Read the second e-postcard:
Postcard#2

WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON | Sept. 20, 2006
Lucca, Italy

Hello!

Finally, a bit of a break to write a few notes...Everyone arrived last Saturday in high spirits, though, admittedly, a little weary. Within an hour or two everyone was happily settled in our beautiful home for the week, Villa Borgo Bernadini. We began our journey with a fine dinner together, a dinner that proved to be the first in a long string of extraordinary meals. Of course we've all had pasta, and veal and lamb before. But, somehow, the flavors here are so intense, so colorful that it's as if we were discovering Italian cuisine for the first time.

The Villa Borgo Bernardini

Volterra's Roman Theater

On Sunday, with a few heavy clouds in the sky, we drove to Cararra, where, for centuries the world has come to excavate exquisite white and gray marble. For example, Michelangelo came to Cararra to select his white block of stone to create his statue of David. After inspecting the quarries and learning how the giant blocks are excavated, we drove to the Tuscan seaside resort of Viareggio. It's an impressive seaside holiday town with 5-star hotels, great shops and smart beach clubs with inviting cabanas and colorful umbrellas on the tidy sands. After a wonderful buffet of Italian specialties at our villa, our pretty guide for the week, Antonella, brought us into the nearby walled city of Lucca, one of our favorite cities anywhere in Italy.

Monday was our day to visit two of Tuscany's famed "hillside villages", little walled towns perched on the tops of Tuscany's rolling hills that remain little changed since the Middle Ages. Even today the residents more or less go about their daily tasks much as they might have centuries ago. Our first stop was Volterra, a charming village originally founded some 600 years BC by the Etruscans. It's long been one of our favorites and remains a little out of the way of the circuit of mass tour groups. In addition to the remains of a stunning Roman theater and complex of baths, Volterra is also known for its wonderful crafts created from its alabaster.

Bill, Jean, Amber and Mike Olson	The Bullocks and the Eplers

After a superb lunch in an old mill - perhaps a bit too superb for our waistlines - we spent the afternoon in San Gimignano, perhaps the most famous of all the hillside villages.

Yesterday we drove into Florence for a day of shopping, sightseeing (fine dining, of course) and a visit to David at the Academia. This morning we slept in just a little then drove to nearby Pistoia to explore the weekly market. With the help of Valentino, one of our chefs, we tasted olive oil and pecorino cheese at Sauro's (the "olive oil king" and friend of TV's "Molto Maria") and watched the locals socialize and select the best of the produce. (Though this was a true, untouristy Italian town, it was somewhat disconcerting to see that the piazza in front of the cathedral was under construction for this evening's concert by the Seattle rock group, Pearl Jam.)

Tonight we'll visit another private villa for cocktails, then dine at a restaurant considered by many to be the region's best. Tomorrow we head for Siena, but that's another story we'll save for the next postcard.

Meanwhile, we're well and enjoying the good life in Italy. Wish you were here!

Paul and Christine Niskanen