Singing in the Rain!

 

We woke up to the best news ever, our suitcases finally arrived! We got them just in time to have them sent to the bus!  We said goodbye to Montecatini and headed south.  We drove past field after field of tree and shrub nurseries, it was very interesting.

Our first stop was at the American War Cemetery.  A guide hopped on the bus and gave us a brief explanation of the site.  After the war, the families of the deceased soldiers were given the choice to have the body sent home or to have it sent to one of two of these cemeteries in Italy.  It is a very beautiful bit somber site.  We were all very appreciative that our TD made the stop.

We then entered the Chianti region and began to see many of the beautiful Tuscan hillside homes with the Cypress trees that we see in pictures.  Breathtaking! We stopped out in the country to do a vineyard hike.  We couldn’t resist sampling some of the tasty grapes that were on the vines!  We started our hike along a rugged road through the vineyards.  Ann slipped and fell and sprained her ankle.  She was still able to walk but at a slower pace. Then, about 15 minutes into the hike it started to pour rain and the wind was really blowing.  It didn’t take long before we were all soaked!  We eventually came to a farm yard where we took shelter in a large shed.  Then we realized that we were missing three people. Laura tried calling each of them and she eventually learned that they were already at the bus.  So, the rest of us headed out because the rain had settled down a bit and we made it to the bus.  However, just as we were approaching the bus, Vallene slipped and fell. She didn’t get hurt but she did get covered in mud! What an adventure!

We were all very happy to get back onto the bus and have some heat as we were cold!! I felt sorry for our bus driver as we made quite a mess in his bus.  He took it all very well, he is such a nice guy! Our driver continued up the road a ways until he found a place to park.  We cracked open a bottle of Lemoncello and some snacks and had a little party on the bus to help everyone forget about how cold they were. (It didn’t really work)

After our party we drove to a lovely little town called Greve in Chianti.  We all found a place to grab a coffee and warm up.  Unfortunately, we were too cold and wet to really enjoy the charming town centre. From there we drove to the Torciano winery for our lunch and wine tasting.  We had a delicious lunch and we sampled 7 different wines and several oils and balsamic vinegar.  Everyone was quite “jolly” by the end of that lunch!

After that we were all pretty tired and ready to go to our hotel.  We drove the short distance to Siena and got checked into our hotel at 5:30.  We had a couple of hours to relax or explore before meeting for dinner at our hotel at 7:30.  We had another amazing dinner and I’m pretty sure that most people will be ready for bed early tonight.

Ciao!