Under the Tuscan Sun (and Clouds)

It looks like I may finally be caught up with the posts! Our Hotel in Siena has wireless internet, and it's fast. My single post yesterday was at a cafe in Assisi and I was cut off after about 45 mintues.

Anyway, we started the day in Assisi, and since checkout was by 11, we had to wake up and see the Basilica before then. We were very close to the Basilica of St. Francis, so it was a short walk. When we got in, there was a Mass going on in the lower chapel. We think it may have been Korean, but we can't be sure. When we went down to the tomb of St. Francis, there was a Mass going on there as well. That one was in German. But we continued our walk throughout the basilica, enjoying all the frescoes and the choirs that seem to be singing everywhere. Even though many obnoxious tour groups (mostly italian ones) were taking pictures inside, I respected the wishes of the Franciscans to not take pictuers inside.



We left Assisi and headed west towards Tuscany, and it's hill towns. The first stop was Montepulciano. As we entered the main square, there was, quite honestly, a very ugly building on one side. It turns out this is the Duomo. Once the inside was finished, they never spent the money to finish the outside, so it was never completed. We sampled some of the local Montepulciano wine from a local wine producer. Lunch was in an awesome little local restaurant, where they made thier own pasta and wrote the bill on the placemat. It was packed to the gills.

We drove on along a very scenic road through Tuscany. We passed through Pienza and stumble across a very picturesque cluster of cypress trees, and pulled over to take pictures. We weren't the only ones there, but it was so perfect, we had to stop. As we pulled into Montalcino, it was Thundering like crazy, but they rain only fell while we were inside sipping some Montalcino Brunello, in the shop of the man who invented it back in 1955.

Of course, the weather didn't hold off forver. As we pulled into Siena, it not lony started to rain, but to hail too - large, nickel-sized hail. It was so bad that once we parked, we sat in the car until it passed.



Tonight we sat in a laundromat for 75 minutes, and then got some dinner on the main Piazza of Siena. The local neighborhood is celebrating last year's win in the Palio race last year, so it's been loud all night, with some interesting demonstrations. It's after midnight and they are still singing and cheering loudly - hope it stops soon.

Buona Sera!