SPENDING SOME TIME IN ITALY

We decided to spend my 75th birthday in Italy.  Every since I read “Under the Tuscan Sun” I’ve been pulled to spending some time in a small village in Tuscany.  This is where we have come.

It’s a small village outside of Lucca, about 6 miles.  We flew into Pisa and rented a car and drove to the farm.  Our rental car is very small, a Lancia,  and works great on the narrow switch back roads.  The day we arrived, we had a dinner in our apartment.  Our landlady provided us with dry pasta, a sauce, a bottle of wine, and enough necessities to get us through the first night.  After dinner, we went to bed and slept for 14 hours without waking.  

                                                 

                                                   

The next day, after exploring Lucca and doing some shopping, we returned to our farm where we had arranged to have an Italian cooking class. 

The other guest at the farm are from Australia.  It turned out to be a wonderful night of sharing and getting acquainted, all the while learning how to make gnocci, bruschetta, and tarimusu.  What a great introduction to Italy.