Glad you enjoyed my long-winded Italian trip report. I definitely wanna go back... I now know that I'm quite ready to retire anytime (drat those upcoming college tuition bills...). I didn't miss work or the Wall Street Journal or anything like that at all -- and I really enjoy my job so that's saying something! Frankly, I feel the same way when I'm in SoWal.
Barga is indeed a special place and I'd highly recommend it to anyone who wants an out-of-the-way place with a lot of art, history, summer festivals, good and simple food, and friendly people who speak English yet where there are very few American tourists (most of the tourists are scottish and Americans really haven't discovered it yet unless they happen to have familiy there). And you'd be only a few hours away (a day trip by train or bus or car) from Pisa, Florence, Lucca, and I think Siena is pretty close too (I can't remember). The beach is only about 1.5 hours away (we used to go to Viareggio but I hear that's not as nice now). I could easily spend a month there.
And one of these days I'd like to go on Allifunn's cruise -- that sounded quite wonderful as well. I tend to like to plunk down in one place when I vacation, so a cruise would get me out to see new places and new faces. Maybe one of these days... Definitely one of these days...
