Macciangrosso Chiusi

... are teeming with families, young people and older folks just walking enjoying the cool weather, hot coffee and all sorts of chocolate products. I even caught a wedding happening on Sunday. We have another two days here and will return to Rome on Wednesday afternoon….just in time for dinner and a full day of touring before heading back hone on Friday morning.

Best to all back home,

Jorge

... centaines de grottes qui se trouve sous la ville. Ces grottes auraient ete creuse au tout debut, quelques 800 ans avant jesus. Puis elle n'aurait pas ete reutilise jusque dans les annes 1300 ou elles ont ete decouverte. depuis, les gens on commencer a les agrandir , tellement que cela a mis la stabilite de la ville au-dessus en danger. alors maintenant il y a des pilliers dans certaines grottes pour soutenir la ville.

... was out for their evening passeo - walk. The gelateria's and cafes were overflowing with people. I spied a deli with a spit raosted pig lying on display in the window and got the best pork sandwich ever!!! Too late to go on we decided to park up. We had accidentially drained our leisure battery so Kim had to cook by torch but the torch battery was running out..so no other choice, we headed for a bar! Life's tough.

... was not to be. A wander around the old town and its tiny Jewish ghetto - there was a population of around 400 Jews living here in the 16th century after all were banned from Rome by Pope Pius IV. Some of the best Etruscans ruins from 6BC were in the area so we hiked out of town to check them out. Mostly they consisted of carved out roads through the forested hills. There was also an ancient fountain. Not too exciting to look at but the walk itslelf was very nice :)

... hot soak was for our still achey muscles the rotten egg smell was hard for Kim to bear. She was able to block her nose and only breathe through her mouth so she did not gag - poor thing. A new item appeared on the menu tonight - delicious Tuscan pork and chicken sausages (the best ever!) with cous cous ala Gill, all washed down with a local sparkling Rose - yum!!!!! We thought we would have leftovers but no they were so good we gobbled up all 10!

Down the road from Montalcino we popped into St Antimo Abbey where the local monks say their (7!!) daily prayers in Georgian chants. We caught part of the 12.45pm prayers and enjoyed some down time while listening the chanting. The afternoon was glorious and once again we were in tshirts, so we made the most of it and had a picnic in the sun beside the Abbey.

... harvest, so were tried a tipple from a "young" 2004 bottle, which was a 5 star harvest year. For such a world famous wine I was not overly impressed. They say the flavor develops with age so maybe I should have splashed out and bought a bottle of 1997...but the price tag was above our daily budget...oh well can't try everything.

From Chianti went south to the Le Crete region. The drive provided us with more quintessential Tuscan scenery. We stayed overnight in Asciano as we could not make it to Montalcino before dark. We had vowed not to drive in the dark as the small windy roads and excessively erratic Italian drivers are not good for our nerves!

... going to let this inhibit my SHOPPING experience. Judy tried to locate some Italian Alka-seltzer, no luck so I got ready and we went on. I figured suffer at home or suffer shopping.................... So we met Ben at the bus station as planned. When we arrived she was there along with a new friend...............a dog!!! It had followed her from home. It ...

... tour since their German was probably as good as their English. But I pointed out that first, why would you chose to be on a tour with 25 when you can be with 10 and second, why would you want to be with all those damn Germans. So it was Julie and I, the Dutch family, a family of 5 from the US (I'm guessing FL since one of the sons had a U of Miami hat on), and a few other people from who knows where. There was one British family with a very young girl who missed the whole tour ...