Days 15-18: Off to the beach!

As the days go on it gets less interesting and I'm finding it hard to get these blogs done so I'm gonna combine some days here.  Day 15 started out with my parents and us having the villa to ourselves.  We packed up, cleaned up what needed to be cleaned up and after a quick inspection by the owner we loaded up the car and headed out to Bologna.  The day before my Dad and I heard some music coming from down the street.  Some band was filming a music video (they wanted to use our villa but we were there) so curiosity got the best of us and we drove down the dirt road to see if it was anyone famous.  It wasn't anyone we recognized...boo.  I almost got our rental car stuck in a farm field trying to turn around but I peeled us out of there taking some crop with us and maybe leaving a part or two of the car behind in trade!  Anyway, on the road!  If you are ever on the highways in Italy do not hesitate to go to the truck stops to eat.  The food is amazing! 

After a few hours we arrive in Bologna and man is it packed with traffic.  I manage to find our apartment in what looked like the slums and quickly drop off everyone becasue the street is one way, one lane and packed with parked cars on both sides.  I skid out by myself to find some sort of parking.  Holy cow, I drove around and around in an outward spiral trying to find parking and there was just no place.  I started to get 2 miles away from the apartment and headed back inward.  I found myself back to the road we were on and driving past getting ready to start the circle over when about 2 blocks down from the apartment I realized there was a lot.  I can't believe I missed in the first time!  I park and walk down to our place and Dan and my Mom are waiting outside for me.  When I walk up my Mom grabs me and hugs me and starts crying.  She was so worried about me, poor thing!  By the way, at this point I had already decided that I did NOT like Bologna.

My Dad had contacted a woman who let us into the courtyard and told him that the owner was coming to let us in.  So, we sat and waited.  An hour went by and I had texted the owner wondering where the heck she was.  Finally we called her and it turns out she was on the 3rd floor of the building, right above us, the whole time and was waiting to hear from us.  Sigh.  So she came down and let us in and gave us the tour.  The apartment was GREAT!  Once my parents were all settled in Dan and I hit the road to Viareggio.  We weren't looking forward to another few hours on the road but we had a reservation and we were looking forward to some beach time!  Driving out there was an adventure.  The highway is two narrow lanes both ways that run through the mountains so you had sheer drops and tons of tunnels to navigate.  As if that isn't enough there are a billion tractor trailers on the road too!  Fortunately they all stay in the right lane so you can get around them.  As we get close to Viareggio we started to see these little shanty towns built in the median of the highway.  A lot of them too.  It's sad to see the conditions these people are living in and amazing that the government allows them to build there.  And by build I mean use scraps of wood and metal and plastic to put up tiny little shacks.  The GPS of course leads us way off track multiple times so Dan starts to just find his way on his own and gets us into town. 

It was dark when we got there and as we were driving on the road to our hotel we went through a wooded area that had this long walkway through it that was lit up with Christmas like lights and it was so beautiful.  We made a note to go walk it one night.  More on that later.  We checked in to our hotel which was very nice and hit the streets to find some food.  Viareggio is a very cool 1930's Art Deco beach town.  On one side of it is soft, sandy beaches and on the other giant mountains loom over the town. It's lined with great shops, beautiful hotels and the typical beach restaurants.  That is to say, really crappy over priced food.  That's right people, a whole town in Italy that serves the worst food ever.  Including $13 Whoppers.  That's not the meal, that's just the burger.  Anyway, that night we did a little exploring and the next day we walked a huge length of the beach and back.  The day after we decided to spend the whole day on the beach soaking up some sun and relaxing.  Italian beaches are different from American beaches in that they are privately owned sections that have chairs and umbrellas set up along pretty much the entire length.  You have to rent space.  Fortunately we were there at the very front of the high season so we got a spot for about 25 Euros and there was nobody else around us.  Except for the street vendors selling all sorts of sunglasses and crap who came along every 10 - 15 minutes to disturb us.  These guys are a total nuisance and will not leave you alone.  You really have to ignore them or basically yell at them to fuck off if you want them to go.  If you say "no thank you" it's game on for them and they will hang around forever.

Back to the food issue, we did find one place that made a good pizza and they had an appetizer dish that we went back for another night.  It's fried dough strips with procuitto and this super soft, mild cheese that you can spread on the dough.  OMG...heaven in your mouth!  The last night we were there we ate there and then walked down to the pier at sunset.  It was a soft sunset and the air was crisp and salty.  After that we decided to have a romantic stroll down that path we saw.  The day before we walked down the long path in the afternoon just to check it out and it was a bit strange.  There were carnival rides and go karts and a little park with swans and a club that was blasting music and had old guys walking out of it in the middle of the day.  There were a lot of grandparents and parents with kids and people riding bikes.  It was nice.  So that night we get to the entrance and the lights are all lit up and beautiful and inviting.  However, there is not a soul on the path.  Huh...well, maybe it's just late.  So we start walking and I notice that there are people there alright but they are off in the dark woods.  I start to get creeped out.  A few kids come out of the woods and one of them approaches us and offers to sell us weed.  Dan makes the executive decision that it's very possible probable we will get at the very least mugged if not kidnapped or stabbed so we turn around and try to very cooly walk out as fast as possible.  This is the only night we ever felt unsafe in Italy and it's funny that it's in a very small town as opposed to some of the bigger cities.

We turned the car in while we were in Viareggio so the next travel adventure was finding the train station and buying some tickets out of Viareggio to Bologna.  We hiked it through some neighborhoods randomly picking streets to explore but knowing we were heading in the direction of the train station the whole time.  So interesting what you can find when you wander off the beaten path!  I highly suggest it...even in your home town.  We make it to the train station, buy our tickets from a kiosk and head down the main road back to the hotel.  All along the main road's sidewalks, on both sides, are orange trees!  Like every 10 feet or so and they are FULL of oranges.  It was really pretty except Dan and I noted two things 1.) there were rotten oranges falling out of the trees onto the streets and 2.) the ripe oranges were just out of reach for people to get which seems odd to me.  Beautiful though...shrug.

We met a very interesting couple during breakfast one morning at the hotel.  They had a gorgeous white german shephard with them which of course makes them approachable for me!  She was French and he was German and they both spoke English so we struck up a conversation.  Very cool customers these two!  They were in Viareggio celebrating a wedding anniversary.  He told her she could pick whatever she wanted for the anniversary and she said she wanted him to take her to Viareggio to a gas station restaurant they had been to a long ago for dinner.  He said it was some of the best food in Italy and you'd barely know it was there if you weren't looking for it.  They also told us that there was going to be an open air market the next morning all along the boardwalk (it's not really a boardwalk but I'm calling it that for a lack of a better term) and that we should definitely check it out. 

At this point I wanted to mention that in Italy (and apparently most of Europe) people bring their dogs everywhere - hotels, retail stores (even high end designer stores), in restarurants...everywhere!  I loved it!  Aside from the glaring possibile health issues.  Viareggio seemed to have the highest amount of dogs out of anywhere we'd been in Italy so far and it was really cool to see so many people spending so much time with their dogs.  The down side is that nobody in Italy seems to give a crap about fixing their dogs.  Leash laws are a bit loose too.

Anyway, we make it down to the market the next day and holy cow.  I was disappointed there wasn't any food for sale becasue I was looking forward to that but outside of that there was literally over a mile of stalls with anything else you can imagine for sale.  It seemed to be the place to buy bras which is crazy!  They were super cheap too.  We wandered the whole length and back and bought a few items.  My favorite thing we picked up was some boxer breifs for Dan that had Euros printed on them!  Hahahaa, love it.

Well, I can't think of anything else noteworthy that happened in Viareggio so at this point I'll go to the day we left.  We hopped on the train to Florence where we would pick up the fast train to Bologna.  We intentionally left a few hours between trains becasue we really wanted to spend some more time in Florence...we just LOVE that city!!!  When we got to Florence we dropped off our luggage at the bag check and strolled to a section we hadn't visited before to find a restaurant that was recommended by TripAdvisor.  When we found it we realized that a lot of travellers had used TA to find it too and there was a long line to get in.  Fortunately I didn't have my heart set on it and there was another place right next door where we had a very lovely lunch!  This was the first place in Italy that we went to that served ice in the beverages and I was over the moon!!!  After lunch we found another recommended place for gelato and on man...what an interesting place with some amazing gelato.  They had the most imaginative flavors I'd seen on the whole trip.  While we were there I noticed that there were a lot of young American kids around this area.  I don't know if they were at college in Florence or on an exchange or just visiting. 

Sadly, time to get back on the train.  I was excited to take the high speed train to Bologna!  My Dad had been talking about it the whole time and he was dying to ride one so we would be able to tell him about it.  We get all seated and the train pulls out of the station and directly into an underground tunnel.  Complete blackness out the window the entire trip.  What a rip off!!!  They have beverage and snack service in 1st Class which consisted of a Joey Tribiani look alike literally running through with a beverage cart and reluctantly stopping to slosh a luke warm beverage of your choice into a tiny cup before taking off again.  And trust me, you do NOT want to be in his way becasue he will run your ass over to get through.

We arrive in Bologna and catch a cab to the apartment to spend the rest of the trip with my parents.  I must admit that I really wish we were not in Bologna at this point. 

You can see all the pics from this leg of the trip here: http://flic.kr/ps/ZK1sF

Day 14: A butterfly flaps it's wings

Well, we are about to embark on the most disasterous day of the whole vacation so strap yourselves in and return your seats to the upright and locked positions.  There is turbulance ahead.

The alarm rings at 4am and we jump out of bed before we can be lured back to sleep.  It's time to get up and get Brian and Shannon to the train station so Brian can get to Florence for his 11am-ish flight back to the U.S.  We all make good time and hop in the car and drive to the little town of Buonconvento where the train station is.  As we pull into the tiny parking lot we look across the street to the bar that sells the train tickets and it's pitch dark...as I feared it would be.  As we were figuring out what to do Brian says, "Guys, I left my jacket back at the villa.  And it has my wallet and passport in it."  So, it's 5:30am and the train leaves at 5:55am.  We try to haul ass back to the villa but time is not on our side as it's a little over a 10 minute drive each way.  Couple this with the fact that we were already on fumes in our little car and had to slide into a gas station to get some fuel there was no way in hell we were going to make it back in time for that train which would have been the last one that could make it on time for his flight. 

Hungry, under-caffinated and in a panic we try to think of solutions.  I tell Brian to get on the phone and see if the airlines can offer any solutions.  Dan and I are willing to help pay to change the flight if it's reasonable instead of having to drive over 2 hours each way to get him to the airport and back and miss the remaining family and friends leaving us that day.  Of course there is a 20 minute wait...on international cell phone rates but Brian waits it out and when someone answers on the other end it's an amount way out of our league so....let's get on the road, everyone back to the car.  We jump back in and Dan turns the key and the car starts to gurgle and sputter and I smell gasoline and tell everyone to jump out of the car.  It's a diesel.  In our bleary-eyed rush poor Dan accidentally put regular gas in the diesel.  He was told that the regular gas nozzles wouldn't fit in a diesel and the handle was green which here in the states indicates diesel.  But of course it's opposite in Italy!  Dan goes to wake up Ryan becasue he knows cars.  He says we are screwed so we ask him if we can borrow his car and he tosses us the keys.  I ask him if they can please help us out by calling Hertz/a tow truck to see if we can get this fixed and he, like a CHAMPION, says they will.  Dan runs down the hill to the parking area and we hear a "crunch" and when he gets up the hill and we get in he says he backed out and the side mirror hit the pole and crunched and fell out.  He picked it up and basically crammed it back in and it stayed!  This morning is really racking up the $$$, we will tell Ryan later that we will pay for that if they notice at the rental place.  Now...back on the road.

We stop for a bite to eat and drink some liquid energy once we are safely on the road for a while.  I love that all the rest stops have these giant containers of Nutella that Dan particularly fell in love with.  We wanted to bring some back for all of you but buying that many seats on a plane to get them here just wasn't going to happen.

Fortunatley we made it to the Florence Airport without much incidence and in time.  Brian hops out and runs in and Shannon hugs us and wanders off to find a ride into town.  We re-program the GPS to get us back home but it shouldn't be too difficult, the highway was right near the airport.  Which is why I'm a bit surprised when we start driving away from the highway....and into the center of Florence.  "What is up with this GPS Dan?  Why the heck is it taking us into the busy, confusing heart of Florence?" 
"Hmmmm....I may have hit a button here....hang on.....yup."
"What button?"
"No toll roads route."
"What?  Why would you do that?  You drove us here and the highways were fine."
"I DON'T KNOW!"
hahahahaa...I love this man so much.  Isn't he adorable?  *Please note that conversation may have gone slightly different but you get the gist.*
Anyway, we re-re-program it and it takes us past where we stayed in Florence and we both sigh wistfully and then get back on the highways.

We are getting close to Siena when we get a call from Carrie and she says that they called a tow truck out and they came and got the car and she managed to communicate enough with him to learn that we couldn't have it back.  Hertz said they were going to reserve another car for us and call Carrie back when they had one.  I was hoping that they would call us before Siena since we were right there but they didn't.  I called them a little past Siena and the lady at Hertz said they reserved a car at some city WAY off from where we were and I asked her if there was a Hertz in Buonconvento and she said yes so we were happy becasue we were going to pass right through there and could pick it up and forget about all that had happened.  We pull into Buonconvento and go into the bar that sells the train tickets and ask where the Hertz rental car place is.  Everyone just looks at us like we are speaking a foreign language...because we ARE!  The lady didn't speak any English and the cute little gaggle of old men at the table didn't either.  Finally an old guy walked in who everyone for some reason thought could help us but he didn't speak English either.  I manage to put enough Italian words together so he knew what we needed.  He takes us outside the bar and I thought was going to point us in the right direction.  Instead he signals for us to get into his very old Fiat.  I look at Dan like, "What the hell, he's old, how much trouble could we be in for?"  Isn't that how horror movies start?  Anyway, he drives us down the road to a mechanics and we see our rental car!  He introduces us to a young mechanic who thankfully speaks English.  We ask him about a rental place and he says he rents cars but he's not Hertz and there is no Hertz in town.  Awesome.  So I call Hertz back and they confirm there is not and that Siena is the closest.  Sigh....

Dan and I walk back to Ryan's car and go back to the villa to figure out what to do.  We are just so exhausted and can't think straight.  When we get there all of my family except my parents had already left and we didn't get to say goodbye which was a giant bummer.  Ryan and Carrie and Sal and Reen were waiting for us to get back with Ryan's car becasue they needed to get on the road to Rome for a special reservation they had later that day.  Once they left, we would be stuck at the villa without a car.  I had to go to our room for some "get my head together time" but Dan came in to get me to tell me I had to come see what was going on.  Apparently Sal and Reen had a LOT of luggage and they were attempting to get all of it plus Ryan and Carrie's luggage into Ryan's very tiny rental car.  Poor Ryan was outside trying to cram everything in while Sal was inside having some coffee and leisurely conversation ...hahahaa!  Ryan finally had to give the bad news that there was no way in hell it was going to happen so Sal and Reen decided they would take a train and meet them in Rome so Ryan took them down to the train station in Buonconvento and came back to get his lovely bride.  In the meantime we had to decide that our only choice was for Dan to go by train to Siena and try to find the rental car place and try to get a new car.  Unfortunately that meant we had to ask Ryan if he could now take Dan back to Buonconvento.  Sorry Ryan!  We were feeling so guilty at this point and Ryan and Carrie had been SO incredibly helpful and patient.

Ryan helped us out immensly and drove Dan to the train station.  I had to give Dan my cell phone and set myself up to be able to make calls from Skype since I would be the only one with a phone once Ryan and Carrie were free of the mayhem.  I think at some point while they were gone I had a tearful breakdown and Carrie had to console me....lol!  Sorry Carrie.   I'm sure Ryan and Carrie were so relieved to burn rubber out of the villa finally!  Turns out Dan ran into Sal and Reen sitting in the sun having some breakfast waiting for the train and he got to travel with them to Siena which was nice!  I called Dan about every 15 minutes which I'm sure was mega annoying but I was so worried about him and he couldn't call me.  It took Dan quite a while to find the Hertz becasue it was in some very wonky location and difficult to get to.  Apparently he had to wander around some weird underground mall thing where it was not apparent how to get out of and he walked through a door and set off the emergency alarm.  I asked him if he could please ask them for a bigger car becasue I decided we should pack up my parents and drive them to Bologna and then head out to the coast instead of putting them on a train the next day.  When he got to Hertz the guy told him he had reserved a Smart Car for us...hahahaa!  I'm just picturing my 6' 7" father trying to fold himself into there.  Anyway, they had a really nice bigger car and the guy got Dan all set up after making a little jab about making sure he knew it was a DIESEL.  Pride a little wounded but relieved to have a car my weary hubby got on the road back to us!

Dan pulled into the driveway around 5:30 or 6pm and I've never been more relieved to see him.  Amazing how a little thing like a forgotten jacket can change the course of 12 hours.  In order to salvage the day we grabbed my parents and headed up to Montalcino.  We wandered around for a bit and took some photos and went back to the place we were at the night before for dinner.  We devoured some pizzas and beer and wine and went back to the "usual place" for gelato.  As we were leaving the gelateria we saw a crowd gathering at the top of the hill so we went up to investigate.  There were a bunch of men dressed up in old time garb and they had flags and musical instruments.  They looked like they were representing different towns or clans or something.  We never figured out what it was all about but it was pretty cool to see them parade by!  When we got back to the villa I think we just totally crashed out in bed, trying to sleep off the trauma of the day. 

Tomorrow, bittersweet goodbye to the villa and off to the beach!
A few photos from the day here: http://flic.kr/s/aHsjA71nZA

Day 13: So good we pee our pants

Welcome to Day 13 - the day where all the excitement catches up to everyone and we all just want a chill day.  I don't really remember what that heck happened in the morning but I do know that this is the day we pretty much all pitched in and cooked an amazing little meal out of what we could find around the kitchens for lunch.  It was so much fun to be cooking side by side with my Dad and my brother and friends in Italy!  This was also when I re-affirmed that I want to start a little herb garden at home.  Having giant pots of fresh herbs outside the door made me down right giddy!  And Shannon cut up a bunch to make a scrumptious dipping sauce for the bread that disappeared in no time.  It was so fragrant.

The day was a bit drizzly and overcast which was sort of perfect for the mood everyone seemed to be in.  Dan and I wandered around and snapped a bunch of pictures of the villa and the grounds since we hadn't had a chance to yet.  At some point our friend Brian decided he wanted to stay at the villa one more night with us and he would catch the train in the morning to catch his flight the next day in Florence.  Shannon said she would travel with him becasue she would like to spend a day in Florence before heading home.  So they get on the computer to look at train times for the morning.  When it cleared up a bit Dan and I got back in our wedding "gear" and headed outside for a round of totally fun shots with Shannon!  I just love playing pretty princess dress up!  And, the villa grounds were so amazing that I was stoked to get some gorgeous photos there.  My Mom of course was all like "You'll ruin your dress in that wet grass" and I was totally like "Nuh UH!" and she was like "Whatevs, punk."  Really, that's how we talk to each other.

Later that day Ryan and Carrie wanted to head up to Montalcino becasue we were so close and Carrie hadn't been yet.  We hop in the car and make the now very familiar drive to town and we park near the fort at the top of the hill and make our way into the fort.  It was cold and windy and we were walking through the clouds which was cool!  It's interesting to get into a fort in one of these little towns and imagine the whole town crowding into there for protection.  It wasn't very big and it really is just a large open area inside the walls.  It must have been terrifying and really boring all at the same time.  How did they ever get through it without iPads???

After that we head up the streets to a church at the top of the town that has the most incredible view over Tuscany...when it's not cloudy that is.  When we were up there a little dog came running down the street into the little grassy area where we were hanging out.  He seemed a bit nervous and like he might like to bite one of all of us but he came over to me and let me scratch his back for quite a while until his owner called him to come home from down the street.  At that point we made a live installation of lawn art and then hiked down the crazy steep hill into the center of town.  We called our family and they were coming to meet us for dinner so we tried to cram some gelato down our face holes before they got there and then we weren't going to tell them and come back after dinner for more!  Mmmmmm...it failed tho.  I am the slowest ice cream eater ever and my family was way quicker than I gave them credit for.

Helena and Don had a recommendation for a restaurant so we headed over and were promptly seated.  The food was, of course, incredible!  I didn't take any pics though, sorry.  The conversation was crazy fun too - we told a lot of hysterical stories about my Grandparents who I wish more than anything were alive and able to make it to Italy with us!  I know I keep saying it but we have the most amazing friends and family.  All through dinner I'm a little worried about Brian and Shannon getting the train in the morning and I was probably annoying the shit out of everyone asking questions about it.  But at this point, there is nothing to do about it anyway so I have faith that it will work out and go back to having fun.  When dinner is done and the check comes we decide to leave a tip.  Just to clear up what we learned about tipping servers in Italy, here is the scoop as told to us by our guide - Servers in Italy are professional servers.  They get paid a regular wage and not a reduced rate like here in the States.  So, tipping is NOT necessary or expected.  As a matter of fact, if you pay and leave a tip in the billfold or on the credit card receipt that money will go to the house...not the server.  You want the server to get it, hand it directly to them out of site of the owners/managers.  Ok, back to it...we tip our server.  Next thing we know, out comes bottles of limoncello and herbal liquor, and grappa I think.  This is on the house.  We experience this sort of thing quite a bit when we tip servers in Italy.  If it wasn't booze, it was a small plate of assorted desserty foods.  Neat, huh?

Needless to say, between the wine and the booze some of us were feeling a bit tipsy.  There was a bit of funny, heated discussion on how to get back to the cars and a little getting lost but we eventually found the least offensive of the ridiculous hills to climb to get back to the cars...hopefully.  My cousin Helena was laughing hysterically at something and ended up peeing her pants at one point...literally.  Called ya out cuz'...sorry but I know Grandma P was pissing her pants in heaven at that moment too!  So she wraps her sweater like a diaper around her pants and we continue on to find the cars somehow.  Driving home we are all passed by some CRAZY PANTS drivers.  My brother and Ryan were going at a good clip on the very dark windy wet streets but these guys blew us away.  When we get home we hang out for a bit, a cozy fire is built but we hit the sack becasue we have to be up in the morning at 4am to get Brian and Shannon to the train station by 5:30am the next morning. 

Tune in next time kids because you will NOT BELIEVE the day we have.
Tons of photos from this day posted here: http://flic.kr/s/aHsjA3MU4A

Day 12: Finally a day to relax - sort of.

Fortunately for us all of our guests had plans to go out and about touring the area the day after the wedding and unfortunately for us some friends left to continue thier adventures elsewhere.  As for us...our plan was to do absolutely nothing, finally!  We slept in and lazily made our way out of bed and out to forage for some breakfast.  Again lucky for us the wedding cake was huge so there were plenty of leftovers for breakfast!  Shannon decided to take our car and drive around the flower filled fields near our villa and take some photos so we were the only ones left.  While we were at the table we talked about what lazy things we would like to do for the day.  I wanted to take some pictures of the villa and asked Dan where the camera was.  A strange look came over his face followed by a look of sheer panic.  He got up from the table to look for it but he was pretty sure that he had left the camera on the chair, in the restaurant, in Siena town square at lunch before the wedding.  Oh boy.  I tried to remain calm as that hunch became a for sure reality.  I honestly felt bad for Dan and I didn't want him in beating himself up until we found out if it was still there or not. 
"What was the name of the restaurant Dan?"
"I don't know.  It was one of the ones on the square with the big awnings."
"Well, that's a lot of restaurants.  Any way you can narrow it down?"
"It was the place we had the pizza the first day...with the orange chairs!"
"To GoogleMaps!!!"
Thankfully we had wifi at the villa so we jumped online and went to street view on GoogleMaps and thankfully we were able to see where the restaurant was and they didn't have the awnings down in the map so we could see the name of the restaurant.  Now fingers crossed that they had a website or were listed.  They were...we called...they had our camera!  Unbelievable honestly.  I thought for sure someone ended up with our brand new expensive camera.  Now we had to drive to Siena on our relax day though.  That is, as soon as we had a car to use.  At least we could rest easy that the restaurant was holding on to it. 

Since we really didn't have a very nutritious breakfast we put together a little plate of what we could scrounge up in the fridge - olives, cheese, meats, fruit and such - and went out to the sprawling lawn to sit in the warm sun and eat and chat.  At some point a handsome gentleman comes up the driveway and we try to talk to him but no luck since none of us speaks a same language.  I thought he was there to pick up the lanterns for the wedding planner so I called her to see if she could translate for us.  Turns out he was the groundskeeper and he just wanted to check in and make sure we had everything we needed and he thought we were asking him where we could buy the lamps and how much they cost...hahahaa!  Back to our leisurely lunch.  Shannon rolls up and comes to hang out with us and we go exploring in the garden maze.  We find some incredible roses growing, a bunch of giant snail shelss and some shotgun shells.  Hmmmm, maybe we should get out of here and on the road to Siena.  So off we go.

We get there without event and end up needing a little help from a local on getting out of the parking garage but we make it to the restaurant.  As we are walking up to the restaurant there is a server standing outside and before we even say anything he says to us "Camera?" and takes us inside.  We are expecting a grand inquisition before they hand it over but there is none.  I assumed that since the guy recognized us that they went through our pics on the camera and were gone quiz us on it.  Whatever, glad to have it back.  We decided to wander a bit around town ourselves since we drove all this way and didn't really want to get back in the car just yet.  We really wanted some good pizza but didn't want to get it from any of the overpriced places on the square.  This took us to the outskirts of Siena and back and since it was getting dark and we were getting to that murderous stage of hunger we said, "The next place we come across is the place we are going to eat."  Too bad we said that because we ate at the McDonald's of pizza places.  The pizza was hideous, the soda had no ice and was only half full and the place was full of loud teenagers.  After we ate I had to pee.  So I found the sign for the bathroom and started the long, dark, deep descent to the ladies room.  Seriously, the bathrooms were three flights down the steepest stairs I've ever walked.  And it started to get darker and darker with flickering flourescents the deeper you got.  When I got into the ladies room I felt like I had been transported in to a horror flick.  I did my business and got the hell out of there.  When I got back to the table I told Dan he had to check out the bathrooms and sent him down without any warnings. Heeheehee. 

On the way back to the parking garage we were walking up a steep twisted road and walked under a big arch and as we get through we look to the sky to see the most picturesque moon blazing above a water fountain.  Uh...is this for real?  We snap some pictures and get back on the path to the parking garage stopping along the way to kiss under the harvest moon and take some more pictures of the city at night.  We get to our car and drive up to the gate at the parking garage and put in our ticket.  It tells us how much we owe but there is no place to put money or run a card.  Weird.  And of course the garage was a ghost town until we get to the gate when a line of cars suddenly pops up behind us.  I get out and ask the guy in the car behind us who we have to pay and he said that there are machines up a few levels that we have to pay and get a ticket.  Great, now we have to make everyone behind us back up so we can turn around and park and go find these machines.  Machines found, ticket paid, parking lot exited, Honey and Dan go to the villa and hang with remaining friends and family before hitting the sack.  How's that for a wrap up?

The rest of the pics you can see here:  http://flic.kr/s/aHsjzVLpwf

Day 11: Here comes the bride! But where are the guests?

It's the big day folks!  The day all the planning and paperwork and excitement and waiting have been for.  Fortunately we planned the wedding for 4pm so we didn't have to be up early running around like zombies :)  We get up slowly and meet up with my parents to get some breakfast and do some leisurely exploring of Siena since up to this point it's been a race around this place for us.  At our leisurely breakfast we hear the Ghostbusters theme song playing across the Piazza.  Strange.  It's coming from a little red painted pick up truck.  Oh well.  Anywho, after eating we start to wander around and hit some stores and check out some of the gorgeous old architecture.  We find a teeny tiny shop with about 8000 scarves in it and go a little crazy in there...some of you reaped the benefit of that!  As we are walking up the street we start to hear some more music and loud yelling coming from behind us.  We turn around to look and up the street comes a little parade of more painted cars.  We can't really read what they say but needless to say they have some delightfully graphic paintings on the cars which seem to be some sort of political statement.  And off of the top of most of the cars are posts built up and some college age kids with bullhorns yelling to everyone as they cruise through town.  I wonder what their cause was?

The last few days as we've been wandering through this town I've come across a few shoe stores that had some of the most unusual shoes I've ever seen.  Up to this point I've really been exercising as much self control as I can muster when it comes to all of the fabulous shoes and boots for sale.  However, my hair and make up stylist had on the MOST adorably fantastic pair of high heel, wedge sneakers the day before and I just HAD to have a pair.  I saw a shoe store with a few different styles in the window and ran in.  I picked out two styles to try on and approached the salesman to get them in my size.  He was a very tall, slim well put together, effeminate man and when he spoke we were speechless for a minute.  He spoke in almost a whisper but in a very high pitched voice.  He asked me what size I wore and I told him that in US size I'm a 7.  He responded very seriously, "I'm sorry but that's impossible.  Nobody could possible have a foot that small."  LOL!!!  I wish I had video with audio so that you could all understand how funny it was.  Anyway, we figured out my size, tried some on and picked out a pair.  I was so stoked about them that I made a last minute executive decision and declared that they were going to be my wedding shoes!  I don't know that my Mom was so thrilled but Dan looked pretty entertained.

A little more wandering and shopping and then, of course, more food.  I left Dan with my parents to sit and have a relaxing lunch but I had to run back to the hotel to meet Daniella to start my hair and make up at 2pm.  On my way to the hotel I stopped for a slice of pizza and decided to try something a little different.  It was a square with pastry on both sides and spinach and tomato and cheese in the center.  Seemed sort of healthy but with my first bite I realized it was one of the saltiest foods I'd ever eaten which is not good if you are about to get strapped into a tight wedding dress in a few hours.  In the garbage it went.  I got back to the hotel and realized that Dan had the keys...awesome.  So I had to practically run back to the piazza, find where they had decided to eat and get the keys and then run back to the hotel.  Right after I get there the make up artist and a translator arrive, early.  However Shannon, our photographer has not showed up yet so we wait a little while hoping she gets there soon.  I'm worried about her becasue I know that getting around Italy is not easy and usually full of surprises.  But I know she's a resourceful lady and will be here.  2pm comes, my Mom has arrived and we decide to go ahead and get started.  Daniella and her friend are a ton of fun...super sweet women.  I'm extremely flattered that Daniella goes on and on about how gorgeous my eyes are.  Considering she works with supermodels at Gucci for a living I fell pretty damn good about myself! 

Suddenly there is a knock on the door in in comes Shannon all out of breath!  Phew, I'm so relieved to see her ok.  Apparently she drove into town a little farther than we had the other day and the police stopped her and made her turn around and go into a parking lot clear across town so she had to find her way and haul all of her equipment through town up and down the hilly cobblestone street in some super fab high heel boots.  What a superwoman!  She doesn't hesitate and starts taking pictures immediately.  Another knock comes at the door and it's Dan and my father here to get Dan all dressed and ready.  The women all scramble to make sure he doesn't see me...hahahaa!  My Dad helps him with his tie, which is adorable and before they leave my father comes in and tells me some very beautiful things that start to make me cry but just before I can shed a tear Daniella is up and across the room and pinches my arm and yells "NO!  NO!!!" and charades that there is to be no crying.  Ouch!  Ok, ok...no crying!  The boys leave for town hall and I'm ready to get into my dress.  It's a team effort but I want it tight and those girls strap my girls in!  We strap on my new sneakers, snap a few pictures and run out the door.  Of course, the bride was going to be fashionable late!

What a blast it was walking through the streets of Siena in my gown with my bouquet and my little entourage with strangers congratulating me all along the way and snapping pictures.  I felt like a goddess, a princess, a supermodel, a blushing bride about to marry her perfect love!  When we get to town hall I see my father outside looking concerned and I know something is wrong.  As I walk up he kisses me and starts to usher me in and tells me that the guests have not arrived yet.  Oh boy.  We hired a bus to pick everyone up at the villa and bring them to Siena but apparently the bus driver didn't speak any English and was a little lost.  Fortunately for us, everything and everybody runs late in Italy so they were not concerned at all and there was nothing scheduled after our ceremony so we had time.  I was led up to a landing on the stairs above the entrance to the room we were going to be married in so that nobody would see me when they finally got there.  Dan was on the other side of the wall in the room waiting as people who were just wandering around touring the gorgeous historic town hall kept coming in and asking him where the batheroom was...like a guy in a suit with a hot pink tie with a unicorn on it works there and knows where the bathroom is makes perfect sense.  Dan did make sure that a tourist wearing socks and Crocs got the hell out before I saw him becasue there would have been trouble. 

As we wait Shannon gets a few more photos (which I think will turn out gorgeous) and then the guests finally arrive at about 4:30.  Time for my big entrance!  My father comes out to meet me, kisses me and tells me I look beautiful.  The musicans start (Luna by Smashing Pumpkins) and in we go.  I turn the corner and walk through the door and I see my Dan looking so handsome!  His face is absolutely beaming and I can see it happening...tears.  I start to tear up myself and feel that ghost pinch on my arm and reign it in.  The ceremony is a fairly legal process for the most part.  A lot of reading civil laws about marriage.  The mayor of Siena marries us and she is gorgeous.  Is everyone in Italy beautiful or what???  Another song by the musicians (You and I by Ingrid Michaelson which we realize half way into it that there is a very high pitched section of the song that the singer is about to get to and we turn to her to see what happens...she hits the notes and bravo and apologies to her).  The mayor presents us with a gift of coins minted from the original molds of the first coins of Siena, very cool!  A few more legal things, we exchange rings (we put Dan's on his wrong hand) and then the big smooch which we jump the gun on but who cares!!!  Yet another song (The Way I am by Ingrid Michaelson - love her).  All that is left is to sign the documents and we are pronounced husband and wife...WOOHOO!!!  We walk out to Sail Away by David Grey and hang out in the "lobby" for pictures and congratulations.

We make our exit to the Piazza and Shannon gets some pictures with family and friends and out of one of the side streets comes an gang of young guys who start cheering for us.  So cute!  The chant "Bacio, bacio, bacio" so we oblige and kiss and they go nuts.  We decided to invite them in to get some pictures with us and they are strangely stoked about it and even hand over their own cameras and phones to get pictures for themselves.  Off they go still cheering.

At this point we send our guests off to get some gelato and Shannon takes us off to get some pictures around the square.  What a blast we had!  We got some gelato ourselves (I get strawberry and OMG it is so fresh and tasty) and played around with it getting pics, we hijacked some strangers scooter for a few shots and as we are getting those shots a man comes out of a restaurant across the street and tells us they have a gorgeous wine cellar that would be perfect for pictures and invite us in....how amazing is that???  They weren't lying, it was really beautiful.  After that we get a few more pics outside and go to find our family and friends.  What follows is a black spot on the day and since we are going to forget about it I won't write about it here.  We get on the bus and head to the villa for the reception!  Keep in mind that when we spoke to the caterer and florist that little to no English was spoken so we are not sure what we are going to find at the villa...eep!

When we arrive and get off the bus there are tables with white linens all around the yard with candles and lanterns and a scrumptious looking spread of appetizers laid out.  Not to mention the very cute servers they sent...right Jen!!!  The welcome buffet consists of:
     * Bellinis, Rossini cocktails, Class cocktails, Prosecco and fresh fruit juices
     * A cheese selection of Italian Marzolino cheese, goat's milk cheeses, gorgonzola cheese, a variety of spiced cheese, Italian "canestrato" with honey and mustard and Apulian "burrata" cheese.
     * Fast cut Salami DOP corner with Impruneta's Sbriciolona, Pratomagno's ham, San Daniele ham, Sausage with hot red pepper and Soppressata cubes.
     * Italian breads and crackers
     * Fried vegetables of courgette flowers, courgettes, aubergines, artichoke's heart, cauliflower hearts, onion rings, sage leaves, thinly cut potatoes, round buffalo mozzarella and ascolona olives.
Are you hungry yet?  I walk inside and I see the table set up and we are blown away at the job the caterers and florists have done.  So soft and romantic and exactly what I had envisioned and more.  It is perfection.

We all move inside to the long, wooden table and the courses of dinner start to come out:
     1st - Risotto with crispy Italian bacon, radicchio and saffron.
     2nd - Fresh pasta with pecorino cheese, figs and arugula.
     3rd - Chinghiale in umido con fagioli all'ucceletto (wild boar ragu with white beans) and Eggplant parmesan for our vegetarian friends.

For dessert I was really a bit worried about the cake because we really had absolutely clue what we were going to get.  I had not seen the bakery's portfolio and even though we had emailed the wedding planner the flavors we wanted I had no clue if they were going to make them or not.  Out comes the cake and holy shamoly it was more than we could have hoped for!  It was two gigantic layers all sparkley and covered in giant sugar anemony flowers!  The touch of perfection was the cake topper hand crafted and painted by none other than the talented artist Dan Beaulieu.  We were so impressed and relieved.  We had a toast to each other and cut into the cake to feed each other (which we did gently) and when we tasted the cake we were glad we didn't get what we asked for because our tastebuds were rejoicing :)  We still don't know what it was but it was a vanilla cake with mini chocolate chips and soaked in some sort of alcohol.  In addition to the cake there was a fruit arrangement and an assortment of mousse (lemon, chocolate, pistachio, strawberry and white chocolate I think, maybe more flavors even) and to top it off bottles of limoncello, grappa and bitters (herbal liquor).  We were all so stuffed but somehow kept eating!

After all the food was demolished and the liquor and wine had been flowing we turned up the music and the dancing started.  Somehow  a chain of people doing splits started!  I had no clue how limber and bendy my friends were!!!  This went on for quite a while and I'm shocked there were no crotch injuries...hahahaa!  At some point, Don brought out a pan lid and wooden spoon for me and all the men tied their ties on Dan and we ended up doing some sort of weird almost ancient looking pan banging tie head crazy dance.  Classic.  A little dance battle broke out and again we were surprised at the breakdancing skillz of our white bread friends.  One of our songs came on and I led Dan outside to dance in the moonlight of one of the most stellar, bright moons you've ever seen.  It was so romantic.  What a perfect, perfect evening.  The funniest part was when we all went to bed and Dan had to get me out of my dress but that is private you pervs!!!  Except for Ryan who was apparently listening outside the door. 

Guys, it was the most perfect day in our lives and we couldn't have been happier to have been surrounded by our friends and family instead of eloping like we had originally planned to do.  Thanks Mom for ruining our plans <3  There were a lot of you who we wished were there but know that you were not out of our thoughts all day and we were sending love your way.

See all the pics I have so far here: http://flic.kr/s/aHsjzSpnfG  I will post more as friends and family send them!
Also, wedding video is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqGA8aSXwoI

Tomorrow...will you even tune in now that the big day is over?  You should, the adventures don't end.
  

Day 10: Have you ever tried to kill each other?

Today we needed to drive into Siena for ONE LAST round of paperwork AND to pick up my dress that had JUST arrived.  Woohoo!  So we told everyone at the house that we were going and that it would be a good opportunity for anyone who wanted to go and explore Siena.  We packed up the caravan and headed out.  We managed to get to Siena with fairly little trouble but then I led the parade a little too far into the city.  There is (supposedly) no traffic allowed in the center of Siena.  A nice older gentleman flagged us down and signaled that we needed to turn around.  So, I started the synchronized 3-point turning and got us all back out and found a side road that had parking.  We hopped out and Dan and I need to haul ass to get to our appointment so we started ... well, hauling! 

We got seperated from part of the crowd but we had to keep moving.  As we are walking the beautiful cobbble streets our friend Brian comes running up to tell us that we all parked in residential parking and we had to move so we threw him the keys and kept going.  As we are looking for our wedding planner to take us to our appointment we found our friend and photographer Shannon in the square!  We connect her with our family and leave them all to grab some breakfast while we go meet our wedding planner and head to our appointment.  She takes us down a side street into what looks like a seedy office past a waiting room full of people and back to a desk covered in booklets of paper.  The nice lady at the desk starts rifling through all the paperwork looking for ours muttering to herself and throwing out a bunch of "Allora".  We found in Italy that this is quite the used word.  It stand for "then" or "so" and they use it like we use "um".  Anyway, she starts to ask us questions to make sure we are qualified to be married.  Our favorite question was "Have either of you ever been convicted of attempted murder of each other?"  I thought it was a joke at first but they are serious!  You can not marry each other if one or both of you have ever been CONVICTED of trying to murder the other.  Good job Italy.  Also, we had to state that we weren't sister and brother and I had to prove that I'd been divorced for at least 300 days.  If Dan had been divorced he would only have to prove that its been at least 3 days.  Yay, we passed the test, we can get married! 

We left the offices and met our family and friends in the Piazza and grab some PIZZA!  It was totally yummers and afterward my cousin Helena and her hubby Don take us down a side road for some of the best cannolis ever to be eaten.  But then Dan and I had to break off to check into the hotel and everyone else went to see the Duomo.  Dan's brother saw a torture museum that he wanted to see so he and our friend Brian broke off and we told him to meet us later at the Duomo becasue that was were everyone else was going and we had to go check into our hotel.  So check into the hotel we did and it was adorable and had an incredible view of the other side of the horseshoe of the Siena hillside.  Now, back out and back through the square to the Duomo to meet up with our peeps.  I can't remember how we came across Dan's brother and Brian but we happened across them and it turns out they had been looking for us at the Hotel Duomo, which we didn't even know existed.  Oh Mark.  Now that we found them we got back on course and found the Duomo.  Talk about intricate!  I've never seen so much stuff on the outside of a building in my entire life.  You could stand there and look at that church all day and find a million new things.  They even had little statues attached like they were sitting on the side of the building defying gravity.  One of the primary artists was Giovanni Pisano!  Maybe a distant relative?  There is also a very tall tower that you can climb up and walk out on bridgeways that Dan and the rest of our family went up.  Shannon and I headed back to the hotel though becasue I had a trial hair and make up run scheduled at 3pm.

As we were waiting for the stylist to show up I got a call from the wedding planner stating that now the owners of the villa were coming over to the villa that night and wanted a $500 deposit but I told her that Dan and I were staying the night in Siena and not going back to the villa that night.  It was horrible timing but fortunately Shannon is a woman of action so she took all the cash that I had and went to find everyone else to gather up the rest and take it back with her back that night.  What a life saver she was this trip!  She and Dan came back to the hotel with my wedding dress, grabbed her luggage for Dan to take to the car and then Dan hauled back our luggage from the parking garage that was all the way across town...what a champion!  When he got back he wasn't allowed to see me all done up and I think he was pretty stressed out so he threw the luggage in the door and announced that he was going to get a beer and left.  Ok.  At this point I also have no idea where my parents, who are also supposed to be staying the night in Siena, are and I have no way of getting in contact with them.

Once Daniella and I had decided on a makeup and hairstyle, which wasn't easy considering she didn't speak any English and my Italian is super limited, she fixed up my make up, gave me a chinon, picked out a dress of mine and put earrings on me and set me up to have a nice dinner with my sweetie, who was at a random bar in town also incommunicado.  Doing the makeup and hair with her was a lot of fun.  What girl doesn't like to be dolled up?  Especially by a gorgeous woman who works for Gucci in Milan!!!  She left and I sat in the hotel room all by myself for a while wondering if I'd ever find anyone.  So instead I left a note for Dan and headed out to the square to see if I could find anyone.  As I was walking by the restaurants I was really hoping to find my parents. I started to wonder if they just left town and went back with everyone else to the villa.  Just then I see my very tall father walk out of a restaurant looking around...Yay fate!  Once I hooked up with them we went back to the hotel and Dan showed up.  We decide to go find a nice quiet place to have dinner and wander through town until we happen upon someplace that seems promising.  And it is!  We had a hysterical waiter named Reynaldo and the food was sensational.  Are you surprised?  After that we called it a night and went back to the hotel to rest up for the big day.
All day 10 pictures can be seen here: http://flic.kr/s/aHsjzQ4oMy

Tomorrow... the end of the single life!

Day 9: La Bella Vita

Today we are going on an tour of all the fantastic hill towns around Montalcino with our friends Ryan and Carrie as a wedding gift from them.  And man was it a doozey of a tour!  Our guide, Gianni, picked us up around 9 - 9:30 and we all piled into the minivan for the tour of a lifetime.  Gianni was quite the personality!  He immediately fit right in and was hysterical and super knowledgable about all the places we went and not in a boring way.

We start off in the town of Buonconvento which is just up the street from our villa.  He shows us a few things and then leaves us to have some breakfast at a caffe.  He meets up with us when we are done and takes us to the Abbey at Monte Oliveto Maggiore.  This is an abbey where there are still Benedictine monks and there is a courtyard with a hallway running around it with some amazing art depicting the life of Saint Benedict painted by Luca Signorelli and il Sodoma (Giovanni Antonio Bazzi).  The church was stunning.  There were these seats that lined the wall that were hand carved and inlaid and you would not believe how intricate they were!  They also had these tiles in the floor that were made of this orange marble which is not found in nature anymore so it is priceless.  And we were just walking on it.  There was also a giant "sink" made out of it with carvings of animal heads all along it.  We had to leave before noon because they kick everyone out so the monks can come down and have lunch and prayers in private.

 

After the Abbey we went to this super quiet little town called Chiusure.  We barely saw a soul there.  Except for this fuzzy orange cat who followed us every step of the way though the town.  So cute.  It was our first hilltop view of the area and we were blown away.  It was very romantic.  So romantic we forced Carrie to kiss Ryan ;)

After that Gianni took us to this cool town called Bagno Vignoni.  This town had a very ancient and intricate water purification system.  There was also a big man made "pool" in the center of town that is mineral water that is used for medicinal purposes.  Unfortunately, becasue it was so popular, the hotels in the area began to syphen off the water to use in their hotel spas.  The area where the purification system was is high on a cliff overlooking the hill country and the river that the area is named after.  The water there is this icy blue/white due to the minerals...very cool looking!

Montecchiello is the next stop.  Here we had one of the most incredible meals of our trip.  Gianni took us to this small restaurant where they hand make the pasta.  We had a starter of different ages of Pecorino cheese (their local specialty cheese made of sheep's milk) with condiments to match.  The main course was a mix of pastas: A cheese ravioli with truffle sauce, spinach gnocchi with butter sauce and picci (a local specialty pasta) in a pomodoro sauce.  The side dishes were fresh steamed spinach and roasted potatoes.  Of course the wine was incredible as well.  There is a lot to be said for simplicity and fresh ingredients.  After lunch we went to this little unassuming church where there was something interesting that happened during the war.  There were frescoes on the walls of the church.  The vibrations from the bombing ended up crumbling off the frescoe to reveal there was another fresco underneath!  Both exist now because when they went to scrape off the newer one it was ruining the fresco underneath. 

The next town we went to was Montepulciano.  We went into the cellar of the Brunello winery to see the casks down there, pretty cool how giant those are!  When we came out of there we walked past a big arched door and inside was an older gentleman seated in front of an anvil, working.  Our tour guide told us he was a coppersmith and one of the very few left and asked if we wanted to meet him.  Of course we did!  His name was Cesare and he welcomed us in and showed us some tools that his Grandfather made that he is still using to this day.  As a matter of fact, he found out we were getting married and made us a custom little piece which blew us away!  After that he gave us a personal tour his family's museum which has pieces that he made when he was just 7 years old and pictures of him presenting the Pope with a piece as well as antiques he's collected and other pieces he and his family made.  You just don't see something like that anymore.  After that, we see more sweeping vistas and beautiful old buildings and interesting stories and off to the next place.

Pienza.  What an interesting town Pienza turned out to be!  The history of that little town is kind of funny.  For the sake of this blog not running too long I'm going to tell you to look it up but it just speaks to the decadence of the Popes throughout history.  Part of that history is a church that is built on the cliffside that is going to break in half and fall off one day.  The Pope knew that would be the case but ordered it built anyway.  You can see the crack in the side of the church!  They have sensors on the cracks so if one day it happens the people inside will get a warning and can get out.  Yes, they still hold services in there.  Pienza was such a pretty town.  I wish we had time to get back to it and spend a day or two there....oh well, next trip. 

We ended with a quick trip to San Quirico d'Orcia to see a particular garden that was gifted to the town.  It was very peaceful and pretty.  Also, this town is known for it's archers.  Every town we went to seemed to have some sort of interesting annual competition they were known for and this town has archery.  Outside the gates where we were waiting for Gianni to pick us up is the bust of an F1 champion from this little town.  Very cool!  This was the last town and even though we were exhausted and our brains were swimming in a million facts about all the towns we'd been too I could have gone on and on.  Gianni was so good, I can recommend him enough if you go to Tuscany.  He does all sorts of different tours so whatever you are looking for let him know and he will make it unforgettable.  Tours Around Tuscany -  http://tuscany.sharepoint.com/Pages/default.aspx

We swung into Buonconvento and picked up Dan's brother and then headed back to the villa to find an almost full house and everyone fixing some dinner and setting the table and getting to know each other!  What a sight.  It was so weird and wonderful to sit at a giant table full of our family and friends IN ITALY!!!  La Bella Vita indeed.
All 362 pics from this day are here http://flic.kr/s/aHsjzFmXij

Tomorrow...the day before the BIG day!

Day 8: Lost in the Fog

Today is the day we head to our villa in Montalcino where our family and friends will be joining us!   We run and grab the Fiat, pay a ridiculously large fee for parking and pack that baby to the gills.  Then we try and program the GPS to get us to the villa.  The problem is that the name of the villa is Pian dell'Asso which also happens to be the name of the region the villa is located in.  And...to compound that problem there is no street address.  It's off of a long road, on a road with no name and there is no house number.  That's just how it goes in Italy.  You spend half of your time utterly lost.  So we type in what we have and head out.

The day starts out beautiful and sunny and the scenery is amazing.  At some point we get off the path the GPS has plotted out (which happens a lot) and it recalculates and it seems that we weren't off after all.  We eventually get hungry and in the middle of absolutley nowhere is a little rest stop.  We pull in and there are two buildings.  One seems to be like a convenience store and behind there is a building with food.  We go in and realize quickly that there isn't anyone who speaks English but there are a ton of people ordering some very handsome sandwiches and it smells delicious.  Dan has to run to the bathroom so I hang back and watch how it's working until he gets back.  We have to go to the register, tell the lady what we want, pay and then take the receipt to another lady who will then make our sandwiches.  It's a little rocky and we aren't quite sure what we ordered but in the end we were rewarded with a succulent porchetta sandwich and a salumi sandwich.  YUM!  Back on the road.

We start to get more into the mountains and there is tunnel after tunnel and we wind our way on some roads with steep drop offs but it's fun.  GPS starts to give us some more turns to take and judging from the time we are close!  I pull out the "detailed" directions the wedding planner emailed us and start looking for the cues.  We find the road SP14...yes!  As we start driving on this super windy road the fog starts to settle in and it is THICK.  We drive and drive and drive and I realize that we should have been seeing our landmarks long ago.  But the GPS shows that the villa is right around the bend!  We get around the bend and...there is nothing but fields.  GPS: "You have arrived at your destination."  Me: "F U GPS!"  I try turning on my roaming on my phone to see if I have any better luck with that.  Nope.  We reach the end of SP14 and pull off into some warehouse parking lots and try to figure out what the heck to do.  We reset the GPS and even though we are about in tears we are hopeful as it seems to have found someplace different.  As we start driving back up SP14 the fog is clearing up.  The GPS tells us to make some turns and we find a dirt road that leads up to some villas.  But not the villa we are looking for sadly.  We end up in the middle of someone's vinyard and I'm about to lose it.  Dan gets out of the car, regains his composure and we start driving again.  We get back to the end of SP14 and pull back into the warehouses to finally break down and cry.  It's at this point that I realize there is a road way in the back of this parking lot and it clicks...this is where the directions said to go but we got off course way back and came from an entirely different road which is why the directions made no sense!!!  We take the dirt road and find a tiny sign for Pian dell'Asso and pull in and there is a guy there and we are stoked.  We weren't exactly at the right place but he directed us next door to a gorgeous villa.  Our villa.  It should have taken us 2 hours, it took 4.

We pull up and get out of the car, excited to finally have made it and anxious to see the house.  There is a car there already and I figure it's someone to let us in but there isn't anyone.  So we walk around the house testing doors until we find one that opens and go in.  There is nobody.  Weird.  Anyway, we start to check the place out.  It's dark and a little scary frankly but we start to throw open shutters and when the light hits the rooms they are beautiful.  I open one door and see feet at the foot of the bed in the dark room.  It's Ryan and Carrie!  Zonked out.  So we left them alone to sleep and continued to explore.  Gradually people started trickling in and it was so amazing to realize that we were in Italy with some of the most special people in our lives and we were about to share our wedding day with them!  That night we ventured up to Montalcino to find some food and ate at the Grappa Blu restaurant and it did not disappoint.  My brother's kid was so tired that he literally fell asleep on the table.  We all felt his pain.  Then what?  Gelato of course!  Then back to the house to settle in for the night.

Tomorrow, tour of a lifetime with friends.