🦋 Vacation notes
We spent last week in Italy, where we have never been before. We stayed at an Agriturismo -- a farm which rents out efficiency apartments as a side line -- in Tuscany; specifically, in the village of Monteoriolo, which is 2 km north of the town of Impruneta, which is 10 km south of Florence. It was nice staying out in the countryside -- very quiet and peaceful, and beautiful views of the valley and Florence. The drawback was, it meant we had to rent a car and drive every day, and the driving in that part of Italy is terrifying -- narrow, narrow roads with a wall on one side and a drop on the other, and hairpin turns. We went in to Florence 4 days, spent one day in Lucca and one in Siena; plus most days we went to Impruneta to shop for dinner and the next day's breakfast, and to let Sylvia play in the very nice playground which abuts the main piazza in the town. The place to shop for food was Coop supermarket, just behind that piazza, which is almost a US-style supermarket; very good selection of fresh produce and low, low prices. The two exceptions were the day we spent in Lucca, when I shopped for dinner at a small grocery store there, and our last day, when I shopped at a small grocery in Florence, on the Via de' Cerchi. Cooking was fun and most of what I made came out very well. I went up and down a lot on this vacation, between being worried about school starting (I go to register for classes today! Start next week!) and liking the place where I was. By cool coincidence [or a subconscious cry for help? No, probably coincidence] I bought a very nice yo-yo at a toy store next to the Piazza della Signoria in Florence, and played with it pretty constantly until I broke it in Lucca, trying to undo a knot I had created. Fun! I never have been able to do any yo-yo tricks, but this time I was doing around the world pretty consistently. I will keep an eye out for another one. It seems like the weight is pretty key -- this one was wood and a bit heavier than any other yo-yo I have played with, I think they have all been plastic.
posted morning of Thursday, September first, 2005
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