Our tour guide, Christian, met us at 9:30 this morning for an 8 hour drive all over Tuscany. This has been my fovorite day so far in the trip. The coungtryside was just as I had pictured it, but better because we were really there. He took us to a butcher shop that has been in operation forever. (http://www.falorni.it/UK/uk_home.html ) To see the hams hanging from the ceiling was so cool. We went down into the cellar to see where they stored the cheese. Then he gave us a lesson on different types of Chianti and we got to sample that along with some cheese and meat. We ended up buying two bottles of Chianti there and also some cheese. The next stop was a winery where we tried some more samples and bought some sweet wine there, Vin Santo. ( http://www.felsina.it/eng/felsina/vinsanto.htm ) We got to see the cellars and the different varieties of barrels. From there we went to this little village, Volpaia, for lunch. We went to Paula's bar where I tried a "bread stew." Very good. Only maybe 50 people live there but they make their own wine, olive oil and also wine vinegar. The village had been fortified with a wall around it and a lot of the wall was still there. After we left that place, we toured two castles. You couldn't go inside but you could walk around the grounds. The second one still has the same family living in it. They've been there for 32 generations. I liked the second castle better. It had some really nice grounds, very pretty. Once we were finished there, it was time for Christian to drive us to the train station in Chiusi. The train would take us to Rome. That train was different because there were actually closed compartments of seats. I liked that. A man was waiting to take us to our hotel when we arrived and once we made it to our room, we never left it. (http://www.hotelbarberini.com/index_en.asp) That's the first time that happened but we really needed to rest. Ordered over-priced, over-rated room service food that night. This room is tiny, just enough space to walk around the bed, no tub and no view. It's fine but it's too bad this is the room we'll be in the longest. Not much walking today, mostly riding in the car and on the train.
7250 steps walked
2.878 miles
394.50 calories burned
1:01 hrs walked
**Note: We found out after we got home that the Hotel Barberini did not give us the type of room Italy Source had booked for us. We should have had a large room with a view. We didn't know so we never questioned it.
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