Day 15: Gaiole in Chianti

My goodness it's hot. 40+ degrees today and it felt every bit of it. It's dry heat just like Griffith so as long as you can find some shade it's bearable. We headed to Montevarchi this morning, an unimpressive town about half an hours drive through the windy hills. Car sickness set in in the Garbins tiny Fiat, but was soon forgotten about when we arrived at the Prada outlet that the town is famous for.  And boy was it buzzing. There were Asian tourists everywhere and clearly everyone thought they were buying some serious bargains as some some people had piles of goodies.  Bags that would normally cost $2000-$3000+ were around 550 euro, which is still about $800.  We searched high and low but after an hour or so conceded defeat. No designer bags were coming home with us today. Let's hope Florence proves more fruitful. On to the town centre for some lunch, which proved the worst dining experience yet. The choice was very limited and it was hot and everyone was grumpy. So when a little old man dressed a like a chef with a crisp white apron and matching hat appeared, Catherine followed and found a nonna cooking roast chicken and pork over some hot coals. Great. Accept it wasn't a cafe, it was a milk bar with stools and no air conditioning. So the kids had pasta that was just reheated. Scarlett's lasagne was dreadful. We had a "platter" of chicken (8 tiny pieces) with yesterday's roast potatoes and a measly salad. I think he was delighted to be getting rid of the leftovers. On to the dinosaur museum, it was inside a 14th century monastery and was pretty good for a small town. Finally something for the kids and they were delighted. Home back over the range with a 5 km wrong turn. Bloody Navman. You can imagine the unhappy faces in the Fiat.  A swim cooled everyone down and we headed to the Garbins for dinner. It felt like nonna's house in Griffith, complete with traditional furniture, doilies as cupboard liners for the glasses and pictures of the cranky familia on the walls. The men sat in the kitchen watching us ladies cook and I hummed the theme song from the Godfather. We sat around the grand dining table for dinner and enjoyed the wines from the day before. Around 9.30 pm we strolled into town for some gelato and dolce. We sang some more Italian songs along the way (clearly the wines had kicked in).  The kids ran around in the piazza and I felt like a local.  Ah, the old country has been very good to us so far.