Hello from Italy! We are back and having a wonderful time.

It's been so long since I did a blog post that I forgot how to upload the photos so they display in the correct order. Thus, you get the last week in reverse.

Yesterday afternoon I met our friend Mary C. for a marcia podistica in the Ponte a Moriano area. It was a lovely 6 kilometer walk through the area of the classic villas. We got all caught up on current doings (email or phone calls are just not the same) and saw a few new sights.

One of the snack stops was inside the courtyard of a gorgeous villa. This small chapel was nearby and the mother was watching her two girls run in circles on the grass. What I wouldn't give for that kind of energy.

 This is a view of the walkers having their snacks.

 Opposite the ristoro table was this lovely fountain, unfortunately dry.

 The sun came and went while we walked. It was really hot and muggy, much to our surprise.

 This is the front of the villa where we had the ristoro.

Earlier yesterday Dom and I went to a mostra scambio in Pescia. These automotive swap meets are always interesting especially when Dom has a "commission" from one of his classic car owning friends.

 Of everything there yesterday this fascinated me the most. How did this American style RV get to Italy? The show took place inside the Pescia fresh flower market.

 Restored or replica US Army vehicles are almost always present at a mostra scambio.

 As always, I find some of the "add-ons" the most fascinating part of the classic cars. Here is an early sun roof!

 This was quite the vehicle! However, there was not identifying marque on it. Anyone know what it is?

 This is a 1929 Austin Seven. The sign says "rara"!

 Lots of Alfas, of course!

 I believe this is a Fiat. It's about 50% of the size of a VW van.

On Friday we had some errands to run. Afterwards we walked into central Lucca and visited my favorite gelateria - Il Pinguino.

 Il Pinguino!

The weather has been really good--like July in Seattle! This is a view to the south from our bedroom. Unfortunately the camera focuses on the closest thing which happens to be the window screen.

On Thursday we had been to Viareggio.

There weren't as many large yachts being worked on but it might be early in the season for that. This one caught Dom's eye.

 We returned to a restaurant we discovered last spring. Big Bamboo has fabulous food! We sat on the upper floor deck that you can see to the right of the sign.

 It was market day in Viareggio so we strolled the stalls but also perused the shop windows.

 Italians do shop windows very well. This picture doesn't do the display justice. It is glass "plates" screwed to the backing like drawer pulls. The purses are then hung from the knobs. I loved all the red.

 Earlier in the week we had made a foray to Leroy Merlin (like Home Depot) to look at toilet parts. We took a few pictures of the back of the toilet tank box for reference.

Upon our arrival last Sunday evening we made our way to our local pizzeria for dinner. We are returning again tonight but I think we will enjoy it more minus the jet lag!

 My current favorite is salame piccante (aka pepperoni in the US) with arugula on top. Yum!

This was the lovely weather that greeted us last Sunday evening when we arrived. A week later it is just clearing off and will look just the same in 30-60 minutes!

Not sure what we will be doing this coming week. I need to keep up with work but we will take a few excursions as well.

A presto!