Goodbye Italy! (Day 10 & 11)

Mr. P and I woke up on Thursday and caught the 9:36 train to Faenza (this time we validated the tickets). It took 45 min and cost 5.80 Euro. I was really excited to see the ceramics studio, but despite finding the tourist office and getting a map of the studios, we had a lot of trouble finding them! We ended up just wandering the city for a bit then heading back to the train station to catch the bus to Ravenna (45min ride and 3.10Euro pp).

Ravenna was hands down my favorite city in the region, even though we didn't spend a ton of time there- it was lively, pleasant and the mosaics were amazing! We hopped off the bus and went immediately in search of food. We had lunch at Ca' de Ven on Via Ricci and were pleasantly surprised. We normally don't like places recommended in guide books (they usually are disappointing), but Ca' de Ven had pretty good foor, reasonable prices and even had a good wine selection. We had 2 secondi, a salad, bread and a big water of sparkling water for only 23Euro. The seating area was neat, spanning both the interior and exterior of an old building, with the outside converted into a covered, climate-controlled area w/ a glass ceiling. Just a tip- when you ask for your bill, they get it ready but you go up to the counter to pay, so don't sit around waiting for it!

After lunch we bought the combo ticket to the Basilica di San Apollinare Nuovo, Museo Arcivescovile, Battistero Neoniano, Basilica San Vitale and paid the extra 2Euro for the Tomb of Galla Placidia. You just go to the ticket counter at whichever site you visit first and get the combo ticket from them. We didn't go to all the spots, but I LOVED the mosaics of Basilica di San Vitale, and rate it as a must-see when you are in this region! So much color and detail- they honestly looked like they came straight from Constantinople! The Tomb of Galla Placidia had more amazing mosaics, though I did have to fight through a mob of French children to see them. {side note- how jealous are you of those 10 year olds- when I took a school trip, I got to go to a pioneer reenactment site where they PRETENDED to have stuff from 150+ years ago. These children walked through a 5th century tomb. *drool*}

We wandered to the Battistero Neoniano since it was included on our ticket. It was small and not terribly exciting, but had some lovely mosaics and, as I said, it was 'free'.

Before catching the train back to Bologna, we stopped to say our respects at Dante's tomb. Seriously, how can you not stop by and salute the man who provided the groundwork for the standardized, modern Italian language?

Caught the train back to Bologna (took about 1.5 hours and cost about 7Euro each). Quick aside- I used the restroom on the train... and it emptied right onto the tracks. Seriously, you open the lid and stare straight down to the gravel and ties. Weird. Unsanitary.

Ok, moving right along! *cough*

For dinner we tried one of Alessandro's suggestions and were quite happy with the results. Trattoria Dal Biassanot (on Via Pielle off of Via Marsala). None of my pictures of the food came out very well, but I blame that on the delicious Sangiovese we enjoyed throughout the meal. 6 of us ate (with 2 bottles of wine and at least 3 bottles of fizzy water) for 105Euro, which was a great price for what we got!

The next day (Friday) was our last in Italy, and we took it easy {because vacation is very taxing}. Around 10:30 I climbed the Torre Asinelli again to see if the morning light made a difference.

I love this view and probably should have just climbed it each day- then I could have had even more gelato!!

Then we wandered down to the San Domenico church- pretty to wander through, and has some Michelangelo sculptures. If you want to see a fortune in glass, just look up- there are dozens of glass chandeliers, and we saw several smaller versions (and newer) that cost over 5,000 Euro each. Yikes!

And they also have the newest in prayer technology: electric candles!!! For only 1.50Euro, you too can plug in a reusable plastic stick and offer up your prayers on the... eh, whatever. It seemed to defeat the spirit of the thing though!

We met at A.F. Tamburini and sampled a variety of things from their self serve bar of premade tasties, and it was quite good. However, it was somewhat strange to buy artisan meats and cheeses and then have the friendly cashier indicate a microwave in the back of the seating area and say 'Warm up back there'. *blink* I'm in Italy- I WILL NOT EAT MICROWAVED FOOD!!!

Don't worry, I didn't shriek at him- that was more of an internal declaration. But I didn't- I ate that fried artichoke {I think} cold, damn it!

Afterwards we followed our co-travellers to La Sorbetteria Castiglioni (on, get this, Via Castiglioni) and had more amazing gelato. This moment of indulgence was followed by random wandering wherein I decided to buy ANOTHER scarf, entered a store that advertised discounts, and promptly ran away crying because the 'discount' made a designer scarf cost only 200 Euro instead of 340. GAH!

Finally we packed up our bags and left them in the baggage area at the hotel and then had dinner at yet another of Alessandro's suggestions, Ristorante Da Bertino. This adorable place (on Via della Lame near the train station) seems to be run by Mama and Papa Bertino and appeared to be filled totally with locals. The food was good, the service was good, and we enjoyed out last meal in Bologna.

After dinner, we ended up at the station again, waiting for our night train to Paris. And waiting. And waiting. But that is a topic for another post.

Goodbye Italia!!

Italian Food Extravaganza! (Day 9)

Wednesday dawned rainy and dreary... and insanely early. The amazing interwebz had put me in contact with Alessandro from Italian Days Food Tours, and we had created a custom itinerary for us that included a hodgepodge of all the 'greats' of Emilia-Romagna. I'm always slightly nervous about tours, even when they come highly recommended, but let me say this right now- Alessandro was amazing and you get WAY more than you pay for when you take one of his tours. It was the 6 of us, Alessandro and our own personal driver (and van) wandering all day, from 7:15 until probably 6 or 7 pm, and we loved the entire thing, including the abbiaco (food coma) that we were put into during the tour. If you are in the area and you love food {why else go to this region??}, do yourself a favor and contact him- he is friendly and will work with you to make the exact tour you want. Enough unpaid advertising- on to the description!

As I said, we set out at 7:15 in the morning because Alessandro wanted us to catch the cheese makers at work (they start early and get done early). That said, our first stop was Coop Casearia Castelnovese, where we learned all we could ever want to know about making Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, plus we got to taste some amazing cheeses at the end. This is one of the biggest producers in the area, producing up to 58 wheels of Parm each day. While we were there the people who test (by sound, strangely enough) Parm for quality were there, and we got to watch them in action.

Then it was off to sample Balsamic vinegars at the Villa San Donnino, plus a short tour of the awesome villa of the owner. Who would have thought that making fancy vinegar was so much work? They start with 360 liters of Lambrusco or Trebbiano grapes, and TWELVE years later they get 1 liter of balsamic vinegar. Then they have to send it off each year to be certified by the ones in power so it can actually be called Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena. The long process of fermentation and evaporation occurs in a batteria {a series of at least 5 barrels in gradually decreasing sizes}, which is placed in the acetaia, a fancy word for a clean attic space (the juice needs the extra heat to become drizzly deliciousness). We got to try a couple ages of balsamic, as well as a jam made with the vinegar and a blisteringly alcoholic walnut liquor also made on site- it was all delicious! After the tasting we spent a few minutes in the owner's amazing home, which was furnished in the Art Deco style.

By this time, my stomach was making it known that I needed foods of some sort. Preferably of the good and ample sort. Alessandro was WAY ahead of me! We spent 20 minutes driving through some gorgeous countryside and ended up at an amazing Agritourismo (Italian for B&B farm), Corte d'Aibo, that made organic wine which I drank too much of enjoyed immensely. We arrived as they finished giving a cooking class that involved traditional dishes made with locally grown ingredients. The rest of the group crowded into the kitchen to watch the cooking, but I spent most of my time petting the adorably round puppy.

Her name was something generic {Daisy?}, but Alessandro called her Mortadella- her proportions made it hard to argue with the name:). She was a sweetie and we got along quite well! Once the food was complete, we sat down to an amazing meal with meat and cheese plates, veggie salad, bread, tortellini, tagliatelli with ragu and lasagna, with tiramisu to finish is all off. No, wait... the espresso and some shots of grappa actually finished off the meal. If we faltered during the meal, Alessandro was standing at the ready with another helping of deliciousness and the stern conviction that we could eat just a little bit more. His belief in us helped us forge on, and by the end I was stuffed, slightly tipsy, and entirely pleased with our 'lunch', which had lasted at least 1.5 hours and didn't start until after 2pm. Italians have NO concept of time:).

Somehow Alessandro stuffed us back into the van and we made our way to a factory in Modena that made prosciutto in the same style as Parma, just not in Parma (saving us some driving). I like prosciutto, but only in an 'oh, that is tasty' kind of way. Mr. Pony LOVES prosciutto, and I had to verbally beat him to prevent a whole pig leg from being jammed into my camera bag. He contented himself with learning about the entire process and taking full advantage of the tasting we were offered.

Obviously, Mr. Pony was in hog heaven. *snort*

After that, we headed back to our hotel. The day was, in short, fabulous. Alessandro structured our day to be everything we wanted for an amazing price. The tours were completely private and Alessandro knew SO much about all the processes that Mr. P was scrambling to take notes {he is a food geek}. Even after we got back to the U.S., if anyone had a question, a quick email to Alessandro supplied the answers and he even went so far as to purchase and mail some items TO THE U.S. for one of our group members. Leaps and bounds above and beyond your typical tour. If you head to this region, do yourself a favor and support Alessandro and his company {Italian Days, in case you missed my first plug:)}.

Puppies!!!

Tonight several friends brought their doggies over for a playdate, and I learned 2 things:

1} Puppies love to run (well, I didn't learn this, it was just reaffirmed).

2} I need this to happen more often because my pet photography is NOT up to par.

Despite my short comings as a pet photographer, I did find enough shots that made me smile, so enjoy the doggy-palooza of pictures!!

My goal in life is to be as good of a person my dog already thinks I am.  -Author Unknown