Well I was hoping to have a great new album to go along with this blog, but I'm having technical difficulties with the uploader here, so I guess I'll just have to be descriptive!

Last weekend, weekend of June 2, Mary Marc Teddy Genna and I took a great trip to Elba. Little history for you, Elba was the island that Napoleon was exiled to the first time he was exiled, after a while he came back and tried to rule the world again and that time he was exiled to a different, further away, island. While he was in Elba he had to have been living the life. This island is about an hour ferry ride from a city called Piombino, which was about 2-3 hours from Firenze. From what we saw, which was basically our campgrounds and surrounding area, the island is very remote, one road, no huge buildings, or even medium sized buildings. We stayed in a small, i mean smmaaaaalll, bungalow which was adorable and fit all 5 of us snugly but cozily nonetheless. The grounds were small and simple, but our bungalow overlooked the sea and beach, we also had a great view of a huge mountain (ok hill) which we would hike up later!

We arrived around 11 and had a bit of lunch beach-side, waded in the freezing cold water, then began the hike upward! The views from this mountain just got better and better and we climbed higher and higher! We overlooked the island, our beach and our little bungalow wedged into the hillside, we saw other beautiful beaches, which we would try to find later to no avail. There were cliffs that were breathtaking, the bluest and clearest water I've seen since Hawaii, and to make it perfect, we had a blue sky with bright sun and nice cool breeze.

The best part of the trip, well maybe tied with the picture perfect views, was the actual trail up to the top. It was a rugged trail, definitely forged by hikers before us. The trail wound up the side of the mountain, and then there would be little side trails which led us to old ruins of houses or gardens or, as we imagined, Napoleon's secret palace! We all felt like true explorers. Someday I'll be able to upload the pictures so it will be obvious how beautiful and fun this island was.

The day was perfect, the night was even more so! After cooking our own spaghetti and drinking some chianti, we packed along some more wine and set off to find the perfect spot to watch the sunset. Well we got a little lost, ended up watching from the side of the road, but we were adventurers so no matter! After a few more wines and beers, we sprawled out on the roof of our little bar with some cheese and more wine to look at the stars which were crystal clear.

So if anyone is ever in Europe and could use a nice secluded island full of adventure and beauty, go to Elba!!! (wow i sound like a brochure don't I!?!!)

More tales later, and fingers crossed for more photos! Cioa!