Day 2 in Italy: Tuesday, October 21st

             This morning I woke up in Volpaia at the house we are staying at. The house sits on the property of an old castle located on the top of a hill.  The whole little town, if it can be called that, is incredible.  No picture can do it justice, although I tried.  We all woke up and walked to the little cafe near our house and had cappuccinos and some delicious apple cake.  In the process of doing so, my Grandpa introduced us to a man he had met earlier that morning when he got to the cafe before all of us.  The man’s name was Robert.  Robert is from Seattle, Washington and he has been to Volpaia about 11 times.  It is one of his favorited places on earth.  He loves it so much that he wrote a book about it including some of the people from here.  He also has an incredible talent for singing.  After breakfast he took us across the street to the church to give us a 3 minute private concert. He chose the church because he wanted us to get the full experience of his voice with the echoes from the building.  He was a fantastic singer.  Oh, and did I mention that Robert is 84 years old?  

Robert and my Grandpa

             After exploring Volpaia for a little bit we drove about 45 minutes to another breathtaking castle.  When we were there we shopped around for a little and had lunch at a place a friend of ours had recommended.  After our delicious meal we drove to Siena.  At around 7 we decided to go to a restaurant that our housekeeper had recommended to us.  However, after driving for an hour we all gave up and decided to just drive back to Volpaia and eat bread, cheese, salami, and fruit…… for the second night in a row.  

-Emma