Wonderful Sienna

Lunch in Sienna


Half way up the Bell tower



Gina, David, Sally, Pam, Ron, Angie traveled to the nearby hill town of Sienna. What a wonderful town. We all came home with our treasures from shopping. And of course had a nice lunch with music playing close by. And ended the day with gelati! Stanage arrived back at the villa and had great stories to tell about her adventure to Pompeii. Dick relaxed at the villa most of and read.

Eat, Play, Laugh!!! Our new motto for Italy...

Miss Carla Meucci came to the Villa to prepare an authentic Tuscan meal on Sunday night... we were all full by the time the "secondi" course arrived... and we've been eating leftovers all week. We have invited her back for a command performance on our last night at the villa... giving her total freedom to prepare her favorite dishes for us! And did I mention the wine... hum... it's flowing like water... we've been making regular purchases at the Chianti festival in town at an average of 3.50 Euros per bottle!




Angie and I at the top of one of the many towers in San Gimignano... the "play" portion of our adopted agenda. 463 steps to the top of the Duomo dome in Florence, 500 steps to the top of the tower in Siena yesterday and again to the top in San Gimignano! There ia always Gelato to be eaten one you're back down!!

I went to bed last night to the lovely sound of laughter... we site together in the evenings and compare notes about our day... mostly about the thrills of driving on these gently winding Italian country roads... with crazy Italian drivers buzzing around us like bees on a mission!
Le Dolce Vita... life is sweet here in Montespertoli! Wish you were here with us!

Thursday morning - Group getting slower getting up....

Gina & Pam are up, others are still sleeping or starting to move around the villa. Not sure what direction we're going today. Some of us may stay here and relax & some of us may take off again. Maybe another hillside town, Sienna.

Yesterday(Wednesday) Dick, Angie, Sally, Ron & Pam visited San Gimignano(see pic). Gina & David arrived back late afternoon safe and sound from Rome. We all met in our little town of Montespertoli for dinner & more fun. Stanage will arrive back from Pompeii today!

Wednesday Morning--Slowing moving about the Villa

This week is going by so quickly! It's Wednesday already and even though we have seen some amazing things and had so much fun, the days seem to pass so quickly.
We left for Italy Friday, arrived Saturday, hung out close to home(Villa) & our small town on Sunday and had a wonderful dinner prepared by Carla(more on that later). Monday, Gina & David left for Rome for a couple of days, Stanage hung out at the villa; while Dick, Angie, Sally, Ron, Pam headed for Florence.
Tuesday Dick & Angie decided to spend a relaxing day at the Villa and drive to a couple of small hillside towns, while Ron, Pam, Sally, Stanage woke up at 4am and headed out for the day.
We drove to Florence to board a train to Rome. We said goodbye to Stanage, who headed on down to spend a day/night in Pompeii, while Ron, Pam, Sally met Gina & David for a guided day tour of Rome.
What a day! It was awesome!! We said goodbye to Gina & David who stayed in Rome and headed back to the villa. We arrived back at the villa about 1:30am.
Today (Wednesday) we will NOT be getting on a train! We are pretty darn tired & plan to spend the day in some hillside towns. Gina and David will return today, while Stanage will return on Thursday.

Tuesday in Rome

Overlooking Rome toward the end of our day trip.

One of Rapheal's masterpieces

St. Peter's Square where the Pope will be on Wednesday!! Gina and David are staying overnight in Rome and plan to try and see him.!!!


The Colosseum.....Glad we were not living back then, we may have been fed to the lions or had to fight a Glaidator!

The beautiful Trevi Fountain. We threw coins over our left shoulder in hopes to return.

More pics.....

If it's Monday, this must be Florence

Well, here I am...all alone (with Dick of course) at the villa while everyone else is roaming around Italy. Ron, Pam, Sally, Dick and I piled into our VW Golf yesterday and took a little trip to Florence. A wonderful time was had by all....Pam and I dropped coins (bought jewelry) on the Ponte Vecchio...Sally and Pam bought lamps at a wonderful lamp store...pics of those to come later. So, here's a little preview of our day!

Ron & Pam perusing the leather goods at the market:

The girls posing at the top of the Duomo...you can't send us marathon runners to Italy and not expect us to climb every staircase there is!!!

Oops, sneaked a pic of the villa in here. Here's our awesome kitchen fireplace. The villa is indescribable...it's huge...we could have easily tucked 6 more people into our suitcases and it is beautifully kept.

The Duomo

The relative hardships of WWI helped bring Mussolini to prominence, and Florence became a violent fascist stronhold between the wars. The city was badly damaged by the retreating German forces in WWI and the Ponte Vecchio (shown below) was the only bridge spared.