Berlin day 2

Berlin wall and drinks

 

Chestnuts and mulled wine

We did manage to have some fun over Christmas and New Year (I know I am really behind in updating this). By New Years Eve mom and dad were feeling a bit better so we enjoyed our meal and a sparkling wine comparison.

I love roasted chestnuts but last year and this year we shouldn't find any so decided to make them ourselves. You can just roast them int he oven but where is the fun in that? Dad had an old washing machine drum which has been converted to a fire barrel and he made a grill out of car engine oil dip sticks. (It worked fine until the plastic ends melted off onto the grass.)

Grill

 We had a little trouble get it to light. Who knew Christmas paper was not flammable? So dad decided to help it along. With I believe it was a bottle of break fluid something. Anyway very flammable.

Considering 

Having fun

A little too much

 It was all going well until he squirted it in for a little too long and the fire travelled up the stream to the mouth of the bottle. This happened 3 times. Luckily each time we managed to put it out before it got into the bottle of highly flammable liquid and create us a Molotov cocktail. Though we did set the lawn on fire each time while putting it out. Mom didn't care. It just burnt the mss anyway.
We got a good fire going.

And mom made some great mulled wine while dad and I were causing chaos in the back garden.

Chestnuts on.

Note the burnt plastic the floor.

Enjoying our efforts.

Portland

A couple of weeks ago, I went on a business trip to out other offices in the States and I took my grad Demi with me. The trip out there started with a 11.5 hr trip to San Fransisco but it wasn't as bad as it sounds. We upgraded to premium economy as it was amazing! I have never had so much room on a flight. The seat even had a foot rest that came up. 

We had about 3 hrs in San Fransisco before our next flight to Portland so found a nice little bar to try some California wines.

My Pinot Noir wine flight

We got to the hotel early evening on the Saturday. It was later than expected as I had to spend some time tracking down my suitcase which went on a little adventure. It finally got delivered to the hotel 24 hrs later. Luckily I had a few bits in my hand luggage and did a bit of hand washing that night so I didn't smell too badly the next day. I hope.

The hotel was very nice (a perk of travelling for business - there was no way I could afford it myself) and was wine themed. That was a coincidence I swear. 

Unusual hotel room art.

More wine theme.

One of the hotel's bars. Yes, just one of them.

On the Sunday afternoon it was the Super Bowl so after our tour (which will be in another post) we found a bar to watch the game and grab something to eat. This was Demi's first time in the states so I tried to expose her to as much 'American" as possible. As this was a typical American bar. The game was seriously boring but we had good fun people watching. Some of them were quite intense. At the end there was a raffle and Demi won a snow board. She was not very amused at this - it was as big as she is - and to the disgust of everyone who heard the story, she exchanged it with another winner for a  T-shirt. 

A winner!

Over the week, we were working so spent most of the time in the office. The food in Portland is amazing and most lunch times we wondered over and tried some of the different food carts. The chefs will use the food carts to try out new recipes etc so the food is awesome.
And on an evening before dinner we often headed to the bar. Yes our Portland office has it's own bar upstairs. You just help yourself. In London we can't always even get enough milk for our tea. Seems a little unfair.

Office bar.

Siena and farmhouse lunch

On the Sunday we did a Tuscany tour, hitting some of the Tuscany countryside high lights. This meant another early morning but this one was well worth it. (I have split this day into two posts as I have so many photos.) On the way our, the tour guide, Sara, explained some of the history of Florence. It was more than we heard on the tour bus we did a few days before and was much more relevant. 

The first stop was Siena where we had a walking tour which was great. Our guide there lived in Siena and told us all the bits we would never have known without her. 

She showed us the Medici crest which is all over Florence and Siena. When the Medici's took over, they put it on the walls everywhere to stake their claim. They were a great family, very keen on the arts, though apparently this was to off-set their sins in money loaning. (And if the TV show is true, somewhat of a criminal empire as well.)

Medici crest.

Outside the oldest still working bank in the world.

Famous faces.

She took us through the old streets and explained the district system in Siena, which each district having their own animal mascot. Siena is much smaller than Florence, with whom they have been rivals for centuries. They were in the middle of their chestnut festival. Unfortunately the festival was only on the evening.

In the forest district. 

Normally the tour would go through the cathedral but it was a Sunday morning so closed to tourists. Still the Cathedral from the outside was very impressive.

Instead of going in to the Cathedral, we went into Santa Maria della Scala, Europes oldest hospital (working until about 20 years ago) and used for pilgrims on the pilgrim road from Canterbury to the Holy Lands. We only got to see a little but the main part of the tour was a room with beautiful frescos. (We also googled what a fresco actually was - it's a painting which is paint with water colours onto fresh wet plaster so sinks into the plaster.)

Tending to the pilgrims

Clothing the poor.

The hospital also took in orphans, educating them and even allowing them to marry afterwards (not sure why this was important but apparently it was). She also told us of a custom which was used during the wedding that I am glad has disappeared from custom. The woman had to make the symbol of a woman's parts while the man of a mans with their clothes while being blessed, I think to convince the priest they knew what they had to do. Whether they had to act it out, we weren't sure.

Getting married. 

Outside we wondered through to outer part of the cathedral. They were planning to extend it and almost double it in size, mainly to make it compete with the Cathedral in Florence but work stopped when the Black death hit Italy and never started again.

Unfinished part of the Cathedral. 

The end of the tour was in Siena town square, though it's a sea shell shape. Twice a year they have a horse race around the square. Each distract is given a horse to back and the first to win (with or without the jockey - it's the horse that counts) is declared the winner and the district gets to keep a banner until the next race (and bragging rights I guess). We saw a video on this and I think I'll pass. It looked more than a little crazy.

Siena city centre.

Pigeon enjoying the fountain.

In the town "square"

We had about 30 mins free so got a coffee and did some people watching before having a little wonder into some of the buildings. 

Inside the town hall square.

Lunch was at a farm house and vineyard, for a 3 course dinner with paired wines over looking San Gimignano, our next stop and the Tuscany countryside. 

The white wine paired with the bruschetta, and the first red went well with the pasta and meat sauce (or tomato sauce for Caroline). The last was a reserve to go with the roast pork and potatoes. Our end of the table was very restrained and only tried a bit of 2 of them. I did not see the point in that and happily enjoyed all of them.

The view over lunch.

Desert was a glass of holy wine (a sweet wine) and biscotti. Caroline's face when she tried this was brilliant, a revelation. It really was very good and made biscotti into a treat.

Desert.

Happily buzzed. 

Looking towards San Gimignano.

The rolling Tuscany hillside. 

After lunch we had a short time to take photos and go to the shop where I got some of the holy wine. Christmas is going to me brilliant!