Skip to main content

Last Post from Italy

Day 8
Yesterday was Juergen’s 51st birthday. We drove south to the Saturnia Spa. It was a 3 ½ hour drive. On the way we stopped at a hole in the wall sandwich shop on the coast near the port that takes you to Elba. The landscape was amazing. I personally wanted to stop every 5 mins to take photos. But then the trip could have taken weeks. You need to drive through very curvy roads and very small mountain villages to get to the spa. It was in such an out of the way place we were sure no one would be there. Wrong. It was very hard to find parking. This place was wonderful. I thought I would be the only one enjoying the spa. I love warm water. Wrong again. Jessica soaked in the warm water for one and ½ hours. Philip, Nicole and Sarah were so cute rubbing the mud all over each other. Afterwards our skin felt like silk. And I slept better then I have in years. We all slept well. It was great!
When we returned to the Villa we had our family story time. It was Jessica’s day. The kids asked all kinds of questions about Jessica’s autism. They have never really done that before. And then Philip and Sarah wanted to watch all the videos I have made of our family, and past vacations. I have dozens of videos and slide shows stored on my computer. Juergen sat with them looking at pictures for an hour. I feel so blessed!

Today I took Nicole, Sarah and Philip into town to ride a bike and post my blog. Unfortunately it started to rain hard. We went for a walk instead. It was also a holiday (I guess it was Italian Republic day). Most of the stores were closed and so was the internet café. I did find a shop where I could buy local olive oil and noodles. I have a nice collection of food and plants to take home.

Day 10

Today was long and very interesting. We drove through the Apennine mountains (not sure I spelled that right). Our first stop was Grotta Del Vento, the largest cave in Italy. I stayed with Jessica in the car while the others took the 2 hour tour. It sounded incredible but Jessica would have been freaked out in the dark. I understand it was also pretty hard to climb in this deep hole. I would have had a hard time with it. They took a few pretty cool photo’s.
Our next goal was the Carara marble mine. You have to drive through the mountains to get there. It looked so much like driving in Yosemite park in Northern California. My photo’s don’t do it justice. It was breathtaking. The kids were a bit bored on the long trip. But Juergen and I were in awe. When we finally arrived at Carara it was so cool! This is the same place Michelangelo came to get marble for his statues. We got a tour from an old man who fought with the Americans in WW2. He was the best part of the trip. He was so proud to show us around. We bought some marble from him, and he also gave the kids some marble. Nicole and Thomas both want to try carving marble.
Then we drove along the coast. Most of the Italian coast in this area is private. You need to pay a pretty steep fee (25 € per person per day) to get on the beach. We stopped at a private beach. It was already 6:30 pm. I asked if we could just go on the beach for a half hour for free. They agreed. So the boys tossed stones into the sea.

We tried to reserve tickets to the Renaissance museum in Florence, but couldn’t manage to get through on the phone. We are pretty tired so I am sort of glad we aren’t going to Florence tomorrow. Instead we will try to just ride bikes in Lucca again. We have to pack. It will be a long trip home. So this will be my final post from Italy. It’s been a full and wonderful time. I love it here. I hope we will return someday soon.



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

chicken coop idea

Why not start with an IBC and cut a hole for the door? You could build closed laying boxes into it, and something for the chickens to roost on. Put some straw or saw dust on the floor. You could add vents to the side for air. If it sat inside a chicken run that you can walk into, the chickens could be safe, dry and happy. I have an extra IBC. Maybe this could be my chicken house? I bet I could even plant the outside of it with mud and grass for extra insulation and good looks.

Reading Kingdom

I am very happy to review the Reading Kingdom.   This is an online program that uses a variety of methods to teach reading.   I decided to share this product with my adopted granddaughter Ruth.   Reading kingdom uses a six skills integrative method Ruth only just began to use the program. She is only 3 years old and cannot use the program without help.   But her mom says that she can already recognize words like girl and kids when they are shown on the screen.   Sylvia wrote that she loves the repetition of the words in the program .   That Ruth is memorizing the words she sees.     She will be able to use it for an entire year.   But I expect her to become a very good reader.   And what a great gift to give to any child!   She will have a lifetime love for books.     Sylvia also works with teenage mothers in Uganda.   And many of these women have never attended school.   So she plans to use these ideas to help these young women learn to read. http://www.ReadingKingdom.com what

Taking at look at Hotels select

I have the chance to review Hotels select.   https://www.hotelsetc.com/ This is a really interesting travel club.   You pay a fee of about 200 dollars a year to use their very extensive site.   I got this membership free.   It has many deals of mostly hotels, but also rental cars, flights, restaurants and events around the world.   I have been spending days looking at what they offer.   So far what I’ve found is amazing deals on the places many people go.   For example, hotels in Orlando are 50% less than deals you find at booking.com.   Rental cars are often 25% cheaper than Rental cars.com.   And they have a search where you can book a condo for as little as 250 dollars a week just 1 mile from Disney world.   That is 7 nights for 250 dollars for up to 4 people.   The exact location on Airbnb cost 650 dollars a week. If you travel to places like San Diego, New York City and Las Vegas this site will save you a great deal of money.   If you rent cars you will also find it wo