Well we did make it to the Villa we were staying in but I am posting form Rome due to some Internet difficulties. The drive out of Florence and into Chianti was absolutely gorgeous as evidenced by the pictures below. L Rizzy was not enjoying his car seat at first but soon returned to his old familiar role: sleeping in the car seat. We stopped at Vignamaggio to look around which is allegedly where the woman who was painted in the Mona Lisa was born (widely disputed). We then drove onto Castellina in Chianti and checked into Locande Le Piazze. It was a gorgeous old Villa that now serves as a hotel. There were great views and amazing smells from the fields of olive and grape trees. We went back into town and had a delicious lunch sitting outside and bought some Chianti wine as well as some bagged herb rubs for cooking. We enjoyed walking around town and enjoying the people and views. The owner of the Villa made dinner reservations for us at the Villa on the next hill over from ours at 7 PM so we went back to the hotel to rest up. During this time there was storms and lighting on all sides of us which made for some great entertainment.
It was raining when we left for dinner so we drove over to the next hill. We were warmly greeted and seated. L Mama was reading her menu when she looked outside and saw the name of the restaurant: Olive Garden. The logo and sign were exact the same. We looked in the menu and this is the restaurant that the Olive Garden "chefs" come to learn how to cook in the Culinary Institute. Quite amazing really! The food was excellent but we were disappointed that there were no bread sticks and unlimited salad.
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