The leaves are falling in the heart of Tuscany....

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Okay, I've died and gone to heaven!!!! forget "Under the Tuscan sun"...the movie that inspired me was "Stealing beauty". And the villa with the pool....I think I found it. This is the place is everything I've imagined. We slept in and stalled this morning in Florence...and spent about a half hour in the parking lot setting up the GPS. Honestly, I wasn't thrilled to drive in another foreign country but I figure if I could drive in Ireland last year on the wrong side of the road....I could drive in Italy. Rick Steves is right though...Italians are aggressive drivers and htey like to ride right on your ass. They come out of nowhere!!!! Luckily Montepulciano was only about an hour away from Florence so we drove straight there, settled in, explored the grounds of the villa, then drove to the hilltown to explore and do some shopping. Warren bought a new wool cap and I bought a new leather backpack purse. The shopping is much easier in the hilltowns....the big cities are not the place to shop for me. too in a hurry with so much to see. We grabbed a few slices of pizza before heading back to the villa. We arrived to late for dinner but we bought a bottle of wine and sat outside by the fireplace. We met two couples traveling together from Texas who gave us some tips on where to go. Our hotess brought us a plate of meats and cheeses from the kitchen to snack on with our wine. The best and creamiest pecorino cheese I have ever had!!! A nice way to relax after Warren and I stressed each other out driving....

After that I came back to our room very happy from drinking our whole bottle of wine and took a nice hot bath in the first and probably the only bathtup we will have on our trip. I feel like I'm in a fairytale at the villa...we have a nice space here overlooking the vineyards and olive groves. Another living room area attached....I could stay here my whole vacation and be very happy!!! So relaxing!!! I woke up early refreshed and we will get an early start before our cooking lesson this evening. Ciao friends...

Tami and Warren

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