Keeping up with the Neighbors

In our welcome packet at the villa there was, as you can imagine, plenty of information about wine tastings and local vineyards. There was also a very interesting piece of news about one of our neighbors. Apparently, the guy up the street makes his own wine and will sell it to you for 4 euro with his own label, and 2 euro if we dont care about it having his label. And that this was a very cheap way to drink a lot of local Italian wine. Which of course, we intended to do.

One day we drove past the house and saw this lovely woman leaning in the window. She was amazing and I couldn't stop taking her picture. Even made Geoff back up so we could drive by and I could take more. Well, she caught us taking pictures, so Geoff very quickly turned it into us being interested in the wine. The lady of the house (not her friend whose picture I couldn't stop taking) said that yes, this was indeed the place where we could buy wine but that they were all out, and only had enough for themselves. She asked how much we wanted and we said just a bottle to try and she told us to come back in 45 minutes when her partner would be in from the fields and she'd ask him. First of all...he had to come IN FROM THE FIELDS. Which was so rustic and Italian and old school and "Little House on the Prairie" only better, we could hardly stand it. So we headed home and came back at the appointed time.

When we arrived and walked up to the window, the family was sitting down at dinner in the kitchen. The lady recognized us and greeted us, explaining that she'd told her partner about us and apparently he'd said that if the wife or the girlfriend was really pretty, he'd give us the bottles for free, but he wanted to see me first. (Made me wish I'd done my hair and put on some makeup). So he came over to check me out. He was probably in his late 60s easly 70s, thin, white hair, suntanned face and wearing a thin white tshirt and cut off demin shorts. I loved the look of him instantly. He took one look at us and started talking very quickly in Italian to the woman. Apparently he said Geoff was so handsome that was enough to get us the wine for free. Whew! Thank God for my gorgeous husband! Really takes the pressure off a girl. They asked if we wanted red or white and we said we'd love to try one of each if they could spare them. They did and we thanked them profusely and told them we were on our luna de miele (honeymoon). At that, the woman shared the news with her partner and promptly pushed another huge bottle of red wine into our hands and with a very knowing look told us to really enjoy ourselves.

It was by far one of the most memorable and just....really Italian-feeling moments of our trip. That and when another couple in the neighboorhood stopped us on our way back from the bakery one morning. They just stopped us to chat, even though they barely spoke any English at all. We had about a five minute conversation with them, even though neither of us really spoke the other's language. I think we talked about the weather and we told them we were on our honeymoon and they (we think) asked where we were from. It was completely lovely even though I mostly have no idea what they said. Another favorite Italian moment was when the guy at the gas station asked if we were on vacation, and we said, "si - la luna de miele" and he got very excited for us and wished us "multi figlio"- many sons. Please. Does it get better than that?

Anyway, back to the neighbors wine. We promptly went home and cooked ourselves some dinner at the villa. Geoff made a very impressive Caprese salad.


Geoff's reaction to just how good it was...

We had pasta bolognese and tried the neighbor's wine. This is my reaction.


We think maybe it had gone bad. We tried all three bottles, just in case it was a fluke thing. But all three were pretty bad. The only bad wine in all of Italy, I believe. But a great story.

Our favorite locals - Part 1

There were so many awesome people to take pictures of in Italy. Besides the amazing history and countryside, it was awesome to take pictures of the locals. It was maybe one of my favorite things to do.

You've seen some of them already....our waiter in Venice, the old couple on the bench in Bellagio, the lady at the bus station in Pisa. here are some more of our favorites. Furry, or otherwise....

This couple may well take the cake. There was a lot of looking out the window that happened in in Italy. We spied these two in Pisa...


This guy seemed to live on this bench outside a winery in Montespertoli just five minutes from our villa where we bought several bottles of wine and some lovely olive oil on our first full day there. I loved him.


I loved this couple at a cafe in Venice - they were making out long enough for me to take their picture several times.


This was in Lucca. This is the walkway across what used to be the moat around the city, I assume. Now it's all grass. Love this man in his suit. What amazed me most is that Italians walk around in three piece suits in the crazy heat and never seem to break a sweat. How do they make them that way? I don't get it.


Venice. Is it clear yet that I have a thing for older Italian men? I'd love to join these four for a cappuccino.


Possibly almost the same group of guys, but at the overlook in Monteione.


I mean, please. This was Montepulciano. On possibly the hottest day ever. And there he is, in his suit. Really enjoying some chocolate ice cream. And I'm really enjoying him.


A mom in Montalcino on her cell phone, tending to her baby in the stroller. Moms have to multitask in every country.


A leather vendor at an open air market in Florence.


More to come. We haven't even scratched the surface...

Walls and Towers

One of our first outings in Tuscany was to Lucca, about an hour away from our Villa. We weren't planning to go there, but changed our mind after a very persuasive discussion I had with Geoff's friend Tim on the dance floor at our wedding. I wasn't sure how much of the enthusiasm in his argument was because Lucca was just that awesome and how much was coming from the beer in his hand. Could have easily been either cause Lucca really was super cool.

Lucca is known best for the the walls around the old town remaining completely intact - unusual for cities in the region. As the walls lost their military importance, they became a pedestrian promenade which encircled the old town, so there is this awesome road around the top of the walls, looking down on the whole old city.

We got there and found a restaurant for lunch - Lucca is also where the composer Giacomo Puccini (Madame Butterfly & La Boheme) was born - and our restaurant had a bit of a Puccini theme. And they brought out bread in cute little galvanized buckets, kind of like what our wedding favors were supposed to be in (potted basil, which represents love), until they were destroyed by the multiple thunderstorms. But that's another story.


After lunch we rented bikes and rode all around the city. Which was awesome. I felt very much like I was on an Italian honeymoon (which of course I was), but in the 1950s. We look lots of pictures.


I liked the bread in the window...

In one of the town's largest piazzas

Down a side street

Yet another side street - i like the bug.

Mrs. Boka & her bike

Riding around the tree covered road along the top of the walls of the city was a moment I will never forget. So amazing.


Since Pisa was close by, we popped over there for dinner. Like you do. Everyone had said that the Leaning tower of Pisa was kinda boring, but we actually thought it was really cool. And we got there when the light was awesome.

A building right next to the place we had dinner.

Another building that looked awesome in the light.

Magic hour. The tower is out of the frame, but directly to the right of this shot.

I loved this lady, checking the bus schedule

A budding photographer...

The tower itself...



As you can perhaps tell, we were pretty worn out by the time this shot was taken. It had been a full day - first Lucca, then PIsa...and even with a trip to the beach at Viareggio in between that I didn't even mention (maybe cause it was a little Atlantic City-ish and I got hot and cranky so we left pretty quickly). I was pooped. But what an AWESOME day.