Chianti

Sorry for not posting in a while - we have been busy. Since arriving in Italy, we have spent some time by the sea, and visited many interesting sites and cities. We started at the Marble quarries of Carerra - deep in the mountain where Michelangelo selected the stone for many of his most famous sculptures. The hostel we stayed at in Marina da Massa was an Italian villa taken over by the Nazis in WW2, and then converted to a hostel. A grand beach house made entirely of marble with NO CENTRAL HEATING!! We slept with 5 blankets each, but enjoyed the time there. On our last night, we were joined at the hostel by 14 Italian bikers from Rome. Nice guys, but really loud Harley D. bikes...

We also spent a day at Cinque Terra where David and James did some fishing with a very old man. They each landed a fish, and thought it was really cool. We have visited Lucca, Pisa, San Gimignano and Firenze as well. So far, our favourite spot is the small town near our farm house in Chianti - Radda. It is beautiful here, and the people are very nice. Francesco and Elinora, who own il Paggino, have done a great job of restoring the old stone farm house. They have about 10 ha of land, a pool, and a playground! There is an English family on vacation here as well. They have 3 children age 6 - 11 so the boys are happy to have made some friends.

I will try to add a few more pictures of our adventure if this computer will let me. We are doing well on our adventure, and looking forward to seeing Deirdre's cousins over the weekend. Also looking forward to sailing in Greece, and seeing Lynn, Brett, Kate and Meagan there.

Sorry to hear about all the snow in Calgary. Sunny and 20 in Chianti today.