From running around to the small towns to tasting the local wines to joining the street parties when the Italian team had a match to getting lost on runs and hikes through the tuscan countryside, I kept busy for the entire week.
One great adventure took place in the town of Bagno Vignone which is home to a number of wonderful thermal baths. Basically the entire town square is a massive hot spring that is 150 long by 75 feet wide. It was used by the Romans, and up until about 4 years ago, the town folk of Bagno Vignone would lounge in the hot water. And then came the tourists…from the looks of it, they spoiled the fun for everyone. Now the baths are only open once or twice a year.
I had dinner here with a group of friends of friends of friends and yes, I was the outsider, and lived up to that role perfectly by excusing myself every 5 minutes to go watch the world cup match! Now all that walking back and forth past the thermal bath got me thinking that, 1. there is a pretty big wall that would block the view of someone sneaking into the bath on a dark night, and 2. If I had only a few more glasses of wine, I could be that person to sneak into the pool; what the hell, no one is watching me anyway…bring on the vino!
I skulled 4 glasses, and fell back to my navy seal team training by sitting on the wall in a fairly dark spot, swinging my legs over and gently sliding into the pool. WOW. Fantastico! The water was amazing and I just floated for a while listening to the tables at the restaurants just over the wall. The 900 year old goop at the bottom of the pool was a little icky, but by and by it was very nice.
I decided it was time to get out when I had to cling to the side of the wall when some guy was looking over and yelling to his dog…who knows, after my incident in Czech, I may have been reported to Interpol as the rouge American ravaging the small towns of Europe.
I walked back to the table, and one of the guests noticed my dripping shoes, and exclaimed that I was the first person she had seen go in the water in 4 years!
Could have been the outbreak of cholera? Or maybe those bannoians just did not have that navy seal instinct that makes me who I am.
Anyway, I missed il Palio in Sienna by a day, which is a two hundred year old horse race around the piazza in Sienna. There are teams from different neighborhoods in Sienna and they wave colorful flags with various animals on them. I liked the Giraffe team….Thousands of people watch, and everyone gets drunk. 12 horses, very little room, and only one lap. Sad to have missed it. Next time.
The biggest discovery in Italy? Sunflower seeds COME FROM SUNFLOWERS! Who would have thought? Pretty cool acutally to see huge fields of sunflowers all over the countryside.
See! I'm Learning!
Tuscany is amazing. Good food. Great wine. Thermal Baths and wild festivals. Who could ask for more!
Grazie my friends! Grazie!