Under the Tuscan sun

May 28-31, 2007

Our return to Italy began with a hot stinky night in a dodgy hotel in Rome next to the central train station. We were given cold spaghetti with uncooked meat for dinner, which went straight into the bin (we ate unbelievable Italian pizza instead) and we were staying in an apartment building/hotel room next door to a menagerie owned by a big smelly lady. She let of such a stench the manager of the hotel/apartment building kept a bottle of air freshener in the fridge to spray the lift if you ever had to use it after she did.
The next day it was off to beautiful region of Tuscany on the train. We based ourselves in Florence for 3 days and despite a bit of rain on the first day, it lived up to its reputation as the most beautiful city in the world.

On day 1 we concentrated our efforts on seeing most of the city by foot, including the inside of some amazing churches, pizzerias and gelaterias.

We also began the search for the 'elusive leather couch,' rumoured to have been the biggest leather couch in the world, perched on top of a hill with a great view of the city and a perfect place for a picnic or to crack a few coldies. Shame that Davo's sister, Janelle, is the only one in the world who has heard of the above mentioned couch. Nobody in Florence at the time, tourists or locals had heard of the big couch.

Day 2 involved a bike tour around the Tuscan country-side. With a small group of Yanks, Canadians and a Scottish tour guide, we visited an ancient castle owned by a family of an old count, which is now a base for making one of Italy's best olive oils and some brilliant wine. We were given a taste and obviously an opportunity to buy some of the brilliant produce.

The weather turned it on for us as we rode past vineyards and olive groves. We ate a beautiful Italian lunch, drunk too much red wine, then jumped back on the bikes in the afternoon. Fi had a friendly run in with a bush moments later. Very funny!

Check them out at http://www.tuscany-biketours.com/ if you're interested. Well worth the time and money if you're ever in Florence.

Day 3, began with a look at Michaelangelo's David after queuing for ages. It was good!? Afterwards our fruitless search for the big couch resumed with some new information from Janelle. Despite the fact that we still did not finding the couch, we found a very nice spot for a picnic where we sat and enjoyed the views, the cheese, the foccacia, the fresh market fruit and vegies and of course the red wine. This spot, we found out later, was apparently where the couch used to be!

After our bike tour the day before, we drove past Piazza Michelangelo, a park on the big hill overlooking Florence. A big stage was being set-up and the tour guide advised us that Muse were playing there the following night and that we could still get tickets if we wanted a couple. So our lazy afternoon continued as we moved to the top of the hill in Piazza Michelangelo where we had an amazing view of the city as well as a view of the top half of the stage and in perfect earshot of the concert. We had bought tickets the day before - after the bike tour, which were a well priced 30 euros compared to 45 pounds for the same gig in London, but later thought, 'we don't actually need these'. So we were lucky enough to flog them to some die hard fans. We sat, drank more wine, watched the sun set over Florence and saw the top half of a Muse concert! Brilliant!