October 11th – On to Toscana
A beautiful morning greeted us as we enjoyed a nice cappuccino, croissant and juice while overlooking the city of Florence. The day ahead was expected to be a simple 25 mile bike ride to our last stay in a wonderful Tuscan cottage. The first two hours were spent climbing and descending hills, only to find ourselves where we first started. Despite the lack of progression, we found ourselves in a small town of Impruneta, which was the site of a traditional chestnut festival. Given the distance yet to travel we observed the event as passer-byes. The rest of the journey consisted of beautiful rolling hills through the country side. As Nick carried a heavier than normal load, I proceeded to climb the hills with ease, as we passed a fine older gentleman on his evening bike ride. As we stopped to analyze the map, the gentleman also stopped and engaged us in a conversation about the Tortoise and the Hare, wondering humorously if we ever heard of the story. Nick kindly refused to point out the difference in the loads being carried.
As darkness was approaching, we were starting to grown concern over the ability to locate our cottage. As we climbed the last hill to a small town of Lecchi, once again we were greeted with the genuine kindness of the locals. After attempts of broken English and Italian, a kind man led us by car all the way to our host. We were greeted with enthusiasm as we winded our way up in to the charming countryside. We were once again overwhelmed by the hospitality of a stocked fridge, fresh fruit and a bottle of champagne. In the darkness, only a glimpse was to be obtained of the history and beauty of the place we will call home for the next 3 weeks.