A:

Friday:We had a slow and relaxing morning and Mick and I went for a walk and shared a "Fritella" ie deep fried flat piece of dough served in a bed of lemon flavoured sugar- yum. (M: A kind of overgrown donut without the hole) We had walked past so many of these that we wanted to sample one. We took the nutella-free option! Elias had one with nutella last week and it was a bit rich!

The big plan for the day was a visit to Valpolicella wine country to start at 2pm, arranged with Michela who showed us our flat on the first day. Marthese and Elias were on a tight time line - due back at the station from their two nights in Switzerland at 1.30pm. They pulled up at the door just before Michela. They had had a wonderful time with Wiebke and her parents and spent time in lots of snow.

Unfortunately, Beth didn't feel up to the travel so it was just the four of us for the trip, with Michela and a driver called Sergio for the four hour wine tour. Beth had a sore throat so decided to skip it. Just before we set off Michela introduced us to Marco who owns our unit. He has been the contact point in our dealings with the renting of the unit but we had not actually met him.

The tour mainly involved time at a winery called Zyme not far from Verona in a town called San Pietro in Cariano which is in the region famous for Valpolicella wines. We have had this wine in a wonderful restaurant in Sydney called Vini but it costs a lot less to drink it in restaurants in Italy! At Zyme (link) we were greeted warmly by Chiara (Clare) who showed us around the winery which is inside a cave so the wine barrels are kept at a constant temperature. Chiara's English is perfect. The company bought the cave in 2005. The previous owner, a carpenter, had used it for storage only. Chiara explained that there was not much to do inside to prepare it for the new use. We then went into a lovely and warm room with a huge old wooden table and chairs. This is where we did the wine tasting- in fact one white, eight reds and a grappa to finish! The "Amarone della Valpolicella DOC Classico" is the wine the locals are most proud of and we all enjoyed that one and decided to buy one for New Year's Eve. Mick and I also bought a "Classica Superiore- Ripasso" (M: the Ripasso is a variety we have stumbled across in Sydney - although not from this winery. It involves a second fermentation using the must from the making of Amarone (the link has all kinds of details). Marthese and Elias bought three bottles of wine they liked. There was absolutely no pressure from Chiara to purchase from her- in fact she didn't even raise the issue. (M: It was clear that Chiara really loves her work, and the land that shapes the wines.) Michela took some photos of us and then we set off for the next stop.

This was nearby and was up a small hill for a good view but the mist reduced visibility here. We were able to see the house that Brad Pitt bought though, and Michela told us that Leonardo Di Caprio has also bought a house in Verona in Piazza Bra which is a stone's throw from our unit. (Beth informed us later that we are unlikely to run into Leonardo here on NYE as he is in Australia making "The Great Gatsby.") There was a small bar nearby which we went into and Michela arranged for us to sample the local popular drink- Spritz- which you could have with campari (Mick's choice) or aperol which is like campari but with less alcohol (the choice of the rest of us.) There was also local cheese and various meats, and also chips and nuts to accompany the drink. Sergio had coffee only and then took us back to the unit about 6.

M:

Sergio is Sardinian. He was able to follow the conversations in English pretty well, but was reticent to speak. His English is at least as good as my Italian, but we had a bit of a chat in Italian. He has had an interesting life, driving big trucks across Europe for 8 years, and now working near Lake Garda. The vehicle we were in was the courtesy vehicle that belongs to a Bar for whom he drives. He owns some land in Sardegna still, and cultivates a few hundred olive trees there, returning as often as he can. Like Chiara, he is obviously very attached to his land.

A: I am really glad I had prepared the minestrone for tonight earlier in the day as I did not feel like cooking at that point.(M: and a damn fine minestrone it was too!)