The Lazy Boar

Today Jodi had a headache and spent her day in bed.  :(  Kathy, Dean and I went to Apt and went to the French version of Wally World, Le Clerc.  We bought picnic stuff, beverages, and a few necessary items.  We came back to the Abby and had a lovely picnic in the garden, the threatening rain moving all around but missing us!

After we went into Siagnon, Kathy wanted to see the church there.

 Cemeteries always make me wonder at the folks buried there.  

There was a memorial to about 20 men who died in WW1 and then only three names in WW2.  Was the village wiped out the first time.  We don't consider how a whole village could loose its young men like that when we consider Frances part in WW2.  The church is not well kept in side, but it looked like there was to be a wedding there.  

We walked a bit and I found, rather than a "Bellavista", a "Bellevue" so we walked up and up and up, but finally at the top, it was worth it, you cold see the whole valley around!  

We came back down and had a coffee and goodie, almond tart for me.

 While we were at the top we found a city that Kathy had mentioned wanting to see.  I thought I had spotted a restaurant in Casaove before we left and noted it in the city, and I had!  So we had dinner at Le Sanglier Paresseux  Kathy and I both had Pork

The amusee was split pee soup in a cute little bottle with a straw, possibly the best pea sour either of us had ever had, and then the delicious pork was accompanied by vegetables on a bed of mashed potatoes.

 It was fabulous and totally worth the trip to this little village on the hill top.  My first post was complete and I lost it all due to the cruddy connection here!  Hopefully tomorrow I can get it posted!

Arrival And Avginon

We had a long but rather uneventful flight.  As usual they mucked up our seating arrangements leaving both couples separated, but at least we were two and two.

 I have to wonder why people choose to tell you what you are doing wrong and tell that they are going to let you off the hook, but still next time you had better.........  I did have the privilege of encountering a lovely gate agent that left me stressed the rest of the trip about my bag, which I use without incident last year.   Oh well.  We got our car, a VW and a good size for us, found our way out of the airport and on the road.  Poor Dean, he got the navigator seat and is unused to my way of wayfinding.  We ended up on some mountain roads, hairpin turns that left me breathless, but not because of the beauty.  

This region of France is indeed beautiful, we are at the beginning of the Alps and  it felt like we are in them driving, though  I know it could get a lot worse.

We had a bear of a time finding our first lodging place and stopped in Siagnon (pronounced like Mignon) and had a bite to eat.  

The B&B is part of an old abby, and the building is clearly old as well.  Our room is basic, but enough, though a chair of some sort would be nice, there is not really any lounging space.  

There are flowers in the room, a nice little touch.

  To bed at 6:30 PM.

Woke up at 0800, wow I was tired!  I went down to breakfast and was kicked out of the room because I was early.  When we were finally allowed in the kitchen, which looks like his kitchen, breakfast was bread, juice and coffee.  The coffee was just  how I like it, brown sugar, lots of milk and it had some backbone!!.  There was a basket of homemade jams and jellies, Lemon, Quince, Strawberry, Orange, and others.   The bread I had was a yummy three seed bread and I will probably be finding seeds in my teeth all day long!  The kitchen in the house looks like it must have looked 100 years ago, without the fridge!  

We eventually all left to Avignon to see the papal palace and any Roman ruins there might be.  After a harrowing drive through the old city, we finally found a place to park which had me squeezing every sphincter I own.  It was a tight fit!  I am having fun with Kathy and  Dean.  Dean takes my razzing well, and that makes it fun.

We had lunch and I got to try a Daube.  It was a beef stew with carrots, peas and olives over rice.  Julia Child eat your heart out, it was equal to my (Julia's) Beef Burgundy.  I got a pre fix so we all shared my chocolate mousse, it was a but wussy though.

 The palace was rather empty, I imagine all furnishings,etc, were moved, sold or stolen over the years, but it is an empty shell of a huge building.  

There was a paining of a Queen selling Avginon to the pope.  I wondered what she felt, angry, frightened, sad?  

She was the only woman in the painting.  What was there in the palace was some TERRIBLE art through out, AND above the alter was a painting of a nude woman, I wan not sure if it was insulting or appropriate.  It was the French Papal place for about 100 years in the 14th century.  After, we got rather lost trying to find a bridge that goes over about half of the Rhone.  We stopped to regroup and have a beverage, followed by a ride on a carousel.  ;)  Finally we found the bridge and it was lovely, nice view back at the town and palace.

 A nice cool breeze, it was cool when we left and I actually put on something warmer and encouraged Jodi to do the same, we both suffered.  So it was nice to catch a breeze out there on the river.  

We stopped in Apt for dinner I had tagietelli with ceps mushrooms and fois gras.  I did not care for the fois gras on the pasta, but it was delicious alone, well both of them,  The pasta with the 'shrooms and the fois gras on bread, and it was Devine!

Accompanied by a glass of wine it made a perfect meal.  Finding the B&B at night was not so bad and after a rather cool shower ( there is not great hot water in the shower in this room)  I am ready for bed!

Favorite Pic of the Trip

5-21-13
It was hard to get out of the NICE-WARM-bed! And rightfully so as we were about to freeze our derrieres off again. We did however get up and agree, after I had coffee, to go to San Gimignano today because it is only 14 Km away. That equals roughly 8-9 miles, but here that does not equal about a 15 minute drive! It took about 30 minutes and that is not including wrong turns, at which we are getting very good. It was obvious that this place was going to be lovely as we approacechd. Parking here is a challenge for me, as everyone parks so close to each other that sometimes they have to crawl in the other door to even get their car out. But park we did, and we took an elevator to the entrance walkway. We entered a relatively quiet little piazza, one souvenir shop, one restaurant, a church and misc. other buildings. It seemed all stone, no grass, very quiet. We discussed eating but decided to have a look at the church prior to eating. The church had a convent attached and we look at that too, it was very peaceful and there were people praying out loud as we passed a window. When we got out of the church we decided to walk a bit, and all of a sudden we were in a different place, shop after shop, after shop. BUt full of lovely things inside and out. We found dolls for the little girls as we had left Molly Dolly at home. Pippa (a purple bear in a ballerina dress) and Poppy ( a bunny with floral skirt and ears) were promptly adored and purchased, one for each girl, now we wait to see which one Ghianna gravitates to and leaves over for Samantha ( who just joined us May 5) . You can read the blog we do for them at: http://mollydollyinparis.blogspot.it/.
After all that work we really needed lunch, so stopped at the first place that looked good. I had mushroom bruschetta and salad, and Jodi just had bruschetta. Mine was not a do over, but hers looked good. I wanted to see some of the towers for which San Gimignano is famous and we found a museum to see. So in we went and it included a opportunity to climb to the top! Which we did, and were very glad. The view, even in the rainy weather was incredible! We lingered, freezing, but reluctant to leave the view, but finally went back down because we had to have a 5 PM meeting at the cottage to lean how to do laundry (which was very easy once I was shown!). The car was parked in crazy, so Jodi offered to get us out while I paid the parking which ended up being 10 Euro, That is even worse that parking in a big city during the day! I had all kinds of trouble getting my ticket to give me a total, had to go from machine to machine, then talk to a guy on a speaker, and finally watch a lady at another machine empty the money ( wow what a racket, she pulled out at least a thousand Euro, if not more!), and finally she had to just tell me what to pay. We raced back, sort of, Jodi had to stop at take several photos, I was torn between wanting those pics and being late for the date with the washing machine.
The washing machine is very easy to learn to use, much easier than a French one! so we throw in a load of laundry and leave for the grocery store. We went to a big store called COOP. We bought a melon, some strawberries and cherries, which had to be weighed. It seemed a simple thing to weigh it and get the UPS tag, but who knew, that there is a special way to push a button. Again with the aid of helpful people we got our fruit weighed and were on our way. Bread was a conundrum, prepackages things, fresh but packaged in the store and then bread behind a counter, I opted ( to my later chagrin) for that and got a small loaf. The meat counter with my limited Italian, was beyond me, so we opted for prepackaged meats, a salami and ham. Milk was yet another issue, I like full milk for my coffee but what does that look like here? So I just picked out a cream ( for which I did know that word) to help it along. Water, we do not want gas, so had to make sure we were not buying fizzy water. The toilet paper was easy, I just bought what was at the cottage already! then we went to the bank for more Euros, and after to look for food. Which may seem easy, however, I had visions of one of the 2 local places that Sr Bardi had told us about, but one place led us into a ( we did get to see a lovely place) pickle, and the other was closed. The Pickle? Well JOdi had to drive the car out of it because I t was so steep a turn onto another road that I kept stalling the car. SO back into town, but one had to find a place to park, blue lines, not white or yellow, and to our chagrin, there was another do, which made parking extra hard. We traversed the area looking for a spot, over and over, and by the time we found a place to park, it was after nine. The pizza place was of course closed, so I said, let's try an Enoteca I saw, which was cfull and no one came and I began to feel like an idiot waiting, with everyone in the place ignoring us. So we left and found a Bar/Paticherria open and Jodi got two tiny pizzas and I got 2 biscotti for the Am, and would have breakfast for dinner. Bed after a hot shower, the shower does get good and hot!

Kissing the Pig Again! 5-23-13

5-23 Florence
This morning was an early morning, UP at 6:15 leaving the cottage at 7:15 and left Certaldo at 7:48, a train we barely caught! But we did. We arrived in Florence to the Maria VocellTrain Station and a new experience for me, so far the city is much filithier than I remembered, and some of the people have been down right rude. With my typical blondness we arrived at our appointment at to see the David an hour early, so we are spending time getting coffee and resting. Caffe Latte and a corenetto (with honey on top - not a happy moment for Jodi) , Capuccino and a goodie for me that the counter lady recommended and it was yummy. An Apple duumplingy thingy with almonds on top, definitely a do over.
THE David, in the accademia museum was this time surrounded by a glass barrier, because some idiot tried to tear him up with a hammer a few years ago. I got SO tickled, some little guy was sitting there beside me, and he said, "can you imagine that ass in a pair of levis?" He was right, it would look pretty good. We didn't dawdle as I wanted to go to the market, I had a purse agenda, and find it I did, as well as a pair of black sandals. We went to lunch at a place where this guy was standing out on the sidewalk and graciously seated us, and then the minute we were seated became surly. The whole expereince was rather surly, other than my food was good. Jodi had Bruschetta and grilled veges: eggplant, zucchini and red pepper. We ordered a appetizer and a second , and they brought both of Jodi's items together and then when I had the nerve to wonder where mine was, I was scolded and told I should have TOLD them that I wanted my appetizer first. LORD, nothing like getting it and then being scolded because I thought I understood the status quo. My Carpaccio and spinach and ricotta Ravioli in a Truffle sauce while cold was very good. The name of the restaurant is Da Pinocchio's near the old central market, try it at your own risk. Maybe your food will be warm, just make sure to tell them you want your appetizer before your entree!
Part of my frustration was that we had a 3PM reservation at the Uffizi. I had made reservations at both art museums while still in the states, and was pretty worried that the fact that I only had a reservation on my phone would be a problem, however, they just looked at my phone and at my ID, well at the Accedemia, they did, I tried to use my international drivers licsence at the Uffizi and the lady just laughed at me and handed it back Interesting thing the Uffizi, there is tow things going on, first a big chunk of the rooms were closed off, and there is a huge amount of work, so you have to walk through a about 10 galleries that are empty to get out of the place, seems that if you are being cheated out of a bunch of art, they should discount the tickets! I am always calling Ghianna a Botticelli angel and so it was fun to show Jodi what I meant by that. Old "Venus Rising" is still a sight for sore eyes, as well as many of his Marys. I think the Botticellis are my favorite there.
Then back to a little shop where I cold find some paper, JOdi sat and waited on a wall and listened to an accordion player while I was lured into a shop and bought a silver copy of a florin. There right infront of my eyes was a gelato shop that sang to me, so we had a tiny scoop, chocolate for her and pistachio for me. IT was my first go at pistachio, and to be honest after all these years, I get why Emily threw a tantrum when her scoop fell out of her cone and landed on the ground. It was delish! For sure it is a do over! Ponte Vecchio was right there in front of us, speaking to our cameras, so we took a bunch of pictures, had a walk on the bridge and then headed back towards the train station. Jodi's favorite thing was the bronze pig, which we both rubbed and kissed, just for good measure, because we would like to return!
The train trip back was uneventful, a nice rest, and then a quick trip back to the cottage and bed!