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When thinking about where to take Isabel and Charlie, we decided to focus on the smaller places. They had already spent some time in Florence before arriving at our place and we felt that most people equated Tuscany with rural … Continue reading
We spent ninety minutes this morning sitting behind some very nervous frenchmen. They had arrived at La Birerra in Siena to watch the first RWC semi-final and went from ecstacy when the Welsh captain was sent off to despair when Wales had a chance to win the game in the last few minutes.
Or, in their words – from “allez, allez, allez” to “sacrebleu” and back again.
Charlie and Isabel arrived on Saturday afternoon having travelled from north of Florence. I had suggested they text us when they got close to our place which, in this case, meant texting from the carpark “I think we are here”. The 3kms of dirt road make you wonder where the hell you are the first time you arrive.
We ambled out with the dogs and found them looking around wondering if this was our place or the home of some local family. Either way they would have been made to feel welcome.
Dinner that night was at our local Pizza restaurant Le Campannia (other summer visitors will know this restaurant) which does excellent pizzas and provides endless free entertainment watching the antics of the locals.
Next morning was the All Black quarter final game so the entire team headed to the Campo at 9am to watch the game. Clearly word about our World Cup venue is getting out as there were already two holidaying kiwi couples waiting for the game – and with us that meant the crowd swelled to a record eight people. Nine counting an elderly Italian gentleman who joined us to support the French. He was a day late but still enjoyed the game.
Ninety minutes later it was “job well done” by the lads. Well sort of well done as there is still some work to do before meeting Australia – and a chance for a wander around Siena before lunch in the sun at Osteria del Bigelli which, once again, did not disappoint with the food.
Jean made her famous kiwi roast pork with gravy for dinner and we washed it down with a very nice Chianti courtesy of our guests.
Rugby, beer, wine, sightseeing and roast pork with gravy. A top day and a half.
Spending Autumn in Tuscany was not something we were particularly looking forward to. After the heat of summer the thought of going from the mandatory shorts and sandals to Autumn’s jeans, shoes and socks filled us with loathing.
But Autumn has been a pleasant surprise. The weather is settled and the days are warm. It’s an ideal temperature for getting out and seeing things. Mornings are crisp and sometimes misty but the day warms up enought for an al fresco lunch and a gelato in the afternoon which can be eaten before it melts – something simply not possible in the height of summer.
The countryside has taken on a yellow and orange hue as the trees prepare for winter and the days have got noticeably shorter. All this has meant is a new and exciting series of sunsets to capture on film.
Autumn sunset
Arch in Monteriggioni overlooking Tuscan countryside
Gentle readers, you may have noticed a brief pause in posts to toscanakiwi. We have had visitors from home staying at our place and have taken the last few days to show them some of Tuscany.
We have revisited some places we went with others and explored some places that are new. Old favourites like San Gimignano have impressed and new places like Monteriggioni have surprised.
Autumn is an ideal time to sightsee as the days are still warm, but not too hot. In summer you sit in the shade at cafes avoiding the sun, but in Autumn you sit in the sun and savour the last of the good weather.
Pictures and stories of our travels will be added over the next few days.
Just up the road from us there is a villa (well what was once a villa) which commands a great view of the area and, in it’s day would have been a grand place to live.
It has an internal courtyard and part of a roof. As with many old villas it has no real foundations so would require a rebuild from the ground up. But, given the laws around older villas, you couldn’t change the design during the renovation – or even add in any doors or windows that aren’t already part of the structure.
This type of property, as is, on a couple of acres of land around here – about €500k. Any takers?
It’s the business end of the Rugby World Cup and, even in this distant corner of Tuscany, we are feeling the excitement. And we’ll be up early again this coming weekend and heading into Siena to watch the quarter finals and support the All Blacks.
To show our support for the All Blacks, for the next two weeks Toscanakiwi is going black. Well parts of it anyway.
Go the All Blacks.
Next week we have visitors. Friends from New Zealand are dropping by our place as part of a mixed holiday/business trip to Europe. Isabel and Charlie live in Melbourne but have spent the last couple of weeks travelling from Paris south and we are expecting them to arrive on the 8th. Isabel has a conference to attend in Parma (home of the famous ham) on October 12 so we will have a couple of days to show them the best of Tuscany.
Tuscany in three and a half days. Where do we start?
As summer turns to autumn, every week there are less and less visitors staying at our place. The days are still fine, sunny and hot – unusual weather the locals say.
From the height of the season when there would be kids, adults and inflatable toys everywhere around the pool, today there was just us. Bliss.
Despite all the advances in the modern home, some things are still best done in the old way.
Clearly very few apartments in Siena have dryers so Saturday mornings the streets are lined with laundry.
Given this washing is hanging over a major road out of Siena I guess nothing says clean and fresh like the lingering odour of “Eau de Two Stroke”.
It’s one of those things that needs to be done – haircuts in foreign languages. It’s simple for a guy – you nip into Siena, find someone who cuts hair, gesture for a bit off the sides and a bit less off the top, “grazie mille” and you’re gone.
For girls it’s a bit different. Particularly if colour is involved and the way you’re going to look for the next month or two is at stake.
Jean faced this situation recently and with some trepidation entered the small salon we pass on the way to language school to make an appointment. The hairdresser, a young Italian guy, spoke no real english but was helpful and seemed to know what needed to be done. All good so far.
New hair and new sandals as well
As the appointment was made to follow one of the All Black RWC games, Jean left me sitting having a quiet, post game drink (not to be confused with the pre game drinks or the inter game drinks) and estimated, based on past experience, that the whole operation would take about 90 minutes. She would text me when things were getting close.
No problems, I’d just sit and watch the world go by. Maybe do a little window shopping. Maybe not. “Anchi birra per favoure”.
Ninety minutes later – no text. Two hours – no text. Two hours and 20 mins – no text. To put it another way – that’s about 8 beers and, needless to say, by this stage I was feeling pretty good about life. My main concern, in fact my only concern, was whether or not I would be able to stand up.
To test this, a walk to the salon was in order to check Jean hasn’t been abducted, murdered, or worse, things have gone horribly wrong and she’s sitting there with red or green hair or even worse, no hair.
As I stagger through the door Jean seems calm and relaxed and, more importantly still has hair. The process is progressing but progressing very slowly. The hairdresser is a perfectionist – no an artist and it seems I have another 40 minutes to fill. I wonder how I”ll do that?
Fourty minutes later all is well, Jean looks great, every single hair is in place and perfectly cut, dried and styled. Just the look to be dragging a drunk through the streets of Siena on the way home.
Yesterday we went for a drive to Castellina in Chianti. We have been there a number of times, both with others and by ourselves over the last few months, but this time we abandoned the autostrade for the backroads.
The trip from Siena to Castellina is a winding road through the lower slopes of the Chianti hills which then climbs up towards Castellina.
Everywhere you look there are classic Italian scences – even when you take a break to let Daisy the dog have a comfort stop. “Good girl Daisy” and you turn around and this is the view.
As a WordPress blogger I receive a stream of emails about changes and improvements to the way WordPress works. The vast majority receive a cursory glance and are consigned to the trash.
One that arrived recently caught my attention. A company based in Germany called Feedfabrik could take any WordPress blog and make it into a book – both as a hard copy printed book and a soft copy PDF.
Given we had just reached 100 posts it seemed only sensible to make use of this offer. To that end, for those of you interested, below is a PDF booklet of the first 100 Toscanakiwi posts. The file size is 7.3Mb.
It is best viewed with the page setting “2 Up” in Acrobat.
As summer recedes and autumn takes hold, the landscape around us once again changes, revealing yet another Tuscany.
The lovely people who own the property we are staying at have gone out of their way to make us welcome, everything from dropping off fresh fruit collected from some of the fruit trees around the grounds to clearing trees to improve our view of Siena when we were away in Positano.
Last week they recommened a restaurant in Siena that they said served very good, very authentic Tuscan food. The restaurant is called L’Osteria del Bigelli and is siutated in the Campo in Siena.
We were a little sceptical as the standard of food in the Campo, with a limited number of exceptions, is quite poor and aimed more at speedy delivery to tourists so the restaurants can turn tables quickly rather than any real culinery excellence for more discerning customers – or even for us.
Following the rugby on Saturday morning we decided to try it out. The fact that is located next to La Birreria where we watch the Rugby World Cup matches made the decision even easier.
The restaurant consists of about 12 outside tables squeezed under large umbrellas to protect from the sun and 4 tables inside which, given the weather currently, remained empty while we were there.
We were very pleasantly surprised from the start. Jean had ravioli with cherry tomatoes and I had herb encrusted lamb with spinach. The food looked great, smelt great and tasted great. The lamb was so good I was concerned a South Island farmer wearing stubbies and a floppy hat was going to appear beside the table at any moment and say “I’ll take that mate” and walk off into the distance with it.
Washed down with a glass or two of vino the meal was superb. All up lunch cost just over €50 or about $NZ85 which is quite reasonable.
The verdict – a great recommendation, we will visit L’Osteria del Bigelli again soon.
Toscanakiwi 