Hotel Badia Di Pomaio Arezzo

... 8211; at her feet were two puppets dancing in tune with the accordion which she played. On the cobblestone street in front of her, children sat mesmerised and were occasionally coaxed out of their reverie by a parent’s request to throw a coin into the entertainer’s basket. To the immediate left, a vendor grilled locally sourced chestnuts coated in a warm drizzled syrup and sold in a small piece of parchment paper.

Arezzo is best known for its ...

... 1627 to 1799, again with a bank loan on pledge, but also with a community itself.

The Jewish pawn shops are spread throughout central and northern Italy, from the fourteenth century. Practices affect smaller than those used previously, Christians from providers, and are more easily controlled by the authorities, which stipulate, to this end with the holders of the bank, real contracts renewable every five to ten years.

The most important period of stay of the ...

Wenk picked up our rental car this morning. A Fiat 500 diesel. Not much bigger than a roller skate. Only one suitcase fit in the trunk. The other one had to go in the back seat. Not an easy feat in a two door car.

Anyway we set off for Tuscany which is about 75 miles from Florence. We left at 9 am and arrived at our hotel around 6 pm. Not bad eh!! for a 2 hour drive. The hills ...

... hill towns of Tuscany.
The next day, we were off on a day trip to Siena. While the bus ride from Chiusi to Montepulciano was peaceful, up winding hillsides, this one was a little different. We were fortuante enough to be on the same bus as the 200 high school kids from Montepulciano... apparently they get out at 12:00 in Italy! So the bus was filled with rowdy kids, which would have been ...

... might be better...umm no. Was muddier and smelt funny. The ducks seemed to like it though! Decided to lie in the sun
anyway for a few hours and exit stage left..... I cant believe anyone would want to have a holiday there!

We arrive at Montepulciano with great plans of free camping somewhere in the country but find out its near impossible. There was a "camper car park"... which is basically a car park with no toilets you can stay at so we parked there... luckily found a toilet a few mins away. Thats the trouble with free ...

... cars?) I dropped Bettie and the bags at the station and drove out of the piazza. After negotiating a wild rotatoria and being certain that I'd never see Bettie again, I brought our little Fiat Cleo to a stop, parked neatly on the sidewalk. The clerk checked the car and said I hadn't filled the tank. "I put in E 12 worth of diesel, all the tank would hold," I replied. "No," she stated, "the gauge shows ...

... risk and the view from the top of whatever hill we were on was beautiful. The waiter was very nice and gave us after dinner drinks, which even though it tasted like Airborn, I drank because I felt like it would be rude to not. Letīs just say I was ready to stay out all night, but for once on the trip my parents were headed to bed nomatter what. It was a good decision though, because the itenery for Spain didnīt include sleep!

... off. And then we waited an hour. And then on to another one. And then off for the last time. And then we waited for another half hour. For her cousin -yes, apparently we weren't taking a taxi after all, no, her cousin was coming to pick us up. So, her cousin and a friend appear in a little tiny car playing loud music and laughing and talking, all loud and Italian like. And we squish into the car with them. And we head off on an hour and a half drive up ...

... to get reservations, plus we hardly have much time in Florence, and the huge queue for those without reservations is totally unappealing. I decide to go check out the History of Science Museum (Museo de Storia della Scienza),which is just around the corner, with no queue to get in whatsoever. They don't allow cameras so we're only able to snap a ...