A trip to Pistoia

Me and Paola's husband, SandroTwo weeks ago I took a trip to visit some family members in the town of Pistoia. I have several 3rd or 4th cousins living in the Florence area who have kept in touch with my grandparents, and I have visited on my prior trip to Italy. Earlier in the semester I visited a cousin name Piera, and on this past trip and visited her sister Paola. Paola is a high school English teacher, which made communicated with her easy and pleasurable. Pistoia is a city located about 30 km north west of Florence. It is not very well known, and attracts very few tourists although it has famous works of art scattered throughout the city. Some of these sites include The Ospedale del Ceppo, which is covered in Della Robia mosaic, and Cattedrale di San Zeno, a beautiful octagonal baptistery. I took the train to Pistoia, which is a quick 20-minute trip on a commuter rail. Paola picked me up at the train station, and she told me we would meet one of her colleagues and tour the city. It wasn’t until arriving at a building in the center of town that I realized I wasn’t just meeting one of her colleagues, but all of them. She had taken me to one of their weddings. Although we had missed the ceremony, we were just in time to throw rice, and meet several high school teachers ho spoke no English and did not seem to really have any interest in meeting me. After the wedding, we toured the town with one of her colleagues. After attending several tours that were only in Italian, we got back in the car and drove to her apartment. She lives outside of the city center on the top floor of a modern apartment building. Although the apartment was not much to look at, it had a wrap around balcony with amazing views of the mountains and the city, even looking out as far as Florence. We had dinner with her husband Sandro and her 16-year-old daughter. Her daughter was shy at first, but soon warmed up to me and began practicing her English skills, which were truly impressive. We had an amazing dinner, spaghetti with mushrooms and cream sauce, salmon with roasted vegetables, and a green salad. Each course was served with a different traditional alcohol of a Tuscan region. Dessert was fresh strawberries and whip cream accompanied by a bottle of Proseco. The whole day was such a pleasure. I felt so comfortable and welcome. It is amazing how I could live across an ocean from these people for my whole life, yet they were so gracious to welcome me into their home.