Under the Tuscan sun. A phrase that kept popping in my mind as I enjoyed our first glimpse of good weather. It was a relaxing train ride from Bologna to Florence. It seemed as if there was one continuous town the entire trip. Generations of Italians coming to Tuscany to build a villa in the hills and grow on the fertile soil. Rolling green hills...

Greetings the Hotel Monna Lisa in Florence. I wasn't able to do anything but check my e-mail one time in Venice. As you know, I left Sunday on a flight to Chicago. After transferring to the international terminal I arrived at the Alitalia desk where one of the 4 persons in line told me that the flight was cancelled. I found out later from a youn...

siena is a beautiful town located 1.5 hour train ride from Florence. This town used to be a fortified Roman fortress and the walls are still evident around it. we checked out the churches, duomo, and other interesting aspects of siena (i really like this name. hope my sister considers this for her future daughter) Note: Trains in Italy do not ru...

Today has basically been spent on trains. 6 hours in total, on 3 different trains to get to Florence. It's not been too bad but perhaps we should have stopped longer on Genova. A lesson has been learnt though: DON'T BUY ONGOING TICKETS BEFORE LEAVING A TRAIN STATION TO HAVE A WALK AROUND Sadly we'd already purchased our tickets and booked our se...