Ciao Bella!

Following the adage that a picture really is worth a thousand words...here's our trip to Tuscany!

We had a fantastic long weekend flying down to Tuscany with Jasandra & John, and meeting up with Andreja & Urban who drove down from Slovenia. We even convinced Alex, Beatrice's babysitter, to tag along! Luckily our friend Paolo from LBS organized the ENTIRE trip for us, so it was absolutely amazing - check out some of the links.

After fighting our way out of the Pisa airport, renting cars under psuedonyms and various other semi-legal things (luckily Italy is not Germany), we made our way to Lucca, a lovely little (flat) hilltop town about 30 minutes away from Pisa. www.knowital.com/html/lucca_-_the_town_walls.html Lunch (pranzo) at www.bucadisantantonio.com. Yum, yum, yum. After lunch we strolled around seeing the sights - the square built around the old amphitheater, the city walls, gelato shops, and all the while missing the rain.






After a great afternoon in Lucca, we headed back to Pisa, checked into our hotel (www.royalvictoria.it), put Beatrice to bed (in the cavernous bathroom), left Alex in charge, and headed out to a wine bar for dinner- Enoteca Cagliostro. Another Paolo success!
On Sunday we woke up early (some earlier than others) and hit the town. But only after a good breakfast of...rice cereal - yum! Beatrice's first taste of real food went down well. About half went in eventually, I'd guess.

Then we went to the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Very touristy, so we fit right in! We toured the town, ate gelato (John opted for beer and a milkshake - breakfast of champions), and packed up to drive to our next destination - www.campastrellosport.com near Bolgheri, about an hour's drive south of Pisa.

That night in Bolgheri we had a ridiculously good dinner - www.enotecatognoni.it. Luckily Andreja was there to translate for us...though I think anything we ended up with would have been good. Amazing wines. Even though Beatrice would've been welcome (Italians adore babies), we left her in good hands with Alex - in her crib in the closet again!

On Monday we rolled out of bed a bit later (again, not some of us) and relaxed at the hotel on the porch. We had sunny and warm weather the whole weekend, so the porch was a great place to be! We tried to visit the Etruscan necropolis, but it was closed on Mondays, so we went up to Populonia instead - www.castellodipopulonia.it

We had trouble finding a lunch spot on Monday - many places take off on Monday until the afternoon because they work on Saturdays. So Zack, Alex, B and I gave up and went to McDonald's. Luckily the cups taste as good in Italy as they do everywhere else, so Beatrice was happy! We did manage to take the scenic (twisty) roads back to our hotel - amazing views.

Monday afternoon we had to say goodbye to Auntie Bucik (because Auntie Andreja is just too hard for Beatrice to say!) and Urban. We drowned our sorrows with an amazing tour of a fabulous winery in Bolgheri that Paolo arranged for us - www.ornellaia.it


After the boozy afternoon, we stumbled back to the hotel and had an early dinner. Tuesday morning we lazed around the hotel in the sunshine in the morning and then drove to Volterra, a fabulous hilltop town (www.volterra-toscana.net). We spent the entire afternoon there - sightseeing, eating MORE gelato, pranzo at Don Beta's (the steaks were amazing - www.donbeta.it), touring an Etruscan museum (who needs Baby Einstein?), and shopping. Oh, and hanging out on the city wall with the locals at the end of the day!



At the end of the day, older folks come and sit on the wall - I can see why - amazing views and all the gossip is right there. In one of my favorite photos ever...Auntie Jasandra explaining to Beatrice that, "See? There are tacky people in every country, not just in America!"

Another favorite...she stuck her tongue out like this all weekend. All the cool kids are doing it.

So what did we learn on this trip? Italians love babies. Beatrice was pinched and fussed over everywhere she went. "Ciao Bella!...Oh, she's so cute...She's adorable...I love those cheeks...I'm going to eat her if I don't get some food soon (that was John)...What a princess..." etc etc. The whole experience was a welcome change from London where most people give you the evil eye when you walk into a restaurant with a child and stroller. Here I started to nurse Beatrice and the waiter walks over and says to her, "Bon appetito bella!"