the Tuscan countryside.

And yes..its just as amazing as you can ever imagine.



San Gimignano.

we all went to san gimignano and stayed at this old wine place. with cellars and grape vines and olive groves.




these pictures dont really do it justice. but know, it was so amazing.

on top of this little hill, was a swimming pool, which we all were so excited about since italy in July is like a furnace. on each side of the hill were olive groves. aaaah. i can't even explain how amazing this place is. its my happy place.



it was so peaceful. i decided to meditate...on my blowup caterpillar.


oh just a casual dinner. a lite bite if you will
umm yes. that was only the appetizers.

dinner outdoors.

drinking games indoors. who plays drinking games with red wine? only in the tuscan countryside.


We then took a few day trips around the different cities in the coutryside...

Siena.

In Siena they hold the palio event. The city is split up in different regions and people are assigned flags. They receive their flag during their baptism of sorts..and every flag has a horse and then they race the horses...and then whoever wins the race is well..umm the winner.

check it out.

kids wearing their flags.


each flag has an character...see here...contrata della goose ( i dont know what goose is in italian)the arena. we were there on the day of the palio races...but we didn't stay for the actual event because apparently its a madhouse. i usually like madhouses so i was bummed.





the girlies.

i liked this cat.