Summer Lock Down is Over
Let the Sun Shine In
Finally, mercifully, the long hot summer heat has broken.
After two full months of not being able to open the shutters in a vain attempt
to keep the house cool, a north wind blew in on Friday, and it’s still blowing.
It brought with it a renewed appetite, an incredible desire to be outdoors
again, a need to get on our bikes and to be out and around.
There is no shortage of festas, so on Saturday, we drove up
to the gorgeous Tuscan town of Stia where they hold a biannual ironworkers
competition. Each ironworker is given three hours to complete a piece based on
a theme and this year’s theme was balance. After wandering the town and seeing the sights, we got back
into the car and with the top down the wind in our hair, the sun on our faces,
we went up and over the mountain pass and into Emilia Romagna and treated
ourselves to a fantastic meal at Locanda della Gambero Rosso, but that deserves
a post all on its own. Stia photos here.
through olive groves and into Assisi.
Assisi photos here.
Which of course leads to building up a spectacular appetite, which means
that we had to stop off at the town of Canarra which is holding its famous
onion festival. Onions in all
shapes, sizes and forms were on sale in their raw state or you could go to one
of the massive tavernas and have an onion meal. Onion pizza, followed by onion
soup, with a side order of onion stuffed tomato, sausages in simmered in
onions, sfizio which is a local dish of baked onions and meat sauce, marinated
onions and for dessert onion tart.
We were seated at a table of 6 kids, the parents were at the next table
over, and we could not have asked for better dining companions. They asked us
at least a million questions about being in the States, they corrected our
Italian, we worked on their English, we tried to explain where Las Vegas is,
and why we don’t need an alarm system for our apartment in New York City. I did buy some of those gorgeous onions, but I'm just a little too onioned out at the moment to enjoy them.
It was a fantastic weekend adventure and it feels great to
be able to go back out and enjoy the world again!