Day 4 Florence and Tuscany

After a rough morning, we finally made it to the center of Florence.  We found a close parking garage and then headed off into the city walking. We first saw Santa Croce.  There were some street performers Jackson really liked.  They had ducks heads and played flutes while dancing a story.  It was cute to watch.

We then headed to the cathedral of Santa Maria.  It was spectacular!  SO BIG, so ornate, amazing!  The inside was vast and plain compared with the outside, but it was easy to enter and look around at the dome and ceiling.

 We ate lunch (paninis) in the square of the Cathedral.  We saw the Uzzfi (and I used the restroom there, I accidentally slipped past a guard I wasn't suppose to enter.) and a model of the "David".  We decided an art museum wasn't for us and Jackson together.  Jackson rode a little carousel in a plaza while we rested our feet.

We walked down the river (which reminded us of Dresden) and to the famous bridge Pointe Vecchio.   We grabbed a gelato and finished up with a great view on the bridge.

  Now came the hard part... walking back to the car after all morning of walking.  Jackson was not happy about this and it made me wonder how we were going to see any of Rome the next day.  So far we had varied our trip frequently because we had a car, but I knew Rome would be a ton of walking.
We then started our drive through Tuscany.  We were Ultra aware of the speed limits and the speed traps.  We were NOT getting any more tickets!  This made us focus less on the views and more on the driving.

We finally made it to Sienna, parked, started walking inside the wall and then realized we were REALLY far from what we wanted to see.  We tried to drive around the wall to find another closer entry, but once again, we couldn't find parking or entry.  After a couple of hours of being in Sienna, but really not seeing much, we finally decided we needed to move on.  I was sad I hadn't done more research to figure out how to do this city right.  I thought it was a small town, but apparently it is a little walled city surrounded by a much larger city.

Our drive through Tuscany was a cloudy.  It was pretty but we could tell how amazing it would've been with the right weather.  The cities tucked back all over the landscape was amazing.  We finally found a castle up on a hill and pulled of the freeway to go exploring.  We drove up and up to a sleepy little town of 5 old people sitting on a bench.  The view was great.  The little walled 'castle' had been converted into homes for people.  It was so interesting to see this old town.



 We couldn't find any food, so we had to go back to the freeway and eat roadside food.  It was totally disappointing this time because the spaghetti we couldn't understand what it was ended up being nasty fish flavor and there wasn't much else to order.  An hour after dinner we made it to Rome and found Tiffany and Nikki's house.  I loved their place!  They had a yard and a little garage/studio they let us stay in.   We quickly got ready for bed.  Nikki gave us great tips for getting around in Rome and suggested we take a scooter for Jackson.  I was hesitant because I didn't want to carry it around.



      Getting there  Day 1 Venice   Day 2 Italian Alps Day 3 Cinque Terre  Day 4 Florence  Day 5 Rome  Day 6 Vatican

Day 3 Cinque Terre and Pisa

The morning view at the hotel did not disappoint.  The misty mountain cliffs looking out over the Mediterranean Sea was spectacular.  I especially loved the flowers amazing smell as I sat and stared at the view.  I did some early morning research on what to see/do and parking in Cinque Terre.  Our late planning always results in having to plan at the hotels every night/morning for the following day.  In some ways this make the trip less relaxing and a bit more stressful, but in other ways I like the flexibility it adds to our plans.  We were going to stay an extra night, but then decided we were ready to move on.

 Jackson woke up and we had breakfast and headed out.  We lost his camera battery and I was sick about finding it.  I knew that having a camera made a huge difference in Jackson's engagement in the trip.  We searched high and low and couldn't find it.  so we moved forward in going to the 5 cities perched above the Sea.  Jackson was understandably upset and I was worried about how the day would go.   We found a parking spot and started in the first city, Riomaggiore.  The colors and the way the city is built right into the hill is spectacular.  We went to the castle first and then got lost in the narrow hallways (staircases) trying to find our way to the train station.  It is really an amazing place to have a city!  We finally found the train station and headed to the last city. 

 Here the train dropped us off right at a beach.  There were hundred of smooth flat rocks so the boys had a great time trying to skip rocks.  I walked over the to sandy part of the beach.  We originally planned to spend some hours playing on the beach, but it was much too cold for that, so we just walked on the beach and climbed a huge boulder for a great view of the ocean and part of the city. 

 We walked into the town.  Jackson and I loved the souvenier shops.  We ate Brusheta and paninis at a little shop (Jackson had a hamburger) and it was amazing... one of my favorite meals.   We headed back to the train station and the next city.  Vernazza was even smaller than the other 2.






We spent most of our time trying to find the hiking trail (a very small turn up a narrow walkway between 2 tall buildings).  We grabbed a gelato and started our 4 km hike.  We wanted to hike a shorter portion, but it was closed.  I was worried about Jackson lasting long enough to do this hike without ruining it, but he was AMAZING... always 50 steps ahead of us and still running at the end.  The hike was a beautiful hike along the cliffs down to the sea.  The whole time we got different gorgeous vantage points of the next city Corniglia.  It was quite the experience.  We met a family from France with a kid Jackson's age.  They were really nice and it was cool to see another family.

looking back on the city of Vernazza

 Finding the train in Cornglia was challenge (100s of steps zigzagging down from the city to the train), but after another gelato we made it.


Walking back to the car Jackson had finally hit his limit and complained like crazy.  Getting in the car was a welcome relief, except for the ticket we had waiting on the windshield... apparently it was a 3 hour parking spot and we were there 6.)

We headed back to the hotel so Jackson could play with the ping ping table and little playground (what he loved most about the hotel).  I looked up hotels and finally found a cheaper one a bit outside of Florence.  We then headed to Pisa.  Driving through La Spezia I was so glad we decided not to stay there and to stay in the hotel we did (Campo di Borgi).  We could park for free there and it was gorgeous!  (And it had a  loft room, kitchenette and play place for the kids).  La  Spezia was just another bigger town, while our hotel was in the middle of no where looking over the ocean.  I love hidden gems.

We then headed to Pisa.  We found the tower just before sunset.  The leaning tower was so much more amazing than I thought it would be.  It is so much larger than I expected and the leaning was scary!  Walking towards it and away from it was just astounding!  It was $20 to hike up the tower and for all 3 of us, we just couldn't stomach paying that much, but we strolled around the square, a guard kindly let us into the cathedral despite not having time to get tickets.  The whole square was really gorgeous.  We found an outdoor eatery and ordered pizza and pasta for dinner.  Jackson ate all my four cheese penne pasta and asked for it the rest of the trip.  I enjoyed his 4 cheese pizza instead of what I ordered.  I'm just glad he found things to eat.   We were thankful we didn't get a ticket for parking on the street (we couldn't tell if it was legal or not).






We drove another hour to Florence in the dark.  Jackson loved having unlimited tablet time in the car (although he also listened the audio books and comedy sketches I put on an ipod).  We found our hotel in a sketchy part of town (comes with the price I guess).  But we parked and headed to our room.  We scored a room with a queen bed AND a twin bed.  Perfect for our traveling group.

As Dave and I were researching what to do in Tuscany the next day, I came across an article about the "speed traps' in Italy and how they can send you a ticket in the mail and it can be 1000s of dollars in fines.  We read more and more and found out that they have booths that clock your speed and can send a ticket in the mail up to 1 year later.  Also, driving into the town square pedestrian zones can cost a ton of $.  We had accidentally driven into a couple of pedestrian lots AND had sped a bit on the roads.  We were so sick to our stomachs trying to think about how much $ in fines we had just spend (not to mention how we were trying to save on our vacation in ways like this ghetto hotel).   Both of us did not sleep well.  I finally thought of all my blessings.  If $$$ were the only trial I had, I am ok with that.  I said prayers of gratitude for my family, my kids, our financial situation, our health, etc.  Dave woke up tired and angry.  Unfortunately, it was a morning of trying to regain our composure and Jackson rocked the boat.   Dave really wanted to go home today and looked up flights out of Florence.  Luckily, he softened and gave Jackson a hug and my heart melted because I love the moment of forgiveness and love that comes from Dave.  He is an amazing husband and father.  His willingness to love and forgive is amazing.


      Getting there  Day 1 Venice   Day 2 Italian Alps Day 3 Cinque Terre  Day 4 Florence  Day 5 Rome  Day 6 Vatican

Day 2 Bolzano and Lake Garda

One of the things we like doing on trips is finding small unknown towns and seeing what it like to live there.  We started the morning waiting for Dave to finish working a bit.  Jackson and I were anxious to get started.  We found out upon check out that the hotel has a POOL and hot tub on the 7th floor surrounded by the alps!  We were so disappointed that we didn't take advantage of that!  We drove into the town square.  The plaza and church there were small and quaint.  Knowing of the vast and magestic sites to come, it wasn't very spectacular, but it was Jackson's first time and he loved it.  We stopped by a bakery to enjoy a breakfast.

We went back to the hotel and went swimming and it was a lovely view and amazing experience (we were the only people there).  We were missing our girls at this point.  Jackson would point out all the times they would love it and all the times we were glad they weren't with us.  The pool had a fountain and a strong jet stream.

We then headed out to find some castles.  The first one we stopped at was closed.  We still hiked a ways up to it and it was a gorgeous view of the valley. Castle Beseno

We headed over toArco looking for another Castle.  The GPS took us to  a stop about 200 feet BELOW the castle and said, 'You've arrived"  we could't figure out how to get to the actual castle, so we stopped at a playground and looked from afar.  

We then went to Lake Garda and started driving down it.  We stopped at a castle that WAS open and we finally got to tour one.  Jackson was very fearful about the castle falling on him and he wanted to leave ASAP.  We climbed to the top and took lots of pictures of the water view and the city view.  It was a gorgeous day.

We had an awesome drive down all of lake Garda and toroughly enjoyed seeing little lakeside towns.

I had booked our next hotel that morning and they said we had to check in by 8:00 but we weren't going to make it in time.  We decided to try to use Daves phone to make a call (instead of exiting and trying to find a wi-fi spot) and it worked!  We easily told the desk that we were going to be late and just kept driving.  Discoving we could make a phone call changed our trip(making it so much easier).
We stopped at a roadside grill for dinner and then drove into LaSpezia (so glad we didn't stay in this industrial city) and into the hillside cliffs on the way to Riomaggiore.  Our hotel was AWESOME!!  We checked in at the top and then headed down 150 steps (Jackson counted) to our room. The path down was lit up with path lighting, gazebos, flowers and we could hear the ocean far below us.  Even though it was dark it was a gorgeous sight.  I couldn't wait to see it in the morning.  I was excited to be there and we debated back and forth for a while staying an extra night there.  We got a room with a loft bed and 2 twins in on the floor.  Despite what we wanted Jackson got the queen and we stayed in the twin beds.  Dave and I finished watching the Italian job while Jackson slept.


      Getting there  Day 1 Venice   Day 2 Italian Alps Day 3 Cinque Terre  Day 4 Florence  Day 5 Rome  Day 6 Vatican

Day 1 Venice and a drive to the Italian Alps

We landed at 9 am and headed off the plane to start our day (even though it is about 2 am in Texas).  We found our rental car (after a mile walk) stashed our luggage and headed back to the airport for a bus ride to the island of Venice. Jackson was full of energy and excitement but things were not as expected and of course, everything takes a while to figure out.


While Dave bought water bus tickets Jackson started looking at souvenier shops and taking pictures of everything mildly interesting he saw.  We boarded the water bus and Jackson was ready to take pictures of everything.  The grand canal was so busy and beautiful.  I couldn't believe the buildings are built right down into the water.

The beautiful and largest bridge was under construction :( but we enjoyed so many other sights.  Jackson was counting the # of statues he saw as well as fountains and churches.  He didn't realize how many he would see on the trip, so he was even counting small and insignificant ones that I wouldn't give a second glance.  

We got off on at the main square of the basilica and palace.  It was so huge!  We heard a band go marching through with dancers behind them.  Unfortunately, the basilica was closed for church services, so we just got to see the beautiful outside of the building.  

We got our first of many gelatos as we started strolling through the 'streets' and streams of Venice. 



 It really was awesome to just 'get lost' in the city (as so many of the tourist sites told us to do).  We loved the narrow streets, the little plazas with fountains, the canals with so many bridges and gondolas.

We found a place to eat lunch and ate out in the courtyard.  Jackson loved the spaghetti (and I was just glad he was eating!  Taking a kid on a trip who doesn't eat very well is scary!)




 We found our bus back to the airport and all started falling asleep.  I was worried since we had a long drive a head of us, but hoped the cat nap was good for us.

We drove a little Fiat that was a maunal.  We were a bit nervous of driving in Italy because of all the things people told us about driving there, but soon enough it because natural and easy.  Dave is a great driver.  About an hour into the drive we started driving up into the Italian Alps.  There were castles around every corner and a tower in every little town.  I was desperately trying to stay awake, so I kept drinking water and soda and then I couldn't get to a bathroom soon enough!  We made it to Bolzano-Bogen where we staying in a hotel we had points at.  The hotel was so nice (and SO few points!).  We wanted to go to sleep at 5 pm, but we knew we needed to stay up later to get climatized to the time zone, so we headed down the street to the grocery store and went shopping.  All the signs were in Italian and German, which worked out great since Dave speaks German.  He was so surprised to find so much German here ,but it was a taste of 'home' for him.  We ate McDonalds for dinner and fell asleep trying to watch the opening scenes of "Italian Job"  It was so fun to see Venice in the movies after experiencing it.

Jackson slept on the floor and we had a great king bed.  11 hours later we all woke up refreshed and ready to start anew.

      Getting there  Day 1 Venice   Day 2 Italian Alps Day 3 Cinque Terre  Day 4 Florence  Day 5 Rome  Day 6 Vatican