Agriturismo Castagnatello

 After driving three hours through the beautiful, yet windy hills of Tuscany, we made it to our first lodging: Agriturismo Castagnatello. 

Can't say we didn't get lost many times over on our way there.  Can't say we didn't pull over in utter frustration at hour 30 of straight traveling.  Can't say we had ANY idea where we were.  Can't say we had a decent map to figure it out, either.  Can't say we could think of anything else to do but pull over and get out of the car.

 When we finally found our way, we were greeted warmly by the owners of the house.  We were STOKED by the apartment.  This was our view!

 The town of Seggiano was walking distance from us.  What an amazing view!

 The kitchen.  Note the olive oil made by the owners of the house. TO DIE FOR!

 View of the lanai from the living room.  I totally dug the wooden windows.

 Ladybug dishes...why not?

 Our lanai! Wowzers!

 Another view of our lanai

 Looking towards the front door from the lanai

 The yard

The wine tasting house...of course

 DINNER!

 One happy camper

 Can you hear the music to The Godfather?

 The pool!

 Jasmine..my new favorite scent...was EVERYWHERE!

 The wine tasting house

 olive trees, grapes, and Seggiano...view from the wine tasting house

Now THAT'S a SUNSET!  The sun would set for hours and would finally go down around 9pm...weird, right?  Our first night, we totally thought it was 7pm when the sun went down...haha.

The parking spot under the chestnut tree

Mother Mary.
Actually the German couple staying in the apartment below ours called him "King".

It was FREEZING cold once the sun went down.

 Here comes the sun!

 Just a little walk through the olive groves...normale (no big deal).

 Cherry trees...are you kidding me!?

 Wandering the town of Seggiano.  We were the only tourists there.  Definitely not a tourist place, but we loved it!  Had espresso at the cafe at the top of the town with the locals. Actually, all of the locals there were men.  No women.  They must have been with the kids?  Hmmm.  This was one of our first experiences with the interesting clothing choices of Italian men.  They dress very....pretty.  Tight button-up or spandex shirts and capris with open toed sandals were...normale!

 Pesto gnocchi.  We bought it from the grocery..it was hand made that day and we got it for $7. Normale.  As common as a burrito in New Mexico.

 My European dinner partner in his European scarf...normale.

 We went to dinner at the restaurant in Seggiano one night.  We ordered the typical Italian meals which include at least 3 courses.  I had to capture Nick's final course on camera because we had no idea it was coming.  He had already eaten bruschetta and a hefty bowl of pasta with boar.  We totally figured his third course was a simple dessert.  Nope.  Not in Italy.  He got a huge slab of meat...and ate every bit.  

When in Rome...except we were in Seggiano.

Really cool cloudscape.

Next up?  More adventures in Tuscany!

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

 We said "aloha" to Hawaii with excitement for our 3-week European journey ahead of us, but also with a bittersweet sorrow in leaving the place that we have called home for 6 years.  

Ah, the airplane.  I, of course, was freezing cold, but we were tired and ready to sleep during the overnight flight to LAX.  Nick was prepped with eye drops, nose drops, tylenol, and chapstick.  I was prepped with Winter gear...haha!  We were headed to LAX, Chicago, and Rome...all in one day.  Wee-hoo.

 I'll mention here how much it irks me when people don't cover their cough, or even when they cover it, but with their hand...especially when on an airplane.  YUCK!  They must have skipped preschool.  Sneezes go into the elbow...duh.

Okay, here we are.  Three airplane rides down and approximately 15 hours into travel...which time zone are we in?... finally made it onto the train from the Rome airport to the main train station.  We were trying to catch our train from Rome to Florence.  

Well, we missed the train from Rome to Florence and had to take a later one, which is fine...except that the town shuts down for a few hours in the middle of the day and we needed to pick up our rental car in Florence to start our drive through Tuscany.  Rental car places shut down, as well. Haha!  So we found the nearest cafe and sat down to the lovely lunch that you see above.  Meanwhile the rental car guy was hanging out on the street corner smoking.  You know...When in Rome...except we were in Florence.

When the smoke break finished, we got our car, which was bigger than I had imagined it was going to be.  I was thinking more "Mr. Bean" style.  My dreams were crushed, but the Peugeot with the silver lion on the back was pretty awesome.

And so we began our drive.  We made it (by the grace of God) out of Florence and were officially on the autostrada!  We found an Italian radio station that played an interesting mix of Italian pop and American 90's classics.  One of our favorite Italian songs went a little something like this," I just wanna break free...and I'm thanking you for nothing."  HAHAHA...I think they meant, "Thanks for nothing."

Check out my hunky driver!  That's how they're built in Italy.

Here's a castle that I saw from the road.  Pretty cool, right?  The only castle I saw from the side of a road in America had a mini-golf attached to it.

Couldn't resist

More castle footage.

3 planes? Check.

2 trains? Check.

1 automobile? Check.

We made it to Tuscany somewhere around 34 hours after departing Honolulu...non-stop.  

Tuscan adventures up next!

Selling furniture

Aloha everyone...
We are selling our furniture and thought that we'd post it here first.  If you're interested, just give me a ring...or shoot me an email...etc.

2 bar stools- $15. each

 couch- $200, rug- $10., coffee table- $15.

two fold-out tables...and the rest of the black paint I used to paint them-$10. all inclusive

Pier 1 patio table- $100.

 Canon printer- $30.

Full-size mattress and box springs- $150.

Pier 1 Mirror set- $40. for set

Close-up of small mirror

Brown book shelf- $15.

M.I.A.

 


Right now, I am Missing In Action...a lot of action...writing my thesis action...

Here I am coding data.  Sounds like fun, eh?  Eh?  I can't hear you!  Okay, so it's not really fun.  But I DO believe heavily in my thesis topic and look forward to having the time to blog about soon...


For now, I bid you aloha, from the land of thesis page 60.
aloha.

Yoga thoughts

"Release the things that no longer serve you....

Embrace the things that nurture you."