Mamma mia! It's about time for a blog! It makes it very difficult to blog when we work all morning, sleep all day, and eat all night. We've learned a few interesting tidbits about the region over the last week. For instance, Alan Rickman (Professor Snape) has a holiday home within a couple miles of our residence in Il Poderone. The next bit is more serious; every year on November 17th, superstitious Italians kill all the black cats they can find. Unless someone is seriously pulling my leg, the number of killed kitties can be in the tens of thousands each year! This madness must end!
This old structure is the beautiful ruin of the Abbey of San Galgano. It was built to a familiar tune- St. Michael came down from heaven and instructed some man to build it. I'm sure you'd like to see more pictures, which can be found on our flickr page.
This is what some historians believe to be the real sword in the stone, in its original location. It's located in a chapel up the hill from the Abbey of San Galgano. Mary read that the sword could possibly be a replica, but regardless it is very old, and this is definitely the stone. I imagine some wealthy old European having the real sword (Excalibur?) passed down to him for generations, choosing to keep it a secret rather than revealing it and claiming their right to the English throne.
Sometimes, when we're not going anywhere for the afternoon, Mary and I are forced to enjoy Tuscan sunsets while we snack on fresh baked bread with freshly pressed olive oil from freshly picked olives. This must be endured until seven or eight o'clock, when we are required to attend magnificent three-course meals before bedtime.
This is the awesome little old tractor I get to drive around the olive fields. As you can see, it predates steering wheels as a means of tractor control. The seat and armrests are made entirely of cold, hard steel and I whacked the crap out of my elbow on it a week ago - still can't touch it. Nonetheless, I still love driving this thing.
A cork tree! This is where wine corks come from; corks are made from the bark of the tree which regrows about every 5 years.
A week or so ago Mary, myself, and our German companions took a day off of work to visit the market in nearby Grosseto. Pictured above is Grosseto's town square, which you would never know existed if you remained outside the walls surrounding the city center.
We hitched a ride to Florence! In Italy, it's Firenze. This city is old, and has all the luxury and grandeur of Paris, except with a lot more marble. I should write a heck of a lot more about Florence, but if you want to see what we were doing, check out these pictures.
This is the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore. Not as ornate as the Sienna Duomo, but very old and much, much larger.
On our toward the train station we came across the Piazza ... There was market whose highlight for me, personally, was this sweet shop. Holy cannoli!
We returned to Castiglione della Pescaia to see the sunset with German newcomers Karen and Sara.
After dinner and a little bit of Grappa (Italian grape schnapps), Mary falls asleep watching the Sopranos.
Stay tuned for an entry about our trip for my birthday to the sunny island of Monte Argentario just off the coast in the Mediterranean!
I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving!
-Jake
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