...and the Wine is Bottled Poetry...

As Robert Louis Stevenson would put it: "...and the wine is bottled poetry".

Good morning fellows!!!

Another foggy morning in the life of "An Italian Across America".

What I like about California though, is that instead of staying cloudy and foggy all day, around 10/11AM, the morning mist goes away, to leave some space for a warm California summer sunshine!

We left Guerneville, CA at around 11.30AM after having breakfast downtown with Danny and his brother Jimmy, with our first stop of the day being only 30 miles away in Bodega, CA.

We wanted to see the "Potter Schoolhouse" of the famous Alfred Hitchcock's movie "The Birds", and we did. It is now a private residence (and from what I understand, it's been this way for a long time already), but there's a small gift shop of the first floor where you can buy the usual things, T-Shirts, hats, wine glasses, beer glasses, cups, postcards, you name it.

We then decided NOT to take the drive down California 1 to the Golden Gate, because of the clouds of the Pacific Ocean (inland was absolutely gorgeous though), and instead drove back east to the town of Petaluma and Santa Rosa right after.

We then proceeded driving from Calistoga to Napa and Sonoma on Route 29 (and also the Silverado Trail at some points), what a beautiful day to have the top down and drive along the several vineyards and wineries.

As my brother would say, I can always snap a picture of "The Bug" in the most unusual places, and it almost feel like the car gives me a VIP pass to the most weird spots. Well, guess what, I put the car under the "Welcome To Napa Valley" road sign this time, and here's the picture!

Those who know me well enough, also know that I usually keep promises, and that is exactly what I did this afternoon when I called my friend Jerry on the phone (and he was reading the blog...) to ask me where he thought I was. He made no mistake, he knew I was at the Culinary Institute Of America at Greystone, in Saint Helena, CA, that he proudly turned into the masterpiece it is today.

All right, all right, let's not tell anybody at Johnson & Wales I've been here, I'm not sure they would like to know I've been spending time with the "competition"! I'm obviously joking, it was a pleasure to visit CIA here in California, for all of the above mentioned reasons and for the surprisingly wonderful location.

I promised Jerry I would have gone through the restaurant at the "Institute", and since he doesn't really trust me (I don't blame him!) he asked me to tell him what was on the big windows on the sides of the building. Not only I have an answer, I also have pictures: ROOSTERS is the answer!

We decided to stay and get something to eat (just a light appetizer) at the bar. The bartenders and waiting staff were very knowledgeable, and of course, being in the Wine Capital of the United States, I had no other choice that having, guess what? Of course, a wheat beer!

I know, I know, that was a mortal sin, but hey, I guess I have some German blood running through my veins!

Don't worry, we will have time to have some wine tomorrow once we're going to be touring some of the wineries in the valley, it's going to be fun!

Tomorrow is also the day that I'm going to see for the first time in my life, the Golden Gate Bridge!

Frank (a friend of mine from Palm Springs) and Denny gave us some tips on where to go to get some good shots of the bridge, and therefore I just hope the weather tomorrow will collaborate with us.

As they say in the song, "que sera, sera...whatever will be, will be", I'll keep my fingers crossed, and you do the same.

Good night wine lovers,

Nico