Viareggio - Day 8

 A nice sleep in today as we have given Elena the day off. Hugh said he was making breakfast but he's still in bed. We will survive!  Lots of leftovers in the fridge so it's a good opportunity to clean that up. 

Some chat about a visit to Sienna which is a 2 hour drive or perhaps a 30 minute trip to Viareggio on the coast.  

After some back & forth on a destination, we decided on Viareggio as it is shorter and our day was half gone by this time.  We headed off and in 30 minutes we were parked along the boardwalk on the main pedestrian area. It has a row of top notch hotels along it's eastern edge and restaurants, high end shops and beach clubs along the western side. 

Road on right then bike path, greenery, walking path & stores & beach clubs

 The beach clubs were associated with the hotels across the way and provided food, beverage and lounging areas for guests as well as beach access. As it was late in the season, there was not a lot of activity that we observed, not like the two cruise ships that unloaded in La Spezia yesterday. (with everyone heading to the Cinque Terre!!)

We walked along a section in front of the Grand Hotel Royal and then the Principe di Piemonte. These buildings both displayed interesting architecture along with the many hotels along the main walkway. 

Hugh chose the "Casablanca" for some lunch and it too, was very good. A nice break for us as we put in a few steps on the ped counter :-) 

Temperature was in the low 20's and shorts would have been the right choice.... for some of us :-)

We decided to head back to the Villa with thoughts of some possible pool time. The drive back was fairly quick and we soon arrived just after three p.m. The clouds had rolled in so the pool idea, although inviting, was a bit on the cool side. 

We relaxed with some reading & blogging and then I made up a snack tray because we haven't eaten enough today!

Rain had started so it's time to think about a small fire inside... just to take the chill off and give us that cozy feel in the kitchen area.

A game of Five Crowns broke out and I easily lost both games with Hugh & Kelly each winning a game. Sheesh.  Dinner was leftovers from the previous evenings dinners and it was all very good. A nice mix of everything we could find in the fridge.

Although it was a late dinner, we finished off with a Facetime with my mom in St Albert, AB. 

We all searched the map for possible destinations for tomorrows "adventures" Not sure what we are going to do but the weather is forecast to be very wet. 

Off to the rack again!