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| Buzz and Lori's Villa, outside Panzano |
Buzz and Lori
were with me exactly 24 hours before they jumped into their rented car and
drove south for a week in Tuscany. Their
villa was just outside a town called Panzano
– deep in the heart of Chianti country, and they invited me to join them for
their final day/night to celebrate Lori’s birthday. How could I say no? Actually, I could not say no!
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| Buzz and Lori, in Montepulciano |
So, I boarded a
SITA bus one Friday morning and an hour later, I was in Panzano, having a
cappuccino at a cute little bar and getting an insider tour of the
village. The destination for Lori’s
birthday lunch was La Grotta in Montepulciano, a 2-hour drive south of
Panzano. Buzz drove; Lori navigated, and
I sat in the back seat enjoying the beautiful countryside roll by. Good thing I don’t get car sick ‘cause there
were almost no straight parts on any of the roads we took!
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| Buzz and the birthday girl! |
The birthday
lunch was very nice, and La Grotta
sits outside the walls of Montepulciano beside a beautiful church called San Biagio. We sat in the garden and fêted
Lori on her special day. After eating
the most scrumptious deserts, we walked up the hill and into town, which was
surprisingly quiet for a Friday afternoon at 16:00hrs. It was nice to re-visit Montepulciano after
about 17 years, and like most things here – it hasn’t changed much.
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| Admiring the view in Montepulciano |
We headed back to
Panzano taking the A1 autostrada, and
it was not long before I was napping in the back seat. We had a simple dinner and an early night,
and left the next morning for Firenze.
On our way, we stopped in Greve-in-Chianti to shop the local market (Saturday’s market
day) and buy dinner. It was a quick trip into the beautiful Tuscan
countryside, and just the beginning of Buzz and Lori’s visit with me.
