As I write this I am sitting on the patio outside our little stone house somewhere in the Tuscan hills near Florence. I came across this place by chance on the internet and it really is a piece of heaven. The owner has turned an old convent in to their home and a few rental apartments. This and the sun and the pool and what can I say. This is the perfect place for Shane to spend his birthday.... and I get to come along for the ride!
We have come from rose wine country full circle to Cianti with a few cold beer thrown in.
Frome Eze we made our way along the French Riviera to the Italian Riviera (why don't they turn those unused border buildings in to tourist information booths anyway?). It took us five hours to go about 100km along the Italian Riviera. Crazy traffic and this isn't peak season. We decided to stop for two nights in a place called San Bartalameo sur Mar. Found a place right on the water for 45E a night.... and no bugs! The only draw back were the two soccer teams (little 10 year old boys) staying here but that was just for one noisy evening and early morning. Other than that it was a great place to enjoy.
I was getting pretty good at my French then got put in my place here. For some reason I try to answer people in Japanese. Now go figure that one out. They couldn't understand me if I used Italian or Spanish or Japanese.... With local dialects the only thing I can get out of my mouth is please, thank you and you want how much?!
From the riviera we headed straight to the Cinque Terre for two nights. We stayed in Riomaggiora in a studio apartment rented from Mar Mar. They are a local company that own a number of apartments that they rent at reasonable rates. Again we had a kitchen which helps cut back the costs. 
The Cinque Terre is a series of five towns that you walk through. The walk is only about 9km but the last two cities are a bit of a challenge if you're not into stairs and narrow walkways. We walked from Riomaggioria north then took the train back.
The views are absolutely stunning. We had the weather and the fortitude to enjoy it all. I must say that the cold beer tasted awfully good at the end of the walk. There are an awful lot of tourists many of them attempting to do the walk in flimsy shoes. Don't do that! There is a time and a place for hiking boots and this would be one of them. You can do it in runners but the ankle support came in handy on the uneven ground.
From the Cinque Terre we drove towards Florence via Lucca and Pisa. The first part of the trip is pretty boring flat ground so we took the Autostrada.
Lucca is a nice town with huge intact city walls. It is not a hill town and the medieval flare is not like what we have experienced so it was a bit disappointing... still it was pretty and clean. It would be a nice city to stay in for a while. In Pisa it was Kodak moment chaos as we watched people taking pictures. About half the people were taking perspective pictures of their subject attempting to hold up the tower. Pretty funny... it was like the Mona Lisa... I didn't know if we should take pictures of the tower or of the people taking pictures of the tower.
We were in Pisa 37 years ago in January. Suffice to say it is a bit different today. A lot busier and a lot warmer. We didn't climb up this time... in fact we took pictures, ate a delicious lunch and headed off to Florence.
Now we are here in this beautiful piece of heaven.
Katharina, our friend from Switzerland, and her father joined us on Thursday. We have spent the day catching up on our lives (since we travelled together in Asia), swimming and resting. Right now I have to sign off because we are heading out to a local (open!) winery to see what the area has to offer.
Such a life!