Exporing Italy: Day 4

On day 4, we woke up bright and early, ready to start really exploring Tuscany.  My FIL and OPA decided we should head South to a small village, Montepulciano. 

The drive was beautiful, but I was completely unprepared for the beauty I was about to discover. You see, Montepulciano sits 605 meters high on a ledge, so there are spectacular views from any edge of the city.   

Many of the old villages in Tuscany are old fortresses, and Montepulciano is no different.  Also, there is no commuter driving into the town because the roads are so narrow.  To enter the town, we had to walk through this huge entry way.

Here's the view when looking through the Arch entrance.  It's hard to see here, but the roads were very steep, so to get to the center of town, we had to walk UP.

Of course, I had to get a shot of my FIL, looking dashing.

I tried to get a family shot to show persepective of just how narrow the pathways were.  From left to right, my FIL, OPA, S-i-L, B-i-L, MIL

I loved the knockers on these doors! All the doors in this town had cool details like this!

Beautiful Architecture!

The Hubs walking to see the amazing view overlooking Tuscany!

Here's the view.  Hello Heaven!

As I was window shopping, I came across this poster.  Totally excited, I ran back to my family yelling "OH MY GOSH, THEY FILMED PART OF TWILIGHT: NEW MOON HERE!"  Such an unexpected, amazing surprise!  

NEW MOON POSTER

So, I just happened to take a picture of this building in the center of town.  When I got home and googled "New Moon, Montepulciano", I found the picture 2 below, which was taken during filming of New Moon.  Wow, the red banners really bring out the beauty of this building!

Are you ready for the funniest part of our time in this village?  The picture below says it all! 

I think we all know that Europeans love to drive little cars.  Where do you think SMARTCARs came from?  Well, as the Hubs and I were wandering around, we found this car.  Yes, someone really drives this car.  I got my HOT husband to pose with it to give you perspective!  It's the length of his wing span!

I don't know why, but this is seriously one of my favorite picture from the WHOLE trip. 

Tomorrow, I'll tell you about one of the funniest things that happened on this trip.  Check back to hear all about my Father-in-Law getting stopped by a police officer in Siena!