Painted Ladies

Just returned from going up to my friend Colleen's place in Czech Republic.  I'm such a sucker for the laughs and good food that I forget what a shit ton of work it is.  But I love it.  30 years of pent up HGTV have to be vented somewhere!

Never noticed my car matches the house.

This trip was all about PAINTING...love it in theory... hate it in practise.  Catherine and Colleen had the really hard part doing the floors.  They were an awful mishmash of tiles.

Bleech, but I guess they used what they could.

They began the awful job of "impregnation" (to be said with an Italian flourish!).  First you paint toxic schmutz on the tiles, let dry, then add a different type of toxic schmutz on the tiles.  Colleen is enjoying this waaaay too much. 

The smiles are suspicious..more ventilation please!

"St. Catherine, the patron saint of floor paint application."

What a difference!  Those two are amazeballs!

My job was painting the dining room and kitchen.  Let's just say it was nasty.  Years of wood smoke, spider webs and shitty stucco board.  The fun part was learning to plaster.  I have worked with this stuff before in theatre but there we always called it "Designer Pig Pooh."  So lots of taping and sanding was called for.  However the finished product looks pretty darn good, though I forgot to photograph it...duh.  Though I'm sure every time I'm up, I'll see a space I missed.  I deliberately avoided the living room because you know how it is when you paint..when one room looks good the others look dingy.

I think a portrait of me would fit that niche nicely!

It wasn't all work and no play.  Colleen occasionally let us off the compound to go to town and the various second hand stores.  I was so chuffed to find my cow picture still there!  I know exactly where it's going too!  The other store was really bizarre but in a good way.  Lots of crudely done artwork and tattered taxidermy...scary/cool.  But they weren't budging on the prices so we left a bunch of stuff behind, their loss.

"The Divine Bovine."  The picture not me!

Let's just merchandizing wasn't their strong suit.

So I left yesterday on the long drive back to Vienna.  Next week is the conference in Edinburgh so please stay tuned!  I appreciate you reading these posts and your comments.  

Ciao for now.💋

 

"Yo Mama...she be a fine sewer!"

A little "Run MHP"

Okay, what else do you do on a cold rainy day except, sew yourself an awesome hoodie and take rap star pix?! 

It's actually the first day since we've been back that's been relatively normal.  Monday pm we arrived back here and were very grateful to be able to go to sleep in our own bed.  (If only you could travel but sleep in your own bed at night....they can put a man on the moon...).  Both of us fell into a deep sleep only to be awoken by the phone at midnight.

Our youngest, C was not being allowed to get on his flight from Montreal.  Apparently you can't stay more than 90 days in the EU.  Of course, it never occurred to us to check...we're Canadians!! Well the poor guy was very distressed and had to end up buying a new return ticket.  The only saving grace was that the flight was repeatedly delayed so he had minutes to get his ticket.  He remained calm and handled the situation very well, all things considered.  Us?  Not so well.  I stayed awake the whole night feeling shitty for him.  (He had also gotten screwed with return flights at Christmas because of the weather.)  Yikes, I doubt there is nothing now at an airport he can't handle.  Anyway, he arrived safe and sound.  He's chillin' as we speak.

Italy seems so far away.



Our last meal in Gaiole with the gourmet meats that our celebrity host made and an awesome bottle of Prosecco from our trip up north.  The pizza was good too!



Bibione was our destination for the last 2 days of our trip.  Unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate and we were stuck inside the whole time.  Who expects 4 degree weather with wind in May on the Italian coast?  Apparently not me.  Plus the whole town is boarded up because there are no tourists...a very strange place.  So what do you do?  You find the nearest Euro Spar buy some food, eat do interpretive dances when the internet goes down and generally just try to stay warm. 

No internet but FOOD!

And this is how I crossed the Dolomites.  I think I have a fine seat.  Dolly was a bit stiff after all those mountains, but who wouldn't be?  I know, you thought I was just a cyclist.



Aside from preparing for C's arrival, part of the big rush home was that there was a reception for Team Canada at the Official Residence.  All the big names were there, Eddie Shack, Gump Worsley, Stan Mikita even Dave Semenko!  So N and G scrubbed up and hit the gala.  Actually, it was pretty cool.

So kids are here (thank goodness!) and I'm starting to get excited about all our visitors.  I'm up to Nalzovice (say it like you read it...Not!) to supervise  C and her friend C in their various cottage renos.  Mostly I think it's to stop too much day drinking going on! 

I'll post from there!

A shout out to my brother M and all the good people in Calgary who helped him out..God bless.

We shall return!

Thanks for all of your kind comments!  You know it only encourages me. 

Thursday was a fun day.  G wanted to do a mondo ride with lots of climbing.  Me, ....not so much! So he went off on his way and me on mine.  The climb that had taken me almost 2 hours the first day took one hour twenty yesterday!  Whoo hoo!  I really enjoyed the solo ride because I was the only cyclist on the road.  Hardly any traffic and plenty of birds and quiet.  Feels good to ride up a hill under your won physical power.  Stopped in Radda in Chianti for my salumi and pecorino panini..delish!

Don't normally selfie but this was too good not to!

Not a bad lunchtime view.

When G returned from his epic ride we went for gelato (natch) and spent time deciding where to go for dinner.  We ended up at this fantastic place called "Ristorante Malborghetto".  We were greeted by the chef and just had such a lovely time and meal.  Gawd Tuscany is truly like the brochures!

The slop we had to eat in Tuscany!

Today was supposed to be rainy and G's bike had malfunctioned yesterday so we went for a walk up in the hills to compensate for missing out on a bike ride.  We were on a "Strade Bianche" one of the famous white gravels roads of Chianti.  Lots of fun to see the untouristy parts of the region.

Our goal was that castle above G's head, but hunger won out!

After that we hopped in the car to go tour south of Sienna and see the region as it opens out.  It was amazing, vista after vista (punte panaramico after punto panaramico).  Got a few Kodak moments for sure.

Look at the weird pump jockeys in Italy.

Unbelievable...sigh.

Sadly it's our last day here.  We are off to the coast tomorrow for a couple of days. No more cycling but definitely eating "thatsa for a sure!"

One more morning to enjoy this view.

Margaret Peters and "The terrible, horrible no good ride".

"Why do I continue to fall for G's assertion that it's only a hill?  No, it's 800m of climbing!!! I am such an idiot.  Normally I'm a pretty good sport but yesterday's slog was soul-destroying!  The first part of the ride should have been an omen, it was a "white road", or what the Italians call a gravel road.  Not a problem I have the tires etc., but the grade was the problem.  So for 1-2kms I had to push my bike (suddenly e-bikes didn't seem so lame afterall!) but the little town (Vertine) at the top was amazing. 


It's a part of "L'Eroica" route which is this crazy bike race through the Tuscan hills where no one can use any bike stuff after 1972.  Apparently over 7,000 nutjobs show up to race.

Church mosaic at Vertine.

That's the problem is all these little towns at the top are amazing!
Volpaia was so worth the ride, the tears (yes I cried at myself for being such a dolt) and the sweat.  We lunched up there and baked in the sun like lizards!

Before...

10 minutes later!

Of course the ride down hill is what it is all about, 2.5 hrs to ride up, 50 minutes coming down...sheesh.

Lorenzo's salumis

Once back in Gaiole we found the "bike shed" full of meats curing.  That's probably several thousands of Euros right there and when we added our bikes to the mix the value increased immediately!  Ha ha!



Lemme tellya, it was early to bed last night.  Ciao for now.

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.

,

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!