Relais Cappuccina San Gimignano

... for our walk through the walled village. There is a 14th century fort with make up part of the walls. Today it is used as a prison - your not supposed to take photos of it, but I snapped a couple off before I knew... luckily I was not spotted by the local polizi. The town was cute for sure but I'm not sure it deservered all the accolades given to it by other travellers we had met in Lucca. Having said that we did take more photos than usual.

Hello everyone,<br>We had such fun today!! The square had it's first ever market day or flea market. It was filled with cheeses which by the way Percino was our favorite and the fresh sliced procuitto was unbelievable. We just walked around all day. The first part of the day we did two loads of wash and dry which cost $18 us dollars. Then we had wine free and paid and had a great time. We then came back to ...

... It was the size of a small frozen Tony's party pizza from home. We then went to get Gelato (ice cream) and we walked the main strip with all the beautiful young Italians. It is Friday night and they were out full force and dressed to kill. It is amazing how we dress big and saggy in America (boys and girls) and here and when in London everything was tight, small to the waist in coats and shirts and tight jeans. The girls all wear the leggings with boots ...

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 ...

I have resolved to try and keep this blog more up-to-date.<br>So much has happened since late July that i wont even start writing it down, but to summarise our drive as follows:<br>Arcachon<br>Bordeaux<br>Flo rac (Ardeche)<br>Montpellier where the family ...

... spent the night at a hotel in a small village called Pieve de Santa Luca, about 25 kilometres from the coast, and also Pisa. We enjoyed the relaxing atmosphere and poolside so mich that we decided to spend our last night in Italy here too. We took a drive to nearby Cecina on the coast for lunch and spent the rest of the day relaxing at our hotel, in the tiny village in the middle of the beautiful Tuscan scenery.

... and cute, AND delicious :) There is a soccer game tonight, which means lots of people in our area! The Florence soccer team stadium is right across the street from where we live!! So we hope to go to a game hopefully!! I'm so excited for tomorrow night and the Packer game and I can't wait to wear my Favre jersey :) Next week there is a Chocolate Festival!!! It is in Piazza Santa Croce, which is in front of the church Santa Croce ...

... we found the Mercato Centrale, which is where to go if you want any sort of gourmet foods in Florence. There were meat markets, fish vendors, cheese stores, and a bunch of little gourmet food places selling olive oil, balsalmic vinegar, and lemoncello. We bought cheese, random salami, and bread and went back to the hotel to have lunch. After lunch, we decided that we wanted to see two more landmarks in Florence, both ...

... telling you, it's one impressive place. I'm not sure why, but it must have been free today since I didn't have to pay to get in (just go through metal detector and bag x-ray). While not as large as Versailles, in my opinion it is every bit as impressive (even more so in the interiors), and the best part was it has 1/10th the crowds (per area). Inside, room after room of incredibly ornate rooms full of paintings, fancy furniture, chandeliers, and large colorful ...

... I went through. Sometimes the fear of divorce and failure outweighs my desire to settle down and raise a family. It's a vishious (sp) cycle. This is something I have been thinking about these last several months. I'm going to have to take that risk one day...and trust.... and know that the love I will give and receive will be worth that risk. I will take so many other risks in life, great ones too, but this one stops me dead in my tracks. One day soon the desire will ...