Quand au DR Congo: May 2009

What crazy Italian adventures that continue on for us... as we again traveled to Tuscany. This time we had traveling friends... the family (Mum and D-dad Miller). These two made the best traveling companions. As for the trip... Well, it started slightly behind schedule when we missed the flight out of Stansted (London) to Verona. Therefore, new tickets were purchased (Ryan Air thanks alot) and we had to fly 4 hours out of our way to Turin (Torino). This was our first encounter with slow foods Italy on this trip. And this time it was in an most unexpected place, a gas station!!!Needless to say the driving was insane and the Italian gas stations served 5 course meals (named -AUTOGRILL, Autogrills FOREVER!!). Did we mention that Italian drivers just use signs and stoplights and speedlimits as more of a suggestion. Anyways, the trip did behold some of the most amazing views of of the great Tuscan sun. We stayed for the majority of our trip in an Agroturismo Farm house in Castalina in Chianti, Tuscany. Here are some of the highlights...

You know you are in Tuscany when...
1. Eating in under 2 hours is considered fast food.
2. Red Wine out numbers the human population.
3. Making 50 pounds of fresh pasta is not enough to last a week (we did this
seriously).
4. Wine expos are held with few buses to bus people out of.
5. Restaurants open at 8pm to start dinner 'early'
6. Food can not be served without Olive oil.
7. When directions are given in Italian that often lead to abandoned parking lots that
are far away from key destinations.
8. Fresh bread is served at every meal.
9. Red pants are frequently worn by both men and women (IAN too)!
10. Drivers seem amazingly pleasant when they are not speeding by you, barely missing
and maiming you while you leisurely ride your bicycle.
11. When you rent a car at the airport and they tell you to go ahead and just take it, which is a problem, because you are accustomed to a client/rental agent's rigorous inspection of dents, dings and scratches that already existed on the car before you rented it. When you ask how they will know if you 'messed it up' up returning the car, they simply say, 'we'll be able to tell...don't worry about it.' That statement can send the most suspicious chills down the spinal/sphincter cord of anyone who has ever rented a car. By the way, our late model Ford Focus, in comparison to the BMWs and Alpha Romeos that whizzed by us honking their horns, drove like the original Model T - slow, deadly and without seat belts. Very Fred Flintstone-ish.
12. Need I say more?
13. Sunsets are your best light.

More on Slow Foods...http://www.slowfood.com (The Slow Food Movement)
The Slow Food movement promotes important things in the Tuscan region such as:
• forming and sustaining seed banks to preserve indigenous varieties of plant and animal food sources in collaboration with local food providers
• developing an "ark of taste" for each eco-zone, where local culinary traditions and local foods are celebrated
• preserving and promoting local and traditional food products, along with their lore and preparation
• organising small-scale processing (including facilities for slaughtering and producing short run products)
• organising celebrations of local cuisine within regions

Our Agroturismo Villa among the Vineyards in Tuscany