September 18 - 21

Siena:

Mmmm... Siena was a little crowded when we arrived. There was a car rally on, several hundred older cars were taking part:




It was also the start of their "futbol" season and the crowds were arriving along with the partying.

We took in the sites:

All the walls had places to tie up horses:




Our room had no view:


But the pizzas and salads were delicious:


"to be continued, can't miss supper"

First afternoon in Rome:


Roads:



Tevere River:

Colosseum




Rome Apartment:


St. Peter's Basilica




Can you see the Pope on his balcony?


The Vatican:

Waiting in line:


Ceilings:




The crowds:

Sept 14 - 18

 
Cinque Terre - Pisa - Voltarra

Our last evening on the patio enjoying wine and cheese:





We left Corniglia in the morning and arrived in Pisa well before noon.


Took in the token tourist picture of The Leaning Tower of Pisa with a stroll around the area and then headed for San Gimignano our intended overnight stay. The drive took us through beautiful rolling hills of grapes and gardens. The town just before San Gimignano was Voltarra and that quickly became part of our itinerary. The hotel over looked the valley and with temperatures well into the 30's "it had a swimming pool".


We took the car up to San Gimignano and discovered it was a very busy tourist town with bus loads of visitors and narrow streets.
Here is what I had to drive through and the streets:





On the way back to Voltarra (which Jamie tells me is the site of the Twilight series), we stopped for lunch.




Olives:


(inside joke)
Yes Mike, this is lavender:


We took the country roads down to Siena where we will stay for another day before heading to Rome.

September 10 - 14

September 10 – 14

Corniglia

We took a plane from Barcelona to Milan, Italy, rented a car for the drive to Cinque Terre. Our Volkswagon Golf I reserved wasn’t available so they had a Nissan ? something or other for us. As Jamie was loading the suitcases we noticed a flat tire, so now we have a Peugot wagon. It floats along on the highway:

Mario Andretti:

We went from farm land to mountains:

… and then back down to the sea:


The road into the Cinque Terre towns is a little narrow:


… but when we rounded the last corner it made it all worth while. There was Corniglia:




We are enjoying great food, Sandra a Karman are hiking, Jamie and I are “beaching”.



The gardens around town are all built on the terraces. Our landlord Lydia brought us a bag full of tomatoes, zucchini and basil this morning.