Ann Oliveri

France. It's Good.

Enlightenment architect Claude-Nicholas Ledoux's Saline Royale was one of the highlights of our two-week, 2,000 mile drive through France last month. 

The big discovery of the trip for me, though, was why terroir is such a definitive force, not just in wine but in a region's identity.  The landscape is dominant, even if carefully manicured.  Everyone does their part to make the world beautiful, starting with their own beautiful selves.

Some things have changed since our last trip here 20 years ago, but only the things that needed to change (like the WCs).  Everyone we dealt with was pleasant, even in Paris, and we made some lovely new friends along the way.

We drove from Paris to Bordeaux then cross country via Sarlat and Millau to Avignon then north to Lyon and the Franche-Comte before heading back to Paris. To see our route, take a look at the Google Map.

Here's a link to the photo album, but be prepared. There are 40 some photos, but that's edited down from 800 or so!

There's plenty of speculation that La Belle France may be changing for the worse, though, becoming as homogenized as our pasteurized cheese. Zut alors!  Never!  But get there before it all turns into DIsneyland Paris.

Get A Life Foundation

What would you do with the money if you won the lottery?  One friend claims winning the lottery is her retirement plan.  As for me, I would set up the Get A Life Foundation and serve as its executive director.  Proceeds would fund friends' visits to Italy, to get a life.

Until that happy day, we are happy to find our way to Tuscany each year and work on living Italian style.  If you forego city hotels for rural agriturismo accommodation, it's cheaper to live in Italy for three weeks than it does to stay at home. 

This year, family and friends totaled 20, including Rogier and Esther's bambino, Gjs.  For a few photos, see the album for Italy 2009.

The 2009 cultural highlight was the della Robbia exhibit in Arezzo.  Never really focused on just how many artists named della Robbia there were until now.  The ubiquitous glazed terra cotta sculptures were produced by three generations of artists, losing favor only when oil painting emerged the winner in the arts and crafts wars.

The real find was getting to the Bialetti store in Florence when it was aperto! Difficult to find gaskets for 10-cup Bialetti coffee pots at home so Bill brought his pot with him to make sure we got the right size.  We later discovered the Bialetti outlet store at our exit off the A1--the only real shopping we did besides the local markets. 

And, most importantly, we finally learned why the sunflower fields of Tuscany are disappearing--the government subsidy was eliminated! Photographers now must settle for endless golden fields interrupted by roads lined by cypress.  Such a tragedy.

Saturday is Passport Day in the USA

 Need a passport in a hurry?  Apply Saturday and no expedited fees apply. 

According to today's Washington Post, Saturday is Passport Day in the USA and "the one day which appointments and expedite fees are not required for those applying at a passport agency." For hours of operation and info on participating offices, go to http://www.travel.state.gov.

Innovacion

Visiting the Mendoza wine country at the foot of the Andes, a desert lushly irrigated by aqueducts first built by the Incas, we toured two bodegas (wineries), one of the oldest and one of the newest.

The oldest, Familia di Tommaso, in business since 1869 and run by descendants of the original owners, is a heritage site hand-crafting 60,000 cases of wine sold from the cellar door.  The most striking feature, though, was the water pouring through irrigation channels weeks before harvest.

The newest winery we visited was Familia Zuccardi, founded in 1963. Alberto Zuccardi emigrated to Argentina from Italy via the Napa Sonoma Valley to introduce a new irrigation method.  From those demonstration vines has grown a small empire producing some extraordinary wine in vast quantities for export--not done before Zuccardi harnessed the technology and marketing know-how.

Expecting a dreary industrial complex, we were absolutely delighted with our tour and tasting at Zuccardi.  Our personal guide was Charles from the UK doing his gap year in the wine trade in Argentina.  But what struck me most was the fact that it took an outsider to see the potential for export and the savvy to create blends of the traditional Malbec for those markets.  The drive to improve quality continues, grafting new varietals to find out what this terroir can produce and testing baby wines only available at cellar door labeled Innovacion.

Seeing opportunity requires new eyes, not just new glasses.

In contrast, other emigres from the Napa Sonoma, The Vines of Mendoza, have done little more than graft the pretentious tech entrepreneurs and dentists that now dominate California wine onto a charming wine district.  Ew. For the straight scoop on Argentina wine, check out the Wine Republic. 

Since we traveled light, Bill is bringing home a case of Rutini Cab-Malbec, the best bottle of wine for the money we tasted.  Found it in Mendoza, thanks to the sommelier at Azafran.  Bill finally figured out a way to get the price down to $US15 a bottle so it's worth hauling home.

ISO Argentina

Traveling to South America for the first time, we thought Argentina would be an easy place to start.  (Check out the photo album for an overview of our trip.)  In addition to our detailed Buenos Aires street map, oriented south to north, and an extensive glossary of  cuts of beef never mentioned in U.S. restaurants, the most valuable guide to appreciating the culture and contradictions of this country turned out to be the hefty Argentina Reader.

Nothing like the rest of the continent, Argentina serves up familiar Mediterranean traditions transplanted to a harsher colonial terrain.

Like Australia, time and distance and immigration shaped its relationship with the rest of the world. Like Turkey, its politics requires one to simultaneously grasp mutually exclusive ideas, like authoritarian democracy. And like the former Yugoslavia, it's clear that memories are long and divisions deep.

Yet, like American jazz, the best expression of Argentina is tango--from milonga to modern fusion.  Tango crossed class lines long before politics and established an etiquette unsurpassed by any other dance.

Recent economic woes have triggered something of a renaissance of homegrown designers, chefs, and artists, as well as making it a very affordable destination. Of course, it's also attracted carpetbaggers from Texas and Napa-Sonoma looking for cheap land.  So go now before it evolves again!

TripAdvisor.com

Why travel alone?  Planning our first trip to Buenos Aires was vastly simpler because we are loyal fans and contributors to  www.traveladvisor.com.

Besides using the hotel ratings by fellow travelers to pick out the Art Suites Hotel in Recoleta, we search message threads for feedback on everything from great places to eat to guidance through the maze of kiosks and money changers at the airport.  Warned about the limitations on getting cash from ATMs, we came prepared. And after comparing notes with other first time visitors we met on walking tours (BuesnosAiresFreeTours.com), I value this resource all the more!  We still have guide books, but the file of pages from TripAdvisor gets pulled out every night and we come back to get answers to new questions that come up.

BTW it's easy to stay connected in BA as wifi is featured in most hotels, apartments, and corner bistros.

Soviet Bunker

Williamsburg it's not, but what else can you do with an abandoned Soviet Bunker if you are an entrepreneur in Lithuania?  History is where you find it.

A recent post at Environmental Graffiti by Katherine Liew outlines the noir theme park experience. "Tourists pay 120 LTL ($US 220) each to step back into 1984 as a temporary USSR citizen for 2.5 hours. On entry, all belongings, including money, cameras and phones, are handed over and under the watchful eye of guards and alsatians, tourists change into threadbare Soviet coats and are herded through the bunker."

"The Soviet Bunker is not a theme park for the faint-hearted; all of the actors involved in the project were originally in the Soviet army and some were authentic interrogators, however there are performances tailored specifically for school groups so they know when to cool it, too."

We are touring the Baltics next fall, but I think I will pass on the Soviet Bunker experience.

Bella Italia

Three weeks in Italy is a short-course in living well, despite the dismal U.S. dollar's exchange rate.  Living in the countryside for two of the three weeks, cooking at home or eating in local trattorias make it possible, especially when we found a local source for sfuzzo at only one euro a liter.  (Sfuzzo is bulk wine, fresh and oh so delicioso, decanted into empty water bottles that you supply.)

This year at La Selva, we shared Olivo with cousins Sam and Susan and Aussie sisters Trish and Jen.   Lois and Jacques were in Querce, entertaining Mike and Barb one week and son Roger and his fiance Esther the second.  Kenworthys and Harveys were at La Selva week one, adding to the fun.

A cool and rainy month of May meant that the golden hillsides of Tuscany were replaced with green grass and acres of red poppies and red heather.  Haying started before we left, so some fields were turning gold before our eyes.  The unseasonal weather also meant that few mosquitoes took up residence, a bonus for me as I travel with 100% DEET and my own netting for window screens.

For a few photos, see the photo album on this page.  One highlight was a tour for ten of the Uffizi and Vassari Corridor.  Did the math and realized I visit the Uffizi every ten years, and this was definitely the best.  Giuliana, our tour guide, was fantastic, providing both the historic context and the latest interpretations of the Botticellis and the battle scenes.

Some things are changing in Italy, but much of what we saw was for the better.  The small hill towns are coming back to life, thanks to the Slow Food movement, as destinations for foodies.  We also experienced Italian efficiency for the first time, spotting signs on the autostrada that not only listed the gas stations at the next exit, but also the price per liter at each station. 

At $9 US a gallon, Americans have little to whinge about. High prices here for the last fifty years created an incentive to buy smaller, more efficient cars.   We were driving a seven-passenger diesel powered van to avoid multiple rental cars, but even so got 30 miles to the gallon and plenty of pick up for passing on those winding mountain roads.

Lawrence of America

Meet global correspondent Lawrence Beldon-Smythe, star of the new TV series, Lawrence of America, premiering on the Travel Channel on Tuesday, June 3, at 11 p.m.

It's not every day that a friend--Tim Schildberger--creates a television series so I don't want you to overlook this gem. Imagine a Daily Show on the Travel Channel.  No, wait, why imagine it, take a look at the out-takes at www.travelchannel.com/lawrence.

Take a look.  Tell your friends.  Help Lawrence get picked up for a second season!  Cheerio.

Lengs & Cooter

Friends Karel Lengs and Colin Cooter were amateur winemakers in the 90s who won enough prizes to create a boutique wine business.  With a Reserve Shiraz earning 92 to 94 points from Robert Parker over the last few years and other vintages being poured in the upper classes of Qantas, you can find Lengs & Cooter in the U.S. through their importer, the Grateful Palate. Unlike most wannabe winemakers, Karel and Colin never purchased expensive blocks of land or built a winery.  They buy grapes from carefully selected vineyards and rent space in Clare and McLaren Vale to make their wine, producing some 8,000 dozen bottles a year.

What's stopping you from following your heart, from excelling at what you truly love to do?  Maybe there's another way to achieve it without the overhead.  Karel retired from Australia's telecom company,Telstra, to excel as a winemaker. Of course, he has more energy than any ten people I know, but he shows me what is yet to be achieved.  In the meantime, we will drink more wine with Karel and Barb, Trent and Brenda on a visit to the Mornington Peninsula this weekend.