Albergo del Chianti Greve

... 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.

Hello everyone,<br>We had such fun today!! The square had it's first ever market day or flea market. It was filled with cheeses which by the way Percino was our favorite and the fresh sliced procuitto was unbelievable. We just walked around all day. The first part of the day we did two loads of wash and dry which cost $18 us dollars. Then we had wine free and paid and had a great time. We then came back to ...

... It was the size of a small frozen Tony's party pizza from home. We then went to get Gelato (ice cream) and we walked the main strip with all the beautiful young Italians. It is Friday night and they were out full force and dressed to kill. It is amazing how we dress big and saggy in America (boys and girls) and here and when in London everything was tight, small to the waist in coats and shirts and tight jeans. The girls all wear the leggings with boots ...

I hope this works, it has been hard to attach some of the video because it times out. FYI to all my not so computer literate friends and family. When you first open the video, it will start and then stop in the middle to keep reloading and then start and stop again. This can get frustrating but is necessary until it is completely ...

... bridge to survive World War II) over the Arno River. The jewelry shops that line the bridge are still owned by descendants of the original owners from the 15th century. <br><br>After completing our walk, we hunted our notes for a fun place to have dinner on our last night in Italy. We found just the place at Il Latini. The wait staff does their best to not hand out any menus, and they basically give you whatever they feel like ...

... gardens here. Lots and lots of tomatoes, eggplants, artichokes ( I am attempting to grow these this year too - I know, a long shot), squash, herbs and, of course, olive trees, fig trees, grapevines, etc. There are also many bushes of rosemary and lavender everywhere. Pin oaks, cedars, arborvitae, pine trees, cacti, agave, etc - such a variety of plants. Rita is growing Shasta daisies, but the leaves are different than ours ...

... The red wine went into wooden barrels and white went into stainless steel ones. Then came the fun part, we had about 2 hours of tastings. They gave us an antipasta (cheese, bread, meats, etc.). It was pretty good, the wine was also quite enjoyable. They gave us three different red wines and one dessert wine that tasted like grappa ...

... I rounded the corner and glanced up and was stunned. Calm really rushed through me. That's art, isn't it? To be able to evoke that kind of emotion. Michelangelo was really brilliant- which is so clear in the David. Like I mentioned before...I think about all this stuff I'm seeing - the paintings, architecture, sculptures and I wonder if human beings are even capable of that kind of creativity any more. Maybe we are just in a time where things don't flourish quite like they did in the ...