Day 7 - Peaceful TuscanyCiao! Having a lovely time in Tuscany. This is my fourth day here in Pietrafitta and my 7th day of vacation in Italy. Today, I'm going to hike around the property here at our vacation villa. The kids are having such a ball going in the pool and having no schedule!!  OVERLOOKING THE TUSCAN COUNTRYSIDE Later on today, we will be having another delicious dinner on the premises. They are so accommodating here and were happy to modify the menu for me and my mom - neither of us who eat beef. Tonight I will be sure to take lots of pictures of what I'm sure will be another incredible Tuscan meal!!  MENU FOR OUR DINNER TONIGHT Last night we had a lovely evening in San Gimignano. I finally had a chance to walk around the town, and see some of the historic sights.  VIEW OF SAN GIMIGNANO  SAN GIMIGNANO
 We ate al fresco again. I was so mad - After walking around, feeling tired and hot from walking up the hills, checking out some of the sites and building up a huge appetite - I nearly forgot to take photos of the food - so excuse me for the partially eaten pizza!! It was sooooo good. The cheese here is so much lighter and the sauce was delicious with the thinnest, crispiest crust! I ordered the "Greca" which had black olives.
Of course, we ended the evening with a little gelato! That's all folks for now!! Till tomorrow, -E PS: I'M LOVIN' THE PICTURES TANYA!!!! | Day 7 - Scandinavian Adventure!Hi everyone! I write this as I'm marching off of the ship in a bit of a hurry, as we've arrived to the remote village of Skjolden, all of 2 hrs late due to our ship being blocked in by another liner as well as being caught in very rough seas with swells of 4.5m-6m! Ugh We're here now, and I'm excited to get out there and to start exploring!!  SKJOLDEN Since I've woke up this morning we've been cruising through the Sognefjord, the innermost part of the world's longest (126-mile-long) navigable fjord. It has been a beautiful journey. Sights of Glaciers, and quaint towns, along with views of the charming cottages homes that line the water. Today we'll be visiting the Urnes Stave Church, which is known as one of the original 1,000 stave churches constructed across Norway. The highly prized Urnes Stave Church is Norway's oldest and the only one to be recognized by UNESCO as a world heritage site.  SOGNEFJORD Yesterday was filled with fun and adventure as we first cruised the beautiful Lysefjord, and upon returning to Stavager we attempted to take a group tour to see the rest of the sights of interest. Only to be encountered by the guide explaining how due to the lack of organization that the buses and tour was discontinued for the remainder of the day and no more tickets were being sold. Oh well, I guess that's only to be expected in a foreign land. Of course you don't expect that any such thing would hold me back!! I hired my own transportation to shuttle us to the sights that interested me. Knowing by the end of the day, that we had seen it ALL!  STAVENGER I could/would place a wager that we had experienced more and seen more than anybody else on this ship! By the time we had sat to review our pictures from the day, seeing the shots taken in the morning and afternoon felt like they happened 2 days ago!! As we both commented "that was today?!" Lol During part of our fun in Stavanger we were hit with very strong winds and heavy rains...this was while we were without any shelter and in the middle of farmland, surrounded by a herd of sheep on the grounds of Jernaldegarden (Iron Age Farm); where we had stepped back into the 4th and 5th centuries A.D. We got quite wind blown and fought the elements in a rather hysterical manner. I'm certain that any local witnessing my difficulties and reactions to them would've had more than their share of entertainment for the day!! Since we were braving the elements anyway, we couldn't resist seeing the famed Sword in the Rock Monument, which is comprised of three Viking swords forced into solid rock and rising over 30 feet tall! They commemorate the place where Viking King Herald Haarfagre defeated the last of the regional princes in 872 AD and founded the kingdom of Norway. I do hope that you're enjoying hearing about my travels as much as I'm enjoying sharing them with you..I couldn't ask that you enjoy hearing about them as much as I enjoy experiencing them, because that would simply be unfathomable! Take care, have a super day, and meet me back here tomorrow as, I'll be back to share more of my taste of Scandinavian! -T |
