Mar 2008

Who needs a station wagon to get the kids around!

February had almost no snow in Italy and after 3 great weeks in Livigno we headed to Claviere, Italy which is about an hour West or Torino (home of 2006 Winter Olympics) and where some of the Olympic downhill events were held. Unfortunately our hotel was grossly overpriced, our "room" was like a dorm room and the conditions on the mountain were horrible. We muddled through a week and headed to South to Lucca a week earlier than planned. We originally going to be in Lucca for 3 weeks but it's going to turn into 4. A beautiful walled city with loads of charm, Lucca is in the heart of Tuscany and about 20 Km from Pisa. We have a very nice home just outside the wall. The incredible wall of Lucca was constructed in various time periods starting in the 1300's to keep out intruders. There's also a mote surrounding so now the wall serves more to keep out cars and keep in cafe dwellers and fashion conscious Italians. We have 4 old fashion single speed bikes and a we use them to get everywhere. We shop at the local butcher, fresh fruit and vegetable markets, baker and the "superstore" grocery as well. We're learning Italian with Maria and Kyle in a class a few hours a week and Nate & I join in with our tutor Stefania for a couple more hours. It's been relaxing and I've had a chance to play some tennis at the indoor clay courts with the likes of Michaelangelo, Leonardo and Marco. There's also a skatepark for the boys which they love. The only challenge is that it's been raining more than normal so we're working around that which makes it interesting when you're only biking.

A wonderful Easter day with friends

We made an incredible side trip with the Crozier family to Sienna, Greve and San Gimignano. The towns had so much charm and history with San Gimignano taking the cake as the coolest. Even the local Italians rave about the beauty of this 12th Century walled city on a hill with 13 towers of the original 60 some still standing. Perfectly maintained it's like honey for a beehive of tourists. The Duomo in Sienna is truly inspirational, massive and ornate. The huge piazza in Sienna is home to an annual horse race where people from different neighborhoods have their representative horse and rider preparing for months in hopes of winning bragging rights in Sienna for the entire year. They even bring the horses into Church to bless them before the race and it's considered good luck if the horse poops in the church. Only in Italy.

The walled City of San Gimignano