Today we got up early and surprised Brenda with a hot air balloon ride throughout the Tuscan countryside. Early in the planning of our trip, we learned that a hot air balloon ride was on her Bucket List. This was all we needed for incentive! It was tough keeping our lips sealed from both her and those closest to her (and to us) because we were afraid someone would slip and leak the surprise.
From early on Donna, Beth, and Mary told Brenda that we were going on a "tour" of Tuscany and that it tended to be cooler than normal on this particular outdoor day trip. We all packed extra garments in our bags for her, just in case.
We were parked at the corner of a hotel waiting for our tour guide, when the van pulled up with the hot air ballon trailer behind him. Mary commented, " Maybe this is him." Brenda laughed and kiddingly said, "I don't think so... unless you're going up in a hot balloon!"
With that, the rest of us started laughing and shaking our heads up and down. Her reaction was shock, then, "Oh, my gosh...are we really going on a hot air balloon?!?!"
We had three men helping during the excursion: Evan, Guido, and Lorenzo. All of us helped get the balloon inflated. The trick was climbing into the basket... We're not as limber as we used to be! Brenda, fortunate to have long legs, was the only one to get in without a struggle.
The Tuscan landscape is beautiful, but from the air it is BREATHTAKING! The weather was perfect with sun and no clouds in the sky. We saw small towns and castles on green hill tops. It was so peaceful and, surprisingly, so slow that even those of us that are afraid of heights were fine. It appears that every dog is freaked out by hot air balloons because we heard each of them as we passed over.
Evan and Guido were up in the air with us, while Lorenzo was below following our path with the car. The men kept telling us that they were going to pick us a flower. We dipped down towards a cottonwood tree. We all assumed they would pull up at the last second, but...NO... Suddenly we crashed into the top of the tree and Evan surfaced with a branch full of white blossoms! We picked branches and cotton off of our clothes and out of our hair all day.
Our landing was surprisingly smooth in the middle of a grove of olive trees. Our basket landed with a gentle bounce. We hopped out and Evan opened a picnic basket with Champagne and fluted glasses. We had a toast before helping to deflate and roll up the balloon.
The gear went into the trailer (along with Guido and Lorenzo); there was only enough room for the driver and us gals in the vehicle. We stopped for cappuccinos and it was here that we learned the true meaning of "Ciao (pronounced chow) Bello." Mary assumed that because "Ciao, Bella" meant "Hello, beautiful girl" that "Ciao, Bello" meant "Hello, handsome man."
Evan set her straight by telling us that it is actually slang for "Let's go (to bed).". We laughed hysterically because Mary had said this to several men, most of them old and in the shops while buying bus tickets. No wondered they smiled so widely...
We drove onto San Gimignano, a walled medieval village with 14 of the 70 towers still intact. It was a wonderfully fun shopping day for Brenda, Mary, and Beth. We found many shops with traditional ceramics, leather, and linens. Donna, the hater of all shopping, took photos instead.
We arrived back to the B & B exhausted and opted, again, to munch on snacks around the kitchen table.
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