Benvenuti in Toscana...

or welcome to Tuscany!! Our long weekend in Italy was a wonderful trip that we'll never forget which included good food, beautiful scenery and relaxation! I'll try to keep it brief, but here's some photos and a little about what we did...

We flew from London to Florence, picked up our rental car and were off to find our hotel, La Bandita, which was located near Pienza. It was quite a journey to say the least! It took us about a hour and a half to get there. Most of the drive was on a major highway, but the last 2.5km was at dusk on a curvy dirt road up a hill and our little Fiat rental car barely made it up! We got there safe and sound and were greeted by the owner, John, an American who runs the villa. It has 8 rooms and was amazing! Here are some pictures of the place and the views! 

Sign for La Bandita

The Villa, La Bandita

Our breakfast each morning!

View from the second floor of the Villa

Our room!

Heading down the dirt road from La Bandita!

For the majority of our trip, we did a lot of driving around and touring of the little villages around southern Tuscany.  Here are some highlights of the trip.  As a prelude, we spent Saturday in the towns of Montalcino and Pienza with a quick stop at an old abbey to listen to the monks singing their chants.  Then on Sunday, we visited the towns Montepulciano , Siena, Monticchiello and Bagno Vignoni, where we visited the hot springs and spa.

The abbey, Sant Antimo

The Fortezza (fort) in Montalcino

A panoramic view from the fort in Montalcino

Pretty flowers on someone's window in Pienza!

View from the hills of Montepulciano.

And another panoramic view!

The sunset from the road heading towards Pienza.

We had to take some photos of the food!  Here is my rack of lamb and Chad starting in on his Osso Bucco in the background!

This was so cute - the restaurant, La Porta, had little blankets to use on their patio because it got a little chilly when the sun went down!

We had such a memorable trip and can't wait to go back to Tuscany in September with Chad's parents!  They told us May and September are the best months to visit.  We were greeted by cold and rain in London - icky!  Hopefully, it'll warm up here soon.  Hope that you had a great Memorial Day weekend and we'll be back in a couple of weeks after our trip to Belgium!

 Ciao, Kari and Chad

From Florida...to North Carolina...to Ohio!

Reality set in yesterday at my first day back at work after two and a half weeks off for my trip to the States. Not only was it a struggle to force myself out of bed fighting my jet-lag, I admittedly had hard time focusing on the various tasks at hand even with the help of my grande skinny latte. We’ll call it my transition day and I will be super efficient for the remainder of the week, or at least aim to be!

Anyhow, I was welcomed back to London with beautiful weather. Chad came back to London last week and said it has been so nice since he’s been home. I’m not sure if he meant that because it was nice outside or nice that I wasn’t around to bug him about cleaning the flat! We took a walk in Regents Park Sunday afternoon and it was packed with people – probably not hundreds but thousands! And might I add that there were some interesting sunbathing outfits to be seen!

Our trip was so nice and we had a great time at Adri and Jim’s wedding, meeting Mazen, seeing our family and friends, and enjoying the comforts of home. It all happened pretty fast but we were so lucky to fit in so much! Here are some photos I took along the way!

First Florida...

Adri and I at the rehearsal dinner.

The bride getting ready for her big day!

Adri and the girls!

The happy couple!

....then North Carolina....

Owen and Chad playing Guitar hero!

Picking up Em and Reese from school.

Lunch at Twelve Bones!

O-ie and Em!

...then Ohio...

Maya and little Mazen!

Mazen in his car seat. He's so serious!

I bet he's asking himself "Who is this crazy woman?"

Mama Maya and sleepy Maz!

Our friend Audra with her new little one, Lillian!

Mazen and I!

Maya and Maz. You think that he is tired

of getting his picture taken?

Mazen and his monkey?

What a cutie!!

I have a feeling that the summer is going to come and go fast with the trips and other fun things we’ve planned and the arrival of our visitors! We’ll keep updating this with all the events. Next up is Italy for the end of May Bank Holiday, which incidentally coincides with Memorial Day! That way we won’t feel like we’re missing out on a US national holiday! Hope all is well with you are yours! xoxox, Kari