Harvesting and Crushing Grapes in Montepulciano

During our trip to Tuscany last month we rented an apartment within a farmhouse on the edge of the hill city Montepulciano. There were a few other people staying there over the course of the week, but it mostly felt secluded and private and we loved setting up camp there for several days.

We arrived on Saturday afternoon to find the entire extended family harvesting Sangiovese grapes and preparing them for sorting and pressing. It’s an exciting process, made all the more special since we were able to drink the wine the family produces. It was fun to see them all joking around with one another during the annual tradition. We didn’t necessarily help in any meaningful way, but we liked tagging along nonetheless.

In fact, as you drive through the countryside in late September and early October you can see many family and friends completing the same laborious task. We had initially intended to go to Bordeaux and northern Spain for this trip but the harvest in France is much more secluded and they don’t encourage visitors. It was a treat to be welcomed in Italy during this special time of year.

Sangiovese, Merlot, and Cabernet Sauvignon—among others—are all regional varieties here and each type of grape is usually picked at a different time. For instance, the family was picking Sangiovese grapes (found in Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, Brunello di Montalcino, Chianti, etc.) that day but would wait a week or two longer to pick Merlot grapes. They were looking for specific weather conditions, grape density, color, and other variables that are hard to pick up on for the untrained eye. It always amazes me what care and consideration go into making wine.

As they were wrapping up the day’s harvest we got a little tour of their cellar and barrels. They only make enough wine to give to the family and their friends, which is such a wonderful gift. They work hard to maintain and care for their vineyard and it was really neat to see a very tiny part of the process.

Wishing You a Beary Nice Weekend

I’m sorry about that title. I couldn’t stop myself.

There’s a legend surrounding the naming of Bern: Apparently, hundreds and hundreds of years ago the Duke of Zähringen, the founder of Bern, decided to name the city after the first animal he encountered on a hunt. He and his men came upon bears, or bären, and thus the city was named. Bears have been kept in a bear pit (Bärengraben) since at least the 1440s and they are loved by locals and tourists alike. The pit has been under renovation since the spring but the bears returned recently, just in time to hibernate! The bear pit is just down the hill from our apartment so I’m hoping to run down and see them before the tuck in for a long winter’s nap.

What are you up to this weekend? I’ve had a very low-key week after a busy September, and I’m looking forward to taking it easy this weekend. Adam and I are trying a new cool spot this evening (a rarity in Bern, unfortunately) and going over to our friends’ place tomorrow for margaritas and homemade Mexican. What a treat!

I hope you have a lovely fall weekend with family or friends, or a cozy blanket and a good book. Until Monday (and more pictures from Italy!), here are a few links from around the web.

A jam for the weekend

The BEST dry shampoo. I’ve tried a million brands and I’m sticking with this one (and stocking up when I go to the US)

The WORST traffic jam I’ve ever seen. Yikes!

So happy to see Everlane’s cashmere line for this season. This turtleneck has been wishlisted for those parties who are interested ; )

This book on interior design looks beautiful and insightful

I got misty eyed watching this interview.

Do you cheers when you’re out with friends? Swiss tradition is to cheers before every drink, clinking glasses and making eye contact (not doing so results in bad sex for seven years…) Adam’s family always says, “Cheers, big ears!” which I think is fun. Here’s a little primer on how to give a toast

If only I could dance like these cuties! (Thanks, Phil!)

Fall Is in the Air

Thinking about trying this pumpkin hummus.

Made me laugh.

(image via)

A Documentary: The True Cost

If we’ve met or if you’ve ever seen a list of links on this blog then you might realize that I like clothing and I really like shopping. It’s therapeutic and fun and I honestly don’t need to buy something to feel the thrill of shopping around. I suppose it’s the gatherer in me, this desire to see what’s out there and available.

The other day I watched the latest exposé documentary about the fashion industry and it’s well-publicized cruelty to sweatshop workers and their families. It was heartbreaking and upsetting to say the least, and much like Food Inc and Blackfish, it’s made me re-examine my own thoughts and practices.

The True Cost, like it’s predecessors and contemporaries, relies on a shock-and-awe approach that can be heavy-handed. Indeed, in this film the scenes and first-hand accounts of horrors come one after another with barely a breather in between. It’s a lot to digest. And this can be a bit of a turn-off, but overall I thought director and narrator Andrew Morgan did a thorough job of suggesting the true cost of buying into fast fashion trends and companies is so large and vast that we cannot fully comprehend the damage we are doing to one another, the environment, the economy and so on. There’s a montage toward the end on the juxtaposition between Black Friday insanity and over-stuffed, over-crowded sweatshops that is truly chilling. I’d recommend watching the documentary and making your own conclusions.

I’m not suggesting that I stop shopping or suddenly purge my wardrobe of fast fashion offenders such as Zara and H&M, but I do think it’s always a good idea to re-evaluate habits and impulses. Do I really need something or do I have a case of The Wants? How many times will I wear or use an item? How does it fit in with the rest of my clothing? Where was it made? How was it made? Will it fall apart, or become a special piece?

The film also explores what happens to clothing that we donate or give away, citing that only 10% of those items are actually sold in charity shops and the rest are shipped overseas to third world or impoverished nations like Haiti. These countries, overwhelmed with Western-style clothing, have since lost some of their own traditionally sewing and weaving skills since they are no longer needed as much. Does my well-intentioned donation thus lead to the decline of a culture?

I can see how this logic can spiral out of hand and lead to a paralysis that resists change or introspection. It’s all very daunting. This desire to create and effect change feels akin to New Year’s resolutions: ideas that are so big that they are quickly abandoned in favor of old habits and relative ease. But, for now, it feels compulsory to at least examine my own impulses and see how I can make better decisions for myself, and hopefully, indirectly, others.

Here’s the trailer for The True Cost if you’re interested. I watched it on Netflix but you can find it through a lot of other venues as well.

 

(striped t-shirt image via)

Tuesday Book Club: NW

I’ve mentioned several times how much I love a character-driven novel, which made Zadie Smith’s novel NW a book I simply couldn’t put down. Leah, Natalie, Felix, and Nathan grew up together in a council estate and have evolved into adults with varying degrees of success. Throughout the novel we get to know them, either just a little or quite a lot, and to be frank, not much really happens. There are a few plot points and we can feel the book move in a certain direction, but it’s rather introspective and I like it that way.

Smith’s writing is all about voice and perspective. Her ear for dialogue is impeccable and you’ll often find yourself having to read phonetically to make sense of a certain phrase or expression. Her characters and settings feel all the more rich for it. And while she is speaking to a certain city, a certain culture, in this novel—much like Aravind Adiga was in White Tiger—a lot of her criticisms feel universal and timeless.

I hiccuped and stumbled my way through White Teeth, her debut novel, five years ago and had been too intimidated to pick up any of her novels since then. She’s a complex author and I suppose I didn’t feel like doing the work. But, NW feels more accessible and I’d highly recommend it if you’re into character studies as I so obviously am.

What are you reading right now? I read NW while we were in Italy, as well as The Knockoff. When I go on vacation I like to bring a fluff book and something a little more literary and serious. I have to say, however, that The Knockoff was the fluffiest of fluff, almost unreadable. I hated it! ha! I know it was meant to be a gossipy of-the-moment beach read but it was so steeped in online culture and vocabulary that I couldn’t help but roll my eyes as the authors spent yet more paragraphs describing how Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and other fictitious social media platforms worked. Furthermore, the characters were so flat and stereotypical that I found no enjoyment in either their successes or failures.

But, I have a hard time putting down a book once I start it so I pushed through it, finished it, and left it at the farmhouse where we stayed in Tuscany. Have you read it? What did you think? I wanted something light, but this was too far. Any recommendations on this front?

In case you’re interested, here is an interview with Zadie Smith about NW, and here is a great interview between Zadie Smith and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, who wrote Americanah, which I LOVED.

 

Italy: Two Days in Florence

It always feels overwhelming to come back from vacation and distill everything that happened over the last several days. I couldn’t even look through my photos until yesterday because that would require looking for a narrative thread that would give form to these blog posts. I prefer to hold onto the memories as something beautiful and personal for a few days before viewing them through the lens of family, friends, and blog readers.

But, I love digging through people’s vacation photos (both people I know and those only through virtue of the internet) so here they are! The first installment at least. We spent two and a half days in Florence with, oh, about three hundred thousand million other people. Remember when I talked about shoulder season and the beauty of traveling with less people? Well, not the case in Florence. Ever. It seems that there are maybe two months out of the year when that place isn’t swarming with outsiders. I can’t help but feel bad for the locals.

Nevertheless, we were there, hitting all the usual spots and few sneaky ones I remember from my study abroad days. It was pure pleasure to be back and revisit my summer there eight years ago. That trip really solidified my love for traveling and being abroad and it was a definite catalyst for my decision to be an au pair after graduation. It’s funny to think how my time there has impacted my life today.

Our flight from Zurich took less than an hour so we arrived in early afternoon to our Airbnb rental. It was in a great spot by the Ponte Vecchio in the Oltrarno neighborhood. I would highly recommend staying in this area, as it’s a bit away from other tourists (but not by much) and has a cool nightlife scene with lots of cozy outdoor wine bars and cafes.

After dropping off our stuff we headed right into the thick of things with a walk across the famed bridge and into the giant plaza outside Palazzo Vecchio. We checked menu prices to find a place to grab a drink and people watch but they are absolutely criminal. We ducked into a side street instead and grabbed sandwiches at I Due Frattelini, the famed hole-in-the-wall snack bar run by two brothers. I used to grab sandwiches here all the time and it was a treat to revisit this spot.

We then walked to a few other of my favorite haunts, including Santa Croce and The Lion’s Fountain, an Irish bar my friends and I used to go to on late nights (no judgment!). We spotted the massive, hugely impressive Duomo in between bites of gelato before making our way to see it up close.

There is no way around it, the Duomo is incredible. The size and scope, not to mention the incredible colors and details of the marble, are astounding. You’ll be rather surprised to find the interior is very conservative given the vast ornamentation outside. Nevertheless, it is a truly special sight that never gets old.

We walked around that afternoon and made our way to a little wine bar around the corner from our apartment, Le Volpi e l’Uva. They have a great selection of wines by the glass and lots of delicious snacks, which are perfect for an aperitivo. We stayed for a couple of glasses of Tuscan wine and then left for dinner, which was a bit of a disappointment. But at least there was wine : )

The next day we went to Mercato Centrale to peruse the hundreds of stalls that surround the building before making our way inside to ogle all the delicious foods. One could spend a good chunk of the morning admiring the colorful produce and watching in awe as a butcher cuts a bistecca fiorentina, a local steak specialty.

Upstairs you’ll find a dozen food vendors and communal tables. It was a perfect place to have lunch and rest our feet. I went bold with pasta but you can find lighter dishes there, as well as desserts and a shop selling items from Eataly.

We left with full bellies to continue walking around the winding alleys and streets. I did a little shopping, but mostly we walked and walked. And walked and walked. I must confess that part of that walking occurred in the Uffizi Gallery, which was packed. We pre-booked our visit, which I would recommend, though there doesn’t seem to make much difference during these busy times. I really like this museum and have been several times before (when I was there with my family we saw Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick–she’s as tiny as you imagine), but it was nice to see some of the masterpieces again. Like everyone else I was interested in revisiting some of Botticelli’s most famous works and they did not disappoint.

We stopped for ice coffees at Ditta Artigianale, which is just around the corner from the exit of the Uffizi. It sits on the corner of this very quintessential Italian intersection and there was an old man just walking around the street, greeting everyone who came by and generally keeping his eye on things. It’s not a terribly bustling corner, but we stayed there for almost an hour just watching, absorbing this fascinating Italian culture. SO different from Switzerland!

Our apartment sat on this amazing staircase that looked right onto the Arno river and across at edge of the Uffizi. Every evening we would sit out there with some wine and snacks and watch people walk by or scream by on their motorbikes with a little less caution than I would like. But, you know, this is Italy. The staircase was large enough to host lots of people and it was fun to sit out there with others and pretend like we were all neighbors. One night as we were coming out to sit we actually saw a couple get engaged! It was so sweet and Phil took a picture of them to mark the occasion. That city, so much love!

We ate dinner at Il Latini, a traditional Tuscan kitchen that caters to tourists seeking an authentic experience. They offer two seatings each night and I would recommend making a reservation in advance, though we called earlier in the afternoon and it was no problem to accommodate us. We opted for the prix fix menu and sat and overindulged in everything they brought out. The antipasti, the pasta (including an especially memorable gnocchi with rabbit ragù), and main dishes were fantastic. It was a fun night but we all went home absolutely stuffed.

The next morning we got up early to climb to the top of the Duomo, something I had never done before. A tip: go early! We went around 10:00 and there was no line outside and the top was bearable with all the other people. Also, don’t forget to buy your ticket at the office across from the baptistry. And lastly, be ready for the stairs! There are something like 460 of them and the last bit, the part that’s actually inside the dome itself, is less than pleasant if you find yourself stuck in there for a good ten minutes, not moving. Stay calm and remember that someday you’ll make it to the top and to fresh air : )

It’s such a beautiful view and it feels incredible to be standing on such a magnificent structure. It’s fun to look out and see all the winding streets you’ve been walking on, as well as having a bird’s eye view of the churches, museums, and bridges. And, we saw another engagement! In fact, the guy asked Phil to take pictures of it and I got a front-row view of the action. It was so sweet. I just love love!

That evening, instead of taking drinks to the staircase, we headed to Piazzale Michelangelo for the best sunset in Florence. Of course it was an absolute zoo up there, but if you can find a little real estate on the steps or along the railing then you will certainly be rewarded with a lovely evening. We brought our aperitivo with us—though there are lots of over-priced vendors in the plaza—and marveled at the changing colors in the sky. There was no engagement but there was a wedding so it all evened out.

We had a wonderful dinner at Il Santo Bevitore in the Oltrarno neighborhood. A funny story: the night before we were walking home from dinner and I saw my friend’s parents sitting in the window seat of this restaurant. What a small world! We went in a shared some wine with them while we caught up on our respective travels. They highly recommended the spot for dinner so we returned the next night. That kind of thing hardly ever happens to me but it’s such a trip when it does. Anyway, we would also recommend dining here as well, though I would suggest a reservation.

The next morning we taxied to the rental car offices near the airport to pick up our car for the week. It took much longer than I thought, but by lunchtime we were on the road, headed south. Florence, you were a vision. We loved getting to see you in all your glory, even if your streets were teaming with others just like us. We’re excited to visit again someday and spend even more time south of the river.

More posts on our week in Tuscany to come!