Ciao Italy!

We are ending our 2 weeks tomorrow :(. Yesterday we left Cinque Terre and headed north to Santa Margarita. It is a much bigger city than any of the Cinque Terre villages, but it is nice to spend our last 2 days in a more posh resort area.

We took the ferry to Portofino last night and explored that town. It is a bit smaller and a bit more ritzy. We had drinks on the water and then headed up to Hotel Splendido for dinner. The whole experience was like something out of a movie (and we were just the extras). Today we spend the day on the rocky shore and did some swimming. The water here is fun because it is so salty that you float really easily.

We are heading out to the marina for drinks and the sunset and then we will grab our last plate of pesto pasta. We are sad to leave but looking forward to the comforts of home and to see Jax at the end of the week. We have missed him the most!

Puoi fare un foto?

We haven't asked that question too many times so we don't have many pictures of the two of us together that don't involve us holding the camera out infront of our face. We posted a sample of photos from our trip so far. We hope you enjoy! PS. The italian keyboard is a bit different from ours which accounts for my lack of punctuation and my spelling errors.

Anyway, this upload seems to be taking forever so run off to one of my other sets and search for my recent activity. It shouldn't be too hard for anyone...

Maybe someone can do it for Mom and Dad, we know how they can be on the computer.
This may or may not link to all my photos...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14996987@N00/

Our love hate relationship with Tuscany

Buona Sera! We will be turning in our rental car in the morning and we are sad because that means no more exploring Tuscany, but we are happy because now I wont be car sick and Rich wont be exhausted from trying to stay on those curvy, crazy roads. The hill towns in Tuscany are unreal. You can look around and at the top of each hill is this amazing town that has the wall around it and has been there for ages.

We spent Wednesday in Sienna touring the city and its sites, and eating (our new favorite passtime). We had the best dinner there. Penne Arrabiata to share and then the Florentina, a special steak that is from a Tuscan Cow (incase you are wondering, moo in Italian is moo according to my husband) that is marinated and then charcol grilled and is unreal.

Today we set out for San Gimignano. We got there intime for their weekly market which was fun to wander and the city itself with its towers and narrow streets is very cool. All the locals were out for the market so it was a very authentic experience. From there we headed to Montalcino. We got there intime for a late lunch at this great Trattoria. We both had tuscan pasta dishes that were so good and Rich tried the Rosso di Montepulchiano and I had the Brunello. We then picked up a list of vineyards from the info center and were completely overwhelmed by the list. We decided to head to Banfi, the one we had read about. We toured the castle and the glass museum there and then did some tastings. We bought some great wine and some balsamic vin that is amazing. Then we went to Pienza (known for their peccorino) and bought some that has hot pepper in it! We arrived in Montepulchiano at 730pm and when I heard that it would be the 1000 15 min uphill walk to the beginning of town, I refused to get out of the car :). We need a reason to come back anyway right?

We are back in the city and headed for some cheese and wine and then hopefully to fall asleep (we havent totally adjusted yet). Hope you are all well... xox

Ciao!

Buona Sera. We are on our way to dinner in Florence and wanted to put up a quick post. Unfortunately we cant find a way to post our pictures so this will have to do. It doesnt even seem real now that we are here. I heard someone talking about Italy before we left and they were saying it is like you are in Epcot and now I see what they mean. We feel like we are on a movie set or something.

We arrived yesterday and checked into our tiny little apartment with a fabulous roof deck and terrace. We spent the day sleeping and exploring. Today we picked up our car and headed to Chianti. It took us an hour and a long loop past our apartment to figure out the way to the road to Siena but we finally made it. We stopped in Greve di Chiani which was charming and then headed to Penzana which was even more charming and the views were amazing! We had a great lunch overlooking the hills and then went to a wine tasting down the road, so good! We came back home and napped on the roof and now we are heading to dinner. We hope everyone is doing well.

Arrivaderchi (sp?)! xox Rich and Jess

Off we go....

This is the first post and the last post to our page for several days. Now that School is finished (proof is in the pictures below) Jessica and I are headed off to take our Honeymoon (Finally!).

As many of you know were are headed to Italy. We will be spending time in Florence and surrounding Tuscany as well as Cinque Terre. Here is a great Times Article of Cinque Terre for you to read and get envious over :).
Times Article Found here

Anyway, Hope to see you all soon when we get back.
Who knows, we may even visit a cyber cafe to update Xenson when we are out there.