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| Coolest pump ever! |
Okay so we heard about this winery in Solopaca. Unfortunately, it is only open on Saturdays. Since Howard left for CA today, we pilled in the Hatteroth's car for a family outing. It was a pretty drive through the country. The leaves were actually starting to change out there so it finally looked like fall here. Many of the tree were a pretty orange but when we got up close we realized they had actual oranges on them and no leaves! Funny! The winery was the actual manufacturing plant for the wine. They had many different bottles to choose from. It was a typical wine store. They did sell wine in damijohns which we were super excited about. For 6 euros, you could get a 5 liter damijohn of wine. We thought it was a great deal and planned on getting two each. The neatest part of the winery is the fact that they fill up bottles using gas pumps! They greet you before you enter the store. So many customers just pulled their cars up to the pumps and then woman filled the up. You could pick different types of wine and whether you wanted white or red wine. It was the coolest thing! So many people had the 24 liter damijohn in their car and pulled up to the pump to fill up! We really wanted the damijohns but we also wanted to have the lady fill something for us. Then we found out you could get a damijohn filled. We were so excited. It seems so silly, but it was so cool to stand at the pump and have the lady fill our bottle with wine. An Italian, who spoke English, told us we had stumbled upon a great place. He said it was the best tasting wine around! He told us we were fortunate to have found this place! We agreed. This was a really cool experience! Then we went in to pay. The wine was 4 euros and the damijohns were 2 euros each. Since we both got two 5 liter damijohns, we expected to pay 24 euros. When the man rang us up, it only came to 14 euros!! We were surprised, shocked and not sure what to do. So we just decided to hide our smiles and get in the car and go!! Janelle, James and I were so excited about our trip and we have not even tasted one sip of wine! If it is as good as the man said, this will be a fabulous day!!
It only got better.....on the way home we found two 24 liter damijohns by the side of the road! So Janelle and I each got one! Great day!!!
My parents came to Italy on a package deal. They got airfair, hotel and a car for $700 a piece. The deal was too good to pass up. They did not need the hotel but we still wanted to see the Amalfi coast. I emailed and asked the hotel if we could have two rooms for Saturday night instead of staying the week. They were kind enough to allow this change so we drove down Saturday after Delaney's soccer game. We drove down to Vietri and then started our trip up the Amalfi coast. We did stay in Vietri long enough to get some pottery and pick up some more sea glass for our collection =) The drive to Minori was pretty. It was getting dark which was a good thing. The road was so narrow that being able to see the lights coming was actually helpful as I navigated around some blind corners. Minori was about 20 minutes north of Vietri. We found the hotel, Villa Romana, a few blocks from the water. We got settled in our room and found out they had dinner at seven. The chef had a special menu and he would come into the dinning room to prepare the meal. We thought that sounded like fun so we made reservations. While we waited, we walked down to the beach. It was a bit windy but it was a nice walk through Italian streets. The girls played in the sand for a bit while we collected some sea glass. It was a nice night for a walk. We found a cute pottery shop, where the girls got a magnet to member the trip. Mom got a really pretty tile painted with the city of Minori on it. We wandered through the cobble streets back to the hotel. There were only two table for dinner. The chef made his own egg pasta which was outstanding! Then we had a fish dish with pickled pumpkin on it. It sounds yucky but it was really good. We were all happy eaters! Dessert were little popovers that were very spongy. They were good except they were drenched in limoncello. Italians love the stuff. So the dessert wasn't the best but it was a really fun meal! The next morning we had a big breakfast at the hotel and then started our Amalfi drive. The views were just spectacular! It is amazing to see the ocean look green! The cliffs and building built into these mountains are just incredible. It was hard to drive and not look around. Although, I really did have to pay attention. This is a tricky drive with narrow roads and crazy Italians on these roads. The narrow curves and cars parked on the sides of the roads at random make this a challenging drive. It is one you must do at least once! The views are so worth it. There are plenty of overlooks to stop at along the way so that even the driver can enjoy! It was such a neat experience. I am glad we got to do it with Grammy and Grandpappy!
