Under the Tuscan Sun

We picked up a rental car in Rome and drove to our next destination - Tuscany - where we would spend the next four nights. The cars in Italy are very small. We lucked out with a "bigger" car called an Opel. It was diesel, a stick shift (as most cars there are) and pretty decent overall. On our way to Siena (our homebase in Tuscany), we drove through the rolling green Umbria region and stopped in Perugia. Thanks for the recommendation, Gina! If you've ever had the luxury of tasting Perugian chocolate, this is where it comes from. Unfortunately, I searched long and hard but still didn't find the factory. Perugia was a very cute, laid back town. After walking around and eating some gelato, we got back on the autostrada and continued toward Siena. Driving in Italy was surprisingly easy and quite fun! We explored several hill towns while we were in Tuscany - San Gimignano, Volterra, Pienza, Montalcino. One day, we took a day trip to the Cinque Terre (Italian Riveria) which was about a three hour drive from Siena. The Cinque Terre was beautiful and very peaceful. There are five small towns nestled in the hills overlooking the Legurian Sea. You can hike between each of the towns - we hiked from Monterosso to Vernazza which was supposedly the most difficult...it wasn't too bad. The views were absolutely breathtaking. Once we got to Vernazza, we chilled out by the water. People were sitting around reading, enjoying the scenery, eating gelato or just enjoying each others' company. It was one of the most relaxing days I've ever experienced. We saw a European guy wearing the same exact pair of Diesel shoes that Benjamin had on! He was also wearing a Speedo (Benjamin unfortunately wasn't).

More pictures of Tuscany and Cinque Terre