Pisa - Cinque Terra

Well Tuesday morning started out rough with Andrew having contact trouble and us heading to the train station without him.  We got to the station and had to wait for a bunch of others so it turned out fine but it really stresses Greg out to be late.  Our wait for our group did insure that we got to induldge in yet another vanilla croissant- so good.  

We met our guide and tour group and hopped on a train to Pisa.  I figured the leaning tower was overrated but this stop was well worth it.  We arrived just as the ticket booth was opening and there were hardly any people in the plaza.  With the lack of tourists we grabbed lots of pictures then headed to the ticket booth where we were mesmerized by the robotic lawn mower.  Mack wants one! 

We grabbed our tickets and headed to the tower.  Entering the tower you could feel how off it was; Mack put his chapstick on the floor on one edge and it rolled all the way to the other side.  So strange but the weirdness had just begun.  Walking up the stairs was unlike anything I've done before.  "Climbing the stairs to the top of the tower left me feeling a bit off kilter.  The stairs clearly weren’t perpendicular to the ground, you could feel your center of gravity shifting and falling to the leaning side.  On the lee side gravity pushed you against the outer wall but when you circled to the other side gravity was pulling you toward the center wall.  The well-worn footprints in the marble followed a similar pattern and were not in the center of the step." I think Greg described it better than I could- I'd just say it was trippy but so cool.

We took some more pictures (it took forever for Andrew to get this one right 😂 but it was okay because Mack and I were busy admiring the robot).  

A quick walkthrough of the Romanesque Cathedral with amazing ceilings and a few minutes to fill up water bottles then we were on our way to La Spezia.

Our quick stop in La Spezia left our bellies full of focaccia and my eyes happy with all the orange trees lining the streets.  Now on to the 5 costal villages of Cinqe Terre.

Our first stop was Riomaggiore; it felt like we had entered the world of Luka, a recent Disney movie.  We had enough time to explore, enjoy the brightly colored buildings, grab a bite to eat then jump on next train.

Destination - Vernazza.  The small stone church and tower were a disappointment because the tower was closed and Andrew really wanted to go up all the towers.  The lovely lemon trees in town inspired me to get lemon gelato, worst food choice of the trip.  It was so bad I couldn't really eat it, but Andrew managed to finish it off while he petted every cat he could find 😬.

Our next stop was Manarola where we got to walk for a while on a trail along the ocean.  The views were spectacular.  

At a look out the boys were caught being silly and while Greg continued taking pictures the boys and I headed further up the trail.  Unfortunately, when Greg finished snapping photos he headed back toward town.  We had fun on our little trail and took some photos of our own.  They may be a little sillier than Greg's.

Andrew hitting the gritty.

Model posses - love these boys.

The long train ride home ended what had been such a lovely day, the weather, the sights and the company.

Our guide gave us a recommendation for dinner and it didn't disappoint.  Neither did the mango cheesecake in a jar I got when everyone else ate gelato that night.  

Florence - Stair Day

We woke too early to enjoy the complementary breafast so the hotel packed us breakfast to go.  The chocolate croissants were pretty good if slightly over cooked.  We enjoyed the juice and nibbled on the several different kinds of crackers all day.  We got off the train and "pulled our suitcases the half mile to the heart of Florence, the Duomo square.  I’m not sure there’s a more striking church in the world.  It rises up in a crowded city in a square that has no geometric relation to a square.  There are at least half a dozen streets that converge on city center.  The white, green, and red of the exterior are not universally applauded, but I find them unique and beautiful in their own way, but the red brick dome has been the focal point for more than 500 years!  Brunelleschi’s architectural wonder is still the world’s largest dome built of individual bricks."  From our hotel room we could see the Duomo.  This was far and away our best hotel of the trip.  We dropped of our luggage and headed out for our trip to the top of the Duomo.

Thus began stair day- over 400 steps to the top of the dome.  The narrow stairs were fun to navigate sometimes bending at odd angles to adapt to the shape of the dome.  

Our journey to the top took us up close to the mosaic on the dome.  The Last Judgment painting was impressive but a bit disturbing on the lowest level as it depicted all sorts of evil creatures and people being dragged to Hell.  The boys didn't appreciate the nudity or grotesque figures.

We were tired by the time we reached the top (and we had ditched our masks early on) but the view was worth it!  Wow.  I loved taking in the layout of the city, the historical sites, and the Tuscan countryside.

After climbing back down the stairs we checked out the interior of the cathedral then ascended Giotto’s Campanile, the bell tower adjacent to the Duomo.  My legs weren't too excited but the boys were all in so we went up an additional 400+ steps to the top.

I enjoyed seeing the rooftop of the Duomo and getting perspective on how huge the cathedral is.  We chalked up 850 steps for the day by the time we climbed down the tower. The last stop on our plaza tour (with some help from Rick Steve) was the baptistry, a large circular building at the western end of the plaza with gorgeous bronze doors and stunning mosaics inside. 

For lunch we stopped a delicious looking bakery. Greg and Andrew got sandwiches, Mack had two waffles and I can't remember what I had except that I couldn't resist this donut filled with pudding-yum.  We all had a laugh and the english sign in the bathroom that said, "hold down handle to download". 

On to the Santa Croce Basilica where Galileo and Michelangelo, among others, were burried.

This is Michelangelo's tomb.  The church also boasted a Donatello bronze.

From there we traveled to and over the Arno, catching our first glimps of Ponte Vecchio, a really cool bridge.  Andrew, trying so hard to spot animals, spotted a "vulture" that was really a goose.  We were relentless in the teasing.  We hiked up the hill (adding at least 150 more stairs) to Piazzale Michaelangelo for the best views of Florence.  Arriving at the bottom of hill the boys promptly found some gelato because their feet needed a break and they hadn't had any yet today!  I got some sort of baked apple thing instead - I love bakeries.

We crossed the famous Ponte Vecchio bridge on the way back to our hotel and Greg found his dream gelato - melon and coconut- he was glad he hadn't had gelato with the boys.

We took a much needed 45 minute rest before walking to our cooking class where we joined by about 15 others making pizza and gelato.  

"Sharing our table were Javier and Carolyn, honeymooners from the Bay Area.  We had lively conversation throughout the evening and I was glad for the boys to be exposed to good, interesting, diverse people.  Javier is Chinese Peruvian (born and raised in Peru but his parents had immigrated from China), but moved to the states as a teenager and is now a US citizen.  Carolyn was born in the US, but is Korean American.  They both filled the stereo type of having grown up working in family restaurants started by their immigrant parents.  Through hard work and education that were now thriving financially.  They had lots of questions about our family and parenting.  Despite their restaurant experience, Lisa made the best pizza dough and pizza as confirmed by our Italian chef and instructor.  I thought I was doing good until I had to round it into the flattened crust—it ended up looking a bit heart shaped, but it tasted great."

It was plain to see I was the only one at our table who had worked much with dough - the class was really fun and good for the boys, and we got gelato again so totally worth it.

Back at the hotel we chatted with Natali for a little while then got ready for bed, grateful for our separate bedrooms and bathrooms.  Another 20,000+ step day with 1000+ stairs - we slept well that night.  Although I was grateful for earplugs to block out the accordion music that was going when I drifted off.

Venice

This is what Greg wrote about our exit from Milan. "We left the apartment Sunday morning a few minutes after my target of 6:45 in what would become a daily tradition of me impatiently waiting for Andrew and he seeming dragging things out just to tweek me, oblivious of the time or my urgency." I wish that wasn't the truth-😂 (all " from now on are copied from Greg's more meticulous notes)

No one complained about the vanilla croissants we found for breakfast - like seriously we ate them nearly every morning for breakfast - Yum.

I enjoyed my audiobook and checking out the view while we traveled to Venice.  We stopped at mainland Venice and had to hop on another train to cross the lagoon into iconic Venice.  However, that train was delayed twenty minutes.  I happened to find another train headed to Venice in 5 minutes.  The ride was only 10 minutes so we jumped on and crossed our fingers that no one would check our tickets.  We arrived in Venice before our other train would have left - no ticket check!  I felt pretty rebellious.

We walked to our hotel and Andrew gave a quick sermon while I went to the bathroom right beneath him.

We wandered for a while then hopped on a ferry "headed for the Rialto Bridge, about halfway across the island.  The famous pedestrian bridge built over with shops teemed with visitors from around the globe.  We Americans were certainly dressed more casually than the Europeans and Asians.  We saw plenty of bling and heels that didn’t look very practical or comfortable for what would be a 20,000+ step day in Venice"

Mack saw a pizza place right as we exited the vessel and he was happy to buy a few slices for lunch.  The rest of us were holding out for some pasta and thus began our search.

The pattern that began this day and continued for the trip involved all of us looking in restaurant windows, scanning menus, looking at other patron's food, trying to decide if we wanted to eat there or not.  Inevitably, no one wanted to make the decision so we would pass restaurant after restaurant until someone got frustrated and we just picked a place.  Our Venice lunch choice turned out fabulous inspite of the fact that no one else was in the restaurant  - it was delicious.

We proceeded to wander - Greg leading us past certain churches and sites.  He had a plan but even with his map we had a few wrong turns and dead ends.  I didn't mind - I loved taking in all the narrow roads, random canals, and quaint buildings.

We enjoyed some fabulous gelato and Andrew loved his so much he decided to eat the spoon, or something like that.  He kept that little spoon in his mouth for the next few hours; it eventally broke and had to be thrown out as a health risk.

"We emerged on the outer edge of the city facing the lagoon and turned east for our first view of the Bridge of Sighs.  We later learned on our Doge’s Palace tour as we walked through the bridge that it led to the prison and the “sighs” were from the prisoners relinquishing their hope and freedom, though today it is for the sublime scene."

We checked out the square and exterior of St. Marks while I listened to a Rick Steve's audio tour.  Then we met up with our tour guide, Rita, skipped the line and got to go inside the basilica.

"St. Mark’s Basilica is at the crossroads of the east and west geographically and artistically.  It feels as much Byzantine as Roman.  The exterior façade and interior ceilings were entirely covered with golden hued mosaics depicting scenes from the Old and New Testament as well as the story of smuggling St. Mark’s bones to Venice where they reputedly reside yet today."

This mosaic shows Adam and Eve - I loved the amazing color of the tiles.  There was so much gold and the blue was so striking a picture just can't capture it.

The exterior and interior of the church featured different kinds of marble in various hues and textures creating variety and a look very different from western styled chapels.

We followed our guide into the Doge's Palace where the leader had his own private entrance to St. Mark's as seen in the inner courtyard.

I was absolutely wowed by the palace.  The celling and walls of the vast rooms were covered in art and gold decor.

We continued exploring the streets taking in the unique experience of a town filled with water ways.  We loved all the little bridges.

The recquired gondola ride gave our feet a much needed break.  Sadly we didn't get sung to but we had a laugh at a couple out for a romantic ride.  The girl looked so unhappy whenever her boyfriend wasn't looking at her but would paste on a quick fake smile whenever he turned to her or opened his eyes. Such duplicity must be exhausting.

The restaurant hunt began...  "After passing on 3 restaurants for dinner we gave up and walked into a small café with an extensive menu.  As we sat down I looked suspiciously at the single employee behind the counter who doubled as a waiter unfortunately we would learn chef.  When Lisa went to the bathroom I asked if she saw a kitchen down the hall—nope.  We should have left then, but stuck it out for our food which we watched in mock horror as he prepared it behind the counter with a microwave.  Eating at restaurants with kitchens became a requirement for any sit down meal for the rest of the trip.  The noodles were quite undercooked and my sliced roast and potatoes tasted like they had been warmed in a microwave and Andrew’s Chicken Milanese was pretty much a large chicken nugget.  I guess you eat and learn!"  We said we got "microwaved" for dinner that night - our new term for disapointing meals.  

With such a disapointing dinner everyone got their fill of gelato as we meandered back to our hotel that night totally exhausted and ready for bed.  We shared a room and bathroom but didn't mind too much because we were all so ready for sleep and the next day was bringing an early start.