Ac 10 Hotel Arezzo

Florence a delight, the architecture like nothing we have seen. We picked up a rental car and headed to Siena. Robyn was the navigator (only twice around a few roundabouts so far) and Chris had a senior moment, stalled in the middle of the road, still working out which side to drive on, wipers going full tat in lieu of indicator and trying to find the button start to get us moving again – hilarious and loads of laughs. Eventually found the way to ...

Good Morning!
Everybody's vote for favorite city has been Siena....overall. Great parking, a fantastic dome, a terrific plaza, and the most spectacular view of Tuscany. From the top of of a dome building, we could see miles and miles.
Lucca was great because we were able to enjoy it in the daylight this time.....with good maps, we were able to get in ...

... living group of young people in a beautiful house on top of a hill in Sieci. Half a year ago we visited them also together and its a bit like arriving home in the middle of our trip. We spend most of our time to write our web-logs (after a period of no Internet possibility), relaxing and washing ourselves and our clothes (after a period of no real shower possibility!). On Joao's birthday (13 oktober) we baked two vegan cakes!!!

... The historic centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and was the first European city to ban motor traffic from it's centre in 1966.
Siena was founded by the son of Remus and as in Rome the symbol for the wolf feeding the twins Romulus and Remus is everywhere.

Siena is still surrounded by its medieval walls and through its gates we entered making our way to Il Campo. Resembling an arena the sloping Piazza del Campo has been Siena's social centre since the 14th century and is ...

... 90 seconds. Often the jockeys are thrown off their horses as they make the treacherous turns. Also, the square houses the wealthiest families of Siena, a small church and the Fountain of Joy and is lined by restaurants, bars and small boutiques.

On the hill above the piazza sits the famous cathedral. Its façade is constructed of white and rose marble. The interior is a study in black and white columns in honor of the Siena coat of arms. This cathedral is a fabulous ...

Ciao mia famiglia, miei amice, miei colleghi…

We spent the morning in the town of Arezzo with our driver and guide, Simoné…today was the day of the huge antiques market which fills the streets of the old town. Arezzo is an old walled (originally Etruscan) city, dating back to the 5th century BC; the current population is approximately 113,000. When we arrived the market was full of milling crowds – locals and tourists. Up one street and down another we ...

... the process at the other end. Luckily, AVIS was directly across the Piazza della Republica. Three fourths of the way through signing for the car, I needed a restroom and was directed to a bar across the street. I asked, "Dov'è le toilette" (pronouncing the last two words in bad French). To cover my embarrassment, I bought two bottles of acqua naturale on the way out. Paperwork completed, we were the proud ...

... then we had to do a walking tour of the town. We took one look at the lady who was to be our guide (she had a knotty afro and wore these hideous huge pink glasses) and walked the other way and 'accidentally lost' the group. We went to Giuseppe's restaurant for lunch where we all tried Grappa at the end (its very potent stuff). Then we had to go back to get ready for our big dinner. We went to a really nice place called Certosa (Shitosa) for dinner. It was the best ...

... Camella and John, they were already back and had just wandered into the markets. They had enjoyed there trip getting the mandatory photos of pretending to push the tower over and leaning on it. They also enjoyed their lunch on the lawn surrounding the tower with many Italian families. They had also checked out trains to Milan the next day and discovered they were filling up very fast. In fact there wasn't much left - only the fast direct ones or first class that cost like ...

... killing time" was missing our connecting train. The next one meant that we did in fact have to still wait for the rest of the 3 hours. -so we "busked". Well, not really.. we played guitar and sang in a corner of the ticket buying room... and then this couple came over while I was singing some Bob Dyland and put 2 Euros on our guitar case!! We couldn't believe it. It was soo cool. As they walked away we noticed Canadian flags hanging from their bags. Ah ...