Laughing about the funny times in Tuscany

Ray and I were just reminiscing about our trip and some of the funny times. We didn't mention the time Ray decided to play with a Viper snake because we didn't know how crazy it was at the time.
We were on the outer road of Montepulciano visiting a plant nursery with Ugo because he wanted to purchase a new lemon tree for Barbara (a peace offering as the two always found some fun in bickering). As Ray and I were walking down the driveway I noticed something move, I stepped back and he said "look, it's only a cute little snake". It was a small black snake with white markings on it's head. I told him to leave it alone and he thought it would be fun to pick it up by it's tail. As he played with it a man walked by, he looked stunned and yelled something in Italian to Ray. I asked Ray what he said and Ray said the man said that he was crazy and that he shouldn't play with the snake.
Once we got home we read that Tuscany was home to the poisinous Viper, without anti venom a person can not survive more than an hour. We laughed at our ignorance now that we were back home and didn't even realize how dangerous and stupid that move was. I just thought it was an "icky, slimy thing" to be left alone, needless to say, Ray really felt lame.
We also laughed about the "American Tape" incident. We tried to explain the brilliance of Duct Tape and it's many uses to Ugo before he took a trip to the local hardware store. He came home with clear packaging tape and called it "American Tape". I think he even tried to use the packaging tape outside to tape together parts of plastic on the greenhouse we helped build. Yes the packaging tape was lame and we've since shipped him duct tape. I don't know if he's tried it yet, we'll have to ask. I have a feeling it's sitting in his garage in the "Stupid American", pile of other useless stuff he thinks we spend too much money on as Americans.
We also had a laugh about my half of the bed, as I sat on it one night typing away on my laptop about how it was cold and the day was not fun and about how I was grumpy, the bed collapsed, well the legs slid and buckled by the feet. It left me typing grumpy comments on a slanted bed, those comments never made it into the blog as Ray was the next one to update the blog.
It's funny to laugh at those things now that we are back. And, we miss Tuscany. We even miss the broken bed, the lack of duct tape and...well we don't miss the Viper.

News from Tuscany

This year in October Ray and I headed out to the Westin in Maui. The plane tickets were over a thousand dollars and we are getting pretty tired of the Hawaiian Islands. We kicked ourselves for not jumping on a plane to Italy to hlep with the 2008 harvest at Barbara and Ugo's home in Tuscany, since the flight would have been similar in cost. However, we just got news from Ugo that the 2008 harvest was eaten by deer while he was away helping his aunt who broke her leg. We don't know if it happened before or after our trip to Hawaii but all we can think is that if we were there we might have helped prevent it happening or if we arrived too late been there to help drown the pain with our friends. We won't make that mistake again. This year we'll have to take a trip back over to visit (and we need to see how the 2007 wine is doing). Cheers to a new year to all and to making all the right decisions this year.

Veronica is happy in London

Hi guys!
Yippie, yippie we had a real bed in the Radisson last night. I slept great (except for ray who kept waking up every half hour to check his watch...he didn't think the hotel wake up call would work...it did).
We flew in on icky air yesterday and it wasn't as bad as the flight over from London. I guess it's all in the expectation level, I had none after the crap flight over to Pisa. Ryan Air on the return from Italy is such a different experience. I don’t know if it is because Pisa is a smaller airport or if the Italians are just happier and more people oriented. Maybe a siesta is in order for the Stansted staff.
Check in was allowed well in advance and the lines were shorter due to the amount of time allowed for the process.
The Pisa airport security is a bit slow, but compared to LAX who can complain about airport security and their staff. A pleasant flight attendant directed “The Giraffe” to the emergency exit row so I’m happy, no eating my knees on this flight. Outside of a screaming child in my ear for most of the flight the flight was ok for a cheap-o-air.
So, we're off this morning to MaxJet and I've set my expectations high for them, let's hope they hold up.
Ciao

Cheers from London!

Greetings from the SAS Radisson Hotel in London Stansted-

We're about 45 miles outside of London proper, on our last night in Europe. We flew in from Pisa this afternoon, and just had dinner at the hotel, about a 2 minute walk from the airport, where we fly out of tomorrow morning on Maxjet.

So since my last entry, we continued our journey from down south in Puglia after visiting my old stomping grounds. We then drove up to the Amalfi Coast, and spent two nights there, overlooking the beautiful Bay of Naples. As I think I already covered that, I'll move on... After we left Positano and the Amalfi Coast, we went on to Pompei to see what had been uncovered from the 97 AD eruption of Mount Visuvius. Hasn't changed much since Lisa and I saw it 20 something years ago. But then again, I imagine 20 plus years isn't much after nearly 1800 years... Anyway, the Naples traffic was just as bad as I remembered; probably the worst in Italy. Veronica got a great clip out the windshield as we were driving on the video camera which we'll eventually get posted.

We then drove back to Ugo & Barbara's vineyard/farm. Had a wonderful dinner with them there on our last night, and then got up in the morning and headed to the U.S Army base Camp Darby near Pisa/Livorno. It was nice to have a bit of America after 5 weeks... Did a day trip to 5 Terre, north of the base, and finally saw the famous leaning tower of Pisa, etc. Flew out this morning and now we're laying in bed with a real down comforter, etc. Have to admit, it is nice to have some of the finer things in life again!!!

Anyway, we'll update the website when we get back with the photos from down south, and everything else. Must confess, depspite the 6-pack of Coors Light I bought on base the other night, I'm loooking forward to a schooner of Coors from the Richmond at home, as well as our bed!!!

Cheers from London!

Pictures Finally!

Okay, I finally got some pix uploaded ìì sort of a laborious process. These are just a sampling, I'll add more later. If you really want to see a bunch of photos, you can go to: http://picasaweb.google.com/veronicawine/italy Also, be aware that the photos from Puglia and Amalfi are still in the camera. We'll post them later. And the battery died in Rome, so we'll only have video from there...

Good Morning from Positano

Back at the internet cafe, having a coffee (okay, so it's spiked with a dash of grappa...) and hoping Veronica will be able to get the pix to post this morning. She's checking a few emails, and then will try again to upload the photos. I think we only have a few hundred to choose from. The chip in the camera was full, so we downloaded the pix to a CD on Veronica's laptop. Now if we can only upload them to the site!

So despite our wine-induced haze last night, we made it back up the cliff to our hotel. Woke up this morning to the sun shining on the blue Mediterranean and sat out on our balcony enjoying the view. Can't really describe it; the whole town is built into the cliff and stretches from the sea up about 1000 feet or so. Our hotel is about half way up, so it was pretty spectacular to say the least. You just don't want to lean to far over your balcony rail...

So, I'll post this now, and I'm going to try to upload the pix as V is still busy with email. We'll see what happens...

More from Amalfi...

Sorry, had to go to the bathroom, and I didn't want to lose what I had already typed... Anyway, we're enjoying our stay, although we won't want to see the credit card bills as we keep seeing new record lows for the USD against the Euro. The weather here on the west coast of Italy is nicer... Funny, just like North America.

And I don't often break promises, but here's the deal. I no shit have a CD in my jacket pocket right now, that I thought had the photos on it to upload. And of course, as Veronica sticks it in the machine she's on right now, it won't load. Turns out it was the wrong disc, as her laptop died in the download process. But the other disks in our room are good, so tomorrow morning we'll hoof it back down here and upload the photos. We really are here, and we took some great photos!!! We've been from Venice in the north to Bari in the south, and hit Rome and the Amalfi coast, not to mention got up close and personal with Tuscany!!!

Puglia and the Amalfi Coast

Greetings!

So, I'm typing now from the Amalfi Coast, town of Positano. We drove up here today from Puglia, pronounced Poolya, where I used to live. We drove south to Puglia two days ago; about a 480 mile drive. The toll roads are fantastic -- 90 miles an hour, and the toilets in the rest areas are clean! So I was a little tense getting back to where I used to lived. But was I impressed! Despite a few too many plastic water bottles thrown on the ground, Puglia has improved pretty significantly since my last visit. Had two of best meals in the country there, and the pace was just a little more comfortable and down to earth. Our hotel was a collection of Trulli houses -- round, conical roofs made of stone. Was the nicest and best equipped hotel we've stayed in to date. And it was half the cost of the hotels in Venice and Rome. So I drove to the town where I used to live and took pictures and video. The downstairs flat, where my landlord lived, was intact. But our upstairs flat was under major renovation. Took pix, and video. Diana says her first memories where in that house. Also went by our first house, a villa out in the country. I was surprized I could find it as it's really a function of which gravel road do you drive down... The plastic factory was still there, next to where we used to live. They made plastic bags there; the kind you get at the grocery store. The town of San Vito has grown drastically. But where I lived is still much the same; was very strange to see it. Pix and video are in the cameras, I'll get them loaded eventually.

So after two great nights in our wonderful (and cheap) hotel near Alberobello, the land of the Trulli houses, we left this morning and headed northwest towards Napoli; sometimes referred to as the asshole of Europe. We'll avoid Naples proper, but the area south of Naples is the Amalfi coast. Narrow winding roads above the beautiful Mediterranean Sea, with a few buses and cement trucks thrown in to make driving that much more fun... But we checked into a hotel, and it really is romantic here. Steep cliffs, with the towns basically carved into the cliff faces. And the water reflecting some 800 feet below... Just found and internet cafe that is basically a bar with computers. So we're slightly under the influence, and typing away... Then we have to pay up and walk back up the damn hill to our hotel!!!

Tomorrow we'll probably head towards Pompei, about 20 miles from here, but probably a 2 hour drive on the curvy coast road... See the ruins buried by the Volcano, then eventually back to Tuscany, north of Rome, and the Vineyard with Ugo and Barbara. The bulk of our luggage is there -- we'll spend one night and then head to the U.S. Army base at Camp Darby, near Pisa, for a cheap room and some American style laundry facilities. The up to London, and back to L.A. a week from today.

So while in Puglia, after seeing my old houses, we drove to the base I used to be assigned to. The antena is gone; so big the golf course used to wrap around it. But the guard shack was still there. Manned by Italian Police--the Americans are long gone. Rome uses the base for some purpose for its army... Then we drove out to the beach, and went through a couple of beach towns. Spechiolla, popular when I was there, was a ghost town. One or two restaurants were open, but didn't look promising. Then we went through Torre Santa Sabina--a beach town a few Americans lived in when I was assigned at the base. Saw a restaurant that has quite a few people in it, and it was overlooking the ocean. So we go in, and have a totally wonderful meal. Veronica even comments that she likes the feel of Puglia compared to the rush of much of Italy. Then, practicaly rolling out the door, the owner says Ciao to us as we're leaving. And I felt obligated to tell him that 22 years ago, I lived near there, and was assigned to the NATO base at San Vito. He immediately asked me if I remembered a Pizzaria in the town of Carovigno that had roasted chicken on a rotisserie that was very popular amongst the local Americans. And of course I did, as it was Lisa's favorite as the butter and fat dripped down on seasoned potatoes under the heat below. So then he tells me his name, and of course, it was Michele, Michele's Pizzaria that we used to go to, and as we left, I noticed the name on the door of the beachfront restaurant was Michele's... And so the world continues to shrink...

Greetings from Montepulciano

Ciao all--especially Dan Z. from Koehler winery in the Santa Ynez Valley-my daughter Diana will be visiting you shortly with her boyfriend Andrew!

Dan, hope you and the grapes are surviving the fires! We actually brought a bottle of your Magia Nera with us for our hosts. But Veronica and I drank it with our hosts as well as a couple of Canadians who helped pick grapes with us on the day of the harvest. So, since my last update, we spent a day or two around the vineyard. Transferred the red juice into the its final resting place for the next year -- stainless barrel vice oak. Then steralized all the plastic jugs, barrels, etc. for next year's juice. Tasted the stuff before going into the final barrels. Wow! It was really nice grape juice!!! Too bad we won't get to tast the final product...

So yesterday we went on a 12 km hike with Barbara and two of their clients from Australia. A little more walking that I would have liked, but we wound up at a hot spring that has been flowing for some 1300 years or so... Went in the pool, and enjoyed the scenery -- hilltop castles overlooking the olive gardens and vineyards while we we're floating in the steaming sulfur waters. What a wonderful experience. We may have to sneak back there before we go...

A couple of more days and we're off to the south of Italy, and hopefully somewhat warmer temperatures. Hasn't been too cool, but we're starting to miss the socal warmth, or from what we see in the papers, the socal smoke and ash as it burns!!! Not concerned about home, but it is funny to see Malibu and San Diego on the front page of La Republica, the Italian national paper...

Anyway, so Veronica has loaded all our pictures onto a CD, and as fate would have it, we had to rush out of the house today to coordinate cars and pick ups for various guests, etc. Soooooo, I can't load the photos today... We really do have them, but they will have to wait till our next visit. I PROMISE we'll load them before we head south as I don't know what we'll be looking at once we hit the road as far as the internet goes...

So ciao for now; we'll be out of Tuscany in a few days and heading south to the Italian equivalent of, well, let's say Mississippi or Alabama. Sorry to anyone reading this from the South. But that's where I lived 20-something years ago, and from what we read, it's finally moving into the 21st century and becoming somewhat of a tourist destination itself. We'll hit Arbarobello and the Trulli houses, and take a quick photo of my old house and what used to be the base where I was assigned, back when I was 20 years young...

Cheers to all that bother to check us out!

Ray & V.

Back in Tuscany!

Ciao again from the town of Sinalunga -- nearest internet point to us!

Well, we hit the road for six nights. Three in Venice, and three in Roma. Took the train to both. Nice to kick back and drink a beer while enroute, and you can't drive in Venice, and you don't want to in Rome. Both were fantastic. I think I already covered Venice, so after three great days, we headed south on the train to Rome. Saw the obligatory sights, and per usual, ate and drank a lot... The Coliseum is still impressive, but the Pantheon is still probably the coolest monument in Rome. How the hell that thing has survived all this time I can't fathom. Neat the way the sun shines through open hole in the top -- some pagan meaning to where the sun shines I'm sure...

So after three days of archeological sites, food and wine, and dodging Vespas and insane traffic, we were actually looking forward to getting back to the peace and quiet of Tuscany. Got back yesterday afternoon and just chilled and enjoyed the slower lifestyle. Got up this morning and had to run the chain saw as a cold wind was blowing from the northeast -- a.k.a. Siberia. So the laundry is hanging in our flat near the fireplace, and I took a shower inside next to the stove in a giant metal pot. The wind was out of control -- showering outside under the grape pergula was out of the question...

So we've got a few days around the vineyards and farms; we'll do a few hours work in the mornings and do a few afternoon day trips to the surrounding towns. After the 28th we're done and will head south to the heel of the boot for a bit of a flashback to my early 20's. Will probably be a few degrees warmer there too!

So ciao for now. And despite the food and wine, I am starting to get a hankering for a schooner of Coors Light from the Richmond, and Veronica could go for an order of their chips! But we can do without for another week...

Oh, and regarding the photos, we're charging Veronica's laptop in the car right now, and then we'll dump the pix to a CD, and post them next time we're in town... Yeah, I know, you've heard that one before...

Cin Cin! (Cheers!)

Ciao from Venezia!

Greetings everyone, or should I say Tim, Don, Diana and Megan, who seem to be the ones posting comments!

Anyway, we are on our second full day in Venice. Left the car at the vineyard and took the train up Saturday afternoon. Got here Saturday evening and have been having a great time ever since. Weather has been fantastic -- just finished a half liter of house wine on the grand canal and had to take my jacket off as it was a touch too warm. It's siesta time right now, so it's mainly tourists out right now (3:30 pm). But the views are wonderful. Took a boat out to the Isla Murano this morning and toured the glass blowing factories. Sort of a flashback to middle school field trips to Fenton Glass Works just south of the Ohio River in West Virginia, only with a little bit different accent...

Veronica was in heaven last night (not that she'll ever get there for real!) as we went on a long walk through the back alleys of Venice. Hit a pizzeria and had a few drinks and a pizza con prosciutto crudo. That's the uncooked smoked ham - somehow she loves it. Anyway, after a mild buzz and some food, we went to Piazza San Marco - San Marcos Square. Sat outside and had a bottle of wine, olives, and bread while listening to a 6-piece orchesrtra play. Okay, it may be touristy, but that's what most people visualize about Venice... It was wonderful!

We found a great hotel again via the tourist info point in the train station. Ironically enough, at breakfast this morning, I hear classic rock on the speaker system. Then I hear a commercial for 93.1 - Jack FM. That's the same station we get in L.A. They had it via internet... Okay, that's a little too close to home...

So tonight will be our last night in Venice, then tomorrow we're taking the train to Roma. We'll do two or three nights there as Veronica has never been, and it's been 20-something years for me. Then on Saturday we head back to the vineyards. We'll run the place as Ugo and Barbara will both be on tours, and then head out on the 28th. Looking forward to the quiet Tuscan countryside again after Venice, and Rome for sure. But I am looking forward to seeing the Forum again. Veronica enjoyed "Rome" the series on HBO. She needs to see the real thing...

And when we head out on the 28th, we're still planing on heading south to Puglia. It's a bit of a haul, but they're actually making international quality wine there now, so it may have changed. Puglia was the Alabama or West Virginia of Italy when I was there -- it will be interesting to see what it's like these days... So we're enjoying out time away, but looking forward to returning to the farm as well. We've got a few tasks to do when we get back to the vineyards, but it will be nice to have 50 acres to ourselves. Veronica can do things her way, and I can just get out in the sun and tend to the olives and grapes. And there's plenty of wine available, so I'll be happy. I could do this farming thing--well at least for a few weeks a year!!!

I'll try to update from Rome, but if not, you'll hear from me again from Sinalunga in Tuscano.

Ciao!

Oops, and when we get back to Tuscany, we'll hopefully get the photos downloaded to CD as the camera is almost full and we'll post the pictures as well!

We're still here!!!

Well, back at the keyboard. Veronica and I have been busy, between working and travelling. So I'll start with the work. With the wine almost done, all we have to do is push the cap down three times a day. We use a tool to duplicate the stomping people used to do with their feet... Have also been working around the garden -- put up a green house, and Veronica is learning to plant and harvest vegetables. She seems to be getting good at it, although as she said today, "It's still easier to go to the grocery store!" This morning I was actually in the olive grove, pruning the little sucker branches from the trees. It was actually a very pleasant way to spend the morning with the gogrous surrounding countryside...

We've been getting out a bit more lately, both by ourselves, and with our host, Ugo. Also been walking a lot--Ugo has taken us on a few hikes around the surrounding countryside, complete with narration about the area and meeting the neighbors. Veronica is settling in and she and Ugo get along well.

As for travel, we spent a night in Cortona, and then tried to drive to Assizi. Along the way to Assizi, we started noticing a lot of people on the side of the highway, all dressed in red or blue, with large rainbow banners that hade the letters "PACE" on them. Fortuantely, Ugo had one over his patio and I had asked him what it meant. "PACE" means peace... So at least we didn't think it was a gay rally... So as we get closer to Assizi, there are more cops and busses than I think I've ever seen. We get to the outskirts of Assizi, and it becomes obvious that there is some sort of rally going on, and we decide it's best to get the hell out of dodge, or we'd be stuck in a real mess. So we bail and decide to head south to another hill town -- Orvieto. Along the way, on the radio, I hear a news broadcast saying the 200,000 people were marching to Assizi, protesting war in general, and also the situation in Burma... Ironically enough, the last time we were in Munich, we almost got stuck in an anti-globalization rally against the G7 meeting... The Europeans seem to turn their political dislikes into giant parties!!!

So, Veronica was about done with Tuscan hill towns till we found Orvieto. What a wonderful place to visit. We found a great inexpensive hotel in the perfect location, and really had a great time. Toured the Etruscan caves under the city, and just had a blast. We may have to go back for another visit if we can fit it in...

Our next trip may be a run south to Roma as Veronica has never been--that will be a train trip as driving in Rome is worse than NYC... Ugo will arrange a hotel for us so we should get a good deal. We may also try to head south to Puglia, where I used to live. It's about 500 miles, but hell, we've come this far... Not a lot of touristy things down there, but I still remember how to get to 31 Via Don Minzonni, in San Vito where Lisa, Diana and I lived. Alberobello is near by, and that would also be worth a visit. Veronica says we should take a train and rent a car for two days, but I haven't decided yet.

The other trip we want to do from here is to hit Venice. Been once before, but it would be nice to see in a bit warmer weather. Last time it was February... And after we're done at the vineyard/farm, we're planning to head to the south of France for a few days -- Nice, Monaco, etc. The only thing with that is I don't speak a word of French... Se la Vie...

So we're both doing well. And I have to give Veronica a few words of praise. I wasn't sure how she was going to handle things, but she's adapting well to life in the country. She's still always trying to improve every process, but that's the German in her. The Itailian in Ugo is not up to much change though!

So I'll close for now. Got an email from Diana and I guess our house survived a pretty strong wind storm a few days back. Blew over some plants, but she and Andrew put everything back together.

Oh, and one other thing. We got an email with a photo of Tiffany in basic training. What a weird feeling to see her in an air force uniform! She seems to be doing well, or as well as can be expected!

More from the other side...

Okay, so I'm back at the internet cafe, typing again. Funny enough, this morning I was helping to build a greenhouse, after I mashed down the red wine in the storage tank of course... Veronica is on siesta, or taking a nap.

We're still here, Veronica is getting a bit claustrophobic, so I think we'll be travelling for the weekend. A few towns around here we still want to hit -- Cortona and Assizi (Cortona is where a lot of the shooting for Under the Tuscan Sun was done), and eventually we want to head up to Venice before we leave as well. I thought about heading south to Puglia, where I used to live, but I think that may be to far to journey -- would be neat to see the old place though...

So the wine is fermenting, a few more days and it will go into the barrel for aging. Went to market at Montepulciano yesterday, flashback to my sister-in-law's wedding when we here three years ago...

Anyway, as you've no doubt noticed, we still haven't saved the photos to a CD, so they're not yet posted. I'll get them up as soon as I can! And sorry about any typos -- Italian keyboards have a few different keys than ours...

Ciao for now-

Ray

Greetings from the Other Tuscan Side

Ciao Everyone!

Well, first of all, we're here! Sorry it's taken so long for us to post. It's been an adventure so far. We've actually been working on more formal postings to include photos, etc. on the laptop. But getting on the internet has been a bigger challenge than expected... Italy has some interesting rules for internect access in public places. Passports copied, etc., and you can't connect your personal laptop to the internet from an internet cafe. So we're in the process of saving all the details to a floppy and the next time we're here in the internet cafe, we'll post all of the good stuff!!!

As for a brief summary to date, Maxjet across the Atlantic was wonderful to say the least. In short, RyanAir from London was a nightmare. More details later... We did have 6 hours in London, and took a taxi to a really cool country pub. Low ceillings (Veronica bumped her head!) with the wooden beams, fireplace, graivty-fed ales, great barkeep, and good food. But I can tell you now is not a good time to be in the U.K. due to the tumbling greenback... Our pub lunch with a few pints came to £41, about what I expected. Then when I did the math, at $2.20 to the pound we had just had a $100 lunch... We'll have to wait a bit before touring the U.K....

Got into Pisa at about 10:00pm Friday night, and the car, surprisingly to me, was actually what we reserved, at the same price as quoted. Still don't understand how, but I'm not complaining... Got to Camp Darby (U.S. Army base where we had reservtions for 3 nights) after a few wrong turns, and something was screwed up with the reservation. So.....we're driving around Tuscany at 1:00 am trying to find a place to sleep after 30 hours of travel... Finally, we see signs for a beach resort with hotels and head that way. After two "mi dispiage, no cammere" (I'm sorry, no rooms) we find an open hotel with rooms. Turns out to be a great deal as the high season just ended and they were almost empty. Price was almost the same as the army base, although paying in euros versus dollars made it a touch more. Great hotel, great location, and good food all around.

Anyway we did two nights there, then headed towards Siena, where we visitied last time in Tuscany. Hit another Tuscan hill town along the way - San Gimignano - and stayed at the Villa Veronica outside Siena. Stopped at Villa Veronica as we saw the signs and took pictures on the last trip... Turned out to be a beautiful place to stay - Veronica will post pictures later. Had lunch in Siena, then headed for our 3:00 arrival at the farm, about 50 miles south of Siena. Arrived 10 minutes late, with Ugo waiting for us at the end of his 800 meter (3/8 mile) gravel driveway. Arrived at the 14th century farm house a few minutes later after driving along a ridgeline and past olive groves and the occassional vineyard. Beautiful countryside to say the least. Again, Veronica will post photos on our next visit to civilization. The house is rustic but beautiful. As for the accomodations proper, we're staying somewhat "rustic" to say the least. we've got our bedroom and the adjoining room, but that's about it. Plumbing is mostly ourdoors, except for the kitchen, and there's no running hot water. So Veronica was a little uptight at first. Anyway, warm water is provided via black camping water bags, and via big pots on one of two stoves (one in our room). So it seemed odd at first, but I get up and heat a pot for washing our faces, and put on a pot of coffee. In the afternoon after work, we "shower" with the heated water in the black campng bags. They've built a waist high 3-sided wall with a perugula with grape vines over head. So yesterday Veronica had her first "shower." After some concerns, she made it through the process, and afterwards even commented that wasn't as bad as she expected. Something about being under the grapevines on a Tuscan hillside taking a shower is kind of cool... And when I happened to glance out the door at her pouring water over her head from a metal cup, she looked stunning.

Yesterday we harvested all the red grapes, and fed them into the crushing machine. 5,000 liters of next year's read wine...

Well, this is probably already to much. Wanted everyone to know we're alive and doing well. As I mentioned before, we'll post more details, pix, etc. on our next trip into town.

Ciao for now from Sinalunga, Tuscany!

Ray & V.

At the airport! LAX Sucks!

Why am I always amazed at the unwelcoming appearance and lack of intelligent people empoyed at LAX? I'm embarassed that the Brady Terminal is the first thing travelers see when visiting LA. It's dirty, old and poorly organized.

On a happy note...we're off to Europe today...yippiee. Maxjet checked us in pretty quickly, well there were 8 employees at the check in counter and we were the only people checking in. They had to hand write out the boarding passes and luggage tags since they don't have their computer systems in place yet. Maxjet has only been at LAX for one month.

We're in the business class lounge right now, it's in a temporary building since the terminal is under construction. I feel like I'm back in high school in the portable classrooms only the furniture is nicer and they have free drinks and goodies. I'm going to attach a photo.

Cheers!
We're on our way!

From the other half...

Greetings everyone from Ray. Veronica has done a fantastic job of creating our blog site, or whatever this is called. It will really be a great way to stay in touch while we're gone, and will give any of you that might be interested an opportunity to see what we're up to, or at least have a good laugh at our expense! So I'm relatively new to this thing, but do understand its value. I'm looking forward to posting that perfect picture of Veronica doing some dirty task (come on, I'm talking about cleaning up after farm animals, not what you're thinking!) that most of you would never believe her capable of. I'm sure she has it in her -- it's all about her expectations... Anyway, in case anyone was wondering, the photos you see currently on the site are from our previous trip to Tuscany in October of 2004, when we went for Veronica's sister's wedding in Montepulciano. (If anyone has seen Under the Tuscan Sun, Veronica's sister was married at the town hall on the square where the flag tossing competition was held in the film).
Sooo, yesterday I booked our rental car for the trip. Can you say, "Too good to be true?" I thought you could... Well, we'll see what happens when I call Avis first thing Monday morning to verify, but it appears we're getting an Alfa Romeo 1.9 Litre Sedan (For those not familiar with Italian cars, that's in the BMW 3-series class) for about the same price as all the other rental agencies are offering a "Smart Car", or the equivalent of one of those mini Yugo's from back in the early 80's that two men can pick up and put in a tight parallel parking spot... So we'll verify the car before we wind up in the next version of National Lampoon's "European Vacation"...
So as the editor-in-chief, I'll close for now. As Veronica puts it, she likes to "vomit" the information onto the computer, and I'm good at cleaning it up. (I've only had to fix a couple of typos so far.) Less than three weeks to go and we're both pretty stoked. Cheers for now...

RVO Sends

Booking our flights on an all business class jet to London.

Today is lucky Friday the 7th and we're exactly 20 days away from our trip. We leave on the 27th of September and cross the big pond to get to our exciting new adventure.

We booked our flights on a new airline in Los Angeles called MaxJet. The entire aircraft is Business Class. I (Veronica) am totally excited because the plane only holds 120 people...yippe...no icky people sneezing on the back of my head. I can stretch my "giraffe" legs out in front of me instead of folding up like a praying mantis ready to eat my own knees, if I'm in the back of the plane they're already in my mouth and I'm not getting real food anyway, then again...there's always Ray. I'm .5 inches shy of 6ft tall, so the thought of 12 hours in economy is about as exciting as my next dental visit, at least I get novacaine for all that pain.

So we splurged a bit (not as much as business in Luftansa mind you), and we'll be flying LAX to London landing at the Stansted Airport. Ok it's not Heathrow or Gatwick, but the low cost leaders fly from that airport. I guess it's like Long Beach Airport is to LAX, Jet Blue to Delta. We'll hop a lil flight from London/Stansted to Pisa, Italy where we'll rent a car and be on our way to the vineyard/farm. I have my doubts about the Ryanair tickets but they seem to be huge in Europe, I'm guessing they're like Southwest here. It'll probably be a cattle call, but I can deal with that on a short term 2 hour flight (check back later, I'm sure I'll have some comments about the colorful people we'll run into on that flight...literally). I'm not a snob, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not!

What we're doing and when.

We've agreed to go on a work exchange to Tuscany. We're exchanging four hours of work a day for room and board on a vineyard/winery/farm. We'll be in Tuscany for the entire month of October, the grapes should be harvested and we'll be helping make wine and then help with the olive harvest and olive oil pressing.
Ray is excited to see me (Veronica) actually do some labor, and I do not consider making wine to be "labor". We'll see what the other chores are, but I've been a girl scout leader/cub scout leader and can "rough it" with the best of them...well as long as there's a clean bathroom and other essentials nearby.
This will be a fun way to keep in touch with all of our friends back home and family abroad.
We hope you enjoy the trip through us.
Hopefully we've found something wonderful and exciting for all of our friends and family to participate in, sometime in the future. If not, then you guys can all laugh at us and thank us for doing the "grunt" work for you.
I'm totally positive and excited at this point, I can't wait!
Veronica