Moving to the Country, Gonna eat a lot of Peaches.

This weekend Lorenzo and I made our way out of Toscana and into Emilia Romagna where his family have a house in the countryside. In winter it is all snowed in, so we wanted to get out there in Summer while the fruit is plentiful and the sun is shining... and it was beautiful! The house is actually the train station-house for the town Strada Casale-  a “town” with a population of around 100- and is surrounded by fruit trees, vineyards and rolling hillsides.

 

 

It was such a relaxing weekend with a walk through the hills (stopping to pick figs, plums, grapes, walnuts, apples and what we think was a cross between an apricot and a peach- yum), an afternoon at the pool, local delicacies at a nearby country festival (as well as dancing with the locals- who, I’m pretty sure, thought we were those young hooligans who didn’t know the steps) and stargazing (my first shooting star in years).

We also stopped to get some milk... One vending machine sells either plastic (20c) or glass bottles (50c) and the other machine- with the drop of a coin and the push of a button- fills your bottle with super cold, delicious fresh milk (500mL=50c, 1L= €1). I love the (technically advanced) country.

Big City Lights.

First and foremost... I'M SORRY! I know it has now been some ridiculous amount of days since my last post, and there is just no excuse that will cut the mustard. So I won't even bother...
So anyway, since my last post I have been working in the pastry section at the hotel from Monday to Friday (9am to 2.30pm) then for 2 or 3 of those days I also work at the pub from 9.30pm to 2.30am, which then means that I have the weekend free- yipeee!! Now that Simone- the head chef at Hotel Brunelleschi- is back from holidays I am exclusively in the pastry section and am finally doing the work I want to do! Breads, gelati, petit fours, creams etc etc. Simone is full of knowledge and, luckily for me, is a really good teacher so I am really enjoying my mornings there.
I don't yet have any photos of the kitchen or the Hotel or anything yet (though I should be going there for dinner on Saturday, so I'll have some soon) so I will leave you with a few photos I have taken of Florence at night with MY NEW CAMERA! (Nikon Coolpix P300- it's a light compact camera but is equipped with some great settings and (in my opinion) takes a pretty decent photo!)

 

Elba

I kinda forgot to mention that 2 weeks ago, just before I started my stage at the hotel, Lorenzo and I made a trip to Elba Island - the biggest island in the Tuscan Archipelago - for 2 days. Unfortunately most of the fist day was pouring with rain, but we made up for it by eating ourselves into near coma states with delicious fresh seafood, and by the next day the sun was out and I was able to enjoy beautiful Elba as one should.

We may have also taken a super fun train ride with the kids... you're only as old as you think you are!

Keeping Occupied.

With working at the pub, my new stage, a friend coming to visit and my school friends leaving town, this past week I have definitely been keeping busy.

My good friend Jenna, who I used to work with in Brisbane, has spent the last 3 months travelling around southeast Asia and the UK and has now made her way into Italy, so for the past week she bunked with me. We took a trip up to Fiesole, drank in some of my favourite bars and I managed to give her a quick tour of the city, but unfortunately I was working a fair chunk of her stay so she had to entertain herself. I must say that she is a must more motivated tourist than I am and I think she has now seen more touristy things in Florence than I have!! Even though it was only a week It was so nice to have a friend like Jenna come and stay and she even cooked us dinner!! Thanks JJ…

I have officially completed the first week of my stage with Hotel Brunelleschi. I am holding my opinion for now because I know that this is one of their slowest months and until the 16th of August the head chef (who I organised this whole thing with) is on holidays. So I my update is that I have survived the first week and that there is a lot less to do than I was expecting… other than that you’ll have to check back in after the 16th!

We may be a little crazy...

After 6 quick weeks, my Italian class has come to an end. I don't know how much I learnt, but I certainly made some good friends... They are almost as crazy as me!!!

  

So now that school is finished, and somehow everything has once again fallen into place after 2 and a half months of trying, I start my stage at Hotel Brunelleschi on Monday!! 3 months of fulltime, unpaid work to learn some Italian cookery- mainly sweets (like tiramisu and gelato.... need I say more!)

Beachy beach

Since I have been in Italy I have SEEN the beach, but I haven't actually had a day AT the beach. Saturday was finally my day. After working until 3am Friday night. waking up at 8am to go to the beach was hard, BUT my willpower came through and I managed to get out of bed! (Proud or what!) After picking up the car and driving to Giorgio Patisserie (necessary stop for coffee and pastries- the best in Florence I will have you know) we were finally on our way to Viareggio by 10am.

In Italy, the method of beaching is quite different to what we're used to back in Australia... At Viareggio there is only one section of free beach, the rest (and more popular option) is that you rent and a piece of beach, umbrella and chairs for the day and that's where you base yourself. And despite being at the beach, swimming is very much a secondary activity for most (and the colour of the water at viareggio confirms why for me) whereas tanning and looking beautiful in your new swimwear is a must.
 

A beautiful, relaxing day on the beach, equipped with large amounts of seafood pasta and sun, but this style of going to the beach makes me feel like I'm in a kind of well manicured umbrella farm, and makes for a rather expensive day! None the less, it was a great day and I'm already looking forward to this weekends prospective beach trip...

Bianca's new colours

So through the chaos of school, work and of course socialising I completely forgot to show off Bianca! I posted a while ago that I was painting my bike and I have indeed finished her (a good month ago… oops, sorry!)

She is still silver but now has white wheel guards and chain cover and is decorated with the badge of Florence- a red giglio (also known as Fleur-de-lis or Florentine Lily) and the name of my new blog “Gelati Days” (which is another reason I haven’t rushed to post Biancas new colours, the blog wasn’t ready! Or maybe I just wasn’t ready to show you! Either way... I cant say it will be all that interesting for you at home considering it is a site aimed at helping foreigners here in Florence, but if you are finding work really that boring…!)