Napoleon Hotel Lucca

... on internet and then back to the bar for more wine and tapas.<br><br>Sun 15 <br>Did some chores... yes we have some, we are not totaly void of resposibility. Went to the supermarket to stock up on food and went to an Aire d'service to empty Theo (our Thescott cassette toilet). Enough of that and we were back in the walls checking out the Antiques Market and eating Gelati... YUM!!<br>

... one was also closed, but there were no hours on the doors. Tara had said that she wanted to go bike riding but this time on her own bike which she handled quite well and we rode twice around the wall then walked back to the playground which the girls had seen everytime we rode around the town. On the way home we decided to look for a ...

We had 3 different trains to catch to get to Cinque Terre. We had to change at Viareggio and La Spezia. Cinque Terre means five lands and which is actually five villages which are connected by train and by hiking tracks. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site and a national park which charges to use the lower hiking path and apparently closes it if it gets too busy. Mountains covered with terraced vineyards and olive groves meet the Mediteranean Sea. Think ...

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>

... and also what looked like a whole boned roasted pig which they just cut slices through. It wasn't even refrigerated. We then went to hire bikes and ride around the wall. Tara wasn&#8217;t too keen on it, so her and Greg went tandem. It was lots of fun and we managed to go around twice which was 6 km. We walked through the city, getting a gelato as usual and window shopped (many of the shops were closed for siesta ...

... is the third oldest structure in Pisa's Piazza del Duomo (Cathedral Square) after the Duomo (cathedral) and the Baptistery of Giovanni. <br><br>Although intended to stand vertically, the tower began leaning to the southeast soon after the onset of construction in 1173 due to a poorly laid foundation and loose substrate that has allowed the foundation to shift direction. The tower presently leans to the southwest.<br><br>Our ...

... parts of Siena center? And the line of people was backing up behind us; two of them started asking us, in German, what to do. If we had been refugees fleeing ahead of Cossacks, we would all have been doomed! Then my Brooklyn Boy kicked into high gear&#8211; I opened the map and explained to Nicola that we were going to walk rather than figure out the bus system, and so we did. We dodged traffic and did a lot of ...

... I set off in my car with Yvonne, my friend from Melbourne. We are headed for Florence and rather than taking the autostrada, which would get us there in 2 hours, I take a back road that snakes through the mountains and forests, past scores of small towns and we eventually arrive at our hotel in front of the Palazzo Pitti in the evening. The countryside is beautifully lush and green and there is a massive contrast with the stone of Florence. I manage to park virtually in ...

I promised myself to keep this up to date but it has been really hard. A lot has happened since Barcelona. We stayed there for 3 days, I liked Gaudi's park the best (the world's longest park bench). And from there we took the train to Cinque Terre, Italy. Sooo.... I LOVE THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!!!!! And I HATE FRANCE!!!!! We were supposed to stop in Nice, France but decided not to and I'm glad we ...

... how long it would take to drive from Venice to Pisa, so we did not get to Pisa until 17.00. By that time, the tower was closed, so the four of us took our kitschy tourist photos with the tower (she holds up the tower, she knocks the tower down, etc.) and headed for Lucca. Lucca is an old, walled town, just a half hour's drive from Pisa. Known for silk and ...