Tag: friends

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Czech into Prague

We upgrade from living on a boat to an apartment in Prague near the Vinohrady neighborhood of Prague 2 for about the same price (if not less). Similar to Paris, we again use airbnb.com, and we again have a positive experience. Waiting for us just outside the apartment is someone with a key and helpful tips about the city. The apartment is in a nice part of town although a bit out of the center, and looks like it belongs in an IKEA catalog.

Prague view

The first thing we do after arrival is find food. In general, the food here is good, heavy, and lacking of color. My favorites of the local cuisine include goulash and pork knuckle, both filling, and both tasty. Also, because the weather is overcast, rainy, and cool for most of our time in Prague, this heavy, warm food usually hits the spot perfectly. And no meal in Prague is complete without a cold glass of beer to wash it down. The beer, in fact, is cheaper than water at most restaurants, so I also feel that ordering beer is the more economical option.

Prague may be rainy, but with my second hand United Nations rain jacket I picked up at a second-hand store in Amsterdam, I am able to stay relatively dry, still appreciate the beauty of the city, and experience the history and architecture that surrounds me.

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La Pizza

I sit down and am immediately overwhelmed by the selection of pizzas at La Pratolina, a beautiful hole-in-the-wall restaurant located at Via degli Scipioni, 248, Roma. To intensify matters more, the menu is written in Italian, but luckily I have Gabe and Sam nearby to translate. The rule of the game, however, is once I find something that looks delicious, I need to close my menu because otherwise I could be indecisive all night. Eventually my gaze falls on the Pizza Emiliana with its pesto di pistacchi, mozzarella, silano, mortadella di cinghiale. I am not entirely sure what it all means, but as I work my way through the ingredients asking Gabe and Sam about each, I think this might be the one for me. Sam then grabs my menu and declares that my dinner has been decided. The two of them then proceed to pick out the fried appetizers that we will sample before the pizzas arrive. I forget what appetizer is what, but I enjoy them all and try to save room for pizza. Also joining us for this Italian feast is Benny and Diego, friends of Gabe from work. The meal does not disappoint, I enjoy an incredible pizza with fresh Italian ingredients, and all this in a small homey Italian restaurant. The waiter recognizes Gabe and as a result we get a couple extras along with better service. Although all of this in itself would make for a great evening, the night continues back at Sam’s apartment for drinks and story telling followed by an adventure to outdoor bars by the river until some hour that is much too late given that Gabe and I have a flight to catch early the next morning.

On the subject of things that taste good, during the day, Gabe and I went to Sant Eustachio Il Caffe (www.santeustachioilcaffe.it) and try a true Italian espresso. Even on a day as hot as today, this coffee shop was a great stop.

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Back in Rome

I feel I just left Rome the other day, but in fact, I have been bicycling in France and WWOOFing in Tuscany since I was last in Rome. That said, time that flies is the best type of time, and the last two weeks have been more than memorable. We separate from Katherine at the Cecina train station as she heads to the Pisa airport to return to London and we train back south. As we sit on the train, we feel the temperature continue to rise for each latitude line we cross, and by the time we are in Rome, the heat is intense.

Roman Street

While in Rome, we are staying with Sam, one of Gabe’s very good friends he made while living here over the last year. Similar to Gabe, Sam also lives next door to the Pope. The first night we are back, the two of them have a kitchen reunion and they whip up some delicious pasta with home-made sauce. I learn what real al dente means — there is actually a thin layer of white, uncooked pasta in the center of the noodle. The trick is taking the pasta off before it is done because it will continue to cook in the sauce before it is served. The meal is delicious and we top it off with a small glass of grappa that Gabe and I brought back with us from our time on the farm.

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10 Germans, 10 Cats

“Here we are in the middle of Tuscany, surrounded by forest, having sausages, salads, and wine with ten Germans and ten cats.”

About halfway through the evening, Gabe turns to Katherine and me and recites the above quotation. It may have been the wine or the many mosquitoes or maybe some allergic reaction caused by the litter of cats or maybe one too many sausages or even maybe the lack of English around the table, but whatever the cause, we all started laughing to the point of tears.

German Dinner Party Table

Ursula and Sigismund had invited the family staying at their nearby guest house and we all enjoyed a great meal of many different salads, sausages, and ribs. To help prepare, the three of us set the table and cut up the fruit for two large bowls of fruit salad. We did not know what to expect from the evening when it began, but it will forever be a fun memory from our stay on the farm.

Sigismund working the grill

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Frederica and The Tuscan Pool

While sitting around the dinner table, I spot some white umbrellas on a nearby hill and optimistically think that these umbrellas must mean that there is a degustation. I convince Gabe and Katherine to take our next day’s afternoon excursion past said umbrellas, and although it appears to be more of a private home than a vineyard offering wine tastings, our plan is to walk up to them and let me introduce Gabe, who can speak great Italian. We walk the front path as they all stare in our direction, and as soon as I get close enough, I ask the obvious question, “Do you speak English?” They respond with a confused no, and to introduce Gabe, I simply point at him and explain that he speaks Italian. Before long, we are talking with the family from the house and are soon invited inside by Frederica (the daughter) for tea, snacks, and popsicles. We sit in the kitchen of this recently remodeled beautiful Tuscan home and start learning about each other’s lives. Frederica is currently studying linguistics in Pisa, and as a result, her English is great, although she still prefers to speak Italian with Gabe. Using my Spanish, I am able to understand most of what is transpiring, but I have more difficulty participating save for small phrases now and then.

After about an hour and a half of getting to know each other, I look at the time and realize that we are late for dinner on the farm, and given that the farm is run by Germans on a strict schedule, we start mobilizing quickly. As Frederica is walking us out, she tells us the story of a past run-in with Ursula and Sigismund, and we are immediately able to relate to her description of the many cats, the house, and of course, the couple. Finally, at the very end of our visit, she invites us to use the pool later in the week. This invitation generates one of the largest smiles on all of our faces given the high afternoon temperatures.

We return to the farm about 10 minutes late for dinner and are concerned what Ursula will say. Gabe and I run right up to the dinner table while Katherine goes downstairs to freshen up. Ursula indicates that our tardiness is not a problem and even gives us permission to wash up quickly. But when we return to our room, we convince Katherine that we missed dinner, Ursula is angry with us, and we will need to figure out what we want to do for food. We continue with this ploy for about 5 minutes before we start laughing and explain that if we don’t go upstairs to dinner soon, we might in fact miss it all together. Katherine sighs not knowing what to do with us and we all make our way to dinner.

When the next afternoon rolls around, we all grab our bathing suits and towels and head back over to the beautiful house with the white umbrellas and swimming pool. Frederica is not there, but we say hi to the rest of the family, and find comfortable lounge chairs near the pool. The rest of the afternoon is spent jumping in and out of the water interspersed with sunbathing. We decide that this Tuscan lifestyle might be easier to become accustomed to than daily work in the vineyard.

Afternoon excursion in Tuscany

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Ursula and Sigismund’s Story

This story begins in Mannheim, a town about 50 miles south of Frankfurt, Germany. Ursula and Sigismund, a happy couple with stable jobs, are discussing the best environment to raise their three boys. If they stay where they are, the boys will end up attending boarding school from the age of ten, and although they will receive a good education, this disrupts the family unit. The couple is not willing to compromise their family values for anything, but they also recognize the importance and benefits of a strong education. The answer that eventually forms is that the family should move to a location that accommodates all their goals. After some debate, Ursula and Sigismund consider moving to a German farm. They do some research and learn more about German agricultural real estate. Unfortunately, it seems that the price tag for such real estate is higher than expected and that plans need to be reconsidered.

In 1979, Ursula writes a letter to a man in real estate in Tuscany, Italy. The letter is simply worded as she does not know any Italian, and asks if there are any farms for sale in the region. The agent kindly responds stating that the only way to find a farm is to come visit in person. Inspired by her dream, she takes a train and travels on her own to Cecina, Italy. Being unable to communicate in Italian at a time when tourist travel is difficult presents early obstacles to overcome. Also, there is no rental car agency or tourist information booth conveniently located near the train station. After some wandering around, she comes to a gas station where she is somehow able to convince the owners to rent her a car to use over the next couple days. As she is driving away from the gas station through Cecina, she pulls into the first real estate agency she finds. While speaking in French, the only common language between herself and the agent, Ursula again expresses her interest in finding a farm. That drizzly and overcast afternoon, the two make their way to a small farm near Riparbella. The farm sits on a hill overlooking several small adjacent towns. As the real estate agent starts pointing out these towns, Ursula starts to be able to imagine herself and her family on this land with its grapes, olives, peaches, and apricots.

She excitedly returns to Germany to share with Sigismund everything that she has seen and learned. In 1980, the two return together to take a closer look at this Tuscan farm. The price is high but much more reasonable than what had been available in Germany, the lifestyle accommodates their values, the produce growing on the farm is young and healthy, and the views from the top of the hill are breathtaking. The agent no longer needs to act as the seller as Ursula is doing most of the sales pitch to her husband. After many discussions over this life-changing move, Ursula, Sigmund, and family move to Tuscany to start their lives anew. Farm life starts in two small rooms, a bedroom and a kitchen. Between jobs in the fields, Sigismund employs his woodworking abilities to slowly make improvements to the house. The farm was picked based on the fertility of its soil and not on the grandeur of its house because it is much easier to upgrade the house than affect the health of the soil. The three boys attend a nearby school and are picked up by a local school bus, which often waits for them to finish tying their laces before continuing onwards to school.

In their free time, the boys learn musical instruments from their father, Sigismund. The choice of instruments is between piano, cello and violin. One son, Augustine, demonstrates prodigious talent on the violin and progresses very quickly. The children have mixed feelings about being isolated on a farm during their childhood, but as a result of the move, the family remains very close-knit and they have all been given strong roots on which to grow.

Now, fast forward 30 years and Ursula and Sigismund are still living on the same plot of land. New land owners have moved in all around them. Some of them have elaborate houses with perfectly planted small vineyards of which the owners can appreciate as they drive past in their Ferrari’s. The nearby town of Riparbella now has a church, two grocery stores, a pharmacy, a hair stylist, and two bars. Their vines and olive trees are a bit older and in some disrepair, but now with the children gone, this is enough to easily support their lifestyle, especially when supplemented by a guest house that they rent. Their oldest son recently started a family of his own and appreciates now more than ever the roots given to him by his parents. Augustine is now a concert violinist living in New York and playing with symphonies around the United States.

Ursula and Sigismund

Since the late 1990’s, Ursula and Sigismund invite people from around the world who are members of the World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms Organization (WWOOF). In exchange for room and board, able-bodied workers travel to their Tuscan farm to help them with their grapes and olives. Gabe, Katherine and I fit into this WWOOFing category and are staying on this farm, Podere Vallari, for one week.

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The Leaning Tower

Similar to the Eiffel Tower, the Leaning Tower of Pisa begs for perspective photos, and this time the temptation was too much to resist. So after a delicious pizza dinner topped off with creamy gelato, the three of us make our way across the entire town (which luckily is very small) to its famous tower. The much anticipated landmark did not disappoint. It is beautifully lit up at night so that it starkly contrasts with the night sky.

Without even realizing what we are doing, the three of us start the typical photo shoot of leaning against the tower, holding up the tower, etc. And as if we needed more encouragement, behind us gathered a small group of tourists who were overly impressed by the outcomes of these photos. Our 24 hours in Pisa starts off very well.

Tower of Pisa 1

Tower of Pisa 2

Tower of Pisa 3

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Paris and Constance, Part II

When determining the best way to get from the Saumur in the Loire Valley to Cecina, Italy, we figure out that training back to Paris, then flying to Pisa, and eventually training to Cecina is the best route. Once the path is settled, we start finding accommodations. We email back Constance, whom we had rented the art studio apartment from on our way out. She responds that her apartment is booked but that we can stay with her and her daughter in their own Paris flat. We arrive at the flat, settle in to her children’s rooms, and ask how much we can pay for the room. She explains to us that she cannot charge someone to stay in her flat and we are made speechless by her generosity. We had chatted with Constance over tea and snacks for about an hour when last in Paris, and all of us got along very well, but this act of kindness was so far and beyond anything that we expected.

Gabe and I stay in her son’s room, which was better decorated than I have or ever will get my room. He had historic coca cola bottles from all over the world to go along with his guitar collection, bike parts, music posters and great sports memorabilia. Gabe and I were impressed by the son’s room. In the evening, “we” cook dinner. The “we” deserves to be in quotes because there were a couple conflicting kitchen philosophies melding. I stick to opening up the wine and cutting up a couple vegetables and then I stay out of the way. That said, the vegetable medley we had hit the spot. We had eaten a lot of cheese and a lot of bread, but our diet had been missing those colorful vegetables. While we wait for the vegetable medley to bake, we play Crazy Eights using Katherine’s seemingly made-up rules. (We later confirmed that there are a lot of possible rules that can be used in this game, and Katherine happened to be using at least semi-true rules.)

In the evening, Constance is somehow able to convince Katherine that she should go out. Before Constance’s help, Gabe and my powers of persuasion were being tested. We have a fun time, return before its too late, and wake up to Bach playing and a table set with croissants, jams, juice, and tea. As a thank you gift, we give Constance some nice tea and several jams; however, there was no gift that could show how appreciative we are for Constance’s generous hospitality.

Despite loving Constance’s flat, the three of us did explore the city some.  We walked around, enjoyed the park outside the Louvre, swung by Notre Dame, and tasted fun snacks including crepes from a small street side window and macaroons from Laduree.

Flat in Paris

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Team Dégustation

Of utmost importance is how to pronounce our team name. Start out with a normal sentence like, “Right now, I am in the mood for…” or “Does anyone want to…” or “What do you think about…” or “Shall we find a…”. Make sure to prolong the last word of any of the above phrases, and then pause. Here comes the trickier part. Without mumbling and with an impeccable French accent, follow with DEGUSTATION said as quickly as possible. A benefit of mixing languages is that we get to use this word as almost any part of speech. Therefore, Team Degustation will degustation a degustation in a very degustation fashion. Degustation!

team degustation

Now for the varieties of degustation throughout the Loire Valley. There is Chenin Blanc degustation and Cabernet Franc degustation and Cabernet Sauvignon degustation and a little Chardonnay degustation. During each degustation we made sure to appreciate the color, nose, and taste of each wine. Katherine would flirt with the degustation server while Gabe and I would very gracefully swirl our degustation in our glasses. If there was a particular degustation that we enjoyed, the three of us would purchase a bottle to drink during our next picnic opportunity. Then we would be able to have a degustation picnic.

To save me the future trouble of recounting, I have used “degustation” 18 times or 7.5% of my total word usage in this entry, and I almost forgot to mention degustation means tasting in French.

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Destination: Loire Valley

Bicycling through the Loire Valley occasionally stopping at vineyards and chateaus, feasting on French cuisines, and staying in cute hotels is about as enjoyable and romantic as it sounds.

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Day 1: Getting to Tours

Accommodation: Hotel le Manoir in Tours

After picking up some more bread and cheese (and a couple pommes so that we felt a bit healthier), Gabe and I head towards the train station to meet up with Katherine, another friend who will be joining us at school next year. We had met Katherine only a couple brief times before, but we figure if she is brave enough to travel with us, we will probably be a fun group. We eventually find each other in the maze that is the train station, sit in a great pod on the train to Tours, and catch up on each other’s lives. After almost exiting the train at the wrong station, we make it to Tours, meet our trip manager and receive our bicycles. We have signed up for a self-guided tour and therefore are also given maps, directions, hotel names, restaurant suggestions, etc.

Tours is a cute even if touristy city. Many consider it as the main passage way from eastern to western Loire Valley. We cover most of the city after walking around for about thirty minutes, in which time we walk into the town’s 12th century cathedral and through its old city. There is a picturesque square in the old city where we find a cafe, order a couple drinks, and reflect on the French youth sitting around us.

Tours, France

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Day 2: Tours to Azay le Rideau

Accommodation: Hotel de Biencourt in Azay le Rideau

Meandering through bike paths, the three of us stumble upon a small town where we find some more of the usual bread, cheese, and pommes. And after a short break, we continue on to our first chateau of the trip, Villandry. The castle is nice, but not as nice as the gardens with their well manicured mazes, vegetable gardens, and water presentations. Although most of the rooms come with descriptions of how and why they were used, we decide that it will be more fun to speculate about each room’s use. As a result, we end up passing through places such as the billiards room and the wine-tasting room. The rest of the ride takes us to Azay le Rideau, a very small and photogenic town where we enjoy a great dinner and a very nice hotel called Hotel de Biencourt.

Gabe on a bike

Villandry, Loire Valley

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Day 3: Azay le Rideau to Chinon

Accommodation: Hotel Diderot in Chinon

Now with soarer butts from spending copious amounts of time aboard a bicycle, the tour through Loire continues on day three. Disappointed by our lack of degustation yesterday, we begin the day by tasting wine within the first hour of our ride. We stop at Pascal Pibaleau Vineyard, located at 68 route de Langeais just outside Azay le Rideau, and instead of trying several wines, we are poured a sample of what seems like 15 wines. The wines are locally grown, so we buy a bottle because the bottles are inexpensive and the tastings are free with a purchase. Afterwards, to be careful not to bike under the influence, we walk around the vineyard for a little while enjoying the sunshine before continuing on our way.

Next stop is Château d’Ussé. The approach to the castle is as magical as even Disney could’ve dreamed. We bike down a long straight road surrounded by green on every side and the castle growing as we near. And any castle that inspires one in a Disney movie is worth at least checking out. As we walk through the inspiration for Sleeping Beauty’s castle, we are bit concerned by the excessive use of manikins in each room, but eventually we realize that the displays help us piece together what we remember from the old movie.

After arriving in Chinon but before finding our hotel, we stop for one more degustation in a wine cellar that has been carved into the mountain next to Chinon’s large fortress. As we taste the big red Cab Franc wines from M Plouzeau Vineyard, which is located next to the Chateau de la Bonneliere, Katherine chats with the server in French and Gabe and I try to stay warm in the chilly cellar. One château, two degustations and a day filled with more bread, cheese, and pommes makes us very happy as we arrive at Hotel Diderot in Chinon , from which we can see pieces of the Vienne River.

Playing in the vineyard

Chateau d'Usse

The view from the bike

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Day 4: Chinon to Saumur

Accommodation: Hotel de Londres in Saumur

We get a bit lost at the beginning of today’s journey; however, we make sure to at least keep biking in the correct direction and eventually we find the path. Our first stop is at the Royal Abbey of Fontevraud and its surrounding town, where we meet an aesthetic refugee. He enthusiastically approaches us with a book in one hand and his other outstretched, and then immediately offers that he labels himself as an aesthetic refugee. The three of look at each other, think the same thing, and then ask what exactly that means. Apparently, when he has lived in other parts of the world including northern California, walking around felt like having forks stuck in his eyes. The architecture was all haphazard, ugly, and incoherent. France on the other hand, and even more specially Fontevraud, is his escape from all that is aesthetically unpleasing. After a short talk about what makes French architecture so appealing, we part ways confused as to what has transpired because he did not try to sell us anything, convince us of anything, or capture any of our contact information.

The clouds loom as we leave this small town, but just as it starts to rain, we find another conveniently located degustation, where of course we stop for a taste. With pouring rain outside, we taste a couple more Loire Valley Cabernet Franc wines. We try to buy a bottle and set up a picnic in the winery; however, this apparently is not allowed (the picnic-ing that is). We are then forced to put on our rain gear, mount our bikes, and ride maybe 100m to the nearest cafe, where we each enjoy a hot drink with our previously purchased bread, cheese, and pommes. Our French touring meals had a very distinct pattern– bread, cheese, pommes, repeat.

We finish the afternoon by bicycling through the Saumur-Champigny vineyards before arriving at the medieval town of Saumur where we enjoy one more degustation before going to the grocery store to purchase some food for dinner at our hotel.

Wine tasting in the Loire Valley

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Day 5: Leaving Saumur

Katherine, more than anyone, is a bit anxious to get back to her long lost love, Paris. Gabe and I could’ve used some more Saumur (pun intended), but we are flexible and so we all board an early train as we leave the Loire Valley behind us.

Three Amigos on Bikes