Tuscany

Sharon and Lani at the farmhouse B&B in Tuscany

Yesterday I was in Austria, Germany and now I am in Italy.  It`s hard to believe.  Simon, one of the "older" students (he`s 29) drove me to the Munich airport and also took home Kerstin and Stefi to Germany.  Both Simon and Kerstin will be back to Tauernhof in a week to work for the summer there.  And Stefi took a nanny job for two months.  We started the drive off in silence just reflecting on our time at school.  After a bit we chatted, but were all so thankful that we were able to leave school together and for all that God taught us.  I was so appreciative of the ride and seeing Germany.  They dropped me off at the Munich airport for my flight to Rome and said our goodbyes.  I will miss all of their laughter and fellowship.

Once flying, I had the most amazing experience flying over the Alps.  So incredible to see how grand and magnificent they are.  I flew into Rome and after a bit of confusion in the Rome airport, Lani and I found each other.  I was so happy to have found her. We took a taxi to the hotel in Rome so that we could get a good night`s rest before going to Florence (our flights just worked out to go to Rome first).  We found all of our trains....except the last 30 minute train to Rufina, where our bed and breakfast is located.  We got on the wrong train.  You should have seen our faces when the train attendant looked at our tickets and told us that we were on the wrong train.  Of course, this was not a simple dialogue because he only spoke Italian.  But Lani knows some Italian, so we managed to find out when the next train would take us back.  We made it back and found the right train an hour and a half later.  The confusion happened because a train was late and arrived on the platform that we were to catch out train.  But now we have the system figured out.  You can only imagine how happy we were to get to the B&B farmhouse and swim in the pool.

Alexandra, the owner of Il Pezzatino was so nice to come to the train station twice to get us.  She and her husband have owned the farmhouse fro 30 years.  She brought us to the farmhouse and showed us our room.  It`s old with uneven wooden beams for the ceiling, a circulating fan, and the bed is dressed in very old linens.  The windows have old aqua shutters, the floors are wooden and the walls are white, but you can tell that the walls are so old because of the uneveness.  But it has it`s own charm.  They even make there own wine.  The dining room has a stove and a long wooden table about 20 feet long, solid wood.  Their wines are displayed.  Alexandra asked if we wanted to walk into town or order pizza and we decided on pizza.  She even took us to town to order the pizza and we waited at a very cozy pizza place -- Pizzeria Spaghetteria.  Very nice staff.  We went back to the farmhouse and enjoyed some of their chilled rose wine with pizza, a salad, and a light cream dessert.  Alexandra even gave us some of their own homemade olive oil to enjoy with our dinner.  We chatted the night away eating outside under the Tuscan sky.  I so enjoyed every bite of the food and the conversation.

Tomorrow we`re off to Florence.

We spent the afternoon swimming and relaxing.