Seaside, in Tuscany??...

We knew we were alive because the sun rose, and it woke us up. Good God if that searing orb hadn't penetrated our sleep, who knows... we could still be in Montalcino sleeping our lives away... As it was, woke up with the sun, son!

:/

At breakfast we were trying to decide what to do for the day. I had kicked around the idea of going to the coast. But Susan was concerned that it was a bit far of a drive and I might get tired. So we decided to hit a local Brunello winery. We found Foglio was open for drop in tastings. The grounds of this winery was of course, beautiful and immaculate. We were given a 90 seconds glimpse (not tour) of the cellar, then we were ushered to the tasting room, where we were the only 2 people with the pourer.  I chose a 5 varietals flight, somehow charged for the 6 varietals flight. When I pointed this out, there was mass confusion from the pouer, and she was going to "make it up" to me somehow. I'm still waiting...

The wine was meh... In our short time in Tuscany I've had much much better. But hey, it was about the experience, right? and the still awaiting "make up" ;-)

After the tasting, we walked the grounds, then I decided to go to the coast anyway. It was a gorgeous day, not too hot, and Susan did not have to be persuaded very hard. We headed West.

We set our Google map direction for Marina di Grosetto. The drive was fast and didn't take as long as we had thought...Soon we saw street signs of waves and could smell the ocean. We found a place to park, which was about a hundred miles from the sand, but \S said we should just be happy we found a spot, got out and walked.

Sounds like her?

We were ready for lunch. Bumping around asking a few people and places. We found a lovely seaside restaurant right on the sand.The breeze was lovely, the view was good, there were 8 year old Italian boys playing soccer on the side. They were as good as high school varsity kids here... We ordered shrimp cocktail, and I had grilled octopus, a Mediterranean specialty.

The shrimp cocktail was a disaster. Everything was drenched in an indefinable sauce, that was like mayonnaise. I hate and am allergic to mayonnaise.  Even S was overwhelmed by this sauce. But she was game. We knew she would be... I used all the available napkins (there were few...) to wipe the sauce off and salvage the shrimps. Ummm... a little bit of a downer to start.

My octopus was great. Cooked well with great texture and taste. The fries we ordered with it did not come until we were done. But we were not to let a little lunch mishap let us down. We walked out onto the sand toward the ocean.

Then we felt at peace. Those who know me know I love the ocean. I was in my element. Not many were swimming, as the water was not warm enough. But there were tons of tanned European sunbathing to get even more crisp. For a dark skinned guy, I can't understand this. Their enjoyment and love of it made me happy though...

We'd never thought that we would get to see the ocean on this trip. It was a cherry on the cake for us. We loved the day.