Arione

Success!

It only took me two weeks but I finally feel settled in.  Today I had a couple missions and I succeeded in both of them.  Well, first of all, I was supposed to run but there was ice hanging from the vines.  Let’s just postpone that until tomorrow.  Today is for having fun!!

Missions:

1. Buy Arione wine 

2. Plan a trip to France

Arione (Moscato d’Asti)

Arione is I’m told the best Moscato d’Asti around, and it’s in my back yard.  Heck, I run by the sign Strada del Moscato d’Asti every day.  I’ve seen signs for the Arione vineyards and the Cantina’s all over the place but don’t really know where to buy it.  So, with a little guts and the right timing (before the 12:30 to 3:30 closing time for lunch), I found the place.  

First, the wine.  A Moscato d’Asti is a nice fruity, slightly bubbly dessert wine.  I have shared this wine with friends and family who drink very little and they loved it.  The other nice thing about the Moscato is that it’s only about 5.5% alcohol.  A very nice light wine, and also a fun name to say if you roll your r's and hang on to the o.   http://www.arione.it/

So I parked the unimpressive looking fiat Panda (a.k.a. toy car) and walked up to this impressive looking ufficio, pull, nope, push the opaque door open and walk up the clean narrow stairs to the offices and stop!  Now, I have a decision to make here.  I could realize I’m trespassing and leave now, or plunge forward under the pretense of stupidity.  I chose the latter.  

“Buon Giorno – Do you speak English?”  Reply: No.  Great!  Now we’re starting the conversation at ground zero so I can increase my Italian speaking points rather than the deductions I’ve incurred so far.  “Dove compro Arione?”  She opens a book.  Great!  I can buy it here.  I point to the wine I want then say my favorite phrase “Vorrei comprate con la carta di credito”.  Yes!  I pay with a credit card and she starts to tell me where I can pick up my wine.  Dritto…is the only word I recognize.  Straight.  I go out and go strait to the warehouse with my slip to pick it up.  Got it!  And off I go happy as a clam with my new purchase.  Yeah!!!!

France (Aix-in Provence) trip - in search of Nougat and Calissons

I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow. 

Oh, and I found kindling (in the form of boxes a supermarket was throwing out), and a dress in case I venture to Milan again to see a ballet at the Teatro alla Scala.  Maybe Jan. 30^th.  More to come…

...and as an extra bonus, I got an e-mail from maratonadiroma saying my registration for the Rome Marathon on March 20th was approved....Yeah!!!  

It only took:

-a note from my doctor downloaded in pdf form, printed off, wet signature, scanning back into electronic form only to e-mail it and upload it to the site.

-uploaded of proof of payment (yes, to the same website I paid from)

-and, proof of belonging to a sports club---so I sent them my gym membership  

After 4 attempts, multiple site crashes and many more check backs.  It WORKED!  Here's to persistence....and to the good ol' US of A utilizing technology efficiently to make our lives simpler.  Ahhh.

Cheers all!

Castiglione Tinella- Arione is on the left

Arione