And A Nice Chianti

After traveling every weekend for the past month, I'm staying in Firenze until April 14. Which is great this time around because there is a lot to do in this area of Tuscany that I haven't gotten to yet (and of course it's cheaper and easier to be home than out in a foreign city or country).

This week, we had a lot of relatives in town. Maria's aunt and sister have been here all week, as well as Lauren's aunt, uncle, and grandma. We went to the Lion's Fountain pub Tuesday night to meet both families and out with them again Thursday night.

Friday was just a hanging around the house/doing some shopping/doing some homework/going to the park to read day. Yesterday, however, was perfect.

We woke up earlier than we normally would in my apartment to meet Megan, Kelsey, Michelle, Jess, and Kate at McDonald's, the rendezvous point for the tour group Fun In Tuscany. From there, we followed three guys and a little kid down an alley and into an unmarked van, then drove about forty-five minutes to a ranch in Chianti.

At the ranch, we were all fitted for helmets and horses, then given a few minutes to ride our horses around the paddock to be sure everyone was comfortable. Since I have "experience" riding (apparently a few lessons in elementary school counts), I got one of the less tame horses. He was pretty good, except he would toss his head and paw the ground and get really agitated any time another horse would stop, slow down, turn, or alter my horses stride and direction in any other way.

Our horseback tour lasted about an hour through vineyards, woods, and up and down hills in gorgeous Chianti wine country. It was a fun being on a horse and not a donkey and, despite not having ridden in about ten years, getting back in the saddle really is just like riding a bike.

Michelle, Erika, Bethany, Megan, Kelsey, Kate,
me, and four new girls who also joined the tour.

After our ride, we got to sample some local wine, then got back in the van for a ride to Monteriggioni Castle, a walled town built high on a hill overlooking Chianti. Our driver, Issam, told us the total population of the town is "39 people and one dog," so that should give you some idea of how tiny this place is. Honestly, it looks like the set for a Renaissance fair; it's that small.

Here's an arial view I stole from Google :

We walked the perimeter of the town in about fifteen minutes to get an idea of just how tiny Monteriggioni is, then went inside for part two of our day trip : wine tasting.

The wine tasting was inside a little shop near the middle of town, owned by the guy who's family owns a vineyard and most of Monteriggioni. This was my first-ever wine tasting, so I can't compare it against any others, but I enjoyed it. We sampled about ten different local wines (red, white and dessert), as well as the shop's speciality local olive oil (probably the best olive oil I've had). The wine was all very good, and with each glass, the two instructor's told us about the flavor of the wine and what food to serve with it.

This guy teaching us how to drink wine.

From wine tasting, we got back in the van and drove to a restaurant overlooking a small lake. Here we had the best meal I've had in Italy, which you know is really saying something because I've never eaten better in my life than I have the past three months. We started with bread and olive oil (good enough that I would have been content eating just that for lunch). Then we had cheese and prosciutto, followed by some sort of savory little puff pastries. These were followed by a potato, sausage and cheese casserole, which was followed by fried zucchini, followed by pasta. We were entertained throughout dinner by Issam, Filippo and Daniel telling stories about their worst experiences as tour guides and cracking jokes.

To top it all off, we celebrated Michelle's 20th birthday with a homemade cake (the first good cake I've had in Europe). It was yellow and (like all Italian cakes) filled with fruit, but it was so delicious.

Michelle and her cake. Check out the flame on top.

But the best part of these birthday celebrations was Michelle uncorking a bottle of champagne with a machete.

I've seen this done on the Ellen show, but never in person. I think we were all worried that she wouldn't get it on her first try, but she did! It was really cool.

After we ran out of cake and champagne, we had about half an hour to just hang out by the lake and jump on the trampoline in the little park along the lake.

We thought all that was left of our tour after this was the hour-long ride home. And honestly, had that been the end, I would have walked away incredibly satisfied with what we got for our money. Issam blasted the radio as we drove and we all sang along, dancing in our seats (except Issam's five-year-old son, Joshua, who fell asleep across Bethany and Michelle's laps in the backseat - too much horseback riding, gelato and cake for him). Issam shouted more jokes over the radio (sometimes stopping or swerving in the middle of the road to help make a point in the story) and even pulled over once so that I (sitting in the open-window seat) could pick rosemary from bushes growing along the side of the road as we drove by.

Once we got into Firenze, we passed Parco delle Cascine (the Central Park), where a carnival is currently going on. Issam asked if we wanted to stop at Cascine for a little bit before we ended our tour. We all agreed because we thought he was kidding, but - after asking us several times - he turned the van around and took us to the little amusement park.

It's small like a church festival and has most of the same rides and attractions as you see at places like St. Ursula's or St. Sebastian's. Issam took us directly to the giant swing, which was like the swings you normally see, but with one exception. Next to the swing, was a flag clipped to a tall pole, and everyone being whipped in a circle on the swing was trying to catch it. After every few rotations, the flag gets a little lower. The ride lasts either until someone captures the flag or until the flag hits the ground.

Because these swings are a game in Italy rather than the simple carnival ride they are in the States, the Italians have capturing the flag down to an art. We watched them to get the idea of how best to approach the challenge, then the other girls (I didn't ride since those things make me sick) tested it out.

The best approach, is to go in pairs. The bigger person in the duo sits directly behind the smaller, holding onto the back of the smaller's chair. Once you get enough momentum and get to the flag, the bigger person kicks the smaller at the flag. If all goes well, the smaller person is launched at the flag, breaking rank in the swing, and catches the flag.

But most of the time, this did not go well, in which case the smaller person was yanked back into formation and spun around a few times until his or her partner managed to latch on again. The most successful pairs were big guys with tiny girls and high school guys who obviously spend time practicing this on the swings they built in their backyards.

Bethany kicking Michelle at the flag.

Since this was such a novel way for we Americans to ride the swings, we spent at least half an hour on this ride alone. We followed it up by trying our hands (literally) at Tin Can Alley, where we managed to knock down a tin can pyramid (it was a group effort) and win a giant beach ball for Joshua. We kicked this all the way through the carnival and around the parking lot before heading back to Firenze. Issam dropped us off at the train station, where we said good-bye to him, Josh, Daniel, and Filippo (the later two joined us at the fair even though they drove home from lunch separately).

So it was a perfect day. My face still hurts from smiling and laughing so much. We got home around 6:30 and Bethany, Erika and I immediately went to our rooms to nap.

Once we were all awake, fed, and cleaned up, we went out to meet the rest of our CCI cohort at the Old Stove for Michelle's birthday party. Here we danced to a "70's and 80's cover band" (they played classic rock from about four different decades...) before heading to the Lion's Fountain for drinks. When the Lion's Fountain closed, we attempted to find a secret bakery (CCI's new obsession... a few of our members stumbled across one at four in the morning last weekend and got what they claim are the best chocolate croissants in Firenze).

We managed to locate one bakery (rumor has it there are several), but it was unfortunately closed (Glenn insists they don't open until at least 3 a.m. and it seems he's right). So that was a big disappointment for all of us, since we're collectively obsessed with secret bakeries right now and everyone loves chocolate croissants.

So that was our big day in Tuscany. This afternoon, we're headed to the Fiorentina soccer match, which I'm really looking forward to, even though Fiorentina plays soccer about as well as the Pirates play baseball. Who knows though? Maybe today will be our lucky day. :)

As they say in Italia, "In bocca al lupo!" And here we go, Viola!