Kick Back Day

After the heavy rain yesterday that cut out football game short we got clear skies today.  

A sun filled vista from our home in Tuscany.

I started the day by running to the local "Coop" store for coffee.  I feared someone might get hurt if there wasn't any waiting when we got up.  As I drove out of the estate I got this photo of the entrance.  

Tenuta di Lilliano

After breakfast I headed over to the office to see about check out details since we would be out on Friday and that's usually when it's taken care of.  While there I purchased another bottle of wine produced here on the estate.  We had been given two bottles already from our hosts.  We drank one bottle with dinner tonight and enjoyed it.

Then we headed to Siena for a relaxing afternoon.  The agenda - do whatever you want and meet back here in 2 hours.  I finally got a real espresso from a "stand up" coffee bar.  Delish.  Erik got some hot chocolate that we like barely liquid chocolate.  The ladies did some shopping  and came back with 2 pair of shoes and other items.  The boys wandered up and down the streets looking at interesting architecture.  In the middle of the afternoon 4 of us climbed the Torre del Mangia - the tower on the town hall.  Over 400 steps.  

View from the Tower

Piazzo de Campo from the tower

After finishing up our toodling around we headed home for dinner.  We captured a beautiful sunset.

After dinner we ended the day with a fire and popcorn. 

Today was a Wash Out in Florence

Laurie started out our day with some cinnamon and sugar French toast.  I know we're in Italy, but no one complained about the cross culture faux pas.  We then packed up for the trip to Florence again.

We had timed tickets to visit the Duomo museum, climb the Tower and climb the Dome, but I had mistakenly chosen the wrong date for the tickets.  The tickets were still ok, but we had to stand in line with the rest of the crowds.  This meant waiting about an hour in line.  We met a guy from Texas who is currently stationed in England, but was visiting Italy with some friends.  And even though he was a Dallas fan, he seemed a fairly nice guy.

When we finally were able to climb the Dome where we believe we climbed 463 stairs.  I'm estimating that at about 35 flights of stairs.  We all made it fine.  Emilianne did really great even though heights are not "her thing".  We got some great shots of the city.  There was an older gentleman that had difficultly once he got up there and was laying down and getting medical help.  But we think he was ok.  Once we returned to earth we decided it was redundant to climb the tower.

We then did some browsing along the streets and visited a large market area.  Then had dinner at a restaurant that Sarah recommended because she ate there 6 years ago when she was in Florence.  We had a great meal (do you see a theme developing here?).

Then we headed to the football game.  Florentina (12) vs Crotone (20).  Both Series A national football teams.  It started raining about an hour before the game started and we came prepared for light rain and warm weather, but the deluges started about 15 minutes before the game started.  We hung in there long enough to see the game start and about 4 minutes of the game, but we all agreed it was time to go.  As we left the stadium we got looks like "why in the world are you leaving - the game just started". I think we trudged through water 6 inches deep at times getting out of there.

Then back home again to hot showers all around.  Bad news is - we came home so late that we couldn't stop to get more coffee for in the morning.  I hope we make it through the morning.

Ah, Florence!

PS from yesterday - Quote of the day.  We were at Vignamaggio's  winery and enjoying some fantastic views.  As I pondered the beauty around me and God's creation I was a little moved.  I turned to the kids and said "I love spending this time with you!".  Sarah's response "Yeah, we are pretty cool!". Classic Sarah.

Today was our first trek to Florence.  As much as I love visiting these places and the beauty found everywhere, I do find getting around a little stressful.  With our unplanned trip into the "ZTL" (meaning no driving zone) and not being very familiar with the cities I never know where to park or where I can safely drive.  But I do love having a stick in the mini van we are renting!   I should have trusted God more because He worked it out perfectly.  We got a spot clearly not in the wrong place and we were able to easily walk to where we needed to be (even if a little farther to walk than any of us wanted).

Our schedule had us visit the Uffizi first.  It was nice to be able to have Laurie providing her art history back ground as we toured.  Most of the time I didn't have a clue as to what I was looking at and her insights helped to know.  I unintentionally got too close to one painting and set off the proximity alarm.

Then to the main plaza to wile away some time before the next exhibit. This is when the ladies went to H & M because we don't have those in the states.  Then we got some pizza for lunch.  I tried the potato pizza which someone had raved about.  It was actually pretty good.  We also ran across a couple of street artists who were made up as statues.

Next was the Galleria dell’Accademia. While there is some nice art to look at, the main reason to go is Michelangelo's David.  Overwhelming.  I can't say much more than that.

 Then back home for some dinner - excellent chicken and vegetables prepared by Laurie!   

Local Visits Today

So I started the day with a text message from my daughter Emilianne.  It was the website reference to Vignamaggio, a winery about 40 minutes from where we are staying.  If there was anyplace she REALLY wanted to visit in Italy it was there.  The reason she was interested in this location is because some scenes from Much Ado About Nothing were filmed there.  We had not planned to head to Siena until about 2 so we had time to do a quick trip.  So Sarah, Emilianne, Erik and I headed there.  Unfortunately both Laurie and Joel chose to stay "home" to do laundry.  In retrospect it was definitely a good choice on Laurie's part because the drive would have made her majorly sick as we drove through two hill towns - meaning two major ascents and descents on very windy roads.

We took a tour of their gardens and wine making facility which was very interesting. One of the cellars we visited has been used for wine making for over 600 years. I bought some wine as this location is in the heart of the Chianti region and I couldn't pass up that opportunity.

There's a sun dial from 200 years ago over the door.  It's still accurate within 15 minutes.

Then we returned home.  Finished up our laundry and headed to Siena for some shopping and a late dinner - well late for us, but normal for here (7:30pm).  Dinner was a restaurant recommended in one of the tour books as an "out of the way place with excellent food".  Well it was fantastic.  Our waitress took great care of us and we did the whole nine yards of salad, 3 plates of pasta, bottle of red, meat courses, dolce (dessert), after dessert wine and espresso. It was well worth it.

Before we started the day, Emilianne was determined to use the pool.  Here is proof of her success.

Tomorrow - Florence.

Rest Day - sort of.

Today was our rest day.  We all slept in which means rising times from 7:50 to 11:00 am.  Espresso to start the day - though we need to get some real coffee rather than the vacuum packed coffee we picked up at the supermarket. After we figured out how to plug in the toaster we had some delicious multi-grain toast (well, Laurie and I did).  

About 2:00 we decided to head to a local site - Castello di Monteriggioni. It's a local Castle on a hill with a small settlement/town inside the walls.   The kids went up on the walls to take photos and look at the local scenery.  So quaint.  We figured, since it was Sunday, we needed to at least step into a local church.  Today's was from the 13th century.

Afterwards we were supposed to stop and get a few more items from the supermarket only to find out they aren't open on Sundays.  

This evening we went to a local Pizzeria recommended by the owners of our house.  I have to say it was the best pizza I remember ever having.    Now we are all relaxing as we see if a Netflix movie will be possible over the slow internet connection. 

Here's another shot of home right now.

Just a photo

Just a quick post of where we are staying now that I could get a photo (it was too dark last evening).  From our living room window.

Today was a travel day

The morning started with our Taxi driver arriving at 8:00 am to take us back to the airport where we were picking up our rental van.  Both our original taxi driver (when we arrived) and the one today looked at us with big eyes like "that ain't all going to fit"! Not sure what they expected with 6 people from another country.  All we had was 1 large bag and 1 knapsack each. It was quite the sardines fit.  Joel had to remove the suitcase from the front seat before I could move because my feet were pinned to the floor.  After roaming the airport hallways looking for the correct rental car counter we bumped into a coupe on their way home to Minnesota.  They kindly gave us directions to the rental counter and gave us their road map of Italy along with some driving tips.

Once we got the van (with much more space in it without the taxi driver) we headed for Siena.  Since we were on the road by about 9:30 am and we weren't due to meet the rental agent at the villa until 6:00 pm we planned to take our time getting there by taking a couple of side stops along the way.  Well, as most of our discussions about "Hey, what do you want to do?" go, we ended up spending at least 30 minutes in a rest area looking at maps and figuring out where to go.  We ended up just deciding to go to Siena and hanging out for the afternoon.  

Ok, so Siena.  I loved Rome, but I already love Siena.  Even though we got lost looking for a parking space and I ended up driving through a prohibited area.  I found that out (the part about being prohibited) by the ticket that got charged to my account almost instantly.  I'm hoping that I don't get more because I heard they can be really expensive.  The Piazza is huge and we just sat down and soaked in the sun for a while.  They we wandered the streets, walked past the local Duomo and then headed to the "Coop" which is the Italian version of Tesco's (or seems to be so far).  

Siena Piazza del Campo

We got to the villa just at 6:00.  It really is located on a working vineyard.  We were invited into the "cantina" where they sell some of their products.  They insisted on giving us some bread drizzled with their own brand of olive oil and served us wine.  Both were delicious.  Then they walked us through the villa explaining things.  Mostly in Italian, but by hand motions and Laurie's french we got most of it.  Quite a change is space from Rome where we had 3 rooms between the 6 of us.  Now we have about 3 rooms each.

The view from our living room.

Tomorrow is scheduled to be a rest day which means we'll probably head back to Siena for the afternoon.  But this time the plan is "go do what you want and be back here in 3 hours". Less group decisions involved. Oh, and did I mention Laurie found another yarn shop.  Support local businesses.

Another bag of yarn to bring home.

Colosseum Today!

Today was our Colosseum day. We didn't  prearrange tickets this time since we knew the crowds wouldn't be that bad in late October.  So no hunting for the tour company.

We headed out on foot for the 30 minute walk.  Along the way we came upon the Piazza Venezia.  We ended up climbing a bunch of stairs and found a huge church at the top.  We got lots of cool pictures from upon the heights.  As we did this we discovered that the Foro Romano was just behind it.  The sites are much closer than what we had expected.

Then we explored the Colosseum, Palantino and the Foro Romano.  Again, it's amazing how much history is captured in such a small area.  

We then returned to the apartment for a rest.  Then dinner out after trying to research the best place to eat -  not an easy take.  Dinner was great of course.  Then we wandered the streets after dark and ended up at the Piazza Navona again for the night scenes.

Early tomorrow we head to Siena to our villa in Tuscany.  Say it again "our villa in Tuscany!".  Woot!

Today was Vatican day.

Today was our Vatican Day.  We had prepaid for a 3 hour tour (no, Gilligan was not there).  I made the ignorant assumption, even after examining all the materials carefully (but not carefully enough), that we were to just go the the Vatican and get our tour tickets.  When we arrived (15 minutes early after huffing it over there in "just short of jogging speed") we discovered, first, that the entrance was on the far side of the Vatican from where we arrived (the reason to arrive early). AND that the tour was not arranged through an official Vatican office, but it was a touring company and I had no idea of the name.  Leaving Laurie and the kids at the entrance I started scouting the area trying to figure out where our tour was.  After 14 minutes and 30 seconds I found the place (2 blocks away) and they were just walking out with our group.  Our group then went to the entrance where I reconnected with my very concerned family.

The tour was fantastic.  Our guide was very good at engaging our group and we really had fun.  Once we got to the Sistine Chapel we left our group to wander through all the areas that the tour had not visited.  I have to say the Sistine Chapel was my favorite.  I was emotionally moved as I just stood there dumbfounded and a little overwhelmed with how insignificant I was in relationship to how long that art had been there, how long it took to create it, the talent involved in creating it and then the immense message presented by each panel.

By the time we got done we were all in "art overload" mode.  We found a nice little #ristoranteanni60 on the way back to our apartment and had a late lunch/early dinner.  We enjoyed it a lot.

After dinner and a rest stop back at the apartment we went shopping.  We got some tasty desserts at a local bakery and then some groceries at the local "Coop" super market.  The below package was purchased because it said "your family wants me to come for breakfast".

Our apartment is about 4 blocks from the Piazza Navona.  We have a small kitchen (if you aren't there to cook then get out - there's no room for you), dinning room/living room, an open sleeping area for some of the kids and 1 bedroom.  It's quite comfortable.  Only thing... lot's of quaint street noise.  Multo Bene!

We are here!

Our first "real" pizza in Italy! Because it's not real if it's not from here.

Here we on the Piazza Navona having a snack.

We have an apartment walking distance from the Piazza and the Pantheon and I believe we can walk to the Vatican.  Heading to the former now after a quick rest stop at the apartment.  We all feel like horse hooey because of our all nighter on the plane.  None of us got much sleep.

Oh, and of course Laurie found a yarn shop.  Support the local trade!

Chow for now.

Off to Italy!

We'll we're off!  Through security at PHL and waiting for our flight.  The travel jokes are already getting old (Dad, is this the city? We want to ask you a question.) .  But lots of laughter too.  Stay tuned....

RunFAR Follow Up

Hey Everyone!

Just a quick update regarding our RunFAR race.  We completed it on October 8th.  I was joined by Sarah, Emilianne and Erik in the run.  Laurie was our cheerleading section and the cutest cheerleader there by far!!  

The weather was perfect for a run at Ridley Creek State Park.  I met some folks who were already familiar with RunFAR and got some High Fives for our RunFAR shirts.

The results are... (drum roll please) ... Emilianne came in first for her age group!  And I came in first for my age group.  Woot!  

Thanks to everyone who contributed to support Covenant Mercies through their RunFAR program.  We love what they are doing in Africa and so glad you chose to join us in that.