Student'S Hostel Gowett Campiglia Marittima

... before. In the states our oil is more of a yellowish-green color, this stuff is pure green.
The next two days it poured all day long, so we sat in our apartment writing and relaxing while Vilmo was visiting a woman in Northern Italy. Finally Tuesday the sun decided to emerge from its hiding place and prance across the skies again. Unfortunately because of all the rain, the ground around the trees turned to thick mud. Picking olives became ...

... for our walk through the walled village. There is a 14th century fort with make up part of the walls. Today it is used as a prison - your not supposed to take photos of it, but I snapped a couple off before I knew... luckily I was not spotted by the local polizi. The town was cute for sure but I'm not sure it deservered all the accolades given to it by other travellers we had met in Lucca. Having said that we did take more photos than usual.

... was in live mode from the gate:)].

Kate had spoken with one of the inn keepers before we left to get some local tips. The small twisting and rolling country roads of Tuscany are amazing. There are unending views of vineyards at every curve, and beautiful castle like buildings fill the horizon. We stopped in a quaint town called Greve in Chianti for some wine tasting, lunch, and a relaxing stroll through this provincial oasis. We both had Tagliatelle al ...

... tour of the cellar, and an Antinori vineyard concluded with a very tasty five course lunch pairing, the food and wine were really both quite fabulous.

Of course, souvenirs have been purchased here as well. John found way to purchase himself a case of Badia di Passignano 2006 docg, Dawn's new favorite red... a match made in heaven.

Tomorrow promises sunshine, we'll get out for fresh air and more scenic postcard pictures before we head south to Rome.

I have resolved to try and keep this blog more up-to-date.
So much has happened since late July that i wont even start writing it down, but to summarise our drive as follows:
Arcachon
Bordeaux
Flo rac (Ardeche)
Montpellier where the family ...

... from Holland, Anita from Switzerland, and Voltolt (probably spelled wrongly) from Austria. Some very interesting conversations on the trip to and from Volterra, with some sentences being in at least 4 languages.. a real language stew but good fun.

Volterra is a pretty little place, with great views, an old Roman amphitheatre, and the usual assortment of picturesque corners and steep streets. Our time ...

... world. There too many places to list that we have seen. Each one is a little different.

The road signs here are confusing for the new comer. We have made many trips around traffic circles in order to find the right road. Ted said last night that he is really glad that we came to Italy. He has loved every minute of it. Yesterday we travelled a road so twisted that I actually got car sick.

So everyone we spoke to said how beautiful Elba Island is and we were so excited about getting there. Hmmm.... The weather was still following us. You know the song "everywhere you go you always take the weather with you" or "why does it always rain on me"... they fitted perfectly. The first night we had torrential rain and thunderstorms and honey dew leaked a bit. The day cleared up ...

... invited to anything that you can think of that involves food, alla Forrest and Maia, in the New Year!) I didn't know that the internet shop closed at 9pm, so I was rather suprised when the phone hung up on Forrest mid sentence. But I talked the nice lady into letting me call him back for two minutes, which I promptly turned into 8 minutes while another customer counted out about a million pennies to pay with. But then just as I was saying goodbye, this woman ...

... that's all mattered. The queue to go up the tower was twice the height of the tower. Hence, we did not bother. We just visited the Cathedral, the Baptistry and the cemetery, which were in the vicinity. We took the cliché 'stop the tower from falling' photograph in front of the tower, with my husband pretending to hold it from the side. After stretching out in the lovely lawns in front of the tower and buying a postcard, we decided to cut our trip to Pisa short and head to Rome.