Chianti - bound

Been a while since I felt up to writing but this trip is just too good not to write about!

We left Vienna on Friday afternoon to do the 8 hour drive up into the Prosecco region in Northern Italy.  Everything went well until about 20 minutes outside of where we were staying (Guia). We were hit by the biggest and scariest hailstorm I've ever seen!  We had to pull over and were seriously worried that they windscreen might break!  Plus the hail was at least 10 cm deep.

This is not good in the hills with no winter tires!  Finally it abated and we were able to meet up with our AirBnB hosts who directed us towards a pizzeria up (gulp!) the hill.  It was a little hairy getting there but a glass of Prosecco Frizzante and awesome pizza made it all worthwhile!

Seriously, bigger than a car tire

You always think that you can never do it but...

But the morning dawned bright and it was if the hail had never happened so we hopped onto the bikes to get going. Absolutely amazing roads going through such gorgeous towns.  We spent the morning riding and then drove back through some of the towns on our way south to Chianti.

Looking very hardcore...feelin' very softcore.

Whadda dump...eh?

We landed in Gaiole in Chianti about 5pm where our very taciturn host let us in.  While he was showing us where to stow our bikes he happened to mention that this was where all the Netflix food was also stored(!?).  Turns out this guy had been profiled on the Netflix show "Fat, salt, acid and heat"!  He was was part of the fat part and is Lorenzo the salumi maker extraordinaire!  So of course we watched and had a good laugh because I had no idea who he was when I was booking the AirBnB! That night we drove out to a former colleague of Greg's for a wonderful dinner at their renovated Tuscan place.  Pretty amazing.

Next day we decided to ride up (and I do mean up!) to Radda in Chianti where we had stayed 15 years previous.  It hasn't changed very much and many wonderful memories with the kids came flooding back.  Of course having ridden up I got the pleasure of cruising almost all the way back.  (There is a God!)

Today being a bit chilly and rainy we hopped in the car and drove into Sienna.  Even though it's early in the tourist season it was filling up with people quickly.  I can't even begin to think of how gross it is at high season!  Anyway we saw the sights and enjoyed just wandering the back streets and marveling at life here.

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Just off the main square where they race the horses

"Too many effing tourists!!

Just those little touches that make Italy so great!

Poppy season...sigh!

On our way back we meandered around to various wineries and stopped at one that Greg's friend had mentioned that was run by a woman from Montreal.  Never in a million years did I think that the winemaker would also be the pourer but she was!  She does it all and very well too by the looks of it! Her winery is called "Le Miccine" (little female mule) and she is Paula Papini Cook. 

So tomorrow is supposed to be warmer so we'll be able to get out on the bikes again and burn off all those gelato-based calories!  Ciao for now!