Finally! Working internet, an outlet for my computer charger, and time.
I am sitting in the beautiful lobby area of our second hotel already, called La Corte, with Jackie, Megan, and Dr. Hestermann. It is a small, rustic hotel on a hill in the small town of Calamandrana (I hope I spelled that right.) We left Milan this morning and drove three hours to Alba to tour our first vineyard and winery, Fontanafredda.
The flight to Italy went amazingly well. I sat with my plane buddy Liz Barfield, and slept most of the time. We flew on Lufthansa, a German airline, so all of our stewardesses were German and spreken de deutsch! We landed ahead of schedule in the Frankfurt airport, and sat down in the waiting area for our connecting flight to Milan. The first thing we figured out was that Europeans don’t really use water fountains as much as Americans do. Everyone stared at a group of seven or eight of us as we aimlessly wandered around the airport with our empty Nalgenes, looking for water like we were going to die. We finally found the single water fountain later on... After a very quick connecting flight, we landed in Milan in the early afternoon on Saturday. Our lovely tour guide, Andrea (he’s a boy) was there waiting to meet us. He has green eyes and walks verrrrrry slooowly :) We loaded up into our bus, and it took about an hour to get to our first sightseeing destination – the Duomo di Milano! It was a beautiful, clear day when we stepped out of the bus and saw this enormous cathedral, which began being built in 1386. The white marble practically glistened against the bright blue sky. There were thousands of people walking around the square in front on the Duomo. It was so surreal to be there surrounded by so many Italian voices and noise and movement right after stepping off the plane. We toured the inside of the cathedral, and then walked around the surrounding area briefly before heading back to our hotel.
We met for dinner at a restaurant around seven, and we were the very first people there. Everyone eats so late here! And it’s not just that they eat later (people started to show up around 8) it is that they eat slower. A meal could easily last up to two and a half or three hours, but there is so much time between courses to talk, digest, and sip your wine that you don’t feel like it has been that long.
The next day was an early start with breakfast at the hotel, followed by a full day of touring. We visited the Brera Museum (FILLED with paintings...one of my favorites was Francesco Hayer’s The Kiss), the famous Scala opera house, a quick lunch break (a cheap cafeteria-style place called Ciao) the Sforzesco Castel, and the Basilica of Saint Ambrose. We went back to the hotel for a quick break before it was dinnertime again at a different restaurant. (I wish I could remember all the different restaurant’s names to make any recommendations...I’ll try to write them down from now on.) Dinner the second night was even better than the first. I had the best tiramisu in the world! The time after dinner was spent trying to find free internet in Milan, which a group of us found right by our hotel outside of a small club, but it was expected that you bought drinks if you wanted to use their internet...so we did...Unfortunately my battery died soon afterwards, so I spent the rest of the time sadly telling the flower guy I didn’t need a rose and observing Italian nightlife.
The next morning we loaded up on the bus again, left the city of Milan, and drove to the countryside of Alba, in the Piedmont region of Italy, to visit Fontanafredda.
The area this winery covers is enormous. It is more like a small community than a winery, with countless buildings, gardens, a pond, old cellars, a church, small areas of woods, and a huge gift shop. We spent a long time wandering the gardens and taking pictures before our tour of the winery began. My only regret was that it wasn’t summertime. The grape vines have to be beautiful in the summer.
Our tour was very interesting, and the oak barrels were huge! So much work and tradition and time goes into making the wine. After the tour, which was an all-day event, we headed to our hotel that I am in now. I wish we were here for more than two nights! The view outside my bedroom window is perfect, filled with old buildings and trees and green and fog...I will try to take more pictures of the area tomorrow morning.
I keep telling myself that even though I will be exploring this country until April, I need to appreciate every little stop along the way. So I will try to keep that up.
Much love to you all!
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