View at sundown from our house's deck on our first night in Vagliagli.

Daytime view from off the deck.

Jeff hanging out on the deck.

Me on the deck. I bought the cool NYPD t-shirt during our connection at Newark airport on the way over.

Another picture of me on the deck.

Jeff at the back of the house.

View of the surrounding hillside, with olive trees and grapevines, taken from the deck.

Another view of the back of our pretty stone Tuscan house.

The house had a swimming pool, which we could share with the people who rented the downstairs flat. We didn't - it was just a little to cool to swim.

The kitchen, rather nicely equipped. We made breakfast every morning and had several dinners in the house. It was nice not to have to go to restaurants for every single meal.

Our comfortable living room - a lot nicer place to hang out than a hotel room.

Breakfast the first morning in Tuscany. The fresh figs were a gift from our host Giovanni, who has a few fig trees on the property. They were delicious!

Another photo of the same yummy breakfast.

Close ups of Giovanni's grapevines...

...and an olive tree...

...and actual olives growing on the tree. I was fascinated as I had never seen an olive tree up close. They are not edible when picked right off the tree; they have to be cured first.

Ben made us a great send off breakfast on Friday before we headed for Rome, and I took some photos that morning. This is Ben's friend Steve at breakfast.

Jeff with Steve.

The chef at work.

Jeff and Ben.

Ben, Jeff and Steve dig in to homemade sheep's cheese, asparagus frittata, and blood sausage.

Ben and Steve.