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Published: April 28th 2008
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My photo hobby
Lyndsay has her door knobs and I have been taking many pictures of the area banks. Hello all-
Well today we went in search of a vineyard in hopes of a tour and a couple of tastings. We were looking to head to a town called Monte Carlo which sounded like the gateway to several vineyards in the hills. Unfortunately the train schedule did not match our schedule so we were forced to take a train to a different city called Pescia just down the road 30 miles. We werent sure what to expect as the city was not listed in any of our guidebooks and the train station was quite small. Anyways being up for an adventure we jumped off the train in search of 'vineyard' tours. We walked the whole city (after a stop at the grocery store for salami, cheese, olives, tomatoes, and vino) and found nothing. I am definately surprised by the lack of advertising for vineyard tours. That is all I heard about when I researched the region before we left. Trust me we have stumbled upon many grape vines and such but no winerys. Anyways after lunch in the town park we pulled out the city map and looked at the list of 'Things to do in Pescia'. We found
one thing that both intriged us which I will have Lyndsay explain more. We spend the afternoon walking, sightseeing, etc and arrived back in Lucca exhausted and ready for some pizza, which we plan to have at the same restaurant as last night, it was that good. I am sure Lyndsay will expand on that as well. ANyways, since Lyndsay wants the 'meat' of the blog tonight, I will sign off. We are headed to Cinque Terra tomorrow, a group of 5 small towns on the Italian Riviera (where the top of the boot starts) to do some more exploring. Take care and talk to you soon
Jason
Hi all, Lyndsay here.
Well, it appears as though my assignment tonight is to talk about the random Tuscan adventure we had this afternoon. As Jason said, we ended up in a small (tiny) town called Pescia. Of course, there was nothign to do, and we were contemplating just sittign around reading in the park for the day. Upon reviewing teh map, we saw that the next town over was the birthplace of the original Pinnochio. They have a museum, gardens, etc ... Now, lest you think we are geeky
enough to go to this museum, please read on .... We found on the map an old Roman hiking trail connecting the town of Pescia to Collodi, the town of the Pinnochio fame. Of course, teh avid hikers we are, we trek across town to find the head of the trail. We get about 2 meters in the trail and no joke, the stone and dirt trail rises up over 70 meters (220 feet) over teh span of less than 1 quarter of a mile. Cripes! I wanted to quit immediately, as my legs and buns hurt from the 500 plus stairs yesterday. But we toughed it out, to find a small valley, and more and more and more such steep hils on this trail. The thing was, as bad as teh hills were to climb it was without a doubt one of the most beautiful and peaceful moments of this trip so far. The trail cut through the Tuscan hillside, and we were surrounded on btoh sides by intermitent jungles of grapevine, stone ledges, wine fields, and babbling brooks. at one point we came across a stone arched bridge, and crawled down to the babbling spring that was running
under it. We heard the soudn of rushing water, and walked a bit deeper, to find teh most GORGEOUS waterfall. I mean, you cannot imagine this sort of thing. It was beautiful. Continuing the trail (which, I mean it was about 90% uphill), we rounded a corner of some palm tree bushed and what looked like pineapple trees, and there in front of me was something that in my wildest dreams, I could nto have imagined. Literally, it took my breath away, and my gasp alarmed Jason to the point of him asking what was wrong. Nothing was wrong of course, but as I said, it was the oddest sight in front of me. If I had asked Jason to guess 1,000 things that COULD have been facing me, he would have never come close. What was this thing you ask? Well ladies and gentlemen, in the Tuscan hillside, 700 feet above city level, in the middle of no where, was an OSTRICH! Yes, an ostrich! I mean, give me a break. I was floored. We took a couple of photos, and then I decided to "feed" it, by pulling flowers from the gound and making noise so it woudl
come by me. It did, and gleefully ate the flowers. Its beak snapped open, and stripped all vegitation from the branch. I mean, in all my life, this was not what I woudl have expected - an ostrich in the tuscan hillside. We continued our hike, and got to the end of the trail which, thankfully, was downhill into the city of Collodi. Nothing too special. The Pinnochio museum was incredibly expensive, and being that we are not 8 years old, we elected not to do that. Instead we sat on some stone benches outside teh gardens and read, took a little nap, and had a delightful time watching the Italian field-trip kids in the park after their field trip. We had a blast watching the kids play, fight, and mostly show off their new Pinnochio figures theybought at the gift shop (whcih some of them in their roughhousing, instantly broke. I know, mean of us right, laughing at the kids breaking thier expensive souviners?. after a while we decided it was time to leave, and decided to hike back. Great time hiking back, as it was 90% downhill this time. Well worth the afternoon and one of the most
memorable parts of this trip, oddly enough.
We are heading out to dinner in a few minutes. Going back to the same restuarant we ate at last night. The very best pizza either of us has ever had. When I have stated that I have had good pizza in the past, NOTHING hold a candle to this. Imagine Punch pizza but WAY better. Real stone hearth pizza with some odd local ingredients, but absolutely amazing. We are going back we have decided, especially after talking about it incessently all day today. I am sure we will order exactly what we had last night too!
The other thing we have fallen in love with is the Italian gelato. The only way to really explain it is like American sorbet. Except that this is all natural, and made with milk. It is firm and scoopable, but melts in your mouth. Definately not ice cream. My favorite is teh lemon, which is totally refreshing. Jason keep trying to get me to try new flavors, but you know me, I know what I like, and I stick with it. I hate going on a limb with food, and then hating it!
Our hotel here in Lucca is not really a hotel, but more of a guest house. We have our own room, but share one of three bathrooms. The entire guest house only has 3 rooms, and there is oinly 1 other couple there I think. It is really nice. I like having our own room and a queen sized bed. Of course the matress if rockhard, but its better than sharing sleeping quarters with 5 strangers, right? Of the 12 nights of our vacation so far, we have only spent 2 nights with other people in teh same room! Pretty good if you ask me, especially considering my intense apprehension at the thought of hosteling it across itally.
Well, off to dinner. We are leaving tomorow morning for our 2nd to last destination, Levanto. This is part of teh chain of the West Italian seaside, and is referred to as the Italian Riviera.
Love,
Lyndsay
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kirk
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Unbelievable
Thank you both for sharing your many wonderful experiences. What an incredible adventure. I think you two should be travel guides...you seem to find a lot of excitement right around every corner. I'll miss reading about your unbelievable experiences next week when you're back in Saint Paul. Oops, sorry to bring that up. Enjoy the pizza.