Florence:
I wish I could wear pants like these and not look ridiculous. She looked very cool.
A bootleg photo of one of many gorgeous marble floors.
Fancy a relic? Bone, skin, tooth of a saint?
Leathah! Oh, the Leathah.
that famous bridge whose name escapes me - Ponte Vecchio?
Best damn steak ever. Florence is THE city for steaks I tell you. The tradition in this restaurant is that the waiter takes the man of the party over to the meat case to discuss which type/cut is best for them. Then they prepare it simply- olive oil, salt, pepper. rosemary is simply for garnish. Never saw a bigger platter of meat for just 2 people. It was sublime.
How do they walk on these old, uneven European streets and sidewalks in those heels?
Some sort of love-locket thing.
Dog walker taking his clients along the River- again, name escapes me. Not the Arno... ?
Cinque Terre-Vernazza:
Our friend Claudia's family is from Lucca which is about an hour train ride from the Italian Riviera, and Cinque Terre- a series of tiny villages perched up on cliffs overlooking the sea. Rick Steves made this area famous and Claudia is a little annoyed that now one of her favorite places in the world has been overrun with tourists. We were there in near-high season and I shudder to think of how crowded August would be. While there it was about 95 degrees and sunny and everyone was desperate to cool off-including me. Literally, standing-room only along the edge of the water. It was still gorgeous to look at but I recommend going here during the shoulder season when you can still hopefully swim and also avoid mega crowds.
Vernazza
Vernazza
More love lockets on trail between two of the villages.
At night there was a bosa nova band.
Mike and Claudia, at one of their favorite restaurants overlooking the sea and Vernazza.
Apparently this cafe sells the Canolli in Cinque Terre and they are even better than that place in Boston - Steve's? Mike's? in the North End. See, when i wait over a year to remember the details of a trip a lot of things get lost. ANother good reason NOT to let blogs lapse!
Lots of cats.
Dave diving in.
Levanto- a bit up the coast, with more beaches and space to swim:
We rented chairs and umbrellas at a private club. Worth every penny.
Here families lived like it was 1965. They played cards, swam, read books.
Even though it was crowded I was in bliss- floating in the green-blue water looking at the villas and hearing the faint songs of birds in the distant trees.
On one of our many train rides
Claudia and Mike- train experts and superb travel buddies, and about to introduce us to Lucca!
First impression of Lucca- they like their bikes! The train station park lot is FULL of them.
approaching the stone walls that encircle the old part of Lucca.
Skipping ahead to after our delicious pizza dinner...
And the obligatory gelatto. I think Claudia is remembering all of her best gelatto memories at once.
One of the main plazas in Lucca. I think this used to be a Roman colluseum.
Cafe and Coronetto - every day. Always perfect.
Smart-dressed lady and her smart bike.
One of the coolest things about Lucca is that there are spring water fountains all over the city (like in Rome) and everyone gets their drinking water from them. They are from Roman times and the water is clean, pure, delicious, and apparently is the key to making such fantastic coffee. When we rented our apt the landlord gave us two bottles of Lucchese water.
Siena:
