roadtrip #2 to be under the tuscan sun

last weekend, i, along with 6 other teachers from school embarked upon what would become an incredibly eventful, yet relaxing, weekend roadtrip to tuscany.  check out flat olive's adventures with us!

after our half-day with students and an afternoon filled with professional development, we piled into two rented cars ready to caravan our way the 5-6ish hours it would take us to reach our destination of cortona (the setting of the novel and movie Under the Tuscan Sun.)

some photos from the road: 

emerging fall colors in bella italia

standard sunset shot - gorgeous

i'm pretty sure that is some sort of meteor/shooting star? it's definitely not a plane, as it is absent from every single other picture that i took within the minute that this was taken

more gorgeous sunset colors as we pass padova

after numerous hours of leading the way - making sure we didn't lose the second car by implementing a double-break-tap with responding headlight-flash system of communication - we took an exit, went through some tunnels and did not see the other car.  after numerous attempts to communicate with other vehicles through our break-tap system, we got a phone call. 

"uhhh, we ran out of gas."

huh. well. this should be fun. 

now, this has never happened to me in the united states. and if it were to happen to me in the united states, i would have NO idea what to do. BUT now! i DO know what to do in italy! 

we somehow convinced a little man to give us a jug of gas (although we are unsure as to how legal this actually was), avoided getting a ride with some questionable truck drivers, made numerous u-turns (the legality of which we are also unsure), and then found our friends in a roadside SOS with a reflective vest hanging out the window. 

although we had already begun, they were not quite ready to laugh about it yet. but HEY! remember that time that B and A had to push a car down the A1? 

SO, after about 8 hours, we finally made it to the quaint, tuscan hillside town of cortona. 

our weekend was the busiest, yet most relaxed, weekend i have had yet here in italy.  we did everything there was to do in cortona but, being a town made up of only two piazzas, that didn't take very long.  there was also plenty of time for relaxed coffee drinking, reading and wine tastings.

K in an art gallery we found on saturday.  the space was incredible - vaulted ceilings, exposed brick, a sand floor. and the artist, katarina ring, splits her time between lucca (also in tuscany) and zambia. 

we walked through the park on our way to hike up the mountain.  although the leaves aren't (yet?) changing to the beautiful reds and oranges that i'm used to in virginia during the fall, the bright yellows were refreshing on a dreary day.

what a beautiful spot for a wedding!

mmmmmmmmmm, wine tasting

sesti, the bottle in the middle, is a totally organic winery in montalcino.  they don't bring in anything from the outside for production, EVERYTHING involved in the wine production process is grown/raised/produced on the vineyard property. AND the brunello was delish. 

we bought a lot. 

the cutest little cafe ever! with illy coffee! and a little light reading.

being nostalgic to a fault came into play when we stumbled upon this little gem of a cafe.  the fact that they served illy coffee was so exciting! despite loving everything about tuscany, illy coffee (which is produced in trieste) is just better.  being able to get some while traveling was like a little slice of comfort from home.  it was refreshing to realize that there are some parts of trieste that i already do miss when i'm away.

commence nighttime...

lemon drops! the lion's well specialty. there's a sugar cube on top of the lemon wedge that they set on fire --- after the flame went out, you dropped the cube into the liquid and the resulting flavor was better than candy.

KARAOKE! thought of you, seeeeester.

K, my partner in obsessing over toscana

wooooo disco ball!

aaaaaaaaaand the best sandwich in the world. it's better than bel-air with take it away house dressing AND anything from continental divide mixed together. fresh pesto, mozzerella, artichoke hearts and sundried tomatoes on focaccia bread with sea salt.

after an accidental detour toward milano and multiple more questionable u-turns, we made it back to trieste on sunday.  when we were driving through the city, the wind almost blew us off of the road and it started raining. welcome home? i think it's a sign i should have never left toscana...

xx!