Bongiorno from Italy!

Hello everyone!  Thought I'd take some time to give you an update on our adventure to Italy!

We are currently staying in a gorgeous villa in the Chianti region of Tuscany.  Everywhere we look there are rolling hills covered with grape vines.

Our flight from the US, was relatively uneventful, except for the fact that we were delayed almost an hour due to the Blue Angels air show.  Thankfully our connecting flight in Frankfurt was also delayed slightly, but we were very worried about our luggage not making it.

Those worries turned into reality when we arrived in Florence and our bags didn't show up along with about 30 other passengers.  We made a claim to the lost and found department, who assured us we would get our bags either that night or the next morning.  After picking up our rental car, we headed out of Florence towards our villa.

After arriving at the villa (we did get a little lost at first, but that was fine as the countryside is beautiful!) we dropped off our carry-ons and ventured into the town of Tavarnelle to pick up some food supplies and look for a dress for me.  We found a cute little clothing shop, where after a lot of gesturing and pointing, I was finally able to relay the fact that our luggage hadn't arrived and I was hoping for a dress to wear for the next day.  Then we came back to the villa, cooked some dinner, and fell asleep around 7pm!

The next morning, Sunday, we didn't get up until 11am, which meant we were in bed for 16 hours or so.  We called to check on our luggage and were told that they still hadn't found it.  So we went to reception to find out what we should do for the day since most shops were closed.  We were given several ideas on what to do, and she suggested we go to a festival in a nearby town named Certaldo.

Certaldo is the ancestral home of an Italian poet, Giovanni Boccaccio, and every year the "old town" has a food and wine festival.  I say "old town" because there are two parts to Certaldo, the newer part is down below the hill and is more modern and industrial and the old town is up above it.  To get to the old town, you can either walk up a steep, cobblestoned hill or take a trolly up to the top.

When we got to the top, it of course started to rain, and where were both our jackets?  In our suitcases!  Thankfully we were able to duck inside a building and look around until the rain stopped.  Afterwards we wandered around the medieval town tasting wine and food goods and marveling at the beauty that surrounded us.

When we got back to the villa, we checked on our luggage again and there was no change.  As we headed back to our room, a group of people were sitting at the base of the stairs, and invited us to come join them as they were celebrating a birthday.  So after dropping off our stuff, we headed back down and had wine and pizza with a delightful group of people.  Most of them were English, but only a handful still lived in England.  The others lived in Venice and gave us all sorts of helpful tips.  After a very fun evening, we headed back to our room, checked the luggage status (still nothing) and then fell asleep.

Monday, morning, just a few hours ago for me, we checked the status of our bags and were very excited to see that they had been found and were on there way!  We decided to stay around the villa today because we were feeling very gross after wearing the same clothes multiple days.  We went back to the grocery store to get some lunch, and then read and dozed all afternoon.  Around 2pm there was a knock at the door!!  We jumped up and answered it very hopeful that it was our lost luggage...

Well, it was one of the two.  At this time, Roberts luggage has arrived safe and sound but mine is still out there.  We were assured it would be here tonight or tomorrow (yeah, I've heard that before!) so until then, I wear my little Italian sundress and hope that it doesn't rain again!

We are going to see if we need reservations for dinner tonight and wander around the villa grounds.  I will keep you posted as the luggage saga continues!

Ciao!!!