Alla Dimora Lucense Lucca

... and limited to pastry or pizza at 5pm, but I found Brasserie La Loggia near the station that had a full menu all day.
Walked in to order a pasta and was amazed and delighted that they also had a display case full of Belgian, German, Dutch and other quality beers.
Had a La Trappe with my bolognese. Even though it's made in the Netherlands it was still a good tripel.
Was ready to go after that but ...

... Leaning Tower began to lean after its architect had completed only three tiers of the building. Most believe that the tower began leaning because of "shifting soil" – and then it continued to incline about 1mm every year since it was built! In 1998, however, the City of Pisa (realizing, I think, that if the tower ever fell over, their tourism industry would be severely curtailed!) wrapped cables around the third story of the ...

partie tot ce matin pour faire les 4.5 heures de train entre milan et pise, nous avons traverser plusieurs petit tunel. le paysage de la toscanne est beaucoup moins plat que ce que nous avons vue du nord-est de l'italie.

une fois nos bagage depose a l'auberge, on est partie vers la fameuse tour de pise. effectivemnt, elle ...

Cinque Terre photos here:
http://www.facebook.com/album. php?aid=163678&id=613699523&l=b ae7645b89

Stayed at Affittacamere Patrizia Hostel in Rio Maggiore in Cinque Terre and wouldn't recommend it to anyone.
When we got to the Hostel it was just an office and no one was there. Our keys were stuck to the door with instructions on how to get to our dorm room. There was another set of keys there too so we could have taken those too and ...

We are finally home and it is actually Nov. 20th. We finally got in last night around midnight and could not download anything for the last several days because WiFi is too advanced for the small town we were in. It was the most relaxing of all the ...

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I went out for drinks with some friends and met a group of American soldiers stationed in Italy. It was a ton of fun.

I cleaned the apartment (much needed) in preparation for my upcoming visitors J

I went to my first football match… Napoli vs. Firenze! Of course a trip to the market was a must to get the appropriate Fiorentina gear. The energy in the stadium made ...

We woke up to rain again but thought, what the heck, they had forecast "sprinkles", we would just head to Pisa on the train. It was a regional train, which in Italy means old and pretty gross with dirty windows and usually stuffy. Only half an hour though and we were there- I had spotted the Leaning Tower and Cathedral when we were near the first Pisa stop (Pisa San Rossore which we realised later that we could have easily ...

... about and not worry about throngs of fanny-packed tour mongers . For anyone who wishes to visit Lucca, please do. Make sure you stay inside the wall, (check out Da Elisa - the owner is wonderful), eat at Antica Drogheria (or the Trattoria di San Antonio), bike around Mura Grande and buy some local soaps from an apothecary owned by an Italian woman who used to live in San Diego (I forgot her name but it's one of its kind in Lucca).

... Exactly. For almost an hour, this woman talked to us about the the history of Italy in a loud booming voice. She made vast judgements and broad comments about the world and Italy's place in it...at least we think. Ironically, the only people who understood this woman in her voiciferous rant was everyone else in the car but not the people that she was talking to. Hopefully the Crazy Ladies stay away from us tomorrow as we head out to Lake Como.

... euros ($12). That was one factor that led to the demise of our habit. VIN SANTO CON BISCOTTI. The other factor was that we replaced it with an even better habit! (They say that's the way to change your life....) What we discovered was vin santo con biscotti. Vin santo is a very strong, very sweet dessert wine, deep gold in color. The less expensive variety is not aged as long but is fortified with brandy; the real deal is aged longer. They're both ...