From there we went to Montalcino, another hill town. The guide was smart enough to drop us on the uphill side where we met Cesare, a coppersmith and general character in the cute old Italian guy kind of way. His main avocation, aside from fashioning wonderful things out of copper, was encouraging people to have as many children as possible. As he gave us a tour, complete with patter in rapid Italian (translated by our guide except when she stopped and blushed slightly, as she told us later he was directing his fertility talk at her), he fashioned us a little commemorative plaque.
He claims to be good friends with Rick Steves, the tour guide guy, and I'm sure he's just the kind of person that would make it onto his show.
From there, we walked down the main street, downhill the whole way. I should note that the weather has been absolutely fantastic. Ronnie and Celia had great weather the whole time too.
We got back and then had to decide what to do for dinner. The hotel has a restaurant, but it's a small hotel and on Sunday nights they have their traditional Tuscan dinner. Neither I nor my wife or daughter are traditional Tuscans. Lets just say it looked savory. And heavy and gamey, and served at one big table family style for 35 Euros (about $43) per person. How popular was it with the guests? We got an alternative recommended in a nearby town and ran into 3 other couples we'd seen there. I had a delicious pizza with mushrooms and Tuscan ham and Ronnie had grilled lamb and Celia had a hamburger on a homemade bun. All really good and a nice family restaurant full of international tourists (get used to it if you're coming here).
And then we walked up the street and had gelato and they also sole Math beer. I kid you not. I always knew that for me, math and beer went together very well. I'm glad the Tuscans are hip to this as well.
And then it was to bed. A long day of driving awaits and we land in Rome eventually.
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