Greve in Chianti

Well, we were in the middle of Chianti Country, so you knew we HAD to end up in a winery town at some point, right?

These pictures are from our trip to Greve in Chianti, which is sort of Capitol City of Wine. Here, take a look:

 

The drive in.

A shot from when we first got out of the car.  Look at that lady ride her bike!!

Quack, quack, quack.

A map of the town.

Shot down an alley while we walked to get espresso somewhere.

An outdoor grocer in the courtyard behind the cafe where we stopped.

My Aunt Anita (left), mom (center) and ALICE (right) outside the wine tasting place.  Yum!

Inside!!  It was at this point that I was hoping about 100 friends would show up for the fun.  Alas.  

Cool rooster poster that I wanted really badly.

Wines made the year before and the year I was born.  Weird!  And Cool! (Also, dusty!)

I took this picture for friend Emma, who I thought would love this owl on the Olive Oil.

OK, this is just a sign.  River Greve.

ME AND THE CHIANTI ROOSTER!

Well, I had to take a pic of the public library sign, right?

Form the Church there.  Beautiful.

More Rooster!

Look at that Landscape!

On the way home.  Back to the villa.

Gorgeous.

Lots of us are engulfed in Snow right now, so this beautiful landscape is a delight to remember.

OK, so now GO AND POUR YOURSELF A GLASS OF CHIANTI CLASSCO, AND READ THIS AGAIN!

CHEERS!!

Did I go to Italy? Really?

Sometimes, after you do something really extraordinary (like go to Italy for three weeks) and then you come home and lots of other things happen, doesn't it seem as though maybe you didn't really do that extraordinary thing at all?

I don't quite have that feeling, but after all that has gone on here since the end of October when I returned from Tuscany, I feel like it could start kind of easily.  So, I  decided to pick up where I left off in my trip.

It is a fortuitous place to start, as when last I wrote, I was writing about the Cinque Terre, and that was a busy day.

The next day we rested.

These are pictures from my rest day, a day I spent walking around our rented Villa in Tavarnelle Val di Pesa, walking here and there to explore our surroundings, visiting the grape vines and the olive groves and the rich, beautiful clay-like dirt, and the mushrooms, and acorns and pine cones, and cute, local snails.

ENJOY!  Imagine yourself under the Tuscan Sun!  It is a wondrous place to be!

More about Italy

It is strange to write more about anything other than cats and Rabbits.

Much to their dismay, however, today, I will write more about Italy.

When last I wrote, we were still in Milan. 

Milan is a nice place to visit, but it is rather industrial.  Kind of like the Pittsburgh of Italy.  It's not the cleanest city or the most lovely one.  Parts of it are lovely-- like the gelato, the pizza, il Duomo, the people in general.  But the landscape is a sharp contrast to where we went next and where we stayed for the remainder of our trip......TUSCANY!

That's right.  I was under the Tuscun Sun.  I actually was.  And, I got a little sunburn from it!

We left Milan on a Saturday morning.  We had to meet my mom at the airport (she missed the first part of the trip due to ....LOSING HER PASSPORT!!  Don't ask.) in the morning, and then, as a special treat, we were also to meet and pick up my friend Jenny, who is currently living in Switzerland!  She took the train to Milan and we picked her up at the Stazione Centrale at noon that day. 

We packed up the car and pointed the car toward our Villa in Tuscany!

It was about a four hour drive with five women and all their luggage in a Fiat, which the Italian Car Hire Guy had called "HUGE!" but to us was sort of mid-sized.   Needless to say, we were happy to get to the VIlla, unfold ourselves from driving and riding in the car, and take in the new landscape.

 A view to the West of our Villa:  Chianti Grape Vineyards!

 A View to the East: More Chianti Grapes and some Italian trees!

One of our Villa Cats making his way down the tiled roof 

after deciding he was done Supervising 

our temporary move into the Villa.

Sunset on our first evening in Tuscany.

AND THIS WAS ONLY THE FIRST DAY!!

Stay tuned for more (though the trip may be interrupted by a Rabbit Movie.  Go figure.