My Italian Ex-Pat adventure is ***Officially*** in progress 2025-2026 edition! (1 Viewer)

[waiver wire]

crazy *** weekend. hit lucca as part of the summer music series and we saw nile rodgers and chic, don’t freak out. the crowd stood the entire show, 1.5 hours. then went to pisa for a tacqueria, oh and the tower. i say that because pisa is a dump and dumpster fire. the city is poor, it’s kinda dirty and it’s just filled with tourists and kiosks with dudes selling street crap, like everywhere. all the same crap. just tent after tent of junk. the tower campus is nice, but it’s a zillion degrees and no way i’m going up the tower. on the drive home we stopped at around 3 autogrills along the autostrada to compare. if you haven’t stopped, please do. they are really the essence of italy. these rest stops, including chef express, blow the US away. kind of maybe what buc-ee’s must be like. we even stopped at the pisa airport to validate some tax refund shopping we did. i lied that i was flying to get the customs stamp lol. made up a flight. heck, it’s italy. if you spend over €70 and the store is in the program, remember to do this. always carry a passport copy with you. i leave my passport at home or in the hotel safe. the refund is 12% of the 22% vat tax.

We skipped Pisa on our trip and stayed a night in Lucca. No concert that night but it’s an awesome town. Highly recommended.

I went to pisa to see the tower and cathedral on the way to Lucca, Lucca is a great town for a couple of nights

 

[DA RAIDERS]

Saw the tower in 85. I’m good

 

[Chemical X]

crazy *** weekend. hit lucca as part of the summer music series and we saw nile rodgers and chic, don’t freak out. the crowd stood the entire show, 1.5 hours. then went to pisa for a tacqueria, oh and the tower. i say that because pisa is a dump and dumpster fire. the city is poor, it’s kinda dirty and it’s just filled with tourists and kiosks with dudes selling street crap, like everywhere. all the same crap. just tent after tent of junk. the tower campus is nice, but it’s a zillion degrees and no way i’m going up the tower. on the drive home we stopped at around 3 autogrills along the autostrada to compare. if you haven’t stopped, please do. they are really the essence of italy. these rest stops, including chef express, blow the US away. kind of maybe what buc-ee’s must be like. we even stopped at the pisa airport to validate some tax refund shopping we did. i lied that i was flying to get the customs stamp lol. made up a flight. heck, it’s italy. if you spend over €70 and the store is in the program, remember to do this. always carry a passport copy with you. i leave my passport at home or in the hotel safe. the refund is 12% of the 22% vat tax.

We skipped Pisa on our trip and stayed a night in Lucca. No concert that night but it’s an awesome town. Highly recommended.

I went to pisa to see the tower and cathedral on the way to Lucca, Lucca is a great town for a couple of nights

lucca had some nice shopping, the kind you find in the bigger cities. we don’t have that in orvieto, but the thing is, lucca is quite narrow in the walls and it was just a sea of tourists. the wall and city being flat is appealing, no massive hills to trudge. but with all the tourists, it loses a little charm IMO. that’s the balance…..we miss some decent shopping here, but if we had that, orvieto would turn into venice light. i am glad we can just travel a bit if we really want to hit some stores.

 

[Chemical X]

so, our bathroom renovation started May 30 and we are nearing the end of our journey. our tub arrived today. we have all the products on hand to complete the job except for the floor tiles and wall tiles that will be above the tub. amazingly, we went to the shop where they are hand made. they are just taking clay, molding, cooking and coloring. pretty inexpensive compared to the states. labor here is cheap and the savings are passed along. i will post again when i can fully explain the depth of this project. nothing short of amazing. man, having sheetrock in the US makes things a lot easier.