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First catch your octopus - 10 days studying Italian in Tuscany.

First catch your octopus - 10 days studying Italian in Tuscany.

Old May 19th, 2011, 02:24 PM
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DAY 4


It’s proving important to write things down as I go along as I am starting to forget what we did each day!

Mornings take the same course - 4 hours of lessons with a coffee break after about 2 hours or so, which we generally take at the bar in the central square, where they do a very good cappuccino for €2. lessons comprise us taking turns to read a passage or do an exercise, usually photocopied from a text book, or working on our own or in pairs, after which we would discuss, in italian, the correct answers. Having a group of only 4 was great; though the dynamics did get a bit "samey" it was much better than having a much larger group.

after lunch, [which is sacrosanct; no sandwiches at the desk or pasty on the run] Maria has organised a group excursion to a local beauty-spot for which swimming costumes are required, but before that, we are visiting a near-by hill-top town called "Pitigliano". Our first stop is a "photo-opp" - a chance to take pictures and observe the town's history from afar, as it's history is evident from its appearance. In essence, it looks like a trifle - every layer tells a story, with the etruscans at the bottom, the roman and medieval layers above and renaissance layer like whipped cream on top. then we drive into the town and start to explore, with Maria giving us the historical perspective in very great detail.

Personally I would have liked longer just to wander around, but we have a timetable to [try to] stick to. so it's off to Saturnia to visit and swim in the hot springs which cascade down the hill into the pools below. To my mind it's a bit warm for wallowing around in water temps of about 38C, but the others seem to enjoy it. Perhaps it would be better in January! then we have to tear ourselves away to get to the all important restaurant at the appointed time, where we have a booking for wine-tasting and dinner.

after a lot of research, i eventually found the restaurant we went to here:

http://www.cacioevino.it/

not to be confused with the restaurant of the same name on sicily, Cacio e vino is a small to medium sized simple looking restaurant which by 8pm on a tuesday was absolutely packed with people and had a queue all evening. no wander Maria didn't want to lose our table. we were presented with a glass each [apart from Maria who was driving] of a very good local white wine, and a huge platter of antipasti to share, which we later discovered was normally a serving for 3 people, not 5.

Then, along with a glass of very acceptable red wine, we each had a dish the name of which escapes me, but which looked like a pair of breasts sitting together on a plate, and was some sort of combination of ham, cheese, spinach and breadcrumbs, with a hard crust on top and a melting consistency underneath. Finally we were presented with a huge dish of potato gratin, which was yummy. no-one said that they wanted any meat!

we couldn't resist the puds though, the best of which was perfectly fresh ricotta and honey.

Then it was time for home, with Maria positively throwing her car around the corners, causing one of our number [B2] to feel quite ill, so we had to stop so she could go in the front, which seemed to help. This style of driving was unusual for Maria who was generally the slowest italian driver I've ever met, but she was keen to get home, so on this occasion put her foot down. WHile we were going along, I became horribly aware that i had lost a piece of tooth and though it didn't hurt, it was pretty uncomfortable. hoping against hope that i would be able to ignore it for the rest of the holiday, I was relieved to get back to Orbetello and my temporary home. Buona sera, tutti!

tomorrow - I go for an early morning walk, and find....




Trip to Pitigliano followed by Saturnia and meal in local restaurant - large antipasto, funny but very tasty spinach and ricotta dumplings, potatoes, and chocolate torte - but fresh ricotta with honey better. wine tasting?
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Old May 20th, 2011, 02:16 AM
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PS - please ignore the last paragraph - it was my running note to me as i went along, and somehow inserted itself at the bottom of my report.
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Old May 20th, 2011, 02:23 AM
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Fewer details please. I just want to know if you can speak Italian now. Just a or will do.

Xie Xie
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Old May 20th, 2011, 03:06 AM
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Keep the details! (I am trying to picture in my mind the dish that looked like two breasts on the plate
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Old May 20th, 2011, 07:03 AM
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Ann...having tooth trouble while traveling is no fun experience. While I was in Vietnam in March a friend I was traveling with bit into a piece of chewy candy and out came a tooth! She was not a happy camper. She did find a dentist, but refused dental treatment and instead bought the most expensive tube of polident ever, to keep the tooth in place during the day.
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Old May 20th, 2011, 07:39 AM
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Ann, I didn't realize you were off taking your class already. I will catch up on your adventures now. Thank you--and have fun!
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Old May 20th, 2011, 08:29 AM
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Just a question. Looking back at my post earlier today, I see a pictograph(sort of a green cloud with a white mark in the middle of it) and have no idea what it is or how it got there. I hope that it has no offensive meaning. sorry.
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Old May 20th, 2011, 08:29 AM
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Just a question. Looking back at my post earlier today, I see a pictograph(sort of a green cloud with a white mark in the middle of it) and have no idea what it is or how it got there. I hope that it has no offensive meaning. sorry.
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Old May 20th, 2011, 08:47 AM
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It's a goblin face!

I can't remember what the name for little pictures is, but there are a lot of them and you get them by typing in a combination of keys. Hopefully someone else will know what they are.

Great report Ann, I'm really enjoying it, and thinking that I might consider doing something like this one day. My Italian is very basic restaurant stuff, so I really admire you for persevering with it at home and getting to AS standard. You must be pretty good to have got that far. Good luck with doing the A2.

Right now - even as I type! - I am watching the Giro d'Italia on eurosports (sky 411). I'm not into cycling myself, but I love watching these big races, the scenery is spectacular and the views from the helicopter-cam are fabulous. Today's route is through the mountains

http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/gir...a-his/stage-13

and tomorrow there's a huge 15km downhill section on Monte Crostis.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/gir...a-his/stage-13
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Old May 20th, 2011, 12:07 PM
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hi julia - thanks for the update on the giro! Vederò domani. [does that answer your question, Cold?]

i love watching the cycling, and on the first couple of afternoons was able to find it on RAI 3 [or was it 2?] though the coverage was not as good as we get of the tour de France in the UK and it was not terribly easy to follow. I did however manage to work out that Cav had been pipped to the post in the sprint on the first day i watched, and that there was a very sad fatality on the 2nd. i was able to catch up in the mornings by reading the local paper [rough translation, "The Tyreenian' - bit like the West Briton at home] over breakfast, and though i didn't get it all, i was able more or less to follow what was occurring. Far better than i could on TV, which remained a bit of a mystery to me - perhaps because much of Italian TV consists of scantily clad women disporting themselves, even on footy programmes.

Irishface - non probs. you can download a guide to these "emoticons" and how to create them but I've given up - I could only every be bothered with the smiley face, and I've forgotten even how to do that one.
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Old May 20th, 2011, 12:10 PM
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DAY 5 Thursday May 12th

This morning started with me waking up early, so I decided to go for a walk around the town, hoping to find the launderette I thought I’d spotted when I was wobbling around on la bici, and the times that the bicycle shop was open so I could take the d...n thing back. But just on from the cathedral, I came across the highly polished brass plaque for a dentist....could I? would they be open at 8.45? should I?

perché non? [why not?] so I rang the bell, got buzzed in, and was greeted by a young woman dressed in standard dental nurse uniform, who asked me what did I want? I explained, [I hope] that I had problems with a tooth, would the dentist be able to see me at all? and while she was explaining that he couldn’t, he emerged and started to ask me the same questions. In the end, I think he realised that with my bad italian [why didn’t I pay more attention to that on-line lesson on “At the dentist”?] and his not terribly good english, it would be quicker to have a look. Thankfully he was able to do a temporary repair, [which is still going strong despite his warnings it would only last a week or so] and charged me €30 - cash of course, this IS Italy - for about 20 mins work. Grazie mille!

Singing his praises I arrived at school only a little late, and may well have got him some new patients. Normal lessons and lunch were followed by a trip to the beach at another place I’d never heard of called Sedonia; miles of beach which in the UK would be covered in prone bodies had so few bathers and sun-worshippers that you could bathe nude and no-one would know. We didn’t, but you could. To get there, we had to walk through woods where if you strayed off the path, you’d be trampling roman pottery underfoot. On the way back, we came across a herd of deer so tame that they came up to be petted - in the hope of food of course. Sadly this feeding had led them to lose their fear of humans, but there was little I could do about that, so I kept my feelings to myself and just said how sweet they were.

After this, we went to look at the nearby ruins of a city built in only 6 years by the Romans with the help of the Etruscans. Massive walls [how did they do that?] surround the foundations and the odd wall of a city complete with water systems, plumbing, shops, a rich man’s home, and a temple to Diana. and no fences, guards or security. There are apparently so many roman and other historical remains that to guard them all, let alone restore them, would be prohibitive, so they just don’t bother. generally people don’t know about them, so they are left alone.

The evening was given over to a farewell dinner to the young german student at the home of her host family, who were supposed to be giving us a cooking lesson as well. In truth we didn’t get much of a lesson, though I did pick up a few ideas for example about adding capers to chicken liver pate which was used to make the crostini, but we did get some fabulous Tuscan home cooking. Chicken liver crostini were followed by home made fresh tagliatelli con sugo di coniglio, [rabbit stew ] frittatta, roast fish [bream? and orata] with potatoes and salad, fragolli with lemon [and orange] sugar, nut torte, and coffee! 3 hours later we staggered out of their apartment feeling replete - in fact one of our number [one of the Bs] rather disgraced herself by being sick before she left. this was politely put down to mixing too many different sorts of wine as we had brought prosseco to toast our departing student and a red wine to drink with the meal, but the rest of us were ok. anyway, Maria was clearly mortified and I have no idea what our hostess really thought about it. I suppose they can put it down to our being those funny foreigners!
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Old May 20th, 2011, 01:27 PM
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DAY 6 Friday, May 13th

4 hours lessons again, after which we said goodbye to Eva, who had arrived at the school with 2 words of italian 6 weeks ago, [ciao and pizza, to answer your question] and was leaving with enough italian to make herself understood reasonably well. The family that she had been staying with [where we’d had dinner last night] had obviously taken her to their hearts and helped her a lot, but she had worked very hard at her homework, and she’d done very well.

After a lunch of bresaola [which the italians were surprised to learn one can get in the UK] and salad, there was a trip to il Giardino die Tarocchi, http://www.nikidesaintphalle.com/
which was created by a swiss artist in the style of Gaudi. Who knew that such a place existed 150 km from Rome? I confess that when we arrived I wasn’t that impressed but as our teacher explained it all I found myself intrigued and suddenly found that 2 hours had flown by. After that we went for a wander round a nearby hill town, and then ended up at a restaurant in Orbetello called “I Pescatori “- apparently it’s run by a co-operative of the fishermen of the lagoon, and we were able to eat a mixed antipasto of a variety of local fish, followed by two different types of spaghetti, [the zucchini and bottarga was very good] and to share a roasted fish and potatoes, plus water and wine, all for €50. and I would never have found it by myself!

Tomorrow’s my last day here, before heading off to Florence for a few days. We’re apparently going off on a day trip somewhere - another 8 hours speaking italian but as its my last day, I’d better make the most of it!
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Old May 20th, 2011, 03:51 PM
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This has been delightful, Ann. Looking forward to your Florence report, as well.
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Old May 20th, 2011, 03:51 PM
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This has been delightful, Ann. Looking forward to your Florence report, as well.
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Old May 21st, 2011, 01:41 AM
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thanks, holly -so delightful in fact, you said it twice!
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Old May 21st, 2011, 03:03 AM
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Brava, annhig! More on Florence we hope?
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Old May 21st, 2011, 04:11 AM
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Thanks, Ann, for sharing. It was a pleasure to read of your trip. I am looking forward to reading about the Florence part.
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Old May 21st, 2011, 09:37 AM
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DAY 7 Saturday May 14th

Truthfully, I’ve not got much idea where we went today, and for part of the time I’m not sure that Maria had either [she doesn’t believe in maps, apparently] but w got there and back eventually. Before we left, I wandered round the town for an hour or so looking for presents for the family [particularly DD, who has done a lot for me while I’ve been away, not to mention sending me funny texts from time to time] and I thought I’d found a jacket she’d like, but Maria put me off it, saying we’d certainly find something bettter today, and of course, we didn’t, and even if we had, I couldn’t have afforded the prices they charge the romans who are clearly the cash cows round here.

Despite my best efforts I have not been able to find the name of the main place we went to; I know that it was another hill town somewhere near Siena, with a romanesque cathedral and huge arch across a road in the middle of the town. Maria kindly explained again about romanesque arches being round and gothic ones being pointy; I do think that Italians must have a strange idea of England and the english - in fact I’m sure of it. Apparently we have no idea how to make a stew, but we do eat octopus, and we know nothing about architecture, and very little about history, or art. or perhaps that's just language students!

It being lunch-time, [actually by now it was 2pm more or less as the drive had taken a very long time] we had to find somewhere for lunch, and wandering up a side street, [you NEVER eat in the main piazza - that’s for tourists] we came across a little restaurant whose menu caught Maria’s eye. Regardless of what one might want to eat [for example a soup or a salad] it is necessary to read the entire menu before making a decision as to whether to eat there or not. That has two functions: firstly to educate oneself as to what is on offer, but secondly, to reassure oneself that they have a decent cook - apparently what is on the menu will indicate whether they can cook or not. duly satisfied, we went in and after much discussion about how this and that and the other dish was cooked, we went for bruschetta and soup. This I was learning is perfectly normal and accepted, in fact welcomed as it shows that one is serious about food and will bring to the proceedings a proper appreciation of the cook’s efforts. By co-incidence, the soup turned out to be the very one that I’d been reading about only that morning in the book I’d bought in Orbetello about cooking on the Maremma area of Tuscany, called “acquacotta”. It is apparently an ancient dish originally made by shepherds on the hillsides, but though I didn’t dare say it, it bore a strong resemblence to the soup I often make at home - chopped onions, carrots and celery cooked in boiling water, [at home I’d use stock, but shepherds probably didn’t have that to hand] greens and or herbs added, then an egg per person poached in the soup before serving.

After lunch we went for a wander round the town, found the massive archway [built by the romans ?] for some reason in the middle of the town, treated ourselves to a gelato, and then wandered back to the car to find that although this time Maria had locked the doors, she’d left the window open! Then we set off back towards Orbetello, diverting round a ruined monastery that would have been an even more impressive sight before someone nicked the lead off the roof, causing it to fall in, and failing totally to find the Siena-Grossetto superstrade until we were almost in Siena itself.

By the time we got back it was already 9pm, so I was pretty keen to get my packing done, but first of all I asked Angelina, who was on the desk at the hotel, to mak up my bill so I could settle it that night, having an early start [so long as Maria turned up on time to take me to the station!]. I knew that the bill wasn’t going to be massive as the language school had arranged a special rate, but I was very surprised when she handed me a bill for only €200 for 7 nights B&B - I’d thought it was going to be €50 per night. I was even more surprised to be told that I could pay the €200 by credit card, but I was expected, this being Italy, to pay the rest in cash. Which of course I didn’t have.

Of course there was an ATM nearby, but I don’t like using them when the bank is closed in case they eat your card, and I was particularly unhappy as I was due to leave the next morning, so if it kept my card, I would be stuck. But Angelina was adamant, she had made out the bill and it couldn’t be changed. so off I went to the ATM and of course everything was fine, but by the time I got back to the hotel I was in a fair state of disgruntlement, and when I pointed out that they should have told me about this arrangement before the bill was written, she then said that if I’d insisted, she’d have changed it, which was the exact opposite of what she’d said before. That just about did it for me, and I decided I had to go for a last walk round sleepy Orbetello, before I said something I’d regret.

Sleepy? What I had completely missed during the day was the stage being erected in the square, in preparation for what turned out to be a show which could best be called “Orbetello’s got Talent”. Or not. A succession of fresh-faced hopefuls, starting with the youngest, paraded onto the stage, clapped madly before, during, and after their performances by their adoring families and friends, to “entertain” the populace. a bright moment was provided by a magician, whose ast need no translation, and what I assume was another one by a comedian, but my italian wasn’t up to understanding his jokes, and i wasn’t feeling too happy anyway. At least I now know the italian for “out of tune”.
To cap it all, when I went back to my hotel to go to bed, just as I was dropping off there was a tremendous bang - it turned out that they were setting off the fireworks seemingly from just outside my room. oh well, I wasn’t particularly tired anyway.

Tomorrow - Florence!
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Old May 21st, 2011, 01:13 PM
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Day 8 Sunday May 15th

Well, I’m on the train. Angelina and I made up this morning, and had a nice discussion, all in italian because she does not speak any english, about how she had come to Italy from Domenica with her daughter, who now speaks perfect english [though not to me!] People like her and Paula have gone out of their way to make me feel at home and to help me with my italian, which is perhaps another advantage of being in a small place, rather than a large city, but of course I have nothing to compare it with.

Amazingly, Maria arrived on time to pick me up, and we were at the station early enough to be able to have a coffee, and find the subway which I had missed on arrival. Less surprisingly, the train was on time to the minute and after many repetitons of “grazie” and “ciao”, we were off - arrivederci Orbetello, arrivederla Maria.

How much i have learnt from my week I am not sure; it will perhaps be easier to judge when I try to use my italian in Florence, with people who are less patient and helpful.
The “freccia bianca” train is a far cry from the treno regionale that I caught on the way here - it’s clean and modern and the toilets don’t smell - unlike the one on the station. no wonder they don’t advertise its existence! but the ticket from Orbetello to Pisa is more than 2x the price - €25 as gainst €10. but I have a nice comfy seat with a table where I can use my laptop [ until it runs out of power as i forgot to charge it up last night] and it’s quite a lot quicker - we don’t stop at every little village as we appeared to on the way here.

My plans for today?

I decided before I left that I would treat myself to a bit of a splurge - brunch at the Four Seasons. My excuse is that they have a garden I very much want to see which is only open to guests; also it is reasonably close to my hotel, so I can get a taxi to the Four Seasons, and then after lunch walk round to where I am staying. Perfetto! After that - no idea. The weather appears to have changed today, so I’m not sure what I’ll do if it rains - I had an idea to catch the bus up to the Piazzale Michelangelo [thanks to the fodorite who told me that it’s the no 12 or 13 bus!] and then walk back down.

Tomorrow, I am intending to do a tour of all the museums that I have’t done before - San Marco, the Bargello, possibly the Pitti Palace, and the church of Santa Croce, which I don’t know at all. Also because Maria talked me out of the jacket I wanted to buy for DD, I’ll need to do some shopping; this morning she very sweetly offered to get it for me and post it, and I would send her the money! I wasn’t sure about her at first, and she is a bit disorganised, but she had been tremendously kind and helpful to me, and shown me places I would never have found by myself - and she had no obligation to take me anywhere. If in Friday afternoon she had simply said that it wasn’t worthwhile to do an excursion for one person, I could not have grumbled; instead she spent the whole of the rest of the day and evening with me, and the whole of Saturday, and took me to the station today. We had so many laughs as well, and I’m sure that talking to her has been just as useful as the formal lessons, if not more. I also doubt that I would have got that from one of the schools in Florence, without paying a whole heap more on top of the basic price.

We’re coming up to the place where I saw the deer on the journey down - I saw some egrets this morning, and yesterday a hoopoe or two, also some wild white orchids. The countryside is amazingly rich in flora and fauna once one gets away from the towns and there are apprently lots of marked footpaths in the national parks. There does seem to be a bit of an obsession with having a guide on such excursions, or perhaps that’s just Maria, who as a guide herself, expects to have one when she goes somewhere new, whereas we would be more likely to use a map and go by ourselves ....and probably get lost and miss loads of interesting things!

well - now we have the refreshment cart - who knew? but I have brought my own small bottle of water [filled from the larger one I bought at the corner shop; 1.5 litres for 50c] so I’m using that instead. Note to self - if forced to buy a small bottle in a cafe, [usually €1] keep the bottle! I stupidly threw the first one I bought away when it was empty, and had to buy another. BTW, I should also mention that in the Fretta Bianca train there is a luggage space in the middle of the carriage, so that you don’t have to worry about leaving it out of sight at the end of the carriage and it being nicked. And two armed police just walked through the carriage - are italian train passendgers particularly unruly? or perhaps it’s because there are elections today, who can tell?

Stopping now as the power is about to go ----ciao!
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Old May 21st, 2011, 01:30 PM
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THat's "freccia bianca" BTW - my laptop keeps using some sort of automatic spell check which is getting very boring.
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