Guess who's coming to stay?

As we're busily packing our house, we are fielding comments left and right -- to the tune of, "We hope you'll invite us!" Given the prevalence of this, we thought we should make our plans clear to everyone so that we can enjoy as many of you who actually would like to make a visit to Italy.

Our house has three bedrooms and two bathrooms.  We can certainly make this work for our family, but it really is not conducive to having guests.  It's also on the third floor (fourth, by American standards -- and tall floors at that!), with no elevator.  Translation: lots of steps!  So, while we would LOVE to be able to invite people to stay, the place we have rented won't work for that.  However, if you would like to visit Todi, please let us know & we will be happy to hook you up with people who have apartments/houses to rent; this will be much cheaper than the local hotel.

The children will be in school full-time.  This means six days per week until about 1:15, after which they will have homework.  I don't yet know when they will have breaks, but we are planning to take several of those breaks for family trips to visit other family members or to see other countries.  Please understand that -- as much as we love you! -- when you are on vacation, the kids & Michael will be working.  That said, we will really enjoy spending our spare time with you in the evenings, etc., when we can relax with a glass of wine & talk over the day!

I will be happy to give you information on fun day trips, and can help you with trains, buses, or a local driver.  Umbria has a TON of interesting places and activities to offer, and is absolutely lovely to boot!  If you want to explore history, hone your photography, bird watch, hike, eat well, or just hang out -- you'll find it all here.  Todi itself is full of artisans who are happy to demonstrate their craft to you; it can easily take you two days just to see what they are doing -- or more.  I can't wait to help you fall in love with this region!

So -- please let us know if you're really serious about visiting, and give us a general idea of when.  We would LOVE to see as many of our friends and family as would like to join us for a while, and we'll do everything we can to make your visit enjoyable!

Love,

Alexandra