Dievole Castelnuovo Berardenga

... could use for our research papers on Italian culture. All in all, it made me think how that was exactly how I would like my apartment to be when I get my own one. Tea set and all. I've become surprisingly addicted to tea since I came here. The English variety, of course, with milk and sugar, but I'm still rather surprised that I've come to enjoy tea so much in Italy. Rather than, say, coffee.

... 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 ...

... one of Italy’s greatest Gothic churches, and we could see why. Like the famous Duomo in Florence, Siena’s Duomo – completed by 1215 – was quite beautiful from the outside, containing a gorgeous red, white, and green marble façade. Inside, however, the Duomo was even more spectacular; it has an exquisite patterned marble floor that contains 56 different panels depicting historical and Biblical subjects!

If the ...

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 ...

... conversation with us and found that she was an American who had been living in Siena for 10 years. We asked her what made her stay and she said that she had fallen in love with an Italian. She added that she had a circle of American girlfriends all of whom had married Italians. This gave Kathie more fuel to her worries about Rachel doing the same thing if she took a trip to Italy.

Once back in Arbia, we rested, went to the wine party near the pool then onto dinner. We had ...

... to change it, but once again...no luck. Had to take a second train ...

... Nicole, another Sarah. So that was nice I had ribolito (i think) it's a kind of stew and really good. then we went for cafe where I had hot chocolate which is basically like they melted a chocolate bar in a cup so good-but very rich. i couldn't even drink half of it. and you have to stand at the counter and drink it because they charge you extra to sit and have it! oh but we went to Robert Cavalli-designer coffee (but ...

... before he became confident and he knew that Goliath's ass was toast! I had seen a copy of David at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, but it just isn't the same. The detail is astonishing - veins, muscles, and facial features. A number of Michelangelo's unfinished works were also on display. They were better than David, in a way. The works were rough and unpolished. They were more real and primal, lending them a dream-like quality. Like ...

I have now perfected the perfect way to eat Gelato. That is by eating as many as you can throughout the day. Just to let everyone know, I am still on the move and in a little place called Florence at the moment. Yesterday was filled with a bike ride in the Tuscan ...

... afternoon wandering the gallery and seeing works by almost all the Ninja Turtles Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael, (we saw Donatello the following day), not to mention other masterpieces from Botticelli, Caravaggio, Durer, Rembrandt, El Greco, and Goya. Our legs were spent, but we still managed to take in the Duomo, bapistry, and bell tower. The cathedral was so massive we could hardly fit it into any pictures. The ...