Granduca Di Leopoldo Montecatini Terme

... market (without the sampling) with lots of lovery deli's, cafe's and patisseries. Ofcourse we had to buy the local pastry called a buccellato which is kind of a cross between a biscuit and a fruit loaf... yummy with the morning coffee.<br><br>Before too long Kim pointed out her favorite bar from last time and pull me in to join her in a wine or 3. The tapas were as good as Kim had ...

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 ...

... we walked toward an Italian restaurant whose famous salad made my mouth water. Our guide told us about it our first night and I had been thinking about it ever since. We found this tiny restaurant in the twisted streets of the old Jewish ghetto and unfortunately, they weren't open yet. Oh, hum. <br><br>So we continued onward to the Colosseum where the blue skies provided an amazing backdrop to this richly historical site. Our Rick Steves ...

Just realized those not on facebook haven't seen pictures from Pisa and Florence. No long recap of Anthony and I's weekend in Tuscany, for obvious reasons. Also note that "Anthony and Alison's Great Adventure" was like taking a knife.<br><br>Love you guys! :)<br>

Rented an apartment in a villa which was at the top of a mountain (like most villas in Tuscany), however, our journey to the top was not on a paved road which made for some challenging driving. The villa was really nice with its own pool and great view over the countryside. The owners also provided fabulous meals in their other ...

... to the car. Luckily, we found out on our way there, we had parked in one of the very few places that were free to visitors. The way home, we were not so lucky. The first place we stopped was the Garzoni garden, which was gorgeous. It also contained the first good looking girl that was my age; come on now, give me some understanding. I am coming from my girlfriend, to six weeks in Florence, to this. It can only go up from here where I'm checking out the ticket ...

... a couple groups outside the bar saying that I was the boyfriend of a couple girls and that it was a shame. Boo-hoo, Italian guys, I'm not going to throw these girls into a bar alone so that you can pick them up in your own creepy way. Learn to talk to these girls as a gentleman or get lost. Anyways, the overall atmosphere was good, plus I didn't have to be a creeper-bouncer, and so I stayed until about 3. Good times were had by all.

... the resolve of the wealthy can do for something like this. someone from the Medici family decided that the bridge stank and and looked like ass with all these butchers on it. and they proclaimed that instead all the shops would sell gold. the modern day interpretation of this proclamation is a whole lot of DIAMONDS, as well as some other funky looking precious stones and Coral. but the important part is DIAMONDS!!! now, I don't like to consider ...

... buy tickets easily using the automated kiosks right at the train platforms. Once in Florence we made the mistake of buying day passes for the bus system there. It turns out that the touristy area is so compact that we could easily walk everywhere we wanted to go. We spent almost an hour looking at maps, figuring out what bus to take, finding it and finally taking it only to ride about 1/4 mile. Note to self - look at the map scale ...

... square. All you have to do is hold out your hand, empty or otherwise and you've got pigeons all over you. Add some bird seed to that hand and you've got a feeding frenzy a little more crazy than the morning sparrows. People with pigeons sitting on their heads, shoulders, five in each hand, and then another few dozen trying to find a place to land. A little girl today had a pigeon on her head for about a half hour while feeding the pigeons, little children walking around ...