Cowboy Without A Horse

Welp folks here we are in Sion, Svizzera. Hmm, what to say about this place. Well for starters, the Z and Y on the keyboard have switched places so please excuse anz(y) mistakes. Its soooo irritating, among many of the annoyances we are experiencing, but hez its part of the trip, right?!
Sion, is the oldest city in Svizzera, dating back 7000 years. It has 4 castles and nice mountain panoramas. It is though, verz verz expensive. One coffe costs 3.50 CHF, which is about 5 USD!!!!!! We refuse this price. We went to the grocery store to get food to cook at our hostel (which is filled with Swiss teenagers...grrr) and it cost 35 francs for pasta, sauce, juice, bananas, bottled water, one chocolate bar! You get the picture. We are having withdrawals for Italian espresso, cheap fruit, and the liveliness that thrives in every Italian city.
One of the main reasons we decided to pop up here was to get our passports stamped just in case we ran into trouble for being here over our 90-day tourist visa and unfortunately we came up short on this endeavor. We found the office and the correct door after walking up and down flights of stairs to find the right one office(my one year of French in college is failing me). This is the strangest office we have ever seen. Just to paint the picture we stepped into a small, stuffy room full of five doors and no person in sight. Carli decided to open one, a natural step I guess, but I couldn't pull myself together enough to do it. Inside the door was a woman waiting behind a glass window and not a smile to be seen, so of course our reaction is to laugh nervously and she does not find this amusing. I cannot stop giggling, and she doesnt speak English. Long story short, our passports didnt get stamped and we are out of here early tomorrow morning, so if we get detained back in NY you will understand why....ha.

We will be getting on the train tomorrow for Siena Italy where we'll stay for 2 nights. Crossing our fingers, we are hoping to rent Vespas to tour the area's wine region! Dont worry Dad, Siena is a alot smaller than Roma and we will be wearing helmets :)

The farm we just moved from was beauuuutiful, although the nearest village, Cessole, was quite similar to the Twilight Zone, no joke. It was creepy. The lack of people was strange, but even stranger were the 3 or 4 people we did interact with were well, um, odd. The farm, Tenuta Antica, runs an agriturismo business where guests came to stay and eat dinner, lunch, and breakfast. The family (Mauro, Pia, their two sons Daniele and Luca and nonna Anna) were very sweet and welcoming. We worked in the vineyard replacing vine stakes, planted a vegetable garden, washed dishes during the meal hours, made tagliatelle (egg pasta) and prepared antipasti dishes. A very well-rounded experience indeed. Two other WWOOFers were there, one girl and one boy, both Italian. Eugenia, who was very sweet and easy to laugh and Giovanni (cowboy without a horse) who was always trying to improve our Italian and asking us random questions...haha. We miss them both!!* Hello Maurociuciu, if you're reading this!*

Carli and I had the day off for her birthday, so we bussed it to Acqui Terme for a few hours, where we walked the streets, drank really yummy cappucini, ate breadsticks, bought cheap fruit, and got gelato. Back at Tenuta Antica our friends had prepared a BBQ lunch and Pia made an incredible torta with a cream 25 on top! It was a great day that ended with skipping rocks on the river and drinking wine at night. Bellisima.

Ok, this keyboard sucks. Will write more in Siena and post pictures there too.
Is everyone enjoying the spring? We hope its as lovely there as it is here!
Love from M and C.

Casa a Mare...

Having fun harvesting teeny tiny broccoli in Bibbona Toscana in the sun!

Sweet, sweaty, burning leg VICTORY! We made it to the Mediterraneo on our bikes finally after trying and failing once. Just in time for the sunset and 30 mintues of relaxation before we had to jump back on the saddle and race the 4 miles back to beat the darkness.



Bella.



Pure happiness in her new vintage sweater and all.



Still wish I was a professional dancer. I love the beach!



Marina di Bibbona



Our farmer friend Giorgio, aka Nutcracker!



Marina, wife of Nutcracker. Amazing traditional Italian cook and woman, enough said, basta!

Yum. Hunger and stress set in at the Pisa Terminale after we got on the wrong train leaving Cecina. Instead of heading to Acqui Terme, we ended up in Pisa :) At least there was sunshine and lots of creepy men. As of now, we are in Genova and will (cross our fingers) train it to Cessole tomorrow where our new farmers await.

Pelle e scarpe.

Night stroll.

It's  not gelato, for those of you aware of Mag's one year no ice cream goal, it's sorbet. 

Sole, sole, sole. 

After Maggie ate tripe ordering it not knowing what is was until it came to the table.  Props to her for eating half of it.

The snowing twins.

Hard to beat this view.  The treck up never ending stairs was well worth it.

Someone forgot there was a pizza in the oven.

Firenze a notte. 

You might not believe it, but Mickey Mouse lives here.  Fact.

Cecina, Toscana

Our daily schedule here in Bibbona, a large agricultural area outside the city of Cecina where the largest market in Toscana resides every Tuesday, has been breakfast at 8 am and work at 8:45ish. The two people, Marina and Giorgio, farming alongside are incredible farmers! I do not understand how they accomplish to grow so many varieties of vegetables and fruits. So far we have hoed onions and garlic, tilled fertilizer into asparagus, harvested arugula, strawberries, parsely, broccoli, celery, rapini, kale, and onions! The have two large greenhouses with young tomatoes, fava beans, zucchini, arugula and parsely already growing happily!
The farm is surrounded by vineyards and the mare is just 6km away.
Again, we have made an attempt to get to the ocean and again we have failed. We headed out on Saturday after working in the morning on their two mountain bikes. The first warning came after my tire was basically flat only 20 minutes after Giorgio had pumped it up. The determintation pumps deep in Carli and I's veins though, so we decided to venture out anyways. When we want something we will go to great lengths...thanks again Mom! Along the dusty roads we rode past vineyard after vineyard and could see the sea in the far off distance, calling to us! We carried a backpack full of tricks; Scopa, water, rainjacket, camera, Nutella and telephone. After only 15 minutes of blissful riding, my tire decided it had had enough and my legs are not in tip top condition, so I had to retire the bike. The only option was to lock it to a sign post and hop on the back of Carli's bike! Unlike many of the photos we have seen of Toscana, the beautiful rolling hills, this strada was flat! Thank Dio, poor Carli having to carry her sister! Ha. We were a sight, especially with all the laughter we were unable to hold back. Seriously, our abdominal muscles were sore the next day from laughing so hard. A man on a tractor hard at work gave us the "what's up" hand gesture that we love to much. I had the camera going but didnt capture it because of my uncontrollable laughter. Trust me, this video will make you sick! Long story short, we never made it the ocean. We probably didnt follow the directions (in Italian, mind you) correctly and with only one bike working we had to turn back...on foot! We will make another attempt soon!

In a few days, we leave Cecina for Firenze or better know as Florence for those of you English speakers.

Grandma Flo...we wish you were here with us traveling to Florence! I love you so much!

Buongiorno Tutti...Baciiii!
M

Here and there.

Aaahhh Toscana....

New farm in Bibbona, outside Cecina. 

The Gang Nero.

Missed me some Domenico, Giuseppina's dad.  Funniest man ever. 

Back in Sicignano!  Making pasta for din din with friends.

Maggie and I faught over whose jumping picture would make the blog.  I guess I'm the nicer sister.  :)  Sunset in Taormina with Mt. Etna in the background. 

Greek Theater in Taormina.

Little white lie.

It would not be true travel without something completely ridiculous occuring.  Our day started out a bit frantic and ended a bit overwhelming.  We were a bit slow moving in the morning, not sleeping much the night before as we had spent most of the night out saying our final farewells to friends, so natuarally we were a little late leaving Sicignano for Salerno.  We arrived in Salerno approximately ten minutes before our train departed not having bought our tickets yet.  Alas, with a little lady luck on our side the train was running five minutes behind.  All was good until we arrived in Rome where we had fifteen minutes switch trains.  As we are in line to get off the train and grab our bags we hear the sound of rocks falling on the ground.  Our stomachs immediately sink as we remember Maggie had stuffed the outside pockets of her bag with rocks and stones from the river in Piedimonte.  People are stepping over her bag and looking at the rocks on the ground like 'what crazy idiot stuffs their bag with rocks!?'  Feeling stupid and embarassed we decide not to pick up the rocks on the ground and continue to grab my bag only to find that the strap has gotten jammed in the door not allowing it to close.  Worried that the train was going to soon leave Maggie frantically pulls out a pair of fabric scisors (we purchased in Sicignano for 5 euro to cut my hair) and we cut the strap off (sorry Michelle, I'll get it fixed once we get home) grap our bags and get the hell out of dodge just in time to catch our final train to Cecina.  The train was hot, stuffy and smelly but we didn't care.  We were on our way.

Arriving in Cecina we were greated by Marina, our new host!  After about two minutes we learned that someone had told a little white lie, on the WWOOF Italia farm list, stating she spoke a 'little' English.  Va bene, va bene.  Looks like our Italian is going to continue to improve!  Feeling very tired from our journey, and lack of sleep, dinner was a bit overwhelming as Georgeo, Marina's husband, spoke a millions miles a minute to us as if we spoke the language.  We had a pretty good laugh about the entire day once we got back to our room and wished you could have all been here to experience it with us!

The farm is beautiful and so is Tuscany!  The farm itself is huge and it is hard to believe that only Marina and  Georgeo run it by themselves.  Pictures to come.

Ok, that's all for now.  We are sitting in a supermarket using the internet, weird I know, and our time is about to run out.  Love to all,

C & M