As many of you probably know by now, my wife is a successful blogger (Mommy Hiker) and she also is the founder of the wonderful Outline Families Magazine. She has a worldwide following and this international online community allowed us to connect with many different families from different cultures in the world.
One of such families are the de Blasis, who has a small farm, Podere I Lastri, an hour out of Florence: . When they learned we were about to travel to Italy last November, they contacted my wife and invited us over. My wife had a wonderful article about this trip already and I'm going to link you to that article instead of writing one here as she is a much better writer than I am. She also used my photographs on her article, so here, this week, I will choose a few of my favorites that were not used on the magazine.
First, a few favorites of the award-winning winery Paola is managing: I Veroni.
Then, I would like to go Vivi-crazy a bit. Duccio took us for a wonderful hike in the vineyard and Vivienne got to ride a donkey for the first time. The friendly donkey's name is Sharon. The first contact with the donkeys...
The process where the donkey and the rider get to familiarize with each other. A trust is built quickly and the "partners" understand the boundaries...
So, somebody got incredibly happy and excited...
And Sharon did an amazing job. If there is one donkey in the world I would trust to carry my daughter, that would be Sharon!
The evening of our arrival, following the lovely hike, I had one of the best dinners of my life, in that house on the background of the pictures below.
We had a traditional (and delicious!) farmer's meal with a fantastic wine pairing courtesy of I Veroni. Duccio made sure that Vivienne had a chance to help making the focaccia bread made with the flour milled at de Blasi's farm and herbs from the yard outside the lovely house we stayed in.
"Dede" was lost in his little princess' eyes....
Our daughter Vivienne and the hosts' daughter Mariasole, without speaking each other's language, had a tremendously fun night. They painted. They ran around playing tag. They both reminded us how simple it really is. How we should all be able to get along.
If you are intrigued and interested in I Veroni and its Agriturismo branch (spending a week at the vineyard's house, having wine tastings, photography workshops and the same dinner along hikes and sightseeing tours), please contact me.
This was an amazing third leg of an amazing family trip. A blog entry about the fourth and final leg will take place soon. Thank you for reading!