Adio's

Adio's for now! I am heading to Sorrento for a 4 day weekend and will be MIA. Hopefully I can post about my trip late Sunday or Monday, so keep an eye out :)

Never Leaving Florence

Florence Day 1: "Taste of Tuscany Tour"

During our tour of Tuscany we visited four locations! The first, pictured above, is a small town holding only 42 people. There were actually 2 weddings going on when we arrived! I loved that the town was almost blocked in by the out-skirting castle walls. The first picture to the far left shows the walls and my roommate, Melissa, taking a picture of the beautiful country side.

 

Stop two was Siena! Here we visited the beautiful Siena Cathedral, to the left. The Piazza del Campo, famous for the Pialo horse races -- held twice each year, in the middle. And to the right, the curved streets, filled with shops and restaurants. Here we also visited the Basilica of San Domenico where I saw the finger and head of St. Catherine on display.

These next two pictures are taken of my FAVORITE part of the tour! Here we visited a small local Vineyard in Tuscany! This Vineyard does not sell to grocery stores, only neighbors and people attending tours, like myself. Lucky me!!! The image to the left is of the downstairs cellar. The barrels store his aging wine, and balsamic. The white wine bottle sitting on the large barrel called "Easy to Fall in Love" was part of our tasting. Just for us girls ;)  The image to the right is of my tasting dish. The bread was drizzled with homemade extra virgin olive oil. A piece of cheese with homemade honey. Chickpeas served with 4 decade aged classic balsamic, a garlic to cleanse the pallet, and my favorite part of the tasting, a cracker containing a drop of is truffle oil. 90% white truffle 10% black. We also tasted three different wines and an apple honey balsamic on ice cream. I really couldn't image anything better!

 Finally, stop number four! Here we ventured further into the Tuscany region for dinner at a traditional Italian home. To the left is a picture of the group, ready to eat our first course of bruschetta, Italian meat, sheep cheese, salad, and more toasted bread. As if I didn't eat enough at the last stop! Then came the main course of pasta, and yes, more wine. All of which were delicious!

Here is one last image: my touring group. The 6 of us are all on the UD Study Abroad in Rome together and we all agree that this is the highlight to our trip.

Oh, and how could I forget....

This one is for you Mom and Dad.

Here is a picture of me with our tour guide! His name is Dario. Pretty darn cute and perhaps my future husband ;) Can hardly wait for you to meet him <3

Love You All,

Ali