Italia! Tuscany & Florence

I'll be honest. I brought a notebook with me to jot down my adventures along the way, but I basically stopped after we left Sorrento. Not because I didn't want to write, but because I was usually so exhausted after each day that a hot shower & sleep were my priorities. I had amble opportunities to write on the bus, but I get motion sickness if I even read in the car. Writing on the bus seemed like a horrible idea. Later in the trip I tried to make up for lost time, so everything this point forward is a little less fresh than the first three days' accounts.

The long, long ride to Florence. It took us something like 6 or 7 hours to get to Florence from Sorrento. We stopped at a winery on the way for wine tasting. In Tuscany of course & technically in Florence. We were running late so we were rushed through the tour of the wine cellar a bit. Outside, the lady giving us the tour pointed out their largest & most fruitful olive tree. She said it makes just 4 bottles of olive oil per season. I'm not sure how large those bottles are, but wow, I can not imagine how many olives it takes to make all the olive oil in the world. The views here are so beautiful. Driving up I notice the sunflowers look like they've died. We have missed them. When I think of Tuscany, I think of fields of bright, fresh sunflowers. I did not get that. Now I have visions of fields of dead sunflowers. Not quite the same image. There are some chickens wandering around & there is a very pretty blue door on the building. There is a castle also, but we did not get to see that. I thought we'd get to wander around the fields, but we are all brought up to the courtyard for some wine tasting & snacks.

They gave us samples of several wines & I tried them all. The wine tasted smooth, but I still really don't like it. They gave us some cheese & bruschetta. After the long ride up here, Harmony looked like she reached heaven. That girl loves wine! We saw some grapes fresh from the field being put into a machine and squished and separated. Got to taste one and it was delicious. I purchased some olive oil. Very curious to see how it tastes.

We got back on the bus & drove into Florence to our hotel. We went over the river & I got excited. Florence! We are here! Tonight we had an included meal. I had spaghetti with eggplant. It was pretty good even if I don't like eggplant. There was an included night out at the bar, but we stepped in and immediately left. It was a loud Moulin Rouge themed Karaoke bar, which could be fun if it wasn't so loud & cheesy. Off to sleep early tonight. There are so many things to discover tomorrow.

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