Welcome Chatty, Kathy and Miles Davis Junior

Well I am sorry that this blog is so delayed but our internet went out while I was writing this beautiful blog two nights ago and now I am re-typing it to let you know about my past two days. Before I go into full detail about my extravagant winey wino day at Castello di Verrazzano, I must introduce you all to three main characters that I have met along my florentine adventures (I like to collect people, draw them, write about them, and imagine they are tiny little creatures) Blog readers meet Chatty and Kathy, twin sisters from Connecticut (two of the nicest people in the world but given their nicknames (that I have given them)...yeah its pretty self explanatory) They love designer clothing, Burberry is god, but they have this nerdy, quarky quality about them that is incredible. The other day I was like "Gorilla why is your ear on the ground?" and she was like "Oh, I just had dinner with Chatty and Kathy!" Tonight my ear fell off. But I just wanted to introduce them to you all because I am sure their names will come up along the way and I wouldn't want any of you to feel out of the loop (if you really want to know there real names, skype will lead you to the answer) Then the last character for this post, Miles Davis Junior (however he does not have a code name, that just is his name) He is not in the same group of friends as Chatty and Kathy, he has never met Chatty and Kathy and to be honest he isn't even of the same species as Chaty and Kathy, rather Miles Davis Junior has a long narrow face, small but dominant vanilla teeth, round black intelligent eyes and finely shaped ears. Miles Davis Junior is an Italian Greyhound. He belongs to the Art Director at my school. The other night Miles (for short) joined us at our 5 course meal and apparently it is more common to bring a dog to dinner than to smoke a cigarette (who knew?...I thought Californian dogs were prima dogas but Italian dogs know how to live it up) Welcome Chatty, Kathy, and Miles Davis Junior to the blog. I am sure there will be more characters that I will introduce along the way and drawings of them are coming soon, so get excited!

Now for my exciting day at Castello di Verrazzano. Just 30 minutes outside Florence, Castello di Verrazzono, is one of the oldest wineries in the Tuscan area. We hopped aboard a coach bus and traveled through the mountains past several castles, acres of pine trees and small dirt roads to get there. Two really unfortunate things about the day: 1. It was extremely rainy 2. It was evident that everyone has really really been enjoying their time here in Firenze, however some have been enjoying their stay a little too much and I am not sure that going wine tasting at 10 in the morning was really an imperative event for them to attend, instead of thinking or learning about wine, some seemed to already be regertiating it on their way to the castle. Luckily the Gorilla and I have learned how to be Italians and not to over indulge ourselves like stupid Americans, we took a little schnooze instead. We got the castle, and my future husband greeted us at the gates (don't worry dad, he was only 40 and not jewish!) He took us on a romantic tour of the winery, explained the different ways they produce their wine and then invited us to stay for a little wine tasting and lunch. *Interesting fact: The original owner of Castello di Verrazzano winery was actually the man who discovered New York in 1485 (imagine that!) And by little lunch I mean another 5 course meal! (which equals what?...oh yeah another 5 hour meal) I am not sure how the Italians stay so thin by eating bread followed by salami, followed by pasta, followed by beans, followed by pork and sausage, followed by dessert (once I figure it out, I am going to bring it back to the states..and make lots of money because I have yet to find a true Italian that is fat) We tasted a wide variety of wines and learned about the "legs" and how to tell the difference between expensive wines, wines with a high alcohol content, wines to eat with meats, wines to eat with cheese, and wines that are strictly for dessert. According to Gino, you should never eat a meal without wine and you should never have wine without a meal (Dad would love Gino's philosophy) To be quite honest, I think my taste buds have been spoiled by Franzia and Arbor Mist, to fully appreciate and recognize the difference between fine wines.  For dessert, we had to dip a biscotti into their famous grapa, aka moonshine. However unlike the different wines, I would be able to distinguish this stuff from a mile away ( you know when something tastes like acid, tastes similar to something that I once smelled in a chemistry lab) They instructed us to never drink grapa and then smoke a cigarette (I would just say you should never drink grapa in general) After the romantic day at the castle, the Gorilla and I came back to our beautiful home for a siesta. For dinner, I ate at this little hole in the wall Mexican restaurant called "Eby's Bar" and for only seven euro I was able to enjoy a delicious chicken burrito and a glass of wine (not going to lie, but the pasta over load has already hit me!) I started to plan out my weekends for the next couple of months and WOWZA there is so much to do in so little time. I did my first load of Italian laundry tonight (yippie skippie) however it is going to take a quarter of a century for my clothes to dry because there are very few apartments in Italy with dryers. A simple clothes line does the trick but unfortunately it has been raining for the past couple of days, so we shall see. I am not too worried because I still have plenty of underwear and that is really all you need. Tomorrow lends itself to another busy day! Free brunch, free art history tour, followed by a not so free grocery shopping adventure. It is getting late the gorilla is snoring like an ogre and I better try to sleep now or else. Ciao!