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6:20 am wake up call so that we could take the 61 bus to meet the entire group at Cadorna to hop on the bus to Tuscany! One thing I have learned from group travels throughout Italy: sleep whenever and wherever I can, because you don't know when the next opportunity will arise to sustain your energy! I have never been one able to sleep on long trips, but this Italian adventure had taught me to take advantage of all sleeping moments, no matter how comfortable the position. Thus, I enjoyed a nice hour nap on the bus, waking up with a crick in my neck but fully refreshed. We stopped at a gas station for a bathroom break, where Christian introduced me to a delicious treat: name? It is a sweet cracker halfway encrusted with a rich and decadent dark chocolate molding on the top. So much better than American rest stop food! The remaining trip to Tuscany (about a three and a half hour bus ride total), was absolutely breathtaking. Driving through the mountains along winding roads and through tunnels, the views of valleys and peaks was unreal. It embodied exactly what I though Italy would look like, with small brick village clusters scattering the mountainside. The occasional church steeple poked through the trees on the top of hills, and small rivers wove through the valley. It was a vision of greenery and civilization perfectly blended together. Karina and I enjoyed the ride together, chatting about medical school, Zeta exec, Luca, and Joey (haha). The funniest moment was probably when Ann started complaining about her blisters to which Stephanie replied, "Oh shoot you must have been walking too much, I knew to shouldn't have left the house!" (Ann is the hermit of the group).
After a tough time maneuvering the bus through the tight and winding mountain roads, we arrived at Fattoria Poggio Alloro, a vineyard outside of San Gimignano. I cannot emphasize WHAT AN INCREDIBLE VIEW THERE WAS! Outside the rustic wooden fences surrounding the premises rolled green valleys with small villages, including San Gimignano with its tall towers in the distance. A deep blue pond surrounded by wildflowers offset the greenery surrounding the whole landscape. Roses and flowers in red, blue, white, pink, and yellow surrounded the fence giving vibrancy to the amazing view beyond. The vineyard was equipped with a small inn, a shop, a gorgeous outdoor restaurant, and a bright turquoise swimming pool. First on our itinerary was a delicious (LIKE WOW) lunch with was too many courses. Spoiled with both white and red wine and unlimited water bottle service (which is very hard to come by), the antipasti was salami with two incredible blocks of cheese, bread toasted with olive oil, and a scrumptious sausage melted with cheese on a circle of bread. As if that was not enough, next the waitresses brought out Pasta Contadina with a sauce made of tomato, onion, and bacon topped with shredded Parmesan cheese. Our third course was a tender turkey with Mediterranean spices and vegetables, which may have been the first protein we have gotten in Italy! Why stop there? We also got a fresh salad with tomato, followed by a dessert of chocolate mousse with a sweet breadstick-like pastry. Wow!! Since we are in Italy, I obviously needed to order coffee like everybody else after lunch. Although most ordered macchiatos, a coffee newbie like me can't handle that strong of a taste, so I stick with a cappuccino whose milk and sugar dilute the taste. However, it is against Italian custom to order cappuccinos after lunch, because they don't think you need all that milk after your meal! The neatest thing about our incredible meal was that 95% of what we ate was produced right on the vineyard! It is great to know how fresh and clean the food you are eating is.
After lunch we got to to tour the whole facilities. Fattoria poggio alloro is a 250 acre organic farm started by three brothers in 1955. In the wine cellar were huge vats fermenting the wine, and the facilities produces 200,000 bottles per year. Once in the bottle, the wine must sit for four weeks before it is labelled and ready for sale. We wandered over to the cow stables (smelly), where we got to feed the huge animals hay. One even sneezed on Eric! Todd literally threw an entire barrel of hay to feed to cow, and it was ecstatic. The males are slaughtered at 20 months, and the females at 18 months. The cows are
fed organic hay that they grow. White and brown cows are utilized for milk. Outside the stable, the rolling vineyards seemed to go on forever, and it was beautiful. The rows reminded me of the Parent Trap! We stopped by the gift shop where many people bought wine, and I picked up a few souvenirs for the family. Christian and I customarily picked up our postcards which we are collecting from every location (even though he did not believe me that they were free!). Unfortunately, our time at the vineyard was up, and we hopped on the bus for our short ride across the mountains to San Gimignano.
Upon our arrival, the bus had to stop outside the city because it could not fit through the narrow brick streets. What an uphill climb! We strolled to the center of the city, which was a completely uphill climb and pretty tiring. Our hotel, La Cisterne, was in the dead center of the city, which was marked by a historic well. Alyssa, Karina, and I shared room 69 overlooking the center square. The windows swung open to the hottest spot in town! The hotel was very antique-y, with cute older decorations and a closet that opened up with an ornate key. Us girls met up with Ana, Natali, Christian, Eric, Adam, Anisha, and Shannon to go to the famed Torture Museum, of which there are multiple scattered throughout the city. Ew...mistake. The tortures were absolutely horrendous, from "common" tortures such as the electric chair, poison, and gas chamber to the disgusting stretching, scalping, and chastity belt. My personal favorite was simply when a person would have a wheelbarrow chained to them for the rest of their lives. However, they had to wear a bell and when people heard them coming, they would be pelted with manure. Most people would be tortured for religious crime or witchcraft (which could be identified by moles or extra nipples...interesting). It was odd seeing the descriptions of tortures where it said, "this is still practiced in five countries." How inhumane! After this disgusting experience, some people decided to climb the city walls and towers. San Gimignano is known for originally having 72 towers, although now only 14 exist. The rich people of the town used to build them, and get into competitions over whose could be higher. Eventually, they even built walkways between the tops of towers so that they would not even have to associate with peasants on the ground. Eric, Anisha, Austin, and I took this time to take advantage of San Gimignano's unique niche of shopping. Almost all the shops contained beautiful, vibrant pottery including plates, bowls, and utensils. I wish I could transport these back to that States without them breaking! The city also contained numerous shops with a variety of meats, cheeses, and wines. Getting the traditional postcard, I also picked up an adorable embroidered San GiMIGNANO oven mitt for my Mignano family! Rushing back to the town center (which is not very far from anything!), we met up with the entire group to walk to a dinner right outside the city walls. We ate on the second story of a restaurant overlooking the gorgeous sprawling landscape. What a dinner!! Obviously greeted with bread and olive oil, we thought the first plate was for everybody to split, but we ended up each getting our own tray of salami, prosciutto, and a wedge of cheese. These were escorted by two pieces of toast with an incredible asparagus spread and the other with a mushroom topping. I didn't like mushrooms until I came here...Italians know how to cook! The red wine was delicious, and a little strong! The pasta course came out, with a delicious tomato and pork sauce. Next came a dish of pork with grilled potatoes, along with a caprese salad. Perhaps the best was yet to come... A dessert of cream puff balls topped with chocolate sauce and powdered sugar. What a hilarious dinner. The boys, Adam, Eric, and Christian had Karina and I laughing until we cried. Christian thinks Eric and Adam's bromance is interesting, and Eric's love of little kids is so easy to make fun of. The incidents of Christian finding Adam on top of Eric and Adam enjoying tickling caused way too many laughs, until Mrs. Donno came over to ask why we were cracking up. After dinner, we joined to Donno's and Luca on a stroll outside the town to a high platform overlooking the valley. It was already11:00, so we overlooked small, lit up towns throughout the mountains and scattered around lakes. We even witnessed a fireworks show that we looked down upon across the landscape, so pretty! Walking back into town, Mrs. Donno found a condom ATM, so entertaining! It was so easy to fall asleep after such an amazing and eventful day!
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