May 11, 2013 - We found it: The Tuscany of my Day Dreams

Today, we woke up and went down-stairs for a big continental breakfast in our hotel. Italians traditionally have a croissant with a cup of espresso for breakfast but because we are staying in a Best Western, we had our first big breakfast of the trip. We then took a bus to the train station; from there, we were going to get onto a second bus traveling to a hill town but like usual, the bus left just as we arrived. Instead of waiting for two hours, we decided to buy tickets for the next departing bus to a hill town we knew nothing about....

May 10, 2013 - Another Bus....missed

After a rough start to our day (we missed the bus by 3 minutes and had to wait for the next one which didn't leave for another two hours) we headed to Siena. Kayley and I both LOVED Rome but we were ready for the beautiful countryside of Tuscany. When we arrived in Siena we checked into our hotel and walked to the city center. Siena, was not what I had imagined (vineyards, sunflower fields, small-picturesque town), instead, it was a busy town surrounded by stone walls and was actually fairly commercial. We explored for several hours and...

May 3, 2013 - Friday - Day trip to Siena

Off to Siena for the day. From the Siena station, I found the 8 flights of escalators through the shopping centre to the city level and a comparatively easy straight line walk through the city wall found me at the centre of attractions, the Piazza del Campo. Wandered far and wide through the city, taking in the sights, the architecture and trying to revive memories of 30 years ago when I first visited. Getting there early was a good move as Siena was not over-run by tourists. (Is there something strange about that statement???). Back to...

Apr 20, 2013 - il porcaio

We at least left the house today. Went to the ATM to get $ for the kids and also the Co-op to be sure we have groceries for the family. The co op is so weird in that you just never know what they're going to have or not have. It's not like home where you can reliably expect them to have what you want. But, they did have some peanut-free bread today so we picked up 2 loaves. James hooked me up so that I could access Hulu and watch my shows tonight. I caught a little Housewives. James hit the sack early because tomorrow morning he is getting...

Apr 19, 2013 - il porcaio

Just hung out today. Did laundry, I think started this journal, ate PB&J. Watched the animals in the evening. James cooked us catfish shark with mustard sauce for dinner... OK, now this was freaking awesome. Totally unexpectedly awesome. We also had a delicious risotto with it.

Apr 18, 2013 - Assisi

We parked at Porta Mojano and were thankful for the multiple escalators that took us up to the town. The parking garage was crazy. It had these waxed floors, mostly empty, piped-in American music. It was so pretty and nice that we weren't sure we were even supposed to park there. Due to all of this, I double checked the rates to make sure we weren't going to get scalped. Also the parking included a free drink or snack at their "bar". We hit the potty on the way out (1/2 euro) and we were off. We headed straight for the Basilica di San...

Apr 17, 2013 - Siena & Buonconvento

James and I headed out to Siena where we checked out the parking situation, the piazza and what places we might want to take the kids when we all go. We decided we'd probably do the Duomo with maybe the crypt and also a major museum on the piazza. The weather was awesome and this was the town where we noticed the tour leaders carrying things like ugly plastic flowers on long sticks above their heads. For the most part we're glad not to be doing organized tours. At the same time, we're very happy we're doing the tours in Rome as there is so...

Apr 16, 2013 - Buonconvento

Today we booked our hotel for Venice and explored Buonconvento. We took a drive along the outskirts of town and ate lunch at a pizzeria type place where we had penne. We saw that the town was totally dead during nappy-time about 1:30-4pm. I mean, there was just no one on the streets and everything was closed.

Apr 10, 2013 - Siena

We got up early and headed to Siena. It's about an hour's drive. Mind you yesterday we went to an outlet mall that was supposed to be an hour and a half away, but we got lost and it took three and a half. Then we didn't even end up buying anything! We are getting better at deciphering the road signs so today went quite smoothly. Don is becoming very adept at handling all those curves in the road. Next thing you know he will start thinking he is Mario Andretti! We arrived at Siena in good time. We chose today because there is a big market...

Oct 16, 2012 - Tuscany Day Trip

Hi Everyone We started off early today and hopped on a tour of the Tuscany region! Wow! We toured through the chianti vineyards, went to Siena which was amazing where we had some spare time to explore the town. We then went to a family run vineyard for lunch, sampling their homegrown food and wine! It was just beautiful and the countryside is stunning! We went to San Gimignano which is a lovely quaint little town too! After that we went to see the leaning tower if Pisa! A great day with some breathtaking scenery! Love Lou xxxx

Oct 12, 2012 - Chianti wine area and on to Siena

Friday October 12 We awoke to early morning rain, and after Robert emerged around 10:00 we had breakfast together. It had stopped raining before we left the villa to drive towards Siena and a day in the Chianti area, and gradually cleared up throughout the day. Our first stop was in a delightful little hilltop town called Radda in Chianti; its early origins date from 2000 BC, then it was an Etruscan settlement and its long history as a hill top village nearly ended in 1950s when much of its land and farms were abandoned. Its revival began...

Oct 11, 2012 - Siena

We had heard so much about how beautiful Siena was so today was the day we would see if we agreed. we weren't sure if we would drive or catch the train because from what we had beeen able to find out the trains did not go to the center of town unlike every other place we've been with trains, so we tossed a coin and it came up trains. So once again we took the now familiar drive to Certaldo which is our closest train station. Mike is very comfortable with the drive here, we can even do the trip without navigation... Certaldo has a...