Florence and Fiesole Trip

Chris and I went to Florence and I have to say that it was gorgeous and probably my favorite place out of all of Italy that we traveled too....it had so much history dating to B.C., Florence's origins date back to the Etruscan era when Fiesole dominated the valley. Before conquering Fiesole in the first century B.C., the Romans set up camp by the River Arno in place that then became Florentia "destined to flower". Florence survived the dark centuries of the Middle Ages, and then became an important city, until it became a Municpal Borough in 1115.

In 1865, Florence was chosen to be the capital of the kingdom of Italy, and remained capital until 1871. In later years and until the beginning of the twentieth century. Florence was famous for its literary happenings, that produced works such as Pinocchio and which brought writers such as Paoine, Palazzeschi, Pratolini to the fore, who were all members of the historical literary"Caffee" group the "Glubbe Rosse".

Art and Culture were in great ferment and the people's desire to educate themselves gavev rise to the first work in the vernacular language, in the poetic style of "Dolce still nevo", which then brought the Humanist Age to Florence, together with the wonderful architecture by Bruneilleschi. After Lorenzo il Magnifico's death (1492), and in later centuries, the city oscillated between Republican agitation and Medici revenge, while genuises such as Michelangelo and leonardo Da Vinci became famous names in art and literature.

Olive trees in Fiesole that were all over the place, they were gorgeous....by the way, they serve Olive Oil in and with everything.

This is the oldest bridge in Florence, where blacksmith's, cobbler's as well as other workers lived and worked to this day...we actually didn't get to go through it, but it was absolutely gorgeous to look at.


Lots of bikes all through Italy, could be the reason they are so fit and can eat all that they do.

Coming Home

Yes, we are finally coming home and I cannot wait....I have got the worst homesickness I have ever had in my life....we spent all day in Rome yesterday and I am waiting to get home before I post anymore pictures, it is too costly to do it here....we took around 500 and I accidentally erased the ones that Chris took with his camera....I was sick about it, but I had taken alot of the same things and there were just a few more that he took that I didn't....but you can have Rome, Venice, Rimini, Florence.....I want the good ole USA....I cannot wait to get home....Chris and I have both realized how blessed we are to live in our country.....if we didn't get anything else out of this trip, it is that for sure and we are so ready to leave.....we already have our bags packed and we are waiting to get on the train to take us to the airport in Bologna....we are willing to stay at the airport for 6 hours just to feel closer to home....we are leaving at 2:30 am just to get the last train out of here.....we are walking almost a quarter mile to the train station and getting on the train....please pray that our train is on Bin 1, that way, we don't have to go far with our luggage and we will be okay....then catch a huge cab to the airport and we pray that the electricity is on this time.....we have realized that God has protected us so much.....we were in Rome yesterday when at the train station, a man set beside me wanting my purse, I realized it and then so did Chris....I got up and he came over wanting money, he had a huge bottle of beer and Chris told him that we couldn't help him, he first had to help himself.....we noticed that he was out there working with another man doing the same thing, they stayed together, one better dressed than the other and God put a hedge of protection around us and kept us safe....I had been watching the two of them way before that.....I have prayed that God would keep us alert even as tired as we are and He has.....and boy have we seen it.....I cannot wait to get back and tell you all about it.....there were so many instances where He kept us safe.....I Praise His Name and I Love Him even more and our country too.....this will be the last time that you will hear from me until late Sunday evening or Monday, as we will be in transit.....I love and miss you all.

where am I?

I didn't have time to post anything today....because we actually walked through Rimini which we haven't had time to do since we got here....we rode bikes through town, came back to room and rested, then off to supper, then to bed....we were so exhausted.

I thought I had been asleep for hours when all of a sudden, a loud noise is coming down the hall....a couple slamming their door woke me up and I couldn't go back to sleep and all I could think about was Carolyn's picture that she wanted you to make a comment on when it finally hit me at 12:30am....now as most of you can relate....it probably seems funnier to me now at this time of the night than it will in the morning....so I am going on Purple Diva's Diary's blog to make mycomment for the picture since it is not Friday yet for you guys.

I will comment and talk about Florence on Saturday....we are getting up in few more hours to catch the 6:08am train to Rome and will not be back till early Saturday morning around 2:30am....so I wanted to let you know that I am okay and that I have so much more to say.

Florence is one of the most beautiful cities in the world and I took around 500 or so pictures and a lot of the city dates back B.C....it will be hard to choose pictures to post.

While we were walking today, I again wore my comfortable sandals and you guessed I stumped my other toe and fell down agin...I have documentation and the broken off nail to prove it as well as some impressive bruises on my knees....as we were walking into the same gellato place that we go everyday since we have been here....I tripped over the threshold but didn't fall down....as a guy was walking out....jokingly he said, "those stupid Americans".....he had overheard us say that about ourselves earlier when we were all on the bicycles racing....he recognized us and thought we were funny!!!

That was part of day today and I cannot wait to post about Florence and Rome....I am so excited about our trup to Rome, but more excited to Rome back Home....I miss my kids, my friends and my own bed....arrividerci for now.

a day in venice!!!

Yesterday, we made it to Venice....it is indescribably gorgeous....how I wish that I could show you all 400 pictures that I took....it was so hard to choose just a few....we walked throughout the city, took a leisurely lunch and went on a Gondola ride where we got a lot of information from the gondaleer....for instance, 65,000 people live on the tiny island of Venice and the cost to live there is approximately $35,000 per square meter, so it is very expensive to live there....it is very old, and you can see in a couple of the pictures that I uploaded that they have had to reinforce some of the walls from tumbling down....the water rises during high tide and it looks as though some get water in their homes from the stains on the walls....the side streets are very tiny and some of them barely allow two people to go down it at once....I wish that you all could have been with us....I hope you enjoy just the very few pictures that I put up....we slept in all day today, Chris and I both have colds, probably from being in the wind and rain during his race.....it is now almost 8pm and we are getting ready to go eat dinner, and then we will go to Florence tomorrow....I will post the pictures of Florence when we get back....Love you all.

I thought that I would start with a picture that has all the colors of Fall

Pea, I know what you can do with all of your cats, send them to Venice.
Our little guy that took us on our Gondola ride...he said that he had been doing this his whole life....and he doesn't live on the island.
You can see that the water rises above the stairs.


Everywhere you looked, people had their laundry hanging out...this was probably one of my favorite things about Venice....life seems simple.

Race Day Finally

Race day was finally here for the women on Saturday and then the men would run on Sunday....This is the starting line up for the women, we were there to watch all of our USA Team members and especially Barb Morgan....our friend from Pennslyvania.

On the way there, Chris and I were running to catch it and flip flops are not good to run on where there is nothing but cobblestone....I tripped and fell and busted my toe, peeling off some of the nail...I can tell you that it hurt really bad....just for documentation....it was right in front of the traffic and a car almost ran over me....so embarrasing....the crowd of people that witnessed me go down.
Barb coming past...we had a great view.
Next day, the men start off and it is raining so my pictures are not that clear when I didn't use the unmrella and I was freezing and shaking so hard.
This is Chris and the guy on the left is the Team USA coach Tim, encouraging to Chris to keep going and pick up speed, he was doing great on the run.
Chris got into a pack of men and was coming around the corner smiling and sticking out his tongue at me....I think if he can do that, he is not running hard enough.

Chris in transition getting onto his bike.
Getting ready to get on...unfortunately, he never finished, he flatted out around
miles out on his bike, later finding out he had ran over glass, flattening his tire. This is Kyle, the Morgan's grandson who is 19, his first World Championship and he is doing really well.


We are finally finished with all of the Team USA stuff and are now officially on vacation...early tomorrow morning, we are leaving to tour Venice, so I have to get in bed, it is past 9pm here and Chris is getting irritated at me...so arrivederci for now....I will really have some good pictures after today....love you all.

Hotel Villa Lalla...what a great place

This is the hotel that we are staying at while here in Italy....Hotel Villa Lalla and I have to say, the people here are very gracious, and really know how to make Americans feel welcomed.

This is our room that we are staying in, very modern and comfy.
The bathroom shelving....Chris said I took up all the room....but as you can see, he still had plenty of space to put his shaving cream....I don't understand what is he gripping about.
Hotel Villa Lalla gave us a few gifts, we received two of these nice bags, one of them not shown is orange.
Two pair of slippers that we get to keep without charge as well....I will get a lot of use out of these as we have cold marble flooring in our room.
They also provided a foot washer right beside the toilet for our convenience....as you can see, it really works and the water on your feet feel really good, although I am wondering why it is beside the toilet....hummm....we really have to shake of the water too, because when you hang it back up....it drips onto the toilet paper.
They also provided a little sink to wash your underwear and clothes....although you break your back hanging over it, because it is so low to the ground....but is very convenient.
When you get through washing your things, they have a drying rack that not only warms your clothes, but dryes them really nice....it is really cold here so when you go to put them back, it feels as though you just got them out of the dryer.Okay, I know, I know what you are thinking...I know that the sprayer is for washing your behind and the bedette is for the same thing, but our behinds are clean and we didn't need to use them, but we found a better use for them.....okay truth, my legs hurt so badly walking up and down those stairs with all of our luggage that it was too hard to even try out the bedette....and we brought Tide that you can use in the sink to wash our clothes....I promise the bedette was very clean and sanitized before I even attempted to use it....in fact, it looked as if it had never been used....maybe for cleaning someone else's underwear.

I also posted about our event that took place last night....which would almost be morning to you....so check it out as well below....I hope you enjoy the pictures....off to take some more pictures of the women racing today.