06.06.10

Our first full day began bright and early at the gorgeous hilltop town of Pienza.  We stumbled across some type of religious festival that involved covering every street in fresh flowers and parading the children into the cathedral.  It was fun to just sit in the square and watch the town get ready.  After grabbing a bite with a view, we headed off on what we thought was a 1.5-2-hour walk through the countryside.  

What turned out to be a very hot 3-hour walk took us past tractors, hay bales, churches, and abandoned villas.  We found one church that was straight out of the Da Vinci Code and (against my better judgment) followed some strange man with a flashlight down into the dark hole on the right of this photo.  Dad thought it made a cool wine cellar but it felt more to me like where they would lock the kids that played hang-man and Mash during Sunday service!  

We had plans to go wine tasting but, considering we were ridiculously sweaty (some might even say smelly), we went back to the casa and swam the afternoon away.   Dad and David made another delicious dinner of sausage, tagliatelle, and veggies and we were all tucked in bed by 10:00.