randomness and other unexpected journeys

This is so random, it's funny, and I have to share it. Turns out I own two pieces of land in Italy. One is a piece of "macchia mediterranea", a dry, small, dense wooded area in Tuscany. Even if it was flat and clean, it could barely fit a small house. It's in the middle of nowhere, far from any other construction, between a road and a ditch, unpracticable and unbuildable. The other piece is a bush. Literally. Next to a road, 10 square meters between the entrance to a home and the road. It *might* fit a tent. It's all pretty much worthless, but it's mine. How about that? ;)

Besides this, I have discovered puzzle pieces of my past that have started to fill in many holes. There is more to this battlegirl than just a woman from nowhere and everywhere. I should have done this much earlier... I have spent 4 days that have covered almost a century's worth of history!

But as far as traveling, an hour on a Ferry from Piombino takes you to the Island of Elba. This is a tourist haven, used mostly by Germans and Swiss, besides other Italians from the north. It is filled to the brim in the summer, and becomes a desert in the winter. The weather was unseasonably warm during these couple of days I've spent here. Mid october, and there were people on the beach. Sun shining all day, a small sweater at night but nothing more. Very pretty.

The water is gorgeous, clean and clear. The small towns are picturesque, build either on the sea, or up on the hills. All the roads between the major cities are twisting curves around the mountains.

I took few pictures in these days, but I'll upload some when I have a more permanent connection.

Sunday I left for Pisa. Unable to find a hostel or cheap hotel in the city, I was accompanied to an agroturismo in the countryside. Very pretty, even if far from anything. I took a side trip to Viareggio in the evening with some friends. It's right on the water, and many yachts and other boats are parked in this affluent town. An odd detail was that a piece of a road from the countryside to the city, near an industrial zone, is full of transvestite prostitutes! Apparently there is a gay scene nearby, that brought this market of men from Brazil that are all done up and parade along this road...

A bit of warning: I am going to keep traveling, but I think from here on my journey is going to take a slightly different turn. While I knew that coming back to Italy would allow me to do some research on my origins, what I've discovered has given me lots of work to do. I'm still going to Spain and Holland this week and next, but then I have to come back on Italian soil to further some research. The sight-seeing is going to be converted into work a bit, so there might not be as much carefree sightseeing from here on. And the Americas are going to have to wait...