Laowai

Here's my last batch of photos from our trip to Italy. These places were all new to us. 

Between Siena and the wedding venue we stopped in the city of Arezzo. Another pretty hilltop city with astonishingly old buildings and artwork.

All over Tuscany we saw swallows flying around. The Italian swallows have white bellies and they sort of animate the sky above the old buildings. So in Arezzo I bought a little terra cotta swallow sculpture as a souvenir.

We saw Ukrainian flags hanging here and there.

The wedding took place outside a town called Poppi (Poppy).

Poppi is a teeny hilltop town. You can see its 13th century castle from far away.

We explored the castle. Often castles seem stripped inside and it's hard to imagine what the interior once looked like. But the inside of the Poppi castle was a surprise. It was well preserved and well interpreted. 

The castle had nice graphics too!

Those books are very old! 

There is an Italian cat. I tried to talk to him but he didn't understand English and he was too busy hunting a little Italian lizard.

It's unfortunate that Brian is too tall for Italy.

We took one more hike in the national park next to Poppi. It was a hot day and I was preoccupied with staying on the shady side of the path the whole time. It was a beautiful hike.

On our way down the mountain we saw these little motor-less cars. They were getting all set up for a race down the curvy road complete with hay bales along the edge of the road and electronic speed monitors. Boys and their toys.

So then our trip was almost done. We stopped for a night in Pavia – which is close to Milan. A little bit more walking and talking, I little bit more gelato, another good meal and then it was time to go.

So I think the theme of all these photos and all these memories (old and new) is that it is all because of Brian. When I married Brian I was taken along on the best adventure. 

On to the next 20.