May 7, 2013 - Tuesday - Workshop Day 2

Well the grappa in the coffee last night helped me sleep a little longer - I awoke at 5am instead of 4am. The body clock is still being given a workout. Continuing on from yesterday at our usual 8:30 start time, I prepared the end and neck blocks on which the sides will be glued, shaped the back braces, glued the centre strips for the back which provide additional strength for the join, made the kerfing strips which will be glued to the sides to allow the back and soundboard to be attached, and marked up the neck blank In preparation for...

May 6, 2013 - Monday - Workshop Day 1

Finally! I can't yet say 'Number 5 is alive' (anyone remember the movie?) but it is being born. I selected some beautiful Cooba pieces for the back with rich chocolate tonings and matching pieces for the sides. The soundboard will be Celery Pine (having a a strong resemblance to Sitka Spruce) but I agonised a little over 2 amazing neck blanks of quilted Queensland Maple and quilted Red Cedar. In the end, I decided on the Maple along with dark Gidgee for the fret board and bridge. Still to think about the binding, end strip and the head...

May 5, 2013 - Sunday - Benabbio Guitar Workshop

Caught the 10:10am train from Florence, arriving in Lucca at 11:40am. Another train at 2:10pm found our reception committee waiting at Bagni di Lucca where we loaded up 2 cars with people and luggage. 10 mins later we arrived at Villa San Rocco, our home for two weeks. The 'newbies' were blown away with the accommodation while the 'returnees' were still impressed but with a familiar, homely edge. A visit to the workshop saw must of us getting itchy feet to select woods, grabbing a bench and talking designs. Drinks and nibbles at 6, and the...

Oct 17, 2012 - A day in Lucca

Hi everyone After a bit of a late start we headed off over the bridge and booked another tour for Thursday to the Cinque Terre! We then caught the train to a little fortified town called Lucca. What a lovely, picturesque little town it was! Souch green grass surrounds this beautiful place. A nice change after just concrete buildings everywhere else! Met a couple of American women on the train, one of them has a son who worked for Melbourne Magic basketball team a few years back - about the same time our company, Prowess, was involved with...

Oct 14, 2012 - Lucca

After spending the morning doing a last walk around Rome we are off by train to the city of Pisa. Getting into Pisa we had to get a taxi to our apartment in Lucca would have went by train but there was a strike by some of the train employees. We get into our apartments then out for a walk about the town and some dinner. Oct 15th the ladies are off for a bike ride in the Tuscany country side and I do a walk around the the city of Lucca a old walled city, this morning it rained off and on sometimes very hard so got a bit damp as I walked...

Oct 3, 2012 - In Lucca

Wow! My cold is 90% better this morning! No runny nose and no heavy head from packed sinuses! Actigrip gets my vote! Wonder if I can find/get it at home? We had free time this morning until 11:00 so we went to breakfast in the hotel and returned to our room to work on blog messages and photos. Without WiFi we can't put anything online yet – maybe tomorrow in Levanto. At 11:00 we walked to meet our bus for a ½ hr. ride in the country to a small village where a society (coop) of 150 men ( “La Vision”) are making olive oil the traditional way...

Oct 2, 2012 - A day in Tuscany

Sorry to leave our lovely hotel but we and our bags had to be to the bus at 8:45. Pretty countryside of Tuscany with lots of hills, vineyards, olive trees and tan-colored stone buildings. Greve [Grev aa] is a small town in the heart of Chianti Country (part of Tuscany). We had a short walking tour and then went to a very fine wine store for a honey and cheese tasting served with rose proseco to drink (sparkling rose wine). I'd never thought of serving the two together but they were good as an appetizer. The beekeeper providing this...

Aug 29, 2012 - Lucca. Who would have thought? And Livorno

So, another day of traveling in The Tuscany Region. Today, Lucca! Home of a very old medieval Castle dated very, very old! Well, as usual, up at 7am, pack my small daypack and off I go. I arrive in Lucca around 930am and it's go time. Go outside, take my normal pic of the train station so I can somewhat organize my pics on my camera memory card. Some of these places look really the same. So, always a pic of the train station and off I go. Well, only about 20yards or so, Pow! Freaking HuGe castle walls lay upon my eyes. They are about 80feet...

Jun 10, 2012 - last day in Lucca

Pete, Jennie and I attended our last concert; our last lunch in town, (mine a yummy spinach crepe); our last ice cream and our last walk through the streets to see if we could find something we hadn't seen before! we were planning to go through the far side of the wall to walk on to the river. But taking a wrong turn resulted in a different exit. This took us to an area within the walls with lots of caverns and connecting tunnels. A display, not actually open today, showed it was about tobacco with photos and some bunches of...

Jun 6, 2012 - Lucca: Jennie joins the party

A little bit of trouble finding our villa, but worth it. We each have our own 'apartment' bedroom, bathroom, and an 'extra'. A lounge room or an office/desk space. Other than Pete's 'office' area, the other additional rooms haven't been used but the communal kitchen and our terrace And the laundry have been in constant use. Jennie arrive several hours after we had expected her. Ryan Air flight had been delayed and as well she had got a bit lost from the bus station to the villa. Mike and Yve had gone to the bus station hoping to...

May 25, 2012 - Day 13 - Andy leaving - Lucca

Day 13 - Andy leaving and we are off to Lucca Got up at 5 a.m.  to get Andy to the train station by 5:50. Surprising little traffic that time of the morning. I dropped him off and was back in bed by 5:45 zoom zoom!  Now for the drive to Lucca. We started off on the wrong foot by taking ONE LOUSY WRONG TURN leaving our B&B. I turned left instead of right and had to drive into town centre. Now, you must realize that it is almost a risk of jail time if you are not authorized to drive into the old part of most of the towns in Tuscany. The roads...

May 22, 2012 - Last Day of Cooking-Dough Day

Sunshine today! Filippo picked us up on bicycle & we started at the market for beautiful, small, purple carchiofi (artichokes) squash & blossoms, parsley, basil, lettuces, tomatoes .....and made two types of dough: for pizza & a sweet version to fry for dessert, named bomboloni. They are rising/setting while we had a delicious fritatta made with the squash & blossoms, artichoke, basil, parsley, percorino cheese & pressed garlic oil. The salad was simply ultra fresh lettuces & tomatoes with local olive oil & fresh lemon, tho I added balsamic...