Vaga-Blog - Volume I - Tuscany (June 2)

WAS THAT THUNDER?

Today my summer really began. We checked out of Chez Speedo (not included in the quoted price: sheets and towels (10€ per person) and the stale bread and cheese they call breakfast (8€ per day).

Fortunately, that part of my life is over and I’m now a Vagabond.

We met up with Steve and drove into the heart of Tuscany toward our beautiful Villa with direction from Tomtom, our new GPS co-pilot. It was a lovely drive until the clouds rolled in. Not the puffy white Snoopy clouds, mind you. Big, black, ominous clouds that blanketed the valley in about eight seconds. And boy, were they full. First comes the rain. It starts off slow, like a first kiss. It picks up speed, like Italian drivers. Then we start to see the lightning. Far off at first, then right above us. Then the hail. Hail the size of Lemonheads. Or large peas, for those of you who never spent your babysitting money on candy. Blanketing our windshield. The noise is deafening and the wipers can’t keep up.

An hour-long hail storm on June 2. It stopped just short of my complete nervous breakdown. I told you what it’s like to drive in Italy, right? Well take that, go up into the mountains on switchback turns in a rented Peugeot minivan, and add hail. It was really awesome.

The good news is, we got to the villa safely. We had just enough time to unpack some groceries and throw together an antipasto plate before our guests started arriving. We had Prosecco as we began to cook. Ed and Denise, lovely guests from North Carolina, were the first to arrive and pitched in to help immediately. Denise made flower arrangements for each of the guest rooms and common areas, and Ed put his PhD to work by cleaning fish, chopping tomatoes and slicing salami.

Just as we’re settling in, three more guests arrive – Joe and Lisa from Florida and Debbie, who’s been traveling for 33 hours from Houston via Atlanta, New York and Paris. Unfortunately her bags didn’t make the trip so she can’t even change into a fresh t-shirt.

During cocktail hour, we’re joined by Steve and Laura’s friends Giulio and Pierre. They are local artisans whose pride in their work shows on their faces. They created a spectacular pairing of cheese, herbs and wine that left us speechless. Pierre, a France native who’s lived in Tuscany for 20 years, raises the herbs himself. These aren’t like the $7 jars of crushed oregano you find in the spice aisle at Kroger. They are grown and harvested with passion, and when Pierre talks about his art his eyes well up with tears. It happens about three times, and each time I love him more.

Giulio provides the cheese and wine expertise and is a vivid story teller. His knowledge of Tuscan food, wine and history is amazing. One of the cheeses, a fresh, soft goat cheese, was made from milk he got that morning. I’m not kidding – he got up, milked a goat, and made cheese for us. That goat didn’t know what happened.

Dinner was seafood stew, which we made with a quick seafood broth, tomatoes and onions. It was a nice, light complement to four rounds of Giulio’s cheese. After some lively conversation and a failed attempt at building a fire in the fireplace, Day 1 closes.

Freaky June hailstorms: 1
Suitcases of Debbie’s that are missing: 2
Calls to airline regarding Debbie’s suitcases: 3
Calls to airline regarding Debbie’s suitcases which yielded any results: 0