Sunday, July 17, 2011

Tuscany: Pics and Commentary

This post has been a long time coming! For some reason I've just not been doing a lot of editing or photography stuff lately, so that's put me way behind on editing pictures from when my family was here visiting.

The first place we ventured to while my family was here was Tuscany. My Mom really wanted to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and although I've been there before, I didn't mind going back. Besides Tuscany we were planning on staying in Montalcino and then driving over to Montepulciano the next day before our return back to Northern Italy.

First up? The infamous Leaning Tower of Pisa!



Of course I had to get the holding up the Tower shot.



I know, I know...another shot of the Tower? I liked the angle on this one though.



This is inside the Duomo at Pisa. The ceiling (and the Duomo itself) were gorgeous!



It seems like whenever I go to a touristy location I always happen upon a couple who is getting married taking pictures there!


This is where we stayed outside Montalcino.  It was called Villa Le Prata and supposedly used to be a hunting lodge.  I thought it was a nice place, the owner spoke absolutley no English, so I had to get by on my limited Italian, but we made it work.  I was not a fan of the breakfast though. Italian breakfasts are normally pretty skimpy to begin with and this breakfast consisted of juice, coffee and a plate full of hard cookies. Not really my style.


Our plan for the second day was to see another hill town. Because we saw some of Montalcino the night before we decided to head on out towards Montepulciano with plans to stop and enjoy the typical Tuscan views on the way to Montepulciano via the town of Pienza.


This is looking back at the town of Montalcino


Hay harvest on the way to Pienza. This stretch of road had so many beautiful views


This ended up being one of my favorite pictures from the Tuscany trip. I just loved the fields, the sky and the old building. Such a typical Tuscan view.


Another scenic view on the way to Pienza. We were stopping A LOT to take pictures.


I've always wanted to get a picture of the amazing poppy fields around Italy and I had yet to catch them at a good time. Luckily for me, there were fields FULL of poppies on our drive and I got the chance to take many, many pictures of these lovely flowers.


This is in the town of Montepulciano. To be honest, I didn't take a lot of pictures while I was here. Sometimes I find the small Italian towns start looking repetative and I stop taking pictures. I know, I know....not a smart thing to do.


This is Montepulciano, I was a little disappointed that the clouds had started rolling in when we got here and so I didn't get any lovely, sunny shots. Montepulciano was a cute hill town. I think my favorite hill town is still Volterra, but if you're ever in the region you should check out Montepulciano as well.

Overall our trip to Tuscany was great. I got to see a few more towns, eat delish food and take some great pictures.

8 comments:

Lou said...

you are making me miss italy like noones business right now!!! ahhh

Mrs.Fisher said...

Hello fellow Army wife! I love the pictures! I hope we get stationed over there someday :)

Jessica Lynn said...

gorgeous as always :) Those few of Italy (the one where you said it was your favorite pic and the two above it, I think) would be gorgeous framed!

Abbie said...

your pictures of the field totally remind me of the movie gladiator! it's so hard for to me to imagine that places like this really exist!

Rosemary said...

You are incredibly talented! Your pictures are amazing. Going to Italy is on my bucket list, and seeing this post makes me want to start planning right now!!

Anonymous said...

These pictures are beautiful!

Anonymous said...

Gorgeous photos! I would love to take a trip back to Italy and just stay in the hill towns for a couple of weeks. I'm not used to taking relaxing international adventures, so it would be nice to have that change of pace ;)

Crazy Shenanigans-JMO said...

The photos look great!!