Life in Tuscany is Grand!

 CLICK HERE TO SEE PICTURES

Hi. Well we have been here for two days now. It took us one day to get here from Rome as we overslept and basically got kicked out of our apartment in Rome when the cleaning lady showed up.  We then took a taxi accross town to a kiosk that sold paper products to rent our Budget Rental Car. We were sure we had been had when the taxi dropped us off. But it was all legitamite and we got a our Chevy Wagon... good old american sized car for our big suitcasees. 

Driving in Italy was okay, better than I thought it was going to be.  They respect the left passing lane and as long as you do as well, your okay.

Our first meal in Tuscany was in a restaurant in a town that has only 1 restaurant and 2 pizzerias.. it was spectacular.. I had steak with arugula and Parmesan and Deanna had pasta.  Yesterday we went to Sienna, we toured the Cathedral and walked the streets.  Most were closed as it was Sunday but the town square was alive with people from all over the world.   Its considered one of the most amazing town squares in all of Italy. We sat down and just looked around for a an hour taking it all in.

Then we went in to Florence to pick our friend Sucia up and ended up experiencing Italian LA traffic jams. Cars, cars, cars and no where to go.

Traffic was so bad that we decided to stop in some random town and ate at the only restaurant that was open and had people in it.  They served you flat bread with sea salt and Rosemary... we ate the entire plate.  We had ordered bruschetta, calamari withe vegetables and gnocchi with Gorgonzola and walnuts.. so much food, but we ate it all.

Today we woke up at 11, so late.. but made it to Montepulciano and Pienza. where we shopped and shopped.   Quaint little towns with picturesque views, town squares and full of Americans. At every stop we made, we met people from the US and a couple Germans.  We expected to come across a few but not everywhere.

At the top of Montepulciano is the town square with a cathedral and a castle. We took Rick Steve's advice and went wine tasting at Contucci Winery. one of the oldest in town.  I ended up buying a Santo.. which is a wine where the grapes are dried for months and then the wine is fermented in small oak barrels for 7 years. I had never tasted anything like it.

At dusk we made it to Pienza which had been recommend by quite a few people. Its was very quiet and we were able to visit some of the shops before they closed. Here we bought the most amazing bread sticks form this old lady and both Sucia and I bought our boots.. her red and mine blue/black.

One the way home we stopped at a grocery store and bought food for dinner. We made steaks with a white wine garlic reduction, thick spaghetti with a tomato-truffle sauce and snacked on truffle spread, black and green olives and a radicchio, tomato, arugula salad.. great way to end the day.

As I sit here and write this, Deanna and Sucia have gone to bed and there is a thunderstorm coming in.. with thunder and lighting and hail...lights flashing on and off.. as I have not seen in years...don't wanna go to sleep yet. :)