Lucca a relatively small Tuscan town nestled into the heart of Italy.

The town (to the first time tourist) feels like a maze at first, and if your sense of direction isn’t strong you’ll easily find yourself right back where you started – just a few hours later. Or worse, at precisely the opposite end of town than you had intended.

With all that said, it’s hard to be hot, frustrated or mad when in Lucca. As long as no schedule binds you, you’ll always feel you’re on an adventure – every moment of every day. (more…)

Lucca, Italy is one of those towns in the Tuscan region that you probably never heard of, and no words can adequately describe. This is an extremely old city built behind 20′ (or so) walls that make a lovely walking tour or morning bicycle ride. The top of the wall hosts trees to provide ample shade on the hottest of days, a foot path, sidewalks, stairs down into the city (or out of) and benches along the way if you get tired. (more…)

In May of 2007 I took my daughter for a trip to Europe.

We actually started our journey from home (in rural Ontario) at 3 am, headed down to Syracuse, NY airport (the fares were less than 1/2 the cost than flying out of Toronto or Ottawa and only added 2 hours of driving to our trip).

From Syracuse we flew to San Juan, Puerto Rico where we spent 1 and a half days – shopping, sleeping and a little swimming in the hotel pool.

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