...1997, to be exact, we toured Tuscany with a group from Johns Hopkins. The approach of the tour was to put us up a single hotel in Pienza in the middle of Tuscany and then bus the group out to cities in the region including Florence, Siena, Assisi, Perugia, and others. Pienza is modest sized city that can be easily walked in a quarter of an hour. But because it is a tourist destination it has all the services of a city with the charm of a small town.

    As a celebration of Helen’s 75th birthday and our 50th wedding anniversary, Helen produced and directed our return to Pienza for a 3-week stay. Don acted mainly as photographer and Web site creator. We invited all of the kids and spouses to come. The recent birth of Patrick and Carrie’s daughter prevented them from coming, but Donald’s sister Kathy and her husband Greg were able to come for a week.