![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Tuscany-valley.jpeg\")
<\/a>View from hilltop Tuscan mansion<\/p><\/div>\n
The dinner I was headed to before I had to sign off on Monday was FABULOUS.\u00a0 It was at a Tuscany villa high on a hill overlooking the entire valley below.\u00a0 It was a mansion that is rented out for special events.\u00a0 The chef came to our outside dining area and showed us how he made the pasta he served us – interesting and delicious!\u00a0 There was a DJ playing a variety of songs and the night had the potential of being a ‘sing off’<\/strong> between guests from northern California, (insert photo of So. Call beating No. Cal\u00a0singing ‘I Left My Heart in San Francisco’<\/strong><\/em> and our southern California gang singing, ‘I Love L.A.’<\/strong><\/em> – even though we really don’t like LA all that much.\u00a0 But we all ‘played nicely with others’ as we both did a great job of singing ‘Sweet Caroline’.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n It’s Monday morning and we are off to Pisa<\/strong>, about an hour bus ride away.\u00a0 We had a local guide, Vincehenzo<\/strong>, and he is a proud Pisan (or whatever you call people from Pisa) who was so well-informed and so articulate – he brought everything to life.\u00a0 The bell tower (the one Cathedral Santa Maria<\/p><\/div>\n We got back to the hotel for a brief period of time before we were off to a local farm<\/strong> to make our own pasta dinner.\u00a0 It was about an hour’s drive and we were greeted with a glass of wine (of course!) and the chef’s staff who immediately put us to work kneading the pasta, chopping the mushrooms, slicing the tomatoes and basically putting our somewhat dubious cooking skills to work.\u00a0 We also made tiramisu – that was a big mistake as I’ll be making that way too many times when I get home.<\/p>\n Tuesday we are off to Siena<\/strong>, about an hour and a half bus ride from our hotel.\u00a0 It’s another beautiful walled city, with a unique event that pits district against district and takes place every year.\u00a0 It is called the Palio di Siena<\/strong>, and it is run twice a year on July 2nd and August 16th, where horses run around the Piazza del Compo<\/strong> (city square) where there are some 50,000 people that cram into the area to witness the race that lasts about one minute. What’s really interesting is that it is not unusual that the jockey falls off their horse, but it doesn’t matter if the horse finishes the race with or without the jockey!<\/p>\n Palio di Siena<\/p><\/div>\n On our way back from Siena, we stopped at a small, family owned winery<\/strong> and enjoyed several samples of some great wine – both red and white, along with some great charcuterie (that’s meat and cheese and stuff for those non-winers).<\/p>\n Dinner back in our local plaza and crash.<\/p>\n Wednesday is a ‘free day’, so we get to relax and just explore our magnificent base city of Montecatini Terme<\/strong>.\u00a0 This evening for dinner we’ll be taking a funicular up to Montecatini Alto<\/strong>, a small village that sits on a nearby hilltop – more on that next time.<\/p>\n I’m going to need a vacation from this vacation, but it’s been an amazing experience.<\/p>\n More next Monday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Bob Sparrow (I’m still unable to download photos, but I’m using Google Images to come as close as I can) The dinner I was headed to before I had to sign off on Monday was FABULOUS.\u00a0 It was at … read more![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/piza.jpeg\")
<\/a>that’s leaning), as you might suspect, is still leaning although someone had sprayed a sign on a wall on our way to the tower that read ‘Sorry, the tower is not leaning today’<\/strong>.\u00a0 It was explained to us that there is current technology that could straighten the tower fairly easily, but it brings in millions of dollars each year to the town of Pisa, so I don’t think we’ll see any straightening of the tower anytime soon.\u00a0 After taking all the requisite photos of people pushing the tower over, we visited the adjacent church, Santa Maria Cathedral<\/strong>.\u00a0 I don’t know whether it was the church or whether it was the fact that Vincehenzo was so good, but he made every aspect of the history of this church come alive.\u00a0 We went into the Baptistry<\/strong> where over 100 people had to remain perfectly silent while a single voice sang out and demonstrated the awesome acoustics in the building.\u00a0 I can still hear that voice echoing in that chamber.\u00a0 Once outside the baptistery, Vincehenzo explained the ancient rivalry between the cities of Florence and Pisa – it’s was the L.A. and San Francisco argument all over again.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Santa-Maria.jpeg\")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Siena.jpeg\")
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