We have arrived in Tuscany! It is a very beautiful area of Italy with rolling hills, vineyards and olive groves and skinny trees. We had almost 3 hours to drive to Cignella, our home while in Tuscany and we had planned to make some stops along the way, but that didn’t quite work out. We were on a major road for about half the time. they have “rest stops” similar to home with gas, restrooms and often a spot to get a coffee, but not the picturesque view we were imagining so we kept driving. Once we got on the smaller roads they are very.windy and very.narrow. We saw quite a few race cars headed in the opposite direction. It must have been some type of point to point road race. Now I know why Italy is so famous for their sport cars…they have the perfect roads for them!

Cignella is a complex of buildings that are made up of various types of accommodation. I think many of them are small apartments, but there may be larger ones for families and possibly suite rooms? We made these arrangements through Travel Zoo so it is a package that includes a 2 bedroom apartment and various activities over the 5 days.

After a trip into the nearby town for some groceries at the COOP, we wandered down to the restaurant area for “Happy Hour.” We had watched a Rick Steves program on Sienna and he spoke about a typical Tuscany aperitif of a spritz with chips. So when in Tuscany….

Another activity as part of our package is cooking classes, but the restaurant/bar area is small enough that everything is there together. So while we were having our spritz, the class was finishing up their gnocchi preparation and we met some Canadian friends: Dawn (who lives in Denver now) and Michelle and Drew from Saskatoon.

We had such a lovely time chatting together, enjoying a soft sunset and a tasty pasta dinner and red wine. This could become habit forming!