then be taken down the next week and brought to Munich. This was the unintentional addition to the 3 beer weekends I was already going to in September.
That night, Fabian took us out again and we went to several more bars. No more flunkyball, but a lot of fun still. We went to a bar/club which had free chili as its food of choice. There was a projector which projected a horse on a wall and it was staring at you. Additionally, in another room, there was a DJ and a singer who was in a wolf man mask, a wife beater shirt, jogging shorts, elbow and knee pads. It was terribly strange, but hilarious.
I loved Berlin and would definitely go back again. It was awesome having Fabian there to show us around as well. I wish we could've said good bye to him formally on Sunday. He was awesome to take us around!!
August 29-30, Ally visits!
Ally visited this weekend and we went to Lago Maggiore. We just had a quick ride to Isola Bella and wandered around the town. I think the best part of going to the islands is the scenery. I hope Ally had a good time...
On Sunday, we just wandered around and relaxed. it was a nice chill day. We took a walk around Lago di Varese. This was one of the two relaxing weekends I've had. It was wonderful.
On Sunday, we just wandered around and relaxed. it was a nice chill day. We took a walk around Lago di Varese. This was one of the two relaxing weekends I've had. It was wonderful.
August holiday with Dan!! Cinque Terre
This was the last part of our trip and probably the least fun. I think it was partly to do with just going too many places, or the heat, or the sheer number of people. Regardless, it wasn't that enjoyable. First, we drove out from the agriturismo we stayed at and went on our way to Cinque Terre. It was pretty easy to get to and not a lot of traffic, but once we got to the mountains, we saw the issue. We were staying in the third town, Vernazza. This town supposedly had a big parking lot which people could park at easily and there was a bus which goes to the town. When we got to the town, which was tough as it was, the parking lot was full. We had to turn around and go back somewhere, but we didn't know where. We called the lady who owned the room we were renting and she said there was nowhere else, really, and we must go to Levanto. Levanto was at the north side of the villages and close to Vernazza. When arriving at Levanto, we tried to look for a place to park. There was no free parking anywhere and there was no over 24 hours parking. Why would this town not let you park for more than one day, especially at the train station? Wouldn't they want to earn the money on people who would park there and take the train to Cinque Terre? After spending an hour or so looking for parking in this small town, we found the best idea was to park the car at the train station, then come back to Levanto the next day to renew our parking. By then, I was so frustrated and tired, I couldn't wait to take a nap.
The place we stayed at, whose name I don't' care to remember, was... ok. The room was extremely small, but we had a patio area to ourselves. We had a great view of Vernazza from where we were at, but outside of that, it wasn't that great of a place.
To me, Cinque Terre was a bit too hot with too many people. I think going there during May or October would've been by far better. The landscape is beautiful and there's a lot to see, but with so many tourists and it being so hot, it was difficult to enjoy the hiking and walking around the small towns. Perhaps another visit will do it better justice.
The place we stayed at, whose name I don't' care to remember, was... ok. The room was extremely small, but we had a patio area to ourselves. We had a great view of Vernazza from where we were at, but outside of that, it wasn't that great of a place.
To me, Cinque Terre was a bit too hot with too many people. I think going there during May or October would've been by far better. The landscape is beautiful and there's a lot to see, but with so many tourists and it being so hot, it was difficult to enjoy the hiking and walking around the small towns. Perhaps another visit will do it better justice.
August holiday with Dan!! Siena/Tuscany
The next leg of our trip was going to Siena. From Santorini, we went to Athens and flew back to Milan. The flight was uneventful outside of it being extremely early. I'm wondering if it's either just the Italian way, or Southern European, but they seem to love clusterfucks at the airport (or anywhere in general). I'm not sure, but there must be a more effective way of doing things.
We got into Malpensa at 8AM. From there, I drove for 4 hours to Siena. On the way, we intended to stop for an hour to teach Dan how to drive a stick shift car, but in the end, we only stopped for 30 minutes and then he never got to practice very much. I ended up driving the entire stretch in Italy, which wasn't too fun, but couldn't be helped.
We arrived to Siena without any major problems. The drive was relatively smooth and didn't' have a great view, by any means. When we arrived in Siena, we got to the Best Western we were staying at for the first night. Since it was the night of the Palio, the Best Western was the only hotel we could find. I was exhausted, but insisted on going out. Dan eventually convinced me to take a nap and we stayed in the hotel room until 5PM.
It's said that Siena and Florence were the two heavyweights in Tuscany during the medieval times. They battled each other on who has the greatest church, the greatest town hall, the greatest people, etc. Siena was much more of a republic than Florence was. In the end, Siena lost the popularity contest and now Florence is the more well known city. Although I liked Florence, I really do love Siena as well and would recommend anyone to visit it.
After a nap and some difficulty driving into Siena and back out again, we were at the Palio. We followed the crowds of people into the central square of the town, Il Campo. Again, what is up with Italians and clusterfucks? It was nuts trying to get in. People were pushing left and right. I lost Dan for a moment and was a bit worried. He didn't have a cell phone, so there was no real way to get in touch with him if I really did lose him. Eventually we found each other, but it was a bit of a mess.
Palio is a famous horse race in Siena. Each quarter of the town, called contrada, has a symbol and a horse and rider. There's a lot of fanfare with the Palio, which happens twice a year. Whoever wins the Palio gets bragging rights for the year that their contrada is the best. The race is held in Il Campo, the city square. It's a clam shell shaped city square which they fill a track in with packed down dirt. The buildings surrounding Il Campo are filled with people during the race. There are parades and then finally the race itself. All the while, tourists and locals may have the chance to sit in the middle of the track (for free) and watch the race. Since there's no way to get out from Il Campo once you're in for the race, it's ideal to go to the bathroom before, not bring in a ton of water and bring some snacks.
Palio is also particular with the way the horses line up. There is an order to the horses lining up and the riders go around making deals with each other while trying to line up. There's a lot of false starts and horses who just don't want to line up. We waited for 2.5 hours this year. There have bee Palios which have had to pause and re-start the next morning due to lack of light. We were close to that point. The race itself was an exciting 3 minutes or so long. Not worth the wait again, but it was fun to see it once. Immediately after the race, people are pushing and shoving to get out. The restaurants nearby fill up completely and everyone enjoys a dinner. We had a wonderful meal at a small restaurant in a nearby restaurant.
The next day, I woke up really late and we went to Siena again to actually see the town. From the day before to that day, it was like night and day. The town was still full of fanfare and marching. The contrada with the owl won. The Doumo has really beautiful marble work on the inside, but nothing much else. In Italy, they are very hardcore Roman Catholic. If you want to go into a church, you typically must have your shoulders covered and knees not exposed. At the Duomo in Siena, they had thin mesh pieces of fabric passed out to everyone who went in, so if you have anything exposed, you can cover it up and still enjoy the Duomo. Where do they get the money for this kind of stuff?
One other interesting tidbit of Siena is the Fountain of Joy. The original fountain is well preserved in a museum, but the copy is in Il Campo for all of us to enjoy. From the fountain, there are depictions of God and people who are punished for doing not so great things. The strangest are the statues of wolves, which is where the water comes from. The she-wolf and Romulus and Remus are the symbol of Siena. Pigeons line up perched on these wolf sculptures, dip their heads down and take a drink of fresh water from the wolf's mouth. If a real wolf was sneaky, he could pretend to be a statue and get a free snack....
Earlier that day, we made our way to Agriturismo Marciano. This cute little farm house was purchased by its owners in 2000 and restored to its original glory. The owner told us it was originally a worker's home who used to work on the owner's farm. They later abandoned the home and the grape fines were left to themselves. The person who owns the farm now re-organized all the grapes and found a lot of indigenous grapes to the region. He started to produce his own wine and enjoys keeping the farm. He said he also produces olive oil, but last year was a bad year and the olives were not very good, only producing enough oil for his small farm. It's incredible how people will quit their day jobs to work on vineyard with such passion.
That night, we had the opportunity to eat dinner at the agriturismo. If there is ever the chance to do this again, I'd take it in a heartbeat. The food was so delicious! Christian and Nadia were wonderful hosts. They took us into their family kitchen and sat us down at the tables in the middle of the kitchen. They gave us the chance to cooked traditional Tuscan fare. Most of their ingredients came from their garden and farmland. Christian opened 4 bottles of wine per table (there were two small ones). All the food was delicious and very fresh. Staying at the agriturisumo gave us an opportunity to really get to know the owners and feel like we were part of the family. The whole atmosphere had a homey feeling. In the other agriturismi i've been to, it was much more industrial.
The next day, Dan and I went to Montalcino, Pienza and Monteplucino. These three towns were in a small row and although they were within 20 minutes of each other, each had their claim to fame. The town Montalcino itself is really nothing much to look at. The surrounding area is famous for its Brunello wine. There were over 200 wineries in the area. Since it was just the Palio, many of the wineries were closed and we were only able to visit one for a tasting. Although I liked the Brunello, most went for 50 euros and up, so I stuck with the Rosso di Montalcino, another good wine which goes for 5-10 euros.
In Pienza, they were famous for their cheese, pecorino. They had fresh pecorino, aged pecorino, and everything in between. These cheeses went amazingly with honey. The town itself was relatively small and didn't have much to do, but it was worth walking around and taking a look at. The cheese is definitely delicious, but there was no chance to taste the cheeses and buy which ones we liked. We just bought a block of both the young and middle-aged cheese.
Monteplucino was a small town with a lot of character. Monteplucino is known for its Nobile di Monteplucino. They're really wonderful, medium bodied wines. At least I think they're medium bodied. I have no idea what they're actually. We went to a cantina where we met Aldo, an old Italian man who was the master winemaker of their winery. He would hobble around and greet people with warm smiles and strong handshakes. When meeting him, he asked for my name then declared "Georgina, an Italian name" while giving me a kiss on the cheek. Hilarious. We tasted all the wines they had and purchased 6 bottles in total. We weren't the only ones to purchase wine in such mass quantities. There were several groups who were in and out around us who also were doing the same thing. Since we bought so much, or perhaps he just liked my name, we got a free corkscrew. I don't actually own my own corkscrew, so that was awesome.
The last day in Tuscany, we went to Monteriggioni, which wasn't that interesting, then Volterra and San Gimignano. Monteriggioni was a old castle/fortress in the middle of fields, and not much more. We then went to Volterra, which is a small town rich in history. It also happens to be the town which Twilight features as the home of the Volturi. The town itself didn't seem to have a lot of mystical vampire-esque feelings, but that's just me. They had Twilight tours to show the famous parts which were also in the book. I liked the town, but I don't understand why Stephanie Meyer chose it. It seemed like any other Italian small town to me. Perhaps it's just because I have lived here and seen a lot. Maybe it's rich in history. Regardless, it was a bit funny to see tons of Twilight paraphernalia. After Volterra, we went to San Gimigano, a famous town for its tall towers. The towers made it look a bit like a medieval Chicago or something. Other than the towers and the good views, the town had a lot of history, but I think it was too hyped up and full of tourists. I would've been just as happy spending more time in Monteplucino or around Montalcino (not the town itself).
I loved Tuscany and would go back again any day. You need to have a car to go to Tuscany, though. Driving around the small towns is half the fun!
We got into Malpensa at 8AM. From there, I drove for 4 hours to Siena. On the way, we intended to stop for an hour to teach Dan how to drive a stick shift car, but in the end, we only stopped for 30 minutes and then he never got to practice very much. I ended up driving the entire stretch in Italy, which wasn't too fun, but couldn't be helped.
We arrived to Siena without any major problems. The drive was relatively smooth and didn't' have a great view, by any means. When we arrived in Siena, we got to the Best Western we were staying at for the first night. Since it was the night of the Palio, the Best Western was the only hotel we could find. I was exhausted, but insisted on going out. Dan eventually convinced me to take a nap and we stayed in the hotel room until 5PM.
It's said that Siena and Florence were the two heavyweights in Tuscany during the medieval times. They battled each other on who has the greatest church, the greatest town hall, the greatest people, etc. Siena was much more of a republic than Florence was. In the end, Siena lost the popularity contest and now Florence is the more well known city. Although I liked Florence, I really do love Siena as well and would recommend anyone to visit it.
After a nap and some difficulty driving into Siena and back out again, we were at the Palio. We followed the crowds of people into the central square of the town, Il Campo. Again, what is up with Italians and clusterfucks? It was nuts trying to get in. People were pushing left and right. I lost Dan for a moment and was a bit worried. He didn't have a cell phone, so there was no real way to get in touch with him if I really did lose him. Eventually we found each other, but it was a bit of a mess.
Palio is a famous horse race in Siena. Each quarter of the town, called contrada, has a symbol and a horse and rider. There's a lot of fanfare with the Palio, which happens twice a year. Whoever wins the Palio gets bragging rights for the year that their contrada is the best. The race is held in Il Campo, the city square. It's a clam shell shaped city square which they fill a track in with packed down dirt. The buildings surrounding Il Campo are filled with people during the race. There are parades and then finally the race itself. All the while, tourists and locals may have the chance to sit in the middle of the track (for free) and watch the race. Since there's no way to get out from Il Campo once you're in for the race, it's ideal to go to the bathroom before, not bring in a ton of water and bring some snacks.
Palio is also particular with the way the horses line up. There is an order to the horses lining up and the riders go around making deals with each other while trying to line up. There's a lot of false starts and horses who just don't want to line up. We waited for 2.5 hours this year. There have bee Palios which have had to pause and re-start the next morning due to lack of light. We were close to that point. The race itself was an exciting 3 minutes or so long. Not worth the wait again, but it was fun to see it once. Immediately after the race, people are pushing and shoving to get out. The restaurants nearby fill up completely and everyone enjoys a dinner. We had a wonderful meal at a small restaurant in a nearby restaurant.
The next day, I woke up really late and we went to Siena again to actually see the town. From the day before to that day, it was like night and day. The town was still full of fanfare and marching. The contrada with the owl won. The Doumo has really beautiful marble work on the inside, but nothing much else. In Italy, they are very hardcore Roman Catholic. If you want to go into a church, you typically must have your shoulders covered and knees not exposed. At the Duomo in Siena, they had thin mesh pieces of fabric passed out to everyone who went in, so if you have anything exposed, you can cover it up and still enjoy the Duomo. Where do they get the money for this kind of stuff?
One other interesting tidbit of Siena is the Fountain of Joy. The original fountain is well preserved in a museum, but the copy is in Il Campo for all of us to enjoy. From the fountain, there are depictions of God and people who are punished for doing not so great things. The strangest are the statues of wolves, which is where the water comes from. The she-wolf and Romulus and Remus are the symbol of Siena. Pigeons line up perched on these wolf sculptures, dip their heads down and take a drink of fresh water from the wolf's mouth. If a real wolf was sneaky, he could pretend to be a statue and get a free snack....
Earlier that day, we made our way to Agriturismo Marciano. This cute little farm house was purchased by its owners in 2000 and restored to its original glory. The owner told us it was originally a worker's home who used to work on the owner's farm. They later abandoned the home and the grape fines were left to themselves. The person who owns the farm now re-organized all the grapes and found a lot of indigenous grapes to the region. He started to produce his own wine and enjoys keeping the farm. He said he also produces olive oil, but last year was a bad year and the olives were not very good, only producing enough oil for his small farm. It's incredible how people will quit their day jobs to work on vineyard with such passion.
That night, we had the opportunity to eat dinner at the agriturismo. If there is ever the chance to do this again, I'd take it in a heartbeat. The food was so delicious! Christian and Nadia were wonderful hosts. They took us into their family kitchen and sat us down at the tables in the middle of the kitchen. They gave us the chance to cooked traditional Tuscan fare. Most of their ingredients came from their garden and farmland. Christian opened 4 bottles of wine per table (there were two small ones). All the food was delicious and very fresh. Staying at the agriturisumo gave us an opportunity to really get to know the owners and feel like we were part of the family. The whole atmosphere had a homey feeling. In the other agriturismi i've been to, it was much more industrial.
The next day, Dan and I went to Montalcino, Pienza and Monteplucino. These three towns were in a small row and although they were within 20 minutes of each other, each had their claim to fame. The town Montalcino itself is really nothing much to look at. The surrounding area is famous for its Brunello wine. There were over 200 wineries in the area. Since it was just the Palio, many of the wineries were closed and we were only able to visit one for a tasting. Although I liked the Brunello, most went for 50 euros and up, so I stuck with the Rosso di Montalcino, another good wine which goes for 5-10 euros.
In Pienza, they were famous for their cheese, pecorino. They had fresh pecorino, aged pecorino, and everything in between. These cheeses went amazingly with honey. The town itself was relatively small and didn't have much to do, but it was worth walking around and taking a look at. The cheese is definitely delicious, but there was no chance to taste the cheeses and buy which ones we liked. We just bought a block of both the young and middle-aged cheese.
Monteplucino was a small town with a lot of character. Monteplucino is known for its Nobile di Monteplucino. They're really wonderful, medium bodied wines. At least I think they're medium bodied. I have no idea what they're actually. We went to a cantina where we met Aldo, an old Italian man who was the master winemaker of their winery. He would hobble around and greet people with warm smiles and strong handshakes. When meeting him, he asked for my name then declared "Georgina, an Italian name" while giving me a kiss on the cheek. Hilarious. We tasted all the wines they had and purchased 6 bottles in total. We weren't the only ones to purchase wine in such mass quantities. There were several groups who were in and out around us who also were doing the same thing. Since we bought so much, or perhaps he just liked my name, we got a free corkscrew. I don't actually own my own corkscrew, so that was awesome.
The last day in Tuscany, we went to Monteriggioni, which wasn't that interesting, then Volterra and San Gimignano. Monteriggioni was a old castle/fortress in the middle of fields, and not much more. We then went to Volterra, which is a small town rich in history. It also happens to be the town which Twilight features as the home of the Volturi. The town itself didn't seem to have a lot of mystical vampire-esque feelings, but that's just me. They had Twilight tours to show the famous parts which were also in the book. I liked the town, but I don't understand why Stephanie Meyer chose it. It seemed like any other Italian small town to me. Perhaps it's just because I have lived here and seen a lot. Maybe it's rich in history. Regardless, it was a bit funny to see tons of Twilight paraphernalia. After Volterra, we went to San Gimigano, a famous town for its tall towers. The towers made it look a bit like a medieval Chicago or something. Other than the towers and the good views, the town had a lot of history, but I think it was too hyped up and full of tourists. I would've been just as happy spending more time in Monteplucino or around Montalcino (not the town itself).
I loved Tuscany and would go back again any day. You need to have a car to go to Tuscany, though. Driving around the small towns is half the fun!
Friday, October 16, 2009
August Holiday with Dan! Santorini
Santorini was... a lot different than I expected. Arriving on ferry (it took approx 4 hours), it seemed really desolate. The bus ride from the ferry to the main city made me feel like I was in a rural area. The land was dry with very few trees. There were many homes which were only half constructed, as if the ran out of money or lost faith in what they were meant to be. There weren't really any people around this part of the island. It felt a bit like it was deserted, and for good reason. It wasn't the lush paradise I was imagining.
In truth, Santorini had very little greenery. There were a few bushes and trees here and there, but no grass. It was just dry, brown dirt. Fira, the main city, is a hub of tourists. Santorini is truly a tourist's city. You couldn't go three meters without seeing someone with a ATV or scooter and a funny helmet, zipping around. There was English on all the signs. After getting on the bus at Fira, we headed off to Oia (pronounced Ee-ah). Oia is on the very tip of the island. Santorini looks a little like a funny eggplant wich someone took a big bite out of. Who knows why anyone would want to take a big bite out of a raw eggplant. Oia is on the very top and supposedly the most beautiful to see the sunsets from. More on Oia sunsets later.
Once arriving at Oia, I started to see more of the Greece I imagined. Whitewashed houses with beautiful blue windows and accents . The caldera was absolutely gorgeous. Dan and I rented out a studio apartment on the caldera from a management company called Delphini. I highly recommend Delphini. Rena, the landlady, is a total sweetheart. It had a view of both the caldera and the volcano and ocean. It was absolutely gorgeous. This was definitely what people come for when they come to Greece. Dan and I had a relaxing lunch at a restaurant in Oia and spent the rest of our day wandering around the town. Oia's a very small town, you can walk the span of it within 20 minutes. it's very skinny, but very long.
The next day, we decided to rent an ATV and go to the Red Beach. The ATV we rented was probably the worst on the island. It was an automatic, but just didn't want to go into the second gear. The entire time, we were slowly chugging along and everyone was zipping past us. As a result, we did get to see a lot of the beautiful landscaping of Santorini.
The Red Beach is red because of the volcanic rock which is on the cliff face and the beach itself. It's more of a rocky/pebbly beach than a sandy one. Essentially all we did was lay there and read. It was a wonderful feeling, to just relax, snack on some chips and hang out at the beach. I miss that a lot....
The last full day we were there, Dan and I went to a volcano tour. The volcano tour was way over-sold. There were a lot of suckers, though, so we didn't feel as bad. We went onto the volcano... which was a bit blah, then went to a hot springs near the volcano. The hot springs was an area which was warmer than the rest of the water and a light green/yellow color. It had a lot of sulfur in the water. Tour boats took turns dropping off tourists there. Really, it was uneventful and not that interesting. The last segment of our tour was to an island which was rather small and didn't have a lot of things to do. We had lunch at a specified area (probably the only source of money for that restaurant) and wandered around a little. The overall trip wasn't expensive, but it was rather dull and not worth the money.
When getting back from the island, we rode some donkeys up the mountain. I really wanted to ride them because I saw it in "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants". Not a good idea. Not only is the guy too gruff and the donkeys going everywhere, you still need to hike up a section. Dan scraped up his right foot really badly and the guy was completely unapologetic. Never ride donkeys in Santorini. They seemed less than caring about the actual fun experience.
After our donkey fiasco, we went back home and relaxed. That evening, since it was our last night in Santorini, we went to see the famous Oia sunset. The sunset was beautiful, but the place was way too crowded with people! I couldn't see a thing. Luckily for Dan and I, we had a bite to eat at home, because it was a huge rush to get in and out of the area to watch the sunset. The sunset was beautiful, regardless.
This segment of the trip was extremely relaxing. We didn't have a set number of things to see, so just wandered around. The food in Greece was quite interesting as well. For where we were, you had to pay for almost everything. I think it was a factor of the place we stayed. Although Greece had a lot of seafood, we ended up eating a lot of meat. They have shish kebabs of pork which were really popular. And there were fries with everything. That was a bit strange. I guess we didn't' have true Greek food, perhaps. We did eat Greek salad almost every day. It was delicious. Those cherry tomatoes from Santorini were great. They also supposedly had a very good chocolate souffle thing, but when we tried it, it was cold and pre-made. The next time we tried to order it, all they had was a soft brownie. I guess I'll have to keep on trying to make a molten chocolate cake.... Oh well.
I liked Santorini, but I think I'd much rather go to another, less touristy island sometime. This island was a good primer, but I'd love to go elsewhere to see what there is to see.
In truth, Santorini had very little greenery. There were a few bushes and trees here and there, but no grass. It was just dry, brown dirt. Fira, the main city, is a hub of tourists. Santorini is truly a tourist's city. You couldn't go three meters without seeing someone with a ATV or scooter and a funny helmet, zipping around. There was English on all the signs. After getting on the bus at Fira, we headed off to Oia (pronounced Ee-ah). Oia is on the very tip of the island. Santorini looks a little like a funny eggplant wich someone took a big bite out of. Who knows why anyone would want to take a big bite out of a raw eggplant. Oia is on the very top and supposedly the most beautiful to see the sunsets from. More on Oia sunsets later.
Once arriving at Oia, I started to see more of the Greece I imagined. Whitewashed houses with beautiful blue windows and accents . The caldera was absolutely gorgeous. Dan and I rented out a studio apartment on the caldera from a management company called Delphini. I highly recommend Delphini. Rena, the landlady, is a total sweetheart. It had a view of both the caldera and the volcano and ocean. It was absolutely gorgeous. This was definitely what people come for when they come to Greece. Dan and I had a relaxing lunch at a restaurant in Oia and spent the rest of our day wandering around the town. Oia's a very small town, you can walk the span of it within 20 minutes. it's very skinny, but very long.
The next day, we decided to rent an ATV and go to the Red Beach. The ATV we rented was probably the worst on the island. It was an automatic, but just didn't want to go into the second gear. The entire time, we were slowly chugging along and everyone was zipping past us. As a result, we did get to see a lot of the beautiful landscaping of Santorini.
The Red Beach is red because of the volcanic rock which is on the cliff face and the beach itself. It's more of a rocky/pebbly beach than a sandy one. Essentially all we did was lay there and read. It was a wonderful feeling, to just relax, snack on some chips and hang out at the beach. I miss that a lot....
The last full day we were there, Dan and I went to a volcano tour. The volcano tour was way over-sold. There were a lot of suckers, though, so we didn't feel as bad. We went onto the volcano... which was a bit blah, then went to a hot springs near the volcano. The hot springs was an area which was warmer than the rest of the water and a light green/yellow color. It had a lot of sulfur in the water. Tour boats took turns dropping off tourists there. Really, it was uneventful and not that interesting. The last segment of our tour was to an island which was rather small and didn't have a lot of things to do. We had lunch at a specified area (probably the only source of money for that restaurant) and wandered around a little. The overall trip wasn't expensive, but it was rather dull and not worth the money.
When getting back from the island, we rode some donkeys up the mountain. I really wanted to ride them because I saw it in "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants". Not a good idea. Not only is the guy too gruff and the donkeys going everywhere, you still need to hike up a section. Dan scraped up his right foot really badly and the guy was completely unapologetic. Never ride donkeys in Santorini. They seemed less than caring about the actual fun experience.
After our donkey fiasco, we went back home and relaxed. That evening, since it was our last night in Santorini, we went to see the famous Oia sunset. The sunset was beautiful, but the place was way too crowded with people! I couldn't see a thing. Luckily for Dan and I, we had a bite to eat at home, because it was a huge rush to get in and out of the area to watch the sunset. The sunset was beautiful, regardless.
This segment of the trip was extremely relaxing. We didn't have a set number of things to see, so just wandered around. The food in Greece was quite interesting as well. For where we were, you had to pay for almost everything. I think it was a factor of the place we stayed. Although Greece had a lot of seafood, we ended up eating a lot of meat. They have shish kebabs of pork which were really popular. And there were fries with everything. That was a bit strange. I guess we didn't' have true Greek food, perhaps. We did eat Greek salad almost every day. It was delicious. Those cherry tomatoes from Santorini were great. They also supposedly had a very good chocolate souffle thing, but when we tried it, it was cold and pre-made. The next time we tried to order it, all they had was a soft brownie. I guess I'll have to keep on trying to make a molten chocolate cake.... Oh well.
I liked Santorini, but I think I'd much rather go to another, less touristy island sometime. This island was a good primer, but I'd love to go elsewhere to see what there is to see.
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