[20th Female Posting] In Montepulciano, our second of three nights in a very cute apartment literally steps from the main piazza containing the cathedral, the city hall, and many old palazzos now rededicated as wine-tasting venues. I've just finished preparing one of my standard in-apartment meals: a salad of the world's best arugula and tomatoes plus a pasta of some kind with a sauce of some kind. Waiting for Paul to come home from the piazza, which we have to go to in order to pick up wifi.
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| Montepulciano Catedral, just like Mexico! |
He will no doubt be out there tonight at
midnight, watching the first World Series game all alone in the cold, sitting on marble steps.
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| Montepulciano - apt. to the right |
Our apartment here is huge, darling, and again way cheap at 60 euros a night. Very, very old and oddly laid out but well stocked by our landlord, Stefano Terrosi, who must be gay to be so considerate. He drove us around town yesterday to show us where the grocery stores are, as we're in the historic center that has little of pedestrian value. Tourists are a blessing to people here trying to stretch their income. God knows what gets reported to the tax officials...
So today was a highlight of our entire trip. So good to be out in the country, and as everyone knows the Tuscan countryside is just one picture postcard after another. We drove through Pienza, a World Heritage Site that we'll revisit
tomorrow, to Montalcino, where we wish we had set up base camp. These hill towns are a great workout for the legs, but thank God that lessens the number of us gawkers. And today, in late October, with overcast skies and temps veering from a bit chilly to a bit warm, is late season for tourists. We had the roads and towns mainly to ourselves. Driving has been a breeze—at least for moi, who's not driving! The views are just staggering, even though harvest is in and fields are empty and brown or golden, in the main. The grapevines are yellowing, but there's not much more fall color; still, Montalcino had wonderful urban gardens with colorful plants and plazas cared for by various citizens who petitioned (with photos of them tending their section) for donations of money or plants.
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| Sant' Antimo Monastery |
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| Interior |
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| Garden |
Then we went on to one of my must-sees, a 13th-century working abbey that has Gregorian chants at all services, five times a day. Alas, we misjudged our timing and got there too late, but sitting in the empty pews and listening to a recorded Latin Mass with Gregorian responses was an incredibly powerful experience, whether spiritual or simply aesthetic. Almost made me want to be a monk. Maybe in another lifetime...
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| John the Baptist |
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| Time to Go |
Our exit from Florence to its airport, where we had to pick up our rental car, was made easy by a great cabbie who took us there for less than it would have cost to make three vehicle changes, as we had originally planned. Made up for the several times we've been "taken" by cabbies elsewhere... We had a nice farewell walk along the river in our 'hood on our last morning, and parted with kisses from our landlady. Paul now says he didn't like Florence; I did, but we both preferred Bologna. I've still got my money on Lucca, coming up, for the Italian city I most want to live in (at least for a couple of months).
Thank God our friends Lynne and Jim are holding the fort back home and tending to the cats, making all this possible for us. Our friend Josef will take over this week. Once again I have to say how lucky we feel to be doing this, and how I wish everyone could.
P. S. Italian bread sucks: made only to mop up plates with. But I don't mind those croissants filled with custard that they purvey! My pants feel rather tight; must be these Italian washing machines.
