World Cup Fever

My friend who moved to Michigan was in town leading up to July 4^th weekend.  Because of the way it fell this year, she got a chance to extend her weekend leading up to the holiday.  I know she misses her friends and family a lot.  Regardless, she was craving her favorite restaurants while she was in town, especially Tango Sur.  This restaurant has been around for years and is located in the Southport neighborhood.  Since it’s B.Y.O.B, we decided to have some cocktails while we waited for everyone to show up.  We decided on The Music Box.  It was nice visiting classic spots of Chicago.  Once the rest of our friends arrived, we headed over to Tango Sur and opened a bottle of wine to indulge in.  I settled for some light bites while the rest ordered steaks.  It’s been a joke within our friends for years how I don’t have a huge appetite, but I’m not a thick steak eater.  I grew up with skirt steaks and usually crave those if I’m in the mood for red meat.  Afterwards we went to a neighboring bar to catch up some more before we called it a night.  

I didn’t realize how hooked I got following the World Cup this year.  Right around this time, my friends were very excited because Mexico beat Germany.  The next game for Mexico was the following Monday and some of my friends were calling off work to catch it live.  I was also communicating with my friends in Paris since France was doing so well.  Who knew back then how this was going to pan out?  Everyone was so hopeful for their teams…   

Matera and Alberobello: Day Five

Today France was playing against Belgium for the World Cup and they won!  Needless to say, I am missing Paris very much.  I’m beginning to think it’s my happy place. 

Back to recapping my big trip in Italy.  The following day we decided to drive off to Matera to spend a day there sight-seeing.  I’ve been there before a few years back, but the rest of the guests haven’t.  It was amazing to visit and see things through their eyes.  It makes you aware of what you could have missed the first time around.  The groom was the perfect tour guide for this getaway.  He gave us an insight on what life was like for this town since it was considered to be a very poor area.  We went into their museum and learned more about the history.  Unfortunately I had the worst migraine that day.  It woke me up around 5am and it never truly went away, despite me taking aspirin throughout the day.  I have to say, this was not a good day for me health wise.  My migraine put me in a mood, and I often found myself walking ahead or behind the group the rest of the day.  I didn’t want to ruin their experience there, yet I couldn’t shake this headache away.  I felt I was a terrible traveler that day.  I hope no one around me was offended by my lack of social skills.

We had a light lunch at Matera.  We tried the peperoni cruschi which the groom explained was available only in this region.  It was deep fried red peppers, but once you put them in your mouth, they would completely disintegrated with all of its glorious flavor!  I loved it!

The groom felt we had time to hit another town, so we drove off to Alberobello.  Again, I’ve been there before, but the rest of the guests seemed excited to see the trulli houses.  We checked out some shops and even hit a gelato café before deciding we should settle for dinner.  Driving back on an empty stomach is no fun.  We found a trattoria and had pizza and wine (of course) to end our night.  The drive back was long after a hearty dinner, but luckily we got back home safe.