Marinna Ventures to Italia

This week definitely got away from me! It went by so fast! Hard to believe that I already have been here over two weeks! Still amazed at how fast time flies here! I think the siesta in the afternoons make the days go quicker! But that could be only because I take full advantage of it!

Anyways, I am finally catching you all up on the winery! It was an awesome place! Sunday morning we got up and weren't really sure what our day was going to entail because the itinerary that we got made it seem as if we were going to be at the winery all day tasting and being wild college students from 9:00-4:00! That certainly wasn't the case and I am glad to say that!

We left the hotel after a wonderful breakfast! I had cereal all weekend long for the first time since I have been here! Just simple corn flakes sprinkled with some extra sugar! Oh the things you miss when you can't have them right at your finger tips! I will be happy to have my honey nut cheerios back when I come home! And cold milk! Anyways...enough about my eating!!

We wound our way out of town further into the Toscan country side! Winding up hills, turning down gravel roads and going through tiny little towns until we reached Donatella. It is an amazing estate! We were all eager to get off the bus and go exploring. Some how or another it reminded me of a bunch of children that swarmed the grounds at recess time! Most of the girls took off to the bathrooms, but some of us went exploring! We have better things to do with our time there!

Our tour guide quickly organized us and we were off to start the tour. First seeing the estate and some of the process. The pictures will explain more about it later on! After the tour it was back to the estate for some tasting! This wine is delicious! Along our tour we found out that yes you can stay there and learn to cook! I can smell the fun now! We also learned that it is the only winery of any note in Italy run by a woman. Kind of a different twist on things! The people staying there spoke very highly of Mrs. Donatella saying she was such a good woman!

The wine was very fun to taste and learn a little too! After the tasting we had a noodle making lesson of pincini which is a traditional round long Toscan noodle! This cute little Italian woman helped the chef and she was all smiles the entire time watching us students making the noodles!

We escaped the noodle making for a bit to go take more pictures by the pool but there was a storm creeping in and started to sprinkle! By that time lunch was ready for us! Little did we know we were in for another four course meal with wine to accompany and compliment it this time! Our first course was of meat and cheese with this funny looking pate on a biscuit. Later we found out it was duck liver pate. Apparently a delicasy in Toscana. I will admit I wasn't brave enough to try it because it didn't look very appetizing! It's all in the presentation of things! I am learning that more and more! After this we had our meat pasta that was again delicious! Then they served us literally half a chicken each with potatoes. It was wonderful too! Then we were served our dessert. I forget now what it was called, but again a traditional Toscan dessert made with various friut jams into a torte like pie, covered with powdered sugar! Molto bene!!

Once lunch was over and we were fully stuffed we went to buy some goodies! Olive oil for this chef here! I couldn't resist! By the time we got done with that it was raining and time to head back to the bus for our journey home. I fell asleep pretty quick on the ride back but woke up sweating! Little known fact, Italians apparently don't believe in air conditioning because it was so hot for about the last hour of the bus ride!

When our group got back we realized our luggage was on the other bus which got delayed because they got in some sort of minor accident. The bus turned and didn't see a Vesspa which slammed on its breaks and the rider fell off. Thankfully, everyone was alright it just delayed things a bit. By the time we got back the rain had stopped and it was time for a walk home!

Enjoy the pictures from the weekend! I am off to the Amalfi coast this weekend for some fun in the sun! I can't wait!! We leave tonight at 11:00 p.m. on the bus! It will be a fun trip with the roommates and new friends! It was a good week at school! Went to the Vatican today to get some souvenirs! The little nuns that work in the shop right inside the gates of the basilica were so sweet! Oh how I love seeing them!

Ciao!

On our way up to the winery!

A field of poppies as we went cruising by!

Cooking school!!

The flowers were gorgeous!!

Maura, Lexi, Kate and me!! Apparently I missed the dress memo!!

More flowers!

Grape trees!!

This is where the grapes go at the beginning of the process! Then they are broken down throughout these vats and sent to the distillery to settle and grow as wines!

Old fashioned barrels from France.

Our tour guide showing off the different wines!

The current barrels of wine!

This pool looked amazing!

The view over the valley!

Inside the chapel!

The beginning of our noodle lesson!

One of the pools!

This was the at the end of the tasting with all of the glasses lined up!

I think I have a new favorite city in Italy! It's Florence! We had such a great time there! I can't wait to go back and visit! Good thing I threw my coins in the Trevi fountain!

We woke up early in Montecontini where our hotel was and drove about 45 minutes to Florence. We met up with our tour guides and set out on a walking tour of the city. Our tour guide today was Andrea, and he was very specific on making sure we all knew it was a male Italian name and not like the American womens name! Oh the things Italians bring up!

We walked all over the city seeing so many great sites and so many fun things! After our tour we were off on our own to wander around again! In our little group of five we all had different agendas! Peter wanted to go climb the duomo, Maura was just along for the ride, and Kate wanted to do some shopping, and Lexi wanted to visit the Uffizi museum of art. I was game for anything as long as I got to do some shopping!

After discussing all of these we decided the Uffizi was out because of the long line and we only had 5 hours in Florence and wanted to make the best of it not waiting in super long lines! We decided to climb the Duomo, then we would eat, and head for some shopping and other site seeing along the way. When we were walking to the place where our tour guide said we needed to get tickets we came across the Jersey Shore crew! Yes, Vinny and Pauli D.! I am not a huge fan but still kind of fun to see them! They wanted us to go eat at their restaurant but there was about a 20 minute wait and we had to sign a release form...so we said no way! When they were walking back towards the restaurant they made fun of us for not going!

Along the walk towards the Duomo we got so distracted with all of the fun shops and what not. Poor Peter putting up with four girls who love to shop! Peter is Maura's (my roommate) good friend from school! They came over here together! Anyways...we stood in line for about twenty five minutes at the Duomo before making the hike up the 461 stairs to the top! If you make it to Florence this is a must! It was such a great way to see the city especially for not having a lot of time to spend there! The city is so much different than what Rome looks like from the top of St. Peter's!

Going down seemed much quicker than the climb up the spiral stair case! But that could have been because we were all starving! So we hurried to get some food before heading to the river to take some more pictures and do some shopping! The clock was ticking!! Lunch was yet another delicious meal of pasta with pesto for me! The others had meat sauce with theirs!

We wandered for a while stopping in pretty much every leather store there was! Eventually we made it to the church where Michael Angelo and Galileo are supposedly buried under! Kind of cool! We decided we didn't need to go visit another church so we wandered back to the meeting spot in time for the rain to start sprinkling! There are pigeons everywhere here so they entertained us before our bus ride back to the hotel!

Once we got back to the hotel we had some downtime to check email and relax. Then it was time for another dinner! Another four course meal with fruit cups at the end for dessert! We had chicken and potatoes for the second meal and you should all be proud I ate tomato sauce on my pasta! And Saturday night we were able to get salad!

We went for a quick swim after dinner again! Enjoyed the water and cooled off! Then had to get some sleep early so we could get up for our winery tour in the morning! That will definitely have to be its own post! So much to tell there!

The church at our meeting point in Florence.

Even Disney likes Florence!

The bee was the family animal of the Medici family! Supposedly if you count these bee's three times before an exam and get the same number each time you will do well on the exam!