2nd and 3rd day in Italy (Tuscany)

Our little Villa at Hotel Saulina, room 109, so cute...
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So since we last updated the page, we have arrived in Tuscany.  We are staying at  Hotel Saulina (or Villa Saulina).  We have gotten more used to driving here.  Mahn is doing good with the driving and has promised me that he will remember that we are not Italian.  We are visitors to this wonderful land, so no need to drive like the Italians.  And girls, whatever you do, if you come here, do not let your husband rent a Ferrari, not unless he is going to give you $3000 and set you loose in the Mall of America...  Mahn asked about the speed limit here (and if they even have one).  On the freeway its 130 km per hr, on the backroads its 110 km per hr (unless posted otherwise), so pretty fast.

There was a wedding on the day we arrived (Saturday). People had flown in from England to get married there. Picture of bride and father.
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I have to say that I was half-way expecting to be a bit underwhelmed by Italy because you always hear so much about it.  But it is truly just as beautiful, romantic and charming as everyone says.  When you're first driving in the middle of Tuscany, its just amazing, the rolling hills with the old Villas scattered throughout.  Also, our GPS has really come in handy.  All the street signs are in Italian, which makes sense because we're in Italy I know.  But most places will have some signs in English, but not here.  I would say too this is one country where a general knowledge of the language really helps.  If you don't have that, then buy a little phrase book or English to Italian dictionary.  I saw one at Barnes and Noble a few days before we left and almost bought it and I wish we would've.  Not many people here speak English and it seems like some of them get a little annoyed when you ask them questions and don't know a lick of Italian.  But most of them are very nice, too.

Tuscany

The beautiful rolling hills of Tuscany that surround Hotel Saulina.
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We love Hotel Saulina, you really feel like you are in the sticks, and you are literally in the middle of vineyards.  When we arrived there Saturday, there were a bunch of people there from England.  They had flown in to have a wedding there.  There is a restuarant there and the scenery is just beautiful.  We tried to eat dinner there, but you have to have reservations by about 10AM to get in.  But that's OK because we found a little place up the road that is really great and probably less expensive.  Mahn had seafood spaghetti, I had risotto with lemon and saffron.  It was very good, but my stomach was kind of funny, so couldn't really enjoy it.  The waitress felt bad, asked me if I wanted something else, but I said no.  I didn't want to tell her all the gorry details about why I wasn't eating it all...

Our little car, its called a Corsa, in the downpour.
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So we've been wanting to get our laundry done for the last couple of days, but at our motel, they only have a washer and then you have to dry your clothes on the line (did I say we are in the hills?).  But its been raining, so couldn't do it.  So finally today, we drove into the next town and found a laundry mat.  We played some hand and foot while we waited.  By the way, all is right with the world, I have once again taken the lead in the hand and foot battle after Mahn kept beating me.  I must've just been jet lagged or very tired before...

The train station to Florence. Only 1.70 Euro to take you to Florence.
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Right now we are in an internet cafe in Florence.  We came here just for the afternoon.  The old buildings are truly amazing.  When you live somewhere where an "old" building is 100 years old, its amazing to see the old buildings and streets here that were built centuries ago and are still standing strong.  It is really rainy and cold here, although the rain has stopped.  We stopped in a restaurant to warm up and I had Tarimisu and cuppacino.  Mahn had more seafood spaghetti.  I think his gout is going to act up again, but hey, we're in Italy for goodness sake...  We also had gelato earlier today, yummo.  I'm telling you if I lived here, I would be a 200 pounder within months, I just know...  So after this, back on the train to our motel.  Its great, we're in the sticks, but just a 20 minute train ride to Florence.  One tip for Florence, if you're going to come here and you want to see the museums, you should buy your tickets ahead of time on the web.  The lines to get them here on the spot are very long.

A building in Florence.
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So tomorrow, we will drive to Venice, well we're actually staying outside of Venice, in Mestre.  It was a lot less expensive and closer to the airport.  We'll take the train into Venice.  We'll stay there 2 nights, then fly to Zurich, Switzerland.

We will sign off for now.  Sorry no pictures.  For the last entry it was taking forever to upload and we gave up.  If you don't have a direct connection, it takes forever to upload.  And then for this entry, the internet cafe we are in doesn't have slots for a memory card and we can't use the laptop.  Well, we're off, looking forward to seeing you all when we get home.  Well update this again when we get another chance, or have something interesting to write about...  Caio and arebederce (spelling?), Mahn and Heather