"Grandma and Grandpa's Excellent Field Trip" Post 1

The title is not stolen from Bill and Ted, rather our grandson, Jackson.  When his mom told him that Grandma and Grandpa would be gone for a couple weeks, he replied, "The're on a field trip."  We are on an excellent field trip, indeed.
Planes (2), Trains (2) and Automobiles (1)

Our dear friends Bill and Jeanie are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary, as well as Bill's 75th (years young) birthday.  They rented an old farmhouse outside of Pisa where they are hosting their children, grandchildren and us for two weeks.

One might hope that travel plans for a group this large (12 children, 14 adults) would go smoothly.  Ah, one hopes in vain except for me and the Spousal Unit.  Our travel plans went swimmingly well--Minneapolis to Paris (plane 1); Paris to Florence (plane 2); tram from Florence airport to Santa Maria Novella, the central train station (train 1); train from Santa Maria Novella to Cuscina, where the farmhouse is located (train 2); pick up by Bill and his son Tyson at the train station (automobile 1) to Agriturismo Pinzale (the farmhouse).  When we arrived, the grandchildren whose travel plans did not reroute them were in the pool.  There was wine and cheese and charcuterie and bread and butter and pasta.  And there were our friends--our framily, of whom I have previously written.

It doesn't get too much better than that, except for this:


The wine cost less than 10 euros.
We are now in a country where a gallon of wine costs less than
a gallon of water.  Perhaps the US could take a lesson from Italy.


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