Gutshof Tenuta Del Fontino Massa Marittima

... I have to walk across town to get to class now. One good thing that came out of this, however, is that because we were so close to her apartment she decided to invite the entire class over for a tea party after class today. Not sure why or how she came up with this idea, but I thought it was really cute.

This was the first genuine Italian apartment inhabited by genuine Italians that I ...

... and houses. Each have a large central cathedral, rather plain compared to others in Italy with barely any stained glass or extravagance. There are multiple wine, cheese and pasta shops as well as bakeries. Old Italian men sit at the bars talking and the women hang laundry out their windows. In Montepulciano the Etruscan tombs are part of the walls buried in the foundation of the streets and buildings. Pienza was the very first Pope's dream city and ...

... people lying out on the piazza or eating at one of the numerous cafes that lined it. [Also, Il Campo has been the site of Il Palio since the Middle Ages, a spectacular (or so we’re told) twice-yearly held wild horse race that is held around its perimeter! Murray and I were trying to imagine such a race as we spent time in Il Campo – we agree it would be pretty awesome to see live!]

After seeing Il Campo, we walked to L’ ...

... un prix pour s'assoir a une table! ici c'etait 2 euro par personne! mais sa en valais la peine, les bruchettas., les gnocchis et l'osso buco etaient tous delicieux.

ensuite, la piazza del campo ou il y a un gros chateau avec une tour tres haute, pui une visite a la piazza du duomo pour y voir la seul eglise completement baroque ...

Siena photos here:
http://www.facebook.com/album. php?aid=164853&id=613699523&l=d 7d2db6b42

Thursday caught a bus to Siena with Nonie and Kerrin.
The Duomo there is one of the best and most beautiful churches I've seen inside and out - and I've seen more than enough churches to last ...

Last night we had just made a new itinerary to include a visit to a National Park on the coast, but that was all thrown out the window as we received a text message from Kim's mum saying she wanted to come and join us. Kim was ecstatic!!! Another replan session as we did our much overdue laundry in Grosetto and our trip of Italy was to come to an end sooner that we thought as we had to get to Barcelona in 1 week. It worked out better this way as Kim's mum flies home on the 15th Dec ...

... the mornings they set out pastries and sandwiches to choose from and you can order coffee and tea (in genuine ceramic mugs because the idea of "to-go" is ridiculous to Italians) and sit down and enjoy them. Italians have the best pastries. I could get a pastry every day, but most of the time I resist. And I actually enjoy the coffee as well even though it's relatively strong. I don't think it's as bad as the stereotype makes it out to be though.

Then I also have Italian ...

... once again used the public city bus to get into town. Upon arriving our group made a be-line for the bike store. We got there and the place was packed with people from our group. We all got our turn to go into the shop and this time I got to go into the back room. When I got there the old lady from the day before was there and on one wall was a bike frame and pictures of a cyclist named Rossi who was a Provincial biking champion in the 50’s. The woman told us in Italian that ...

... comes alive. Most people start eating around 9:00-10:00 and people are walking around and socializing in the Piazzas until midnight and beyond. It was nice to be able to walk down the street or around the corner to a local café or local market to get coffee or bread or supplies. Taxis were easy to get and the bus/ metro system though not as modern or easy to use as in Athens, still worked well. It was much easier to pick up the Italian language than the Greek language. We would say Buon ...

... fun games to play with the tower. i have one of a cherub "kicking" it. anyways, we arrived in florence later in the day. in the words of my previous travelmate, its a "dope" city. we have a bunch of reservations to see stuff tomorrow but its really pleasant, young, and of course, full of masterpieces. more to come tomorrow once weve seen my boyfriend david and everything else.