Hotel Torretta Montecatini Terme

Kim had taken her grandma to Lucca last November and had fallen in love with the place. <br><br>We found a park not far from the city walls and then headed in for a look. We came across a chocolate festival in one of the piazzas and sampled a few beforw buying a hot cocolate drink...literally hot chocolate in a cup. It made me feel a bit sick.<br><br>Walking Lucca is like a big ...

... to the table. We strolled to our seats, which were at a table for four with two others who had arrived earlier (part of the Il Latini culture), and gazed above at the endless swine rumps hanging from the ceiling. The table had a huge bottle of half full red wine and the first course was nothing but pork in various forms. Needless to say, this wasn't the best culinary choice for Kate's taste, and she did her best. She asked for no ...

... For almost a year, Chris and I have been referencing our Tuscan dinner whenever we have some extra spare change to tuck away: this is for our Tuscan dinner! Well, tonight was the night and it was soooo worth the wait. It's truffle season in Tuscany and there are few things we love more than truffles. Three hours later, we closed the place after an amazing five course meal near a roaring fire. It was yet another "pinch me" moment.<br><br>:)<br><br><br>

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>

... on the next hill. Drove all around the countryside (which I hate to say is much bigger and impressive than Napa). Wine is so cheap and good but unfortunately the majority of grapes had just been picked. Also ventured into Florence for two days of sightseeing. This is one place that is as magnificent as tpublished pictures!

... Martina's older dad met us and walked us up the steps. I thought he was about to have a heart attack. When we finally reached our room, he took us inside and immediately bent over a little table in the room and took several deep breaths. I wonder how he did going down the steps. Later, we read (in a book she has near the bed filled with thank you notes from previous guests) that her dad used to carry peoples luggage up for them. I'm sure that ...

Yesterday I forgot to turn my alarm on, but luckily my room-mate Evan woke me up in time to get to class. More Abnormal Psych, still covering stuff from PSY 120 (Intro) that I took a year ago, but oh well. Made my own sandwich for lunch, but went to a restaurant around the corner with a couple friends and ate it with them and a nice strong English beer. I didn't know they had class soon (about 5 minutes sitting down, then we had to ...

... to everywhere I loved in Florence and experience new places in Florence or, c) update my travel blog. Hopefully it'll be a combination of all three! The first day they got here we did a lot, even though they were tired, I dragged them around and showed them as much as possible! We went to the Uffizi, the biggest museum in Florence, and later they went back again to see what we missed the first day. Since then I've been back twice ...

... smaller Italian towns in the countryside. With that said though, you must come to Florence to see the art, and if it weren't for the art it probably wouldn't be as touristy as it is. That means I would probably end up falling in love with this city. In the morning when I am walking to the next museum or palace the streets are quiet and that is when I love Florence. Sculpture on every building ...

... like Boticelli and Rembrandt. I learned that my favorite period of painting is early Renaissance and I like Lippi. We took the audiotour and hopefully I learned something. I actually prefered the Accedemia where they have the David. It had many Renaissance painting and seeing the actualy David was very nice. My mom claims that I was named for the David but I suspect I was actually named for my great great grandfather. We spent a lot of time biking. It ...