It is Factastic to be in Italy.
The trip here started a little rough as i caught the overnight train from Munich to Florence, it had to be done but i will probably avoid doing that ever again! So i knew beforehand what i was in for with time, leaving Munich at 9pm and arriving in Florence at 6.30am, ok. What i didnt know is that i would be crammed into a cabin with 6 other people all the way and that the seats are just seats no reclining and absolutely not possible to stretch your legs and achieve any form of relaxation. Oh and no views...but i obviously did know that before too. Luckily there were 3 others from America sharing the cabin so at least i could have a decent conversation with someone, still the whole experience felt like eternity!
Finally the train pulled up in Florence...the feeling was like winning the lotto just so i could get off that damn train! Tired would be an understatement but i had no choice but to put the concrete boots on and push through it.... dying for a coffee or some form of caffeine i went into the train station coffee shop and battled with hundreds of equally caffiene hungy italians for a spot at the bar..yes bar! theres not much sitting done in most italian coffee shops, you just go up to the bar and say "uno cafe espresso per favore"...I wish i had done this as i said "uno cafe americano per favore" which landed me a nice big cup of regular black coffee, it was great except i pissed off about 50 italians whilst they waited for me to finish it at the bar so they could get there little cafe espresso....and i had all my luggage with me. Pretty sure i had silly tourist labeled all over me that morning. Either way i got my coffee and i was happy.
After a short wait until 8am i went to pick up my car from Avis...a little red rocket Audi1 which surprisinly drives like a beast. Thank GOD for Tom Toms....who knows what would have happened to me if i didnt have this amazing piece of modern technology. Tom Tom gave me all the directions to gabbiano and all i had to do was concentrate on driving on the RIGHT side of the road...and look out for crazy italians on scooters\ bikes\vespas\mopeds etc etc!
Finally i arrived at Castello di Gabbiano...at the Castle! The castle is a 12th century piece of brilliance. Its origin dates back to the Medici family of florence and other well known rich italian familys from the period. Now restored into a fully functional and luxurious hotel it is an absolute treat to be staying here.
My room is upstairs in a corner turret and it quite litterally is a room fit for a king. It is so nice to have my own big room (with an already made bed!) after staying 2 weeks in bunk beds in youth hostels.
After getting settled into this fantastic piece of real estate i needed to re-aquaint myself with the Gabbiano wines. Back home we are only really familiar with the Chianti and Chianti classico products + rose \pinot grigio etc. There is a few extras in the range such as the Bellezza and Alleanza that i was not aware of.
These wines are just so italian, light and quite druit driven in style they are nowhere near the body and structure of our wines back home, it is very nice for a change because they are quite easy to drink in the very warm tuscan weather. I dont usually do much red in the summer back home because our reds are just too heavy.
The bellezza is my favourite...and we dont get it in Australia! 100% estate grown sangiovese...and when i say estate grown they are from the vineyards directly in front of my hotel room that i wake up to every day over looking the rolling hills of Chianti Classico in Tuscany. I am contemplating forking out the crazy ammount of euros needed to ship a case back home...how can you put a price on a wine you like? thats my crazy wine mentality for you .
The staff here at Gabbiano took me on a special tour of the winery in which i was taken down into the cavernous cellars beneath the castle. They have only French oak barrels but they also have the only massive size (i forget the exact literage) barrels in the region. They have for of these and massive is an understatement they are to the roof of the cellar about 4 metres high and 4 metres wide...who knows how they managed to get the into these poky caves.
The area is a fantastic one to be staying in, Gabianno is inbetween the 2 towns of San Casciano and Greve in Chianti. I have been travelling to Greve to visit some shops and have lunch and just have a drive around. Italian radio is great, its hilarious and i wouldnt have a clue what they are saying, there is plenty of english songs but the italian ones are equally as catchy..i found myself this morning singing the song that goes " ora ora, che ora sono"...wouldnt have a clue what that means....some friends just told me it means "whats the time now" or something!?
Oh and theres this thing in Italy which i call "Italian time", especially out here in the country you need to be on it. It basically means nothing is open between 1 and 3-4 pm as the italians go home for a nap...I think we totally have it wrong in Australia! i wonder what work will say if i try and introduce "italian time" to my daily schedule!!??
Either way with "italian time" my most embarrasing moment was casually strolling up to the automatic doors of the local supermarket only to walk straight into the glass doors thinking they would open for me as most automatic doors do. I made a group of school kids piss themselves laughing....damn thats the 2nd time i forgot to take my "silly tourist" label off! One of the kids came up to me and pointed at the great big sign on the glass doors saying "chiuso fino a 16:00" = Closed until 4pm. I have the "italian time" thing sorted now.
italian supermarkets are fantastic...imagine if woolworths was a gourmet deli...thats exactly how italian supermarkets are!
I have already had the most amazing time of my entire trip these past 2 days and its sad i am only here for 2 more, i will not want to leave this place, this amazing part of the world but... the show MUST go on...to Bordeaux on Sunday where i shall attend my first Vinexpo.
Thursday, 16 June 2011
Sunday, 12 June 2011
Back tracking a bit....
I am writing this one from Munich as the I have not yet managed to blog about the last two cities...the beers in Germany austria and cekch republic might have something to do with that!
I am going to try remember as much as I can!
PRAGUE- Beer beer beer! Ok so I thought I would make this comment about Germany which is also true but in terms of quality and value the cekch republic wins.
You get a pint here on average of about 40 koruns which works out to be about 1 - 2 euros. The best thing is that the beer tastes great and has so much flavor.
The first night in Prague I definetey took advantage of this travel perk and I can't and don't want to remember exactly how many pints I had! Day 2 in Prague after fully sleeping off the beer I caught the tram into town from the hostel with some Aussies and kiwis from bus about.
Myself and one of the kiwi blokes got lost from the rest of the pack through all the old windy streets. Getting lost in Prague is fantastic....your never really that lost! We got to the top of the mountain for some fantastic views and more so after climbing the stairs to the top of Prague tower. Then meandered through more of the cobblestone lined streets to end up at Prague castle which is really a very old gothic style cathedral...it was time for more beer at that stage. Oh and food....Prague and a lot of this part of Europe is meat lovers heaven...you name it they cook it and cook it well. I had the same duck dish about 3 times in 3 seperate places although I don't like the sour kraut that comes with it, it's pickled cabbages and It does not make cabbage taste any better. That night I set out on a Prague pub crawl tour with some us about gang and that's all I remember of that night! Actually I do remember that it was run by Americans...who really know how to drink!...I think I may or may not have challenged a few to some drinking comps!! I'm sure I won.
Last day in Prague and I decided to have a "me day". These are great days that I designate to myself to do pretty much whatever I want. Feeling pretty seedy from the night before I thought a light walk around town would be a good way to get over it but then I found a hard rock cafe and couldnt help but go in for some hangover food...but then they had hoe garden on tap for about 2-3 euros and i couldn't resist!
Walking around town I found an awesome souvenir of a hand painted west coast eagles babushka doll!It is Definetely the Best souvenir ever and even better that they had ever other afl team except the dockers!!! Haha.
This is probably not the best thing but a good thing about Europe is the mini casinos everywhere, I went into one in Prague and played the pokies and won 1500korun! That's about 50 euros but it wasn't the best thing - I found out when I went to pay for some beers I had that if your playing pokies you get FREE beer!!! Very good value afternoon!
Prague is not as fast paced as some of the other euro cities but it's got some nice things to do and see and a great place to relax and enjoy the beer! Oh and the women and incredibly good looking...there are super model lookalikes everywhere!
I am going to try remember as much as I can!
PRAGUE- Beer beer beer! Ok so I thought I would make this comment about Germany which is also true but in terms of quality and value the cekch republic wins.
You get a pint here on average of about 40 koruns which works out to be about 1 - 2 euros. The best thing is that the beer tastes great and has so much flavor.
The first night in Prague I definetey took advantage of this travel perk and I can't and don't want to remember exactly how many pints I had! Day 2 in Prague after fully sleeping off the beer I caught the tram into town from the hostel with some Aussies and kiwis from bus about.
Myself and one of the kiwi blokes got lost from the rest of the pack through all the old windy streets. Getting lost in Prague is fantastic....your never really that lost! We got to the top of the mountain for some fantastic views and more so after climbing the stairs to the top of Prague tower. Then meandered through more of the cobblestone lined streets to end up at Prague castle which is really a very old gothic style cathedral...it was time for more beer at that stage. Oh and food....Prague and a lot of this part of Europe is meat lovers heaven...you name it they cook it and cook it well. I had the same duck dish about 3 times in 3 seperate places although I don't like the sour kraut that comes with it, it's pickled cabbages and It does not make cabbage taste any better. That night I set out on a Prague pub crawl tour with some us about gang and that's all I remember of that night! Actually I do remember that it was run by Americans...who really know how to drink!...I think I may or may not have challenged a few to some drinking comps!! I'm sure I won.
Last day in Prague and I decided to have a "me day". These are great days that I designate to myself to do pretty much whatever I want. Feeling pretty seedy from the night before I thought a light walk around town would be a good way to get over it but then I found a hard rock cafe and couldnt help but go in for some hangover food...but then they had hoe garden on tap for about 2-3 euros and i couldn't resist!
Walking around town I found an awesome souvenir of a hand painted west coast eagles babushka doll!It is Definetely the Best souvenir ever and even better that they had ever other afl team except the dockers!!! Haha.
This is probably not the best thing but a good thing about Europe is the mini casinos everywhere, I went into one in Prague and played the pokies and won 1500korun! That's about 50 euros but it wasn't the best thing - I found out when I went to pay for some beers I had that if your playing pokies you get FREE beer!!! Very good value afternoon!
Prague is not as fast paced as some of the other euro cities but it's got some nice things to do and see and a great place to relax and enjoy the beer! Oh and the women and incredibly good looking...there are super model lookalikes everywhere!
Monday, 6 June 2011
In berlin!
The capital city of Germany is big and vibrant.
The streets are much wider than the rest of Europe and there are bikes everywhere.
It is a city of monuments, history, restored building that were abolished in the war...oh and nightlife. Berlin is definitely a party capital where nightclubs are open till about midday.
Of course I went to one with some bus bout people and lost track of time! When in Rome I guess!
Besides the partying I had a a great day on the bike tour, out tour guide was a 23 year old canadaian who was a walking encyclopedia on berlin and German history.
A bike ride in Berlin is the way to go as in a few hours we cycled through the university square where hitler lead his first march to announce his distructive plans of taking over Europe, then to the remains of the berlin wall that left the city and country divided for nearly 30 years...I thought it was a nice touch to go past the place where the bunker was where hitler killed himself and Eva Braun...there is not monument or tombstone here....just an empty car park surrounded by apartment buildings and within a few meters a Jewish synagogue.
It was amazing to feel so safe in a place where less that 100 years ago I and millions of others would have received no acceptance.
Berlin is must do Europe!
Off to the east now to Prague!......
The streets are much wider than the rest of Europe and there are bikes everywhere.
It is a city of monuments, history, restored building that were abolished in the war...oh and nightlife. Berlin is definitely a party capital where nightclubs are open till about midday.
Of course I went to one with some bus bout people and lost track of time! When in Rome I guess!
Besides the partying I had a a great day on the bike tour, out tour guide was a 23 year old canadaian who was a walking encyclopedia on berlin and German history.
A bike ride in Berlin is the way to go as in a few hours we cycled through the university square where hitler lead his first march to announce his distructive plans of taking over Europe, then to the remains of the berlin wall that left the city and country divided for nearly 30 years...I thought it was a nice touch to go past the place where the bunker was where hitler killed himself and Eva Braun...there is not monument or tombstone here....just an empty car park surrounded by apartment buildings and within a few meters a Jewish synagogue.
It was amazing to feel so safe in a place where less that 100 years ago I and millions of others would have received no acceptance.
Berlin is must do Europe!
Off to the east now to Prague!......
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