Jerry's Thoughts, Musings, and Rants!

Torino Update

Back at the Internet cafe.

After updating the blog (and trying to convince the security guard at the door that my camera had come in with me and wasn't being lifted from the store) we headed to the Mole Antonelliana - Turin's answer to the CN Tower back home. Originally built as the city's synagogue it now houses the national cinema museum.

Our entrance was free with our Torino card. We decided to take the elevator to the top as the first order of business. The glass box was lifted from above through the cavernous interior up through a hole in the roof. Getting off of the elevator we were treated to a fantastic view of Torino and the alps in the distance.

Back down on the main level of the museum we enjoyed one of the most fascinating series of exhibits I have ever seen. Each genre of movie was there, each with its own theatre which served as a metaphor for the genre (i.e. an old style salon was playing a Western, a huge red velvet bed had a romance movie playing on the wall). In the centre of the main floor rows and rows of red velvet couches, each fitted with an individual speaker - sort of like a reclining drive in. We lay back and watched the movies to the point where we almost fell asleep!

This was a sign that it might be time to head back to the B and B for a nap! When we left the cinema museum there was a bit of irony awaiting us - they were shooting a real movie right on the street. There is no truth to the nasty rumour now circulating Turin that a couple of confused Canadians walked onto a movie set causing the director to shout, no truth at all.

I think that we're finally starting to get our bearings. We wandered back to the B and B (stopping for gelato en route of course!) without an difficulty. We crashed for a few hours and then decided to head out for dinner.

We ended up at a Venetian wine bar. Of course we had left the slowtravel menu translator at the room so we only recognized 1 or 2 things on the menu. We ordered and of course managed to muddle things up - all a part of the adventure. The chicchetti was fabulous - tiny anchovies, whole shrimps, and calamari with a number of other treats. For our mains Paul ordered polenta with some mystery fish on it, I had huge gamberi fritte. It is a bit disconcerting to have them show up on your plate with the eyes staring up at you but we managed to persevere.

We wandered around the Roman quarter a bit before heading back to the room for a well deserved sleep.

I think we were exhausted because we slept in until almost 9! We got reading in a flash because breakfast is only served until 10.

Today threatens to be cloudy so we decided it was another museum day. First though we had to visit the market. The Porta Palazzo market is Europe's largest outdoor market and was a complete feast for the senses.

After the market we popped into the Cathedral of San Lorenzo which was started by Guarini in 1666. The vaulted dome was an incredible feat of architecture at the time and was impressive even today.

Next up was the Palazzo Madama - a mixture of styles and construction that was 'slapped' together over 200 years. Restored and reopened in 2006 it now features the museum of Civic Arts. The exhibits trace decorative arts from the 1500s to the present age. All housed in a beautiful structure that was the former home of the Queen's mother - talk about ornate style her bedroom was as big as our house!

By the time we had had enough of the art we were famished. We managed to find a pizza shop which is supposed to have the best pizza in Turin (according to Eugenia Bell, anyway). It was bloody excellent. No need for a repeat of yesterday's 40 euro lunch - today was a quick slab of pizza and a drink eaten on a rock for 4 euro.

Time to head out before I run out of time and loose everything!

Hello from Torino

Hello from Torino.

I'm trying this again. At the Internet cafe you buy time. In between the European keyboard and my poor typing I ran out of  time and lost my initial post. ARGH

We arrived in Turin at 2 yesterday after uneventful flights. Grabbing a cab we were whisked into the city to our B and B which is located on the Piazza Savoia.

After traveling for hours we were exhausted but it wasn't anything a shower and shave wouldn't cure. Fortified, we went out to explore the city. It was great to pop into churches, view the Roman gates to the old city, and window shop. In the middle of our self-guided tour we reacquainted ourselves with the joys of real gelato! YUM

By 6 we were fading so we popped back to the B and B and napped for a couple of hours before dinner. We didn't do anything fancy for dinner - we wouldn't have appreciated it in our jet lagged state. There was a great pizza restaurant on the square which was full of local folks enjoying a night out. What a treat to sit on the square under the stars, surrounded by lush greenery, and happy Italians all talking (and gesturing) happily.

The pizza was bloody amazing as well! I had a calzone stuffed with fresh ricotta, provolone, and salami.  The other bonus? The house wine, better than any house wine back home, was 6 euro for a litre.

By 10 the jet lag was back and we crashed, sleeping soundly until 7:30.

Today is cloudy so we decided it was 'museum day'. This morning was the incredible Egyptian museum - the largest collection of Egyptian artifacts outside of Cairo. At the museum I was happy to see that Italian school groups behave the same as my students used to when I dragged them throughout museums! This afternoon we will visit the famous cinema museum.

We had lunch on the Piazza San Carlo at the Cafe Torino - the famous haunt of Cavour himself. We feasted on pasta, salad, and of course, more wine. I can see why Turin is famous for its food!

One last comment before I sign off (I am getting looks from a bored Paolo) - there has been an ongoing debate on the slowtravel message board about whether or not tourists needed to carry their passports around with them. I can say that I have had to show mine 4 times in the past 24 hours so I guess we can put that discussion to bed. LOL

Mother's Day 2008

Yesterday was Mother's Day. Paul and I wanted to have our mothers over for dinner even though we leave on Tuesday for our long-planned vacation to Italy (no, it is clear, I NEVER get sick of saying that!) Because of this we decided to keep it simple - not like last year's multi-coursed food feast.

Things were further complicated by a trip to the clinic for me. My foot was in incredible pain and I could hardly walk. It turns out I have a disease of fat, 60 year old men - gout. ARGH Happily the anti-inflammatory, ice, and heat seem to be working and I should be able to hobble about Italy. It did put a dint in our dinner planning.

We had the table set early in the day.

Paul got a wee bit cranky when he heard that I had hobbled to the field near our house to cut the lilacs for the table. Mind over pain, I say! Normally the table is far more decorative but this was the best I could do yesterday in my painful, diseased state.

We started off with assorted antipasto.

You'll see cheddar cheese shortbread, crackers,a nd assorted breads. The cheeses were goat cheese with dried cranberries, Stilton, a soft Brie like cheese from Quebec, smoked white cheddar, and a cheese with black truffles. We arranged candied walnuts on the cheese trays. We also served cured meats and olives (to get ready for Italy). To go with the cheeses we served a fig and balsamic compote, a pear jam we bought when we were in Florence, and my strawberry, balsamic, black pepper compote.

Simple and easy - this is the sort of appetizer I like - you just open packages, boxes, and jars and presto - antipasto that looks as if you have slaved for hours!

We then moved to the table for the main event.

Paul's mother loves steak so we had New York strip loin. I had bought an whole strip loin at Costco for about 70 dollars, trimmed it (and my finger in the process), and cut it up into steaks. I got about 16 steaks like the one you see pictured here - not a bad deal at all!

We grilled the steaks and then finished them off with a Stilton and panko crust. They were served on a bed of Gruyere mashed potatoes with a drizzled of Cabernet wine sauce. On the side were honey roasted carrots.

We also served a cucumber salad which combined crisp slices of cucumber with a creamy dressing laden with celery seed.

Dessert was champagne gelatin with mint and strawberries. I served two of the lemon cookies I made yesterday on the side.

The leftovers were all sent home and now the fridge is almost cleaned out!

We Visit Bombay's Chutney

Last weekend was a busy one for me. I was working a conference in Kingston on Friday and Saturday. I raced home Saturday because we had plans to go out with a friend for dinner. Paul wanted to try a new Indian restaurant in Burlington that had been opened for a few months - we had driven by but not popped in. It was time to correct this.

Elise arrived at about 5 bearing gifts. She had brought a wonderful early anniversary gift for us which was such a nice treat. In her words: 'the 10th is a big one so gifts it is!'

Who were we to refuse?

We sipped a Tahitian Sunrise while we opened gifts, chatted, and laughed.

Then it was off to the restaurant.

Bombay's Chutney, featuring high ceilings and big windows, makes the transition from the busy decorating in many Indian food establishments to understated without a drop in quality of the fare. It's located  in the Longo's plaza at Walker's Line and Dundas Street and features a mix of muted colours and stylish lighting. The Indian touches show up in the profile of a room divider and art under glass on table tops.

The menu is quite extensive and we had a difficult time deciding what to order.

We decided to start off with an appetizer platter which featured a generous assortment of Vegetable Samosas, Aloo Tiki and Onion Bhaji. This was served with a tangy tamarind chutney and curred chickpeas.

We decided to order a number of different dishes and share, that way we could try many different things. The first one to arrive was Lamb Tikka. We enjoyed the juicy chunks of lamb which had been marinaded, cooked in a tandoor and finished with cinnamon. It was served with mint chutney and salad.

The next dish in our feast was vegetable biryani. This was an aromatic blend of ling grained rice cooked with saffron, vegetables and spices. It came topped with crisp onions and sliced almonds. I really enjoyed the layers of flavours and textures in this dish.

One of our all-time favourite things to order at Indian restaurants is butter chicken. I laugh at folks who think that the dish is actually made with butter; instead what we received was moist pieces of chicken cooked to perfection in a rich sauce of tomato, cream and spices. The sauce was accented nicely with dried fenugreek.

Elise selected a vegetarian dish I had never heard of, let alone tried, for her dish. It was called mutter paneer. For those of you who, like me, don't have a clue about this it is cubes of cottage cheese that are simmered in a rich tomato sauce with cream, onions, and green peas. I was so glad that she had ordered this, I doubt that I ever would have, yet it was wonderful! Thank you Elise for expanding our horizons.

Now, before anyone says anything, of course we ordered naan bread. I can not eat Indian food without copious quantities of hot naan bread to sop it all up. The waitress tried to tell us that we had ordered too much naan - clearly she hadn't met us before. We went with what our gut told us and were happy that we had. This was wonderful naan - light and crispy on the edges.

Of course we were not able to eat all of this food so Paul had leftovers during the week - a good thing as I was away for four days running another conference. The portions were generous, the flavour incredible - there wasn't one bad dish amongst those we ordered. I can't believe that we have driven by this spot for seven months and not stopped in! We will definitely return.

The dishes shown above, with steamed basmati rice, beers, and water came to $ 95 with the tip. 

Tahitian Sunrise

Last Monday when we went to the rum tasting class at the LCBO we were given a number of recipes for rum based cocktails. One in particular caught Paul's attention. Last Friday after a challenging day of work he came home and declared that he needed a drink. His choice? A Tahitian Sunrise.

Happily we had all of the ingredients (except for the juice which I dashed to the store to buy). This was a keeper in our books. We kept trying it all damn weekend long.

Today I had to go out and buy more of the Malibu Mango Rum!

Tahitian Sunrise

4 oz juice (I used a mango citrus blend)
1 oz banana liqueur
1 oz Malibu mango rum
1 tsp grenadine

Measure the ingredients into a shaker filled with ice. Shake to blend.

Fill a glass with ice cubes. Drizzle the grenadine over the ice.

Pour the drink into the glass.

In the summer you can mix this up for a crowd in a pitcher and store it in the fridge.  Another summer tip[ is to make your ice cubes for serving the drink out of the fruit juice - this prevents the drinks form being diluted in the sun as the regular ice cubes melt and water it down.

Rum Tasting Class

So on Saturday we had the cooking class at the LCBO, tonight we had a rum tasting class. Normally we try and spread our classes out so that we have one a month but with our trip to Italy our schedule got out of whack - not unlike things at work but that is a different post.

I knew that we would be tasting a number of straight rums over the course of an hour so I decided we would walk rather than risk driving while 'silly'. This turned out to be a very wise choice . . . plus it is great to be out walking again!

Bill, our instructor, explained how rum was made and the differences between the rums. I was interested to hear the difference between industrial rums (i.e. Bacardi - ewwww) and agricultural rums which are produced on site with natural ingredients. My favourite rum, Appleton Estates, is an example of an agricultural rum. This must be why it tastes so great.

At each place Bill had arranged six glasses and poured a sample of rum in each. The first two were tropical cocktails, the remaining four were rums of various ages. With each he passed around a sample of food so we could explore how the food impacted the taste of the rum.

It was fascinating to taste the difference that terroir made in the rums. The impact of the aging material was significant as well. I also noticed a remarkable difference in the 'tears' of the more aged rums compared to the industrial rums. The more aged rum (a 12 year old from Guyana) had tears that slowly dripped down the inside of the glass whereas the young rum just sloshed about like water, albeit water with one heck of a kick!

I've done lots of wine tasting classes over the years but this was the first spirit tasting class that I had attended. I confess to being a bit of a whimp when it comes to straight alcohol. Paul turned beet red and started giggling (like many of the participants). I saved my giggling for the walk home.

It was a fun night out!

Spring is in the Air Cooking Class

It has been since the dark days of winter when we had our last cooking class at the LCBO. Today Paul and I had a two hour demonstration cooking class - Spring Is In The Air. You may recall previous posts about classes we have taken which were offered by the LCBO.

For those of you who aren't from Ontario, this is our government run liquor monopoly. It is the largest purchaser of wine and spirits in the world and at the same time it pumps billions of dollars into the government coffers and provides Ontarians with an excellent supply of wine and liquor (to say nothing of funding health care and education). Over the past few years they have really focused on the education side of wine and liquor . . . cooking and the appropriate wine pairings is a natural extension.

The LCBO store near our house is equipped with a large room where they hold tastings and cooking demonstrations three or four times a week. Previously we have taken a cooking class, a summer blender drink class, A Mid-summer Feast From Niagara, a martini class , a wine tasting class of Beringer Wines, a Fall Flavours Class, and a Taste of Italy. We have a rum tasting class on Monday and then we take a break while we're in Italy (YEAH), our next scheduled class is in June.

Today's chef was one we had seen before: Executive Chef Michael Teune, of Milton’s prestigious Greystone Golf Club. Michael, who has worked in several restaurants in Ontario, Lake Louise and Australia, brings his passion for fine cuisine to the table. His stories of being a chef on a variety of cruise ships brought laughter to the group. He had an easy-going style and provided a great menu and great entertainment.

First up was Golden Tequila and Cilantro marinated Scallops. This was an interesting dish - the flavours clicked with their freshness and contrast. The interesting thing was that the scallops were raw - not unlike a nice ceviche.

I can't wait to try this at home.

The LCBO product consultant, Mary Chabot, paired this dish with a refreshing Savignon Blanc from New Zealand. She explained that a Savignon Blanc is about the only wine which pairs nicely with cilantro - given our love for the herb that was good to know!

Next up was a great main course consisting of spring lamb chops. These were marinated and grilled. They were served with ratatouille and grilled potato wedges. Again this was a 'winner' in our minds.

Mary paired this with a nice Bordeaux. It complemented the lamb with its rosemary marinade nicely.

The final course was spectacular - a champagne gelatin with fresh strawberries. This was so amazing that we would have gladly eaten three or four of them. Michael served them in champagne flutes for an attractive presentation.

This was paired with a true surprise - a sparkling wine from Chile which was blended with wild strawberry puree from Patagonia. Good lord, this stuff was wonderful. Called Fresita, the LCBO sold it for $ 13.85 a bottle. We bought that last three bottles that they had in the store.

This was one of the best classes that we have had - I think that our Mother's Day dinner menu is planned . . .

Savannah - Photo Update

I've managed to sort through pics, cropping, fixing, and trashing those which can not be fixed. Here is a pictorial summary of our trip to sultry Savannah.

We shared an old carriage house with Palma and Brad. It was luxuriously restored and cost about the same as a hotel would have.

The carriage house was on peaceful Washington Square.

 

On Thursday evening the planning committee hosted a wine and cheese reception at their house . . . conveniently located across the courtyard from our carriage house.

Paul and I went out to dinner at the Chart House, located on the river with Sandi, Gail, Bill, John, and Buck.

Dinner was a blast . . and the food was great as well. We were so full that we walked back to the house.

The next morning we visited Forsyth Park

Afterward we enjoyed a lengthy cooking class given by by Chef Darin Sehnert, Culinary Director of the 700 Cooking School located in the Mansion on Forsyth Park. It was by far one of the best classes we have ever taken (only topped by our day with the amazing Diva in Florence)

Paul and I decided to do a walking tour of Savannah after the class.

Savannah is lovely!

We were exhausted by this point so we took a power nap before heading to the Gingerbread House for the evening reception.

Did I mention that it was an open bar? :-) Suffice it to say that a very grand time was had by all!

Once we returned to the house we got waylaid. Shannon, Marcia, Dave, Kim, and Chris were renting a house on Washington Square and for them the evening was still young . . .

 

We made our way back to the carriage house, taking time to partake in the Savannah law which says it is legal to wander about the historical district while drinking an alcoholic beverage - so long as it is in a plastic cup. Finally, a law I can LOVE!

Before hitting the pillow I set the alarm for 6 am . . . I had my heart set on seeing the sun rise over Tybee Island. It was cloudy the next morning at the beach but the clouds broke for a moment and the sun shone down upon us.

We sat on the beach for awhile listening to the waves and the sounds of the seashore slowly waking up.

Back in Savannah we had a bit of a power nap before heading out to do some shopping. Conscious of the fact that we will be in Italy in just over a month, I restrained myself - unusual for me.

We met up with the gang for a great lunch at Paula Deen's famous restaurant - Lady and Sons.

The weather was crap so we went back to the carriage house for more sleep. It was a deep sleep apparently, because we missed the tornado sirens that blared out as funnel clouds were spotted over the city.

No tornado touched down but our evening event was relocated from Old Fort Jackson to the Savannah History Museum for safety reasons.

We had ANOTHER open bar, great food, entertainment, a historical lesson, prizes, and so much laughter that my side hurt.

Leaving the history museum we headed out on a trolley for the Haunted Savannah tour. Paul took pictures of the Pirate House - one of the most haunted in Savannah.

As we walked back to Washington Square we made tapping noises on the windows of the house rented by Shannon and gang. Apparently we scared the crap out of them.

Our punishment?

We were forced to come in and assist them in drinking up the remaining wine. Oh no! We also told ghost stories which did NOT assist Paul in having a good night's sleep.

The next morning we packed up, loaded up the car, and headed back to the river for our last event. We had some time so we walked along the river. It was hot and HUMID!

Brunch was at Vic's On the River. It was followed by a video created by Palma and good byes. We had to leave early to make our flight back home.

We saw this spray painted on the wall of a building . . . clearly left over from a St Patrick's Day celebration.

All I can say is - we did! :-)

Savannah Update # 3 (Sunday - the leave taking)

One of the most challenging parts of any slowtravel GTG is saying goodbye to friends - old and new, and heading back home.

We woke yesterday thoroughly exhausted. There had been far more late nights than I am used to (to say nothing of the effects of last night's ghost trolley tour and then the prosecco fueled ghost story telling with Shannon, Marcia, Dave, Chris, Kim, Paul, Palma, and Brad). Plus a head cold that had been threatening to grab hold, did. ICK

A hot shower forced some of the ICK away but I definitely didn't feel quite 100 %.

We packed and did the 'big search' to make sure that we didn't leave anything behind in the rental. Palma and Brad had to leave early to get to Vics on the River where we were to have our final event of the weekend. Paul and I decided to load up the car and move it close to the restaurant so that we could make the made dash to the airport - our flight was scheduled to leave at 1:50.

Finding a parking spot was far easier than I thought - I have to admit that parking in Savannah has been easy and at $ 8 for a parking pass good for 48 hours a steal! We decided to walk along the riverbank to see if we could find the waving girl statue.

The Waving Girl Statue honors Florence Margaret Martus. Martus was famous in the early 1900s for waving to all shipping traffic sailing into and out of Savannah. Waving for nearly 40 years at passing ships, the legend contends she was trying to locate the love of her life -- who was a sailor.

This is just another example of the quirky things which abound throughout this amazing city. Savannah is a city of characters and takes great pride in honouring their quirky, uniqueness. There is a lesson for the rest of us in that!

It was a hot and sultry morning. As Paul and I walked along the river we both commented on what a difference it was from home where winter refuses to let go as quickly as we would like. It was so hot that we decided to camp out on a park bench under some shade trees where we too could watch the world traipse by.

When we got to Vic's we were shown to an area on the top floor of the restaurant located in a beautifully decorated and renovated old cotton warehouse that overlooks the Savannah River. Now this area could be referred to as a bit of a tourist trap but Vic's offers food above the 'tourist trap norm'.

The planning committee had arranged for a sumptuous buffet of fruit, eggs, apple sausage patties, sourdough french toast, scrambled eggs, and shrimp with tasso ham gravy and grits.

Once everyone had had their fill of great food the planning committee had one last surprise for us. Palma had made a video in honour of the occasion. As always, she had outdone herself. She had managed to find pictures of most of the participants and really captured the essence of the slowtravel community.

Kim had one more contest (because we all love winning things!) - a contest suggested by David - guess how many photos were taken by members of the slowtravel community during the GTG (my guess is 9,350)

Paul and I looked at our watches and realized that we had less than two hours to figure out how to get to the airport, refill the rental car, drop it off, and check in for the flight. ARGH We said our good byes, posed for more photos (hmmm - perhaps I should have raised my guess) and raced off to the airport.

In the end we could have stayed for another hour because our flight to Cleveland was delayed. After a two hour wait in the Cleveland airport we headed to Buffalo where we loaded up the car and headed back across the border to home.

This had been a truly amazing weekend - thank you to the planning committee who donated their many talents and countless hours on our behalf!

Savannah Update # 2 - (Saturday)

Things sort of got away from me with the blogging - there just weren't enough hours in the bloody day for it all! *smile*

Back to Saturday . . .

Today was the day when we thought we might be able to drive to Tybee Island to watch the sun rise over the ocean. David and Marcia looked up on the Internet and discovered that sunrise was to be at 7:07 a.m. This wasn't good - given that by the time we dropped into bed the night before it was close to 1 a.m. OUCH

I woke at 5:30 and looked out the window - I thought I saw a star which meant (in my mind anyway) that the threatened clouds had held off. I woke Paul (he is a trooper), we hopped in the shower and headed off to Tybee.

When we got to Tybee we parked the car and wandered the beach. The forecasters had been correct, clouds had filled the skies. Nonetheless, it was wonderful to wander the beach listening to the birds and the waves. We saw sunrise, watched some early morning fishermen, and were happy to oblige when two young ladies on the dock asked us to take their pics looking out towards the sunrise.

Once we got back to Savannah no one believed that we had been so crazy as to get up at that ungodly hour after a late night of carousing to see a sunrise - which wasn't really much of a sunrise given the weather. Happily we had the pics to prove our story!

The planning committee was in a bit of a frenzy. Saturday night's activities were to be in an outdoor venue and thunderstorms threatened. The facility, concerned about liability, was considering canceling the event and moving our group elsewhere. Given that the evening was planned with as much intricate detail as the plans for Napoleon to invade Russia this was a crisis. Paul and I were wise - we left and went shopping!

In the midst of our shopping the clouds opened up and the rain teemed down. True to form, we had left our umbrellas at home. Popping into a drug store we bought 2 more umbrellas for a ridiculous price. Of course, you know what happened, as soon as we left the store the rain had stopped! ARGH

We walked to one of the peaceful squares and sat contemplating life for awhile. I can see why the residents of Savannah adore their city so much.

At 12:30 we were to meet a group of 32 for lunch at Paula Deen's restaurant - Lady and Sons. I had seen a few of Paula's food network shows and knew that she had a deft hand with home cooked southern food - this is a lady who will fry anything and for whom butter is an essential food! Our restaurant visit didn't disappoint - this wasn't high gourmet fair, but it was bloody good home cooking. I opted for the buffet and really enjoyed the fried chicken, collard greens and hoe cakes (no, I am not being rude!)

Gail ordered a salad. Big mistake! We discovered that if it ain't fried it ain't good at the Lady and Sons!

I was exhausted by this point so Paul and I snuck back to the house and crashed for a few hours. When we awoke Palma filled us in on a few updates - the evening's festivities had been re-booked at the Savannah History museum. There had been tornado sightings and the tornado warning sirens had blared throughout the city. We had heard nothing!

Imagine sleeping through a tornado warning!

Showered, dressed, and well-greased from the quadruple martini's I had mixed for Paul, Palma, Brad, Terry, and I, we hopped on the trolley and headed around the city picking the rest of the group up. When we arrived at the museum we got to tour the exhibits and partake of the open bar (guess which one most of the guests selected?). We enjoyed some entertainment and a wonderful dinner featuring a low country boil.

After dinner the door prizes where drawn. We really wanted one of the grand prizes but lady luck was NOT on our side this evening. However, we did win an evening and a vacation rental north of Rome so we will likely need to plan a return to Italy in 2009. How sad!

Later we hopped back on the trolley for a ghost tour of Savannah. It was quite an experience winding through the narrow, darkened streets of old Savannah listening to tales of mayhem, woe, and sadness, while sipping homemade lemoncello supplied by Mac (a slowtraveller from Texas).

It was close to midnight when we got back to Washington Square. Kim, Chris, Shannon, Marcia, and Dave were also renting a house on the square. As we walked past their house we noticed that there lights were on - they had returned form the ghost tour before us. Brad and I scratched at their windows, which apparently scared the hell out of Shannon.  Because we felt guilty we felt compelled to go inside and enjoy their company and their wine!

What would open expect a group to do after a full evening of ghosts and woe capped off by wine? Yes, we told our own ghost stories. It was just like summer camp as a child!

Paul and I left shortly after midnight and made our way back to our house. It had been a full and busy day - tomorrow was travel day and I needed some sleep. Unfortunately, Paul was so creeped out by the tales of ghosts that he had a fitful sleep, at best. Every time he flailed about I was woken up. ARGH

Sunday would be a LONG day!