In Italy again after five years

What happens when you don't blog for more than 4 years and then you blog again? I'll find out. 

Strada in Chianti - day one

Yes, that's the name of this little town. It is in the geographic area of Chianti, Tuscany, Italy but the official name has "in Chianti" on the end. There are several towns in Chianti with names like that but I'll call this place "Strada" for short. 

I'm two-thirds of the way through a six week holiday in Italy and I just started my third of three segments. The first was language school in Florence, the second was a Help Exchange gig in the hills north of Arezzo (Casentino), and the third is two weeks based here for walking in the hills. 

1. Florence, 2. Casentino, 3. Strada in Chianti

I arrived yesterday, checked into my Air B&B (with kitchen) and went grocery shopping. Today is my first full day and it's been raining off and on all day - not good for walking hilly trails - so I took a bus to a nearby town, got a haircut, drank coffees, ate pastries, withdrew some cash, came back to Strada, and bought more groceries.

There is some value in these rainy day activities because I needed to re-acquaint myself with the bus system and I was due for a haircut. Also, these "chores" allow one to interact with locals and intensify the travel experience. Besides, if you've got stuff to do that can be done in any weather, you might as well do it when it's raining.   

The end result of someone who likes to cook being in Italy, having a kitchen, and not being able to go walking is seen in this photo after three trips to a little supermarket, a bakery and a pasticceria. 

Three kinds of cheese, five kinds of bread and crackers, wine, mineral water, milk, eggs, olive oil, nuts, three kinds of dried and fresh fruit, greens, tomato sauce, coffee, mortadella and some baking ingredients 

Also among those things are whole grain flour, chestnut flour, rolled oats and baking yeast. I've already got a biga fermenting to make some "trail bread" in the next day or two. 

Busses and a haircut

Trains are pretty easy and reliable in Italy but busses are a little more challenging. In contrast with trains, there are many more bus lines, bus stops, bus schedules, and places to buy bus tickets. I arrived in Strada yesterday after a bus, a train, and another bus. I almost missed the second bus because the bus stop location in Florence had changed since I was in Italy the last time. That doesn't happen with trains but busses will get you to little towns that are not serviced by trains. I need to be able to travel to and from Strada by bus while I'm here so I figured out where to buy a ticket and where to wait. When you're standing in the rain at a bus stop in an unfamiliar town wondering if this is going to work, it's uplifting to see a bus pull up with the correct destination displayed on its "forehead". 

I caught the bus to Greve and found the old barber shop (barbiera) where I'd been six years earlier. It was open and the lone barber was soon available. The first thing he did was introduce himself with a friendly handshake. Good start! For the next half hour or so, I had a relatively informative and very friendly chat in Italian (advanced beginner) with Tomasso. Livia is his 5 year old daughter and Patrizio is his 70 year old father, also still working here as a barber. Tomasso responded with great praise for "Canadian nature" when I told him I had been a research hydrologist. Patrizio arrived before I was done so I got to meet him. In fact, he might have been the one who cut my hair 6 years ago.    

After I paid, Tomasso shook my hand again and we said "arrivederci" and "Buona Pasqua" ("Happy Easter") like I was a regular. Better than an average haircut in many ways!

Tomasso took a lot off but did a good job.

Buying groceries, figuring out busses, and getting a haircut from a delightful "barbiera". This was good use of a rainy day!