Posted in Europe trip journal, Italy, tagged Albergo Cannon d'Oro, castle, gelato, Italy, Piazza Il Campo, Siena, train, Tuscany, Tuscany photos, Tuscany pictures, Tuscany videos on May 16, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Italy Pictures
Italy Videos
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Today started with the alarm going off at 0630, way too early. We were out the door at 0715 and went to the train station office to see about reservations to Slovenia. Turns out the one train to Ljubljana that we could take was not running, we were forced to buy reservations through [...]
Posted in Europe trip journal, Italy, tagged birthday, Brenna, Bus, gelato, Il Colombaio, Il Colombiao, Italian fashion, Italy, Malaysia, Piazza Il Campo, Rosia, Siena, Torri, travelers, Tuscany, UN on May 15, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Yesterday was my birthday! Sadly, I didn’t have time to write anything. It was a good day though. After a long day that included waiting on a train for an hour, we ended the day with our first Italian meal and some genuine gelato. For dinner, we sat outside overlooking the very center of the [...]
Posted in Europe trip journal, Italy, tagged Australian culture, Australian politics, bed and breakfast, Bush, duomo, European safety standards, Italy, lawsuit crisis, Rosia, Siena, Torri, Tuscany, water conservation on May 14, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I’m writing about Sun., May 4th first since I wrote about May 3rd yesterday. Our hostess in the B&B in Torri, a little village near Rosia, was reasonably friendly when we arrived. She was surprised that we were walking in rather than driving. We followed a woman who had ridden our bus and walked to [...]
Posted in Europe trip journal, Italy, tagged American work ethic, hike, Italy, personal space, Rosia, Stigliano, Tuscan village, Tuscany, universal language on May 13, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
We had a relaxing day that began with sitting in the sun and ended with sitting in the shade as the sun dove beyond sight. In between we meandered from our B&B to the village of Torri, then to Stigliano. Great views abound except for the factory that we walked by on our way from [...]
Posted in Europe trip journal, Italy, tagged accents, Bus, I Coppi, Italy, language, minestrone, Quebec, San Gimignano, Tuscany on May 12, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
We talked to a couple from Quebec City in our new B&B, I Coppi, after a short walk. Their names are Ivan and Danielle. They seem to be pretty international, have good friends or family by marriage in France and from Japan. We just started chatting with them at the end of their meal on [...]
Posted in Europe trip journal, Italy, tagged 13th century village, construction materials, idioms, Italy, language, San Gimignano, Torre Gross, Tuscan market, Tuscany, universal language on May 11, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
We talked to Ivan and Danielle again today after dinner. They invited us to dessert of almonds, butter cookies, and the sweetest strawberries I’ve ever had. Danielle doesn’t speak much English but understands a lot more than she speaks. She left after a while to take shower/ “retire for the evening.” It turns out the [...]
Posted in Europe trip journal, Italy, tagged Coop, hike, Italy, olive grove, San Gimignano, Tuscan countryside, Tuscan food, Tuscany on May 10, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
The Tuscan landscape is like the ideal countryside to me. It has attractive farms, alternating olive groves and vineyards, on gently inclining hillsides. There is a significant amount of forested areas between farms. They have beautiful forests, a mixture of evergreens and deciduous, many wildflowers, and the strange thin cypresses scattered around. The climate is [...]
Posted in Europe trip journal, Italy, tagged ancient church, Italian food, Italy, Lucca, recycling, slow Italian trains, Tuscany on May 9, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Recycling is prolific in Tuscany. I don’t know if it is in all of Italy. We saw a news story about garbage piling up for months in the streets of Naples. They have nowhere to put the trash and they don’t recycle! Apparently the locals have resisted a landfill for years. It’s getting to the [...]
Posted in Europe trip journal, Italy, tagged hike, Italian food, Italy, San Gimignano, Tuscany on May 8, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
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Today we planned on going for another hike on the north side of town, but we had no real plans. We headed out on Via Dante towards Strada at 1130, looking at the massive roses on the side of the busy road. The loop we were following fortunately took a right off the main road [...]
Posted in Europe trip journal, Italy, tagged alabaster, Bus, food portions, Italian bathrooms, Italian food, Italy, tiramisu, Tuscany, Volterra on May 7, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Italian bathrooms tend to be different from other European bathrooms I’ve seen. Many have an old-fashioned tank on the wall above your head with a string to pull or a metal rod to push up for flushing. Public and restaurant bathrooms have foot pedals for controlling the sink water. That’s a smarter way to do [...]
