Il Cuccio

We made it to our new farm with only minor travel issues. I tried to disembark from the train at Rho station instead of Rho-something or other station. Luckily we figured out that it was the wrong station before the train left, otherwise I might not be typing this to you right now :( It was a long day of traveling. Asti is only a two hour's drive from Varese, but it takes over five hours by train. We had to make four transfers all in all. Then in Asti we sat for three hours waiting for a regional train that would take us the 11 kilometers to the small town near the farm.

Our consolation prize was the amazing gelateria near the train station in Asti. Our guidebook says you can judge the quality of your gelato by the length of the line at the shop. I was in line over 20 minutes, but it was worth every second. I had a cone with mango and peach and Josh got one with chocolate and mint. There must have been over 30 flavors to choose from, but the place was so packed I didn't have a chance to read most of the labels. In this country, gelato practically needs its own guidebook. (Maybe I should write one, that way I can do all the research myself...)

Our host tells me that her neighbor is in desperate need of help with her grapes, so we may be grape picking again. It's a whole heck of a lot easier than weeding, that's for sure. La Monda was a beautiful place, but I won't miss all the weeding we did.

Well, I'm beat. It's just after 9pm and I'm ready to pass out. Ciao a tutti!