Fattoria Poggiarelli Greve

... for our walk through the walled village. There is a 14th century fort with make up part of the walls. Today it is used as a prison - your not supposed to take photos of it, but I snapped a couple off before I knew... luckily I was not spotted by the local polizi. The town was cute for sure but I'm not sure it deservered all the accolades given to it by other travellers we had met in Lucca. Having said that we did take more photos than usual.

... and geleta, i.e. ice cream. We are back at the room and packed for our final place to see tomorrow as we head by train to Cinque Terre. We are staying on Manarola and think it will be an easy train ride and a wonderful view. We will attach pics tonight and then sometime tomorrow attach some video to show you the parade in the square with people on stilts.<br>Hugs and Kisses<br>Mick and Lisa<br>XXX<br>OOO

Today was a wonderful day even though I know I called you Petey and I was crying again, but really it was a very relaxing easy day. We found the laundry mat for tomorrow and went to a place called St. Catherine which is where the first woman to be named a saint was in 1317. We were not suppose to take pics, but the guy in the gift shop was sleeping so I took video which you will see. When we went in the gift shop I had a camera around my neck and started ...

I hope this works, it has been hard to attach some of the video because it times out. FYI to all my not so computer literate friends and family. When you first open the video, it will start and then stop in the middle to keep reloading and then start and stop again. This can get frustrating but is necessary until it is completely ...

Today was our last full day of enjoying all that Italy has to offer before beginning our journey back west tomorrow morning. Having had a couple of days off from major metropolitan areas, we decided to finish our journey in Florence, the city where the Renaissance began. The history of this former Italian capital is staggering, from Brunellechi's triumphant dome marking the start of the Renaissance to the Medici family's enclosure of ...

have to type fast.  Up at 7am first , church bells going.  roosters crowing.  heard a cat screeching last night, dogs barking .  thought it was the wild boar that they said might roam the property.  andrew did not sleep well.  not feeling good.  had coffee on patio overlooking hills.   just a few cars, dove birds, little lizards everywhere.  house cooled down last night.  ambulance woke boys up.  rosemary, lavender, strwberries, zuchhini ...

... so the Pazzi's enlisted two priests to carry out the hits! From their place behind the altar the priests launched their attack, Lorenzo survived but Juliano succumbed to some 19 stab wounds. The plot was a failure and in retaliation the Medicis has just about every Pazzi wiped out, some 80 odd family members. It was the last Medici, Anna Maria Ludovica, who bequeathed the family's art collection to Florence in 1745, to the Uffizi gallery. Highlights of the ...

... On Monday we travelled to san Giamano and Voltera,walled cities and yesterday we went south of Siena and accross to Cortona Absolutely magnificent. Have to go as they are closing . Off to Siena tomorrow and a cooking class tomorrow night that will be interesting and to Florence on Friday will send another soon. We are still talking and the only moments are when we are in the car. Ciao for now The Ebsworths

... decided we would only go to places that were listed in my book, to avoid another terrible meal. A few steps from this place, there was an open-air market, so after eating as much of the "pizza" as we could, and paying, we went over to look at the stalls. Across the street from the market was a church, and suddenly people dressed in medieval garb began coming out of it. There were people playing ...

... on her face, most welcoming. She can't speak a word of English. Guiseppe is not much taller, collects model Ferraris, and is just as welcoming. His English is only a very few words, but quickly we develop a sign language system. I somehow seem to mostly understand them both immediately - a combination of hand signals and my ability to pick up the occasional Italian word here and there. It is surprising how many words you can detect. I feel at home already ...