Day 63: Vinegar and Verona

I don't have my computer with me, so I won't be able to post pictures until next week.. So just enjoy the post and hold tight!

Monday - July 19, 2010:

I knew 5 a.m. would come early, but not this harshly. It came, I got up, got on the bus and promptly fell back to sleep! This week we are journeying up to Northern Italy and the first stop for us was Verona, home of Juliet's famous balcony.

The bus ride was going to consume most of our day, so I had to find ways to entertain myself besides sleeping. I read about 150 pages of Breaking Dawn (this is my secod time to read this Stephanie Meyer novel... I only found it necessary after just watching Eclipse), listened to my freshly added playlists and edited most of the pictures on my camera. You'd think this would have left me without time to twiddle my thumbs... Well let me tell you how long we were on the bus -- about 6 hours.

The first leg of the ride took us to Modena and here we visited a local factory producing balsamic vinegar, “Acetaia del Cristo”. We got off the bus, grateful to be in the presence of fresh air and a breeze, and met this sweet man named Danielle. He was going to be the guide of our tour of the place and tell us about to process of making the Balsamic. Now I was too consumed with the potent Balsamic smell and taking pictures of the wooden barrels to really listen to what he was saying... It's basically the same process as wine, is what I gathered. My ears did perk up when he started talking about the barrels, and I learned that they age the vinegar in different barrels that are made of different types of wood. For example, there's oak, cherry, juniper and 4 others I can't really remember (oops). So I found that very interesting! Also, their vinegar is different than what we would normally buy in a grocery store because their vinegar has been aged either 12+ years or 25+ years, where as the other ones were botteled 6 months or a year after againg. So they are very proud of their Balsamic!

{Huge tub of Balsamic... I guess this is why it smelt so good in the storehouse!}

{Storage containers for display}

{Every single winery/balsamic production place is so pretty and green -- whoever their lawn maintenance people are do a fabulous job}

{The barrel storage room -- enough Balsamic to feed an army}

{Loving the Balsamic smell -- wanting to taste it now...}

{Kasi wafting the Balsamic smell from the barrel}

{These are the really old barrels kept in the top part of the storage room}

{This one is from 1848! Craziness. Doesn't it make you curious to know what it tastes like?}

{I was trying to capture everything green, but Kasi's shirt didn't make the color cut -- ooops!}

If the smell of the barrel sotrage room was any indication of how this stuff was going to taste, then we were really going to be in for a treat! So Danielle led us out of the barrel room and into this indoor room. We spotted a long table, set for 20+, and figured this must be the tasting area... And we were correct! So we took our seats, grabbed our spoons and were ready for the first round of samples.

Danielle came by, put about 3 drops of a younger (meaning aged 12+ years) Balsamic aged in all different types of wooden barrels and I was thinking "how am I suppsed to accurately taste this with such a miniscule amount of sample?" Well, Danielle knows what he's doing because that's the only amount I needed -- small amount carries a big punch! As soon as the Balsamic hit my tongue, my tastebuds woke up - it had such rich flavor! Just when I was wanting more, he came by with another sample. This time it was a younger Balsamic aged in Cherry barrels. This was my favorite, hands down. It was the perfect balance between tart and sweet and could go good on meats, salads and also desserts. After these, we tried one aged in juniper barrels (not my favorite but still delicious) and one that was aged 25+ years (it almost tasted like liccorice or chocolate). But Danielle knows us well and he ended the tasting with a bang -- a.k.a. a scoop of vanilla ice cream with a little bit of extra old Balsamic aged in Cherry barrels. I would have never dreamed of this combination, but it was so heavenly! I am definitely going to be trying this when I get back home. Sadly, that was the finale and our visit was over, so everyone purchased what they wanted and we headed back to the bus.

{Caitlyn wafting her first Balsamic sample}

{Cute little tasting spoons}

{YUM. I highly suggest you try and recreate this dessert}

{Emily, me, Becca and Kasi with their ice cream}

This bus part of the trip took only about 2 hours to get to Verona. Once we got into the city the bus dropped us off, we hiked across the cobblestones with our luggage and arrived at our hotel for the night -- Hotel Europa. Cinzia gave us our room assignments, we dropped our stuff off and then headed back out to explore Verona. Before I get off subject, let me tell you home much I love this hotel. It is in prime location, is very clean, has free WiFi, complimentary breakfast and air conditioning! It's a shame we're only staying one night...

Exploring the city revealed to me how much I love Verona. It is a very quiet town, but still has a lot going on. I like it because it's not as crowded as some of the other cities we've visited and it's really clean for Italy. It's big enough to have really good shopping, but not too big to feel unsafe or at pick-pocketing risk. I'm just a fan all around! So we walked around for an hour (time in which I scored some Converse Slims that I had been covering ever since Brittany came back from London with a pair) before we had to be back at the hotel for dinner.

Sunday was Cinzia's ** birthday (I better not reveal her age on the blog), so tonight was a celebration dinner in ode to Cinzia -- our translator, savior and hero! We went to this not touristy restaurant she knew about and it was a really enjoyable meal! Becca and I split grilled chicken and polenta (American with an Italian spin) and it was very good. We sat next to Peek and had a pleasant... no that's a lie, it was stressful... We had an intense conversation about our future and jobs and life... It was scary. I just want to be young, live life, check some things off my Bucket List (to be revealed later) and have Faith that everything is going to work out eventually. Is that so much to ask? So, needless to say, I left there more stressed and a lot more tired then I came. The only remedy was to head back to the Hotel, wash my face, watch some Friends on YouTube (always makes me happier) and hit the pillow!

{A few pictures of the town of Verona!}

{There was a shop named Ballin -- I couldn't resist taking a picture of it. This one is for you Lisa!}

{So inside joke from this summer -- one night we were walking to Genzano and we asked Cinzia if we should say "Hey, puppy puppy" if we see a dog, and she was like no, in Italian it is "Ciao cane cane (pronounced cah-nay)" -- ever since then we can't stop saying "Ciao cane cane" to anything and everything! It's very odd. So anyways, we saw this "cane" (that means dog in Italian) apron and had to take a picture of it!}

{A little square in Verona -- very pretty!}

{Toasting to Cinzia's birthday at dinner}

{Meg and Anna Curl giving the toast..}

{And Cinzia loving the toast!}

I can't believe day one of our Northern Italy trip has come and gone... That just means that I must "Carpe Diem" even more tomorrow! Ciao from Verona :)

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