Italy Day 4 Hello Tuscany
Today we woke up and grabbed some breakfast at the local coffee shop, after our typical Italian breakfast at our b&b of a croissant, toast and jelly and espresso. From here we caught a ride to the airport to pick up our rental car. Upon arriving at the airport I noticed we were at the wrong location, I had booked it for the other airport, but mixed things up and told the driver the wrong place. Thankfully Hertz switched things around for me with no problem, and in the process it was a cheaper rate, and the man upgraded us to a nicer car, a blessing in the middle of my confusion, a very typical God moment in life, man fails, God prevails and exceeds our expectations.
This part of the trip had me the most nervous since I have never driven in a foreign country. I decided to do it, because I knew I could from all my driving experiences in big cities, but none the less it concerned me. All went very well however, and I cruised along the way as we stopped to visit my cousin Sergio in a small town/village that he teaches in. By far this was our best meal and experience. From the homemade lasagna (literally everything made from scratch), to the nice meat she prepared, and he homemade gelato (I did tiramisu and pistachio), everything Francesca made us had us feeling like we were eating in her home. Here is picture of this small place, and great food. Francesca was relaxing under the umbrella as we passed by on our way back to the car.
In addition it was nice to catch up with Sergio who I had not seen in 21 years. We saw the local church and look out over hills, and from there we were on our way to our next stop
in Siena for a quick visit of San Domenico Basilica where the head of St. Catherine of Siena sits in state. After Siena we made our way up a fairly challenging road which lead to the former Abbey turned vineyard/hotel we are staying at.
As we settled into the abbey, the place grew into amazement immediately. The resturant and tasting diner was phenomenal. The overlook of the towns lit up was very beautiful and the fresh crisp air of the mountains was very refreshing. We roamed around the grounds for a short bit and from there turned it in for the evening.
My cousin Sergio, who at this point I had not seen in 21 years.