http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-AnJxvCJ_o

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It just happen the owner manager is an old friend….he was born in Dakar (Senegal) in 1963 the year I was there, and to make things more complicated he was born at the Dakar French Air Base as is Uncle was a pilot there. With credential like this we become instant friends and the Champagne , wine and food keep on coming.

The food, wines list,service, decor and hotel are all first class and I’m happy to recommend the place to anyone with taste and style… Regrettably I don’t know to many people with style or taste !!!!

Beautiful Fresco all over the restaurant

Rodney reading the menu, He think he is a restaurateur now like is friend Peter Kedwell

My sister Chantal and her Husband Gilou, We think they had a good time, Seurre will never be the same, some Seurrois made it to Tuscany.

You would think they are the prince and princess of Tuscany!!!!

As for me i’m happy to be with Suzanne.
Thank you Rodney, Adelaide, Gilou and Chantal for making it one of our best trip ever
Goodbye fore now, It is the end of this trip, see you for the next exciting blog somewhere in Beenleigh

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View from the bedroom 

Don’t bring the kids, no fences there…probably a good thing.

Nice place for a romantic diner away from the crowd

I like to know what is in the bottom of that well

All rooms open on to the courtyard

The grand entrance

Don’t worry those three idiots will be gone by the time you come…I hope

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If you are interested in monk you can look or if you are not interested you can move on

No overweight people there

Plenty of herbs, vegetables or fruits in this garden

Beautiful old church, like in Beenleigh

It is something fascinating about a service in an old church with real monks singing

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Some of the most visit towns around Siena-Montalcino, Pienza, Sant Anna, Petroio, Montepuciano, Saint Angelo in Colle, Poggio alle Mura and I’m sure many more you need a life time to visit this beautiful part of the world.

The old and the new a very good blend

Still the beautiful churches

Happy to buy new leather….

The very old is still there

Very interesting if you bother to read

One more Pizza and I’m going to throw up!!!!

That’s what I like motorbikes in shoes shops

Good ideas for the old shoes

One more square and I’m going to jump the Pisa Tower!!!!

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Too much beauty in Siena to put in a blog, but there you are just to wet your appetite.

Talking about appetite, I had to try a pizza as everyone tells me the pizzas are beautiful in Italy….One of the best Pizza we can get in Brisbane is a place at the barracks near the palace cinemas. So let’s go and try theses Pizzas

Le Duomo beautiful cathedral in Siena with it is own museum full of Fresco artifact and treasures, too numerous and precious to mention.

view of Siena from the top of the museum

Suzanne is happy the outfit is matching the cathedral

4  happy hungry little vegemites. They never ssaw a pizza before?

This my pizza from an ordinary little cafe on the side of the road and yes it is as good or better than the best in Brisbane

While in Italy travel as the local do. Adelaide got a scooter to match her pants…and the rubbish bin. Nice though

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One of the many fresco at the monastery

my favorite place, the dining room , ideal place for a BBQ with friends..

That’s a cemetery the oldest grave is about 1600 something

that’s very very old

Finally my sister Chantal is taking her well earn holiday

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Banfi Vineyard is not far from Siena in the middle of Tuscany and is situated in a old castle in a  beautiful picturesque setting. Even Adelaide coming from the back block of Belfast was impressed….mind you, like me she is very impressed with Seurre my little village in the middle of Burgundy…..

The vinery belong now to an American family from Italian origin. The Mariani family.  It show in the way it is run, American money, Italian style the best of both world. I could tell you a lot about the vineyard but you can see all that on Google or just go there.

you know you are in Tuscany when Cypresses trees are growing alongside vineyards

The entrance look impressive, I know we will have olives to eat

This is a bit rude at an entrance of a place you come to eat and drink!!!

The walls look very solid, I think they are worry someone may steel their food or wine
We better go and try it must be very good   

home made sedanini with porcini mushrooms and sausages
served with a glass of Cum Laude 2009

sheep ricotta flan with zucchini on a pecorino cheese sauce
served with Centine Bianco 2011

Chianina beef stew with potatoes puree
Served with Castello Banfi Brunello di montalcino

Selection of Tuscan sheep cheese with Montalcino honey and pine nuts washed by an glass of Excelsus 1998

Pinolata pine nut cake served with a glass of Florus 2010
Cafe and of course Grappa del Castello, the lot very pleasant.

Don’t forget to thank the person that pay the bill

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It is probably hard to admit, but the scenery, the pizzas, the pasta, and the coffee are beautiful, but the rest leave it to us the bourguignons.

Anyway come with me on a bit of a journey thru this beautiful part of Italy

Find yourself some good accommodations, because if you are like me, you will come only once. Too many beautifull places in the world to come back twice to the same place, unless it is burgundy of course.

Petroio, view from our bedroom window

Balcony and dining room

Swimming pool. Nothing like a good steak cook by a master chef….and a good red drunk by a school master…

Bella, Sunset in Tuscany Yippee

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After spending 3 weeks with my mother visiting and talking about dying relatives  and visiting cemetery, Suzanne finally arrive, and guess what she wanted to do…Visiting Australian cemetery from world war one in the Somme region, Nord of France.

So here we are for your history lesson, if you want to know more you can Google the all story !!!

Entrance of the village, I notices, the last few years the French clean up their acts and really look after the little’s villages.

Then we when on Pozieres, a smaller cemetery but still very impressive.

Fromelles a bit further on, situated in a beautiful environment next to a typical French village church

Typical French café in Fromelles with bad coffee!!!

One night in Amiens to visit this incredible cathedral, with a sound and light show

And for the piece of resistance, A speciality from the north of France and Belgian, Moules, Frites and Décolleté

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