Steve
and I woke up to very rainy skies. The previous days humidity has
made way for a beautiful cool fresh breeze, thanks to last nights
thunderstorm.
We
got ready and had an early breakfast. Riccardo arrived at 8am, and
we shared with him the photos we took of us all. We had some more
laughs, then we had to leave. I felt quite sad. Happy that we had
the experience with Riccardo and Alfonso. They are like “Laurel &
Hardy”. They bounce off each other and are a fabulous pair of
lovably larrikins! Riccardo couldn’t find our paperwork, so we
left without paying the city tax – Thank you Riccardo.
Even
though the train terminal was a 10min walk away, with our suitcases
on the cobblestone streets, it was just easier to take a taxi. 10
euro was the best money spent, especially during the peak hour
madness!
Of
course within minutes of entering the Termini, a man came up to us to
help us….for a fee of course!! ha ha ha Ahhhh well….. he got us
to where we needed to be to see the depature sign, so it was a few
euro spent well. We did have trouble working out where “Gate C”
was, as it wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Thank goodness for a well
meaning Italian, who spoke very little english, he tried to help us,
when his english speaking son arrived – yay! He pointed us to
where we needed to go.
The
“very fast train” had arrived on platform 3, and we were on
carriage 4. We found our seats and luckily had space for our big
suitcases near the doors since we were quickly on the train before
others arrived.
The
train is quite new and spacious. The ride to Florence went very fast
– 1.5hours only. If we took the slow train it could have taken
anywhere from 3-5 hours depending on what stops that train did!
Happy to pay the $49 Euro for the pair of us to on the fast train.
We
arrived in Florence at 11.36am. Not bad considering this train can
travel at 400 km/hr. It is legally allowed to go at 300k/hr and were
sitting around 250 km/hr!!
Took a few minutes to find Luca who
met us with his “big white van”….Renault - & not so big as
far as us Aussies go…..but room enough for the 3 of us with our
luggage.
Poor
Luca….his English is quite good! Our Italian not so good. I am
sure by the end of the 12 days, Luca’s English will be great, and
our Italian would have improved (hopefully!) I am surprised at how
many Italian words seem to find their way back to my memory. Not
bad considering its been well over 25 years since I have had anything
to do with the language!
We
left Florence immediately. It would have been nice to have seen
Florence, but we will have to visit another time.
We
had an hours drive through the countryside. Once we left the freeway
and we entered Tuscany, it was very noticeable where we were. The
Pine Tree’s – Pencil Pines dotted the horizon. As it is now
Autumn, the paddocks once filled with wheat, are now ploughed and are
brown, ready for the winter. Some paddocks are green from grass &
weeds, so from afar they look pretty.
The
villa’s are the most amazing to see! Beautiful stone work, and the
Cyprus Pines – WOW. It immediately makes you want to move here to
live! Even Steve was being a romantic about it and he had picked
out 10 villa’s along our drive to move into! Ha ha ha
We
arrived at the town San Quirico D’Orcia. So quaint – so perfect.
We are staying at the Hotel Palazzuolo. A change from the “Wellness
Centre” we were going to stay. We were to find out later that they
have Karaoke going till 1am+ every night and there is NO sleep to be
had – thanks to Tim, he changed the hotel.
The
hotel is nice – one you would expect in Italy. Neat, tidy. View’s
over the Tuscany valleys – stunning!
We
heard from Tim and Scott that they were stuck on the freeway from
Switzerland, and they are still many hours away from getting to the
hotel. So we would be shooting sunset on our own tonight.
Luca,
Steve and I dumped our bags and then walked into the town centre.
OMG – its just adorable! Tiny little piazza, and of course 3
churches! Very plain inside, but still beautiful. We had some
coffee and a panini and we talked….. well, the boys talked, whilst
I ran around the town, looking at everything like a typical tourist.
I think Luca found it quite funny that I could not sit and be still!
OMG how could I be still amongst such a beautiful town?
SORRY.... I took a few photos on the little camera!!
Steve & Luca!! :)
As
the afternoon wore on the wind had become quite cold and the town had
fallen into shadow, so we went for a quick walk about the town.
Luca promised me a Gelati – YAY….but the shop was closed early.
:( So sad…. No Gelati today. From there we walked home via a
small supermarket.
OMG,
I love looking at supermarkets from different countries!! The cold
meats – OMG, you would just die and go to heaven. It took all of
my strength not to buy a huge slab of pancetta to munch on!
We bought some drinks and chips and headed back to the hotel to grab our cameras to head out for sunset.
Look at Steve trying to decipher Italian....which ones are 'plain' chips?? ha ha ha
Luca
took Steve and I to the famous little white church on a hill
literally 5 mins drive away. Unfortunately not a cloud in the sky,
so sunset was nice, but not dramatic or as pretty as it could have
been. But eh – you have to make do with what mother nature hands
out! Both of us aren't happy at all with the church photos, but we liked our landscape paddock images!
We
went back to the hotel to get Scott & Tim who had finally
arrived!! It was great to see Tim, and of course to meet Scott.
We
walked back into town to have dinner at La Bottega Di Ciacco.
OMG….the food….. OMG nothing short of spectacular! I couldn’t
tell you what I had in Italian, but it was Ricotta Gnocchi which just
melted like chocolate, with Fungi in a beef broth. OMG… perfecto!
$16 euro! Bargain I thought!
Steve
had…… Spaghetti Carbronara! He enjoyed it. We had some stunning
desserts too!
We
laughed and laughed over dinner – Scott is a dag! Poor Luca had
no idea what we were saying 90% of the time, but thats ok, we had no
idea what he was saying either Nahhhh, Luca’s english is really
good. But I think the Aussie humour is totally lost on Luca. I am
sure Scott will pollute Luca’s english by the end of this trip!
So
after a few hours of Scott taking the micky out of Tim, we walked
back to the hotel. The bed….well…. Not comfortable. Pillows
like cardboard. But I think the big day ensured we got a few hours
sleep!
We
have to be up at 6am to meet in the foyer at 6.30am to go shoot
sunrise of a little villa on a hill surrounded by a vineyard &
olive grove! Tim is not joining us….. he is going to sleep in!
Isn’t he going to hear about that for the rest of the trip….
Obviously not extreme enough for him! Ha ha
Buone
Notte Tuscany
