Qualche Fotografie

Photos from our stay in the region of Livorno:

A View from Mila's Home

Me, Julie, Mila and Ollie

Spiagge Bianche (White Beaches) near Vada, Italy

The Sand Looks Like Snow  (Mila and Ollie) The white sand is not nature's gift but rather due to a bicarbonate (baking soda) manufacturing plant nearby in Rosignano Marittimo. 

Le Tre` di Noi - Annette, Julie and Me

Shoes are quite the fashion in Italia. Some fashions are a bit washed up! (This photo is for you Ahna Kristin)

Departure Day: 25 Marzo 2015

The day began at 2:45 am for both my traveling companion Annette and me. We were meeting up with Julie at customs in Milano, Italia . After breakfast and loading up the car we were off to the Redding Municipal Airport. Unbeknownst to us, we were about to engage in the first adventure of our travels.  To make a long story short, Annette had tried to check in for her flight on Tuesday as prompted by an email but was unable to do so. Thus she drove to the airport for help. They looked at her ticket information and passport and told her not to worry about it, just come early in the morning - which we did .However, Annette soon discovered that the reason she had been unable to do the pre-check in was due to the minor detail that her passport had expired just a few weeks prior. Everyone had read the expiration year as 2016 but when examined closely, one could see that yes, indeed it expired 2015  not 2016. Annette notified the airline that she had dual citizenship and asked if she could use her Italian passport. Italian passports require a woman to use her maiden name, thus the name on the passport was now different than the name on her ticket. Annette was told that she had 15 minutes to get the ticket name changed to match her passport and have it show up on the computer screen if she was going  to board the plane. In spite of all the recordings and options and necessary explanations, miraculously the change was made and Annette and I boarded the plane together. Whew!!!

Our plane landed in Milano four movies, no sleep and 17 hours later (26 Marzo). Joined by Julie, le tre` di noi (the 3 of us) headed to the coastal town of Livorno - arriving  at the end of a  3-1/2 hour train ride. We were greeted by Annette’s longtime friend Mila, who gave us a warm welcome. Taking us to her cozy casa in Quercianella, she fed us a delicious, traditional home cooked  Italian meal of lasagna, insalata, chocolate torte and of course vino rosso. We finally crawled into bed twenty four hours after our day had begun not waking up until noon the next day.

Our first evening in Italia:   Sunset over the Mediterranean Sea   (photo taken by Julie)

Buon Viaggio

It is Sunday evening and in less than three days I leave on my next European adventure!!! My friends Julie [Giulietta], Annette [Antoinette] and I will  spend 4 weeks at language school in Siena, Italy and an additional week traveling in the north.

With a son getting married in my back yard June 7th, Michelle pregnant with my first grandchild [due in July] and two siblings healing from cancer, it seems like an odd time to be leaving the country. Of course I didn't know all of these dynamics when the trip was originally planned.  Julie and I  prayed that if the timing was not right that God would shut the door... then when all three of us were offered scholarships, without even applying, and the scholarships turned out to be at the school of our choice, well,  that seemed like an open door.

Miraculously I am much more prepared to leave than prior to any of my previous trips across the pond. [I love how the British refer to crossing the Atlantic as a trip across the pond!]  My friend Deborah helped me set up this blog site this afternoon so that I can share adventures and photos with my family - thus here I am making my first blog post titled: Viaggi di Donna or  Donna's Travels. Later on I will learn if my Italian translation is accurate!

You will be given the opportunity to join me on this adventure.... by receiving  an email notifying you when I have made a post.... hopefully by the time I post this I will have figured out how to invite you to follow my blog. In the meantime...

Buon Viaggio!
Donna Theresa