Karl and Leslie walk and study in Italy, Germany, and around the Med
We couldn’t leave Siena without one last visit to our favorite restaurant, La Taverna di San Guieseppi.La Taverna is a very special place. It specializes in Tuscan cuisine and is often rated the best restaurant is Siena. It is really well run with great attention to detail. The service is outstanding; visible when you want …
Continue reading “Sometimes, happiness can be measured in grams!”
We stopped in Florence for a day on our way to Barcelona where we caught our ship home. While there, we wandered around revisiting some of our favorite areas and found ourselves at one of the sprawling outdoor leather markets at lunch time. We decided to stop in again at the Casa del Vino, a …
Three years ago, when we walked the Cammino di Francesco from Assisi to Rome, we put up a post entitled “Why We Walk” (which is here if you’d like to read it). This is a follow up on the same subject after studying Italian for a few years. Walking, we experience some of the most …
Today, Thursday, we walked from Camaiore to Lucca, a little over 25 kilometers (15.6 miles) with an ascent of 375 meters (1,230 feet) and a descent of 392 meters (1,286 feet).Not the furthest we’ve walked (we once did 43 kilometers on the Cammino di Francesco) or the highest climb or descent (the Grand Canyon last …
On Tuesday, we walked from Messa to Pietrasanta. As is so often the case with the towns through which we are walking, we had never heard of Pietrasanta. In order to remember the name of a new town, Karl likes to look for a hook, some sort of mnemonic to help remember it. Pietrasanta was …
Continue reading “Saint Peter, marble, and the importance of gender”
In the Carrara area, the streets aren’t paved with marble, but marble is used for just about everything else. The white veins of marble in the mountains can be seen for miles awayand there are dozens of marble processing plants.Of course, we knew marble was used for beautiful statues.What we weren’t expecting was to see …
Continue reading “Some say the streets in heaven are paved with gold”
Sunday, we were raring to start our trek, so we strapped on our packs and started out fairly early. Our goal was Carrara, where we had booked at a B&B. This part of Italy is serious marble country; some of the best marble in the world is from Carrara. As we walked, we could see …
was like the first two days. Opa Dieter continued to lead the way, engaging everyone he met in conversationand Omas Marlena and Gunna kept right up.Sadly, Wolfgang was not able to walk the entire way; he felt that his obligations as beer and sandwich provider required him to drive, much as he would have preferred …
The date of our trip to Munich was set to allow us to go to Heimi’s (Lena’s aunt’s) birthday party; it was just a fortunate coincidence that Octoberfest began the same weekend. We joined Lena’s family in celebrating this traditional autumn festival. Those in our group who could, dressed appropriatelybut Leslie Ruth had no dirndle, …
Continue reading “Octoberfest – was everything they said it was!”
We had a wonderful two weeks in Siena at school with Jane and Jim, but now we are happy to be back on the trail again. We do enjoy doing things we are comfortable with when we travel. Siena falls squarely in that category. We’ve visited five times now, for a total of about twelve …
ITALY, GERMANY, AND MORE!