Hi team! Keeping it short today I think. There is too much to write about, I cannot remember when I last wrote and I have just settled down on a seat in the sun (yes, the sun! I have not seen it for three days) and it seems the wifi doesn't quite reach my spot. So I've loaded my 'posting' page and am writing this here in my sunny spot, and then I'll move back to the wifi zone and post it. An error message keeps popping up every time it tries to save my post, so that's a bit annoying, but what can you do. I. do. not. want. to. move. out. of. the. sun!
I am currently in a very heavenly place called Villa Dianella. It's a very nice B&B in the north of Tuscany, and it is the first place where I absolutely LOVE the accommodation. Our suite (the sage suite) is not only very large (3 rooms - the bathroom is larger than the sitting room!), but also very nicely decorated and it has wifi, plus a beautiful view, and it also has complimentary biscuits, chocolate and tea in the common room. It has gorgeous gardens and it is overall just a very lovely place.
That doesn't mean our previous locations have not been nice, they have all been nice. I have to say my husband has chosen well. So far we've spent one night in a 'normal' hotel in Florence near the train station, two nights in a nice B&B in the Florentine hills, one night in the cute little medieval town of San Gimignano and two nights in Villa Barberino where we spent a while on our honeymoon.
However, I am sad to say, Villa Barberino was not as glorious as we remember it, which was mostly because of the weather. It was cold and wet the whole time we were there! The pool, which was too cold to use anyway, was being restored so we couldn't even take a picture of it, and though we booked a suite this time which was much nicer than our previous room, it was also at the far end of the property, which is fine when you stroll in the lovely sun, but if you need to get to your car in the pouring rain and it's a five minute walk it's not so pleasant. And the worst thing was the wifi. There was no internet in San Gimignano, which was fine, but another three days without internet when the weather is shit is really quite boring. I couldn't play Draw Something, I couldn't really blog, I couldn't read any other blogs, I couldn't check when the weather would improve, I couldn't do anything much. It's fine when you are told 'there is no wifi here', you accept that, you do something else. But when you are told 'there is free wifi here' and it DOESN'T WORK it is very frustrating! They had this annoying login thing where you were given a piece of paper with a login and a passcode, both of which were a sequence of 16 numbers, which you had to fill into a webpage and then it would give you 24 hours to use the web. If you wanted the countdown to stop, you had to log out. And you could only use one device per login. But even after logging out, it would simply not let you log back in and keep saying you were already logged in. I think I spent at least an hour each day trying to log back in and it never eventuated, and when reception no-speaka-di-english and are a five minute walk in the rain away you end up just giving up. Sigh.
Anyway, we did have fun when we went for a drive in the rain to a nearby castle called Castello di Brolio, where we did a really cool little tour of a tiny museum with armour and belongings of the family who have owned that castle since 1141. Yes, 1141! It was so super interesting, though it was very chilly walking around the grounds and gardens because the castle is located right on top of a hill (as happens often with castles) and the wind and rain were blowing a gale. But we enjoyed it. And then afterwards we visited a cute little town, also atop a hill (lots of hills here, as you can guess) called Volpaia where we had the most delicious and cheap bruschetta I have ever had, and some fresh OJ. Yum.
Food here is so delicious and really affordable, especially when compared to Provence or even Australia or Holland. We paid 12 euro for five big pieces bruschetta and two big glasses of OJ. And it was so tasty!
Anyway. San Gimignano is a favourite in our book, and it was awesome to stay there for the night, especially at the hotel where we had lunch last time on our honeymoon and awarded it the best dish of the trip back then and the view is also very stunning. So obviously we were keen to try it out for dinner this time. The food was great, the view was lovely (though the clouds were gathering) and the service amazing.
A funny thing happened at dessert time, I had ordered a moscato and when our waiter poured it, I thought I recognised the bottle from somewhere. As I started drinking it, I realised what it was, and that I love it, because it was the very first bottle of wine I had ever bought for myself on my 27th birthday! So I asked the waiter if I could please see the bottle so I could make a note of it and look for it on our tour of Italy. However, this specific waiter did-not-speaka-di-english-so-bueno and came back with a different moscato and another glass, poured it, and proceeded to pick up my old glass to take it away! Of course I made it immediately clear that NO! I LOVE THIS ONE! Confused, he gave me back my glass (phew) and let us keep the other one he poured and wandered of. Obviously he thought I did not like it and wanted another one! He never did bring us that bottle for me to look at, so after a while I drew the attention of another (younger) waiter who did speaka-di-english and told him what had happened, and if I could please see the bottle because I liked it so much. No problem, so he comes back with the moscato that the other waiter had poured to replace the original. No, sorry, wrong one, I want the one with the bird on the label? So back he comes, with the right bottle, and I take a picture of the label. Then this kind waiter says to me: 'Iffa you lika, I canne aske you canne buya di bottle fromme ouer stocka? Itta costa 15 euros?' So of course I said "YES PLEASE!" It was given to me after our meal, chilled and wrapped and ready to go. However, the weather wasn't right for Moscato on a terrace the last few days.
But here I am, sitting in a heavenly garden drinking that very Moscato. (It is from La Spinetta wines, by the way, Bricco Quaglia Moscato D'Asti. Super sweet and light, most of you would hate it!)
Anyway, adventures all around, pretty scenic drives everywhere, Tuscany being its gorgeous self, and the prospect of increasingly warmer weather is really not such a bad thing. Oh, and did I mention we have a 2012 Golf Cabrio (=convertible) as our rental car? Yah. It is amazing and sexy as!
I have to say, that our honeymoon three years ago in Tuscany was friggin' awesome. But this trip is even awesomer. I'm calling it our honeymoon 2.0. Fancier car, fancier accommodation, longer time to spend everywhere, a day and night in Monaco (Ashley has brought his James Bond suit & shoes for the occasion...) and we are more in love than ever. So I am going to give up the blogging and get ready for another lovely (no doubt) meal.
Arrivederci!
I am currently in a very heavenly place called Villa Dianella. It's a very nice B&B in the north of Tuscany, and it is the first place where I absolutely LOVE the accommodation. Our suite (the sage suite) is not only very large (3 rooms - the bathroom is larger than the sitting room!), but also very nicely decorated and it has wifi, plus a beautiful view, and it also has complimentary biscuits, chocolate and tea in the common room. It has gorgeous gardens and it is overall just a very lovely place.
That doesn't mean our previous locations have not been nice, they have all been nice. I have to say my husband has chosen well. So far we've spent one night in a 'normal' hotel in Florence near the train station, two nights in a nice B&B in the Florentine hills, one night in the cute little medieval town of San Gimignano and two nights in Villa Barberino where we spent a while on our honeymoon.
However, I am sad to say, Villa Barberino was not as glorious as we remember it, which was mostly because of the weather. It was cold and wet the whole time we were there! The pool, which was too cold to use anyway, was being restored so we couldn't even take a picture of it, and though we booked a suite this time which was much nicer than our previous room, it was also at the far end of the property, which is fine when you stroll in the lovely sun, but if you need to get to your car in the pouring rain and it's a five minute walk it's not so pleasant. And the worst thing was the wifi. There was no internet in San Gimignano, which was fine, but another three days without internet when the weather is shit is really quite boring. I couldn't play Draw Something, I couldn't really blog, I couldn't read any other blogs, I couldn't check when the weather would improve, I couldn't do anything much. It's fine when you are told 'there is no wifi here', you accept that, you do something else. But when you are told 'there is free wifi here' and it DOESN'T WORK it is very frustrating! They had this annoying login thing where you were given a piece of paper with a login and a passcode, both of which were a sequence of 16 numbers, which you had to fill into a webpage and then it would give you 24 hours to use the web. If you wanted the countdown to stop, you had to log out. And you could only use one device per login. But even after logging out, it would simply not let you log back in and keep saying you were already logged in. I think I spent at least an hour each day trying to log back in and it never eventuated, and when reception no-speaka-di-english and are a five minute walk in the rain away you end up just giving up. Sigh.
Anyway, we did have fun when we went for a drive in the rain to a nearby castle called Castello di Brolio, where we did a really cool little tour of a tiny museum with armour and belongings of the family who have owned that castle since 1141. Yes, 1141! It was so super interesting, though it was very chilly walking around the grounds and gardens because the castle is located right on top of a hill (as happens often with castles) and the wind and rain were blowing a gale. But we enjoyed it. And then afterwards we visited a cute little town, also atop a hill (lots of hills here, as you can guess) called Volpaia where we had the most delicious and cheap bruschetta I have ever had, and some fresh OJ. Yum.
Food here is so delicious and really affordable, especially when compared to Provence or even Australia or Holland. We paid 12 euro for five big pieces bruschetta and two big glasses of OJ. And it was so tasty!
Anyway. San Gimignano is a favourite in our book, and it was awesome to stay there for the night, especially at the hotel where we had lunch last time on our honeymoon and awarded it the best dish of the trip back then and the view is also very stunning. So obviously we were keen to try it out for dinner this time. The food was great, the view was lovely (though the clouds were gathering) and the service amazing.
A funny thing happened at dessert time, I had ordered a moscato and when our waiter poured it, I thought I recognised the bottle from somewhere. As I started drinking it, I realised what it was, and that I love it, because it was the very first bottle of wine I had ever bought for myself on my 27th birthday! So I asked the waiter if I could please see the bottle so I could make a note of it and look for it on our tour of Italy. However, this specific waiter did-not-speaka-di-english-so-bueno and came back with a different moscato and another glass, poured it, and proceeded to pick up my old glass to take it away! Of course I made it immediately clear that NO! I LOVE THIS ONE! Confused, he gave me back my glass (phew) and let us keep the other one he poured and wandered of. Obviously he thought I did not like it and wanted another one! He never did bring us that bottle for me to look at, so after a while I drew the attention of another (younger) waiter who did speaka-di-english and told him what had happened, and if I could please see the bottle because I liked it so much. No problem, so he comes back with the moscato that the other waiter had poured to replace the original. No, sorry, wrong one, I want the one with the bird on the label? So back he comes, with the right bottle, and I take a picture of the label. Then this kind waiter says to me: 'Iffa you lika, I canne aske you canne buya di bottle fromme ouer stocka? Itta costa 15 euros?' So of course I said "YES PLEASE!" It was given to me after our meal, chilled and wrapped and ready to go. However, the weather wasn't right for Moscato on a terrace the last few days.
But here I am, sitting in a heavenly garden drinking that very Moscato. (It is from La Spinetta wines, by the way, Bricco Quaglia Moscato D'Asti. Super sweet and light, most of you would hate it!)
Anyway, adventures all around, pretty scenic drives everywhere, Tuscany being its gorgeous self, and the prospect of increasingly warmer weather is really not such a bad thing. Oh, and did I mention we have a 2012 Golf Cabrio (=convertible) as our rental car? Yah. It is amazing and sexy as!
I have to say, that our honeymoon three years ago in Tuscany was friggin' awesome. But this trip is even awesomer. I'm calling it our honeymoon 2.0. Fancier car, fancier accommodation, longer time to spend everywhere, a day and night in Monaco (Ashley has brought his James Bond suit & shoes for the occasion...) and we are more in love than ever. So I am going to give up the blogging and get ready for another lovely (no doubt) meal.
Arrivederci!
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