Tuscany (weekend with Andrea)

May 1st was a holiday here in Italy. It is worker's holiday, basically Labor Day, and since it fell on a Thursday this year the Italians have a ponte (bridge), meaning that Friday is also considered a holiday. So basically Italian's had a four day weekend and it was a time to travel. It was estimated that there would be 12 million more cars on the roads this weekend. Anyway, Andrea and I had the opportunity to go to Tuscany.

We stayed in an apartment of one of his friends, so everything was free and it was really nice. We left early Friday morning (because he had to study on Thursday) and took the scenic route (due to the GPS) to Tuscany. It took us about 6 hours, including about an hour for lunch. We had lunch at a small restaurant on the hill and it had a gorgeous view of the lake:

Then we arrived at the apartment, and rested for the afternoon.

It is a very nice place with a pool overlooking the hills of Tuscany:

..and olive trees outside our window:

That night we went to Pienza for dinner and drinks and to walk around a little before returning for the night.

Saturday, we spent the day laying out by the pool, and went someplace close for lunch. Andrea went swimming in the morning, but the pool was not heated and I had to look somewhat presentable for lunch so I waited until the afternoon. It was pretty cold but not too bad after like 5 minutes. Then in the afternoon we got ready to drive out to Montelcino, which is a really cute town up on a hill (of course) and we had dinner in a very cute local restaurant where the owner was the waitress and she forced me to try red wine because I was in Italy. This is our dinners:

Andrea got a giant Fiorentina steak and I had ravioli (among other things) that came in a very small dish compared to his. It was a very nice night and after dinner we walked around town for a little bit, before going back to the apartment to hang out with some friends for awhile.

Sunday, we got up and got all of our stuff together to head out to Monticchiello for lunch. We ate at another cute little place and the outside patio had some great views. We walked around that town after lunch and then went back to the center of Monepulciano, which is where we were staying but we had not yet gone into the center. We walked up the hills, had some gelato, sat at a cafe overlooking the great landscape (it had one private balcony table, which was occupied but it was still pretty cool).

me at La Porta in Monticchielo

us on the terrace of La Porta

view from Cafe balcony

sunset from Monepulciano

Then we got in the car and headed home to Montebelluna, only to be welcomed by a downpour of rain all night and the next day. However, today is beautiful and 73 degrees!! :)

It was a wonderful weekend and I wish every weekend could be like it. I am pretty lucky though because the next few weekends are pretty exciting. Yvonne comes in less than two days, and we are going to Dublin, Ireland this weekend. Then next weekend we will be going to Venice together until she leaves. The next weekend I am taking Andrea to Lake Garda for his birthday. It is a very exciting next few weeks :)