Blogs from Tuscany, Italy, Europe - page 338

On even years our summers were dominated by home leave back in the States. Odd years we spent our summers exploring Europe. Two years earlier, from 10 -25 August 1991, we had visited Berlin and Dresden in former East Germany; Prague, Czech Republic; Bratislava, Slovakia; and Budapest, Hungary just before the end of the Soviet Union. The last time we had been south to Switzerland and Italy was the Spring of 1989, before Will was born and the girls were too young to remember the vacation. Now that he was almost four, the kids were now old enough to understand and enjoy their travels. My Canadian colleague at NATO recommended a villa in Tuscany that he and his wife and many from his delegation had stayed at on previous vacations. So we booked an apartment in ... read more

The train to Pisa was only an hour or so from Florence so I was able to go there for an afternoon and then go back and take advantage of the free campsite again. Once there I needed to get a bus to where the leaning tower was. No problems working out which bus to get, just follow the crowds. Pisa only has its one tourist attraction, but there were enough people there to fill an entire city. Getting a glance at the tower was next to impossible, let alone a photograph that didn’t have the back of someone’s head in. I persisted. There were also a couple of large church buildings on the same site, which were worth looking round, and were in the same style as the tower. Someone who had been inter-railing a ... read more

In July 1978 I had a business trip to Camp Darby, Italy near Pisa and Livorno to inspect and accept 77 ammunition bunkers into the Air Force inventory. I decided to take Linda along and add a few days vacation to the trip. We drove down on Saturday, stopping just south of Lucerne, Switzerland at a nice hotel on Lake Luzern. Then it was over the Alps to Lake Como and Pisa, Italy where we climbed the Leaning Tower. We arrived at Camp Darby on Sunday afternoon. There we met my Corps of Engineers counterpart, Mike and his wife Betty. We would become lifelong friends. Most of the weekdays were spent on the job, but in the evenings we enjoyed going to restaurants on the beach in Tirrenia. The first evening we ordered pasta, and were ... read more

Day 16 - Sunday 27th February Breakfast at the hostel was 150 Lira for rolls, jam and coffee. This is only the second time that I have stayed in the same place for a second day and so at last some proper time for sightseeing. So here goes. Unfortunately it rained nearly all day. Medici Chapel - with its four sculptures by Michelangelo of the four times of day. Medici Riccardi Palace - with its frescoes of the three kings. Baptistry of San Giovanni - with its three gates of paradise and biblical scenes in gold. The Cathedral - with its beautiful frontage and tower but we did not go in because there was a service taking place. Palazzo Vecchio (old palace) -closed at noon ! Uffigi Gallery - ceilings just so beautiful : Michaelangelo, Boticelli ... read more