More About Italy

The next day in Italy was so full that I'm going to split it up into two parts.

It began with the part that I'll tell you about today, and it continued and ended with the part I'll tell you about on Wednesday.

I haven't said much yet about the town near which our Villa was located, but it was called Tavarnelle Val di Pesa.  It is about halfway between Florence and Siena on the Firenze- Siena Highway.  Our Villa was about a 10 or 15 minute walk from town.

Earlier in the week, when we had first arrived in Tavarnelle, we had heard that the Open Air Market, which moves to different towns each day, was going to be in Tavarnelle, so of course we decided to go check it out.

They had everything there!  Here, take a look!!

 First, look at this cool weather balloon floating over our villa.  Well, we called it a weather balloon. 

 And, also, here is the Public Library.  It is amazing how they always look the same, isn't it?

 Here we are, coming up on the booths.  That guy is selling some vegetables.

 Then there were flowers!  Beautiful!!

 And, jewelry.

 And scarves and clothes of all types.

 And fruit-- Peaches!  YUM!

 And more veggies and fruit!

Well, and what market would be complete without tentacles?  Right?

Tune in on Wednesday for Part 2 of this day:  SIENA!  

Flip Friday

Here in Erie, Pennsylvania, Winter is approaching.

Winter can get super cold here because of the Lake and stuff.  We get a ton of snow and so winter coats are Important.

Even though Rabbits don't go outside, Winter Coats are Important to Them, too.  And so, each year about this time, They Molt off their Summer/ Autumn Coat and they grow their new Winter Snow Coat.

I say all this to say this:  Rabbits are a little Messy right now.  They are busy molting.  They have bits of hair here and there that just pop up and out.

When you're a Star, you want people to see you at Your Best.

Now, They know that you are not judgmental!  Of course you aren't!  Even so, They are Sensitive about Their looks.

AND, I say ALL THAT to say THIS:  You are getting Old Rabbit Movies Again.  Reruns.  Oldies but Goodies. 





So there you are.   Your Rabbit Fix. 

On Monday, back to Italy!!

Have a great weekend!

Firenze!

On Monday, I told you about our first day in Tuscany.

(Actually, there was a day I missed.  We arrived on Saturday, but pretty late in the day.  On Sunday, we rested, got our bearings, and walked into town to try to find toilet paper.  But, that's a story for another day.  Monday was Monteriggioni and Volterra.  And then, there was Tuesday and....)

.....FLORENCE!

It was time for our first day in Florence (a.k.a. Firenze)!!!

As I mentioned, last week, I was fortunate enough to meet up with my friend, Jenny, who currently lives in Switzerland.  She had to leave from the train station in Florence on Tuesday morning, so off we went in search of adventure and the train.

There's Jenny with the blue backpack, trying to figure out what track her train was on.  They didn't bother to hurry on posting the track number!  But soon, she was off!  BYE, JENNY!!

We left the train station and just started walking.  All roads seemed to lead to the Duomo!  I have to say, it's pretty amazing to walk around the corner and see this sight.

Or this one.  Like I said before, it's hard to take a bad picture in Italy!!  We waited in line for a short few minutes for an opportunity to go into the Cathedral, Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore.  Over the next weeks, we would do this a few more times.

This is one of my favorite shots from inside the Cathedral.  It is generally challenging to take pictures inside the churches because you are usually forbidden from using a flash, but the environment is so dark that you have to hold your camera very still in order to get a clear shot.  It took some practice and lots of blurry photos to get a few clear ones. 

Back outside.  I was fascinated by all the praying stations.  These awesome shrines just show up everywhere on the corners of buildings, or the middle of streets, or off to the sides of streets.  I thought they were cool and I knew the Chick would love them, so I took lots of pictures of them.

I know that I have posted a lot of Italian Cats, but there were also a lot of Italian Dogs.  Here's one now!  He was hanging out in a beauty shop.  As we walked by, he ran to the door!  WOOF!

The famous bronze Baptistery Doors.  This was the Baptistery where people like Dante and the Medicis were baptized.  Just sayin'.

Detail of the bronze doors.

Ummmm....this is ME!  On the steps of the Cathedral, living life.  Gripping my map for dear life.  Well, not really. 

And, random praying station just on the corner of a building.  As you read more about my trip (if you do) you will see lots more of these, trust me!

And so we came to the end of our first day in Florence.  We spent a few days here, so you will see some of these places again.  But now, it's time to go to.....SIENA!!!

Stay tuned for that trip next week.  A Rabbit Movie shall be issued forth for the weekend.

Back to Italy

ENOUGH WITH RABBITS!!!  THEY ONLY GET FRIDAYS!!!

Ha ha ha. OK. Please don't tell them I said that. PLEASE!

Let's go back to Italy. So, there we were in our Villa in the town of Tavarnelle Val di Pesa. Our first day trip was to Volterra. For anyone familiar with the Twilight series (which I am not, though I do work in a Library), you know Volterra, right? Apparently, in the Twilight books, something happened there, though I'm not sure what.

Well, I was there, and I saw NO VAMPIRES!! Weird, right?

Volterra was very close to where our Villa was. Only a short trip.

But, first, we went to Monteriggioni.

Monteriggioni is a medieval walled town built in 1213.  That is pretty much enough to blow your mind, isn't it?  1213???  Yeah, that's what I said.  You can see it there, up beyond that hill.  See the towers?

This is the main entrance to the town.  It is a pretty tight squeeze for delivery trucks going in and out!

We sat and sipped some espresso in one of Monteriggioni's Piazzas, Piazza Roma.  The sugar package you see by my cup has a quote from Dante on it.  Dante mentioned Monteriggioni in his Inferno!!  (I brought that sugar packet home for the Chick.)

One of the town's towers.  This picture was taken from up on the wall that surrounds the city, which you can buy a ticket to walk on.  The views both inside the city and out are amazing.

A view looking the other way-- the outside of the town from the wall.

This is a street level view of Piazza Roma.

A detail of one of the churches in Piazza Roma.  I believe this was San Augustino, but you probably shouldn't quote me on that.

This is a pretty good view that shows the wall around the town. Pretty cool, yes?  I think maybe Erie needs a cool wall!

After a lovely morning of trekking around in Moteriggioni, we were off to Volterra.  Somewhere, in the kilometers between the two places, the weather changed a bit.  What had been a gorgeous, sunny, blue day turned into a bit of a rainstorm.  That was OK, though.  It was Italian Rain, after all, so it seemed fine to me!!

 Here is our arrival in Volterra.  This is the requisite "shot of the sign from the car."

 Random roof and dome shot.  It is really hard to take a bad picture in these places!!

This is the inside of the ristorante where we had lunch.  Part of the wall behind our table was a remnant of the original wall from when the Etruscans had lived in Volterra, which was, oh, back in maybe the 5th century or so.  WHAT??  And I sat and ate noodles there.  Unthinkable!

My lunch noodles.  Mmmmmm.  Eating noodles next to an ancient Etruscan wall.  Yup.

I'm not sure which church this is.  By this time in the day, it was raining pretty hard and I lost track of remembering what was what.  I'm not sure how those two things are related, but I think they are.

Street shot.  Volterra in the rain.  See?  No vampires anywhere, though I guess it is daytime.  Hmmmm.

This was a shot taken while we were on our way back to the car.  I love these roofs -- the lines, the colors.  Just amazing.  The satellite dishes offer a nice touch, too!  Oh, well, even cities built in the 5th century need some updates now and then, right?

Come back for more on Wednesday.  Who knows where we'll end up?  Well, we'll still be in Itlay, but you know what I mean. 

Flip Friday

We interrupt this broadcast of Stuff About Italy to bring you....

A RABBIT MOVIE!

Or Two.

Living in a house with Rabbits requires that you live by certain rules.  These Rules assume the knowledge that though you may think that you are an OK human being, A Rabbit is Always Better, Always Cuter, Always More Important.

There are Lots of Rules to live by when you share your home with Rabbits.  When you share your Blog with Rabbits, there is one Main Rule that you must live by:

1.  Always show a Rabbit Movie if you are capable.  Preferably on Friday.

And that is what we shall do.  Now, The Girls and I haven't prepared any New Rabbit Movies, due to the the fact of my very own laziness (my Flip camera is still full of movies I made for the Chick in Italy, which I narrated for her to show her certain sights that I wanted her to see "with" me), but they insisted that I post Rabbit Movies of some kind.

So, we chose one that stars Both the Lilypad's Gorgeous Rabbits, and one In Which Miss Zoe Practices Her Italian.  Do you remember these oldies but goodies?


Cute Rabbits Eating Salad from marcy hall on Vimeo.


Zoe Practices Her Italian from marcy hall on Vimeo.

Even if you've seen these before, they warrant a second look, say the Rabbits. (YOU SHOULD LISTEN!!!)

HAPPY WEEKEND! More about Italy (and Rabbits and cats) to come!!

More about Italy

It is strange to write more about anything other than cats and Rabbits.

Much to their dismay, however, today, I will write more about Italy.

When last I wrote, we were still in Milan. 

Milan is a nice place to visit, but it is rather industrial.  Kind of like the Pittsburgh of Italy.  It's not the cleanest city or the most lovely one.  Parts of it are lovely-- like the gelato, the pizza, il Duomo, the people in general.  But the landscape is a sharp contrast to where we went next and where we stayed for the remainder of our trip......TUSCANY!

That's right.  I was under the Tuscun Sun.  I actually was.  And, I got a little sunburn from it!

We left Milan on a Saturday morning.  We had to meet my mom at the airport (she missed the first part of the trip due to ....LOSING HER PASSPORT!!  Don't ask.) in the morning, and then, as a special treat, we were also to meet and pick up my friend Jenny, who is currently living in Switzerland!  She took the train to Milan and we picked her up at the Stazione Centrale at noon that day. 

We packed up the car and pointed the car toward our Villa in Tuscany!

It was about a four hour drive with five women and all their luggage in a Fiat, which the Italian Car Hire Guy had called "HUGE!" but to us was sort of mid-sized.   Needless to say, we were happy to get to the VIlla, unfold ourselves from driving and riding in the car, and take in the new landscape.

 A view to the West of our Villa:  Chianti Grape Vineyards!

 A View to the East: More Chianti Grapes and some Italian trees!

One of our Villa Cats making his way down the tiled roof 

after deciding he was done Supervising 

our temporary move into the Villa.

Sunset on our first evening in Tuscany.

AND THIS WAS ONLY THE FIRST DAY!!

Stay tuned for more (though the trip may be interrupted by a Rabbit Movie.  Go figure.

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggedy Jig

OK, it is true that I've been home from Italy for...well...a couple of weeks now.

After a three week trip, though, it can be really hard to get back in the swing of things.  ESPECIALLY when the first week of that is spent trying to get your animals (I won't mention any specific Rabbits, but....) to stop shunning you.

Seriously, I would get down on the floor to kiss Zoe, and-- BAM!  She would look away.  I would lean down to pick up Blueberry for a snuggle and-- BAM!  She would run in to Her Lair.

I have since somehow made my way back in to Their graces.  I'm not sure how.  I've learned not to question certain things in life.

My trip was wonderful.  I have about One Million Pictures to share.  Today, I will start doing that, and I will continue to share pictures for a couple of weeks and to tell about my trip.

In the meantime, while I was away, I had lots of time to think.  And in that thinking time, I decided what I really want to focus on artwise for awhile.  And, so I'll be sharing that, too, very soon.

But first.... SOME PICTURES AND STORIES OF ITALY!!!

Let's start at the beginning.  I know while I was gone, The Chick and the Bunnies posted a few updates, but there's a lot you missed.

We began our trip in Milano.  Our flight to get there was more than a little harrowing (especially for the Chick).  We got on a plane in Clevelnad, then got off a plane in Cleveland.  Then we got on a plane to Texas and then on a plane to London.  Then, we got off a plane in New york, switched to a different plane and then that plane took us to London.  Then, finally, we took a plane to Milan.

Did you follow that?  Needless to say, we were pretty tired when we arrived.  But after a day or so, we began to explore our surroundings.  We were only there for a couple of days, though, so it seemed that as soon as we found our way around, it was time to go to Tuscany!

So, here's a few shots from Milano:

 My first Italian PIZZA!!!  

This was called the Bismark.  

It had a soft boiled egg right in the center!!

Our Hotel Cat, Susanna, in front of our hotel, La Residenza.

 Il Duomo in the City Centro.

 From inside il Duomo.  

A lovely Madonna painting by one of Italy's thousands of amazing painters.

Scarves for sale!

 Delicious looking treats from the Gelataria near our hotel on Via Pelligrino.

Stay tuned for more over the next few days.

Oh, and we'll throw some Rabbit pictures in.  Not to worry.