June 1st – Siena
We arrived in Siena and had prepared to rent a car by mapping Avis car rental on my phone. We saw it was only .8 miles from the train station so we thought we would walk. Turned out to be uphill the whole way. If you’re unaware….Siena is incredibly hilly! We arrived at Avis to find it had closed at noon since is was Saturday. We decided to walk to city center and look for euro rental (the main rental car company in Europe). My phone gave us walking directions that turned out to be completely wrong, so we took a taxi to euro rental. The worst part was that we were in such a beautiful place and failed to take time to see things. We were in such a rush to get the rental, we made the mistake of not enjoying where we were. We agreed that we will return to enjoy Siena on Monday.

We drove to the place we decided to stay (selected it the day before by doing a little research on the iPad). Steve did such a good job driving, he even drove faster than he should have, just like a local Italian!

My dream has come true as we will be sleeping in a barn the next two nights. I say that for two reasons…first, for dramatic effect and second, because its true!! We’re staying at Le Macie. If you google it, you’ll see this is very much a princess version of a barn…..Well it used to be a barn!!

Today the owners of the vineyard gave us a private tour and wine and olive oil tasting. Guests normally stay one week but since we were only staying two days they took time to show us their vineyard personally. They are so passionate about what they do, it’s inspiring. They package their wine and olive oil and honey under the brand name Terra di Seta (Land of Silk). They explained everything about their business and their vineyard. It was so interesting, we felt humbled that they took such time out of their day to share with us. They are a lovely couple with three boys and are approximately our age. The vineyard has seven rental apartments and it is an absolutely beautiful place. The views from here are breath taking.

Tonight we drove to Vagliagli for groceries and dinner. We are staying in a barn so we need to make our own meals. We picked some wine, beer, coca cola light, cheese, tomatoes, bread & my favorite….CHIPS! We enjoyed dinner before retuning home to relax with a bit of TV (which we cannot understand) and more wine…of course. Wonderful day today.

June 1 – train from Florence to Siena
I managed to purchase a few scarves today from a vendor near the rail station. We also had delicious tomato & mozzarella sandwiches with caffe latte for breakfast. We are traveling by train from Florence to Siena. The rail fee was €17 and it will take 1 hour 30 minutes to get there. Fairly nervous about renting a car today. We decided to stay in the countryside of Siena so we will have to drive today. Hoping that Steve can figure it out easily. And the cars are so small, I hope we can fit into one! Steve thought we should each get a moped, but I think there’s a fair chance I’ll crash & burn, so I vetoed that plan.

The countryside is very similar to ours. There are more hills but the vegetation looks the same essentially. Everything is lush and green. One distinct difference are the hillside vineyards and lots of olive trees. The sun is shining today, we can go without jackets so this is a wonderful change from rain & chill.

Almost got thrown off the train today. We had the right ticket, but we used the self service ticket machine for the first time & apparently you have to validate the ticket before you board the train. We did read that, but weren’t sure where to validate at, so we just got on the train. A group a few rows ahead of us got thrown off, they had a ticket issue. That put me into a panic because I figured ours wasn’t quite right. Here’s the thing….many times you ride the train & no one even checks your ticket, so I was hoping that would be the case this time. I also like to push my luck with “rules” that i think are foolish…like validating something I just bought! But when I saw those people get tossed, I started to worry what it would feel like to get thrown off a train. The ticket guy was irritated with us & put the validation card in front of my face. They’re kind enough to validate manually on the train for a mere €5. Lucky for us, we paid the fine, learned a lesson & got to stay on our seats. Whew!!

Hi everyone!
Things are going well, we’ve just been a bit isolated in the hills of the Chianti region near Siena. I’ve been writing the blog, but haven’t had wifi to upload it. Hopefully we will be back online in Rome tonight. Enjoying a spritzer & beer at the duomo in Siena now.

I’ll upload our blogs as soon as we can!
Ciao!

May 31 – Florence
Somebody got to go shopping today!! I am in love with this place! If the flight weren’t so far, this would be the ideal girls weekend getaway. I got new shoes & a belt today. Super excited about those purchases. Hopefully more to come!

We were super busy today. We found a room at Hotel Alassandra. We quickly hit the streets to see the Duomo (climbed 412 steps to the top of the lookout) and the view was spectacular. We then moved on to a museum to see Michelangelo’s Statue of David. I know, you must be wondering….yes Steve went happily along to the church & the museum today. He did run out of gas during my shopping rampage, so I think I’ll return to the market by myself in the morning.

This is the view for our hotel window. Yep, it rings. On the hour & just because we’re lucky, on the half hour too! They say it stops from 9pm to 9am so that’s a relief.

Having wine & cheese as we figure out our dinner plans. Lovely city!

Tomorrow we take a bus to Siena & we will be renting a car. Super excited for the driving experience & sites of Tuscany!

We’ve decided to head to Florence today. Off to the train, wearing my new jeans 🙂
Now…if I can just upgrade my shoes, I’m set! Florence has a famous market, that should do!

Lucca has been beautiful. The city is surrounded buy a wall from the 14th century.

The top of the wall is a beautiful trail for running, walking. It’s quite wide & has plenty of space, probably as wide as a typical city street.

There are beautiful churches and plazas throughout.

Cinque Terra was very beautiful. We were able to get to all 5 of the towns in the region.


We quickly adjusted to the Italian way of eating! Gelato, pastries, spaghetti, lasagna, calzone, panini, seafood, tiramisu, spritz, pizza, wine, wine & more wine. We’ve been taking in more than our fair share, for sure. However, each day we’ve been hiking from town to town. The trails are very difficult, but the sites are amazing. Each is approximately 2-3 miles & the elevation change is significant. We rented a room in Vernazza from a beautiful old Italian lady that didn’t speak a stitch of English. The negotiation process & the instructions from her were quite confusing. Not sure we understood everything, but she really wanted us to make sure & turn out the lights. Our dinner the last night in Vernazza was the best we’ve experienced so far, and that is saying a lot because the food really is incredible.

Dinner is a different experience than we are used to. The restaurants are quaint little places where people gather to talk to others & enjoy good food & wine. Each evening we pick a place & are seated at a small table, very near others. Conversation is simple because you are virtually dining together since your tables are no more than 6 inches apart. It’s been a very fun experience and w e’ve met several couples from all over the world. Everyone’s been nice, other than a couple of crabby locals.

Last night we met 2 others couples while doing our laundry. Even doing laundry is a time to visit & have a drink.

They weren’t even doing laundry, just thought it would be a good place to hang out for a while. They were from Paris & Portland, very fun people. We are actually traveling to Lucca today based on the high recommendation from the French couple we met last night.

We just arrived in Lucca and found an open B&B (in the pouring rain). We’re heading out to explore the city today & move on to Florence tomorrow. Hoping the weather warms up a bit!

Bye for now!

This region is absolutely stunning. We hiked today from Monterossa to Venazza. The weather wasn’t great so we hiked in a bit of rain, but it didn’t ruin the day. I was a little whiny with my 40lb backpack, but we did quite well overall.

Thats about the dorkiest outfits I’ve seen. Craziest thing….everyone wears the same thing!

No shopping for us, as we would have it, our pathetic wardrobe is perfect for the region. All hikers look the same. However, when we leave here, we shall shop 🙂

Vernazza

Time to wake up Steve from his siesta & eat pasta or seafood.
Arrivaderci my friends!

So this is short (and cheap) since we don’t have wifi at this fancy joint tonight. Can’t complain too much as it is on the Mediterranean Sea. I’ll just tell you that today’s gelato choices were chocolate & tiramisu. Quite lovely.
Buona notte my friends!

We finished our last night in Venice with a gondola ride & pasta dinner at a local restaurant.

A perfectly romantic evening.

Steve & I were both glad we took the short route though. Riding a boat after a few hours of pub crawling makes one tired! We left & headed straight to dinner to share another bottle of wine.

So tomorrow begins the real adventure. We have no idea where we will be or what may come of the day. We believe we are heading off to the Cinque Terra region, it looks beautiful. We located the train station today so we believe we know how to get out of this place. Where we are headed is a little more vague.

Ladies…listen up!!! Anyone tries to tell you to dress for comfort while traveling in Europe is an idiot!! We will be stopping within the next two days to replace my (Steve’s too, but don’t tell him) entire wardrobe. You can pick out an underdressed American from a mile away. Don’t be that guy (or gal)!! We won’t be after I’ve displaced everything we’ve brought. Sometimes it is a little embarrassing to be such an American….