La mia vita a Firenze: October 1, 2011

October 1, 2011

Can you even believe it’s already October?! Where has the time gone? Anyway, Happy October! I woke up this morning around 7:30 to get ready and head out to the meeting place for our bike tour through Chianti. Everyone met at the Tuscany Bike Tours office at 9:30. I met the rest of my little group—Leah, Willi, Katie and Erin—there. In addition to us, there were about fifteen other people. We split up between three vans to drive to the castle in Chianti where we would start our tour. Our van consisted of our group of five as well as three college girls who were studying abroad in Rome. Our driver was the owner, Keith, who is from Ireland. Because he has red hair and very fair skin just like me, he decided that I was going to be his little sister. We bonded right off the bat because of it and I really liked him! The ride there took about forty minutes and I sat in the front because I get easily carsick and the drive out there is very curvy. I talked to Keith all about why and when he moved here, how he got this business started and all about his life in Florence. He was a really great resource as well as a very fun person. The drive was gorgeous, through the countryside, and Keith blasted music that we all knew and sang along to. We arrived at the castle on the hill around 10:45. A Count and Countess still live in this castle, as well as make wine and olive oil in it. Keith claims that, when they were thinking of starting the business, they had in mind a different winery up the road but, upon seeing a castle on the hill that was also a winery, he drove up there, knocked on the door and requested an audience with the Count. Apparently the Count thought he was crazy at first but agreed to give it a try in order to get the name of their winery out there. Over five years later, they have a wonderful relationship and are giving tours of the castle daily.

First, one of the other tour guides, who was from England, Jason, gave a tour of the winery and showed us the process of making wine and olive oil. Then we climbed to the top of the castle’s tower and could see the countryside all around us. It was an INCREDIBLE day, not a cloud in the sky, so the view was stunning everywhere you turned. After that, we headed down to the terrace area and had a wine and olive oil tasting. Both the wine and olive oil were absolutely delicious and the best I have had on this trip so far. After a little time there, we headed down to the bike shed where we got fitted with bikes, helmets and our free water bottles! Each of the bikes had a name so you would remember which one was yours—mine was Tarzan! Some others in my little group were Batman, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis…they were a lot of fun! The bikes were also nice because they had little packs on the back that you could put your camera and other things in. After we’d all gotten our bikes, we had a quick bike safety briefing, split into two groups and we were off. My tour guide for the biking portion of the day was Jason (the British one) and he was great. Our small group had about ten people in it was just about perfect. The first half of the day’s ride was probably the best stretch—it wasn’t too hot yet, there was a lovely breeze and it was mostly downhill. We stopped along the way to take pictures and talk about olive oil and wine making. After about an hour (maybe less), we arrived at the restaurant for lunch. There was one big long table for all of us in the restaurant and it was such a nice place! We had salad, bread and wine, followed by our choice of four different types of pasta (I had penne pasta with creamy tomato sauce and it was SO DELICIOUS), followed by gelato with fresh berries on the top and finishing off with coffee or tea. It was a really wonderful lunch and they gave us plenty of time to relax and really enjoy it.

After lunch, we filled up our water bottles and were back on our way. The second stretch was a lot more difficult because we were on a slight incline the entire way and it was the heat of the day and there wasn’t much shade. However, we were able to take it slow and really be able to enjoy the spectacular views. That stretch ended at a café where we could get something to eat or drink if we wanted but most of us just wanted to stretch, sit, and drink water. After a little bit of a break there, we started on our final stretch that brought us back to the castle. Besides a little bit of a hill at the beginning of the last stretch, it was mostly flat or downhill so it was a lot easier. It was such a beautiful day for a bike ride through the countryside! We arrived back at the castle, turned in our bikes, got our bags from the shed, and headed home in the vans, very happy to be sitting on cushioned seats in the air-conditioning! It was well deserved :) On the ride home, I talked to Keith some more and, before we knew it, we were back in Florence! They dropped us off and we said our goodbyes. We had an amazing day of bike riding in Chianti and it surpassed expectations (which were already high!) It was one of the highlights of all of our trips thus far! After we got back, we each veered off in our own direction, heading for home. I walked back to Santa Maria Novella and, realized that my legs needed some more stretching, decided to walk all the way home. I had walked halfway home but not the whole way, as of yet, so it was really nice. It took me about half an hour to get home but my legs were actually feeling a lot better by the end of it.

I arrived home to an empty house as Franzi is still in Germany and my host parents went to the beach today. Daniella and Andrea had both felt really bad for leaving but I explained I would probably be too tired to speak Italian well anyway :P I actually really have enjoyed having the house to myself the evening because I was able to skype, get a little bit of homework done and just have some time to myself. Believe me, that’s a hard thing to get on this trip! Daniella left me dinner, all laid out, with instructions on reheating the pasta and what was still in the fridge. She had made me pesto and caprese salad again, which I didn’t mind at all because they were delicious! For dessert, I had fresh grapes, which really are a completely different fruit than grapes in the States…they have a completely different flavor. Now that I have finished dinner, I am going to post this, post some photos from today and then probably do some reading (either from school or for pleasure) before going to bed a little early—I am EXHAUSTED from today. It was definitely worth it though :)

Tomorrow is homework day, which will probably be good because I’ll very likely be a little bit sore from all the biking I did today; I’ll be ready to sit and do some reading. I hope you are all having a BEAUTIFUL Saturday and first day of October! From what I can see on the weather channel, it’s a beautiful day back home!

Buona Notte,

Kari

P.S. You're in luck! For whatever reason my blog decided it would upload photos very quickly today so you get a lot of photos!!