Tuscany

Our next stop after Cinque Terre was Tuscany. We headed to a B&B in a small town, Pistoia, that Diane had recommended. I had been emailing with the owner Laura about our arrival. She explained that she spoke very little English and that her husband did not speak any, and she hoped this wouldn't be a problem. She said that her husband (Vlady) would be happy to pick up up at the train station. After an awkward start to our stay, we quickly grew to love our time there.

Each day after breakfast, Vlady would take us to the train station so we could explore the region by day trips. Each evening he would come and pick us back up when we arrived. Every time we would have the same conversation, with our limited understanding of the other language. It went something like this- "Ciao! Florence?" "Si, Florence was beautiful!" "Ah, okay" then when we got home, "Grazie!" "Prego!" (thank you, your welcome). Laura and Vlady were so sweet and treated us so well. We felt taken care of and started referring to then as our "Italian parents". It was so wonderful to get to know people from the culture in which we were staying. We actually stayed a day longer than we had planned and when we left we were sad to go. Laura told us that we were "beautiful people" and she said that we "stayed well with them."

On our day trips we went to Florence, Lucca and then spent a day exploring Pistoia and laying by the pool. Florence was beautiful and we loved exploring the small town of Lucca. We rented bikes and rode all over town and around the old city wall. Here are some pictures from our time-

Florence (thank goodness it didn't rain even though it looks like its about to pour!)

We walked up to Piazza de Michelangelo and were able to take in this amazing view of the city.

After leaving Tuscany, we headed out on the train to Rome. We decided to stop and see one more town, Orvieto. Orvieto was built high on a hill and then walled for extra protection from its enemies. We loved our short stop here.

We of course had pizza for lunch. Here is Nick at our sweet picnic spot high on the wall.