Days in Tuscany 2.

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And so to our exploration of beautiful Siena, Cortona Montepulciano and the Chianti Region .... we toddled off every day in our little Fiat 500 - which Suzanne made me pay 3 euros a day extra - because it's a cute little car!!! other hilltop towns.

As I said previously this countryside was all you wanted it to be - and to wander the narrow streets of the towns and villages was perfect-( walking on the shady side to keep out of the sun!!). Of course you have to stop for an iced coffee, a beer or a gelato now and then and watch the world go by.

I love all the little shops in Italy - a whole shop selling scarves or gloves or knives - and in this region shops selling special hams and wild boar products - and we ate some wild boar sausages one night. Just looking in shop windows is a delight.

Our last day at La Bandita was our chillout relaxing day -we never moved from the pool - dipping in and out to cool off. After taking a Twilght book on every holiday with her for about 3 years Suz at last finished that book and started reading, what I believe to be the latest blockbuster, 50 Shades of Grey and I was finishing an Australian author Kate Grenville's Lilian's Story - then thanks to free wifi I downloaded the sequel to Wolf Hall - Bringing up the Bodies....boy that Thomas Cromwell was quite a man.

We weren't leaving Pisa until late on Saturday so I took Suz to Lucca where I had stayed previously with Angela... trusty old Sally got us right to a carpark at the city walls and we spent a good 4 hours wandering around there and having gelatos and food before the trip to the airport. One problem we came across was almost all the petrol staions were closed around 5 pm Saturday afternoon...but we did find one at last so got filled up before taking the car back... it's a bit of a racket that rental car companies will charge you for a full tank and tell you to bring it back empty unless you leave it full... who can judge to bring a car back empty!!!

So more photos for you all ... back in rainy grey England it's hard to imagine what sunny summer days are like!!! All in all this was a very good Plan B when the holiday in Gloucester fell through - I think you would all agree.... and if anyone is going to Tuscany I would defo recommend Locanda La Bandita.

Bye for now - next trip Sweden in 3 weeks time.

Lynne xxx

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