Another Tuscan Holiday Fades to Memory

It is a universally acknowledged truth that time speeds or slows in direct proportion to the amount you're enjoying yourself. Thus I remember one algebra test of my youth that lasted at least three days. And thus last week's long-anticipated holiday to Italy seemed to take about two hours. The nicely browned colour of my skin and the dent in my debit card both reliably inform me that I've been gone for a week. But the brain is reluctant to grasp that reality.

We returned to our favourite rental spot, the Villa Pandolfini, for the fifth time and after a break of two years. That set the tone for the whole trip. A return to reliable highlights from past visits, taken at a relaxed pace and interwoven with a lot of pool time. This is one of the glories of having visited a place many times; the need to see the sights falls away, allowing you to just bask in the atmosphere of the place.

We took in a bit of culture. It's impossible not to, when you're living in a 14th century villa, a wander through any town takes you past remarkable architecture and a pop into any church brings you face-to-face with Giotto, Lippi, Della Robbia, etc. But we didn't purposely seek anything out. We left the Uffizzi, the Accademia and speed touring through hill towns to the other tourists. The aggressive culture hunters were there in force. I haven't seen so many American tourists, in fact, since before 9/11.

Beyond the pool, our focus ended up on gentle wandering (two trips to Florence, one to Siena, one to Greve in Chianti, a stroll through the ceramics festival at Montelupo), shopping and dining. I'll provide separate posts on the latter two activities in coming days, with some specifics future visitors may want to note.

Now, the work email box and a busy week of conference calls and meetings looms before me. It will, no doubt, take about a month.