Jade's Visit!

Another Friend Visits Florence!!

My friend from college, Jade, was able to make it to visit us in Italy. It was a little touchy there for a while because of the eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull Volcano in Iceland. Many airports were completely shut-down, so flying within Northern Europe was impossible. Thankfully, the ash cleared up enough and Jade's flight from Minneapolis to Paris went fine. Then it got tricky... All of the flights from Paris to Florence were cancelled, so she was rerouted to Pisa at night. The last train from Pisa to Florence left at 10:20 pm and Jade landed at 10:25... so we missed the train and the bus wasn't running. Augh! Thankfully a wonderful guy from J's soccer league came to pick us up. Grazie Giovanni!

We started Jade's visit with an awesome ATV/Quad Wine Tour. It was a complete blast!! I had never been on an ATV before, I think I am now addicted. It was like driving a little toy that could go on any surface. Here we are getting ready to take off!!

We drove our ATVs through the Tuscan countryside. Some of the roads were tame like this one, but our guide literally took us off the "beaten path." A couple parts were really hard! We were on uneven paths racing through deep puddles of water and mud... it was awesome!

I couldn't stop smiling - even when dust was flying into my mouth.

It was a beautiful day also!

Here we are in front of a "really old" fountain. (Our guide knew a lot about ATV's but not much else... haha)

We asked him to take a nice picture with the beautiful Tuscan scenery in the background and this is what we got... oh well, it is a cute picture!

FUN TIMES!

We went to San Gimignano - a small medieval Tuscan village known for the towers.

Pretty.

Our guide surprised us with award winning gelato. It was yummy!

Our guide Niccolo, he was great!

Then onto the vineyard. This was a small, family run operation. It was a beautiful vineyard and a great experience!

What a spread of food and wine!

We walked up to Piazza Michelangelo. It was an beautiful day, so we got some great pictures!

Limoncello!

In our tiny elevator.

Jade, thanks so much for visiting us. We enjoyed showing you our life here! What fun memories we have made!