Florence Travel Notes

I left the farm a few days early to see Florence on my way out. Best decision ever.

The highlights:
1. First night was super rainy. Soggy feet didn't make for the best tourist experience, but Florence looks beautiful damp.

Had scoops of pistachio and nutella gelato. Why not dessert first? Then lasagna and half a bottle of chianti for dinner.

Explored the statues around the Uffizi gallery and Duomo. I must have walked by that cathedral a dozen times during my stay, but I was hit with an unexpected awe each time. It's gorgeous. I remember studying it in high school, but you just can't come close to appreciating this one without seeing it in person.

2. Went for a dip in the indoor pool and a sweat in the sauna and steam room plus a 1 euro glass of wine in the hostel. Weirdest hostel. Such extravagant amenities, right? Check out Plus Hostel if you're ever in the area or Venice, Rome and Prague too.

3. Second day started out with breakfast in bed of bread, chestnut butter, plum jam (all from my former home on the farm). Roamed the Academia Gallery where Michelangelo's David is. Incredible exhibit "Perfection in Form" with side by side comparisons of Robert Mapplethorpe's work with the master's. He worked a lot with the first female body building champion Lisa Lyons back in the 80s. It was funny seeing parents' reactions to all these giant photos of naked men next to the Renaissance statues. I guess I could see why they'd be shocked by all the bare ass, but shouldn't the 3D version be worse?

4. Lunch at a little restaurant that's just a window off a side street between the Duomo and Uffizi Gallery called I Fratellini. Famous for tasty, simple 2.5 euro sandwiches. Had a roasted ham sandwich (prosciutto arrosto) with truffle cream (crema tartufata). Mmmmmm.

5. Walked through the Ponte Vechio across the Arno river to see the Pitti Palace and then basically got lost in some parks and a residential area for about 2 hours. It was a good kind of lost though as it was still daylight, and Florence always has something pretty to look at.

6. Walked up a little climb to the Piazza Michelangelo to have a romantic dinner of 2 euro pizza and watch the sun set on Firenze. Lovely panoramic view of the whole city and all the sights I didn't have time to see up close. Full moon and the city street lamps cast a beautiful reflection on the river Arno. Molto bella! I'll have to return one day.

7. Went for a coffee, hot chocolate and some pastries with a new single serving friend from the hostel. The hot cocoa was like liquid pudding.

8. Back to the hostel to watch a random fireworks show from the rooftop terrace. Another day, another bottle of wine. It's almost as cheap as water here, so it seems like the frugal thing to do. Aaahhh, Firenze.

9. Day three consisted mostly of absorbing some of the best art in the world at the Uffizi Gallery...or at least many of my favorites. There were a lot of the big name masters and paintings, but my favorites were the Caravaggios they had and Boticelli's Annunciation.

I hijacked a few tours and learned some fun new things. For instance, did you know that in addition to the renaissance women's desire to look pale (to avoid looking like poor, sunbathed farmers...much as I do now), they also shaved or plucked their hairlines to enlarge their foreheads? It was supposed to make them look smarter.

I was so overwhelmed, I had to break the museum up into two trips in one day -- about a total of 6 or 7 hours.

10. Lunch again at I Fratellini with the hostel bud. Arugula and pecorini tartufo sandwich and a goat cheese,
fennel, salami.

11. Lots of walking around in more rain. More cheap pizza for dinner. More wine...

12. Best gelato I've encountered so far at Festival of Gelato. I think they have over 70 kinds! I went with rose and chocolate with chili pepper.

13. Caught the midnight train to Milan, which really meant to Pisa, then Genova and then Milan by 9 a.m. the next morning. I'll do anything to save 20 euros on a hostel these days.

A Look Back at the Farm

My time on the farm was an intense period of reflection. More of a lesson in spirituality than agriculture.

It's not at all what I expected, but I don't think life can prepare you for the phenomena and personalities I witnessed there.

I don't own words to describe what that place was like and the things that I saw. I haven't fully digested it all yet and not sure I ever will. Ask me for details the next time I see you in person. It's a story worth trying to get out of me...trust me.

I used to think I was open minded, but my time in the community and with my fellow WWOOFERs has put a giant crack in a wall I never realized existed in my head.

I'll take with me a belly full of pasta, a new appreciation for good olive oil, a bag full of tasty preserves (a goodbye gift from the farmers) and the ability for complete acceptance...even when it comes to the completely unexpected.

On Your Mark, Get Set, Andiamo!

Woke up this morning at 5:50 to catch the first bus off the farm. It's about a 20 min walk to the bus stop.

Pouring rain. Pitch black dark...not too many lights on that early when you live on a farm in the hills of nowhere.

As I round a rocky bend up a hill and away from the farm, I realize I have exactly enough time to just barely make it. Speed walking. Flip flops. Giant backpack on a not so giant person.

Look down at my phone. I really don't have enough time to make it.

Running.

Chestnut shells all over the road. Ouch.

Rocky path turns to massive mudslide hill. We're talking thick, gooey mud.

I suddenly feel like I'm on the second leg of some kind of hippie farmer triathlon.

My flip flops aren't cooperating with the mud. My body feels like I'm running, but I'm barely moving. Just sticking and sliding in the mud. Panting in the rain.

Throw the flip flops off. Sprinting barefoot uphill in muddy, rocky darkness. Soggy, heavy bags. Gross.

I find relief for a moment as I splash through a big puddle and some of the sharp pebbles and twigs wash off the squishy coating of mud on the bottoms of my feet.

It starts to rain even harder.

I'm not even sure if I'm running in the right direction when I look up and see the bus stop just ahead....maybe 15 feet in front of me. I made it!

But then....oh...wait....there...goes...the bus.

Arms flailing in the middle of the narrow road, I scream "Stop! Para! Para! Per favore..."(I'm not even sure if that's proper Italian)

But it doesn't matter. It's too late.

I recently learned the Italian hand gesture for "fuck you!" so I put my fingers together in an angry mudra and shake it at the back of the bus as it speeds away.

And now for the last and most important leg of the hippie farmer triathlon: accepting defeat, doing it all over again, and heading back to the farm to wait for the next bus in two hours.

A true hippie yogi would have to see the light in this situation and know that this was somehow meant to be.

So I took a deep sigh, laughed and felt grateful that I could at least go back to wash the mud from my bare feet and enjoy a hot shower and leisurely breakfast with a nice cup of tea.

Plus, the second time around I got a ride to the bus stop.

A Day in The Life of a Farmer

I remember when I used to go back to BU to do career fairs and speak at meetings. PR students would always enthusiastically ask me, "What's a typical day like for you at a PR agency?"

And I would always enthusiastically answer, "Well, that's a tough question because no day is ever the same!"

But that's not really true. I pretty much just sat at a computer all day everyday sending emails. Sometimes writing press releases. Picking up the phone every now and then. Occasionally visiting a conference room or office.

That's about it.

If a student were to ask me what a typical day of work here is like, that would actually be a tough question. I came here to harvest olives with the farmers, which I've done my fair share of, but they also:

1. Harvest chestnuts (have you ever seen any right off the tree? They're like little balls of porcupines you have to pry apart with gloves that are way too big for you. Ouch.)

2. Make chestnut butter (also available with apple and rum)

3. Make all kinds of preserves (cherry, strawberry, citrus, tomato, apple, plum, mint, etc.)

4. Feed chickens

5. Move rocks and/or dirt (I did tons of this...ended up with bruises all over my hips. An important lesson: don't carry a rock like you would a baby)

6. Clear and build drainage channels

7. Transplant carrots

8. Forage for mushrooms

9. Pick flowers (including saffron!)

10. Eat fruit you randomly stumble across even though you're supposed to be doing farming chores (including persimmons, pomegranates, rosehips, pears, strawberries)

11. Bulldoze things and light fires

All of these I have either done or witnessed during my short stay here.

I honestly still can't say whether I'd prefer life in a cube or on a farm though. My hands and back are probably equally tired...just in different ways. There are still opportunities for creativity and strategic problem solving skills...again, in very different ways.

But it would be hard to give up the two-hour lunches. How could I go back to 15-minutes eating at my desk?

Genoa and My New Foodie Friend

The other day a new WWOOFer arrived on the farm. Julia is a German Jewish Brazilian student at the Culinary Institute of America.

We talk food constantly.

It's fantastic.

We decided to sync our days off together, so we could take a day trip to Genova (or Genoa in English) and enjoy a fabulous lunch and Ligurian sights.

How you fill eight hours in Genova as two hungry tourist girls:

1. Stopped by a little bakery for a croissant filled with cream. Hint of orange. Walking breakfast: cathedrals, palazzos, port.

2. Aquario di Genova: The largest aquarium in Italy. My favorite was the room full of tanks with different types of jellyfish. Felt like a beautiful dream.

Also sharks, crocodiles, dolphins, manatees, chameleons, seahorses, octopuses, turtles, sea urchins, all kinds of colorful, glowing fish, and much more. They even had a Finding Nemo tank filled with most of the cast. Adorable!

Plus a 3D movie called the World of Sharks, which was narrated by an insanely romantic, sexy-voiced Italian man pretending to be a turtle.

3. After all that fish ogling, we were very hungry for some seafood.

Julia's Vino Italiano book (by Mario Batali, David Lynch, Joseph and Lidia Bastanich) and the Lonely Planet guidebook both recommended that we make a stop at a Genovese restaurant and wine shop called Enoteca Sola.

It was a tiny place with only about five other tables, which were all middle-aged Italian men eating alone.

We started with antipasto delle "cose buone dell'enoteca" (which means the good things of the house). Lived up to its name with a delicious assortment of potato salad, anchovy with tomato and some kind of greens, fried artichoke, prosciutto and a spinach frittata.

For our entrees we had rotondino di sitello tonnato insalatina (rolled beef thing with spinach and pinenuts) and frittura di occiugle e calamaretti freschi (fried squid and anchovy with raddichio and tomato salad).

And of course I wouldn't be a Cheng and she wouldn't be a culinary student without a few glasses of vino.

For the fried seafood, we had the Vermentino-Imperia-Vigna U Munte Colle dei Bardellini 08. It's well known in this area for its slightly salty finish, which comes from the seaside air by the Ligurian vineyards...or so say Julia and her wine books.

For the beef dish, we had a Rossese Dolceacqua Riserva- E. Guglielmi 06, which is a big grape varietal from Liguria too. Light. Sweet. Fruity. Pleasant.

Finished off with a plate full of freebie cookies and four types of chocolates. We ate half and stuffed the rest in our pockets.

4. Despite having our fill at lunch, we shopped for a lot of chocolate all day. I'll be living off a bag of mini Kinder eggs for the next few weeks.

5. Caffe Balilla and Gelateria. A week and a half in Italy, and this was my first taste of gelato! I ordered a scoop of panera (I thought this would have something to do with bread, but the gelato lady explained it was just coffee...I still don't get it) and another of crema whisky. Basically Irish coffee in gelato form! An inspired choice if I do say so myself.

6. Mercato Orientale. Maze of stalls with fruits, veggies, nuts, meat, cheese, seafood, flowers. Such beautiful produce!