Vinci

We picked up the others at the train station in city of Pistoia, and our maps program was not offering directions to the train station. Driving in Italian cities can be very stressful anyways, but not knowing where you are going can mean a lot of frustrations. for instance if you take a wrong turn, you might think, "no big deal, I'll just go around the block". But that's not how Italian roads are. Just like the buildings the roads are ancient and things are not layed out in blocks or square. You might have to take a 20 min drive to reroute back to the spot you made the mistake! So in this case, I was sure we would be very lost. But we guessed at the off ramp and God led us, we suddenly see a sign for the train station! Love those little miracles!

We got to our lovely airbnb in the little town of Vinci. When we picked this airbnb we thought it would be a good central location to be able to see Pisa, Lucca, the seaside etc. By this point I think we realized we wouldn't be able to go to Modena to the vinegar factory. Because the Corona virus was starting to close more and more things down. What we didn't know, is the day after we arrived they actually were going to quarantine us to this town. We were free to go to Vinci, but not travel to other towns.

So that's ok, we thought we can always start out with enjoying this little town.

That first night we decided to go out to eat. A handwritten menu all in Italian. We all 3 got different orders and tasted each others. Mine was a white lasagna.

The next morning we all walked up into town where we found a little coffee shop and got one of the best pastries of the whole trip!!! A custard filled pastry. We bought a few extra to bring back with us for breakfast the next day too.

We didn't get many pictures of the inside of our airbnb. The weather was beautiful and we took lots of walks, sat out on the back picnic table and just enjoyed the very restful time in the fresh air.

We walked up to the beautiful church building. We were the only one in there and it was full of incredible wood carvings made from olive wood. I haven't seen anything like this in any of the other churches we visited. My favorite was the one showing Jesus washing