Ciao, bella! Italian Postcard #2 - 5/25/2003

Ciao! We have just finished a long meal with family and relatives from all over Genova. Paul's father's cousins and their families joined us at the large villa we rented and the meal lasted just under 4 hours. Typical! Last night, we dined at Uncle Gianni's house, with homemade wines and champagnes as well as antipastas and desserts, under a canopy of olive trees with fireflies blinking all around us. An unsual site for us Californians and for Dave's family from Hawaii - their first time seeing fireflies!

The villa which we are staying is absolutely steller. A private inifinity pool (unheard of in Italy) just a few blocks from the ocean beach. It is 4 bedrooms, which is also quite large for here. Most of the beaches here are private clubs where you need to pay a daily tariff to use a space.

We have visited in the last few days both towns in Liguria and Tuscany. We've seen Santa Margherita, Portofino, San Fruttuoso, Camogli, Porto Venere on the coast and Lucca, a renainssance city in Tuscany, as well as the Carrara marble "factories" in between. We will visit Rondanina, the town from where Paul's mother was born, this week and try to sneak in Milan, however, I think this will be a train trip without the rest of the crew as they plan to go Friday when Paul and I go back to Rome.

I have taken lots of photographs (5 rolls in 7 days) and am anxious to see how they turned out. The villa has an internet connection, so I hope to write again with news of more travels later on in the week.

Hope all is well with you, and Buona Serra!