July 8-10

Well, we are now in Firenze...or Florence, as most English-speakers know it :-) The city is spectacular with ancient art and history around every corner...this is the city that The David resides in. However, I did not fall in love with this city until we were out of it. I think that the citys greatest beauty is observed from the surrounding hillsides. We are staying in a small and ancient village on one of these olive grove-covered hills, called Fiesole. The city provides two sets of views...one of Firenze and the other of sweeping vineyards and olive groves, off the other side of the mountain. It is exactly as I imagined Tuscany (the region that Firenze resides in) to look like.

Many of you may be disapointed that, once again, we are not taking in the most popular sites. Unfortunately, we did not visit the magnificent Duomo, the Ufizzi, or the any of the various (and important, I might add!) art museums that the city has to offer. We did not even walk accross Firenzes most famous bridge, Ponte Vaechia...although we did come close and do have a great picture of it :-) However, we have experienced this city, and the surrounding areas, in our own way. Being the wine lovers that we are, we did not feel that we could come to Tuscany and leave without having visited a vineyard....and indeed, we have not. We discovered that there was a lovely fattoria (farm) directly below our bed and breakfast in Fiesole. The farm grows both olives and grapes and so we decided to trek down there to see what they had to offer us. Well, trek we did. Matt relieved his traveling backpack of all of his clothes and we set off to fill it with wine and olive oil. We had to hike down a treacherous hill...treacherous only because it was narrow and there were dozens of cars and motorcycles zipping around the corners at breakneck speeds. Anyways, it was a bit further than anticipated, but it was well worth the risks incurred...we bought bottles of wine, and jugs of olive oil. In fact, they barely fit into Matts pack. We had planned to find a UPS in Firenze and ship it home ahead of us. However, when we went to ship it, the total came to 450£ (over $600!!!)....so, we bought a HUGE $20 suitcase (clearly more quantity than quality oriented) and filled it with our purchases. I fear that this could be a probem, as the filled suitcase weighs well over 80 pounds.....and one leg broke after it bounced over the smallest cobbstone...five minutes following its purchase...we may be in over our heads.