Italy sep 2007 pt1

italy days 10-17

day 10 pics #1417-1431: up and off to chianti. castellina-in-chianti, to be exact. gelato junction - supposedly the best gelato in the world. i gotta say it was pretty darn good! we stayed at villa casalecchi, a click out of town.

day 11 pics #1432-1556: after meeting in the town square, or piazza, we had a ride out to castel brolio. still owned by 1 branch of the medici family. on our way we stopped briefly in radda.

day 12 pics #1557-1633: the next day started the same but we had a short stop in gaiole (gale) en route to lunch at badia a coltibuono. the abbey still owned by 1 branch (the other branch) of the medici family.

day 13 pics #1633a-1708: we're on the final leg of our trip. today we leave for firenze. a brief stop in greve for shopping - the support van stayed to haul purchases had us buying 2 cases of wine. then it was on our way. we stopped and meditated at the italian/american cemetery memorial. it was very peaceful, very tasteful. then while we were almost the last to arrive at the bike-packing station in firenze, we were one of the 1st to be totally packed up! then we had to figure out how to get us, our bags, the wine, and the bike 4 blocks to the hotel! we touched base with terry to firm up the next day's trip - we were meeting in pisa in the am.

day 14 pics #1709-1875: field of miracles was our 1st stop. after figuring out the italian train system and making our way on a 45-50min. ride to pisa. then we had to walk across town to get to the field of miracles - about 30 minutes taking our time. we got there a little early and had a chance to walk around and look at a few things, and we went into the baptistry while we waited to meet up. we climbed the bell tower, went inside the duomo and then visited the camposanto, where the fresco which inspired liszt to write totentanz. after pisa we trained about 40 mins out to lucca, home of puccini. we ate gelato on the main piazza, and people watched or maybe child-watched is more acurate. back to the train station terry and christian grabbed the train to pisa where they were staying that night, and we went back to firenze - about an hours ride. tried to catch up with rory, but missed him for dinner but we didn manage to communicate to meet up for the next morning.

day 15 pics #1876-2028: up early everyone met at our hotel and we started at the medici chapel. (no pics allowed) it was pretty cool. there was the family monument for 4 carved by michelangelo. walked over to the bargello and found it already closed, had lunch - oh, it rained for the 1st time this day. and then back to the duomo. the bell tower was closed due to the windy weather, but we were allowed to climb the duomo, which was fine as it was taller! then we went to the museo del'opera - or the cathdral museum. - the only museum in firenze allowing photos to be taken. afterwards we made our way to santa croce, a large church where many famous people have been buried. rory had found a great place the night before and had us follow him there for dinner that night. it was great! il latini, if you're going to be in firenze. and man did we consume wine. it wasn't that far from the hotel, but man it took us quite a while to get back! matt was leading. he swears up and down that we took the "most direct and quickest way" back to the hotel. it was so funny. we were going in circles. terry and i were crying and could barely walk we were laughing so hard! rory could barely talk he was laughing so hard.

day 16 pics #2029-2054: a day of museums, we took in the bargello, academia and uffizi. terry and christian had to leave before the uffizi to catch their plane, so that was sad. after the uffizi rory met us and we walked down and across the ponte vecchio, then did a little shopping on teh way back to the hotel where we had to pack before meeting him for dinner. after another good amount of wine we finally said goodby. rory stayed a few more days, but we were off early to the airport in the morning.

day 17: up and off to firenze's airport, we ha a 2hr flight to amsterdam where we had a 5 hour or so layover. checking in for that flight was US customs - they set up stantions and ropes at the gate itself where someone did a pre-check ckecking for the checker kind of thing. we joked about it becuase they were set up for everyone to go through 3 people before being allowed to board the plane! but that flight didn't stop before we arrived in seattle. getting through customs was interesting. found our way through to passport control, went through the 'gate' with the questions etc. and then claimed our bags. before we could leave the carausel (sp?) area there was another 'passport control' and we were told we had to go through the agricultural checkpoint. mind you we have 1 backpack, 1 camera bag, 1 laptop bag, 2 suitcases, a gear bag and a tandem bike bag. so off the cart they come, and onto this exray machine/belt/thingy. after everything was scanned it was load stuffback onto the cart to go through a room. and becuase we were in one of the satellite concourses, we had to offload all the luggage onto yet another conveyor belt, to be re-claimed at hte main terminal bag-claim area! oh my gosh! all in all it took less than 2 hours, but geez! we left firenze that morning at 5ish, and we arrived in seattle and were in our car around 3pm that afternoon.