Second Half Family Visit- Warning LOTS of pictures and information

As I have already warned there are a lot of pictures in this post, I know I am going overboard in information provided, but there are just too many pictures I want to share. Trust me I understand if you skim! Here are some shots of a day trip we took driving up the Gran Sasso mountains. We have a little picnic area we like to stop at now which we did for some treats and games.

Then the next day in between practices we drove to Pineto. A little city on the Adriatic, they have an old tower that we wanted to check out. Beautiful weather and views.
Dad judged a "prettiest seashell contest." First to last is from left to right. Drake won the contest.


Then we drove to nearby Atri for lunch


The next morning we left Drake behind and headed for Tuscany. Our plan was to spend two days there and then drive down to Avellino for Drake's game on Saturday, then back up to Rome because Mom, Dad, and Mandy left early Easter morning. Not looking forward to all the driving.

Once we got to Tuscany the first place I took them was Montepulciano. Funny story. Mandy is very much in the Twilight craze as most girls her age are. While visiting she was in the process of reading Eclipse the third book in the vampire series for the third time! Anyways when we were walking around Montepulciano we realized that this was the place were they filmed part of the second movie New Moon. Very quickly Mandy perked up and was just glowing all day. She was so excited to be in the exact same place as Edward and Bella. If you have seen the movie you will recognize this building.
Here we are outside the city


If you are ever looking for a good hotel in Tuscany I HIGHLY recommend Hotel Certaldo. It was the best hotel I have ever stayed at in Italy and was very reasonably priced.

Friday was our big tour day. Like in Rome we hired a personal tour guide to drive and show us everything we needed to see in Tuscany.
Our hotel was right near San Gimignano, so we went directly there to beat the crowds (it was Easter weekend so lots of tourists). It is a town known for their 13 towers which families built back in the day to show their wealth and power. The higher the tower the more wealth the family had.

Then we stopped in Monteriggioni

When I think of Tuscany this is the countryside I picture. Quick fact, this farm is where they filmed scenes from the Gladiator. Long winding roads lined by cyprus trees. Our guide told us that this farm is the number one photographed spot in all of Tuscany including the sights in Siena and the David in Florence. Thought that was interesting and possibly untrue.

Next Gianni, our tourguide, wanted to show us what is happening to Tuscany so he took us to two villages. First he took us to San Gusme, a little village with only roughly 70 inhabitants, and most of these inhabitants are about 70 years of age.

The next village he took us to was San Felice. Here there are only 2 inhabitants remaining. It is a concern that the younger generations choose to live in larger cities such as Siena and Florence, and then these tiny old villages are being bought out in order to become tourist attractions. This whole village has become a resort, except for this home which is behind mom and I.

Then we were off to a castle in Brolio where a Baron still lives.

As I was looking through pictures thought it was funny that you can visually see the point in the day when Dad and Mandy started to fade in interest! Mom ate up the entire day...

This Baron owns about 850 million dollars worth of vineyards! We learned about wine from the Chianti Classico region. I thought it was so interesting, and I was amazed at the time, process, and detail it goes into making a bottle of wine.

We toured a winery in Castagnoli. Quick fact, in one of those big flats (can't remember the name of one of those guys), there is about 8 million dollars worth of Chianti Classico wine.

After touring the winery, Gianni took us to another village, Vertino. Again check out the facial expressions on Mandy and Dad!

Wow, what a day that was. I am tired just writing about it! But we really did learn alot and it was nice just to relax and have someone take us to see the best sights in Tuscany. The next morning I was so excited to show Siena, my favorite city in Italy. For some reason I don't remember all of the steep hills which Dad was not so pleased about. Here we are in Piazza del Campo.

Dad is smiling now, but little does he know he is about to spend 8 euro (12 bucks) on a coca light! The cost of being able to sit in the Piazza.

After Siena we hit the road for Avellino. It took us about 4 hours. We stopped to cheers at an Autogrill. We ate lunch too:)

Made it with plenty of time for the game.

The ending to a great trip.... Poor dad, back in the car on the way back up to Rome.