Asteria

San Gimignano Today was the "sleep in" day, so naturally, Dad and I got up early and took full advantage of the beautiful day by taking a jog around the Tuscan countryside… It was such a lovely day, warm, but breezy. We wound up going out for nearly 1.5hrs! We did get lost a good number of times, and would slow down to find our way again, but it was still a great start to the day. We had a nice breakfast at the hotel and laid out by the pool while Mom and Anna slept through the early afternoon… Then we had a light lunch at the hotel, which was fantastic. Everything is fantastic. I'm in Italy, blogging in Italy, and I feel like I haven't talked anywhere near enough about the food. Everything is ... read more

After we left Pisa, Filippo then drove us to a little town by the beach called Marina di Carrara, where my family is from. It was such a delightful experience and what a beautiful town! We had lunch right on the bluest of blue water at a seafood restaurant. The weather was so nice too, as it was much cooler and breezy by the water. I've now had my second "ok maybe one less glass of wine next time" experience, which is pretty good considering we've had wine with every single meal. Even Anna has been having a couple sips! …and…we might have had gelato…again… I was so glad that we were going to be near this town at some point during our trip, as seeing where the family is from is just really something I've ... read more

Florence We woke up early today to go to the Accademia museum, to discover that not only did our washing machine not work, but we also had no power. After many calls, and a yawning Alessandro on our hands, we finally got our electricity restored. No news on the laundry... We did eventually make our way to the Accadamia, which is much much smaller than the Uffizi, but is none less magnificent. The Accadamia holds Michealangelo's masterpiece, The David. One must walk down an enormous and long hallway, leading to the extraordinary David at the very end, illuminated in light. The sight is truly breathtaking. No picture could even possibly come close to giving the experience that seeing it in person does. I must have stood there for nearly twenty minutes...staring and circling around. We went ... read more

Florence What an incredibly exhausting travel day, well actually 2 days. If you have met my mother, you know she is a tad bit crazy, especially when it comes to keeping good health... and one her most favorite things to be crazy about is her vitamins she swears by. She decided that, since we were going away on such an amazing vacation, no one is allowed to get sick, and thus need to be loaded up on Vitamin C. However, after pulling out a 'horse pill' to hand to me, she promptly sneezed on it. I suppose that would somewhat cancel out any good effects it may have had... Anyway, I have missed my dose of Vitamin C, and I'm sure someone will be informed if I die. "It's a small world." I actually ran into ... read more

London We arrived this morning to the London Heathrow airport. After about 30 minutes of staring impatiently at the television screen showing where the plane was on the map, I couldn't believe we were actually (finally) here! I hadn't even made it out of the airport, and I must have looked like a child just entering Disney World for the first time. In all honesty, I felt like I had just had five cups of strong coffee. Knowing that a crash was coming on soon (due to my sleeping a grand total of 25 minutes on the overnight flight), I fully planned on enjoying every second of my high. Thankfully, it was only enhanced when, after retrieving our luggage, we found a man holding up a large sign with my name on it. Not just ... read more