6th day in Italy

Driving has been a challenge for our 2 excellent drivers. Today was NO different. The road signs are so complicated to read. We've just had to laugh as we've driven many miles out of our way, but we have seen beautiful sites along the way!
We visited Montalcino and Pienza...after getting slightly lost we found our way to Castellina in Chiati. It was a charming small town...we walked around and shopped just a little. We are back in Colle d val elsa for dinner. We stopped at 1 winery where they played Mozart music on bose speakers for their grapes to grow by. Interesting!

Pictures from Wednesday

Tuscan Hillside

Street of San Gimignamo

Town of Volterra
a 2000 year old Etruscan town
note the TV dishes

5th day in italy

view of manarola from the "via de amore" pathway

view of riomaggoire

we love staying in our non touristy town of Colle d val elsa. we walk to eat at night and get lots of exercise walking up 44 steps to our upstairs room with a balcony overlooking the old town. real estate is expensive so buildings are tall and narrow!
At literally the crack of dawn we left our sleeping town and headed for Cinque Terre. It took 3 hours to get to these mountainous towns built directly on the coastline of the ligurian sea. their are 5 towns in the tourist area, but we only made it to the first two of them. we walked a pathway along the coast from riomaggiore to manarola, breathtaking scernery. tough sightseeing when the town streets literally were straight up and down. the drive back was challenging...the road signs are difficult to read and we made it without TOO many wrong turns.

4th day in Italy

no time to post pictures here...so sorry...but we are in the heart of Tuscany and it is so beautiful...we visited Volterra today and then Casole de Elsa then onto San Gingiamano. So beautiful...can't wait to show the pictures. We are going to Cinque Terra tomorrow which is on the Italian Riviera. We know it will be beautiful there as everything has been. The small towns are just how they are pictured in movies. We've picniced for lunch and then had some wonderful evening meals. The food is delicioso!

3rd Day in Rome

We visited the Vatican and the beauty and opulence was amazing. no internet at our b amd b. in small town of colle val d elsa. charming little town...at internet cafe...italian keyboard so excuse mistakes...hope to add more this evening!

2nd day in Roma

Piazza Navona

One of the many quaint streets we walked!

"Alfredo's"

The Trevi Fountain

Another great day here..hot again, but we survived. The many city fountains are amazing! Every few blocks you can fill your water bottle. The fountains constantly flow and it's spring water. We went to Rome's most famous fountain, the Trevi. We ate gelato, walked the shopping district and strickly window shopped! We walked many back streets in the better part of Rome. We have not felt unsafe at anytime, but have been careful to not be easy targets. Lunch was a treat today at the "original" Alfredo restaurant. Another fantastic site was the Piazza Navona which we walked through after visiting the Pantheon. Tomorrow is the Vatican Tour and then onto the hill country!

Roma-The Eternal City

We had a good flight over and essentially hit the ground running. We couldn't check into our rooms so we changed at the hotel and walked somewhere between 3-6 blocks just to catch the bus to take our "City Tour". It was interesting and a great overview of the area. Very hot here today though! We ultimately got off at Colosseum and did that tour along with the Palatine Hill and Roman Forum area. This area is credited with being the birthplace of modern civiliation..so amazing how old this city is! After our LONG trek back we returned about 5:30 to the hotel...cleaned up and then went down the street for a local Italian dinner. It was delicious! Everyone is asleep as I sit up and do this update. Here is a few pictures of the day! By the way we have had very little sleep since leaving Nashville yesterday! Greg was the winner for sleeping...Phil, Deanna and I had less than 2 hrs. sleep on the plane! You will also see a picture of Greg refilling a water bottle. The water is safe from any fountain and cold. Amazing! Internet is slow, but will try to update tomorrow also!