Pioggia e piu pioggia!

If we were missing England, then the weather overnight and for most of the day today would have put paid to any homesickness!

At 9am this morning, I dropped our apartment guests to the train station in Pescia as they were planning to take a ride to Florence where they had booked a hotel for an overnight stay so as not to feel they had to rush their visit. We dearly hope they had at least some dry spells that bit further south, and if so they would actually probably have had a better time of it than in the stifling heat that you often find in the cities in the height of summer. Either way though, the weather is no obstacle to enjoying Florence's beautiful architecture, views, fountains, sculptures, its duomo and museums.

Once the rain had started late last night, it seemed to continue, uninterrupted, at the same steady pace all night long. Helen ventured outside for some running around at about 6.45am, and while the rain was light to start off with, it soon worsened and she came back in soaked to the skin after having stuck it out for a full 50 minutes. The rain then didn't really show any signs of letting up until midday.

We had a very slow morning, with Ben preparing all the veg for a very large pot of Tuscan-style ragu, and chose to stay indoors for lunch as things were rather damp outdoors, so we had our usual spread of meats, cheese, tomatoes, bread and eggs at the dining table indoors - the first time we've dined at the indoor dining table since we arrived! 

The locals do seem very bemused by the amount of rain we've had this month - for us British folk it still seems like it has been a positively lovely month of weather, but here, more than a single day of rain in July is unusual, so the locals consider this to have been a terrible summer, weather wise, so far. 

Once lunch had been despatched, the Smith clan decided to have our first board game session: two games of Scrabble and a game of 'The settlers of Catan'. Kerys won both games of scrabble and Ben claimed the Catan crown.

Our afternoon flew by, and at around 5.30pm the sun was starting to make brief appearances, so we decided to call time on the games and head out to stretch our legs. Helen was more than happy to punch her time card at this point and come out with us, so we all hopped into the "182 bus" and drove out to Montecarlo, a beautiful little hill town about 20 minutes from here - one of our favourite haunts. 

We had a slow walk around, taking in the views from each side of the town, before settling at a table in the main street for some local Montecarlo wine and a bowl of nuts.

The Smiths.

Porta Nuova.

Looking towards Pescia and our valley. You can just about pick out Vellano in the sunshine.

Looking towards Montecatini. All the flat white structures are the polytunnels of all the local nurseries growing olives and flowers.

Porta Fiorentina.

Montecarlo street.

Montecarlo church tower.

The old fortress.

The old fortress.

Looking stunning in the sunshine against the grey sky.

A couple of drinks later, with everyone completely relaxed and the church bells above us ringing out for 8 o'clock, we ambled back to the car and headed home for another glass of wine and bowls of pasta with heaps of home-made Tuscan ragu.