Zweet White Wine

Day Two of our Italian adventure: Domenica

We woke up slowly and made a late American breakfast of french toast and pancakes for our Italian family. Caitlin had maple syrup (which Daniele apparently likes to put on chocolate chip cookies). After breakfast we showered and left with the family and Eugen to go to Alba, a small wine town near Asti. We went to an art show (The Roberto Longhi collection) which I really liked, and then we walked around Alba going in churches and taking lots of pictures of the streets, buildings and piazze. There were lots of people out shopping, but not many other thing open. We visited Chiesa della Maddelena (built in the middle of the 18th century by the architect Bernardo Antonio Vittone, it was the church belonging to the Dominican convent founded by Margherita di Savoia, whose remains are conserved there) and Chiesa di San Domenico (built in 1292; there was a very cool art show inside). We window shopped a bit (which is a sport in Italy) and admired the cute old men with their fur-wearing wives.

After a quick stop at the tourist office, we left Alba and drove through the vineyards to Il Castello di Serralunga d'Alba, the castle near Alba. When we got there, the lady said tours were over for the evening, but Paolo convinced her to give us a sunset tour of the castle. Caitlin translated here and there for us. The castle was beautiful, and the views of the town and the Alps were even more beautiful. The sun setting over Alba was breathtaking, and probably one of my favorite parts of the trip.

We took a little cat nap on the way home, and when we got back to the house we chatted it up with Eugen, Caitlin's new German brother for awhile about big cities and small towns. And, when Eugen asked us if we knew all the state capitals in the U.S., we started making a list that took us all night to complete. Dinner was red rice, chicken marsala and brocolli with tiramisu and Moscato (sweet white wine, or "zweet-ah, white-ah, wine-ah" as Giusi said) for dessert.) I was actually able to choke down the Moscato without too much trouble (it tasted like Welch's white grape juice). I was so excited to be drinking wine in Italy without hating it! After dinner we made panini for our lunches for the next day with peanut butter, jelly, nutella, and sweet bread. We had to say goodbye to Giusi that night because she left for Rome that night and we wouldn't see her again before we left. AFter goodbyes and a little research on what to see in Milan, we headed off to bed.