The trip to Tuscany was absolutely amazing! Long journey and lots of car time with the family, but well worth seeing some of the most beautiful structures in all of Italy! We started our journey early on Saturday morning. The girls skipped school :o) We made it to Siena, which is a very nice smaller town. Our first stop was an Irish pub for lunch … Our waitress was a young black woman. She spoke Italian, but I knew she was not Italian. I asked where she was from … Nigeria, and she was here to study and was working to support her way through school. In Siena, I saw the Cathedral of Siena which was magnificent with all its details. Then we went to Piaza del Campo where many people go to sit or lay down in the square. Currently, they have tables and such set up outside of the restaurants, but around the plaza there is a stone pathway which will be covered with sand for the horse races. People stand in the middle of the plaza which slants downward as it gets closer to the middle. That is where people stand during the races, and because of the slanting, everyone is able to see the race. Greta was not happy about the walking that day haha, but it was not more than any of the other days to come. My camera had fairly new batteries it in, but for some reason it was showing that I had low batteries. I figured I had better get some new batteries just in case … There was sooo much to see in the days to come, and I didn’t want to not have a camera. I bought good batteries, fairly expensive, but ones I knew would last for the trip … My camera never ran out of batteries. In fact, it died as the sun was setting on Monday evening when we were driving home. The batteries lasted the perfect amount of time … God showed me through that experience that I don’t show to have much faith. He knows what I need and will always provide for me … I should never doubt. That evening, we drove through the hills to get to the house we were staying in for the night. I couldn’t see anything, but I could feel that the area was just beautiful because we were far out in the country :o) At the house, Sergio grilled some steaks, Monica prepared the home by getting dished ready and beds arranged, and I played Connect 4 with the girls. Just in case you’re wondering, I win 99% of the time lol. Dinner was absolutely wonderful!! Then it was time for sleep. The family slept on the ground floor in the bedroom and then on the pull-out couch. I got the bedroom downstairs which had two twin beds. The girls wanted to sleep with me on the pull-out couch, but Monica said it was too small for all three of us :o)
Sunday morning proved my thoughts correct … The view was BEAUTIFUL!! You could turn around and around, looking all around the house and just see the rolling hills of Tuscany. I could see Voltera on a hill in the distance and the rest of the scenery was hills with villas spotted throughout. There was a little rain in the morning, but not too bad. Off to Florence we went! Our first stop was Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, which is not a Catholic church, but one of the first Protestant churches in Italy. It was huge! There’s a baptistery to the right that is an octagonal shape. I walked up to the church to get a better view (honestly, just to touch the church lol) and was amazed at the details … in the door, the edges, and when you look up while standing at the door, there are people around the top looking down upon you. After the church, we went to see Michelangelo’s David. It was in a plaza where they also had the Uffizi gallery of statues and Neptune’s fountain. Lots of naked men in that plaza. After the statues, we went to Ponte Vecchio. This is the oldest bridge in Florence. If you are walking up to it along the river, it looks like the buildings across the bridge are small houses, but they are all jewelry stores. When you see the shops, they are beautiful and very old. When people close their shops there are wooden doors. Monica told me this showed how old they were because these days people use metal bars when closing their shops. The rain wasn’t too bad in Florence, but we didn’t have enough umbrellas to shield all of us from the rain, so Sergio bought the girls and me umbrellas :oD They have four different pictures of the most famous places in Tuscany … What a great souvenir!! So for lunch we went to Leonardo and Sylvia’s house in Florence … They are friends of Monica and Sergio’s that they met 2 years ago when they were in Egypt. It was a great meal … Started off with bread and some cream cheese or liver that you could put on your bread. Then lots of meat, a salad, fruit, and roasted chestnuts :o) Long meal, and then a longer time to visit, but I got to watch Alice in Wonderland with the kids lol. In Italian, Alice is pronounced Aliche. Saturday was Halloween, but since we were in Florence there was no trick-or-treating for us; although, Halloween is less than 10 years old in Italy. Later on in the evening we went out for a pizza. Each person gets their own pizza … I had a pizza bianca (white pizza, no tomato sauce) with mozzarella cheese, carrots, zucchini, mushrooms, and eggplant. Really good!!
Monday morning was raining more than Sunday, but it started letting up enough for us to get packed up in the car and take off to Pisa. It really started pouring when we reached Pisa, so we stayed in the car for some time until it let up. When it finally did, we walked to the tower. It was so unreal!! The Tower of Pisa is in Miracle Square, which is truly the only beautiful part of Pisa. It is nothing like Florence or Siena. We took lots of pictures of the tower, and had some good laughs when Sergio asked these 3 Asian women to take our picture after he took theirs. They didn’t understand. They wanted Nicole and Greta in their pictures haha! It was so funny because they motioned for Nicole and Greta to get in their picture and then one lady wanted a picture with just her and Nicole :o) Monica and I were cracking up! Then when it was our turn to take a picture, the Asian woman kept putting the camera down too soon. Haha, they tried :o) In Pisa, I heard more people talking in English than I have throughout the entire trip. There were many British and American tourists in the Miracle Square that day. Sergio got Greta and me a ticket to go up the tower, but it was later in the day so we walked to the pedestrian square for some lunch. Sergio wanted to go to this one restaurant where they serve some kind of chick-pea omelet, but they were closed … But we found a great alternative! It was a nice little shop that had a sandwich bar and lots and lots of sweets :o) We had our lunch and then everyone got to choose something sweet. After lunch we walked back to the tower, and Greta and I were the first in line for our group. It was such a good time with her! Monica told her to hold my hand the whole time, so as we climbed the winding steps of the tower, we were hand-in-hand. I made her stop multiple times for pictures, and she stopped at every window or ledge to look out and see if she could see Monica, Sergio, and Nicole. They did see us from the middle and the top! We waved to them and that made Greta happy :o) At the top, it was very windy and the rain came down cold. We walked around the top for a little bit and then made our way back down. What a cool experience!! I was still in shock coming down that I had actually walked up the Tower of Pisa!! What a blessing <3
In each city we stopped at a coffee bar to have a small coffee :o) It is a very Italian thing to swing into a coffee bar multiple times a day to have a small coffee lol. And they are small indeed!
I’m so thankful to the family for giving me such an opportunity as this! It was a dream come true to see the things that I have seen on this holiday. For me, these things are only what I thought I would see in pictures and movies … but thanks to the Grannó family, I have seen with my own two eyes. It was also a great time to build my relationship with the girls! We have played many games of Connect 4, taken tons of silly pictures, and made great videos that I hope I can share with everyone when I figure out how to do that on the computer :oP I have taught Greta how to say, “Pretty please.” She says it so pitifully that you just can’t help to give her what she wants … That’s dangerous haha!!
I’m thankful for your thoughts and prayers! It has been such an amazing experience here, and it is halfway finished! Now I’m counting down the days until I come home, but still enjoying the time I’m given.
Grace and peace,
Jodi
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