Italian Vacation: Dinner With Friends

For last week's time off, I headed on down to Italy to hang out with my friend Iain, who I first met 2 years ago as part of Celtica.  I was especially looking forward to hanging out with Iain outside the confines of Celtica, because it was always so frustrating leaving Celtica and thinking it could be the last time I ever saw some of these people; or rather, I always wanted to spend more time with them and never could.  

The travel to meet up with Iain was basically the exact opposite of the last time I took a solo vacation in Europe, when I was running around like headless chicken trying to catch my trains.  This time, I made it to the airport with time to spare (!), and then found out that my flight to Nice, France, was going to be delayed 2.5 hours due to a strike by the French Air Traffic Controllers Union, which also meant we had to fly around France and not over it.  Plus, it was raining in Amsterdam, so we sat on the plane for 30 minutes before taking off because there was only one open runway...

Either way, it was nice to finally arrive in Nice and know that I had made it.  Iain lives about 1 hour east of Nice, in Apricale, Italy, a small town in the mountains.  And when I say he lives in Apricale, I really mean that it's the closest town to his house.  He actually lives in a really cool house only accessible via very small, rocky roads, about 10 minutes past Apricale in the middle of the mountains.  (As Iain jokingly points out, it's a perfect place for him to practice his bagpipes, because his closest neighbor is not close at all.) 

Apricale, Italy.

Blackberries outside Iain's house--the best I've eaten!

The view from Iain's bedroom.

On the first day, Iain, his girlfriend Debora, and I mainly explored the area.  We drove through the mountains to San Remo, the closest "large town" (which is still relatively small).
 

Driving through the mountains.

At the top--Iain's house is somewhere down in the valley.

For dinner, Iain's friend Pino invited us over.  Pino, who is one of the most self-sustaining people I've met, lives even further in the woods on a relatively large plot of land covered with all sorts of crops.  He served the best pasta dish I've ever eaten, complete with olive oil made from olives in his yard (which was indescribably amazing).  Pino spends a few months each year collecting olives off his property, as well as from the yards of his friends.  He told me all about the arduous process of collecting olives by shaking them off the tree (they're not ripe if you have to shake too hard), which actually resulted in a severe shoulder injury that knocked him out of commission for part of the olive collecting season.  Just when I thought the food couldn't get any better, Pino whipped out a jar of fig marmalade made with--you guessed it--figs from his yard.  I think if everyone had access to the food Pino makes, the world would be a better place.  That's why I was shocked when he gave me a bottle of oil and a jar of marmalade just to be kind!

And when I thought there was no way to adequately thank Pino for his gift, I realized that Iain and I had brought our instruments with us to jam after dinner with Pino, who is a really great guitarist.  So, appropriately enough, we were able to thank Pino with our music!

Me, Pino, Iain & Debora

A special thank you to Pino, for providing such a wonderful night of food and fun!

Barrage Live, In-Studio Performance!

We just got back from performing live, in-studio for Radio 2 92.2 in the Netherlands!

This is our cover of "Rood," a tune by Dutch pop singer Marco Borsato, which we perform exclusively for our tours in the Netherlands. 

Enjoy!

Photos From a Run: Apeldoorn, Netherlands

"Please close gate because of wild boars."

Spider webs.

Blog o' Doon

Arrived back in the Netherlands last night from Italy, where I spent 6 days off hanging out with my friend Iain, who, along with some others, has been the subject of quite a few of my recent posts.  I had an indescribably wonderful time, which I hope to write about over the next few days.  For the time being, suffice it to say that I feel absurdly fortunate to have made such great friends through this crazy job. 

Right before heading down to Italy, we hopped on a ferry and headed over to Scotland for a show in Ayr (pronounced air) with the Ayrshire Fiddle Orchestra.  Ayr is about 35 miles southwest of Glasgow, in the province of Ayrshire, which is particularly notable as being the birthplace of the famous Scottish poet Robert Burns.

It was my first time to Scotland (country #13 in my time with Barrage!), and it was definitely a memorable visit.  Scotland is just as beautiful as you would imagine (and since I never saw Braveheart, I've pretty much only ever imagined Scotland, in the truest sense of the word).  Here are some pictures I snapped on the drive:

Click on this to see it larger...I'd definitely recommend it!

Here's where we stopped for lunch (as luck would have it, this place won a "Best Pubs in the UK" award):

When we arrived in Ayr, we were invited to a reception with the AFO, where we not only had the opportunity to meet some of the kids from the orchestra, but also had the opportunity to eat--drum roll, please--haggis.  I've mentioned previously how much Barrage has expanded my culinary horizons, but I certainly never imagined that I would ever eat haggis...voluntarily.  Granted, I would have felt guilty not trying it, but they didn't even have to threaten me!  I guess this is just a life lesson that baby steps can take one a long way.  Unfortunately, I did not have my camera...so while I have neither documentation nor proof that I, Taylor Morris, actually ate haggis, you'll just have to take my word for it.

After spending the evening with some of the kids, a few were so gracious as to offer me a personalized, dinner-time tour of Ayr the following evening!

Driver on the right...

Scott, Maeve, Elaine

Craig

Downtown Ayr.

Chimney pipes.

The famous Brig o' Doon (bridge over the River Doon), central to Robert Burns' poem Tam o' Shanter.

View from the bridge of the Brig o' Doon house.

Maeve, Elaine, me, Scott

With the "Man in the Tartan Pants" outside the Brig o' Doon House.  When telling me about the house with his incredibly thick accent, I noticed he slowed his speech so I could understand what he was saying.  Maeve then confirmed that he was talking to me, "like a child."

Flowers in a window box on the side of the house.

Behind the Brig o' Doon House.

Many thanks to Craig, Scott, Maeve, and Elaine for showing me around!

Anach Cuan

Iain and I just got back from walking around Florence for about 6 hours straight...so we're taking a break to rest and recover before we head back out for dinner tonight!

I tried to upload this video to my previous post about Iain and Fede playing "Anach Cuan" with our backline, but was never able to get the video onto Blogger. Iain has now uploaded the video to YouTube, however, so here it is!

(Sorry for the sound--the microphone on my camera isn't the greatest...)

Planes, Trains, and Ferries

I'm currently sitting at the Schipol Airport in Amsterdam, waiting to catch a flight to Nice, France, which has been delayed a little over 1.5 hours. I've been here for about 4 hours already, as public transportation got me here faster than I expected, and I wanted to give myself ample time for traveler error, as my last time traveling solo in Europe didn't go so swimmingly. I'm pleased to report that I had little to no difficulty hopping on a bus to the train station, and then catching a train to Schipol!

I'll be meeting up with Iain, driving to his home in Apricale, Italy (which is about an hour from Nice, just across the France/Italy border), and spending the next week hanging out with him in both Apricale and Florence!

We've found ourselves with 9 days off, so we're each taking mini vacations, and have unintentionally spread ourselves out all over Europe (Daniel + Scotland, Charlie + Belgium, Alicia + England, Hidayat & Annette + Germany, Tim & Kristina + Netherlands).

I figured maybe in this last bit of time before my flight I might be able to start posting about what's happened in this last week. Here goes!

To get to Scotland from Italy involved quite a bit of travel. And by quite a bit I actually mean a lot.

We drove to Reims, outside Paris, and stayed there overnight. The following morning we had some time before our drive to hit up the Reims Cathedral. I frequently feel as though all the famous Cathedrals start to look alike (I guess that's what happens when you visit cathedrals all over Europe?), but this one was unusually beautiful. Perhaps it was the overcast weather, but there was definitely an aura of mysticism about this one. The Reims Cathedral is also particularly notable as the location of the crowning of most of the kings of France.

This smiling angel, right outside the main entrance, is the most iconic representation of the Reims Cathedral.

After taking in the cathedral, we drove to Zeebruge, Belgium, and hopped on an overnight ferry to Hull, England (from which we drove to Ayr, Scotland).

It was my first time riding on a ferry (or on any significant boat, for that matter), so it was really fun to take it in. I definitely prefer sleeping overnight on a boat over sleeping overnight on an airplane...

Kristina was so excited that she started running around doing "stag" leaps.

That's the bathroom...and the shower is in the space between the toilet and the wall.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand time to go board my plane!