We felt our cars were safe behind this giant compound gate.
And it had a guard dog. Named Luna.
It was pretty windy, but if it had been just a touch warmer, it would be great to lay out in the sunshine.
We managed to get in a short nap when we got there.
Friday was a jam-packed driveathon plus activities. We drove to Cinque Terre on our way to Florence. We were running terribly late, so we only had a short amount of time to snap a few pictures.
And take a quick video along the Mediterranean coast:
The seemingly endless driving finally stopped when we got to our hotel and hopped in a van to take us on a wine tour including a late lunch. In an attempt to starve us (it was already 2pm when we got to the hotel so we were all pretty antsy to start eating), our tour guide first stopped to show us some gorgeous Italian wine-scape:
Why hello there, Mr. Bumblebee!
When we got to the winery around the corner, I stopped to take a quick picture of this overripe still-on-the-tree pomegranate:
Ah, finally, food! First course:
Second course, Ribollita. My new favorite Italian food - a bread and veggie soup that is both seasonal and regional.
Third course. Lasagna with truffle oil. I don't think I'll ever make lasagna again after tasting this - nothing will ever come close.
Someone looks content.
The guy there conducting the wine tasting was hilarious and so very Italian. He kissed all the ladies and then even hubby who, after a bit of wine, felt left out. When he introduced the olive oil to us, he made a point to tell us this isn't something you can get at Costco. Ha! How do you even know about Costco with wine and food like this?!
On our way back to the van, the geese were really interested in Chris.
We were feeling pretty good at this point, and our guide took us inside the walls of San Giacomo.
Finally we stopped at another winery that evening for more wine tasting and a tour.
Yum. Really good end to a super busy day.
On Saturday we got back on the road to drive to Florence - a much quicker 20 minutes away. Hubby and I had already been here, but some in our group had not. We still really enjoyed it, and even splurged and got new leather jackets at the leather market:
And took some photos of course.
For an afternoon break, I got an espresso while hubby got this amazing hot chocolate. It was literally melted chocolate in a cup. I was pulling out my camera to snap before he tried it, but he stuck his spoon in and we all gasped at the thickness of the top level of chocolate he broke!
We ended the day by stopping in an Italian grocery store for essentials (truffle oil, Asti, and wine), and headed to the south side of the city for a few more pictures.
David is all over the city, just hanging out.
Dinner that night was conveniently next to the hotel. It was really tasty, except that the waiter forgot my main course (sad face!) so I had to wait a really long time before eating. Luckily the panna cotta for dessert cheered me up:
Oh I love you central Italy!
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