Day 2 - Wednesday August 11th

I arrived today in Bologna at 9:45. We landed on the tarmac and headed in. The airport is tiny but cute; I got my bags and headed off to a pay phone to call Tat. I try to figure out how to use it – can’t – try to call collect – can’t – ask the info lady to help – she tells me to put in a euro and dial the number – I put in the euro and dial Tat's number – person unavailable at the moment – I try the house number – number is not assigned – I call Matteo – person unavailable – I call all 3 numbers at least 15 times – no luck. I am almost in tears. Giving myself a pep talk to not be a baby, and thinking about how much I want to call home (but probably can’t figure that out either) I turn to my computer.

I take a seat next to the arrivals area, thinking that if Tat and her Dad show up, they’ll come there first and try to get on the Internet. I buy 7 euros worth of Internet and then Fabrizio (Tat's Dad) walks up. I was so happy to be found! We then get to the car and make our way up through the mountains into Pieve. It’s about a 2 hour ride, and after a half an hour we stop and get lunch and a Trattoria. We sat outside and had tortellaci filled with ricotta and spinach with meat sauce. We drank the best Lambrusco I’ve ever had. We sat outside and watched people parachuting and planes and gliders land in the tiny airport out on the fields under the balcony. After lunch we finished the 2-hour trek through the tiny switchbacks of the mountains overlooking beautiful valleys and towns nestled into them. The view was amazing; I fought back heavy eyelids the whole way home.

Once we got into Pieve, we pulled up to the Galli’s house and got settled in. I didn’t even unpack, Tat and I went into out bedroom and fell asleep the moment our eyes hit the pillows. I slept for 3 hours. When I awoke, we had dinner – crestinine – that is dough that is cooked on the stove top and then cut open and stuffed with various things. The traditional way to eat it is with a layer of lard with herbs – it’s a kind of butter type substitute – then some Parmesan cheese or a slice of pancietta or other lunch meat. I ate mine with cream cheese or butter and some Parmesan or just some pancietta. With that we also had sciatica, which is bread wrapped around pancietta or other lunch meat.

It gets colder than expected in the mountains at night. Tanya (her cousin) came over after we got ready and we sat at the dinner table with Patricia (Tat's Mom) and had some tequila – Gila – and anarancia juice – orange.

Tat took me to the piscina – pool – bar. We drank Grappa Mele Verde shots – green apple grappa. Grappa is a vodka-like distilled beverage made from the waste of wine making. All the leftovers from the grape, such as the skin, stem etc, are distilled and made into grappa. It’s potent and delish. We then went dancing on stage – my personal favorites of the night – Mamma Mia and Black Betty. It was great; such a fun first night.

We got back at 2:30; I washed my face, brushed my teeth and was out like a light.