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Published: December 28th 2015
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Friday, Sept 18th Glen's Notes: getting packed, Polenta Festival Not much to say about the day itself. A lot of the day was planning the route back to Florence, and where and when. Elinor did the packing, working to make sure that we weren't going to be over the weight limit with the big suitcase (we weren't). Wey and Mireille had originally thought they would overnight in Florence, but had decided instead to catch the train in Florence and make their way to Milan a day early. So the plan was, Elinor and I would take Wey and Mireille to the train station in Florence, and then drop off the rental car. Wayne and Wendy would take our luggage to the hotel that we'd booked, drop off the luggage, return the car, and then we'd see what we could still manage to do in Florence. OK, plans are made.
I'd said earlier that I'd got a 42 € ticket at a toll booth. I'd been trying to figure out how to pay it. The ticket had a reference to a web site, and the english version of the site said that twenty-four hours after
the ticket is issued, that it would be entered in the database. Four days later, I still can't pay the darned thing - not in the database! And the comment is that if it doesn't get paid, then it will be forwarded for legal action. Which would be additional cost, so I just want to pay this now. I send an email to their site apologizing for not knowing Italian, this is what happened with the ticket, and what should I do now? This is Friday, and I'm not very hopeful that I'm going to get useful information before I leave Italy. No response that day.
All during our stay here, there had been activity setting things up in the downtown of "new" Monterchi. This is the area along the highway and across the river from the hilltop area of "old" Monterchi. What are they setting up for? Polenta Festival! Yes, a festival dedicated to cornmeal.
I understand there are historical reasons for polenta to be celebrated in Italy. That didn't matter to us, we just thought it would be something fun to do. The festival didn't start until 7 PM, so we headed
down for a polenta supper and then some entertainment.
Elinor and I had bowls of cornmeal with a tomato and meat sauce. Unfortunately for Elinor, the meat was pork. She'd been having a bit of pork through the trip, and thought she was going to be OK. This time, she reacted to the pork and it made for a rough trip back to Canada for her. But that comes later.
The others tried some of the polenta that was closer to a cornbread with some sausage, and I think some bacon and maybe some liver. Overall, it was interesting, but I wouldn't place the festival high on gastronomical delights that must be tried.
For dessert? Cornbread with your choice of sweet sauce. There was something else we tried as well, but I forget what that was.
For entertainment? An Italian band that played good dance music. We danced jives and rumbas and foxtrots and I think a Vienese Waltz. Everybody else? There was some local dance that seemed a combination of two-step and foxtrot and polka. Which they did to almost every song. The dancing was happening in
a parking lot (which is what the town square is when it isn't a town square) so we weren't expecting a great dance experience. But it was still fun.
After we've had enough for the evening, and we're just heading back to our cars, the band plays a song that is distinctly a bachatta. And what happens? A huge number of people get out and dance bachatta. With every other dance, there were only a few people that would dance something other than the two-step/foxtrot/polka. For the bachatta, the dance floor was filled with people dancing bachatta. Half the people were doing a bachatta line dance, and the other half were doing couples bachatta. I guess that's what's currently taught in the bars on the weekends.
And that was the last full day in Monterchi.
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