Panzano and a pool day.

I got up about 5:30 AM, so I had a chance to make some of Allessandro's coffee in Davin's french press while trying to catch up on my blog.

The weather on the IPod weather app, which is the governing authority on weather (sarcasm), showed mid 80s and sunny, so we were going to have a pool day, but the morning looked pretty cloudy.

I don't believe that I have posted any pictures of the villa, yet.  It is 5 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms, so it is very spacious.

Since it was still early, I started poking around the villa and I decided to open up one of the coffee grinders.  Much to my surprise, it appears that people from different countries have secretly been leaving coins in the coffee grinder for people that like to snoop like me to find.  I will leave a coin as well before I leave.  I haven't looked to see what all countries are represented yet, but it is quite a few.

Since it didn't look like a the pool was going to be an option, we decided to run to a market in a nearby town to grab some fresh meat, cheese, veggies, fruits, and wine, because Davin is going to cook for us tonight.

Five of us piled into Brian and Sadie's rented Fiat Panda and then we were off like a herd of pandas.

 

Panzano, which is where the market was, is another hilltop city and it is only about 15 minutes away.

The market was filled with people and there appeared to only be one fruit and veggie station, so Kelly and I were in charge of the produce.  You take a number and wait to be called.  Once you are called, you attempt to order the items that you need.  Kelly did a good portion of the ordering and she did quite well.  Thanks to gelato, I knew how to say several of the items.

Davin and his shallots.

 

 After we hit the market, we tried to find Da Dario, who is a very famous butcher in Italy.  We are looking for some chickens for tonight's meal.

After finding the shop, we had some samples, and then I bought some cured meats for the villa, but he didn't sell and chicken.

On the way back to the car, we stopped in what we thought was a tiny wine shop.  He had an unbelievable selection.  None of the bottles had prices on them.  They were listed below the bottle and with no computer, anything that you wanted to buy, he would walk around and write down the price to begin to ring up the total.

I had a successful trip through the store.  By the end of today, I would find the two bottles that I wanted to bring back from Italy with me.  The two Ca' Marcandas below.  I bought an extra one of the teal Vistamare for the villa as well.

After returning to Greve and dropping off our stuff at the villa, we headed back into town to hit the bread and meat shops, but most of them were closed for the afternoon and it is also Sunday.  We did hit the oldest meat shop in Italy.  I will get better pictures on the next trip into town.

Here is the aging room for the cheeses.

The rest of the day was a pool day and we put a good dent in our supply.  At one point, Brian and Sadie ran back into town for more wine.

We thought that it would be a great idea to display the damage on the side of the pool. :)

 The final damage for TODAY!

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