Pisa, Italy

On Sunday, Chuck and I drove to Pisa.  It is in the region of Tuscany near the western coast of Italy. Pisa is about a two and a half hour drive southwest of Maranello.  Of course, we went to the the famous Leaning Tower (Torre Pendente).  The Leaning Tower is in the Piazza dei Miracoli (Square of Miracles), which houses the Duomo (Cathedral), the Baptistry, and the Camposanto (the monumental cemetery).  Though it was a cold day, the weather was clear and sunny.

The Duomo

We bought tickets to go inside and climb up the Leaning Tower.  It was pretty pricey, fifteen euros per person.  But we got an amazing view of the city and a good workout climbing the stairs...though St. Peter's Basilica was more of a butt burner.  At the start of the climbing, there was a definite leaning felt and felt my body trying to right itself.  As you climbed higher up, you felt more upright.

I thought the end of the stairs were at the bells, but there is one more set of stairs to climb to the very tip top of the tower.  

A lot of tourists!

Leaning Tower of Chuck

The Baptistry

The Duomo

Everyone was trying to hold up the Leaning Tower whereas we were trying to push it over!!

Inside the Duomo

After sightseeing, we end up eating at a sidewalk trattoria near the Piazza dei Miracoli.  Chuck ordered a pizza with pepperoni and olives (with the pits).  The pizza is different that the region where we live, Emilia Romangna, in that the dough is thicker, it's cheesier and more saucier.  I ordered spaghetti vongole viaci (spaghetti with small Italian clams) which is a traditional Tuscany dish.  Of course, our meal wouldn't be complete without a liter of wine.  Very delicious!

During Christmas time, climbing Santa Clauses are seen all over the balconies in Italy.  Also, there are a lot of holiday decorated lights above the streets as well as on buildings and lighted signs "Auguri" when you enter and exit a town.  "Auguri" means "best wishes", "congratulations".   

Chuck and I wish everyone a Merry Christmas (Buon Natale) and a Happy New Year (Felice Anno Nuovo)!  

Snowboarding in Abetone

Last Saturday, Chuck and I went snowboarding at Abetone.  Abetone is the most important ski resort in Italy and well known all over the world.  It is just a short drive from Maranello, about two hours away and south-west of Maranello.   

It was really nice that it was just a short drive up to the mountains as we were able to sleep in a little and take our time getting our equipment ready.  Chuck made us a calorie loaded breakfast so that we'd be energized for boarding all day. 

Breakfast of champions!

Whew!  We made all our equipment fit in the Fiat Panda.

We were worried that there wasn't going to be much snow on the mountains since on the drive up to Abetone, the snow was scarce on the ground.  We were pleasantly surprised to find more snow on the ground than we expected.  

Abetone is at 1400 metres above sea level.  It owes its name to a huge fir which was cut down towards the half of the 19th century in order to build the road which links the Tuscany Grand Ducky to the Estensi's lands.  The ski slopes are situated between four linked valleys:  Val di Luce, Valle dello Scoltenna, Valle del Sestalone, and Valle di Lima.  These valleys form one of the most beautiful, famous and natural scenery of the Appenines.

Chuck getting the boards ready and getting dressed.

This is the first time this season to go snowboarding and so I needed more breaks than normal.  My legs weren't used to all that squatting and my abdominals were getting more action than they've seen in awhile!  The snow was groomed and hard-packed.  Not the best of conditions, but at least it wasn't icy and didn't catch any edges on my board.  Also, the weather was really nice; a sunny and clear day.  Visibility was awesome.

I needed that rest break!

Posing on the chair lift.

We were famished by noon and decided to take our lunch.  We went into town and found a restaurant at the Hotel Regina.  I had a salad (insalata mista) and tagliatelle con porcini e tartufo (pasta with porcini mushrooms and truffles).  Chuck had spaghetti con tartufo (pasta with truffles).  Oh my goodness!  The pasta was freshly made and the truffles were delicious.  A very tasty lunch.  We also shared a sangiovese from Tuscany....it was really difficult to get back on the board, but we did it!

Enjoying the beautiful view

We ended up doing two more runs down the mountain after lunch.  We headed to the other side of the mountain where there were better runs and a gondola!  After four hours of boarding, we were tired and headed back home to Maranello.  Overall, a very fun day of snowboarding.

Japanese Food in Maranello

Knowing that I was tired of eating pasta, Chuck suggested eating at the new Japanese restaurant in Maranello, Izakaya:  Ristorante Giapponese.  It is less than a five minute walk from our apartment and across the street from the Ferrari museum.  Though the Japanese restaurants that I've been to here and in Rome does not have the variety of seafood as in Seattle, it was a nice change from pasta. 

We started with a miso soup (zuppa di miso) for Chuck.  I was waiting for udon soup with vegetable tempura which is what I thought I ordered.   Though it wasn't a soup, but a stir-fry with udon noodles (udon con tempura).  I guess when reading the menu, I should of looked for zuppa di udon con tempura verdure.  We also ordered edamame and for sushi; we tried salmon (salmone), tuna (tonno), and sweet shrimp (gamberi dolci) nigiri and futomaki rolls.  The salmon and tuna were pretty fresh and tasted good.  But I wasn't so keen on the shrimp nigiri as it was raw and tasted fishy.  

We also had three bottles of hot sake and so Chuck was acting a bit silly!!  Overall, the food was good and would dine there again; it's a nice break from eating Italian.

Izakaya:  Restorante Giapponese

Via D.  Ferrari 32/34

Maranello (MO), Italia

Tele.  0536 946480

Innsbruck, Austria

Chuck and I were still jet lagged Saturday morning and woke up at 4:30 a.m.  So, we had a head start driving to Innsbruck, Austria which is only a three hour drive from Maranello.  We weren't sure whether to spend a night there, so we packed an overnight suitcase anyways.  

It was a rainy and gray day as we headed in our rental car up north to Austria.  We were pretty surprised to see many tourist buses on the autostrade (highway).  Not only were there many tourist buses on the roads, but also pulled over at the service areas.  We pulled up to a couple of them, thinking that the next one wasn't going to be as crowded as the first, but they were all packed full of people heading up north to either the mountains or towns in Austria.  It took ten minutes just to pay for a croissant, gummy bears and a bag of chips.  Chuck really wanted an espresso, but when we saw the line, that desire quickly vanished.

It's pretty pricey driving on the highway.  We had to pay a toll near Maranello to just before the Italian-Austria border.  To travel on Austria's motorways, you are required to purchase a Vignette toll pass which costs 7.60 euros and good for ten days.  Not only that, but we had to pay an additional 8 euros at the toll booth in Austria!!

It wasn't snowing too much earlier in the day; but when we left later in the afternoon, it started to snow much harder.  It was pretty treacherous and slow-going driving home on the pass, especially in a Fiat Panda!  The mountains have been getting a good amount of snow.  There was probably a foot or so of snow on tops of buildings, highway rails.  It really made me yearn for snowboarding in the mountains!!

But I was really excited for the Christkindlmarkt which I haven't been to one since I was a kid in Germany.  Most of my fond Christmas memories have been those spent in Germany as its very into the Christmas spirit.  I envisioned yummy sweets, roasted chestnuts, beautiful ornaments, and the yummy sweets!!

Everywhere you looked there were many lights hanging about the buildings and all these dolls as well on the buildings.  They had these giant-sized dolls in the alleys as well on the sides of the buildings.

We enjoyed these delicious fried "doughnut" which you either have alone with powdered sugar or with powdered sugar and jam, or with just sauerkraut.  We chose the jam and it was oh so good!  Especially with the powdered sugar, which I wished had asked for more of!!

There were many booths at the markets as well as the sidewalk stores that displayed and sold masses of Christmas ornaments.  At the market, there were Christmas trees for sale, music, a children's theater, mules for children to ride on....though Chuck was trying to get me to ride on!  Yeah right!!

We couldn't resist the gluhwein as it smelt very good as well as warmed us.  It was really cold outside, which I wasn't at all prepared for!  Neither was Chuck, as we both didn't bring our gloves with us and I couldn't finish knitting the mittens on time.  So the gluhwein was a nice treat.  Gluhwein is mulled wine, usually prepared from red wine and heated and spiced with cinnamon, cloves, citrus, sugar.  For 2.30 euros we were able to keep the cup for a souvenir with the gluhwein.

Despite all the ornaments, I ended up just buying one!  I really wanted to buy these one made of egg shells, but thought it'd be too delicate to bring back in a suitcase.  We decided not to stay as there were so many Italian tourists that we didn't think we'd get a room and so ended up driving back home, which wasn't very far at all and made it safely home.