Florence - At the Uffizi

On Saturday we drove to Florence. On Sunday ten of the Villa Madellena residents met up for a tour of the Uffizi Museum.  Our wonderful guide Allessia Rossini introduced us to the highlights of the this incredible museum for three hours.  We took a lunch break and spent more time.  What an amazing day. Here's some of what we saw.

One of my favorite moments happened when a woman behind me put her selfie stick around me so she could take a snap shot of the painting I was trying to see.

Do I sound a little crabby?  Well, Taylor is the nice person in this marriage and he has a different view of this photo shooting behavior.  He thinks it's a positive thing that these people with their cameras are at the museum instead of on their couches watching hockey. I suppose that's another way of looking at it.

Grande Finale with Tuscan Chefs

All of us at Villa Madellena love  Tuscan food.  Why not invite a local chef to come teach us how to cook for our last night together?  Five of us signed on to produce dinner for the entire group.  Eleanora and her assistant Consuella came to the villa at 4:30 and we were off and cooking.

• Panzanella
• Lemon ricotta tortelli with spinach and speck
• Pork tenderloin wrapped in bacon and puff pastry
• Marscapone mousse with homemade caramel sauce and hazelnuts

Margit, Bruce, Jamar and Sue getting ready to make tortelli (think large tortellini).

Our final feast at Villa Madellena.  This was the only dinner we ate indoors. I think we sat down around 8 pm.  Eleanora and Consuella served dinner and cleaned up.  Now that's the way to cook.

I was too busy to take photos of the food, but I thought it essential to take time to take pictures of the diners.  Most of us came to Villa Madellena as strangers, but I think we all agree that we left as friends.

Richard

Kevin

Richard and Kevin came to Montisi from Florida and they will be heading to London to binge watch plays when they leave the villa.

 

Sue and Larry come from Seattle. After leaving the villa, they are going on a Rick Steves tour of Greece.

Margit, from the Portland area, will be travelling with us to Florence and Venice.

Ted joined us at Montisi after cruising in the Mediterranean.  He lives in both Seattle and Palm Springs.

Laura heads back home to Seattle after leaving the villa.

You may have noticed that Taylor and I are missing from the photos.  This is because I was taking the photos and Taylor was upstairs in bed with the traveler's grippe.  He missed a fabulous dinner.

Finally, the master minds of our fabulous week:

John

Bruce

If John hadn't worked with Marcia, the owner of Chateau Madellena, years ago, we wouldn't have had the opportunity to come here.  Also, these two geniuses masterminded the selection of the group and most of our activities. Fortunately for them, they are heading off on a Rick Steves tour of Prague and Budapest when they are done with us. Thank you John and Bruce.

During our week at Montisi we have taken day trips to other hill towns.  Since we either pack ourselves into two small cars, or pack ourselves into a van with a driver we are getting to know one another.  The last two days I sat next to Richard, who is from Florida.  On our second day of nonstop talking, he suddenly asked me if I knew who Pink Martini is.  Do I know?  Naturally.  It turns out that Richard, and his partner Kevin, are huge Pink Martini fans and have been to concerts in various parts of the world.

This brought on our own private Pink Martini sing a long in the kitchen after dinner.

Ted and I know all the words.  Laura, from Seattle, is a newbie.  I wonder if our off key singing and general enthusiasm have caused her conversion?

Under the Tuscan Sun

We have been in Montisi, at Villa Madellena, since Saturday.  It's time to slow down a bit and enjoy the Tuscan sun.  But first we go to the local market in Sinalunga.

Ten of the eleven of us fold ourselves back into the two cars at 7:30 am and drive to Sinalunga which is about 10 miles away.  We scored!

Food for lunch and dinner.

I got these table cloths for 10E each!

Margit and I got new clothes.  Margit also got the red necklace.  My linen dress has polka dots.

When we got back to the villa at 10:30 a.m. we each found our own niche.

The social people ate together.

John liked his peace and quiet in the breakfast room.

Taylor read the New York Times in a shady garden alcove.

Jamar worked on her blog.

Ted totally knows how to relax.

A perfect day in Tuscany.

Volterra I

We left Lucca and drove to Volterra. 

The drive was fine, once we got out of Lucca. This is notable because we picked up the rental car outside the city walls. Non residents are not allowed within the city walls. However, when I told Taylor to follow the gray car onto the roundabout,  he followed a different grey car into the town walls. Well, it's not that easy to get out of Lucca, once you drive in.  It is a maze of very narrow one way streets.  We drove multiple times through the same streets trying to get out, all the time squeezing through streets lined with stone buildings.  Thanks to Taylor's skilled driving, Jamar's navigational skill using Google Maps, and common sense, we finally made it out of Lucca and then enjoyed an easy drive to Volterra.

Volterra is an Etruscan hilltown, completely surrounded by walls.  We had reservations at a former convent, Chiostro delle Monashe, which is outside the city walls.  We all looked forward to a peaceful stay with the nuns. Our convent is a 20 minute walk, uphill, to Volterra.

View from my nun cell.

Taylor and I, and John and Bruce each had a cell on the inside of the convent.  We were all facing the cloisters.  We arrived on a blistering hot day and our rooms were cooking.  We each had one small window.  None of us had air conditioning.

Margit, on the other hand, had a single nun cell facing the country side.  I think her room was the same size as our double rooms, but she had one bed and 4 windows.  Her room was cool, breezy and filled with Tuscan light.  She had the room with a view.

Margit could see Volterra in the distance.

Margit's room with a view.

I have to add, that Margit totally deserved her lovely nun cell.  She had spent several nights in both Rome and in Lucca, in rooms with nonfunctional AC.  She really needed a few good nights of sleep in a little luxury, such as living in a nun cell can be called luxury.

Frescoes in the breakfast room.

Breakfast room.

The cloister, where we ate breakfast, or sipped wine in the evening.

We moved into the nunnery, now it's time to explore Volterra.

Monteriggioni

This morning we left our nunnery, Chiostro delle Monache in Volterra, to drive to Villa Madalena in Montisi.  Since John and Bruce have previous experience driving in Italy we were glad to let them lead our two car caravan.  We were approaching the small hill town of Monteriggioni where we planned to have a rest stop when........................

this hay truck got between our car and John's.  Would we be able to follow John to Monteriggioni, or would we become lost in Tuscany?

Fortunately, thanks to Google Maps, we were able to navigate without proper visibility, and eventually caught up with John and made it to our destination.

Monteriggioni is a very small hill town, complete with wall and towers.  It is a great example of a 13th century town, built to defend Sienna's southern border from Florence.  It was also a safe stop for pilgrims making the trip from Canterbury to Rome.

Outside the walls.

Inside the walls.

Modern day pilgrims.

The Ladies of Lucca

Evening chitchat on a warm summer evening in Lucca.