Monthly Archives: October 2011

Autumn in Tuscany

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Spending Autumn in Tuscany was not something we were particularly looking forward to.  After the heat of summer the thought of going from the mandatory shorts and sandals to Autumn’s jeans, shoes and socks filled us with loathing.

But Autumn has been a pleasant surprise.  The weather is settled and the days are warm.  It’s an ideal temperature for getting out and seeing things.  Mornings are crisp and sometimes misty but the day warms up enought for an al fresco lunch and a gelato in the afternoon which can be eaten before it melts – something simply not possible in the height of summer.

The countryside has taken on a yellow and orange hue as the trees prepare for winter and the days have got noticeably shorter.  All this has meant is a new and exciting series of sunsets to capture on film.

Autumn sunset

Tuscany in three and a half days

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Arch in Monteriggioni overlooking Tuscan countryside

Gentle readers, you may have noticed a brief pause in posts to toscanakiwi.  We have had visitors from home staying at our place and have taken the last few days to show them some of Tuscany.

We have revisited some places we went with others and explored some places that are new.  Old favourites like San Gimignano have impressed and new places like Monteriggioni have surprised.

Autumn is an ideal time to sightsee as the days are still warm, but not too hot. In summer you sit in the shade at cafes avoiding the sun, but in Autumn you sit in the sun and savour the last of the good weather.

Pictures and stories of our travels will be added over the next few days.

For sale – requires some work, excellent DIY project

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Just up the road from us there is a villa (well what was once a villa) which commands a great view of the area and, in it’s day would have been a grand place to live.

It has an internal courtyard and part of a roof.  As with many old villas it has no real foundations so would require a rebuild from the ground up.  But, given the laws around older villas, you couldn’t change the design during the renovation – or even add in any doors or windows that aren’t already part of the structure.

This type of property, as is, on a couple of acres of land around here – about €500k.  Any takers?

I Mondiali di Rugby – going nero

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It’s the business end of the Rugby World Cup and, even in this distant corner of Tuscany, we are feeling the excitement. And we’ll be up early again this coming weekend and heading into Siena to watch the quarter finals and support the All Blacks.

To show our support for the All Blacks, for the next two weeks Toscanakiwi is going black. Well parts of it anyway.

Go the All Blacks.

Visitors from home

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Next week we have visitors. Friends from New Zealand are dropping by our place as part of a mixed holiday/business trip to Europe. Isabel and Charlie live in Melbourne but have spent the last couple of weeks travelling from Paris south and we are expecting them to arrive on the 8th. Isabel has a conference to attend in Parma (home of the famous ham) on October 12 so we will have a couple of days to show them the best of Tuscany.

Tuscany in three and a half days. Where do we start?

Steve Jobs – Visionary

Aside

Those of you who know me know that I am a huge Apple fan.  This blog is written on a MacBook Pro and often updated via iPad or iPod.  I am even a (very small) shareholder in the company.

Steve Jobs, 1955 - 2011

Steve Jobs, 1955 - 2011

I have watched Steve Jobs keynote addresses for years as he has introduced amazing products that have changed what we do and the way we do things.

Although his passing wasn’t a surprise as his health has been deteriorating over the last few years, it is still a shock.  And a huge loss.

Last of the summer wine

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As summer turns to autumn, every week there are less and less visitors staying at our place. The days are still fine, sunny and hot – unusual weather the locals say.

From the height of the season when there would be kids, adults and inflatable toys everywhere around the pool, today there was just us. Bliss.

Washday in Siena

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Despite all the advances in the modern home, some things are still best done in the old way.

Clearly very few apartments in Siena have dryers so Saturday mornings the streets are lined with laundry.

Given this washing is hanging over a major road out of Siena I guess nothing says clean and fresh like the lingering odour of “Eau de Two Stroke”.

The terror of a hairdresser who speaks no English

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It’s one of those things that needs to be done – haircuts in foreign languages. It’s simple for a guy – you nip into Siena, find someone who cuts hair, gesture for a bit off the sides and a bit less off the top, “grazie mille” and you’re gone.

For girls it’s a bit different. Particularly if colour is involved and the way you’re going to look for the next month or two is at stake.

Jean faced this situation recently and with some trepidation entered the small salon we pass on the way to language school to make an appointment. The hairdresser, a young Italian guy, spoke no real english but was helpful and seemed to know what needed to be done. All good so far.

New hair and new sandals as well

As the appointment was made to follow one of the All Black RWC games, Jean left me sitting having a quiet, post game drink (not to be confused with the pre game drinks or the inter game drinks) and estimated, based on past experience, that the whole operation would take about 90 minutes. She would text me when things were getting close.

No problems, I’d just sit and watch the world go by. Maybe do a little window shopping. Maybe not. “Anchi birra per favoure”.

Ninety minutes later – no text. Two hours – no text. Two hours and 20 mins – no text. To put it another way – that’s about 8 beers and, needless to say, by this stage I was feeling pretty good about life. My main concern, in fact my only concern, was whether or not I would be able to stand up.

To test this, a walk to the salon was in order to check Jean hasn’t been abducted, murdered, or worse, things have gone horribly wrong and she’s sitting there with red or green hair or even worse, no hair.

As I stagger through the door Jean seems calm and relaxed and, more importantly still has hair. The process is progressing but progressing very slowly. The hairdresser is a perfectionist – no an artist and it seems I have another 40 minutes to fill. I wonder how I”ll do that?

Fourty minutes later all is well, Jean looks great, every single hair is in place and perfectly cut, dried and styled. Just the look to be dragging a drunk through the streets of Siena on the way home.