We didn't set an alarm today and did our best to sleep in and still have time to make breakfast before 10. Up at 8 and then again at 9 I finally told Guy to head to breakfast without me and just bring me some coffee and I'd have the left over muffin from the AutoGrille. That allowed me a more leisure morning and a chance to enjoy our fabulous view of the square from Room #12 at the Leon. I started getting ready and he came back with not only coffee, but a plate of pastries, which I gobbled up immediately! While I finished getting ready, Guy headed out to see if any banks are open. We aren't really ATM users, but we may have to try it since banks are closed on Saturday and Sunday. Our past two hotels wouldn't change for us...
So, it is about 10:30am and we are getting ready to leave the best gelato in Italy. So what do I do? Buy espresso flavored gelato! That makes sense, right? So I went down and did mix it with a bit of chocolate, tho. I couldn't finish it all because I had just had breakfast, but did my best and sat it in my coffee cup to make it a legitimate breakfast food. Breakfast of champions I'm thinking. It was a great way to start the day in such a cool town. As we were leaving and heading for Cortona, views of San Gimignano in the distance are just spectacular with all the towers. It's really pretty magical.
The day is hazy and it isn't really the best photo op day, but with the curvy swirvy roads it also made it hard to pull over to get good shots. So trust me when I say it was a spectacular ride through the Tuscan hills and the scenery is just as you would imagine. Tall skinny trees lining long curving drives that lead up to the most gorgeous pale yellow stone villas surrounded by olive gardens and vineyards. Like a movie. Like heaven. All kept neatly in my mind to recall anytime I want. Pictures would have been nice, too. :)
Note: this section is added on 6/26. I totally forgot to talk about Volterra! After San G we first went to Volterra. One of our happy accidents we came across several years ago. I wanted to go there because Twilight was filmed there, but actually it was not, it was filmed in Montepulciano. But people in the area said it was still a nice town for a visit. Indeed it was, and that is why we've been back twice since! It has a medieval feel with the narrow streets dotted with alabaster shops. Jewelry galore and the prices aren't so bad that you can't buy several items. So as we headed up, the parking lots were full. We took a chance and went straight for the best parking lot at the very top. Success! One tiny spot under a shade tree awaited us. As we shopped we heard quite a noise coming from the piazza so we went to have a look. There were middle school teens dressed up in costume and they were having a flag competition (hence the flag photos from that day). The boys worked the flags and mostly girls were on the drums, keeping the beat to their routines. We sat in the bleachers and watched. The kids were so serious. One group was elated when they finished. No flags were dropped. They hugged each other and their parents hugged them. Then the next group had several obvious mistakes. Their faces were SO SAD and they still hugged each other, but in a differently way of support and solidarity. This was a great surprise to see even tho we didn't know exactly the history behind the performance, we are pretty sure there must have been! So after our break from watching the kids, we shopped (sadly the main reason we went there was to visit my favorite alabaster jewelry store ... and it had closed only 5 minutes before we walked up and would not reopen for two more hours!) So I shopped many other stores and picked up a few trinkets. We wondered around for a place to have lunch but ended up getting a pizza togo and two cokes. We sat in our parking spot in the car and had a picnic. The pizza wasn't cut, which is not unusual, but we forgot to ask them to cut it. So we tore off pieces with a napkin and it worked out fine!
After about an hour through the curves and hills, we hit the autostrada and made better time towards Cortona. For some reason the GPS on our phones would not work, even with our TEP portable wifi, but lucky for us, our British GPS gal that came with the car talked us in. We had to apologize to her as she was driving us crazy a few days ago, but she must have forgiven us because she did a lovey job getting us to our next home away from home. The Borgo il Melone. We stayed here in 2013 and it has really changed! They went from about 15 rooms to over 40 and guess what...they took out their laundry! We had planned our clothes for the trip around a mid vacation wash session. Gah! What now? Yep, they'll send it out for us, but at what cost!?! Oh well. Better than spending hours at a laundry mat in town I suppose. However, our room is nice and big with lots of cold air conditioning. We'll sleep like babies tonight.
We freshened up and chatted with the California crew and agreed to meet in the Piazza Republica in about 30 minutes. We headed for the old hilltop town of Cortona (we are just below it in the lower part of the town). Parking took a bit, but our spot wasn't really bad at all. We met up with the family and got lots of great hugs. We hadn't seen Bart and his family for a couple of years and the kids are so grown, but Bart and Joy look terrific. We sat in the shade and tried some local wine while we visited for well over an hour. After the kids came back we ventured up to a restaurant that Guy and I had eaten at before and the tables outside were for reservations only, so we went inside and enjoyed the cool air. We all had appetizers and entrees that were tasty with an extra lovely presentation. Dessert was a must and my tiramisu was creamy and light. Which is good because Guy doesn't like coffee and I was stuffed, but I managed to gobble up every bite.
After dinner we walked around the town just a bit and went to the side of Cortona that overlooked the valley. It was totally dark, but the lights from the surrounding towns twinkled and there was even a brief showing of fireworks in the distance. We said it was for Bart and Joy's anniversary, as it was today. My dad married them over 20 years ago in beautiful Yosemite park. An event that Guy and I still to this day regret missing. One of our biggest life regrets actually. So we hugged good night and headed back for home. They are about 25 minutes from us, so we are looking forward to tomorrow as we venture to their villa they are renting and will be taking a cooking class. Apparently their kitchen is a bit smaller than they had anticipated, and they don't have air conditioning, so we'll dress for warm temps and take our swim suits along as they say the pool is quite nice.
Forgive the typos as it is 1:30am and pretty much all of me is exhausted.
Ciao from Cortona.
No comments:
Post a Comment