Reds: Rosso Conero

As you may recall, wine is one of my passions. I have never taken a wine tasting course nor do I recognize different vintages of the same wine but when it's good, I just know it :)
One of my favorite wines has to be Rosso Conero. It is a wine made of Montepulciano grapes (usually 100%, if not used purely then a maximum of 15% of Sangiovese grapes is allowed), and produced only in the province of Ancona (Le Marche region).
Its origins can be traced back to the 2nd Century BC and is linked to Hannibal of Carthage. While marching to Rome, he provided his army and even his horses with Rosso Conero.
Rosso Conero got the DOC classification in the Sixties but in 2004 its Riserva became a DOCG (Denominazione d'Origine Controllata e Garantita) which brough more rigid rules to ensure a better quality. So we can get 2 different wines from the same vineyards: a more simple and cheap version (Rosso Conero DOC) and a more complicated, more expensive and of higher quality (Conero Riserva DOCG).

Grape(s): Montepulciano (possible addition of max. 15% Sangiovese)
Production area: slopes of Mount Conero, SW of Ancona; between the Adriatic Sea and the Apennines.
Terroir: mineral-rich chalky and clay soils.
Features: full-bodied, strong color, firm tannins, intense aroma and flavors of black cherries, berries and herbs.
Food pairing: Meat (roasts, game, etc), Lasagne
When to drink it: Not immediately, the tannins need time.

My top 2:


- Sassi Neri - Conero Riserva (Fattoria Le Terrazze)
- Cimerio / Vigneti del Parco - both Conero Riserva (Moncaro)

Spring colors

OK, still a couple of months for spring but, as they say, "the early bird catches the worm" so here are the colors we'll be seeing a lot in spring:

Spring 2012

Spring colors by simarik

It's an App World

So today's post is dedicated to technology. As a 21st. Century traveler, my world got better thanks to technology. The Internet, smartphones, digital travel guides, ebooks, devices with built-in cameras, you name it: technology has saved us a lot of luggage space. Imagine my carry on bag a couple of years ago: camera, travel guide, book, map, mobile, travel documents, passport, etc. and imagine my carry on today: my Galaxy Tab & my passport!
I love my Samsung tablet, I can use it as a phone, e-book reader, computer, etc. and I can store lots of apps useful for my travels. It has an Android operating system (I'm not an Apple fan), built-in camera and external SD card for storage.
So here's my top ten of the best free apps that you can download for your Android:
1. Google Maps: this one actually came with the device, it's good when you have an internet connection, otherwise it won't detect your position or load any maps.
2. Trip Advisor: I don't book anything before looking it over on Trip Advisor so the app is a must. It features almost everything that is on the website: reviews, forums, etc.
3. Kindle for Android: I love to have something to read on planes, trains, hotel rooms, etc. so being able to bring even 10 books without adding a gram to my carry-on is one of the many things that make me happy. Kindle doesn't need an internet connection but be sure to load your books before leaving home.
4. TripIt:  (free version) you can keep your travel itinerary, booking codes and even maps and weather forecast for your destination.
5. Skype: If there's wi-fi around you, Skype is all you need to keep in touch with family and friends (and if you have Android 2.3 or higher and a front-facing camera, you can even show them where you are)
6. Booking: one of the best websites for hotel bookings I know. Even if I normally book my hotels well in advance, it is useful when I'm planing them.
7. Memoires: to keep track of the places I visit.  It's kind of a travel diary.
8. Skyscanner: like Booking, I mostly use it for travel planning, when looking for flight routes and prices.
9. Trains Timetable IT: Best train timetable app for Italian trains
10. Guidepal travel guides: I haven't tried many but they have the essential info a travel guide must have, including offline maps.
*Bonus: Evernote: I use Evernote for everything, even grocery shopping. What I normally do is create documents with all the useful info I'll need (addresses, explanations, opening hours, images and maps) before leaving, and Evernote keeps it there. And if (G*d forbid) I run out of battery, I can access it from any computer through the website.
Also, depending on where you are headed to, you can use more location specific apps, for instance, this autumn I've visited some European countries and I found an app that had metro, street and rail maps of all the cities I visited and even timetables, the app is called Öffi, have a look, it's great. You can of course find all these apps in the Android Market.
The only bummer is that for most apps you will need internet connection so you might want to use wi-fi to avoid huge roaming charges, keep that in mind!

Update: It's news of these days that a man supposedly crossed the border to Canada by showing a copy of his passport scanned on his iPad... I wouldn't try it now but hopefully in the future we'll also have e-passports!

Waiting for the soul...

Don't you worry, I haven't become a buddhist and this is not a post about the transmigration of the soul. It's just about this theory of mine that when you travel, your soul doesn't travel back home with you but stays for a couple of more days in the place you traveled to and then slowly comes back to you. No, I'm not under medication or drugs, it's just that I've noticed this when we go home to the many places we call home. As soon as I jump on the plane/car I become this numb person and I keep being numb until some days have passed and I'm back in normal mode. It's hard to get back to real life after holidays spent with your loved ones; in Italy they have a name for this condition of depression that comes after the trip, when you start over with your routine: Sindrome da Rientro (return syndrome, or something like that). It's not the same as when you come back from a trip on a foreign new country, that's more of a post-holiday syndrome, this one I'm talking about is when you don't feel like yourself anymore (that's why I say the soul is missing) and you even question why are you somewhere else, not many things cheer you up... I've autodiagnosed myself with it many times and right now my soul might be on its way but it hasn't arrived to Milan yet, fashionably late :)
The cure for this condition? A couple of days to wait for your soul to make it back, good food, good wine and the one person who makes you remember why it's all worth it! :)