Santo Stefano

Santo Stefano is a beautiful vineyard in Tuscany. We rented a little Renault convertible and took a day trip from Florence (Firenze) to Siena.

I learned three things that day:

1) Siena is amazing and I need to go back to experience the Palio di Siena (if anybody out there can hook me up, please let me know!)

2) Vineyards in Tuscany don't have giant "VINEYARD" signs out front — at least they didn't back when we went. Instead, they have a hand-painted sign of a rooster. So, if you are driving through Tuscany looking for a nice vineyard to visit, go to the places advertising roosters and you'll be good to go. Wait for a "Vineyard" sign and you might miss all the good stuff!

3) Regular people aren't allowed to drive on a lot of the streets in the historic district (pretty much all) of Florence. You can get in but you're going to have a hard time getting out as you back your car hundreds of feet down alleys lined with Vespas and motorcycles. Don't ask how I know.

Wine After Work

Go to a park in the United States and you're likely to find some empty beer cans down by the river. Go to a park in Paris — make that the park in Paris — and you find half-full bottles of wine sitting at the feet of famed statues. I'm not sure if this was the result of a 3-bottle picnic lunch that just couldn't be finished or if something more sinister was going on. What if it was an offering to the statue? I think this warrants a little more research...

This photograph was captured with a Nikon D90.