Saturday, July 11th

Yesterday was quite an interesting day to say the least. We woke early as it was our last day in Florence until the following week. We had several things that we wanted to do. Our little hotel was absolutely charming and we were sad to be leaving it. It was an old residence and we had the best room in the entire hotel. From one side, the windows and balcony overlooked the square and out the other side was the Duomo. It doesn't get any better than that!!!

After our breakfast we headed out on the Renaissance trail to view several points in Florence. Old churches, the Medici trail, etc. We ended up at the Ponte Vecchio. For many years that is something that I've wanted to photograph. I was in awe of it and just couldn't get enough!!!!! Along the Ponte were gold shops one after the other. Florence is known for it's leather and gold. I think before I head back to the states, I will have to purchase a beautiful gold chain.

We found a charming little restaurant that had the most wonderful pizza (imagine that) the night before so we headed back to the same place for lunch. After a great lunch with wine (of course) we headed back to get checked out of the hotel sadly. They were generous enough to allow us to keep our luggage in the lobby as we weren't leaving for the rental car agency until about 4:00. We were supposed to arrive in Tuscany between 4:00-8:00 and figured that would allow us plenty of time to get there.

We decided to wander around the Open Market----big mistake!!!! Oh my gosh--all the goodies we found and we're already griping about our luggage. Here begins the excitement for the day. Taking a taxi to the rental car agency downtown Florence, we arrive and I'm the last one checking in to pick up the car. All taken care of, they hand me the keys and point to the car. We load ALL of our luggage and literally have to pack things in around Beth in the back seat. Holly gets car sick so she has to ride in the front. I really need Beth in the front so she can navigate but not going to happen, haha! We're all "tucked" into the car and I start it up. It's a 5 speed Fiat, supposedly brand new. I try to get the car into reverse and I keep going forward. Keep in mind, I have about 12" before I hit the brick wall in front of me. Not happening--finally I get frustrated and ask an Italian gentleman walking by if he speaks English. He doesn't and I somehow make it clear what I'm wanting to do. He gets into the car and shows me how to lift up on the gear shift and get it into reverse. I at this point feel like a totally blonde idiot!! The adventure begins!!!! Getting out of Florence on streets that is supposed to be 3 lanes but they make it 6 has already stressed me out. I miss the turn-off and of course have to go around the round-about a second time. We're off and on our way. It's about a 60K trip to our destination. In a Fiat!!!!! As we're going up a mountain road, the car is getting slower and slower and we begin to smell something. I liken it to it's just a diesel car. However, black smoke is coming out of the rear and white smoke out of the front!! I get to somewhere that I can pull off the road and man is it ever smoking in the front and stinks like crazy. Oh hell--what to do now. Of course I'm standing outside the car, in a bright orange dress and on a cell phone. Thank God for cell phones!!!!! I try to contact Barbara who is the manager at the cooking school and Beth is trying to get in touch with the rental car place. Let me back up a bit. At this time, there is a little old Italian lady coming out of a path from down below. She speaks absolutely NO english but I'm able to convey to her what is going on. It was quite a scene let me tell you. Looking back on it, it's something that should have been posted on YouTube!!! Yippee, the rental car agency is sending a truck to help us. About 40 minutes later, a truck arrives, the driver knows about 30 words in english, and we figure out what we're going to do. He has to load the car on the truck, take us 10K BACK down the mountain, drop us off where a taxi will pick us up and take us BACK to Florence to the airport this time to pick up another car. All the while learning that we have to pay the taxi driver and the rental car agency will reimburse us. I'm thinking to myself at this point that I'll probably never see that money. It costs us 90 Euros to get back to Florence. By this time, we've already missed our expected arrival at Casa Umbuto AND our specially prepared dinner by our chef Laura. Oh I'm pissed!!!!!!!! Once at the airport, I'm totally amazed that they immediately give me my 90 Euros back, in CASH, and after some paperwork, they hand me the keys and point in the direction where the car is parked. By this time, I'm a nervous wreck being the driver but that quickly fades when I get to the car and see that this time it's an Alpha Romeo!!! Things are looking up for us!!! Much more space for our luggage too. Off we go. Onto the Autoban (oh my gosh) and people wizzing by me but that's okay. I don't even make a wrong turn this time. Life is good!!! Once we get off the Autoban, we have to go through a few small towns to arrive to our destination. As I approach where I had to pull over the first time, I begin to get very nervous fearing that it will happen again. No way--I pass right by it. We're going to make it this time. Our wonderful iPhones told us it was 29K to our destination. What it didn't say was that it was up a mountain and the roads were like crooked "s"s. Literally. Holly, remember, gets car sick so she's sighing the whole way up which I didn't say anything but stressed me out even more. I felt sorry for her but it didn't help my stress level any. Beth is in the back seat being the navigator and I might add I'm soooooooo thankful that she's doing that!! Thank you Beth for navigating!!!!!!!! Now the fun begins--the village

of Poppi little did we know is actually beyond the Ponte de Poppi. Our directions tell us to go to the second square and turn right. By this time, it's 10:00PM and DARK. How the heck can we tell it's the second square. After several u-turns and several round abouts, we finally find where we are to turn. We are going to make it after all. Whoops. Once we get up a little ways, our directions tell us to follow the signs. It DOESN'T say that the signs are wooden markers nailed up on trees and it's so dark we can't see any of them. Another adventure begins. We are in the middle of nowhere, following a gravel road with absolutely no signs, and beginning to feel quite lost at this point and can't even tell anyone where we are. We call Barbara. Come to find out, we've gone down the WRONG gravel road and literally no place to turn around. Beth gets out of the car and guides me BACK down the road to where the "Y' in the road is. It's dark, I'm back up in a standard Alpha Romeo, and I'm scared. Yeah, we made it!!!!!!! Holly is absolutely no help at all because she can't help guide nor can she go backwards. I finally ask her if she wants to get out of the car and walk down. Yep, she does. Poor thing--it would be awful to get that sick by some of those things! We made it and both jump back into the car. We're going to make it. I finally see the lights of the gate at the Villa and we arrive and Barbara is standing outside to greet us. We all hug and enter the kitchen where our cooking school is held with a beautiful dining room. Everyone is still sitting at the dining table drinking wine and when we enter they clap for us. Our chef comes out and introduces herself in her beautiful Italian accent. Her name is Laura and she's absolutely charming. Our 3 Course dinner is now being served. To begin with, we have squash blossoms stuffed with ricotta cheese and drizzled with olive oil. I'm in heaven. It's wonderful. Little cherry tomatoes with fresh mozzarella and basil on the top drizzled in olive oil. Yum. Did I mention wine??? Free flowing wine--I'm in heaven. White and red. Our dinner is slices of steak very rare and roasted potatoes roasted in olive oil. Dessert is a tiramisu and the best I have ever eaten. By now, we are the only ones still in the dining room and it's 11:30. Laura our chef is sitting with us and carrying on a conversation. We feel so special. It is time to be shown to our rooms and boy what a surprise we get when we walk into a room that is about 2500sq ft and it's ALL ours. Three separate bedrooms, bathrooms, a HUGE kitchen all furnished with beautiful old furniture, and a living room with the most incredible fireplace I've ever seen. I'll upload photos of that tonight but I wanted to get caught up before I feel so far behind that I would forget details. Each room has a king size bed and windows that you can open and let the wonderul Tuscany air in. I slept better than I ever have before. The only problem is, I am so excited to be here I can't go to sleep. I start looking at the photos I took in the morning and am stunned at them. So much for now--I hope you enjoy the photos. More to come either tonight or tomorrow. This place is amazing and I'm not sure I want to go home. Thank you very much to all of our families that are allowing this amazing experience to take place. Ciao---------