Italy - Tuscany Snow

I have been lucky enough to visit Italy a couple times before in my life.. Rome, Naples, Genoa, Pisa and Florence.  They are all amazing and worth seeing again and again!  But nobody has ever said to me, "Sherri, if you go to Italy, you must visit Assisi."  This is something I feel I need to say to you or anybody who wanted to know.. First, it's an absolute must to visit the amazing cities above and more, but if you can swing the extra time, please visit Assisi.. it truly is a little gem and has earned a spot on my "places to return to someday" list. Okay, I feel better now that I've got that off my chest.

SO.....Now I'm in Tuscany!

Sunset photo prior to snow arrival!

How did I get here? Well a reminder from posts prior, I was feeling the need to make a choice for my northern hemisphere winter.  There were 2 options for me. One, and most common solution is to head toward the equator. From my position, that meant riding down to Africa. Or two, stop for the winter.  I chose #2.  There seems to be a lot of distress in northern Africa that I wasn't real keen to ride into alone.  As my computer was still away for repairs in Austria, I did a lot of research via my iphone while in Croatia.. and I found an opportunity to stay at a home in Tuscany for the entire winter!!  It was the biggest blessing and solid answer to my question.. so here I am.

It has also been an ideal opportunity for me to have a bit of a rest after a very crazy full on year. The entire year 2010 was manic, with the first 6 months working crazily at preparing myself, my home, my work and bike..as well as visas, routes, total massive planning.. And then the second half of the year, has been a heck of a lot of traveling.  Hence, I truly needed a break. I can not tell you how pleased I am to have a kitchen to cook my own food!!  I can wash my clothes any time I want!! (still only 2 pairs of clothes, but at least they are clean!)  I am not in the city, so I enjoy the country lifestyle in the Tuscan hills, big long walks in the woods, birds, grape vines, fresh air, the best dog that came with the house and did I mention Chianti wine!??  And I should also mention only 20 minutes from Florence when I need a cultural fix.  But the biggest goal was to get my computer back after 8 weeks and start the long process of catching up on my photos and blog.. big job, but I'm getting there.. It's interesting that I have been using computers for years now and still haven't reached "whiz" status.. a rather slow process.

While staying here amongst the Italian winter season, I won't be riding the motorcycle much.. I have had some great days out and the next couple of blog posts will be mainly photos of my life here.. As I type this, there are only two weeks before I am back on my motorcycle full time to Bosnia, Montenegro, Albania, Greece, Turkey and beyond....  

Looks like my writing today has taken the long curvy road to get started ... sorry! 

Shortly after my arrival to Tuscany, I got to experience the biggest most beautiful winter snow!!  

My neighbor tells me that I am so lucky to see this, a very rare occurrence in this part of Italy.  It must be true, because the community was at a stand still, not able to deal with plowing the roads, ice, etc.  Everything shut down for 4 days!

But who's complaining, it's too darn pretty.

Out for a walk around, what a unique experience, this is so cool...

Color change.. photos below taken at different time of day..

Somebody loves the snow as much as I do!!  Very happy girl. She looks like my very own polar bear..

Day two.. some early morning fog and then comes the sun.. yay!

The driveway

Olives

So cold, but the bike starts right up every time!  

Such a beautiful Tuscan landscape.... classic.

Waiting patiently for another walk.. okay okay!!

Olive trees

Un altro giorno bello d'Italia, Buonasera...