A cousin of mine chose his wife by turning up at her door, unannounced, and early in the morning once. His logic was if she looked good just out of bed, that was the mark of real beauty. It might be one of the most spontaneous things he did in his entire marriage so far but his logic left a mark on me. I extended it to if a place looks good in shitty weather, it is truly beautiful. Tuscany or Toscana was just that. There was pouring rain and wind, our shoes were stuck in mud, but we were all awestruck by the beauty around us – the rolling hills of green, the little yellow houses standing in the middle of nowhere, the blue mountains on the horizon. Tuscany was everything I had imagined and more. Florence was the other way around- more below. This is how we popped.
We decided to drive all the way till there. It was so pretty! Even baby bunny was impressed.
We weren’t sure how many stops we would have to make (baby bunny and electric car), so we decided to sleep in Parma. Parma was fun, and had this strange parade of old people dressed as royalty.
Next morning, our Airbnb host made this delicious breakfast of Ricotta (a byproduct of parmigiano manufacturing they said) and we had this wonderful view over Parma.
Next day lunched in Bologna at a little hole in the wall (but sooooo good- La Remini) because all the restaurants we actually wanted to eat at were “booked out”. Italians take eating out seriously – we soon learnt! We picked up Swiss bunny parents and made our way to Stabbia – the little village we were going to stay for the rest of our trip.
Quick painting next morning followed by a visit to Vinci, which was pretty and all but turned out to be NOT the birthplace of Leonardo da Vinci (it was 3 km away from there). The naming, just marketing, pff. The drive to Vinci though – BEAUTIFUL. That afternoon M and his mum went for a swim in the swimming pool at the Airbnb. The water and air temp was may be 20 dg C? White bunnies…..
The next day it was time for Florence. I had such high hopes. I always imagined it to be a grand city, steeped in history, with beautiful buildings and marble sidewalks (not sure how I got to that). What we actually saw was millions of tourists (it was a weekday in May! Imagine August!) and streets lined with shops selling souvenirs and middleclass brands, dotted with a few historical landmarks. The place had no soul! We did have an amazing lunch at a food stall, which was very popular with the tourists, but the Bolitto sandwich, mamma mia, best meal this trip.
We visited the Uffici, which is apparently the most visited art gallery in the world. It was nice and all but just awash with tourists. People seemed to be so used to queuing in Florence, that there were long queues to just peep into a room for a few seconds, which BTW could be viewed from another window without any queue! It was just madness.
The Duomo (the big and most famous cathedral of Florence) was very majestic looking from outside but the queues were again just unbelievable. It is really sad to see how we completely rip off the character from a place by mad tourism. Are there really so few places to see in the world that all the bunnies have to go to the same place at the same time?
The next day we headed to Pisa. I had very little hopes – I thought it would be a mini Florence. How far could it be from the truth! Pisa was super cute, very pretty, the leaning tower was a lot of fun, and the organisation was great so that not all the tourists segregate at the same place at the same time. There were some Bangladeshi run souvenir shops, yes, but that’s needed too. There were plenty of boutique stores and artisanal icecream shops and old houses with peeling paint – so much character!
Next morning, we went to Lucca, a pretty little Tuscan town. It was very charming but perhaps slightly over hyped and on the road to becoming hyper touristic (we saw many many guided tours there). The cathedral was very pretty though.
The next day, we had to slow it down. Baby bunny was sick. A very seedy looking Italian doctor claimed bronchitis. We hung around at the Airbnb, went for a little walk in the mud. A bit bitter sweet end but it was all so pretty.
End note- of all the 8 countries Baby bunny has been to, Italy was by far the child friendliest country. Almost everyone was interacting with him. Even teenage boys! (Which if you are one, is not standard 😄). Anyway if you have a toddler or a teenager, Italy is a wonderful country to visit. There is great food, great history, natural beauty, man made beauty, great weather (usually), friendly people. what more does want from a holiday!
bunnygoespoppoppop 