Not all who wander are lost.  At least not in Tuscany... :-)

You've all got to hear my opinion about Firenze (Florence in Italian) in my recent post.  In the week following this Renaissance mecca, we explored, in depth, the beautiful country-side of the Chianti area.  My nerves relaxed and senses woke up to the warm peacefulness (you know what I'm talking about :-)), until we arrived at Siena.  To be accurate, that was until we sat in bumper-to-bumper traffic in a what-seems-to-be a two-lane street, which was not even horribly close to the old city center.  I felt congested and difficulty in breathing.  Despite numerous comments online about how Siena is much more laid back compared to Firenze, we "fled" to the country side as soon as we checked into our hotel.

We picked a general direction to where the interesting topography of Crete Senesi is on the map and off we went.  After 8 or 9 or 10 (anyway, a lot of) round-abouts (where traffic flow at intersections is managed without traffic lights) and roughly half-an-hour on the main road, we veered off to the little town of Castelnuovo Berardenga.  A stroll and peeking about every corner of the town did not do enough to tame our curiosity and we knew we wanted to keep exploring.  Putting our faith into the hands of the land of Tuscany, we continued along the same street that we came from.  Voilà, there we met the work of a true artist.  The small vineyard with such graphic design, at the entrance of a tiny town San Gusmè:

With such an image in hand, you can't say we were lost, can you?  We simply wandered into a magic land. :-)

Clarification: For kids that don't want to go home or disappear into the darkness of night after their parents fell asleep, this concept does not apply to you.  Wondering at night does not bring your to a wonderland.  Go home, do what a kid is supposed to do (go to school, work hard, etc.).  When you become an adult, you may qualify to join the league.

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