Italy: Tuscany

Weeeee this trip was a good one! Sienna sums it up well with this shot: jump into the pool with your clothes on and then stay in the pool the rest of the day. Just because you can.

It's been Adam's hope for awhile that someday he could return to Italy and stay put in the Tuscan countryside for awhile. You know ... relax. He spent his mission in Italy and served as tour guide on many trips afterward with his friends and family. He loved all of that, but just once he wanted to sit and stay and soak up Tuscany and go cycling all over its winding roads.

 I'd say we did a pretty good job of it on this trip. We rented a beautiful villa on a hilltop in Loro Ciuffenna and stayed there all week. 

 We had simple breakfasts and picnic lunches at home for most days, and then we ventured out to see a few sites otherwise. 

 We played with the cat and dog on the premises.

 We were delighted to have Adam's parents join us for the trip. Grandma Diane and Sienna had piano lessons everyday outside. Diane brought a roll-up piano ($40, Amazon) and it was a pretty great little stand in for the real thing!

Grandpa Dragon's antics wear out the most energetic of little boys. 

Sienna was pure fish and happiest in the water.

 We had the villa and pool all to ourselves. Adam's parents had the downstairs apartment and we had the upstairs apartment. The owner lives on the property and she made us focaccia with tomatoes one day. Heavenly! We ate the whole pan. Focaccia is one of my favorite breads, but I've never tried it with tomatoes!

When the kids weren't rushing out the door first thing in the morning to play with the owner's dog, they were hanging out talking about Pokemon and Junie B. Jones.

 Yes, I took a lot of shots from my upstairs window. #creeper

It was hot and dry and the landscape reflects that, but of course these pictures don't do the view justice. It was a heavenly spot.

One afternoon we went to a nearby restaurant, Osteria I'Casolare, for a long lunch. It was really long, really hot, and really delicious.

 Beef tenderloin with salsa verde.

Pasta with ragu and risotto with beets and capers.

Pici (fat spaghetti) and bolognese. This pici was at all the restaurants and we all loved it. I've never seen it in a grocery store. Which means Adam will just have to try this one from scratch.

Charcuterie, artichokes, crepes with cheese, quiche squares and other random yumminess.

AREZZO
The first day KC & Diane arrived, we went to dinner in Arezzo. They were very jet-lagged, but good sports.

 I am drawn to the less-than-perfect details of a city.

 Butter and sage on pappardelle. YUM.

 Walnut cream sauce on pappardelle. SO YUM.

 Greasy, cheesy, pizza margherita. Noah calls this PIZZA MACKERITA, always in caps, he's that excited to eat it every time.

Three kinds of pecorino cheese, three jams. The middle one was pistachio butter! What?! It was good.

SIENA

It's official. My favorite city in Italy is Siena. The duomo and the piazza are #1 in my book. I just love being there.

 We all went to Siena a couple days before the Palio to pick up the tickets for the race. There were time trials and other parades going on, so we got in on a little of that.

My favorite photo of the day: Sienna + Siena + Fanta = a winning combination!

 Polly and Bulbasaur got in on this picture.

 I couldn't pass up a chance to buy this Sienese specialty: ricciarelli cookies. Divine!!

 And to finish the day off right: more sugar that also keeps us cool. It was a hot day!

RIMINI

Our longest day trip of the week was Rimini. It was 2.5 hours both ways but totally worth it! Swimming in that warm Adriatic Sea on that hot, hot day was heaven. Do I keep using that word too much? After a mild, landlocked Luxembourg summer, it's a welcome break to feel that blazing sun burn your skin while salty water sprays your face and engulfs your body. Noah was feeling it! On the shore only, though. With a giant seashell of some sort.

 Super cute umbrellas everywhere ... sadly we were too late to secure one for oureselves.

 The chairs helped a bit with the shade thing.

 Lunch was interesting... This is Diane's vegi pizza with burrata cheese in the center.

 Mine was raw vegis dipped in spiced olive oil plus skewers of shrimp and squid on the side. A restaurant win for creativity.

GelatO'clock ALWAYS.

 

 On the way home we stopped for dinner at a small town's local pizza joint.

 Two big thumbs up for this hole in the wall. It's called Pizzeria Invito in Bagno di Romagna if you're ever in the area.

 We all agreed Diane's was the best - white sauce with meat. MMMMMMMM.

FLORENCE
We spent an afternoon in Firenze, my favorite Italian language name for a city whose English translation does not do justice to. That sentence was terrible.

Anyway, GelatO'Clock again. And slushies for the kids. They swore they'd never had one before. I was trying to tell them, "It's like a Slurpee." They're like, "What's a Slurpee?" They will be re-educated on this pronto upon returning to the states.

The hottest day of all ... we had some faces to make concerning it.

 I wonder who copied who on these these buildings - Siena or Florence?

  The black + white + pale pink combo on both duomos is my absolute favorite. GORGEOUS!!!

 Hanging out in the Piazza della Signoria in the shade. Ahhhh.

Hanging out at Ponte Vecchio.

 KC's friend from home recommended Mamma Gina for dinner and it was delicious. I forgot to take pictures! ACK! I had wild boar ragu with tagliatelle and the guys had veal chops the size of their heads and that's all I remember. All really delicious.

 On the way back to our cars, we ooooohed and ahhhhhed over this incredible chalk art.

ANGHIARI

On the drive home from Rimini, we happened upon this fortress town all lit up at night. We all wanted to know more. So we spent our last day exploring it. It's called Anghiari.

 We walked around, stopped for pizza, and walked around some more.

 Pizzeria Baldaccio was a big hit.

KC & Diane were celebrating 41 years of marriage this day.

 Every twist and turn all over town had my camera's attention.

 A cute blue car for a cute little dude.

Really fun to explore a city with no other tourists! 

Home again, home again, jiggity jig. Lovely green through Switzerland and 12 hours later, we were home. 

Italy: The Palio

Major bucket list item being checked off alert! But first, gelato.

Adam and his dad have had the Palio on their bucket list since 2001 when they stood on this piazza in Siena and talked about the race. I can't believe it all worked out .... and I can't believe I got to tag along! Eek. It was the coolest.

The Palio is a horse race that dates back to the 14th century. 

It happens twice a year in Siena's town square.

10 jockeys race bareback on 10 horses representing 10 neighborhoods in Siena.

It's the horse that wins, so if a rider falls off, the horse can continue the race.

The winner gets the palio, or flag, specially created for that race. And plenty of braggadocio to go with it.

The parade beforehand lasted several hours.

It was pure midieval pageantry with flag throwers, horses of various types, drums, trumpets, and oxen pulling a cart.

I was dying over the costumes alone!!!

These men were the tail end of the parade; they played trumpets that I assume announced it was time for the race to start.

They were the bearers of the Palio. You can see it from behind here. It's that narrow flag in the front.

Here's a panoramic shot of the arena. KC got tickets for the event well in advance and he had no choice of seats. In fact, he wasn't really even sure if the tickets were going to be legit until he picked them up. Alas, they were legit, and our location could not have been better. We were all pinching ourselves.  

NOW it's time to start the race. As excited as we were, a hush fell through the crowd and fellow spectators were shushing each other. It got eerily silent. We didn't really know what was going on until we heard numbers being called. The announcers were choosing the lineup of the horses.

There's one horse that gets to stay behind. That's the starting horse. When everyone is lined up, which takes awhile because everyone is so jittery, and oftentimes they have to come out of the roped area and try all over again, then the starting horse gallops past the others and that's the start of the race. On the bottom left of this shot you can see them all lined up and ready to go. I love all the spectators hanging out the windows. And that sea of people in the middle of the square was something!

I got it all on video. It was an exhilarating 3 laps!

Onda (wave) won and you can see the blue and white flag waving.

We were surrounded by Italians (and a few Seattleites and an English couple) and their reactions were intense. The winners were thrilled, all else were furious. The two Italian women behind me were screaming with rage. Aside from the race, it's my favorite part of my video, hearing them go crazy with disappointment. They were yelling at a woman in the crowd below, she was yelling right back at them. After the first lap, in the video you can see two jockeys crash into each other and fall off their horses. I tried to catch it on video, but I missed it: one of the jockeys smacked the other with his horse whip, he was so mad.

Following the race, it's tradition to hoist the winning jockey on shoulders and head to the cathedral to collect his reward: the Palio. We followed them there.

Inside there was singing and celebrating and I guess getting a blessing to boot? And here's the Palio, exiting the cathedral.

Can you see the little blue and white jockey winner?

What. A. Spectacle. Immediately after it was finished, Adam and his dad looked at each other and said, "This will not be our last Palio!"