Over The Hill(s)

A gracious good evening, Blogees.

Before we go romping off to San Gimignano, I wanted to make some comments / observations about Italy, now that I have been here for a bit.

Italy is a strange and wonderful place.

It is a place where there is "no tipping" in restaurants. But the restaurants add 10 - 15% for service and a few euros for occupying a table.

It is a place where your favourite store disappears. That well-lit place where you wanted to return to buy something is ... gone. Is it on the other street? Was it in the other town? Is this early onset Alzheimers? No. They have pulled a metal door down covering the place, blending it into the walls, and it is as if the store was never there.

It is a place where you pay to pee. Anywhere from 50 to 80 cents (euro) so far. And sometimes it's not worth the money, and YES, I'm talking about YOU, San Gimignano! It takes more that 125 ml of water to flush, you cheap bastards!




















Lemon. Lemon soda. Lemon Schweppes. Yummy lemon drinks!

The equivalent to the Grey Hound bus is called... TraIn. That's not confusing. Nope.

Everywhere you go in these walled towns there are arches and alleys. They are narrow, winding, mysterious. They all speak of possibilites. I can't stop photographing them, and wandering them.

There are cool old pieces of hardware on the walls of the cities - so far Siena and San Gimignano - where they used to tie their horses. There are different ones on different blocks. I think I have pictures of about 12 different ones at this point.

























Domes and towers. Towers and domes. Towers between domes. They're everywhere. Was Freud Italian?

There are water taps everywhere in the streets and piazzas to drink from or to fill your water bottle with great potable water. And when you want a glass of water at a restaurant, they bring you a litre bottle of mineral water and charge a couple euros.

Everything is vertical. There are narrow openings and tall vistas beyond them. Most of the photos have to be taken in portrait instead of landscape orientation.

























The cars are tiny. Little cereal-box models that we've never seen in North America. My Subaru would look like a tank. And they can, and do, park anywhere, in either direction, with little Smart Cars tucked in perpendicular to them. Up on the sidewalks. Edging around the corners of intersections. Without a ticket in sight. And the lucky ones have garages, that look like this...

























The balconies are crowded with plants and laundry - people live here and it shows.

And they sell the same scarves and purses on the street as they do in New York.

Tonight I went out for dinner and, since the place I wanted to go to was full, I went back to the other restaurant for Ribollita and a wild boar stew. With a glass of wine, it cost about $30 Canadian (and was very yummy). I pulled a short, thick, straight hair out of the stew and left it one the side on the plate. When the server collected the plate, she made sure I understood that the hair wasn't from the chef. It was from the boar. ... OK.

Il Campo is really lovely at night.




















But, how was San Gimignano, I hear you cry? For all of you who have told me not to miss it, thanks. It's a beautiful little town.

Olives are getting ripe.

There's quite a selection here. It's not wine, it's balsamic vinegar.

San Gimignano is famous for it's towers. I think it needs a couple of domes to balance things off.

Oh. Did I mention it rained nearly all day? Here we are, taking shelter until the deluge slowed.

BUT...!!!! None of you told me about this place!!!!!

Gelato World Champions! Twice!!!!! Well... it's a good thing I'm here, then!

Approaching this very scientifically, I decided to try their Chocolate Grand Marnier (first time I've found that here) and their TuttiBosco (which I now know is a mix of raspberry, blackberry and strawberry). To conduct a proper tasting, you first hold the gelato up to the light to check for colour...

Then you scarf it down like a sailor, nom nom nom nom nom...

They you walk about 3 laps around the city, avoiding the gelato place on every lap.

Then you jog for the bus, forgetting that you have to pass the gelato place.

Scientific progress cannot be denied. Best to try 2 flavours tasted elsewhere, to really be able to compare them to other Gelaterias. Limone and Fragole.

Nom nom nom nom nom....

Please note that a pinky was raised at all times.

And that's what I remember of San Gimignano!

Off to Cinque Terre in the morning, so let's hope for better weather.

Good night, all!