Tuscany- Day One

So after a lot of planning and anticipating, my Italy trip is here! I am here early in Rome with my daughter waiting for the rest of the family (14 other people) for our first week together in Tuscany.

The trip started off not so auspiciously with a cancelled flight- it turned out for the best as the airline put us on a direct flight to Rome instead of the initial one with a layover in Lisbon. My daughter and I got in quite early and since our hotel room was not ready, we decided to venture into the city. Although we were quite tired, we managed to walk around for a few hours, eating gelato.

Before we got to the city, we ate a delicious snack of salami panini and cappuccino at the airport. My daughter had her first doughnut of the day (she had two altogether) – they were all delicious!! The problem of not sleeping on the plane is that one is completely exhausted! We picked up some pizza, salad and wine to go and headed back to the hotel room. The Sangiovese was delicious and so was the pizza! The highlight was the simple salad made out of some greens, radicchio, a salted ricotta salata, olives and tomatoes. Packets of Modena balsamic vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper accompanied the salad. I dressed the salad and began eating. As I bit into a cherry tomato, I was taken aback by the most delicious, juicy and sweet- the most amazing tomato I have ever had! This salad was not from a fancy restaurant… goes to show how ingredient driven this cuisine is…I love it!!

It took us all day but we made it to the villa in Tuscany. Why did it take all day, you ask? Well, long story, but it includes rental car delay and meeting a childhood friend at the car rental office after twenty years. We got their 10 o’clock at night and ended the day with some delicious wine and cheese.