The Good

Today was by far my best day in Italy, I took a wine tour of the Chianti region in Tuscany. Rolling hills, good wine, cheese and of course more pasta. I have to say, it was sooooo good to get out of the city into the countryside, be on a tour and have my itinerary set and all I had to do was follow the leader. First, we went to wine tasting school. Rule number one, the wine glass is not a ball or a umbrella, so you should not hold it as such. Hold it with two fingers close to the base of the glass in your left, switch to your right holding with one finger around the stem, left hand on the table, hold the glass at your navel, swish your glass around to aerate the wine, face into the glass, sniff – long and strong, then drink. Hard work people!!! We tasted 4 wines there, truffle olive oil, the best balsamic I have had in my life and pepper olive oil. Tuscany is known for its wine, olive oil, liquor and beef.

Next stop, winery number two, tour of the distillery, 3 glasses of wine, lunch and amazing views of the hills of Tuscany. Stop 3, San Gimignano, small walled medieval town (the Manhattan of Tuscany because of the skyline – they even have a twin towers) where they have the world champions of Gelato. I had three scoops, egg nog, blackberry lavender and black forest. It was an absolutely perfect day.

I a staying at the hostel of hostels. There is a pool, sauna, two bars and a terrace, a tour company and restaurant. I had a bacon egg and cheese panini for breakfast….one of very few times I have had eggs for breakfast in the past three months.

The Cathedral here – Duomo – is amazing. Its huge (the 4^th largest in the world) and it is made of green, pink and white marble on the outside.

Piazza Michelangelo – up on this hill which has a duplicate of the statue of David is an excellent view of the city.

Outside of Florence, I visited Siena (great public square that I ate lunch in), the Chianti (the famous wine region) and San Gimignano (The Manhattan of Tuscany) in Tuscany in only a few days.

The bridge – there is the famous bridge here ( forgot the name, but its in my pictures), one of the very last bridges that is covered and there are jewelry shops that line the bridge.

The Bad

So yesterday, I arrived at my hostel at 12pm (before check-in) so since I am tired of walking, I decided to rent a bike. Despite the fact that I went completely in the opposite direction for the first half hour, it was going well. I get to see all of Florence in ½ the time. I get to my 2^nd to last stop, the outlook point at Michelangelo. The view is amazing by the way but it starts pouring rain. Problem one – my bicycle is about ½ a mile downhill. So I get in a bus shelter in hopes that it will stop in a while. No dice. 40 minutes later it lets up enough for me to run over to a vendor and get an umbrella and go towards my bike. I sit on a very wet seat, take a glance at my map and try to navigate my way back to the hostel (at good 20 minute ride away) with an umbrella in my left . What is going through my mind? I am going to die on a bike in Florence. I almost hit a few people, buses and scooters are zooming past and I am soaking and dont have a good idea as to where I am going. Alas….legs soaking wet, I arrive back at the hostel 2 hours early ( I rented the bike for 5 hours).

Despite the fact that I literally look at maps for a living, for the past few days, I have had my brain screwed on backwards and have been going the opposite direction that I need to go all day every day. Frustrating.

The Ugly

Yesterday, I almost got arrested….well let me rephrase that— I almost go the cops called on me. Why is that? Here is the story. When you have a euro rail pass you are supposed to write the date you travel in your little travel book. On my day trip to Siena yesterday, I forgot to write yesterdays date in it before I gave it to the conductor. So he gets all bent out of shape about it – — I usually forget to do this and conductors just let me write it in in front of them. Not this guy — he wants to fine me 50 euros for it. The problem is that I don’t have 50 euros on me. Well then he wants my passport, “well sir, my hostel took my passport at check in, so I don’t have it with me.” His response, “Miss this is a real problem” And indeed it is. So I say, I don’t have the money or my passport, so I am not sure what good it is going to do to call the cops. Frustrated and raising his voice, he finally just gets the stick out of his butt and writes the date in my book and move on. Whoow. Here I go being a rebel again……..almost landed me in jail but hopefully, if I actually get imprisoned it will be for a better reason than not writing the date on my pass.

Random

As I recently learned, people from New Zealand are called Kiwi’s – its their national bird I think.

There are a lot of churches and statues of naked men in Florence, an interested juxtaposition

I am so over museums and cathedrals…I’ve seen more than most people in a lifetime

In Tuscany

In Tuscany

Trust me

There is no shortage of statues in the nude –

Yet medieval walls still clothe cities

Cathedrals are dressed in marble of pink and green

with gold figurines, towers and domes as accessories

Pinned next to rivers and picturesque pastures that capture

Chianti wine if the best in the world is what you are after

Florence is adorned in the garment of art

buttoned by Michelangelo’s David unveiled

Famous paintings in museums and sculptures in plazas

are its intimate apparel

And though the cities are wrapped in histories of old

If natural style is what you are truly after

Rolling hills decorated with vineyards will show you

That the pearls are in the pastures

PICS

Florence