Montepulciano...

All of a sudden, we are beginning to do the lasts of things...this time it was our last scenic drive through Tuscany. We capped off our time with a quick trip to several hill towns about an hour south of Siena. I really do like the hill towns of central Italy. The countryside is very agricultural in nature (kind of reminiscent of home) and everyone seems to run at a slower pace...kind of nice in the heat of summer.

The gate to the city of Montepulciano...

This is a building in the Piazza Grande (it is actually one of the few squares that are actually square). For those of you who might be Twilight fans...this is the spot that parts of the movie, New Moon, were shot...pretty slick...we were even their as the clock struck noon, bells were going everywhere! BTW I can't wait to see the movie when I make it back to NJ...I already have a date...

One of the many capped wells we see...indoor plumbing rules...

And the church that is on the Piazza Grande...

Well, there you have it...our first stop on our last Tuscan adventure! We had tons of fun, but the tourists are out in force. We have been super spoiled (by so many things I can't even list them all) and for 2 months have felt that we had Italy all to ourselves...not so anymore! We can usually avoid them (being locals and all) but it is still kind of weird to see crowds of people speaking English (I tend think that will be one of the hardest things to get used to when we get back...hearing all the english being spoken...I think my brain might hurt!). It is really easy to spot a tourist on the road...we are passing them and their car has a trunk! We just discovered that there is NO way we are getting all of us and our luggage into our car for the trip to the airport...NO WAY...so it looks like I will take 2 kids and go on the train and meet Tobin at the airport...kind of crazy!

Have a wonderful day!

Ciao a tutti!