Just when I think Italy couldn’t get any dumber ...

               ...it goes and does something like this…and TOTALLY redeems itself!!!

               Italians man, we’ve finally met the good ones.  After much exploring and getting lost in the most convoluted city imaginable, we’ve discovered the allure of Italy.  It started out at an open air market that mom, Tanya and I were at when this young Italian guy came up to us.  He was charming, handsome and making us laugh really hard while hitting on mom.  Then we stumbled upon this wine bar owned by a young guy named Zeno.  He welcomed us in, sat us down and basically gave us the history of Italian wine.  He was so passionate and informative.  He even brought out a map of all the wine regions of Italy.  We just ate up everything he said and made him laugh so I think he liked us.  Therefore, he gave us tastings of the rarest wines Italy offers.  We’re talkin vineyards that produce only 100 bottles of a certain vintage a year!  He brought out rare foods to pair with the different wines.  We were trying to be adventurous so we just let him bring out whatever he wanted.  So, he brought out liver pate’, raw pork and beef tartare.  We also had his homemade ravioli that melted in your mouth.  Everything was superb…apart from the beef tartare.  Mom, Tanya and I each had two bites (and we were proud of those two bites) but the idea was just too much for us to handle.  However, Jared polished his off, he loved it. 

Later as he was explaining Italy’s best years for harvesting, I accidently burped with reckless abandon.  It was one of those burps you think is gonna be under your breath- but it wasn’t.  I was sure nobody noticed until I glanced at Tanya and saw her grinning at me.  I was so embarrassed. Then I thought maybe Zeno didn’t hear me until he paused, looked at me and said “everyone is human.”  At that point I felt like Barney from the Simpsons and I just wanted to die!  I guess I did my part to keep Americans reputation spotless and clean.

But literally the entire time we were there (4 hours) there was an Italian couple sitting about 6 inches from us, whispering to each other, being rude and just staring at our table - as usual.  It was so obvious, at different points in the night Tanya and then Jared turned to look at them and they would just stare and after a few moments turn to each other and bust out laughing!  So after they left I finally asked Zeno “What’s the deal???  Some of these locals look at us like we’re circus freaks and we have a kick me sign on our back!”  He laughed and apologized for them and said he noticed them doing it too.  He said “Those are the Italians I don’t like and I think they do it out of ignorance. They probably didn’t like that I was speaking English to you so they took it upon themselves to be rude.”  You could tell that he was annoyed but we’re still not totally satisfied with the answer.  Investigation is underway and the case is still open. 

               Today we finally made it out of Florence and went to the Tuscan Chianti region.  We went through a castle that was built in 1109 and get this, it was the place where the conspirators for Lorenzo Medici’s assassination met in the 15^th century.  Those conspirators included the Pope who owed the Medici family and wanted him taken care of!  More reason to continue to be Roman Catholic!  But I digress, on to the wine!  We’ve developed a new appreciation for Chianti and other Italian wines.  The Italians say that most Chianti is not good in the states so we’ll have to bring a few of the bottles we’ve been tasting back for everyone!  We love you and miss you all.  But especially baby goo!!!!!!!!! Nana says hi and misses everyone too.  Love to Aunt Cathy!