Florence, Italy May 20th - June 17th

Florence, Italy - we have been having a great time here in Florence for the last 4 weeks.  Our apartment is wonderful (see http://www.ownersdirect.co.uk/italy/it4380.htm).  It is in a great location, is comfortably furnished and most important of all, has a fabulous bed!   And there is so much to do in this city.  The next couple of days ought to be interesting, as a huge fashion conference begins here today.  Of course, ordinary folks cannot get into the special events being held.  But there is sure to be something that we can see.

                                      Bob standing in front of our apartment building doors (Brown Doors)

                                                             The street in front of our apartment building

We have also enjoyed touring around Tuscany.  We went on a private tour one day of several villages in Chianti and had a delicious lunch and wine tasting at a farm, as well as a short tour of their winery. 

                                                 Bob and Sam in the Chianti Hills

                                            Bob and our hostess, Annarita for the wine tasting

             Sam and Bob enjoying the tasty results of a great Tuscan lunch with a lot of great Chianti wine tasting

Yesterday we took the train to Siena and last week we rented a car for two days and visited several walled villages perched up high on the hills.  Our favourites were Radda in Chianti, Pienza and San Gimignano.  We spent the night in Montepulciano, which is charming and has a great wine cellar you can tour on your own.  In Montepulciano, we stayed at a place called the “Meuble Il Riccio” (www.ilriccio.net) .  It was built in 1212 as a Monastery and has been in the present owners family for seven generations.  The room we had has probably the best view I have ever seen  Our room was simple, but as you can see in the attached pictures, the view was stunning! 

                                                The view from our room in Montepulciano

                                                          Wine cellar of a local vintner

                                                Town square San Gimignano

                                                      View from the town wall in Radda 

                                                         Town wall  Pienza                                           

We have visited in Florence all the museums and sights that we had on our list of things to do, most were incredible with works of painters and sculptors that we have heard about all our lives.  But the most interesting thing I find is to just walk around the city.  It is a maze of short little narrow streets and alleys broken up about every three hundred feet or so by piazzas.  In just about every piazza there is a fountain and a statue.  We have also discovered the pleasure of Osterias, these are normally small chef owned restaurants that specialize in cheap, flavourful home style cooking.  We have had wonderful meals at these places both dining in and picking up take away.

                                                                SCENES AROUND FLORENCE

On Friday, we leave for southern Italy and a new adventure