Driver Extraordinaire In The Hills Of Tuscany

Lucy - What pops into your head when I mention the town named "Volterra". Yes campers Its New Moon all over & wouldn't you know it, Andrew with Gusband as his guide took me there today.

For those of you still not in the loop, this is a town in the Saga "TWILIGHT" the books by Stephanie Myer.

Our trusty trio hired a car & proceeded to take off into the wilderness (well not quite the wilderness, more like the hills outside Lucca). Off to the Volterra we went.

Holy shit, we're on the  wrong side of the road!!

Thank God we made it!

We had a nice wee look around 

Then onto lunch (as food is our favourite pastime)

I'm not sure what Gusband was up to at this point.....Lets try that again

Thats better.

We saw a model Tower Of Pisa 

Yes Campers, we couldn't resist!! (that's me, not Andrew wearing a bracelet)

The Volterra appears to be known for Alabaster artworks. I unfortunately am not really into alabaster, which I think is a good thing for Sawusband (No Purchases Today)

Just time for a few quick snaps, then our journey must continue.

Self Timer (can you believe I only just worked it out 2 weeks into our trip)I think it will be coming in useful for the tail end of our journey.

Ancient Ruins

 And so the journey must continue with Andrew our trusty driver behind the wheel and Gusband as his sidekick, while I played Mrs Snuffiluffigus in the back seat....
(Yes campers, Hayfever has reached crisis point)
There has been a lot of honking this trip & it has all come from the back seat!

Onto Sienna we go....

& of course we have another picture together now that I have found the self timer..

Well that's about it for Sienna, by the time found a park & a toilet it was time to navigate back to Lucca. A super day of adventure. Although I did hear Gusband mutter something along the lines of 

"Who would ever hire a car in a foreign country, they must be crazy"

We are all safe & well, ready for our next adventure. 

(sometimes it pays to sit in the back & enjoy the view)

Happy travels Campers!

Andrew - Yes the car driving was a tad stressful. What could really be stressful about driving on the other side of the road from the other side of the car, in a country where I cannot read the signs, I speak the language very poorly and to top it all off the map we had was very, very out-of-date! A well deserved gin and tonic at the end of that little adventure was very much in order.

Having never read or seen anything remotely Twilight related I was given a crash course in the whole Edward and Jacob saga by Lucy. Basically what I gleaned from this little information session was that the werewolf is hot and the girl in the book leapt out of the fountain we saw. Clearly I've missed something.

Where's Wally?

Gusband enjoying the view

We seemed to have missed a day in our blogging adventures.... Oh yes Florence. 

2nd day in a row for Lucy and Gusband due to their very generous offer to head there without me the day before so I wouldn't be forced to endure the shopping. Gusband told me I wasn't gay as I hate shopping and don't like trying things on when we get them home. Didn't feel the need to point out the bleeding obvious in this little statement.

So we did get some culture in Florence campers and I didn't even complain when there was a small amount of shopping to be had.

Gelato, gelato everywhere. Now not someone prone to eating sweet things, I felt it was my duty to have one in Florence. I picked out the cone I wanted and the gelato I wanted.... a massive scoop of chocolate if you don't mind, "And which other?" came from the scooper in question. Oh goody another scoop! I think I shall have affogato as well. He handed it over to me and like a dog I began to lick my rather impressive cone. Lucy chose the smallest cup and chose her gelato as well. Since we were busy eating now Gusband went inside to pay for the fat pigs on the street.

"QUANTO COSTA?" I heard Gusband's voice inside.... turns out INSIDE was where they keep the prices. Very smooth little rip-off operation this little shop had going. By the time you know the prices of what you had ordered you already had gelato from one side of you face to the other. Gusband had to smile at the cleverness of this little shop as he handed over the 22 EUROS! Lucy cranky, Andrew hysterical (and a little bit bloated.)

The world's most expensive gelato

So to recap campers, this little post includes Florence, Volterra, Sienna and a whole lot of gelato. For those of you who remember how terrified I was taking an 8 year old for a ride on a jet-ski at G & H's wedding extravaganza..... driving in Italy wasn't that bad but it was close. Clearly I am missing the thrill-seeker gene.

Ciao xx