Thanks for coming on our picture tour of Italy!






We then headed North to Lac Maggiore (next to Lake Como) for what was supposed to be a couple days discovering the lake and it's islands. Well, it rained so darn hard and so darn much that we couldn't really do anything. So, we stayed one night in the bed and breakfast you see above, drove around a small part of the lake on the way home and called it the end of our adventure in Italy. Loved it!





Eventually we had to leave Barga and head home. We shot down to the Mediterranean coast for my first time at the sea.





Climbing the stairs to our apt. and hitching a ride with mommy for a hike through a bamboo forest.









This little village was only accessible by foot. It's all gray slate and sits on a turquoise lake that has been created by a dam. One of many dams on this little river up there in the hills. Dad and I discovered it and had to take mommy to see it when she was done with work. It had a funny little sign right before it (see below) that we'd never seen before. A no honking sign! Once we had seen that one we realized that they were in many of the towns dotted throughout the mountains and valleys in the region. Still kinda funny.






While out on the bike dad and I discovered many little villages tucked away in the mountains.





Seeing a "chat" (cat) on a rainy day in Barga.





The view out of the Medieval church on the very top of the hill in Barga (below) and the view of the church from the middle of town (above)









While having an "apeiro" at one of the little cafes in Barga, a man that makes his own bagpipes came in to play a few tunes! These bagpipes that he hand-crafts himself are bellows-type bagpipes. Meaning: you don't blow into them; instead you squeeze the bellows that is under your arm to push the air to fill the bag which you then squeeze through the four reeds that create the sound. Quite interesting.



From under the vines at the apt. we rented. That was our view every day. Not so bad.

Breakfast on the veranda overlooking the valley and the the amazing mountains!

Aahhh Barga...

Barga is a beautiful little town in Northern Tuscany perched on a hill in the middle of the Apennine mountains. Mommy had a conference there and dad and I discovered the local culture and mountain roads together.

Here's Joe "forcing" gelatto on me! (her real name is actually Giovanna Ventura and can be seen here http://www.giovannaventura.com)





Once at the top I played in the water; got all wet; clothes taken off; and did a stair workout! Loved it!




There's an interesting saying about Bologna that states that you can walk around the entire town on a rainy day and not get touched by a drop. Here's why: In the picture below you can see the covered sidewalks. In fact, under these archways, you can walk from the center of town all the way to the sanctuary at the top of the hill above town (seen above)! We walked the 666 arches from town to the the top!! Amazing! Not sure if the #666 is significant or not. Didn't have time to get all the info on the town in 2 days. Sorry.





Leave it to the Italians to have a statue, that when viewed from this particular angle, has an erection! No kidding. Of course, leave it to mom and dad to have to have such a picture of said statue;-)





In the background of this photo you can see the two towers. The leaning tower is on the left and the one we climbed to the top of is on the right.



Above and below are pictures in, and of the two towers in Bologna. The picture of the tower next to the one we've climbed to the top of is the leaning tower of Bologna. Not, obviously, to be confused with the one in Pisa. In fact, the one in Bologna leans over more than the one in Pisa! How bout that?!






Once in Italy; we stopped for a couple days in Bologna to visit mom's old college roomy from UCLA! "Joe" (moms old roomy) and "Mano" were amazing hosts, and took us to see all the amazing sites; seen above.





On our way to Italy we stopped for a night with our friends Eduardo, Elise, and Lola. They live in an amazing little town perched on a hill in the Bourgogne region of France.

Tuscany Trip!!! Yahhoooo!!




I can finally fit into my groovy Keens that U.B. and aunt C gave me!!! I loved them the moment I had them put on my feet!! A smile, in fact, came to my face when I took my first few lively steps in them!




Nicole and Grand Pierre hard at work at the country house.





Grand Pierre and Nicole got a chair just my size! I loved it right away!






Hooraayy! Aunty Janet was in town from L.A.! Another great reason to go to Nana's!










A bike (or as I like to say "wellow" [in French it's a "velo"])ride in the countryside with mom and pops. Above is the chateau in Chateau Fort and below is the chateau of Dompierre.





Designing in my bedroom at my makeshift desk!








Party at our place with Pasteur geeks like mommy!!! Ok; they're not really geeks, just some super cool Phd's like mom. It's kinda cool that each person at the party is from a different country! Australia, Canada, Ethiopia, Japan, Poland (not pictured but she was the Aussie's girlfriend), and of course France and the U.S.!