Tonight it is my last night in Pisa. Today marks 3 weeks since I arrived in Rome. The weather was beautiful today, clear and sunny. I have become used to the Portland weather trends where as if it is cloudy and rainy, it is typically like that for a week or more. Refreshing to have yesterday be so gloomy, yet wake today to clears skies and sunshine today.

I am uploading pics of Pisa as well as one of Sigismund and Ursula, the owners of the olive farm and vineyard just outside of Cecina.

Today was laundry day...I have now used a public laundromat in both Spain and Italy. Each was a bit challenging with no instructions in english, however today an Austrailian couple entered that spoke only english and had no detergent. I shared mine and we ended up spending over an hour talking about Austrailia, the US, and our travels. They are traveling for 4 weeks throughout Europe using a rental car. We exchanged information as they are attending a wedding in the US and hope to visit San Fransico. I encouraged them to venture north to the Pacific NW and offered my guest room as a place to stay in Portland. They in turn offered their place for me to stay if I ever visit Austrailia. They are from Perth, Austrailia, and I believe one of my long time co workers, Dean Hunter is from Perth.

Pisa is very relaxed with many college students as there is a university here. I like it. Tomorrow I board a train around 10am to head to La Specia, where I will set up camp and explore the Cinque Terre from there for a few days. The Austrailian couple had just done the exact same thing - come from La Specia, stayed there, and taken the daily train to Cinque Terre to explore the 5 villages, but stayed each night in La Specia. They told the me the thru hike trail leading through all 5 villages is open, totaling 12 km, or approx. 7.2 miles....I intend to walk the entire length over a couple of days, of course stopping in each village to sightsee.

Given today is Saturday all of the markets and shops were busier today. Christmas items are now appearing everywhere and crews were hanging Christmas lights on the streets. The holiday season is upon us. :)

So, Happy Holidays Everyone! Peace, T