Chianti & Florence Day 20 to 22

---

Day 20
Today we gave the benches another coat of oil and then set to work painting one of the vine canopies. Quite a messy job and not easy to paint the wood rather than the vines growing all over it, but we did a couple of hours and have almost finished the first section (there are three big canopies in the property)
Late afternoon saw another rainstorm heading our way and Jaime took some incredible pictures of the clouds, light and reflections.
We also found a stunning moth sheltering in our doorway….it was so beautiful it almost looked like a butterfly…..maybe it was a butterfly we couldn’t quite make up our minds.

Day 21
Our first real day out – Florence!
We’ve heard so much about it. Every second RomCom lists it as the place to see.

The weather forecast promised a balmy 21 degrees, so we travelled light to Montevarchi train station only to find it shrouded in mist and fog with a bone chilling 8 degrees.
I think the cold made us misread the train timetable as we got the arrival and departure display mixed up (a hard task considering it was in English as well as Italian) and promptly missed the first train. Only a half hour wait for the next one, but I blush at the thought that we, as experienced as we are with travelling, managed to miss it.
Anyway, it took an hour to get to Florence (slow train punishment for missing the first one).
We had decided to make it a casual day of walking around to see where the sights might take us rather than trying to do and see everything at once.

We took in some of the famous statues like Michelangelo’s David (well the copy anyway), the Fountain of Neptune, Hercules and the Centaur etc…

All in all I am almost terrified to write this down, but Florence left us distinctly under whelmed. I know, I know – shoot me now, but we have been to far more stunning cities that are not on the tourist map. For example Bremen in Germany. Its simply beautiful, with shiny cobble streets, fantastic architecture, a stunning cathedral and never ending surprises down its little side streets.
Florence just seemed to offer a handful of statues thrown in for the tourist in one easily accessible Piazza – the della Signoria, some semi interesting shopping and lots of expensive galleries.
Maybe we didn’t see it with the rose tinted glasses everyone favours for Florence and maybe I’ll love it on another visit, but on this occasions I would have to say it does not live up to its reputation. – ‘Answers on a Postcard’

After our walk we followed our trusty tourist map to track down a vegan restaurant for lunch. Jaime had read up on several restaurant guides for us and the best option did seem to be to get as far away from the tourist hot-spots as possible.
We tracked down the ‘Doce Vegan’café and had a lovely little lunch of tortellini and ravioli. Jaime even splashed out on a small slice of cake whilst I saved myself for an ice-cream in the park later.
The pictures speak for themselves on how we spent the rest of the afternoon.
We headed back to Montevarchi around 4.30, did the food and DIY supply shopping (which surprisingly took us 4 hours) and then finally headed home.
Jaime made us some yummy cheese on toast, then it was a quick rinse down in the shower and finally bed….Goodnight all.

Day 22
I made Strawberry Jam Today!
First time ever and it worked and tastes yummy.
My mom makes lots of varieties of jam and marmalade, but I just never realised how dangerous and tricky it can be. Hot Jam splashes hurt!

You don’t have to tell me that I’m turning into a ‘Good Life’ advert, I don’t care - next am making Lavender, Sage and Olive Oil Soap – no really you cant stop me!

Oh and we also painted some gate posts, raked some leaves, washed out the bins and Jaime ran some errands in the village……just in case you think we were slacking after our day out yesterday 😉.

---

Photos

Jaime in front of The Ponte Vecchio
Ponte Vecchio is a bridge lined with lots of jewellery shops