Wine Town Event 30 September-3 October

Here is an event I have just heard about that looks very interesting. My husband and I will be attending.
The WineTown event is where you can taste many different wines from the region. You purchase a card with 10 euros credit on it and receive a glass for the tastings. There is also a 30 euro card available that allows you not only to taste the fabulous wines but also to gain entry into participating museums.
So if you are in Florence this weekend this is a must see event.

Chianti Tour

We decided to pay for a tour to the Chianti region instead of trying to find our way around ourselves. I think that for touring a winery we would need a car to get to one in the first place. It cost about 150euro for the 4 of us, we were willing to pay for this to have a tour guide and to spend some time with other tourists. The tour started at 2pm and ended at 7pm.

We first met a couple of Australian girls from Melbourne with Italian parents, they said they have been speaking English everywhere and becoming very slack with their Italian. It was fun talking with the girls (especially for me).

At the winery we sat a table with 3 Canadians, a couple from Winnipeg and a guy from Montreal they didn’t know each other came from the same country.

The boys went outside while we did some wine tasting and met a little French girl (Leeza), her Father and Mother translated for them, she was so cute. Levi and Leeza tickled each other with peacock feathers for ages.

There was an older couple from Perth who had been living in Chicago USA for the last 8 years (slight accent) they were very excited to meet with other Aussies here. They told us they have been a bit disappointed with the Italian food here. ( I will write something on food later for all you foodies).
Then I met a guy from Texas while waiting for the boys outside the bathroom, it is always hilarious when they ask you about where you live and they have absolutely no idea ( a little frustrating too ). It is particularly funny when the boys get all chatty about the animals we have in Australia especially the sharks… “you swim with sharks!?! Oh!!!” ROFL (roll on floor laughing).

The winery was beautiful and green and luscious, Quercato winery is about 500 years old and has been owned by the current family since late 1800s. They grow 2 types of grapes; giovanese(Italian) and cabernet(French) and they also grow olives for Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

Chianti only produce red wines and they have rules for them: Top shelf must have 80% giovanese grapes in it, it actually didn’t taste too bad for a red wine, very smooth and tasted quite grapey.

The olive oil also has rules: the extra virgin olive oil is the best it must have olives that have been pressed within 20hours of being picked. The virgin olive oil is up to 24 hours and the other oils they said they would only use for the cars J. They basically said that if it isn’t Extra Virgin Olive Oil then don’t use it.

All bottles of Chianti wine have a picture of a black rooster on the bottle, there is a legend behind this picture:
There was a war going on between Florence and Siena over who owned the Chianti region between the two cities. They decided to have a race for the land. The idea was for each city to send out a knight to race towards the other city, where they met up that would be the boundary line. Each knight would have to wait for the cock to crow then race out. Well the Florentines did not feed their rooster the night before and he woke up very early and gave the Florentine knight a very good head start, He almost claimed the entire Chianti region. ( The Florentines say that the black rooster is a sign of “cleverness” for them, for the Sienans it is a sign of the Florentines having an unfair advantage).
Just a little story telling for you, they do not know if the legend is true or not but it can cause fights still between the cities.

After the winery we drove on very windy roads ( I was feeling it blah) to Greve in Chianti and beautiful little romantic town, with gorgeous little streets. We only had 50 minutes to roam around, so I went to the markets for inspiration when I arrive back home. Of course we were the last ones back on the bus.

We arrived back in Florence at 7pm a little tired. I just love that it is still daylight at that time. I love daylight savings.

6 weeks and 2 days til take off.

So as many of you know the Hardy family is going to live in Florence for 3 months.
But did I tell you that on our way to Florence we will spend 1 night at the gorgeous Jawadene Resort in KL Malaysia and also 3 nights in London. 
We will have to revisit Jawadene one day for a week if it is nice because it will only cost us $60 for the night.
As for visiting London again, we will have to rethink our budget, although we are staying on a golf course near Gatwick Airport for only $350 for the 3 nights.  We will have to travel back and forth to the city by train and hopefully get a cheap family train pass.
Well I have been a bit slack lately teaching the boys the Italian that I know, so will definitely have to get back into that quickly.  Daily lessons me thinks.
I have had the pleasure of chatting to the owner of the apartment we are staying in, She would like me to cook and Australian meal for her one day... Can we get frozen meat pies over there??  Just kidding.
And get this, she told me she was not a good cook when I asked her to return the favour with an Italian meal...hahahahaha.
Another new bit of information is that I have reserved a nice small apartment for us in Paris near the Moulin Rouge and Montmarte, hopefully we will be able to park the rental car there or somewhere close by.  I have been told that parking in Paris is hard.  But we decided we would take a day driving from Florence to Paris to see the sights zoom by.  The Europeans think we are crazy driving that distance in one day, but I keep explaining that we do long drives like that all of the time here in Australia. The drive will be about 11 hours, so like driving from Brisbane to Sydney (Easy).
When the apartment is booked in Paris I will post its location and some photos for you all to enjoy.

7 weeks now... looking for places in Paris and car hire.

The weeks are flying and we are getting ready for our adventure.
I have been getting in contact with many apartment owners in Paris, especially the Montemarte district as it is a bit cheaper than the other areas. 
I am really looking forward to the drive from Florence to Paris, we may stop in at Monaco because Iain would love to see the Ferrarris or we could go through Switzerland, we will decide at the time.
Did you know that in Europe if you want to hire a car you can get a manual Ford Fiesta for around 300euros ($500) per week , if you are like me and would like an automatic the same car is 800euros.  Well I don't know about you but I think I will just let Iain do the driving in the manual.  I am not willing to pay almost 3 times the amount for renting a car.
Anyway more on this tomorrow.

8 weeks and counting...

We are getting closer and closer to our departure date.
The kids are getting so excited ( about missing school for 3 months, but they will be doing literacy and maths while away).
Iain is feeling a little anxious about leaving his job and going away for 3 months and not having a job when we return. But he is also very excited about not working for a while and having a rest. I am confident that he will find a better job when we return or be able to slip back into his current position.
I on the other hand am a little worried about my business Curiouser & Curiouser while I am away. I have an advertisement coming out in the next Peppermint magazine (with thanks to Ethikl.com.au) that should generate business for me. I will be taking orders and posting them out until the end of June. Then any orders made from then will not me posted until the end of October 2010. I will be making an Announcement on all of my websites about this.
However, I am excited about sourcing lots of fabrics, lace, buttons and other interesting bibs and bobs for the business (and for my crafty friends). So it is technically a "working holiday" too. ;-)

Our home in Florence

This is our home while we are in Florence!

OMG!! only 10 1/2 weeks until we are in Florence!!!

Only 10 1/2 weeks to go. Althought we are only going for 3 months now, we still have a lot to organise. 3 months is a long time to be in a different city. Thank God for all the wonderful friends I have made on facebook who live in Florence. I look forward to meeting you face to face. Especially Kimberley and Vale!!! Our kids will have fun together. I look forward to going to the markets both food and antique. I hope I can find some fantastic vintage fabrics and buttons. I am so lucky to have a wonderful husband who loves shopping as much as I do (even when we dont buy anything). He will be carrying many bags I assure you and so will the boys, I may even carry a few myself :-).

Florence is only 3 months away.

We are getting closer and closer to the departure date for our 3 months holiday in Florence. And so looking forward to it. We are very excited to meet all the people we have chatted with online face - to- face. It is going to be so much fun.
I watched La Dolce Vita today in black and white and in Italian with english subtitles. Very strange movie actually, it was not at all what I thought it was going to be. Don't get me wrong it was a good movie and kept me entertained, but not as lovely as I had hoped. I still haven't seen the end though the dvd stopped playing and I couldn't get it going again. Maybe I will change my mind when I see the ending.???

A place to stay under the tuscan sun

Well over the weekend we may have found a place to stay in the centre of Florence for the wonderful price of 750euros per month. It is a 2/3 bedroom apartment with 2 bathrooms and fully furnished. For all you Aussies this equates to approx. $285 per week.
I am just waiting on my italian friend to let me know what she thinks of it and the landlady. If all is good then I am booking it. I do not want to miss out on such a great apartment.
If you persist you will find people in Italy who would rather have a long term renter than a short term holiday rent.
When I have secured it I will post some photos.

Searching for rentals in Italy is hard

As we are staying in Firenze for 3 months we have decided to rent an apartment near the city. Doing things this way is alot cheaper than staying in hotels. You can rent a 2 bedroom apartment for around 600-1200 euros per month (+utilities) depending on how close to the city it is and what you want in a place to stay. You need to check that the apartment is fully furnished, because if it isn't fully furnished you could turn up to an apartment that is empty, literally without even a kitchen sink. When Italians move they move everything with them including fixtures if they own them.
We are looking at spending about 700-900euros per month on rent and utilities, so we will stay approx. 20mins from the centre of town and utilise the public transport system. As we have never set foot in Italy we plan to explore the area we will be living in and really developing a relationship with the people in it. Because if I do get my Euro passport before we leave and manage to pick up enough work to live on we will be staying in the area for at least 12 months and really living in Italy.
We will hire a car if needed to take short trips on weekends to visit touristi places like Venice, The Cinque Terre, Rome, Chianti, Pompeii etc... otherwise we will use the train or bus.
Our children Levi (9) and Phoenix (7) are starting to really look forward to our adventure. They keep asking if they can see this or that while we are in Italy and if they can make new friends there. We just reassure them that whatever happens we will be there to help them learn the language and meet lots of children before they start at a local school. We don't want them to get anxious or worried about communicating with other children. I have made many friends over the net in expat groups and on facebook that speak english and have children they can play with.
Anyway... back to rentals in Italy, I suggest getting contact with as many real estate agents as possible, letting them know exactly what you need and your exact budget. If you see a property that is slightly over your budget do not be afraid to ask the real estate agent to see if they can negotiate the price down. Tell them you can pay cash each month for the rent (cash works wonders everywhere).
Remember if you are only going for a few months talk to them about the contract and let them know your plans. Many ads for rentals state that they want you to sign a contract for 4 years, this can always be negotiated too. Don't be afraid to ask them questions and give them a detailed account of what you want and need and what you need to be close to if you won't have a car.
I say to contact real estate agents, because you are taking a gamble contacting private owners. Especially on the net and via email. Never hand over any money until you have had a look at the property in the flesh and seen what you are getting. If you are unable to do this (as we are) contact the local expat community and ask if one of their members lives in the area and if they are willing to go check it all out for you. If everything is good and you really want it then send the deposit as soon as possible so you don't lose it to a holiday let (this is what happened to us, very disappointing). But we live and we learn, at least we hadn't sent any money yet. Also many of these holiday houses are fake and can be an ad set up by someone who doesn't even live in the country, they will have beautiful pictures and will ask you to send a deposit and then tell you they need more deposit or the first months rent up front in order for you to secure the property. Then you turn up and there is no house for you and you have no where to stay, this would be very hard especially if that was part of a very strict budget.
It is much safer to go through the real estate agents, you may pay a little more, but you can be more assured that you have something to go to when you arrive.
I will keep you updated on our rental search and add any other information as I come across it.
www.casa.it is a good real estate search website, it is in Italian but google translate can give you quite a good translation, you can also sign up for emails from them.

Why Italy? Why Not?

Many people are probably wondering why Iain and I have decided that we would like to take the kids and spend as much time as possible in Italy.

Well I have always wanted to visit Italy for a holiday and we were planning on going by ourselves (child free) for 4 weeks, until Iain came home from work one day and said " let's just go and move over there if we can."

So we sat down and tried to decide what area would we thought we might want to live in. First we looked at the big city Roma, we decided it would be too busy. Then we looked at Pisa and Livorno, we decided against these two because getting jobs there is less likely to happen then in a bigger city. In the end we decided Firenze (Florence) or the surrounding towns like Prato, Scandicci, Sesto Fiorentino, Pontessieve, Fiesole etc...

Anyway back to why we are doing this "trip", we want to get away and experience a totally different culture, learn a new language and show the kids a new lifestyle. All the teachers I have spoken to have said that the kids will learn so much from this experience.

If we are able to live and work in Italy for 12 months the kids will be enrolled in an Italian school where they will learn italian and keep up their studies. We understand that for the first few months it will be really hard on the boys but after a while they will be speaking Italian like the locals. We on the other hand will find it a bit more difficult to learn Italian and become fluent in it. But practice makes perfect and immersion is the only way to do it.

Our adventure and Life Under the Tuscan Sun begins 11 July 2010.