Tuscany Part 2

so..instead of driving to rome on friday

we changed our plans

and drove deep into the heart of tuscany..

the chianti region.

steve and i fell in love with this 

part of italy.

we decided that we want

to buy an old farmhouse here

and grow olives.

doesn't everyone when they come here?

we got a great recommendation

from steve's sister who had

stayed here a few years back.

she told us about

Villa Vignamaggio.

Lucky for us there 

was availability since we were

traveling during the off season.

we stayed in one of the apartments..

plenty of space for all of us.

(iphone photos..)

kids watching the only american tv station..cnn.

loved the loft and the exposed beams.

master with a fabulous view.

i re-read "A Room with a View"

while we stayed here.

saturday our plan was to drive the 45 minutes into florence.

however, during breakfast,

i ate something with pine nuts..

and i'm allergic to them.

i didn't have an epi-pen with me

and started having a severe reaction.

steve drove me down the hill to the doctor

and the pharmacy. 

after taking italy's version of benedryl..

i fell asleep for most of the afternoon.

steve took the 4 kids

all by himself to florence.

they had a wonderful time..

and even brought me back a book :)

i was sad to have missed florence..

but grateful for a day of rest and reading in bed :)

the next morning..sunday..

we drove about 45 minutes south to sienna.

i LOVED sienna.

and steve said he preferred it to florence.

i didn't take many pictures here.

we had a fabulous lunch 

and did a lot of shopping! 

sienna is a beautiful city.

looking down onto the square in sienna.

monday morning

steve woke before all of us and 

walked around the villa to take 

some pictures.

looking up at the main villa.

looking down at the farmhouse

we stayed in.

villa vignamaggio was where the mona lisa grew up

and it's where the movie much ado about nothing was filmed.

they offer wine tours and tastings,

painting classes

and tuscan cooking classes.

steve and i hope to go back someday.

our trip to italy was fabulous!