9/24/2003: It was my intention to get up early and take some sunrise shots. I woke up and looked at my watch and it was 7 AM, but still dark out. I managed to crawl out of bed, shower and get dressed. While Susan was in the shower, I realized that I had looked at my watch upside down and it was just 2 AM. Needless to say, this did not go over well with Susan. We went back to bed and did not awaken until the real 7 AM. It was daylight, but I did not care about missing the sunrise. At least we had gotten some real sleep. Although Susan was not in a real forgiving mood about the too-early morning nonsense.

After breakfast at the hotel (rolls, brioche, coffee and juice), we checked out of the hotel and took a cab to the downtown Avis office. After hearing about the steep roads in Tuscany, I had arranged to upgrade from the basic rental car (a Fiat Punta that can't get out of its own way) to a mid-sized car. Upon arrival at the Avis office, we were informed that they had no cars in the class I had reserved, but they were willing to upgrade me again at no extra charge and would I be happy with a turbo diesel BMW? I graciously allowed that I could live with that accomodation. My whining for a Ferrari met with no luck unfortunately, so I settled for the BMW and drove off into the Florence traffic to head down to our apartment near Montalcino. After worrying about the maniacs on scooters for a kilometer, I realized that I was much bigger than they were and I had metal around me. I figured they could watch out for me and gave them no further thought. It must have worked as I heard no thumps during the trip.

The trip south was easy, thanks in large part to the excellent directions provided by the Untours folks and great navigating by Susan. We cruised down the Autostrata at an interestingly high rate of speed (gotta love that turbo diesel) and arrived at the Le Chiuse apartments just before lunchtime. We were too early to check in, so we drove up to Montalcino to explore and get something to eat.

Like so many of the towns in Tuscany, Montalcino was a fortified town dating back to the 1300's. Perched on the top of a hill, it has wonderful views of the surrounding area. The roads within the walls are narrow and steep. Not a place to drive into if it can be helped. We parked outside the walls and walked in through the portal near the Fortezza.