Saturday, October 12, 2013
Picture Post! Rainy Ferrara Days
Last week was cold, rainy, and foggy in Ferrara. We were stuck in the house most of the week so there's not a lot to say... But, Robbie went out and took some really great pictures around town in the rain. So this post is dedicated to his cool, rainy day picture walk.
Weekend in Tuscany--Part 2: Siena, Wine Tasting, and Cooking Demonstration
After we spend a couple of hours walking around Pienza, we all loaded back up and drove to Siena. Robbie and I were excited to go back and look around a little more. It was after noon by the time we got there and we were really hungry, so our first stop was back to the Piazza del Campo for some lunch. We found a really good table right on the edge of the Piazza, and sat down to eat.
After we ate, we let Michael crawl around in the piazza for a little while.
Once we were finished, we walked into the building with the tower you can see in the first picture. I think it was a museum of some kind, so we didn't actually go tour the museum. But in the courtyard was one of the famous statues of the she-wolf breastfeeding Remus and Romulus. These statues are all over Siena, and we somehow didn't get a picture of any of them on our last visit.
Walking back up the cathedral we saw this guy--painted all gold and standing perfectly still like a statue.
We climbed back up the hill to the cathedral.
Robbie was excited to go back with his new camera that takes better pictures in lower light. The floors were still completely uncovered, and he got some great pictures of things we missed last time or that just didn't turn out right without the flash.
The inside of this church is so stunning.
The marble mosaic floors:
Frescoes on the ceiling:
Pipe organ:
The pulpit:
Sculpture:
You could spend hours trying to take in all the detail of this beautiful cathedral, but with the frequent reminders for silence and a baby that doesn't listen to those very well, our time was fairly limited walking through again. We were glad to get some better pictures.
After finishing up at the cathedral, I wanted to visit the Basilico again and see the stained glass windows. We had also read that the head of St. Catherine was on display there, and we wanted to see how we managed to walk past that last time!
After we ate, we let Michael crawl around in the piazza for a little while.
Once we were finished, we walked into the building with the tower you can see in the first picture. I think it was a museum of some kind, so we didn't actually go tour the museum. But in the courtyard was one of the famous statues of the she-wolf breastfeeding Remus and Romulus. These statues are all over Siena, and we somehow didn't get a picture of any of them on our last visit.
Walking back up the cathedral we saw this guy--painted all gold and standing perfectly still like a statue.
We climbed back up the hill to the cathedral.
Robbie was excited to go back with his new camera that takes better pictures in lower light. The floors were still completely uncovered, and he got some great pictures of things we missed last time or that just didn't turn out right without the flash.
The inside of this church is so stunning.
The marble mosaic floors:
Frescoes on the ceiling:
Pipe organ:
You could spend hours trying to take in all the detail of this beautiful cathedral, but with the frequent reminders for silence and a baby that doesn't listen to those very well, our time was fairly limited walking through again. We were glad to get some better pictures.
After finishing up at the cathedral, I wanted to visit the Basilico again and see the stained glass windows. We had also read that the head of St. Catherine was on display there, and we wanted to see how we managed to walk past that last time!
I love how in the blue one, at first glance you can't even tell it's of anything. But when you look closer you can start to make out certain pictures and kind of see the story it's telling.
Then, there it was, right in the main part of the church: the head of St. Catherine.
We walked back down the hill to the sanctuary of St. Catherine which had some statues and a couple small chapels.
By this time our afternoon was just about over. We hiked back up the hills to meet our group. I wanted to get a picture to show how steep the streets are here. I don't think you can really tell, but trust me that pushing the jogging stroller up and down the streets was a great workout.
It was a really fun afternoon, we were glad to have been back so soon.
We went back to the hotel and changed to get ready for a wine tasting and dinner. We got to taste three different kinds of wines (and eat some cheese, meats, and other little appetizers).
We had another full, 6 course dinner, then headed back to our hotel around 11 for bed. The next morning it was cloudy and rainy, but the only thing on the schedule was a cooking demonstration and lunch.
Michael played in the rain a little while we waited to start cooking. They were showing us how to make handmade pasta, lasagna, and a salad-type thing called panzanella.
We had a great lunch of lasagna, panzanella, and Tuscan wild boar before heading back to Ferrara. It was such a fun weekend hanging out with our Italy friends, eating, and sightseeing.
Friday, October 11, 2013
Weekend in Tuscany--Part 1: Night 1 and Pienza
Some people from Robbie's work organized a weekend trip for the group to stay in the Tuscany region for two nights, have some great Tuscan food, fancy, expensive wine, and do some sightseeing. We drove to a hotel outside of Siena on Friday after Robbie got home from work. Tuscany is absolutely beautiful with its rolling hills, vineyards, and little towns. There were nearly 80 people in our group, so we, along with three other families ended up being at a separate little hotel a few miles away.
After getting settled in a bit, we headed to the other hotel for dinner. Right in front of the hotel was a beautiful vineyard. They were harvesting the grapes that day--the next morning when we got there all the grapes were gone so we got really lucky to be able to see it as we did and get lots of good pictures.
Once Robbie was done taking tons and tons of pictures, we headed up to the patio with the rest of the group to wait for dinner to start. This was our first full, 6 course Italian dinner and we were hungry!
First we had a soup, but it wasn't what I think of when I think soup. There wasn't really a broth, but it was made with some meat, greens, and some kind of grain that was the consistency of polenta (maybe rice?). It was really good--Michael helped me eat mine and once we were finished, helped finish someone else's leftovers too. The second course (or "primi" here in Italy) is the pasta dish. We had pici (pronounced "peachy") which is a thick spaghetti tomato sauce.
Also with this meal, we got to try some Brunello wine made in this region. I know pretty much nothing about wine, but apparently these are very fancy, expensive, "complex" wines. I feel like it was wasted on us a little bit--it was good, but it didn't taste much different to me than any of the other wines we had on the trip. Maybe if we go back with more experienced palates towards the end of the trip we'll appreciate it more.
For dessert, we had tiramisu and coffee. The whole meal took nearly three hours so we had to keep taking turns entertaining Michael outside or on the stairs while the other ate. As a result, I ended up missing dessert. By that point I was so full I didn't even care, and tiramisu is more Robbie's thing than mine anyway. We headed back to our hotel around 11 pm (way past baby bedtime, but he was a trooper and didn't seem to mind), went to bed, and tried to get some rest for sighseeing the next morning.
After breakfast, everyone else got on a bus to head to Pienza (we took our car so we didn't have to worry about car seats, nap times, and carsickness on windy Tuscan roads). I had never heard of Pienza before. It's a cute little town on top of a hill with some beautiful views, pretty churches, and shops. I was glad we went there, because I doubt we would have found it on our own.
Like Ferrara, there were some walls you could walk on around the city and see all the gorgeous views. There were also some interesting statues. The church here was smaller than others we've visited, but still pretty and definitely worth seeing.
We were only in Pienza for about two hours which was really about all we needed in the tiny town. We sat down and had coffee, talked with others in our group, took some pictures, and then headed back towards Siena for the afternoon.
 |
| View from our hotel |
Once Robbie was done taking tons and tons of pictures, we headed up to the patio with the rest of the group to wait for dinner to start. This was our first full, 6 course Italian dinner and we were hungry!
First we had a soup, but it wasn't what I think of when I think soup. There wasn't really a broth, but it was made with some meat, greens, and some kind of grain that was the consistency of polenta (maybe rice?). It was really good--Michael helped me eat mine and once we were finished, helped finish someone else's leftovers too. The second course (or "primi" here in Italy) is the pasta dish. We had pici (pronounced "peachy") which is a thick spaghetti tomato sauce.
Dining room
Michael's pici face
After the pici, it was time for secondi, a beef dish with fresh parmesan cheese. I had never thought about putting fresh parmesan on my steak, but it was so good! That will probably be one thing we bring back to the US with us (if we can find good, fresh cheese). The salad was served with this course as well.
Also with this meal, we got to try some Brunello wine made in this region. I know pretty much nothing about wine, but apparently these are very fancy, expensive, "complex" wines. I feel like it was wasted on us a little bit--it was good, but it didn't taste much different to me than any of the other wines we had on the trip. Maybe if we go back with more experienced palates towards the end of the trip we'll appreciate it more.
For dessert, we had tiramisu and coffee. The whole meal took nearly three hours so we had to keep taking turns entertaining Michael outside or on the stairs while the other ate. As a result, I ended up missing dessert. By that point I was so full I didn't even care, and tiramisu is more Robbie's thing than mine anyway. We headed back to our hotel around 11 pm (way past baby bedtime, but he was a trooper and didn't seem to mind), went to bed, and tried to get some rest for sighseeing the next morning.
After breakfast, everyone else got on a bus to head to Pienza (we took our car so we didn't have to worry about car seats, nap times, and carsickness on windy Tuscan roads). I had never heard of Pienza before. It's a cute little town on top of a hill with some beautiful views, pretty churches, and shops. I was glad we went there, because I doubt we would have found it on our own.
Like Ferrara, there were some walls you could walk on around the city and see all the gorgeous views. There were also some interesting statues. The church here was smaller than others we've visited, but still pretty and definitely worth seeing.
We were only in Pienza for about two hours which was really about all we needed in the tiny town. We sat down and had coffee, talked with others in our group, took some pictures, and then headed back towards Siena for the afternoon.
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