We left Venice today for the long bus ride back to Rome, with a quick stop in Montepulciano. We were lucky enough to sit with Michel and Louise on the bus ride as well, and they joined us for lunch along with three Filipino women, Rosey, Marie (two sisters), and their friend Joan. These three women have been so much fun on tour, taking silly pictures of each other and making truly hilarious comments, especially in the bus. They were always cheerful and easy-going, and they inspired us to take more pictures of ourselves and people, rather than just landscape, building, landscape.
Lunch with Michel, Lou, Rosey, Marie and Joan was so much fun. We found a little restaurant whose prices were reasonable, and walked in, taking a seat at a large table close to the end of the restaurant. At the front of the place, a TV was playing “Pavarotti and Friends”. As we sat down, Pavarotti began to sing with Celine Dion. We already knew that Lou LOVES Celine Dion, so she was really into the music. Our proprietor noticed her interest and proceeded to serenade her, over the sounds of Pavarotti and Bryan Adams (he was a better singer than Bryan Adams, for sure!)
Lunch was amazing. I had cannelloni with ricotta in a truffle cream sauce, topped with pecorino cheese and an Imperial prawn. Antonia had vegetables in a pecorino cream sauce. Antonia thought her meal was more of a side dish, but it was good nonetheless.
After lunch, we had a quick wine and cheese tasting at a local winery. The wine and cheese was good, but it was more interesting to explore the basements of the building, which you could wander at leisure. At first, you saw all of the wine barrels of different shapes and sizes, but as you got further under the building, it appeared that they had a little exhibit of torture implements as well. Hard to tell, because all the signs were Italian, but the various things in the cases (one looked like a bear trap) looked sufficiently ominous.
