Day 5 Sunday June 8th 2008

We had a great sleep and I was able to get all my batteries charged, literally and figuratively. I should check my email, but I really don’t want to. I’m on vacation. We had slept in and woke up later. Josh & Hiedi had just woken up too, so we all went to breakfast on the balcony. Mavis was being really funny. Josh was letting her eat all the sugar she wanted. So she was being crazy. It was pretty and the sun was shining but you could see gray clouds in the distance. It was Sunday and we planned on driving to the Villa today to meet up with the rest of the family.

In the day the city looked so different than in the black of night in the darkness with all the dark people around. Bolgona is know as food capital. They are also know for their leaning tower skyline which they feel is more leaning than the Pisa tower and don’t understand why tourists don’t like theirs better. We walked by the gelato place but they didn’t open until 12:00pm. It is funny because during the whole trip so far, everything always seems to be closed. So always check if something is open if you really want to go there. I don’t always follow my own advice.

We tried to go to the market called Tamburini, but it was closed on Sundays. Trying to get there we went past a bakery called Antico Pastiserra. They had lots of good-looking pastries. Brit got a blueberry tart, which he loved and I got a chocolate éclair that was divine. They had baskets that they had made out of meringue and then they fill them with fresh fruit or pudding or whipped cream. They reminded me of pavlovas. We bought some cat tongues, chocolate tartufi and a coconut coated one too.

I loved their antique paper boxes that they used to put things in. They had fresh homemade pastas that looked so good too. Sometimes I wish I had a kitchen to cook all this good food, but then I realize I am here in Italy and can have it at any good restaurant so why would I want to cook!

It started raining so hard. We had to find cover because we had no umbrellas or rain jackets. We had forgot to bring any provisions from home for rain. I guess that’s what happens when you pack at 2:00 am. I was slipping and sliding because I had worn my flip flops and that and cobblestone are not a good combination. I slipped a bunch, but luckily I was holding on to Brit. He decided he wanted to wait out the rain. I thought he was crazy because the sky was so dark and it didn’t look like it was leaving. I went ahead a left him behind, trying to find cover as I want. I almost biffed it several times.

We made it back drenched. I got out my computer and tried to get on the internet, but it wasn’t meant to be. It was down so we packed up the car and headed out. We decided to go get some gelato at a famous gelato place in Bologna. It said it was nine miles out, but it was in the direction we were heading so we were excited. After trying to find the treasured gelato we ended up in a parking lot at a huge warehouse, which I figured was where they must actually make it. But since it was Sunday it was close. So sad! No gelato today. Looks like we should have gone to church instead. We got on the auto-strata and started on our way down to meet our parents at the Villa Cimcolle.

We stopped for lunch in a small town called Faenza. It was a cool Trattoria Marianzana. Everything was really rustic. The menu was made of thick wood. Three women ran it and their whole restaurant focused around the fireplace. You can see why. The fireplace has three large grills on the bottom that are in a runner type operation and pull in and out. There is a big copper shield that goes up and down and holds the heat of the fire inside.

Everything is cooked to order right in front of you. It was fun to watch, kind of the Italian version of Bennihana. The food was really good. The “Contori” is the vegetable course and their misto di verdure alla grigli, grilled vegetables were so good. We watched her make our bruschetta and it was so simple. Why do we make it so hard sometimes?

We had the misto di bruschetta and loved the variety you got one of each. It is interesting, I have never seen them use basil or chop up the tomato on their bruschetta. And they definitely have no garlic in it, they just really do rub it on the bread. One of the bruschettas had the Lardo di Colonnata. Then we had the crostini di polenta, which was grilled polenta with some type of soft cheese on the top.

The next course we had tortelloni burro e salvia that is with butter and sage. Yum! The other one we got was a local type of pasta Gramigna and it came with prosciutto and piselli, that is ham and cheese. The pasta was excellent but the peas to me are way overcooked. We also got patate arrosto, roasted potatoes there that were so yummy too! We got the Misto di carne, a mixed grill of meats. It included, lamb, belly pork, sausage, liver and loin of pork. It was all pretty good. We also got the tagliata di manzo al rosmarino e aglio, sliced steak with rosemary and garlic. It was good, but a little undercooked for me. I’ll have to remember that since this is the first time I ordered steak here.

For desert we go the torta di robiola and the panna cotta that ended up really being another crème caramel. As we watched them grilling, they put cheese on the grill and then served it warm. It looked so good, but we were so full.

We drove down towards Todi and it took us about two hours. There were beautiful grape orchards everywhere. The fields and mountains were so green. It had stopped raining, or we drove past the rain and the skies opened up to beautiful scenery.

We arrived at the Villa Cimencollo and it was huge. It was really well done but parts of it were still under construction. Mavis got a bath and loved drinking from the lion. There was a washer and dryer and each family basically had a floor, except for Brit & I who shared with Mom & Dad. Mom made dinner and it was good everything was so fresh.

We all just talked about what we had done since being in Europe and then went to get gelato just down the street. My Mom & Dad had gone to Spain before heading to Italy with my sister Amber, her husband Wendel and their three kids. It sounded like everyone had fun. Then we all just went to bed.