Our Tuscan adventure took us away by train this afternoon to lovely Lucca. After an hour and a half we stepped inside the fortified walls of the city and into a place quite different from Florence. Wandering from sight to sight we all enjoyed our free time here. Lucca has a beautiful walking and bicycling trail along the tree-lined upper part of the walls. Some of us took time to stroll there while other checked out shops and sidewalk cafes. A couple of folks were spotted eating gelato too! This city has a quiet sophistication that makes it seem a world apart from Florence and other places full of tourists (us!) this time of the year. Napoleon took a liking to this Italian jewel and gave it to his sister as a gift! The train ride was our initiation into the nuiances of Tuscan train travel. It was a good beginning to several more train rides coming up in the next week or so. We were happy to hear "Firenze - Santa Maria Novella" as we pulled back into our home station after a very pleasant day. More later . . . Ciao!
I HAVE SET UP A NEW PHOTOBLOG SITE FOR THE 2014 TOURS. YOU CAN STILL SEE PHOTOS FROM 2008 TO 2013 HERE. TO VIEW THE LATEST TOURS GO TO: WWW.INTUSCANYWITHPATRIZIA.BLOGSPOT.COM
"In La Cucina" In the Kitchen - Oct. 3 - Part 2
A great evening of cooking and eating was started with a walk from the residence over the Arno to the In Tavola Cooking School. We prepared four courses for our "eat-your-own-cooking" meal. The menu consisted of an eggplant appetiser, gnocchi with fresh tomato and basil sauce, "farmer's chicken" with onions and red peppers and topped off with tiramisu - the "dolce fini" (sweet finish). You will see from the photos what a great time we all had and the cooking expertise has now reached a new level! Enjoy - sorry you didn't get to taste - maybe next year, huh? More later . . .Ciao!