A Night to Remember...

In the morning we got up early to checkout.  Since the weather has been all over the place, we were constantly checking our phones for the forecast to see if any rain was heading our way.  We were surprised by last night's showers and that pretty much ruined our chances for stepping out.  Since we had a 3 hour drive back home, we figured we can still have a chance to see what Lecce was all about. We had our morning espresso and a mini pound cake treat for breakfast and wandered around for some souvenirs.  I really wanted some leather goods, but unfortunately it was not in season in Lecce. So much for that.  We walked around some more and ran into a leather shop.  A man was busy putting together a bag but stopped to help us find what we were looking for.  He made everything by hand, and the leather fabrics in his showroom were gorgeous.  If we had enough time he would have made me a brand new bag to my liking, but I was pleased with the one I found in his shop. He was a true gentleman and I've been wearing my new purse ever since.

We decided to head back to town, but first my friend asked me if I would like to see a castle.  It was in the town called Andria and nearby her hometown.  I figured why not since we could knock out another distinctive castle out the way.  This one was HUGE!!  The Castel Del Monte was built near Bari in the 13th century by the Emperor Frederick II.  His policy in Italy, unlike that in Germany, where he encouraged the feudal system, was that of an absolute monarch. For this reason, and also for defensive purposes, he built a number of strong castles in his lands of Apulia, Calabria and Sicily, the largest and most influential of which was Castel del Monte.  ("Castel Del Monte". unesco.org.)  I was blown away by the size and of it's octogon shape.  We drove up to a parking lot to park our car and then hopped on a bus which took us to the hillside of the castle.  I noticed the storm clouds reeling in, and because of it's low altitude, we decided to skip the inside tour and just take pictures outside.  It started to get gusty up there so we made our way back to the bus which took us back to our car. 
During that time we were checking out the castle, my friend recieved a phone call from her boyfriend.  He wanted to hold a wine tasting for his friends who brought bottles from nothern Italy.  They decided to hold the tasting back at the house instead of going to a restaurant, and that's when panic struck.  She would have to cook a feast for 10 and we still were an hour away from home.  Not to mention, we would be arriving into town around 2:30pm which meant we were cutting it close if we wanted to stop by the market to grab some items for dinner.  Siesta usually hits around 3-5pm, and my friend wanted to start the preparation for dinner at that time. 
Nontheless, we picked up whatever we could for dinner and made our way back home.  The guests were to arrive at 9pm, and my friend still had to clean up the place as well as prepare the food and get ready.  I helped out in the kitchen by doing the dishes.  Because of the limited dishware, I washed while she reused the pots and pans to continue to cook the meals.  It became a stressful ordeal to beat the clock.  Around 8:15pm is when her boyfriend arrived home from work and started to help out in the kitchen while we got ready.  What threw us off is the first early arrival guest showing up at 8:45pm on the dot!  Yikes!  He entertained while we finished up and the next thing you know, the rest of the guests arrived right on time at 9pm.  Time to get this party started!
What is hard for me as an American, and as a LIGHT DRINKER is the tasting of the wines on an empty stomache.  I'm used to having wine with my meal, but here in Italy, you sip and savor and then eat a huge feast to balance out the fuzziness.  Well for me, I'm almost at full drunk mode, but then making I make it more ackward by trying to contain myself at the table.  It's something I definitely have to work on, but since this was my 3rd wine tasting while on vacation, I hope I didn't make a fool of myself this time around. 
My girlfriend threw an amazing feast and we savored every bite.  I even learned a recipe to take back home.  I love dinner parties!   

Sight seeing in Lecce!

Check out those luxe leather fabrics!

Castel Del Monte in Andria!

Gorgeous castle!

Massive!

More fig dishes!

Check out that table!

Good times with good friends!

A night to remember!

Plan B

After our rained out Monday, we had to figure out what to do for Tuesday.  Again rain was in the forecast, but when we woke up, it was partly cloudy.  We could see in the horizon the storm clouds moving in so we decided to act quickly and pack up an overnight bag.  We checked the weather conditions in certain cities and Lecce was suppose to have rain the next morning.  Then again, Lecce was 3 hours away from us.  We figured let's go as south as we possibly can to beat the rain and enjoy some action.  And away we went on our little excursion.  We drove before the storm hit us but from then on, it was a constant race to beat the clouds.
We drove for almost 2 and a half hours til we settled in Ostuni.  We were hungry and needed another shot of espresso.  Most of the times, we were driving through acres and acres of land so it did get tiring on the eyes.  Plus my friend was doing all of the driving since she knows how to drive stick shift.  Ostuni was a beautiful city!  Gorgeous white brick that practically glowed from far away!  I couldn't wait to see what was in store for us.  There was a lot of traffic going into town so they have a pretty good following as far as tourism goes.  We had trouble finding parking and had to hike up into the central region, and when I mean hike, I mean we HIKED!  lol.  Luckily I had my gladiator sandals on but it's was still difficult to walk because of the steep roads.  We settled for some pizza at a cute restaurant and luckily got seated right away.  We must have just beat the rush because the restaurant got filled up pretty fast.  I felt bad because they seemed to be under staffed.  Regardless, we had no worries because we were resting for a bit.  I ordered pizza (which was pretty big but delish) and my friend had a bowl of pasta.  We also ordered a bottle of white wine. 
We started to walk around town when it started to rain, and then it rained harder.  We took cover at a cafe.  I decided to have a cappuccino, but something that my friend had said earlier struck a nerve with me.  She said people usually don't have cappuccino late in the afternoon.  I was surprised because we sometimes took a siesta and depending if I slept too long, I would wake up too groggy.  I can't believe Italians wouldn't serve themselves a cup of something because the day is not over when siesta is.  People sometimes go to work and finish up business.  Just something to think about. 
Once we figured the rain wasn't going to give up, we knew we had to get out of there or else we'll never make it to Lecce.  The steep roads were very hard to walk through in the rain.  We were soaked.  I hate the fact we couldn't hangout in Ostuni much longer because we never got a chance to walk around.  I did notice some graffiti with the demonic symbol 666 on it, and an upside down cross.  I found out later that it's not devil worshipping necessarily.  People have a lot of conflict with the Church and express their frustrations that way.  Interesting. 
When we FINALLY reached Lecce I noticed the temperature change.  It was definitely warmer, and seeing clear blue skies made our day!  We found parking in the street and made our way to our bed and breakfast which was located in the central area of town.  There was a lot of hustle and bustle in Lecce, so I knew we would enjoy our time here.  Believe it or not, I missed the action of a big city.  People were finishing up siesta and going back to work when we arrived.  Although at this time my friend was crashing hard.  She wanted to rest badly. 
We settled in our b&b and met the owner.  He gave wonderful recommendations and was super nice to us.  I'm still not use to the idea of a bed & breakfast spot, but since I was with my friend, she reassured me we would be ok here.  It had great ratings and we were in the middle of everything.  I left her there to rest up while I walked around the central area and sight see.  We were still on the lookout for a dress for her to wear to the baptism coming up next week.  I figured I'll wander around and checkout the retail shops myself first to see if there's anything for her. 
I did find some wonderful leather shops along with other interesting finds.  But they were mostly tourist shops.  I couldn't find their retail shopping district, so I was out of luck.  I came back and woke her up an hour later so it wouldn't get too late for her to look for herself.  We decided to chance it and shop outside the central region and that's when we found the retail shops.  It was getting frustrating again because most of the stores had fall merchandise and nothing cute for a Sunday baptism.  We had reached the last couple of stores on this block when my friend found a stunning day dress.  It had a houndstooth print and was fit-n-flare but we figured she could wear it in the winter as well with opaque tights.  We found a winner!
Now it's time to head back to the b&b and change for the evening.  The shops were now officially closed and the restaurants were getting packed for dinner.  I changed into a mini floral print maxi dress and my friend wore a cute floral dress.  The nightlife in Italy is mostly restaurants and bars, so we don't have to wear club wear out since the crowd is mostly tourists.  At this point we kept walking around trying to find the one restaurant that caught our eye, but that turned out to be over an hour of confusion.  We were hungry and upset and finally we caught the one!  An osteria restaurant with a intimate setting.  We were pleased! 
I devoured my plate and we were getting excited about going out for a bit.  But guess what happened?  Yup.  The rain found it's way to Lecce, and it was raining hard.  We were one of the last guests leaving the restaurant and we were stuck on what to do.  We had no umbrella and one of the workers there tried calling a cab for us but with no such luck.  He gave us one of their umbrellas from the restaurant and we figured we'd walk back to the b&b.  It was hard to walk in that rain especially on the cobblestone!  We had to take our time.  I'm still amazed people ride their mopeds in that weather.  We ended up falling asleep and skipping our big night out on the town.  What can you do?

Manic Monday

Well I survived another Lollapalooza weekend.  I sometimes think I'm too old to attend these festivals, but once I'm there, I can't help but have fun!  lol.  Again, my dual personalities has an issue with this, mostly because they're pretty draining.  Physically, you're sometimes on your feet all day and of course, the alcohol consumption does not help.  Back on July 4th weekend I attended the Riverwest Music Festival along Elston avenue.  I decided to wet my feet into the scene with a one day pass.  Chicago gets pretty quiet around the holidays when people head home to visit family.  Not to mention, a majority of people who work in the downtown area come from the suburbs.  That's why it's mostly slow around here except for the true tourists that visit our city.  Since our summer has been mostly wet and cloudy, this day in particular was no different.  It barely reached 79 degrees which is a pretty cool July 4th.  I decided to wear my Fryes (since music festivals are ALWAYS gritty) and ran off to see some cool acts.  I'm glad I brought along my new infinity scarf I picked up at Express from one of their clearance sales.  It warmed me up once the sun went down.  It did rain for a bit, but luckily it was a nice drizzle.  I liked this festival because some of the djs were house and techno, with very little EDM.  The crowd wasn't so young so I didn't feel out of place.  Maybe I'll check it out again next year?  We'll see.  Sometimes a festival gets "too big" and then things get out of hand because of word of mouth or over promoting a venue.

Riverwest Music Festival