La Felice Massa Marittima

... ever been inside and it was so cute! She had these three huge bookcases that her architect sister designed filled with books, paintings and drawings on the wall and a baby grand piano that a girl in our class played while we sipped our tea. The apartment itself was pretty large by Italian standards and our class of about 25 fit inside her living/dinning room with ease.

As far as the ...

... in Europe and specifically Italy it consisted of this plate, bread, vegetables and some wine. My stomach grumbled waiting for more food to be presented. Vilmo, I think, sensed this and brought out some leftover lentils from lunch. Thank god, I thought, and helped myself to a huge serving. Vilmo grows these lentils on his farm. They were spicy and satisfying. Mira and I stayed for a while chatting with Vilmo. Vilmo didn't stop at the lentils but went into ...

... 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 ...

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 ...

All vitamin D'ed up we arrived at our destination for the evening - Bagni di Petriolo - hot springs. Soon we were lounging in the hot sulphur pools watching the sun set. A fresh water stream ran alongside the springs and a dip in the water was very refreshing, although a little breathtaking at the same time! The pools were popular with the locals young and old as well as travellers as there were about a dozen campers parked nearby. As lovely as ...

The drive to Montalcino provided us with scenery I had only seen in paintings and thought it surreal. The fog rolled over the verdant green hills and as each set of hills moved off into the distance the hills became a lighter shade of grey, moving to silhouettes towards the horizon. Is 10am too early for wine tasting? We thought it ...

... of exploration we went back to check in and get our housing assignments. I had originally requested to live in the Mini-Residences which are basically dorms. But what I ended up with is slightly different. I'm living in an apartment on the same street as one of the two mini-residences, but it's still technically considered a mini-res because it is owned by the same people and I get all of the same perks (such as a washing machine, cable tv, wi-fi and a weekly cleaning service). I ...

Today was revival day! A breakfast of yogurt, fruit, cheese, bread, and coffee. Speaking of Italian coffee, it is very strong! Expresso in tiny little cups, American coffee is the same strong expresso in a bigger cup with more water in it. They usually stand a drink it so they can run out the door when they finish! I don't know how they do it, it makes my heart race! After breakfast we headed to the spa. The spa is in the old cellar of ...

... station. Nicely asked the ticket man when the next train to Lucca is. He scrunched up his face and pointed out the door and told me to walk 1km to the next train station. Strange I thought, as my train took me here, surely it also leaves from here. Asked the man at information and he said Platform 1 in 5 minutes!! And he was right. Some locals are so against tourists and try to make their stay unpleasant!