This picture was taken at a Bed and Breakfast 10 minutes outside of Florence. All over the world people’s garages look the same. Only the stuff in this one definitely looks Italian. Or at least it doesn’t look American. I’ve got to study this further. I’ll be checking out garages in Spain soon.

No, of course this isn’t Spain, it’s the Leaning Tower of Pisa.  But just thinking of our next trip has put me in mind of all the lovely places I’ve been, and I’ve started looking at photos from some past trips. This trip to Italy — well, Tuscany, really — was in 2006.  We were in Pisa the day the Italian team won the quarter-finals of the 2006 World Cup.  The whole town of Pisa exploded into spontaneous celebration.  Cars jammed the roads for miles. Horns honking. People yelling. Singing …