Day 30; HOME Safely and a Glorious Reminder!

Thinking I was completely finished with this blog after yesterday's post, and thus taking no additional pictures, I was excited to hear from hordes of our blog readers (1), who wanted a final wrap-up.  And not to disappoint any faithful readers, here is the unphotoed conclusion:

We arose at 5:59 according to the alarm clock, but neither Peggy nor I had slept the night before...wondering about potential logistic challenges, pondering the Glory of God's faithfulness and watchcare, reviewing the great memories and preparing for our early return flight...we left the Casa Ressia with a cold peach and refrigerated yogurt...graciously left for us by Alessandro.

We left Alessandro 4 bottles of wine that would have put us above British Airways free allowance weight limits...
The 2 1/2 hour ride to Linate airport on the east side of Milan was relatively uneventful, with just a few slowdowns due to truck traffic jams and a bit of rush hour..and there were no surprises when I returned our Cinque Cento.  The $921 I paid for the month was the only cost...and there was no damage...and so far, no speeding tickets mailed to us:)

Flights were uneventful, although long (10 hours from London to SFO)... and we breezed through customs (legally, as always...), carefully and accurately documenting our purchases: Balsamic Vinegar ($180....as you can imagine there is a loooong story about this), 2 bottles of digestivos ($20) and 4 bottles of wine ($30) for a total of $230.

Dan was at SFO to meet us within just a few minutes of our entry onto the arrival curb...and I drove us directly to a favorite Gubitz haunt...the In-N -Out burger near the Nut Tree in Vacaville.

Arrived home by 8:30 pm, in time for some luggage unloading, kudos to Dan for such a great caretaking job, refreshing shower and sack time at about 10, while watching a few past highlight shows of the Tour de France.
My first peek at the alarm clock saw the exact time that all travelers know all too well...3:15 am.  Thankfully falling back asleep, Peggy and I both arose about 7 to start the "day after" with normal travel duties...feeding cats, washes, vacuuming, shopping, mail toss, bill paying, email responding and light eating...

This is where the glorious reminder comes in...thanks to Dan.  He wanted to share with me the salami he bought at Raleys in case I wanted a slice or two with my eggs.  Looking at the package, and totally unknown to him...he had purchased something special.  I saw the label.  It was called Bussetto Salami!  This is the tiniest little town the the Jordan's and the Gubitzs rode bicycles to from Zibello..and the logo on the package was a picture of the Verdi Theater right in the town square that we had cycled, had pizza and returned to on two separate days ....is this just an amazing coincidence?  I think not.  Rather, God personally was reminding me again, that He is with me always..even to Italy, even to Bussetto, even in Granite Bay, wherever I go...and, as well, wherever you go...even unto the end of the age.  and that's a Glorious reminder!

Praise the Lord for His gracious care of us throughout this past month.

Bless each one of you for reading these ramblings...you made me feel as though you were with me...and I hope the feeling was mutual.

Really signing off, Ben...really...with abounding love and a prayer that God would bless each of you...ciao bella!  Gary and Peggy Gubitz

Day 28...It's Finally Here...Our Last Day

Normal on-line check-in, packing decisions, alarm clock strategies and travel clothes selection aside...today we had to find the most typical, cost effective Dolcetto d'Alba to bring back to our buddy Jeff Runqhuist...Alessandro directed us at noon to a local producer that he feels fit the criteria we were looking for:

This baby was only 4.5 euros per bottle.  Or about $5.50.  But before we get to the details, can you tell me exactly what this "face of Peggy" (a term coined by the Jordans) is saying?

If you think this face said..."I wonder how I'm really going to kill those invading raccoons"  ...you'd be wrong!
If you think this face said..."That's the most exciting information about wine making I've ever heard!"...you'd be wrong.
If you think this face said..."That book "London" is so exciting I can't wait to find some new gems for Gary"...you'd be wrong!
If you think this face said..."My husband is so dreamy, I can't wait to give him another kiss."  you'd be...well that's enough guessing...
My opinion is that this face is saying "I've heard this wine making rap sooooooooo many times that I'm about to drop off in a deep slumber...can't we just get to the tasting part?"...but of course, what the face really said...only Peggy knows for sure.

Okay back to the tour...these little bottles on the top of the barrels are used in the summer to let the wine expand without bursting the tanks

They must be making some real coin at this place since they are driving Benz cars and doing some major remodeling...like adding this beautiful cellar about 20 feet underground:

The real joy of the visit was the fact that our tour guide was none other than Debbie Petersen!

The rest of their wines were good, and very cost effective (the most expensive Barbaresco was only 17 euros)...but none of the wines passed the key criteria...when I open it in 3 months with my dear friends, will I say "Wow, this is really super".  Since they tasted like solid wines, but nothing super special, they remain in the cellar of Adriano Marco and Vittorio :)))

Time for lunch, we went into the centro of Alba for Pizza....these were large pizzas so Peggy and I each had our own half...even so they were huge! Peggy needed olives and onions and little love

And I needed pure buffalo mozz, spicy oil and a whole lotta love...they had to send mine back for a second charcoaling:

One question still needs to be answered...with each meal you are offered water and asked whether you want flat or frizzante (gas).  Urban legend has it that frizzante is as bad for your teeth as soda's carbonation...what do you think?  We kept switching from one to the other...just in case...

After pizza for lunch the only option is....according to Peggy

and playing with Johnnie...

but when she came to her sense...this was our last day, and we hadn't hiked in 4 days...we decided to go out the back of the property, up the hill to get some views of the vineyards and the surrounding hilltop towns:

I may bring down the entire Barbaresco market, but I had to try one grape off the vine...

It was super bitter....way too early in the season...but at least I can say I tasted a Nebbiolo grape destined for Barbaresco fame...  We were excited to find out the actual cause of the Booms the previous few days...you remember the counter measures farmers took to avoid any heavy downpours and the most feared hail...Here is what their cannons look like

We also had a nice view of our B and B...with "Vanna" pointing her finger to our room...

The quantity of vineyards is remarkable..everywhere you look for miles:

and if it were a clear day, we could have seen the Matterhorn in Switzerland...

Hiking was the perfect way to spend the last afternoon...we then packed, or giving credit where it's due...I had the heavy, and under valued responsibility of guarding the room from all types of potential hazards, while Peggy did all the packing...(yes...a joke...and yes...I give her all the deserved maximum amount of kudos...)
Dinner time..our last dinner after 29 days...and the meal was classically local with all the Piemontese favorites.
The Osteria Italia was 2 km from our B and B...

We ate outside, and since we were the first to arrive...yep we had the power table again..which wasn't anything more than closest to the parking lot...To treat our last meal...we ordered a very tasty Barbaresco:

And then the amuse bouche arrived...the traditional anchovies on grilled peppers with capers and olive oil:

My sliced veal (roast beef) with the traditional egg and mustard based mayo was superb again...

Peggy enjoyed her zucchini tarts...

Her pasta was gnocchi with tomato and basil:

But the real winner was the tagliarini with porcini mushrooms....

No room for a secondi piatti...we went right to the delicious vanilla gelato with fruits...

But a meal or a vacation wouldn't be truly awesome unless Peggy...what?  unless Peggy...held a baby!!!

We enjoyed conversation with Pietro and Paola (and their 4 month old Gretta Emma), speaking halting Italian with their pretty good English...until we each discovered that French was a shared skill.  They are wonderful locals, and we exchanged addresses if they ever come to California...they better stay with us.  (Steve gave us the idea)...

Dinner finally ended (way too late since we had to be up at 5:59am)...and we returned to say goodbye to Alessandro...our b and B owner and our newest and best friend from Alba!

He's holding the bottle of grappa he would share with us each evening...but what you've all been waiting to see are his crocs...

Is this guy cool or what!!! Okay, so we've solved all the world's problems...regenerated and fully refreshed...we enjoyed God's amazing creation and many wonderful folks...made new friends and awesome memories...and I suspect the only way to end this trip, and this blog, is to show you the carriage that faithfully transported us from Milan to Piemonte to Abruzzo to Lake Como to Parma to Zibello to Cinque Terre to Alba and finally back to Milan....  over a thousand miles (Jim would have gotten the exact mileage...sorry Jim) none other than the Cinque Cento... or for you Americans the Fiat 500...lovingly coined by Jim and Christine...The Clown Car (wonder why?)

Signing off from Linate airport in Milan...for the last time...with hopes that you enjoyed the adventure with us....ciao bella from Gary and Peggy Gubitz

Day 27: R and R

After another wonderful breakfast spread prepared by Alessandro, and with the weather calling for more humid heat...we decided to spend the day...(wait for it........for those of you who know me and my love for driving, moving, doing, seeing, accomplishing, achieving, serving, helping, solving and learning....wait for it...) sitting in the shade at our B and B and reading and relaxing ALL DAY!

and it wasn't just Peggy...these are my feet, and the book in front of me was a gift from brother Steve to help me learn about Italy (a Michelin Green Guide), and pick out all the places we weren't going to be visiting today.

The views were actually great, and I finally had time to contemplate what ants say to themselves as they pass each other on the trip up and down the tree trunk.  This took much deep contemplation, because they really do stop for each passing buddy and either bump heads or high five or pass close enough by to give em a sweet whisper...amazingly interesting..no???

Reading all of Italy's history from Michelin, the last half of Deuteronomy and all of Ecclesiastes was a great blessing while Peggy finished about 400 pages of her book...London.  In those 400 pages she discovered that King Henry the III was the first to take his personal hygiene seriously and created mini rooms with padded toilet seats and with 10 foot marble flow pipes to ensure there was no odor remaining in the royal rooms.  Other nobles copied his idea and added artwork etc...they weren't Kings but they relieved themselves in a similar environment...and thus these nobles' loos became known as Throne Rooms.  Another gem!!!
After 600 hours, or so it seemed, it was dinner time!  And today we were going to a restaurant run by Manuel, yes of Mexican Heritage, and an awesome chef who had worked in a 1 star Michelin Kitchen prior to opening up his successful restaurant/wine bar a few houses down from the "*",  Peggy ordered the chef's menu called Profumo di Vino...which was the name of the restaurant:  I actually loved the play on words in that di vino means "of wine" but also divino means divine...he seems to flip the spacing each time it's written...

And we definitely had the Power Table outside...

To save a bit of our wallet and waist, I ordered 2 appetizers and we split the bigger menu...
First up was the amuse bouche...zucchini pudding with zucchini flower cream...

A nice selection of breads and grissini (the local breadsticks)

Manuel grew up in Encinada and we bonded quickly...such that when we ordered our Nebbiolo, he agreed to give us a 27 euro bottle for 16, which we had to remind him of at the end of the evening when it was bill paying time...but he did remember graciously...the wine was very local and very excellent!

Then the first starter...my tender veal smothered internally with a mayonnaise that was even better than the others we have already loved. (a perfect roast beef type combo)

Peggy, with some help from me, enjoyed her shrimp with parmesan crisp and fennel

Then she had a small quiche-like, molten and delicious antipasto

While his plating creativity was a joy to see, the tastes were sublime

and we weren't the only ones who thought so...as you can see, still on his 8 month sabbatical, the world renowned preacher, John Piper, was here enjoying his privacy with family and friends...he's the one in the front with the orange shirt not wanting me to photo him straight on...

We both were receiving our primi piatti, or pasta dish...Peggy's was a deconstructed, and amazing, summer lasagna

Hers really tasted as good as it looked...but mine was worth the price of admission!   This region, especially in the Fall, is known for its white truffles...Steve, Jim...talk to me...We had not been offered a single truffle all trip under "their" excuse that they were not good this time of year and we had too come back in the Fall.  Whoever "they" were, were wrong...check out this amazing pasta of mini ravioli covered in white truffles:

For the main course Peggy had veal and veggies: she wanted to make sure I knew where the pile of sea salt was located

Finally dessert arrived, consisting of baked cream with pure vanilla infusion..called panna cotta..delicious as well...and nicely packaged:

The heavily "loved", caramel and nut crisp was super...but you knew I would love it just from the photo:))
So our 27th day ended with scriptural truth being confirmed yet again...I had been meditating all day on Isaiah's words (Ch 26) that God...
"will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Him, for he trusts in God...Trust the Lord God forever, for He is an Everlasting Rock!
I can say this day was a day of perfect peace, as I meditated and prayed and focused on the Lord...and spent quality chill time with Peggy, my amazing, lovely, eternal partner..:)))  Ciao Bella to each of you

Day 26...All "B"s

BOOM...BOOM...BOOM...went on for 20 minutes.  Starting at 9am that's all we could hear from our room. Peggy looked in the kitchen area to see if it was falling pots, pans, or bottles...

Then she checked under the bed to see if perhaps large rodents had arrived ( ala Granite Bay's ferocious, house entering, cat food eating raccoons...):

Side note for those observant enough to see the fan located on the floor to the left of the bed....turns out we are in an unprecedented heat wave for this area.  At 1500 feet, they never need air conditioning, and every night cools down quite quickly.  Not these last few days.  Temps in the mid 90s with humidity in the 80s and everyone couldn't stop talking about CALDO...the heat.  Thankfully there are only 2 guests using the room, because Alessandro had only 2 fans...Back to the BOOMs.

Thought it was exploding tractors...their farm equipment is old, then thought it was thunder, then went into the breakfast room and our host, Alessandro, and my newest Facebook friend, told us the truth.  Barbaresco is SOOO concerned about their vines, that any time there appears to be potential thunderstorms they shoot a particular "silver mixed with mercury solution", fired from boxes on the top of the hills, into the clouds to prevent hail and to hopefully force rain.  They want to avoid heavy downpours and especially ice from ruining the vines. It worked...about 10 minutes later we were treated to a nice, light rain for about 30 minutes...

BARBESCO...a lovely village known in ancient times for its towers:

 The construction on the right of the tower is actually an elevator that allows you to go up and see the view from the top...it wasn't working :(  But there was a nice painting of the tower on one of the old walls in the city:

And its wines...slightly lower priced than Barolo, and a bit higher than Nebbiolo...but the same grapes.  The amazing part of this enoteca...wine tasting room, was that the wine was self serve...

They had 3 wines to taste, lovely glassware, excellent local cheeses and grissini...those local breadsticks..and best of all Jimi Hendrix was looping on the audio system... We must have heard : "And the wind...cries....Mary..." about a dozen times...

BENCHES and BOOKS:  The real objective for the day was to find the perfect bench for reading and relaxing...In Barberesco:

 and the view:

Elva...you know Peggy was loving it...I too was finishing a book that David Dedman turned me on to, called the 11 Days of Christmas...the Last Bombing of the Vietnam War.  Very interesting and informative..

Then we drove to the village of Mango and went to their castle...

to taste the Muscatto and famous Asti Spumante...

but mostly to read...notice Peggy's book "London"...neither of us were reading anything to do with Italy hmmm..Nonetheless, here's the bench, which at times compels one to look around rather than read..ala Peggy:

and here's the view:

I finished my book and Peggy is on page 150 of what seems to be 2500 pages (actually 1145).  She learned that in 1100 A.D.  in London, the traders would take a big branch and cut it to a certain size to represent the value of what was being traded...the owner was given the big piece, or stock, of the branch...and that's the root of the term stock exchange!  So many pages for her to get that one gem...but worth it for me:))

BEER:  For a change of pace we found that a local town had a new brewery, which was a breakthrough for this region, as you might imagine...they also had the large screen TV for the Final World Cup Match...we decided to have the "formal" dinner upstairs rather than have appetizers listening to a DJ blast some local music downstairs.  We were the only ones in the restaurant all night...but the food was still pretty tasty...
Starting with the Blue Cheese and Celery amuse bouche

Peggy ordered the fixed price meal (30 euros) where every dish had something to do with Beer in its preparation...her antipasti had pork marinated in beer

To save money and waistline...I went with 2 antipasti and then split her main course... my first was lightly fried shrimp with zucchini flowers: Christine....they were not quite as good as yours...

Peggy's primi piatti, was risotto with asparagus and grilled chopped meat (not tongue...)

Very tasty, while I enjoyed a terrine of zucchini and fresh tomato coulis covered with brand new mozzarela and ricotta

Peg's main course of pork tenderloin with sea salt and multi colored peppercorns was amazingly delicious: and enough for 2..(I felt like Steve..getting great value for two by paying the price of one): What's pictured below is half of the total serving :)))

BALLGAME:  our last activity was watching the ballgame on the big screen downstairs in their pub area....but eventhough we had the power table..it was stifling hot.  Fitting the words to the song "How're you gunno breathe with no air?"
So we drove back to our B and B and watched the second half , and Spain's victory, on our mini TV...

A very relaxing Sunday..with great times of reading, prayer and peaceful surroundings throughout the day.  Until tomorrow...ciao bella dear friends...