Back to Italy

ENOUGH WITH RABBITS!!!  THEY ONLY GET FRIDAYS!!!

Ha ha ha. OK. Please don't tell them I said that. PLEASE!

Let's go back to Italy. So, there we were in our Villa in the town of Tavarnelle Val di Pesa. Our first day trip was to Volterra. For anyone familiar with the Twilight series (which I am not, though I do work in a Library), you know Volterra, right? Apparently, in the Twilight books, something happened there, though I'm not sure what.

Well, I was there, and I saw NO VAMPIRES!! Weird, right?

Volterra was very close to where our Villa was. Only a short trip.

But, first, we went to Monteriggioni.

Monteriggioni is a medieval walled town built in 1213.  That is pretty much enough to blow your mind, isn't it?  1213???  Yeah, that's what I said.  You can see it there, up beyond that hill.  See the towers?

This is the main entrance to the town.  It is a pretty tight squeeze for delivery trucks going in and out!

We sat and sipped some espresso in one of Monteriggioni's Piazzas, Piazza Roma.  The sugar package you see by my cup has a quote from Dante on it.  Dante mentioned Monteriggioni in his Inferno!!  (I brought that sugar packet home for the Chick.)

One of the town's towers.  This picture was taken from up on the wall that surrounds the city, which you can buy a ticket to walk on.  The views both inside the city and out are amazing.

A view looking the other way-- the outside of the town from the wall.

This is a street level view of Piazza Roma.

A detail of one of the churches in Piazza Roma.  I believe this was San Augustino, but you probably shouldn't quote me on that.

This is a pretty good view that shows the wall around the town. Pretty cool, yes?  I think maybe Erie needs a cool wall!

After a lovely morning of trekking around in Moteriggioni, we were off to Volterra.  Somewhere, in the kilometers between the two places, the weather changed a bit.  What had been a gorgeous, sunny, blue day turned into a bit of a rainstorm.  That was OK, though.  It was Italian Rain, after all, so it seemed fine to me!!

 Here is our arrival in Volterra.  This is the requisite "shot of the sign from the car."

 Random roof and dome shot.  It is really hard to take a bad picture in these places!!

This is the inside of the ristorante where we had lunch.  Part of the wall behind our table was a remnant of the original wall from when the Etruscans had lived in Volterra, which was, oh, back in maybe the 5th century or so.  WHAT??  And I sat and ate noodles there.  Unthinkable!

My lunch noodles.  Mmmmmm.  Eating noodles next to an ancient Etruscan wall.  Yup.

I'm not sure which church this is.  By this time in the day, it was raining pretty hard and I lost track of remembering what was what.  I'm not sure how those two things are related, but I think they are.

Street shot.  Volterra in the rain.  See?  No vampires anywhere, though I guess it is daytime.  Hmmmm.

This was a shot taken while we were on our way back to the car.  I love these roofs -- the lines, the colors.  Just amazing.  The satellite dishes offer a nice touch, too!  Oh, well, even cities built in the 5th century need some updates now and then, right?

Come back for more on Wednesday.  Who knows where we'll end up?  Well, we'll still be in Itlay, but you know what I mean.