Winter in Tuscany

For our winter get-away between Christmas and New Years we rented a house for a few days in Lucca, Italy. Lucca is near Florence, Pisa and Cinque Terre. Early in the morning Paul, Laura, Lindsay (Laura's friend from school) and I drove through the French Alps and the Mt. Blanc tunnel into Italy. It was fun to see the signs change from French to Italian. As we drove south, the skies turned brilliant blue and the temperatures warmed for December.

The Italian Alps and gondola across the highway.

When we arrived in Lucca we were met by the owners of the house, handed the keys and were shown the four bikes waiting for us to use. By that afternoon we were on the bikes to tour the city of Lucca. 

The walls around Lucca remain intact, which is unusual for cities in Tuscany. The walls once for military protection have become a pedestrian promenade which encircle the old city.

Lucca's old town circular piazza.

As evening approached the Christmas light of the old city came on and the streets were full of people shopping and eating in cafes. We found a great pizza cafe and sat outside to have our dinner. Laura and Lindsay went shopping as we waited for our dinner to arrive and found some great deals!

The next morning we rode our bikes to the train station and we were off to Cinque Terra. The weather could not have been nicer. 

Waiting for the train in Lucca bound for Cinque Terre

Paul and I in Vernazza, one of the 5 (Cinque) cities.

Laura hiking up above the city of Vernazza.

I honestly think that Laura's favorite part of the day was playing at the beach in the warm weather. She misses the ocean so much!

One of the days we took off for Florence. I was anxious to see so many of the paintings that I had studied in Art History during my freshman year in college. We were not disappointed. After walking along the river and viewing artwork and sculpture we found a great restaurant. We had spaghetti, gnocchi, bread and a yummy fresh salad. We wandered around the old city afterwards and  enjoyed the lights and the Italian Christmas markets that were still up.

Laura and Lindsay along the Arno river in Florence.

Lindsay and Laura waiting to enter the Uffizi Museum in Florence, Italy.

Pisa was a must for us. The city was pretty close to Lucca and the drive easy, so we decided to take the car there. Yes, Paul has driven in a crazy Italian city and survived. I will even say he was amazing! Pisa was beautiful and the Cathedral Square (Piazza del Duomo) was pretty spectacular. The Piazza has the cathedral and the famous leaning tower of Pisa. Yes, we ended up doing the stereotypical pictures of holding up the tower--after all, we are typical tourists!

Yeah Paul is holding up the tower with one hand in his pocket. Yeah he is pretty amazing. ;)

What a wonderful and restful trip. Our nights were full of talking, playing Phase 10 (which Paul won) and watching movies. Our trip to Tuscany was a success for the Johnson's!!!