April 29, 2025 - Tuscany here we come!

 We are up early and all packed to head out. We go down and have our last visit and breakfast with Sergio and Marcella. Marcella was late for work this morning and Sergio had to set up the breakfast and he doesn’t seem to be too pleased as Sergio is the owner I think. Nevertheless, we still gave Marcella a €10 tip. She’s such a sweet lady.



Off we go to the train station for our 1990 m walk away. Damn, and we just got everything figured out. We get our ticket, get on the train, and we’re back in Mestre in no time flat to get our car. She’s right where we left her; untouched.

Now off we go on our “NO-TOLL” journey. As we drive through the small villages, the church’s bells remind us of the time of day. Only one detour along the way which we had a heck of a time finding our way around, but we did.



This is not the Santa Lucia that they sing about. I was hoping it was.


This is a Stone Pine; one of the typical trees found in this part of the world. 

We stopped in a little village called Montecarelli, and go into the only café there. There is no English spoken here and their menu is in Italian, but were able to order a very tasty pasta that we share.
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We finally arrive in Empoli where our new apartment is easy to find; Tuscany Crossroad on via Guido Monaco. We follow the instruction on how to get into the apartment and when I walk through the front door with the provided key, I think, this can’t be right. It is so huge. You could have a dance inside. We look around and sure enough it’s ours and there’s a parking spot right behind the apartment.







We bring all our crap in so we can sort it and do some laundry and then off to the local co-op which is only 800 m  away and we buy enough for dinner for tonight and two or three breakfasts. We will spend four nights here.

I figure out how to get some music on the TV and then we just relax and then off to bed so comfortable and quiet.

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