Ryan's mom and sister came to visit last week! We were thinking of taking them to Sardinia, but plans changed. They were only here for seven days, we wanted part of their trip to be in Switzerland, and we wanted the destination to be easy to reach. We finally decided to rent a car and drive to the Chianti region of Tuscany. You can't beat Tuscany... consistently good weather, amazing food, and beautiful scenery. What more could you want? Plus, Florence was just a forty minute drive from the hotel... a perfect day trip.
While in Lugano, we cooked, went to the Lido, sampled the local ice cream, hung out at the park, and walked around the center.
At the Lido, we were visited by five very large swans. They were in the lake one minute, and at our feet the next. It is alarming when they get that close... definitely not afraid of people.
The highlight, however, was taking a boat out on the water. We couldn't get enough, and did it twice.
In Tuscany, we could not have been happier with the hotel. The owner was a really friendly old man who didn't speak much English, but always encouraged our Italian. Plus, we sort of had the place to ourselves...
In addition to friendly encounters with Signor Paolo, empty pools, and beautiful views, the hotel was connected to an AMAZING restaurant. We're talking steak fiorentina, homemade ravioli and creamy risotto.
I was surprised at how excited I was to get back to Florence. Our experience last year was so amazing... this year, everything seemed to have a fond memory attached. Plus, the girl to guy ratio was 4 to 1, which meant lots of shopping.
Here we are in front of our old apartment.
Florence also gave Ryan and I a chance to say goodbye to our friend Elsa (unfortunately, William was out of town). We got to see their apartment, which is part of a beautiful, old villa overlooking the city. And Titi totally remembered us... he was excited to see a car full of visitors, but went crazy when he noticed Ryan and I. Then, as we were leaving, he followed our car as far as he could.
This was Erin and Bonnie's first time leaving the country, and it was interesting to see Europe through their fresh eyes. We could relate to everything, and it reminded us of when we first arrived... the exhaustion of travel, excitement over seeing new things, anxiety while driving, language confusion, and frustration over the lack of really, really cold drinks. Traveling over here is definitely not easy, and we were happy they braved it just for us.
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