Blogs from Gaiole in Chianti, Tuscany, Italy, Europe

Geo: 43.4693, 11.4333Off to the airport to pick up our car- a zippy little Mercedes A class automatic. Put GRASSINA into the GPS and headed off, managed the A1 toll road then took our expected exit. However, we later discovered that we had selected the hamlet, not the village of Grassina, and had an interesting drive thru the Tuscan backroads for an hour before selecting another destination.We found our way to GREVE in Chiantia an hour or so later, and stopped for lunch. Derek enjoyed most of the driving, luckily the back roads were quiet. Without an exact address for the hotel, we headed off towards GAIOLE via RADDA and managed to see the hotel's sign as we drove along the SP2.Checked in, unpacked the car and had a well deserved welcome drink or two!Dinner was ... read more

Impressions di Roma, Day 2: · Good businesses to own would be gelato shops, Smart Car dealerships and brake manufacturing businesses. I cannot imagine how many sets of brakes a Roman driver goes through in a year · Bad business to own would be street sign makers Woke up with a bit of a scare this morning. When I took my phone out of airplane mode. I had a voice mail. It was the Pristine Sistine tour company saying the guide had left because we didn’t show up for our tour and to call them asap. I swear, I thought that tour was booked for July 2, NOT June 26. I checked my paperwork and sure enough, it was June 26. I called the number she left and got a message that said their office was ... read more

Hello All, Well flights home are booked for the 18th June and I’m busy looking for work and somewhere to live. The job market looks as dire as ever, but it’s looking good for places available to rent with my pathetic little budget. The owners of the house have just been to stay for a week and seem happy with the work we have done so far - we really did work our socks off though! It feels like we should relax on the workload and enjoy the rest of our time here, but it’s hard to switch off and relax. I would definitely like to visit Rome before I venture home and there is also what sounds like an amazing evening at a local sculpture park with tradition Spanish flamenco dancing that I would like ... read more

Hello All Apologies for the lack of postings, it feels like we haven’t stopped all week. Where did I leave you …..ahh yes, Day 26 it was times to start tackling all the winter leaves and that meant sweeping, collecting and then burning….sounds simple enough right; and it would be if there wasn’t what felt like little mountains of leaves everywhere. In some areas they had built up to be knee deep. We both swept as many into piles as possible and then Jaime was in charge of burning whilst I was in charge of collecting and dragging them to the bonfire. (Excellent bum and thigh workout if you’re looking for tips). It took hours and poor Jaime got quite a bit of smoke in his eyes – definitely getting the diving goggles out next time! ... read more

Day 17 Today we cleaned the flat from top to bottom…you know that feeling that it’s not really home until you’ve vacuumed under the sofa…no,… well maybe its just me. Anyway, we spent all morning scrubbing everything until it gleamed. During the cleaning I discovered that we had a leaky sink in the kitchen so Jaime set to work fixing it for us. Unfortunately he cut two of his fingers on the sharp ridge under the sink - we promptly flushed out the cuts with disinfectant and then covered them in antiseptic cream – don’t worry he’s fine now. He bravely put a surgical glove on over his cuts and then proceeded to spent a couple of hours cleaning out all the vacuum cleaners (as they also seemed to have acquired that lingering smell of wet ... read more