Honeymoon Update 1: Under the Tuscan Sun

Right now, I'm sitting in an Internet Cafe in Firenze (Florence), Italy. I have pictures aplenty so far, but I don't think I'll be able to get them uploaded till I come home. In any case, our flight in was long and torturous. We mentioned to the guy at the counter in O'Hare that it was our honeymoon, and asked if that would get us any special treatment. It looks like it did, but it was all negative. We ended up in the middle seats right by the bathroom on both flights (so if someone wanted to go to the bathroom, they'd have to come right by us and squeeze past anybody else waiting for it, leaning into me). Once we arrived in Italy, however, things went unusually well. We got a car quickly, found our place with no problem, and were able to get a lovely meal from the local market. Our place is in the Chianti hills, near Castellina in Chianti (a gorgeous old fortress town that's been updated to cope with tourists), so there's fabulous wine to be had at the drop of a hat, and almost anywhere we look, we see something that should be on a postcard. Last night we sat by the pool, looking at the stars (yes, actual stars), drinking our fantastic wine, and listening to the complete silence (with the exception of a small woodland creature here n' there).

We decided to hit Firenze today, and have been bargaining with the local merchants, seeing the gorgeous sights (there are a lot of pictures of the Duomo, but you won't see those for a couple weeks), and eating wondrous food. We're about to do a bit of haggling, a bit more eating, and then take in the stars again tonight.

Internet points are pretty common here, so I'll post more later. I'm not sure I've ever taken a vacation like this, but I could really get used to it.