I admit it. I am a beach snob. I look down my nose at any beach that isn’t located on the coastlines of the Hawaiian Islands. All others pale in comparison. It had not occur to me that the western edge of Tuscany was the Tyrrhenian Sea. I guess I was too distracted by the… Continue reading

I had always associated the name “Luka” to the 1987 song about child abuse by folk singer Suzanne Vega. But that changed with a visit to the city of Lucca, roughly 50 miles west of Florence. No longer would the name be tinged with just sadness. Continue reading

As the train drew closer, it was probably the expectation of the predictable or maybe because it was a college town (annoyingly optimistic students, irritating pedantic talk, rowdy drinking) but Pisa did not rouse that same excitement it had just a few months earlier. The tower was there; we were here. The visit felt almost… Continue reading

We debated the idea for weeks before leaving on the trip. San Gimignano. Walled town. Towers. Hilltop fortification. Towers. Medieval architecture. Towers. How could we possibly pass this up? We would sort of already be in the neighborhood. Getting from our AirBnb to San Gimignano would have been a real adventure. 15-minute walk to the… Continue reading

There a some things I have difficulty grasping, like the appeal of watching a movie more than once. The storyline is already familiar. The characters are predictable. The surprises and plot twists no longer have their shock value. Bob begs to differ. He is content watching The Lord of the Rings or the Game of… Continue reading