Another lazy start. (It’s a vacation, remember?) We roll out of the borgo about noonish headed for Greve and lunch. We sit outside at one of those little roadside places that somehow get away with putting their portable fences partway past the curb and annexing part of the actual road for their al fresco dining area. We are not IN the street, but pretty darned close. Catrina at Borgo di Sugame recommends this place so we give it a shot. There is a small quick waiter for beverages and table settings and a tall, pierced, gaunt waiter with the voice (and demeanor) of Lurch from the Adams Family for food. The food is quite good and the place is oddly entertaining. AND, the toilets have seats! Double bonus!

We wander around Greve for the first time (though we’ve driven through it at least 3 times) We check out the church, we stop into some shops ($625 antique cork screw?) and pose with the plywood polizia.

We sent some post cards. Note to all of you looking for post cards. A post card costs about 1 euro ($1.27) Stamps to send a post card to the US cost 1.60 euro ($2.03)… sending a post card to the US costs about $3.30 each. We’re not sending a lot of post cards. Deal.

 Off then to Radda. How do we pick what towns we are going to visit you ask? Well, that’s easy. Donna picks them. Maybe someone tells us about it or D. comes across it in a book or it’s just not too far from where we are at the moment. Easy. Radda turns out to be a charming, tiny hill town with 1 church (rare) a bunch of tourist shops, a strange little shoe shop, a hardware and a couple of coffee shops. We wander the town till we’ve seen just about every street. (less than an hour). There are many lovely corners and doorways, tiny little alleys and a very nice little central piazza with a cool fountain.

Here we find our first gatto. There seems to be an odd scarcity of cats in Italy this year. .

After a bit of espresso therapy we reform the parade and take off for home.

A “quick” stop at the Coop (grocery) for the evening’s dinner fixins get’s us home at about 7:45pm, just in time to fire up the grill. Pork tenderloin chops with lemon and rosemary, and zuccini on the grill, roasted asparagus and fried pototatoes… with a drop or two of the house wine, mmmm…

A third 4 legged furry resident of the borgo makes her appearance while we are out grilling. Missy the cat checks us out, accepts her adoration and moves on up the path on whatever cat business a cat in Tuscany might have. We end with a little lemon sorbeto and chalk up another day as well lived.