We slept in until 9:00 am this morning! For Barry and Margaret, this was a rare occurrence. When travelling, we are light sleepers, due to new beds and new noises each night, but already this place, with its silent evenings, cool night breezes, comfortable beds and private bathroom had worked its magic.

It wouldn't be right not to tell the total truth about this place though, so that we remember it accurately. Here is life in our villa:

We awake to beautiful sunny skies, and make ourselves espresso coffee in the cool little stove top percolator that came with the place. It makes exactly two tiny cups and we drink this outside on our east facing balcony. While drinking our espressos, we watch our tiny hamlet's morning activities. Our pool boy cleans the pool while a tractor goes by. In the background our lap top plays whatever musical genre the kids have chosen (this morning, Tessa is singing along to Dixie Chicks as she toasts a Nutello sandwich in our Panini machine). Every morning, one of the Seniors of the town strolls by with his walking stick to check out the progress of the building projects at the far end of town.

Our days are spent exploring the tiny villages around Tuscany and when we get back in the mid afternoon, we enjoy pool time and homemade meals. We have a washing machine down the hill from us in the garage. Margaret has done a few loads but there is no dryer, only a drying rack, so we walk the wet clothes back up the hill and hang it all to dry, which takes an evening to happen if we keep the windows open.

When evening comes, a strange ritual begins. We Canadians eat early so it doesn't affect us directly. However, our fellow inhabitants suffer during this period of the evening. Why? Well, the entire block of apartments connected to our little villa is powered by a power cord plugged into a breaker box across the street. Each evening, as the families begin cooking simultaneously, the breaker goes off so the families take turns flipping the breaker and plugging and unplugging the cord. We have learned this ritual already and have, because of it, met most of our neighbours. For us, it's kind of fun, but in Canada, it would drive us crazy. The people here see it as normal though and laugh with each trip to the breaker (sometimes, 6 times an evening, sometimes none).

Today our day trip included:

• A wonderful walk through Asciano, including discovering a great supermarket, internet point, and lovely town center.

• San Giovanni - home of white truffles.

• Lucignano d'Asso - tiny hamlet worth a visit for its cold meats, sheep cheese and memorable wine served in the courtyard opposite the restaurant-grocer. We didn't eat here today, but plan to come back.

• Montalcino - amazing view, and surrounded by the world famous Brunello Vineyards (We bought some wine here).

• Bagno Vignoni - Medieval swimming pool and hot springs where we soaked our feet for awhile.

When we got home, we had homemade bruschetta and pork chops with pici (a traditional tuscan pasta), followed by a game of cards. Slow travel is brilliant!!!