Friday, July 03, 2009

Happy Independence Day! Time for a little vacation incl. U2 with the Khans




3 July
Happy Holiday to everyone! I am off for a bit of a lightning vacation myself tomorrow. I start near Mantova for Corrado and Amy's wedding. They are one of those perfect matches you read about and if you go wayyyyyy back on my blog you can find when Amy was temporarily my roommate in Parma during the master program.
Early the day after, I am off to Colmar, France to meet up with some winery owners, INAO, and family of an old friend from KC. I hope to learn some tips on how to market our future wine in the US and our surrounding countries. Just 2 days after, I look forward to meeting up with Matteo and try out some great Piemonte wine at a wine tasting with the winner of the best young sommelier in the Piedmont. The next day, I am off to Milano to meet up with another old roommate, this time from med school. Jemshed is bringing his boys over and 2 of them sneakily bought U2 tickets and then told dad. He responded by buying 3 more tickets (one for me and one for the other son), so I will be fortunate enough to see Bono etal at San Sirio where I also saw the Boss.
Then we are coming back to Nascondigli di Bacco, but unfortunately, they will only have one day left on their trip.
Here, we are being pounded periodically by thunderstorms which has caused an outbreak of fungus in the vineyard. I was about 90% finished with a preventive/curative treatment yesterday when the rain arrived again. Hopefully, I can finish the other bit today or early tomorrow before leaving.
We have hosted a nice couple from Udine in Friuli the past week and that is one of my favorite parts of this job. I get to talk to people from all over Italy and the world and learn about their culture.
I did take a quick trip to one of the gems of Umbria-Spello, and can highly recommend a restaurant for those of you who want to make the 10 minute trip from Assisi. The restaurant is called "Il Molino" (yes, there is one in every town here). Ask for Luca and try the appetizer "L'orto d'Obama' or the garden of Obama. I asked jokingly if it was poisonous and why they didn't have the garden of McCain, but it was really quite good.
I hope to get some nice pictures of the beautiful town of Colmar, Lagomaggiore and maybe even U2 to post when I get back next week.
Meanwhile, enjoy our 233rd birthday!
The pictures are of the plateau of Castelluccio where the flowers are not yet in full bloom and the town is Norcia from above.
dds

1 comment:

Adrian Reynolds said...

D-wight...I live 25 mins from San Siro, and am going to both U2 shows next Tues and Weds (I just saw them 2x in Barcelona. It's unreal. Be prepared). First night I've got field access to get close to the stage, second night, nosebleeds. The nosebleeds are good b/c you can get the full perspective of the stage, which will blow. you. away. Get in touch! 339 155 3964