Hotel Mediterraneo Livorno

... He promised we'd return to the old Etruscan town of Montepulciano later this week.
The roads narrowed and became windier as we drove away from the hill town. One road sent us through a wonderland of colors as luscious red, orange and yellow trees sandwiched us. I could've swallowed a fly with my mouth gaping so wide. Even though Vilmo passed this scenery everyday, he didn't seem disillusioned by it all. He was very proud of his Tuscan region ...

... walked to the train station and bought our tickets to Pisa, finally figuring out how to use the automatic ticket machines (in Rome, we had to wait in line for 45-minutes for counter service in order to buy our tickets here to Florence, as those darn self-service machines were completely unhelpful!). Once we were aboard the train and moving, we saw some beautiful Tuscan countryside – but then Murray got ill on the train, and I ...

... mais apres presque 900 ans, elle est toujours la. dans le meme espace, il y a la cathedrale et un autre batiment , tous ca, en marbre blanc. En dehors de cette attraction, pise possede encore une bonne partie de ces fortification. si non, c'est une ville etudiante, avec 3 universites,donc il y a quand meme pas mal de vie

... as the place was so cramped and nothing else to do in town, but ended up having a good night both nights we were there.


Sunday did the walk between the 5 towns from Riomaggore to Monterosso. Took about 4.5 hours including thestops in each town to check them out.
The views out over the Ligurian Sea are stunning. Leaving one town and seeing the next far off in the distance, and sometimes a lot higher up in altitude, was really cool.

... and I had a wonderful 50th. Everyone sang to me in the small restaurant. Thank you everyone for following us and keeping us close with your wonderful comments. To sign off I will say that.....
"There is nowhere like Home".
Love Mick and Lisa

... br>
Leaving the terminal, it felt very much like Dublin with the long twists and turns. But I refused to draw the parallel since we had a terrible time navigating that city and finding accommodations! And that was during the daytime.

Cycling along dark roads in a city with no reference, was to be our first introduction to the infamous Italian driving. Cars all jumbled together at ...

... the rest of the day reading and napping before getting gussied up for a formal night. We looked swell, as usual! Our dining companions were 2 Dutch couples who spoke very little English, so that was a little different, but fun all the same. King crab and bananas Foster for me -

Tomorrow we will be at our first Greek port, Nafplion ( also spelled Navplion and Naplion). Our tour will be going to Mycenae and Epidaurus. Good night!

... incredibly rich history in art work, with priceless art works in museums across Florence.  Florence has an amazing bridge over the Arno river, which was the only bridge not destroyed by the Germans in World War II. The bridge is now known as "Women's Paradise, Mans hell!" as the entire bridge is covered with shops selling ONLY gold! And lots and lots of gold at that! It is a beautiful sight!So now sadly it is time to back our bags, and get ready for the long trek back to ...

... we managed to deal with all of the bank accounts and credit card companies except for 2. One checking account has only $25 in it and the other account has no international access number that I could succesfully dial, but all the other cards and companies were quick to switch my accounts and shut down the cards and even reassure me that I would be in no way liable for any fraudulent charges. It pays to "Discover" the card ...

... quite muggy with the vague threat of yet more rain. So all in all this weeks been pretty tough. Still seen some fantastic scenery and thoroughly enjoyed those couple of swims, and you can't really complain about walking along a sandy beach in your shorts and t-shirt in the rain. Had a lovely pizza last night and great fun making a leaning tower of pizza crusts. Lets just hope next week brings us more luck, more sunshine and more health. Maybe some more pizza too ;)