We have been to Volterra, San Gimignano and Florence. Every day is exhausting and I can't seem to stay awake long enough to wait for my turn with the internet!! SS perspective: 3 laptops & 1 adapter puts new meaning in share. So far, the only one able to stay up late at night is Alicia. Volterra is hilltop town with a large fortification wall like many of the towns and cities in Florence. I will probably remember most that this is where we shopped for groce...

After finally arriving at the villa and trying to catch a small nap we headed back into Volterra to where we were told was the nearest market. We had NO idea where we were going but stopped at the sign that said COOP. No one spoke any English, and we were told emphatically "NO Eglaise!" Things we learned: The markets close at 7:00 pm. Orange juice is carbonated. Water is carbonated unless you ask for "stilli" which means non-carbonated. Peanut butter is no...

Traumatic.... moral buidling... irrating... test in patience.... Mom's, Josh's, Alicia's and my respective views of our airport experience! From the descriptions you can tell that there were several frights, challenges, problems, and lines....respectively. The first problem... Alicia's guitar never showed up on the baggage belt. Thus began the downward spiral. VERY long wait with baggage assistance department... guitar still in DC. Thirsty... so mom leaves t...

Leaving my house at 12:30 pm... for a flight at 4:50 pm from Dulles... you would think we would have loads of time! After making it through the Air France baggage registration line and then security... where they made Josh take EVERYTHING out of his backpack and then repack and ran their hands through my hair because the body scan showed something on my head! ... we made it to the gate right as they were boarding! 30 minutes later and we would have missed the f...