Thursday 10th

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Up early and off to Pisa to visit with our daughter and son-in-law and his parents … and of course to see the grandchildren. A warm and beautiful day to travel. Caught a taxi out of the central station in Pisa and stopped at the impromptu Flower Market on the main bridge in Pisa to pick up an orchid for Laura and Sergio. What a joy to see them both and to share Laura’s terrific cakes over a cup of tea. They are doing well, and Laura had her 5 year appointment today to acknowledge that she is cancer-free! What a celebration.

The house, as Laura put it, was “chaos” with all the kids, but she and Sergio love it. The twins are at a wonderful age where they are curious about everything and love talking with their grandparents. And little Maya is getting extremely cute as she now putters around and gets into everything. Apparently she loves cell phones and puts anything – including books – up to her ear to see what they have to say!

After tea and cake, the grandchildren and their parents took us out to lunch in Pisa. We made the obligatory stop at the Leaning Tower (always a line) and walked by the University (always enjoyable) until we found this little restaurant that has a set and wonderful menu. We all sat for the luncheon and then continued our walk to the “best gelato in Pisa” which we verified as true. Terrific hazelnut and pistachio. Ursula with Maya continued on with us as we made our way to the station where we caught the train to Firenze and a little rest at our hotel. Of course, on the way to the hotel we stopped at the famous Farmacia Santa Novella, which has been making soaps and lotions and perfumes for 300 years. It is housed in an exquisite old palazzo. Peggy got some cream and some soap and we continued on to our hotel. We passed where Tiffany used to have a shop and wondered what happened that drove them out of business in this incredible consumer town. Perhaps Peggy’s sister will know.

After a brief respite we went out and had a little pizza and a glass of wine and wandered some more before cashing it in for the night. A slow but happy day with family.

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