Last summer several of our coworkers disappeared for 4-5 weeks in the summer. There was no checking in on email, there was no working a little in the evening. They literally disappeared for a month in the summer.
So in the late fall last year, we came up with an idea. We would spend three weeks away somewhere. But we still have a little bit of American in us. So the plan was that Adam would work remotely for a week while I was off with the girls; in week two we would both be off; and in week 3, I would work remotely while Adam played with Charlotte & Olivia. The more time went on, the more & more I got excited about this concept.
We set out some criteria for location. We wanted to be able to drive there in a day and have our car with us for the vacation. We had to have a good internet connection (remote work was key to the success of this plan!). We wanted a house or place with a yard so we had a private area to run around in. We wanted a pool to swim in. We wanted to be near a beach and a city with good train connections so we didn’t have to drive everywhere. This all sounds amazing, but it’s actually quite difficult to put all of these criteria into a google search without having a city (or country) in mind. Many nights of internet research between 8pm when the girls are in bed and 10:30pm when I am in bed later we settled on an agriturismo outside of Lucca in Tuscany, Italy.
Agriturismos are working farms that double as a countryside B&B. Some rent out a room in the farm house, some, like ours, are converted barns that now stand as an additional house on the property. Most are still family run. In order to qualify for the Italian tax incentives that come with being an agriturismo, the farm must generate more money from its farm activities than from it’s B&B activities. The tax authorities can rest assured, we saw & heard the owner fire up his Lamborghini tractor (seriously, the Italians!) every morning about 6:45am.
Our place ticked all the boxes and turned out to be a great home base. The property was about a 15 minute drive outside of Lucca and had a camping site for RVs on one side, but our (no so) little barn was a bit secluded from them. We had about a 4 minute walk to the other side to get to the pool. It had a decent kitchen and it only took me 3 days and a few singed knuckle hairs to figure out how light the pilot light on the stove! It even had a second dining area that we could use to craft and color without having to pick it all up to eat. There were also 3 separate bedrooms so everyone had their own space. We were quite pleased with our choice of accommodation.
It took us about 7 hours to drive to Lucca from our house and in that time we talked about our goals for vacation. The first was have fun. The second was to swim a lot. The third was to eat pizza and ice cream every day on our trip. The fourth was to see if Italy had playgrounds. You might guess which generation was in charge of goal setting.
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| Driver extraordinaire, smiling but not taking his eyes off the road |
When we arrived we had clear objectives, it was time to start implementing the plan.
I didn’t even have the suitcases fully out of the car before Charlotte had pulled out her swimsuit.
YOLO
Off we went to the pool.
The next day was Sunday and we decided to go into Lucca and explore a bit. We were not sure yet how much time we would spend in the city vs in the rural areas vs exploring other parts of Tuscany, but we wanted to get our bearings a bit.
The city of Lucca is surrounded by well-preserved ramparts. It’s quite ironic. Lucca hasn’t been involved in a war since 1430 yet it is one of Italy’s (maybe the world’s) most impressive fortresses and a perfectly intact wall. Most Italian cities tore down their walls to make way for modern traffic but Lucca’s wall keeps all the traffic outside of the city leaving a quite delightful and mostly pedestrian friendly city.
Low and behold we walked through the gate and we found a playground.
Low and behold we walked through the gate and we found a playground.
We played for a while and then wandered the city aided by our own personal Magellan (pretend he was Italian not Portuguese).
The navigation skills of the 6-year-old could explain the extreme hill climbing Adam went through this week.
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| Check out those calves! |
We walked around town until we were hungry … well 3 of us. One of us accidentally passed on lunch.
Don’t worry, we woke her up eventually.
Besides, she was awake for the important part of the day.
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| I can't believe I almost missed this. - Olivia |
The first full day and we were already doing really well on our three week goals!
The next day was Monday and Adam had to work. The girls and I spent the balance of the week visiting some Italian Gardens, checking out all the playgrounds in Lucca, visiting the Italian grocery store where we found a VERY surprising condiment, doing just a little summer homework, and eating our body weight in pizza and ice cream, swimming and hanging out “under the Tuscan sun”. We even managed dinner and snuggles with Dad in the evenings when he was done working.
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| BBQ sauce is such a rare item over here. I bought all six bottles on the shelf! |
Over the next 8 or so posts we’ll detail our exploration of the rest of Tuscany and updates on the all important vacation goals. But just know, week 1 was a total success.
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