Ed and Annette's Excellent European Adventure: Under the Tuscan sun ! ! !

We left the magnificent Republic of San Marino and headed off to Tuscany to the town of Cortona. I checked the map while we had WiFi and diligently mapped the street/highway numbers but who knew Italy roads don't post the numbers on the roads! I had to do some real seat of the pants navigation but we did get to our destination. We took the more historic (crazy winding route) highway: luckily Annette was patient. We did see some marvelous and beautiful countryside. A few cows too!

Arriving at Cortona, another impressive hill top town, we wound our way toward the city center and to our hotel. We located the hotel and checked in without issue. Our room however was not what we expected, they said the hotel was full and this was the only room. It is a very large room with three beds, a dance hall and a nice size bath; we could accommodate several more friends here. If only we had known....

We went out to the old town area and were greeted with a beautiful long ancient road with shops along the way to a very large piazza. It was awesome to see local kids playing ball, little old people sitting and watching, and lots of tourists milling about. We got a glass of wine and joined in on the fun. Then we walked just 100k to another piazza where there was a medieval festival being held. Lots of folks in costume of the era and booths set up to sell wares, food and drink.

We walked to the edge of the city to see about watching the sunset and found ourselves in the residents living areas. Tucked into neat little stone houses along the wall people go about their daily life as though all us gawking tourist were not even here. Lots of pictures later we headed back to the festival for a quick sausage sandwich and a glass of wine.

Ed has done an excellent job on our trip blogging our travels. Men tend to give the facts but today I had to express the feeling. I've been impressed by many cities for their history, architecture, beauty and beyond but Cortona gave me a feeling that I have never experienced before. How do you adequately express feelings of a quant city in a blog? I guess its not about the city but the people - old men with worn faces shooting the breeze day in and day out, old women walking up the cobbled street dressed "for church" on a weekday, an old woman with her big tummy covered by an well-worn apron standing in front of her modest home, with an amazing view, talking with her neighbor and having to turn sideways to get through her teeny front door, kids unsupervised running up and down the streets to play while calling out names and laughing - a time once known to our generation; I could go on and on to the sites of Cortona. I imagine that this is not unique to this beautiful city that hangs on the edge of a cliff but to the lifestyle of all Italian small towns. Can you imagine getting home from work and then going to the piazza to meet friends and neighbors to talk about your day? That's the "Mayberry" I long for.