Monday, May 14
Monday morning after a repeat of Sunday's breakfast, we headed to Florence after a stop at Montepulciano. We picked up a few (OK, four) bottles of wine, visited a winery, and tasted several of their vintages.
We arrived at the Villa il Colle around 1:00, checked in and couldn't believe our room (pictures in Tuesday's set). We dropped off our bags, then drove the 20 minutes or so into Florence.
We visited the Duomo where we climbed the 463 steps to the top of the cupola for some totally incredible views of the interior of the Duomo, and of Florence itself.
We visited several other sites, found out the best Gellato in Italy was closed on Mondays, and spent sometime watching people at Piazza de Signoria. We had dinner at Ristorante Toto, a great little place by the river for Tuscan Fare, and some incredible Chianti.
Funny wine story here.
The waiter came up to us at the end of the meal and said "Let me ask you something, when you came in here and ordered the Nozzelo Chianti, did you know what you were doing? (it may have lost something in his translation)."
It turns out the wine was one of the best they offer, made in very small quantities and not available as the vinter sells most of what he makes to a few local restaurants. The waiter indicated they usually don't recommend it to the tourists even though it's one of their best wines, because it's not a name they are familiar with and they look at them like they have two heads.
So remember, ask what they would drink, not what they would recommend.