Italy......

 We arrive in Tuscany - our farmhouse for the week just outside Siena (10 km).  My director at work just so happens to have a house in Tuscany and was gracious enough to let us stay there.  The rented car for the week maneuvered us around the villages and got us to where we wanted to be!  There seemed to be a lot of these cars on the road - mostly racing by us until we figured out the roads.

Looking out of the walls of Siena... beautiful greenery all around the city.  A rare sight here - not seeing vineyards lining the hills.

Our first Wine Tour and tasting in Tuscany, Montachino.  Also known for their Brunello wines.  We tasted several in this area...

The Olive Groves were plentiful.  There would be rows and rows (a long with the grape vines) of Olive trees.  I learned their Olive season in mostly November - December.  Which works out great for the farmers who mostly also harvest wine grapes, which is Sept - Oct so most farmers have both wine and Olive trees.

Florence, Italy - a larger city than most of the villages we visited.  Lot's of museums and lots to see and do here in this big city.

 One of the many beautiful church's... I liked this one particularly because it captures the large fluffy white clouds and deep blue sky.

 Back to Siena for the day - a crazy windy confusing large village where we would get lost in most of all the times we visited (Siena was the closest village to us).

Rome!  There are too many great sites here to present....  what a great city
with lot's of character and energy.  By the way, as the saying goes, 'all roads
lead to Rome' is true (well when you are in Italy) and 'When in Rome' applies...