Friday, September 12, 2003
We left San Francisco Airport for Rome via JFK/New York early Friday morning. We traveled with Heather and Jeff, two of our closest friends who by sheer coincidence booked the same flight we did. Another twist of fate placed Stacie, another close friend who lives in Manhattan, on our flight from JFK to Rome after her flight was overbooked! It was great to have some of our college friends, who have been there since the start of our relationship, accompany us at the beginning of our wedding adventure.

Saturday, September 13, 2003
Our red-eye from JFK arrived in Rome early Saturday morning, and after picking up our rental cars, we headed north to Tuscany. Along the way, we detoured to Orvieto and Civita de Bagnoreggio, a small isolated hilltop town that now only has 15 residents! We had lunch there after driving one of many picturesque country roads we were to experience in the coming week.

After lunch, we continued to the outskirts of Siena, to our villa hotel where we would stay during the festivities leading up to the wedding. Our families would also stay there; a group of friends collectively known as the 'La Loma crew' (coined from our shared house in Berkeley during college) rented a villa a few minutes drive away.

Our hotel Borgo Il Poggiaccio was a working village until the 1940's when it was purchased by a Swiss family and converted into a hotel of villa apartments. Il Poggiaccio means the "bad hill," so named because it was located along a key travel route and one had to pay a toll or tax to pass. Our apartment was located in the old customs house that dated back to 1034 AD. Other family members' apartments were once the bakery (large brick oven intact), the carpenter's shop, etc. It was a very charming, comfortable, and a beautiful setting.