Sunday, November 29, 2009

Sun. Aug. 23 – Thur. Sept. 24 *Heart of Tuscany (working) Fri. Sept. 25 – Sat. Sept. 26 *Florence (again)

 

Day 123 – Day 154

This entry is going to be a little different. I am not going to write my day to day routine of working but rather just tell you some of the exciting things I did and some of the great people I met, and show you where I stayed.

So, from Venice I caught a very early train and headed off to Florence to catch the shuttle back to Heart of Tuscany. I felt a bit queasy on the ride there going up the winding road. Once I arrived, Patrick the manager there showed me my room of which I was sharing a villa with him, and there was a gym as well just down stairs from us.

my room

 P8230001 P8230002

Living room

P8230003

kitchen

P8230004

the gym

IMG00488

I met the cleaning staff, Lynn and Eugene, and formally met Igor the driver as well as the owners Guido and Adele.

Guido and Adele

P9240044

I went down to my room and made up my bed and cleaned up in there a bit, sorted out my things, unpacked since this was home for awhile, then I took a nap, still feeling a bit off. When I got up and went to the main house, we were having a bbq tonight for the guests, so I helped with that. I also took a few of the new guests to their rooms, and after all the guests were served, Guido, Adele, Patrick and I all went to the main dinning area and had some dinner as well and some delicious Fragolino red wine. After the meal, I sat and listened to them speaking Italian, I’m hoping to maybe learn some while I am here. Then I turned in for the night.

So, what to tell you, for the most part I was the first one up to the main house everyday and I would set up breakfast for the guests and greet them all when they came in. I would do my best to try and translate the shuttle information to Igor (as he did not speak any English). Some days I would check new guests in if Patrick wasn’t there and show them to their rooms. I really enjoyed meeting new people and finding out about their travels. For the evening shift I would set up the tables for the guests having dinner, as well as help Adele in the kitchen. I did learn a few tips in Italian cooking and introduced some different things to Adele as well, and I even did a few meals for the guests. I had some wonderful meals while I was here. The one thing I just could not get used to, was having dinner so late at night sometimes.

lol….I took a few pics of the kitchen

 P9020029

a whole lot of pasta of course ;)

P9020030

Here are some other pics of the main villa

the inside dining room

P9020027

outside dining area

P9020028

this was the bar, where I was most of the time :)

P9020025

Most nights after the guests were done eating I would sit out with them and chat, and drink some wine, it was always a great time. We had a few more bbq nights which were really good, and everyone would stick around and chat. And the food was always so good.

Some of the people I met while working here were Joan from New Zealand and Katie from Australia, I spent the afternoon with them one day, we walked down to San Baronto and had some lunch and good conversation. I sat with Dominic and her husband and father a couple of nights and had wine and good talks about lots of different things, she was Polish and her husband was Scottish and they lived in Scotland, her father was still in Poland, and she translated to me that he really enjoyed my stories and all the ideas I ran past them of things I wanted to do. I had some interesting religious conversation with Rachel and Chris from Manchester. I sat with Natalie from Australia a couple of nights, and taught her some card games and we played. Also, Dylan from the U.S sat with us a couple times and played cards as well, and a fellow Canadian (Calgary), Stacey joined our game one night also. I know what it is like to travel alone and so it was good to spend time with them and keep them company. I also went on a wine tasting trip that we offer with some of the guests, Tim & Hayley, Paul & Becky, Mary and Andy. Guido takes the guests on this tour of Gino’s vineyards and we get to taste test some of his wine, and his wife makes some light snacks. When we got there Guido was busy on the phone so I did my best to translate with Gino. He showed us the vineyard and the large vats for making the wine and then we sat down to taste test. The wines were all really good except the desert wine I didn’t really fancy it too much. Here are some pics of that

P9070047 P9070037 P9070038 P9070045  P9070046 P9070049 P9070050

Gino and his wife (sorry didn’t get her name)

P9070051

A couple nights some guests would play monopoly (we had the Disney version, was cute). One night Didi from Australia, Patrick and I sat up quite late and had some interesting conversation also. I took one afternoon and went down to Pistoia (a small city just a half hour away it’s a municipality of Florence  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pistoia ) with Sarah (Australia) and Rani (N.Y), we had a good day, walking around and splurging on sweets. Here are some pics, mostly buildings :)

P9210034 P9210008 P9210009 P9210013 P9210023  P9210026 P9210028

There are lots more people that I met while I was there and I just can’t remember them all. I have to say the majority that came to stay here were Australians, they love to travel….lol. We also had an Israelian couple, a South African family from Cape Town, who told me all about it, interested to go there someday. Like I mentioned it was great meeting people from all over and learning about their countries or hearing about their travels, and telling my stories too. I would have to say that was probably the best part about my stay here.

We also had bikes here to rent and one day I decided to be brave and take out one for a ride down to Vinci, I say brave bc they were not the best bikes, and it was a long ride down hill and then of course back up hill. The ride is 22km there and back, thank god it is down hill so I could coast most of the way and then on the way back I thought I was going to die, I had to keep jumping off and walking the bike part way, it was steep and very hot which didn’t help, but I did make it. Oh by the way, Vinci, it is the birthplace of Leonardo di Vinci, and another municipality of Florence. I wanted to go for a ride to take some pics of the beautiful scenery around

this a shot of the villa from across the way

 P8300002 P8300010P8300003 P8300005 P8300006 P8300009

So that was the extent of my cycling, not doing that again, my butt was killing me at the end of it :(. I would take walks down to San Baronto sometimes, or sit by the pool and enjoy the quiet and the sunshine. It really is a great place to relax and unwind, and after all my traveling, it came at a good time. But I am not going to lie that I was missing moving like I was, I missed seeing new places, and I would get a bit bored when we didn’t have many guests around.

On the note of wanting to learn Italian, there were many days I would sit with Adele and she would try to teach me, but it is hard when she doesn’t speak any English. I did have a small Italian language book that some girl gave way back In Malta for when I was in Italy and thankfully I kept it, and it did come in handy. So many times I would end up using a French word and funny thing is that Adele would pretty much get what I was trying to say, or I would pick the words out of the dictionary and put them together and even though it might not have been a proper sentence she would get it, and both of us would be so happy that we were understanding each other. She was a really great lady, she worked her butt off there, she was the cook and a fantastic one at that, she always kept busy,  a lot of times she would got through the rooms and reorganize things. I have to say she had some of the neatest outfits too.

(Oh ya, I forgot to mention in my Italy post, all throughout Italy, you would see men wearing a t-shirt and jeans, nothing special but you look down and they would have some great Italian leather shoes…lol)

There was one day in my first week I got to do some arts and crafts, I know explain … Patrick was saying they needed a new sign for at the end of the drive so that guests knew where they were going when they were coming up by car, so I volunteered to make one for them. I am pretty proud of my work

P8260006

Everyday, you always knew what time it was from the small church in the valley ringing the bells every hour and half hour.

So, overall the experience was great to be able to stay and work for awhile in a hostel, in Italy, in Tuscany. I couldn't’ have picked  a better spot, with the spectacular panoramic views, the gorgeous pool, delicious food and wine, and some great guests.

Despite all of the wonderful things, I did end up leaving and  I am not going to lie, unfortunately things did not work out, and I had a falling out with Patrick, I won’t go in to it on here, but live and learn. And I wasn’t that disappointed as like I said I was missing my travels so I got to continue on and to extend my time which really helped and allowed me to see a few more countries, of which you will get a chance to read all about.

So, my last day here at ‘Heart of Tuscany’ was Thur. Sept. 24. – 1 mth and a day.

Also, I would highly recommend this location if you are ever traveling throughout the Tuscan region of Italy, it is affordable and you saw how beautiful the area is. :)

Here are a couple of other random shots

night time with all the twinkling lights off in the distance

P9230041

sunset

P8300011

__________________________________________________________

Day 155 Fri. Sept. 25   *Florence

I got up bright and early, gathered all of my things and headed to the main house. I waited for Guido to take me to Florence. I said my good byes to everyone and off we went. I got dropped in San Baronto, caught a bus to Pistoia and from there I got the train to Florence, Guido was too busy to take me the whole way, oh well. I arrived in Florence just after 11am, and I walked right back to the same hostel I stayed at before. Mikala, the receptionist from before was there again, so she checked me in, I went to my room and dropped my things. I didn’t take any pics, as this was just a stop over to head to Nice next. I made up a package and walked down to the post office to mail it out, then grabbed a bite to eat and back to the hostel. I took a nap for a couple of hours. When I got up the internet was working again, and I logged on to look for hostels in Nice and check the trains, etc. I ended up chatting with one roommate, Teagan (Aussie), she had stayed at the hostel in Nice and highly recommended it, so good I booked it. Then I asked if she wanted to go check out the buffet restaurant, so we walked down there and this time it was open. It was a great deal, you pay 7 euro for all you can eat, and a drink which was a mini bottle of wine, the food was great and buffets are always so nice, you can taste test everything. We chatted away about our travels and then headed back. I chatted online for a bit, then watched a movie and crashed.

Day 157 Sat. Sept. 26

I slept in a bit but had to get up for them to do cleaning. I chatted  with Mikala for awhile. Then I headed to the train station to buy my ticket to Nice. I decided to take a little walk, I ended up at one of the large grocery stores and went in to find some Fragolino wine, as Teagan wanted to try some, and I found a bottle. I headed back to the hostel, worked on some blogging and then napped. I know, sleeping a lot but like I said this was just a stop over. I got up later and Teagan was there, so we had some wine and a very strange thing, we were sitting in the kitchen and this German guy was at the table as well and asked if he could have some wine, sure I gave him some, but who does that, just ask to have some of your drink…lol. I checked out some more things for further travels, trying to find information to get from Nice to Barcelona, not a lot of help online, have to wait til I get there I guess. I went back to my room and watch Teagan pack her bag, crazy she had so much stuff, lots of souvenirs, etc. Crashed early as I have a very early train tomorrow and a long day of travel. Goodnight.

Next post is continuing on with my travels….onto Nice……check it out!

No comments: