Agriturismo Ca' Lucano Arezzo

... pizzeria where I had delicious lasagna. After lunch we browsed through the many stands. Sample after sample led to some major purchases. It was hard to pass up the various chocolate products when the smell just filled the air. There was everything from chocolate beer to chocolate &#8220;pills&#8221; to chocolate pasta!! <br><br>Heaven.<br><br>I&#8217;ll update you soon,<br><br>Siara

Well, our last day in Arezzo.<br>My haircut turned out OK I think.<br>Turns out that the head (excuse the pun) hairdresser had lived in Australia for a few years, and although she couldn't remember much english, I emerged unscathed sans mohawk!<br> <br>We spent the last day wandering the streets of Arezzo in the raiin and discovered new nooks and crannies, it's that sort of town ...

On a drizzly morning we set off in the Panda and in an hour and or so got spat off the Autostrada at 130kmh!<br>Only about 80km further than we needed to go, so we followed a few back roads to arrive at the hillside town of Cortona.<br>After parking below the town's walls we were greeted by a posse of cats.<br>Guess what? Jane has bought another bag. Apparently two was clearly not enough, so now she has to carry the extra one.<br>The sun finally came out and we found ...

Today we hopped on the train to Florence, for those unfamiliar with the Italian rail system, make sure you validate your ticket by having it stamped in an obscure yellow machine on the platform before you board.Fortunately we had read about this, otherwise the guard can get a bit nasty. In an hour or so we were in the middle of Firenze, the first stop (after 1/2 hour queue) was the ...

... the market emerging in the center. Che bella!!! The festival was in full force with booths of chocolate and related prodects as far as the eye could see. Unfortunately, also were crowds as far as the eye could see.<br><br>My camera batteries had taken a surprize turn and I needed to go find a tobacco shop to buy more and Licia opted to wait in the center. Unfortunately, i got a little lost on the way back ...

... older, larger and more desirable variety of chestnut is biologically unable to reproduce &#8211; therefore it is grafted to the Castagna tree for continued reproduction. It is still a bit early in the season but we were able to find plenty of burred fruit on the forest floor which we crushed to find the nut inside. Of course, we were hoping to find large parasol and porcini mushrooms but Tuscany has seen a few very dry weeks and so we were out of luck. Mushrooms grow best ...

... When we settled into the second class coach with no air conditioning, we thought we were in heaven. We were finally going to Venezia. The train sped north with the window curtains flapping in the wind. It stopped at six stations and twice at signals. (It was a local train.) Finally we reached Mestre, the last mainland stop before rolling into Venezia, Santa Lucia. Two days later, we rode our last train ...

After the amazing confusion that is the Roman transportation system, with all the cramped metros and the nonsensical bus routes, Jon and I went to Florence. The train ride there was amazing, going through tons of little towns that looked like every Italian movie you've ever seen, and Florence isn't half bad itself. But once we got here, we realized that this isn't the poor man's tourist destination. After wandering from ...

The train ride from Interlaken to Florence was the most problematic and interesting so far. One of my trains were cancelled which caused a 85 minute delay. Finally though, I managed to get on the road (or tracks). We passed through about 25 tunnels (I counted) during the 7 hour trip, the last of which provided the most astounding effect. We entered a very long tunnel on the Swiss side of the Alps - lush greenery, a few clouds, valleys beneath us and the odd waterfall ...

... so I will write them in another pod, or tell you when I talk to or see you soon! To summarize, I am doing very very well. I am feeling happier here than I have in a while. It is such a nice place to be and SO much fun! I am also so excited to come home that I can't even describe it. I can't do justice to my excitement so I'll leave it to your imagination. I'd highly recommend writing me so that I'm still your friend when I get home in a week and a half! ;-)