One of the Best days of my life!

My roommates and I live very close to a place that is called "Florence by Bike."  We figured since we have lived here for almost three weeks that doing the tour that they offer would be a great way to appreciate the city that we live in.  Two of my roommates, another friend, our British speaking tour guide and I started our tour at about 9:30 this morning.  We started off the tour by going through the busy streets of Florence but soon left for the outskirts of town.  Some of the hills were very steep but since we were all friends and our guide had a great time laughing at our struggles, the hard parts were more of an entertainment than a frustration.  I could not believe how beautiful places were that were only minutes out of the city.  We biked through small towns filled with vinyards, olive trees, bamboo, laurel which all made for a breathtaking view.  After we had been biking for about 32 kilometers it started to drizzle so we stopped at a house that was close to the restaurant we would be eating lunch at.  We soon found out that the house was that of our tour guides and the "restaurant" was actually his mother-in-laws house that overlooked the city.  The food that was served consisted of fresh figs that were picked from the trees surrounding her house, prosciutto, tomato with mozzerella, pesto pasta, wine, and cafe.  Since we were at more of a house than a restaurant we were joined by the tour guides beautiful wife and kids.  Since we were so enthrauled with how good the food was the tour guides wife invited us back to do a cooking lesson.  She gave us her card and said that we can come any day. We would spend the whole afternoon cooking and then stay for dinner to eat.  I couldn't imagine tha the day could get any better but then we got to ride back down to the city.  Since we had spent most of the afternoon biking up hill it was mostly down on the way home.  Again the sights were amazing but this time we really got to enjoy them without thinking that we might pass out.  When we got back down to Florence we went to a private wine tasting.  We then learned not only the different types of wine and which goes better with what food but also learned why. The guy that was instructing the wine tasting must have liked us becuase he offered us all a job to come and serve wine to people when they come for tastings. We have our first gig starting sunday. We will be paid and im sure we will be bringing home some great wine.  Words cant even begin to describe what an amazing day I had. I am so thankful :)