Lucca, Florence, Montecatini Terme
Entering into the 2nd phase of the trip, we now felt pretty comfortable with transportation, speaking Italian, and generally getting ourselves around. This part of the trip went by in a flash because we stayed in each of these towns for only 1 night each. The reason this happened was because we wanted to surprise Dan's parents and sister during their European tour during the same time frame. Since we didn't get their official itinerary until right before we left, we needed to move a few things around. We tracked down the their tour guide and arranged to surprise them in the middle of Florence!! The surprise was a success and it was one of our best days in the trip. I also have to say that Lucca was a place I had never been before and it is a beautiful old roman walled city. Dan's ancestry is from the area so it was great to see his "roots" and to just enjoy this enchanting little town. I felt similarly for Montecatini - we only stayed there to be near the Flowers but this town requires more study -- particularly because there are thermal baths all over the place which I MUST discover in the future :)
Click here to see pictures.
Saturday, October 21, 2006
Italy: 1 of 3
First 5 Days: Torino & Cinque Terre
I can't believe it's been a whole month since I've written. Since my last post, one of my life goals and dreams has come true: to return to Italy. Dan and I were there from Sept 25 until Oct 11. I enjoyed myself immensely!! We couldn't get to the city where we met nearly 11 years ago fast enough: Torino. Some minor changes since then, but overall it looked exactly the same. No better feeling than to come to this beautiful city after that many years and feel comfortable and familiar with your surroundings. As we turned each corner, as we took in each sight, memories were flooding back. But our time in Torino was WAY too short, particularly b/c it was here where our jet lag kicked in. From Torino we visited one of our favorite haunts: the Cinque Terre along the coast. It is still breathtaking, even though I found it unfortunate how many American tourists were buzzing about. I'm happy the locals are profiting off us tourists after living so poor for centuries, really, but I felt it to be a little less special, perhaps because the secret was "out"! But that happens to all great places I suppose.
Click here to see pictures.
I can't believe it's been a whole month since I've written. Since my last post, one of my life goals and dreams has come true: to return to Italy. Dan and I were there from Sept 25 until Oct 11. I enjoyed myself immensely!! We couldn't get to the city where we met nearly 11 years ago fast enough: Torino. Some minor changes since then, but overall it looked exactly the same. No better feeling than to come to this beautiful city after that many years and feel comfortable and familiar with your surroundings. As we turned each corner, as we took in each sight, memories were flooding back. But our time in Torino was WAY too short, particularly b/c it was here where our jet lag kicked in. From Torino we visited one of our favorite haunts: the Cinque Terre along the coast. It is still breathtaking, even though I found it unfortunate how many American tourists were buzzing about. I'm happy the locals are profiting off us tourists after living so poor for centuries, really, but I felt it to be a little less special, perhaps because the secret was "out"! But that happens to all great places I suppose.
Click here to see pictures.
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