Buongiorno! Florence, Pisa, Lucca, Wherever!!!

Greetings again from halfway across the world.

Today, ITALY!!!!

Hopefully the day involves some vino, cappuccino, and a tower that lean's-o.

Yeah, that was a stretch.
Work with me here. I don't know any Italian.
I've got my high school Spanish to get me through.
And my dad. Who thinks he is Italian.
All his buddies are Italian cyclists.

I'm totally serious.
Growing up they had names like Carlo, Franco, Oreano, and Gian Carlo.
Yep. They are all brothers.
And they bike.
It was like the freaking Giro de Italia whenever we'd go on adventures with dad.
That's like the Tour de France.  But the Italian version.

In fact. Many, many, many moons ago - these buddies of my dad's took him TO Italy.
They rented a villa.
It came with an italian woman who cooked for them every night.
During the day, they'd ride all around the Tuscan Countryside.
On a lot of the paths the Giro guys had ridden on only a few weeks earlier.
Little kids would come out of their homes, and wave flags along the side of the road.
Cyclists are rockstars in Italy.
I think my dad loved his rockstar days.

I just know that he is going to be the happiest clam the next few days as we explore the land of his wannabe ancestors. 

So today, we are traveling through some of the same area.
Supposedly, including a tour of Lucca. Shoutouts to Krissie, Wendy, and Jessica - who's stories of Lucca are some of the best around. They went a decade ago - and are still telling the tales. ;) Right ladies?

Hopefully I come home with a few of my own....that don't require a winky face.

We'll also be checking out that leaning tower. I'm sure I'll be posting the required "holding up the tower" picture when I return...just hold your horses, okay?

So now, you are wondering, where was A Cuppa Kim, A Year Ago?
I was floating along the Baltic Sea.
Waving at Poland.
Lithuania.
and Latvia.

Which meant, LOT's of reading time.
Mentally, I was in Sweden, with The Girl With a Dragon Tattoo.

Here are a few pics from my at sea days...they are all combined into one layout...but you get the idea....

(click for larger)