Our first day, which was Saturday, out we headed to Pisa to see the leaning tower and duomo. It was fun and there were a ton of tourists there. We didn't bother going to the top because one you have to pay a lot of money and two it wears you out and we needed our energy for lots more sightseeing. Once done in Pisa we drove over to Lucca. It's an old walled city. We parked near the train station and walked on the path on top of the wall for a while and then into the city. At the church someone important or famous must have been coming or going because there was a crowd with cameras gathered around the doors. Then when we walked into the main shopping area there was a square in front of another church full of kids' activities that was fun. They were all these old fashioned wood toys and games. And it was all free. I didn't really even see anyone in charge, the stuff was just there for all the kids to play with. We had dinner in a nice piazza at the tables outside the restaurant. We ate lots of pizza, pasta, cannoli, and gelato on this trip. It was all good.
The next day we drove to some hill towns in Tuscany. It's really cool looking to see all these beautiful hills and vineyards and then a cluster of buildings at the top of a hill. It's like the opposite of in America. It's hard to build up on mountains and hills, we usually see people living in valleys, not in Italy. In Italy everyone lives up high and the way they farm those hills and mountains with all the terracing is insane. I can't imagine farming the mountain sides. The areas that are smooth rolling hills of vineyards make more sense. We saw tons of olive, orange and lemon trees too which was cool. So in the old days they were up on hill tops for protection and even the people living in the same town would fight with each other like in Romeo and Juliet. Each family would have a big tower so you get these hill top towns with tons of tall towers. Many have been knocked down now but some remain. These towns are pretty though and like stepping back in time a thousand years or so. We went to San Gimignano and Volterra and drove through the Chianti region. I really enjoyed it. Cory was tiring of driving and looking at towns and hills that all seemed the same to him. I'd like to think the kids enjoyed the scenery as much as me but some of them fell asleep and the others played Pokemon or acted out the movie Frozen. Avery loves Pokemon now and they have all gotten into it watching the shows on Netflix and they make their own cards drawing the characters and writing their powers and all and then play with the cards they make. It's great but sometimes I have to make them put it away.
Monday we drove to the Cinque Terra. We drove and parked in the southern most of the five coastal towns, Riomaggiore, and hoped to hike to one or two more. We found out after we arrived that the coastal paths were closed and we would have to take the train to the other towns. So we bought train tickets which felt like a waste to pay so much for so small a distance but we couldn't walk and there wouldn't be anywhere to park at the other towns either. We just went to the next village, Manarola, and did a hike and ate and then we were done. It's pretty but all the towns look kind of the same so we didn't want to go to all of them. Two out of five was good enough. It once again seemed crazy to me that people would choose to live in this steep little mountain inlet. Nothing is flat. It's a steep walk up or down everywhere and they farm those mountain sides all the way up but live below so they are hiking up and down all the time. On the way there and back we drove through the big port city of La Spezia. There were tons of ocean freighters and cruise ships and stuff there. We could also see the big mountains to the east of the highway where they get all the marble from that they use for all the sculptures and such in Italy. Right next to the highway were the businesses that sell it because there were yards full of slabs of marble and alabaster.
Tuesday we went to Florence. We waited for this day because many things were closed Sunday and Monday. Well when we got there the lines to get into the museums and churches were so very long that we didn't bother going in anyway. I should have booked tickets long in advance online but I didn't. I've never been to a museum that was so busy and crowded before. I wanted to go in the Uffizi gallery to see the Birth of Venus painting and the Academia to see the real David sculpture, but I suppose I may have to go back to Florence one day without kids to enjoy museums and perhaps in winter when it's not so crowded. Florence was lovely anyway to just walk around the historic center. The duomo is incredible and there are many sculptures and wonderful buildings to see just walking around. The kids liked watching the rowers go down the river in their boats.
Wednesday was a driving day. We drove all the way to Sorrrento which is a six hour drive. The drivers in Italy can be crazy. We passed several people on the highway weaving in and out of their lanes and every time they were on their smart phones or iPads. One guy was watching a movie on his iPad while driving. He had his ear buds in and the iPad on top of the center of the steering wheel. I couldn't believe it. Italy wins distracted driving country of the year. They are also very aggressive and rude. In England there are many narrow roads and crowded streets but everyone is polite and lets you pass. In Italy it's every man for himself and if you are not aggressive and take a turn you will never be given one. Cory is my hero for all the driving he did and not giving me a heart attack in the process or damaging our rental car. I had heard scary stories of Italian rental car places trying to charge you for damages and stuff you didn't do to the car but we didn't have any hassle at all luckily. I don't think we broke any driving rules either. I hope we don't end up with a mysterious ticket in the mail from Italy later. I've heard that happens a lot too. I tried to be careful to keep us out of residential zones. I missed the polite British people while in Italy. I just want to give them all a collective big hug and thank them for their good manners.
Before we reached our apartment in Sorrento we passed Mount Vesuvius and so we decided to drive up to the top real quick. It was a long windy road but it takes you up to the top where there is a pathway to walk to the crater opening to have a look in. However, once there the path had just closed and I found out they charge 10 euros a person to walk on the path which is all of fifteen minutes walk. Insane. Plus they charge you to park. We snapped a couple of pics from the parking lot and left. I've seen pics online, there really isn't anything to see in the inactive crater anyway. It's just dirt. There was a nice view of Naples from up there though. Once we got near our apartment we had a hard time finding it exactly. The GPS and Google Maps has it wrong so you have to go solely on her directions which were not the greatest. I finally asked a lady on the street showing her a picture and address I had printed out with the reservation and luckily her daughter was with her and could speak a little English and help me. Of course they knew the owner. It's a small village, Sant Agata. Once finally there and settled in the apartment was very nice and Valeria (rhymes with malaria, I was pronouncing it so wrong to begin with) was very nice and helpful too. It was a bit out of the way having to drive up and down the windy mountain roads to get there and back each day but we had to have a place with parking and enough room for the six of us so the choices are not abundant. It seemed very new and nice and the beds were comfy. The yard was nice and had lots growing including lemon trees which she said we could pick. She had already picked some and put them in the room along with fresh apple and pear jam she had made. It tasted more like applesauce than jam but it was good. There was a nice little restaurant around the corner we got food from as well as a market. I liked the gnocchi.
Thursday we drove to Pompeii and explored the ruins for a few hours and then we went and explored Herculaneum. Both were destroyed when Vesuvius erupted back in 79 AD but much was preserved by the volcanic ash and mud and they still have not uncovered it all. Some of it has city buildings built over it. It's amazing to see the skills they had back then. They had plumbing and plastered and painted walls, tile floors, fast food restaurants etc. No one cooked at home in their small apartments. They all just bought something to eat on the street. There are chariot wheel ruts in the stone roads. I thought it was cool out west to see pioneer wagon wheel ruts. These are from chariots two thousand years ago! It was cool how the ruts disappeared in some parts of the road showing that they were in the process of repairing the road when Vesuvius erupted. They were actually very clean and knew that it would bring disease if they were not clean. The flooded the streets everyday. The sidewalks are above the streets and there are stepping stones so you can cross without stepping in the water. Each stone was narrow enough to fit between the chariot wheels. The number of stones indicates the number of lanes on the road for chariots to drive in. Tristan has learned a lot about Pompeii in his Latin class and was like our little tour guide telling us all about what we were seeing. I was impressed. I guess they show them lots of pictures at school because it was like he had been there, recognized what he was seeing. Now there is a movie coming out soon called Pompeii but somehow I don't think Hollywood will portray it accurately.
Friday we drove the Amalfi coast and down to Paestum and back. It was a lot of driving but not too bad. I was really nervous about driving the coast after reading about it online but it wasn't too bad. Driving in the canyons out west is much more scary on on the Big Sur coast in California. The Amalfi coast had rails and walls the entire way. It does get narrow and traffic can get busy but there were mirrors to help you see and sometimes police directing traffic through narrow tunnels. There are a lot of tunnels in Italy so you can drive through all the mountains. The coast was pretty even though it was a cloudy day. After a while it starts to all look the same though and you tire of the windy roads but we made it. Paestum was really cool. There are three old Greek temples there from the 7th century BC. A few hundred years later the Romans took over that area but they kept the Greek temples. So there are Roman village ruins surrounding the temples and the museum has all of these tombs they found there with amazing fresco paintings on the inside and a ton of Greek pottery. I love the Greek pottery with the red and black images all over it. It's hard to believe how old it is. Apparently during WWII some US troops stayed near there and the ruins were not destroyed. Tristan also recognized the fresco of the diving man which is like the centerpiece of the museum there. Near Paestum we passed an brand new shopping center that looked oh so American and made me excited to see something that looked like home. I didn't want to shop or anything but we stopped and ate dinner there just so I could soak in something that felt familiar. Cory thought me silly but the kids enjoyed the playground at the McDonalds, something they don't have here.
Saturday we drove to Rome. We went by the temple site where they are making good progress on the Rome temple. Then we drove into the city and turned in our rental van at the train station and then took the subway to our apartment. Our apartment was very near the colosseum. We could see it from our front door. There were lots of places to get food nearby too. The apartment had plenty of room but was in need of a remodel in my opinion and the beds were so hard and uncomfortable and being an old building it was pretty loud. I could hear everyone coming and going and even using the bathroom upstairs. So I wouldn't stay there again but it worked for us. I really enjoyed all of the old amazing things we saw in Rome but it was crazy crowded being Easter time and all and I didn't even realize the canonization was coming up too. We took the subway or walked everywhere and saw soo much. The art of the greats like Raphael, Michelangelo, Botticelli etc is everywhere especially in the churches. It's really amazing. Most of this is free to walk around and see. We did have to pay for us adults to get in the Colosseum and Forum but it wasn't too much. The Vatican is where we spent a ton. Once again I didn't book tickets well in advance and once I had learned this lesson in Florence I got online for the Vatican to book ahead and the only tickets left were for guided tours which cost a ton more but I paid it because there was no way I was waiting in line for hours with the kids hoping to get into the Vatican and there was no way I wasn't going to see the Sistine Chapel. I also requested Papal audience tickets through the USO office and got those no problem and they are free. When we went they didn't even look at our tickets anyway. It was nice to have the USO office there to go in and take a break and have a nice clean place to rest and have a bite to eat. They had computers you can use and toys the kids can play with and snacks. We brought in our lunch because the restaurants were crowded. They also had nice clean toilets! It was cool to see the Pope even though we are not Catholic. The kids do go to a Catholic school though and got to tell their teachers that they saw the Pope. Avery is studying Romans this term so our trip really coincides with his schooling too. We're going to make a poster for him to take to school to share about his trip for his homework.
Twelve days of travel is exhausting, especially with children, but we are glad we went and now we are glad to be home. I am away again later this week with Carrie but it should be fun and more relaxing since it's just me and her and also because we are going places I have been before. We will just chill here over May half term break, maybe go do something for the day if the weather is nice. The kids have exams coming up very soon so lots of studying needs to happen. Cory and I both agree that Italy was a cool trip. There is just so much cool history and art. However, we've been there done that and not in love with Italy itself and don't really wish to go back. I didn't find the people very welcoming or hospitable and yes the old stuff is cool but what are the current people doing to make it a better place? Not much that I can see. It's very sad to see trash and graffiti all over these cities that should be wonderful. If I ever do go back it will be to Tuscany, not south.
