Ahhh...so much has happened since we returned from Italy. We've moved, become parents and dream about our trip daily. [View Full Entry]

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Buon giorno! Time to get up - nice and early again as to make the most of our day! We head to Cafe Firenze on Via Cavour for a cappuccino, hot chocolate and a donut (breaky of champions) and to relax a bit before we visit the Duomo. We want to get there when it opens so the line won't be so long. Yes, we know it's ironic that we have been here for six weeks and are just now getting around to going inside the Duomo. The benefit is that it is much less crowded and we get in without [View Full Entry]

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Time to get serious...we only have 2 days left! So no more sleeping in and leaving the apartment at noon! We get extra motivated today and get up at 7:30 a.m., the earliest we have gotten up without having to catch a train/plane/taxi somewhere. Laundry is the first order of the day as packing a bunch of smelly clothes doesn't sound like fun and my favorite prego pants are filthy from their trip to Paris. Thankfully, we have a laundromat right downstairs - a huge selling point for this apartment. It costs an arm and a leg to do laundry - [View Full Entry]

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Since we have proven that we can't really sit still for any long period of time on our Italian adventure, it was time to head for the train station once again. This time we headed for Cinque Terre, five charming villages on the Northwest coast of Italy. We trained to La Spezia and caught the commuter train to Riomaggiore - the southernmost village. The commute was a whopping 8 minutes! Welcomed after our two and a half hour ride to La Spezia. When we were in Italy six years ago we visited Cinque Terre and met up with our good friends [View Full Entry]

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It is safe to say that we slept VERY well last night after all our jaunts around Paris yesterday. This morning we had breakfast at Cafe Dagurre again - why mess with a good thing? Especially when it's 2 blocks from your hotel? The breakfast was equally yummy and I could drink their chocolat chaud (hot chocolate) all day long. We decided that we would take a boat tour (the Batobus) up the Seine to see Notre Dame, the Louvre and a few more sights. Since we are now old hats at the Paris metro system, we rode the train to [View Full Entry]

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Yippee! We are in PARIS! We booked this great hotel right across the street from a metro station (very key for getting around) and the room was very European...er...dainty. There is NO way that if I were 9 months pregnant that I could have fit in the shower. It was about 2 feet wide by 2 feet deep and it made for some fun shower antics! After we showered it was off to find breakfast. We walk a few blocks from our hotel and find this cafe called Cafe Daguerre. They had the typical French chalkboard outside listing the petit dejeuner [View Full Entry]

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The first item on our "Stuff To Do Before We Leave This Great City" list was to go to the top of the Campanile next to the Duomo and check out the views of the city. When we woke up this morning the weather was glorious so we packed up and headed out. We are a pretty quick walk to the Duomo - quick by Florence standards, NOT San Diego standards. There are 414 steps to the top - thankfully all stone (no open grating). It still took a while because although I can walk miles on flat land at this [View Full Entry]

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Ah...home again! For the past couple of days we have been doing a lot of nothing - we are on vacation after all. After gallavanting all over Tuscany, we needed a break. In fact we didn't even leave the apartment until 4 o'clock on Friday. I don't think I showered until noon! It is a special kind of wonderful when you really don't have anything to do. My completely neurotic OCD behavior has been tempered by the fact that we are only here another week and I don't want to do any extra cleaning. So that frees up a few hours [View Full Entry]

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I think I forgot to mention that we had originally only planned to stay one night in Tuscany. That was until we actually got to Le Pozze di Lecchi. The clincher was that first night by the fireplace. It was cozy, romantic, quiet and we had the whole place to ourselves. Midway through our 6th hand of Uno, Gus got up and booked another night. Another great benefit of traveling off-season, your room will most likely be available. They were happy to have us and we got all excited at the prospect of another night in the country. That is something [View Full Entry]

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The sun is out! And so are the Rixes! Today we are headed for San Gimignano via Chianti. This drive should probably only take 45 minutes, but when the views are this spectacular, it takes about 90. More gorgeous vineyards, olive groves and farmhouses the whole way there. San Gim (as we affectionately now refer to it) is well-known for it's thirteen torri (towers) and unique architecture. The thing that I like most about San Gim is that, unlike most medieval Italian villages, each building is unique. It shows that each building was built by a private party, not by some [View Full Entry]

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