Hotel San Lino Volterra

For the last couple weeks my Italian culture class has been on and off again because my professor was hospitalized with pneumonia. This week she finally resumed lectures, however we are in a different class room that is literally right across from her apartment so she doesn't have to walk a long way in the cold. And it is getting really cold in Siena right now.

This, unfortunately, means ...

... fridge pulling out more and more food for me to try. He cut slices of Panettone fruit bread and a slice of every cheese on the table and put them in front of me. Now I started to feel like an American, stuffed to the brim. I realized now how bad this was for our health. Vilmo drove us home.
The next morning work began. We awoke at 8am, ate a quick breakfast then headed to the olive tree groves. The women explained to me the process of laying out ...

... gorgeous fettuccine with black truffles that I have ever tasted. (The truffles were so delicate, and nutty, and melt-in-your-mouth…) For our mains (“secondi piatti”), I had a mixed salad (I know, boring, but it’s hard to eat so much food in the middle of the day!) and Murray had sausage with cannelloni beans in a wonderful sauce. (Yes, he enjoyed some beer, too!) For a small dessert, we ordered a biscuit version of Siena ...

... un prix pour s'assoir a une table! ici c'etait 2 euro par personne! mais sa en valais la peine, les bruchettas., les gnocchis et l'osso buco etaient tous delicieux.

ensuite, la piazza del campo ou il y a un gros chateau avec une tour tres haute, pui une visite a la piazza du duomo pour y voir la seul eglise completement baroque ...

... kitchen.I went down later that eveing to chat to the people staying there and marvel at the double bed inthe kitchen.

Really quiet in the off saeason with a lot of places noteven bothering to open or open reduced hours.

Was sitting outside the only bar in RioMaggore and Jess who I shared a dorm room with in Salzburg walked past. Turns out she's staying in the same dodgy room as me again!

Was lucky there was a bunch of good people ...

... place. We get there and the guy hums and haws because we don't have a reso but finally shows us around. We are in the Chianti Classico region which is the grand daddy of all the Chianti. We get a quick lesson in Chianti and now time for the tasting. We try a couple Chianti and a few of their other wines and have a nice glow so it is time to leave. This is a small vinter that is really only available in Italy and other parts of Europe so I had to grab an ...

... shop and shown how they make Turkish rugs. It is an ancient technique that the women from nearby villages go to school to learn the technique. We were shown a large assortment of rugs and of course, bought two small ones! We talked them down but still probably paid too much. We were also given little charms with the evil eye on it, which is supposed to protect us from, well, evil. We started noticing these charms all over Turkey and Greece. Back on ship we sailed to Patmos that ...

... of a skeletal holy man? We grabbed some lunch in one of the hundreds of pizzerias surrounding the square and headed back to the train station for what was to be an eventful ride home. A young Japanese couple opposite us on the aisle bought the wrong ticket and did not validate it so when the ticket inspector came round, she asked him to pay for a new ticket (this was all done via translation from an Italian businessman sitting opposite them). What ensued was the Japanese ...

... exhausting), I got a cab and headed to the Hertz Rental Car place. I started to get nervous as we were driving to the rental place, thinking "What the hell am I doing?!?" Seeing all the cars around me, driving everywhere, and parking on sidewalks. But I took a deep breath, and said, "You've driven in NYC... You can handle this!!" Got the car, and the only automatic they had was a little Silver 4-door Mecedes Benz, A Class. Sweet car! I get in the car ...

... check back later for all the photos on the yahoo page). It was an awesome experience... Then, on the way back to our apartment, we saw this cool looking caffe called "nova caffe", and when we went inside, we saw they had all sorts of chocolate specialties...we thought of Jessica, because they have Spanish-style, really thick, hot chocolate in all sorts of flavors: Jessica and Andy - we're going to take you guys there when you come to visit. It was really good...Then we went ...