Venezia

We left La Spezia in the morning, stopping in Milan.  I like to say that I stopped in Milan.  Doesn't that sound so cool?  Little Old Navy wearing Erica, stopped in the fashion capital of the world.  This was the part of the trip that I was worrying about since I had booked the train tickets.  We only had about 15 minutes to switch trains in Milan.  It was a success... The above picture is all we really saw!

Once we walked out of the train station we were slapped in the face with Venice.  Right away we saw locals, tourists, The Grand Canal, water buses, water taxis, gondolas, ticket booths, and everything seemed to be going every which way.  I was in love, and in awe.  We bought tickets for the water bus and waited to get on...  it was a bit confusing and intimidating at first, but we managed.  We followed our B&B keeper's instructions on how to get there once we got off at our stop.  Turn left, turn right, another slight right, keep going... the streets and canals can be very deceiving and we had to stop once to ask for directions.  When you think a street ends, it may not, you seriously have to walk to the very end to see if it makes a turn or not, while still being careful not to fall into some sort of waterway.  

Once we got to the hotel, we dropped our stuff off, and off we went.  Our first big site was the Rialto Bridge.  I had been looking forward to seeing it, and it was spectacular, except for the graffiti spray painted all over it.  I could not believe it was vandalized so badly, thinking they should protect something so grand.  We went straight to St. Mark's Square.  You feel really small standing in the middle of that square.  It is huge!  We also saw St. Mark's Basilica from the outside.  Seeing the cruise ships was pretty crazy... they just looked like they didn't belong in the back drop of Venice.

Our 2nd day was filled with lots of sight seeing and museums.  We woke up early and walked to the very first stop of the water bus, got on and sat in the first row.  We listened to my boy, Rick Steves as he explained to a T all about each building along the Grand Canal, it was one of my favorite experiences of Venice.  After that we went to the Accademia, and traveled up the Campanile Tower, the views were so cool.

For dinner on Day 2, we went to a restaurant where I ordered seabass.  Adam said... "you know they are going to serve it whole right?"  I told him.... "nooo.... it will be fine."  Ummm, yah,  Adam was right.  I was given the entire fish.  I have never had fish served to me that wasn't filleted.  And so it took me a good amount of time to get the nerve to pick thru this fish and get every bite.  Not to mention it's eyeball staring at me through out the meal.  Another personal achievement for this picky eater!!!

But perhaps my most favorite experience and what made me feel most like I was in Italy was sitting outside at night in St. Mark's Square.  They have tons of chairs set out in front of 5 different orchestras.  While you have to pay to sit, and then are forced to purchase drinks, you are treated to hours of orchestral music.  It's pretty amazing.  When one group takes a break, another group starts, so it's just pure, relaxing entertainment the whole night.

That's my hubs.

The fish market was also quite the experience.  I wanted to be sure we were up early enough to walk through this world famous market.  While the smell was nauseating... seeing the fresh fish was crazy... so fresh, that some of it was still breathing and moving.

We took a half day tour to Burano, Torcello, and Murano.  Burano is known for lace making, Torcello is the oldest city in Venice, and Murano is where they do the glass blowing.  I would have liked to spend more time in Murano and less in the other two.  But it was nice getting to visit all of them in such a short time.

Standing in the middle of St. Mark's Square

Behind us here is the Bridge of Sighs.  It connects the Doge's Palace and the prison.  It is the last bridge prisoners would walk across and be able to stare thru a small opening, stealing their very last glance at the beautiful Venice and therefore sigh.  We were able to walk thru it as well when we were in the Doge's Palace.

Whenever we speak of our trip, people ask us what our favorite part was, and we say Venice.  Most people who have been complain of Venice smelling, or say it's disgusting.  But I thought it was beautiful.  Maybe it is because we are young, but older people do not seem to like it at all.  There is just something so unique and so different about Venice that is UNLIKE any other city.  We count ourselves lucky having been able to travel there.  I believe in my lifetime... Venice may not be inhabitable anymore, with the water continuously rising on a daily basis.  Yes, it smelled at times... but when you walk by a dumpster or garbage in any city, that smells too.  I would tell anyone to go there if they were contemplating skipping it.

And I leave you with my last memory of Venice.  Sitting with the love of my life, legs dangling over, taking in each golden glimpse of the Grand Canal.  (As the sun set each night, the buildings looked amazing.)  Wine in hand and thinking to ourselves... do we have to go?

Cinque Terre

I looked forward to Cinque Terre, and I dreaded it just the same... the beauty, the beaches, the hike (yes I said it, hike), and the seafood... but also... this city marked 1/2 of our vacation done... caput... finito.

It was amazing to be in the Italian Riviera.  Cinque Terre is made of 5 small towns.  We stayed in Monterosso, one of the largest and with the best beach.  Each town is connected by a pathway, that you can hike.  Our first stop however was the Ligurian Sea for a quick dip.  We had been traveling by train all morning, and then once to our hotel had to climb with our luggage 4 flights of stairs.  We were hot.  And the water was cold.   

We had dinner later that night on a cliff overlooking the water and afterwards went exploring the Old Town Monterosso.  Life was good.

Day 2:  Here's me reading my Italian survival guide while waiting for the boat to take us to Riogamorre.  We decided to start our hike there and work backwards to Monterosso.  The ride was amazing since we were able to see the coast from the boat.  I loved every minute.

Once we got there you seriously felt like you were in another world.  The charm of these towns was like nothing I had seen or felt.  

Basically everything in Cinque Terre is postcard worthy.  Here is one of our favorite pictures.

Prior to us arriving in June 2012, the people of Cinque Terre were devastated with land slides in October 2011, and slowly they were rebuilding.  Because of this 2 parts of the hike were closed for safety reasons.

The hike is no joke.  I don't do that whole hiking thing well, getting up 3 flights of stairs is a struggle.  It's sad.  God just didn't give me good knees.  While Adam had no problem, I was huffing and puffing.  We skipped out on the last part which we were told was the hardest.  The 2 parts we did do took us about 2 hours each.  

The up and down dirt steps that were uneven did a number on my knees and thighs, and I didn't want to push it since we still had 2 cities to walk through.  Also, there were no guard rails and some parts of the path got really narrow.  I was so focused on not falling, we had to stop here and there to just take a look around.

But each and every view looked like this!!!

Day 3:   Adam and I are very much beach people and the exact midpoint of our trip we rented 2 chairs and an umbrella, and laid out from 9am to 7pm.  We did nothing else (but eat lunch and lots of gelato).  Glorious.  

 Fresh seafood, 24/7, was one of our favorite things.  We ate 2 nights at the same restaurant, Ciak, because the first night was so good.  We stumbled upon it after the first night's dinner.  In Cinque Terre you can see inside most kitchens and we watched at Ciak as the chef's prepared the food and all the fresh vegetables and seafood involved.  We made a pact to go the next night.  We had a fresh seafood risotto that was meant to be shared.  This included large octupus, which I count as a personal achievement of eating.  The suctions were still on and visible.

We are so glad we visited this very beautiful place.  It was such a contrast from the rolling hills of Tuscany, and the city life of Rome.  The waterways of Venice are next...

Firenze

 One year ago we arrived in Florence by train, and then took a bus to the countryside where our bed and breakfast was located.  The bus dropped us off at the end of a very long driveway.  Upon researching, I was warned about this driveway.  However, I booked it anyways.  With the luggage and the weather, by the time we trudged up it, we could barely breathe.  It was a memory I will never forget.  Trying to speak to the B&B keeper who only spoke little English, and sweating bullets as we did it is much funnier now.  By the way, Adam is pulling up both luggage for picture purposes only.  Soon after, I grabbed my own.  Ha.

 Remember what I said about how you couldn't fit anything into a picture in Rome... well the same goes in Florence.  Everything in Italy is just so massive and grand, pictures really don't do it justice.  Here I am trying to squeeze the entire Duomo in one picture.  Just not possible.

 While in the Duomo we bought children's books to help explain all the artwork and sculpture we were seeing in a simple way.  Simple people, simple ways.

Here's us on Ponte Vecchio Bridge which goes over the Arno River.  Looks Italian, right?

 One of my favorite things in Florence was visiting Mercato Centrale.  It was so cool, walking thru a huge market that brings in everything fresh each day.  They had slabs of meat hanging from the ceiling and the freshest, most vibrant colored vegetables I had ever seen.  We ended up eating there, who wouldn't?  We just skipped out on the intestines and stomachs that they also sold.  While enchanted by the Italian ways, and eating delicious food, we almost missed our Chianti tour.  When leaving Mercato Centrale, we got a bit turned around, and by a miracle made our bus with seconds to spare.   

 Being in the rolling hills of Tuscany was amazing.  If we ever go back... I'd like to stay strictly in Tuscany for a good amount of time.  Here we are in the Chianti region.

 However, the BEST experience, and I think I am speaking on both my and Adam's behalf was eating at this restaurant, IL LATINI.  We were recommended this restaurant by a friend.  So we seeked it out... and found it.  We got there about 5:30 pm to find out it did not open till 7:30 pm, as we looked at the menu and glanced inside, there were some true blooded Italians standing next to us.  They looked at us, smiled and gave many thumbs up, telling us in a universal way.... EAT HERE, IT'S GOOD.  We were just about to walk away so we could come back in 2 hours when a girl who was hanging around across the street said to us... "if you want to eat here, I wouldn't walk away.  I did the same thing last night and come 7:30 we couldn't get in.  I have already been waiting a half a hour just in case."  We believed every word, went to unsuccessfully find gelato and then, came right back and stood with her.  Our new friend from Australia.  She told us, she was told that this would be the best Tuscan meal of her life.  A while later... another couple came to the door and stood basically with their hands on the handle.... 

Oh hellllllllllll no... they aren't gonna get in before us... I pulled Adam and our new friend over and told them kindly that we were here first, and they said, "no you weren't."  I said, fine... "let this girl in first, you second, then us"... And we agreed and all was well.  We learned that this restaurant is small and seats first come, first serve.  You can not make a reservation... before you know it... it looks like the below picture....chaos.  One thing we learned in Italy... Italians do not form lines.  This restaurant opens at exactly 7:30 pm and while you wait, the chefs just sit on the inside and eat food and smoke cigarettes, while the customers just look in and salivate.  It was hysterical.

 So once we got inside we ended up sitting with the couple I was originally arguing with.  Turns out they were work colleagues, one from Spain, one who was Irish, but living in England.  They had been there before, explained everything, and did all the translating for us.   Before you knew it..  prosciutto was served, followed by a fresh mozzarella salad, some bread with liver on it, a plate of cantaloupe, and a cold pasta dish.  After that we had our choice of 4 hot pastas... Adam chose ravioli, I chose penne.  And shortly after that, we had our choice of 6 meats, Adam chose beef, I chose veal, both served with potatoes.  White wine was served after all of this.  And red wine was served thru out.  We never received a menu and the food just kept coming.  And naturally, we just kept eating.  After the meal, the owner a short, stocky, overweight, old guy, basically your stereotypical Italian came up to us... "YOU LIKE?"  and I said "SI," and then he got all gangster like and said..."THEN WHY YOU NOT FINISH!?"  I was like, I'm sorry sir, I just am so full, he smiled, and handed us our bill.  EEK!  After paying, he handed me a bottle of wine from his restaurant, I had him sign it, and away we went.  My only regret is that we didn't take any pictures of this whole thing.  I will only remember it by my journal and this blog post.  Living in the moment, I forgot to document it with a photo.  How Italian of me, living in the moment??  

Our two nights in Firenze came to a quick end... and we were off to the Italian Riviera... 

Roma

Rome, Italy was our first stop... we were there 3 nights, leaving today one year ago, and on to Florence.    In the cab our first real recognizable glimpse of Rome, and what made us say, "we can't believe we are here" was the Colosseum.  What a sight to see, it was hard to believe it is still standing.  It was simply amazing.  Just as you are in any cab, you wonder if the driver knows what they are doing... after weaving us in and out of traffic, we safely parked and arrived at our hotel.  Nothing is clearly marked, and we stayed at bed and breakfasts, so he wasn't exactly sure he dropped us off in the right place.  We found it though and so started our first trip up multiple flights of stairs.  Soon after that, we hit the ground running.

One of our favorite and most frequented sights was the Trevi Fountain.  Our B&B was pretty close and so we were there the most often to take it in.  Tossing in our coins which promises our return to Rome.

The Colosseum, again, just amazing.  In the above picture we asked a teenage American to take our picture, right before the snap, she decided to ask her dad to take the picture, since "he takes better photos."  Dad comes over looking like she just asked him to fight the live animals like the gladiators did, makes us feel like we are putting him out, but manages to take this picture... one of my favorites.  His daughter was right.  He does take good pictures.

Another fun memory was spent with Adam's friend from work Adi, and his wife Shanna who were also in Rome at the same exact time we were.  We were able to meet up with them and have dinner and gelato.  It's always nice, especially in a foreign country, to see those you know.

But perhaps, out of the 435 pictures I took in Rome this one captures Rome in my heart forever.  It was the day we were scheduled for our tour in the Vatican.  We decided to walk, we were staying on the other side of the Tiber River, so it was quite the stroll.  We woke up early, skipped breakfast to make it there on time, and were rewarded with fabulous sights, pictures, and cooler weather.  Most of our walk we followed these two Sisters.  I love the tone of this picture, with the priest walking towards us, and the lady representing modern day, on her cell phone.  Around us, people were opening their shops, sweeping store fronts and washing the windows, getting ready for the sure to be massive amount of people who would travel thru in just a couple hours and for the rest of the day.  The streets are made of cobblestone, uneven, and never ending.  They twist and turn, and sometimes get you off track.  It was the coolest walk and I am glad we didn't choose any other form of transport to get there.

Once we made it to Vatican City, we cold not be more pleased that I went ahead and purchased tickets for our private tour ahead of time.  The line wrapped around the Vatican itself was about a 4 hour wait, I would have lost my mind.  We reached our tour guide and finally got to go in.  Above all, in our 2 week stay, this was one of the most anticipated things for me, and it did not disappoint.  The picture above makes me laugh, because here we are surrounded by exquisite things... but we have found that we are just not museum people.  We want to see the highlights, and then be done.  Statues and artwork all day, every day was just too much for us.  This is why we were glad we had a tour guide.  Adam and I would have still been moseying around the Vatican trying to find our way out.  It was huge.

However, Michelangelo's Pieta, and the painted ceiling in the Sistine Chapel were both things I REALLY wanted to see, and I was able to check them off my list.  So lovely and so emotional.

St. Peter's Basilica

Our last night, we decided to walk up Gianicolo Hill.  From there you can see an almost 360 view of Rome. And it was worth every step.  One of the hardest parts about pictures and Rome, is you just can't do it justice.  Every building is just on a grander scale then anything I had ever seen.  So taking pictures from the top of this hill was hard.  It did show us how far we had walked.  We were able to recognize a lot of the structures and stood there in disbelief as to how much walking we did.  (I had the blisters to prove it.)

Rome was a must see.  I loved everything about it.  I was glad we started Italy there.