The Brown Knowser

In May, 2004, DW and I were enjoying a warm, sunny spring afternoon in the Tuscan city of Siena, Italy. We had just climbed the tower of the town hall and were sitting on the cobbled stones of the clamshell-shaped square, soaking in the sun and watching people. Nearby, a family caught our eye: they had young children—maybe five years older than our own kids were, at the time—and these kids were running around Piazza del Campo, chasing pigeons. We suddenly felt homesick, wanting to be with our own wee ones. "In five years," I promised DW, "we'll be back here, sitting where we are, watching our own kids chase pigeons." On Wednesday, September 30, 2009, we pulled the CR-V into an underground parking garage that was built into the hillside on the northern edge of the city and worked our way into my second-favourite city in Tuscany. Our first stop: the Duomo di Siena. Before going inside this beautiful church, we decided to first check out a tourist att...

We were in for a day with a lot of driving. And, if all went well, we could avoid an Italian rush hour. We woke the girls early on Tuesday, September 29, 2009, and hopped into the Honda CR-V that our friend had generously let us borrow, and got on the highway heading northwest, and eventually to the city of Pisa. This was a destination, had it not been that the kids wanted to see the leaning tower, we would have omitted from this trip. In 2004, DW and I were celebrating our tenth wedding anniversary, and we met up with our friend from Korea, Brad, and his bride as they celebrated their honeymoon. The four of us, in an Alfa Romeo, were driving from La Spezia to Sienna, and had decided to make a stop in Pisa. We quickly wandered the grounds of the Piazza del Duomo, took pictures of the Torre Pisa, grabbed some coffee, and then hopped back in the car within a half hour. We all agreed that that was long enough. With kids, however, DW and I found that their fascination made us app...

We were going to rent a car but our friend in Rome insisted that we borrow her vehicle. "I only use it when I have to travel outside the city, and I'm not going anywhere for a while. Please, take it." For the days that we visited with her, we noticed that she walked to work. When we went out together, we piled into taxis (parking in Rome, apparently, was a nightmare). So we gratefully accepted her generous offer. On Saturday, September 26, 2009, DW, the kids, and I packed up our things and headed north. Our destination was a small villa near the town of Poggibonsi, in Tuscany. Along the way, we made a stop for lunch in the hill town of Assisi, in Perugia. Of course, we had to check out the famous Basilica of St. Francis. By the time we were back on the road, we realized that we were going to be late for our meeting with Antonio, the owner of our villa , so we had to find a place where we could establish a WiFi connection, get a message to him, continue nor...