I can’t eat anymore!

Today was a glorious relaxing day on the vineyard. Despite intermittent thunderstorms, we enjoyed a chill day in the beautiful countryside.

We slept late (8:30!) and had a leisurely breakfast courtesy of our hosts. As we ate eggs, homemade bread and jams, pastries and fruit in the farmhouse, we were surrounded by bottles of wine, farm tools (torture devices?), and most importantly 3 Bernese mountain dogs peaking in through the door. After our post-breakfast dog petting session, Dave retaught us all how to play euchre (card game) while we waited for the days main event….

Our fantastic cooking class/wine tasting/lunch! With our new Australian friends in our group, we cooked an amazing meal - focaccia with sliced meats, bread with bruschetta and pate, taglietelle with vegetable ragu sauce, and pork with potatoes, apricots, and onions from the stone oven - finished off with Noni’s cake (custard with crust). We made all the food for our meal (ok Mike and Carrie made more than Dave and me but we helped).

Because of the weather, we cooked inside rather than outside, but that was a special treat too. Inside their home, there were hundreds of decorative plates on the walls that belonged to our hosts grandfather. Each plate showcased a different meal from a different restaurant that he had eaten.

While our food was cooking, we had a winery tour. This is a family owned winery so they “only” make 12-15 thousand bottles of wine. We saw the steel drums and the wood barrels where they make the wine from their 2.5 acres of vineyards. While the land has been in their family since 1939 (they paid 35 euros at the time), the original wine making was for themselves and for bartering. Only in the last 20 or so years have they been producing and distributing it commercially. After the tour, we stuffed ourselves to the brim on our meal and had a wine tasting with various ages and styles paired with our meal.

With VERY full bellies, we sat outside for a second dog petting session and a little more euchre. We had the intent to lay by the pool and read/nap but alas the weather had different plans so we retreated inside where everyone napped (including Mr. I don’t like to nap Mike).

Once refreshed, we made our way down to the town to stroll through different shops and check the hours of the gelato place. We ate some charcuterie and pizza which left the table looking like a war zone with all the crumbs and crust. We were lucky for dinner that we ended up at one of only three outdoor tables that was shielded from the torrential rain (the other 9 tables all got drenched). After dinner we of course made a quick gelato stop before heading back up to our accommodations.

We ended our evening with some more rounds of euchre. Mike is generally very good at games to the point where I typically root against him just to keep it interesting. He was uncharacteristically bad at it tonight which was problematic since we’re on a team together. Carrie and Dave wiped the floor with us. Repeatedly. Oh well, there was lots of laughter and fun anyway. And tomorrow is another day.

Tomorrow we leave for Rome. Our hosts, Elena, her son Pietro, and her husband Luca, have been excellent. From making our dinner reservations to ensuring we know where to park in Florence to our fabulous cooking class/wine experience to doing our laundry, they have been amazing. Excellent find on Dave’s part (have to give credit).

Far fewer steps today, obviously: 9,374 steps, 4.6 miles, 17 flights of stairs…It’s a giant hill to get back up to our apartment.

Baggage update: we’re tracking it on our airtag and it’s made it to Lisbon! No one has notified us that it’s moved, so who knows where it is going to end up and when…Read more