Tuscan Treasure

There were four of us that ventured out from our small town in Wisconsin in the USA. Not too brave, but brave enough. We went via Chicago to Florence. Now you may want me to get to the heart of the matter, but in this case the journey is the story. You see, we did not rent a car. Did I mention that we are all senior citizens? We landed in Florence, gathered our luggage. We found the Volainbus. That is a bus that goes to the train station. The Santa Maria Novella train station. Oh my. It seemed so large and confusing, but we managed to buy our tickets to Siena. We validated our tickets, loaded our luggage on the train and we were off! Ok, I thought, we can do this. We each had one piece of carry on luggage with wheels. Thank heavens for wheels. The train ride was wonderful and we all sat quietly watching the passing countryside. Once in Siena, we bought tickets for Singalunga. Although I was tired, I was so excited. Almost there.
Singalunga was all we hoped for. We stayed at Fonte Del Castagno. The pictures on Easy Reserve were so exacting. Except, it was much prettier in person. Here we were, in the middle of a Tuscan hill town, surrounded by gardens with flowers and palm trees. The view from the villa looked down over the country. I took many pictures of sunrises and the moon over Tuscany. We were enchanted. Our villa has two bedrooms, each with ensuite bathrooms, large kitchen, private patio, pool - again, splendid. Ideal for two couples. This small town had everything - restaurants, giolotto shops, coffee shop, pastry shop and more. Market days were lively, people talking, laughing, sharing treats they had bought. The quiet piazza became a bustling joy of shopping, visiting and eating. I bought fresh vegetables, herbs, pasta and we made meals to remember. And wine, local wines were so good.
We walked down ( the one picture is the hill we went up and down) to the train station and went to Arezzo, Poppi, Siena - to name a few places. The trains were comfortable and clean. We meet many fellow travelers and native Italians. I have learned some basic Italian and everyone was so nice. It was an experience that is hard to describe, but every time we walked into a church or piazza, something overcomes me. Thousands of people and years have gone and here I stand. I can hear and feel history all around me. I never want to leave. But of course, we went home. We will be back in Singalunga again this fall. We have booked again through Easy Reserve for the same villa. I will keep coming back as long as I can. Under the Tuscan sun is perfection.