I am now the only person at the apartments in Lucca. Today, Lauren, Katheryn and Jim took off for the Plouay World Cup where they will meet up with 4 new faces coming in from the US - Brooke Miller, Kat Carroll, Chrissy Ruiter, and Alison Powers. Fortunately, later this afternoon Kristin arrives from the US. She and I will keep each other company until we fly to Holland on Sunday to begin the Holland Ladies Tour.

Until then, I will continue to enjoy the pervasive beauty that passes before my eyes every single day here in Lucca. I don’t know how many times someone from this group says “I want to move to Italy” but I can tell you that it is too many times to count. The Tuscana region, and Lucca in particular, has got everything one could want - stunning views of the lush, green countryside, vineyards flourishing up and down every hillside, rows upon rows of olive trees from which comes oh-so-tasty olive oil, pizzerias and gelaterias on every street corner, sunny, hot days and warm nights, laid back lifestyle, millions and millions of amazing places to ride a bike, good people. Ok, visiting is always easier than actually moving in and settling down in a foreign country, but friends of ours who have moved here from Denmark say it is a pretty easy life to get used to. I don’t doubt them one bit. Anyone who is used to a fast-paced, always on the go life might find that things move too slowly here, but anyone looking for a laid back, easy going, do-it-when-you-want type of life would be very happy here.

Ah, la bella vita.

-Meredith