South Chianti Region

South Chianti Region
30-10-2005
8:43 PM

(Ford Fiesta we rented. Got it up to 150km/hr.)

Finished off the workweek strong. The next two weeks are well scoped for me to execute on grand scale. Exciting stuff.

Thursday was another Auditor Night Out. We had reservations at 8 at a place called 13 Gobbi. Good food. Service was sub par. Went to Capocaccia again and ended the night with a couple of Long Islands. Friday was more of the same. Was really hard to get motivated since Italy observes all Saints Day and All Souls Day on Monday and Tuesday. Most people were either out of the office or not really working. Guess it’s the same no matter what country you’re in.

Went to this place called Enoteca Pane e Vino. This place was amazing. 6-course meal and I had no clue what we were eating. We had 13 people total, 8 from CAS, the CFO of GE Oil & Gas and a few of his direct staff. Course after course, I was never let down. I felt like I was a judge on Iron Chef America, which is a great show on the Food Network for all you food lovers. We topped it off with (you guessed it) more wine, this time with a mix of white and red. I’m started to like wine again; more red than white. It helps accentuate the flavor of the food.

I swear all I do is eat, drink, work and sleep.

Saturday morning, Ravi stopped by at 9:15 and we headed to the airport to pick up a rental car. Drove to the southern Chianti region. The weather was decent, but a fog loomed over most of the countryside, shielding the beautiful vineyard regions around the highway.

Our first stop was Montepulciano, which is regarded by Charles as the place with the best wine in all of Italy. I picked DK up a bottle. You have to see the pictures of this place. Words cannot describe how incredible this small town is. It was either too foggy or maybe we were so high up, that the clouds were hovering around the ground.

The city was built on hills. We walked our way to the top to see the fort and the Piazza Grande. This is by far the biggest plaza I’ve seen so far. The bell tower also dates back to the early 15th century. Made our way back down and stopped to grab lunch. I had the Tripe (look it up.)

Side note – I’m horrible at doing my research prior to traveling. Will update the photo captions with names and descriptions at a later date.

We drove through the rest of the countryside on our way to Siena. Another historic and beautiful city. The Piazza del Campo now reigns as the biggest plaza. We took snapshots of the Torre di Mangia and worked our way to the Duomo. Too bad they were reconstructing the front; it looks amazing.

Stopped at the plaza again for a drink. When I told the waiter I wanted he a beer, he asked, “Small, Medium, or Large?” I said “Large” and he kept insisting on giving me the medium. I told him “Large” again and damn, that was a large beer. Check it out in comparison to the lighter.

Road trip songs – “Wake Me Up When September Ends” – Green Day, “Don’t Cha” – Pussycat Dolls. The radio stations in Italy must share CDs. I heard these songs back to back at least 8 times in the 4 hours total we spent driving.

We drove back to Florence and arrive around 9. Stayed in Saturday night to prep for a big day on Sunday.