Podere La Casetta 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 ...

... s grapes, his included. I normally think red wine is too dry but this was very full bodied and a little sweet but not like Manishevitz. I dipped a red pepper into my cup of olive oil and I seriously could taste the olives in it and afterwards felt a little spiciness clinging around my tongue. He told me that happens when the oil is fresh, and this was made this week. Vilmo's mother Leia prepared the meal as she does every meal in the household because ...

... 54,000 also in Italy’s Tuscany region, has been a historic adversary to Florence for centuries. Some say that rivalry continues even today. While Florence is a Renaissance city, Siena is largely Gothic, its medieval center full of majestic buildings and historical significance (the city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site). Indeed, as we found out when we arrived, Siena is an enchanting little town, with eight original city gates, high walls ...

... 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 ...

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 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 ...

... Mike Krause. Mike is a long time Bianchi owner and this shop was rumored to be the oldest Bianchi dealership in Italy and probably the world. We got to the bike store just as it was opening. A middle-aged man took care of us and seemed to be the only worker in the shop until there came a doorbell ringing in the back of the shop. The keeper went back and opened the door and in walked an old lady. I wondered what she was doing at the store but soon I found that she was helping run ...

... did not take an hour and we got right in. The Colosseum was pretty cool. It was an amazing bit of architecture and construction. It could hold about 50,000 people and was built on a site that was previously a lake that King Nero (crazy, barbaric leader) had created for himself. You could see the halls and rooms where the Gladiators and wild animals were prior to being lifted up via pulley system elevators onto the floor of the Colosseum to fight to the death. We heard that the animals ...