Hello Firenze!

I had considered calling this post Pasta, Pasta, Pasta. They are not kidding when they say Italians love their spaghetti, I tell ya. Suffice to say we will probably not be heading to the Old Spaghetti Factory upon our return to P-Town. I would wager a guess that we have eaten some form of noodles, sauce and cheese every day for nearly two months. So, yeah.

We have enjoyed our stay at AsvaNara very much. It is immensely peaceful and beautiful, as well as having the added bonus of the chilled out horse herd milling around all day. There has been gardening and the super fun chainsawing, (we probably cut down something like 100 oak trees. Timber!) Don't worry tree huggers, there are thousands more. Anyway that was about it for the work we had to do around here. Not bad really.

We are set way up in the hills, but downhill is the small town, (around 1500 or so) of Pieve Santo Stefano. A cool little town with a tiny store, a fruit and veggie lady, and a killer gellato shop. Oh yeah, it is about an hour and half walking round trip with the kids but so worth it. We have been probably 6 or 7 times since we have been here and once got caught in a huge rainstorm on the way back, soaked, to the bone, and still worth every step.

We haven't been alone here. There has been the family, which numbers 5, as well as a terrific family friend from Australia. Also two great Israeli women on a three month trip through Italy, Austria and Scotland. They are fresh off their tours in the military and checking out a bit of Europe. There is also an Italian woman here who is an apprentice for the horse training method they practice here. She is from a town near Venice and is really interesting as well.

We take all meals together and it has been fun to talk with them and hear their stories, and their take on life too. As it turns out, the Israelis have a bit of the same itinerary as us. They were in Rome when we were and by happy coincidence are travelling to Florence tomorrow. So we are all going to Firenze as a group... should be fun.
We have chucked most of our warm weather gear at this point, and also my beloved green work pants that lasted until my very last day of work. I had darned and patched them at least ten times and it was not easy to toss 'em in the trash, but toss 'em I did. Honestly, they were shot and needed to go. So our wardrobe is pared down to a minimum... no big deal, only a couple weeks left. And what a couple weeks.

Tomorrow we wake and split around 10 am and arrive in Florence around 1:30 or 2, just in time for check in. Then we get to be touristy for a few days before hauling out of Europe just before our visas expire.

Arrivederci AsvaNara, buongiorno Firenze.