Perugia to Florence

---

Monday.. Perugia to Florence
Today started with the part I most looked forward to; the olive harvest.  We woke up at 6:30 am and hurriedly put ourselves together and headed to the living room to meet Paul.  He made us coffee and we had an Italian pastry for "first breakfast".  They traditionally have two breakfasts here... One early in the morning, and one at 9am.  This was the only day I will experience first breakfast, I'm sure.  😊 
We were soon on our way to the area they were starting the harvest in Mongiovino (the land that comprises their property). 
When we found the right trees (Paul got a little turned around while showing us around) the men were just starting their work laying out nets under the olive trees.  We weren't required to work, as we were just the American girls taking pictures as they proudly showed their skills.  But I wasn't hesitant to carry the cassettes full of olives to the tractor.  Paul gave us our own tree to pick by hand... I think he did it so the guys could get a good laugh... Our tree wasn't half the size of any others.  We didn't mind, I just wanted the experience! Of course, Italian men are gorgeous, and even the little old men working were the most adorable thing I had ever seen.  One of the guys was quite fond of me (he was Albanian, but who's counting).  I thought it was adorable, up until he begged me to come behind the tractor to kiss him... Nope nope nope.  Lindsay wont let me live that one down.
We soon departed, as we had to get to Chiusi to rent our car and make our way north before dark.  We weren't sure Where we were going, but we figured the journey would be the best part.  Well it was for me, but Lindsay was asleep for most of it so I got to stop whenever I wanted to take photos or just enjoy the view.  The road was steep and winding through Tuscany. It was the Most beautiful drive I have ever taken. We ended up driving all the way to Florence, which was unintentional.  It ended up being the most stressful part of our trip thus far.  We spent most of our day trying to figure out how to navigate through the city.  For beginners: impossible.  We stopped for some good views, food, a cigarette or 30, and finally gave up and just tried to find a hotel as close as possible. Unfortunately, it was expensive and not near much, but we didn't care at that time.  We got our bags and settled in.  Second traumatic part of the day... No Internet. The Internet at the hotel doesn't work, so we got in the car and searched. For hours.  We stopped at dozens of places and used our best Italian to ask for wi-fi, or where we could get it, and we always came up short.  For most of our trip so far, internet wasn't needed, only for Lindsay to check in with her parents to ensure she was still alive.  But today we needed to book trains, check flight times, and I needed to try to get ahold of Sam while I was here.  Well we finally just pulled into private parking lots and found some unlocked residential internet.  Just enough so we could google map places to get Internet.  We completed that task at around 10:30 pm.  Cocktail in hand.  A bar with strong drinks and free internet.... I wanted to kiss our server.  
Alas, I had a great experience with the olive harvest, saw the beautiful Tuscan hillsides, had a great dinner, go to see pretty much every. Single. Street. In Florence, and didn't kill anyone driving around Italy for a day.  Although really stressful, I completely enjoyed the day.  I will, however, be trading in my adventure shoes for a relaxing bed and breakfast with a surplus of wine and a great masseuse in the next couple of days.  
Bonus for the day: Lindsay and I didn't murder each other.  I'm impressed with us!
Bonus number two: we asked so many people on the street for directions.  Italians are the nicest people I have ever met.  But their car horns can go.  (hey--I never said I did a GREAT job driving in Florence!)
And I do have to say how grateful I am to have had Paul as our host and tour guide for 3 days. It was an experience I never expected and will be eternally thankful for.  

---