Cinque Terre

April 23rd & 24th--We spent the past 2 days in the Cinque Terre (The Five Lands) area off the coast of the Ligurian Sea. This area is part of the Italian Riviera. The Cinque Terre consists of five villages built into the cliffs overlooking the sea. Hiking paths, boats and trains connect the villages and cars can not enter this area. It is probably the most beautiful, scenic area we have seen in our travels to date. We ultimately visited 4 out of the 5 villages during our 2 days, only missing the 3rd village, Corniglia because of the steep climb required to reach the town center.

Thursday--We left Florence early on Thursday morning in order to maximize our time in the Cinque Terre. After a painless 2.5 hour train ride, we arrived in the 4th village, Vernazza. We had booked a hotel room here for the night. We took the short walk through the village to the harbor front area where there was a restaurant owned by the same couple who own the hotel. Here we picked up our room key and headed up the multiple flights of stairs that cliimb through the village to reach our room. Our room was located high above the village center, right under the castle that used to protect the city. There was a terrace right near our room that looked out over the sea. We dropped off our stuff and went into the town to check out the harbor and beach area. We had decided on this village because it was described as the most dramatic, but also including a natural sand beach. We had decided that would be fun for the kids. Well, when we got to the beach, it was about the size of a large living room (ok, maybe a little bigger, but not much). It was also right in the middle of the town square and looked more like it was used for the fishing boats to land on than for sunning and playing in the water. While it was very sunny out, it was probably still a little cool for true beach/water activities anyway. The next village over, Monterosso, was described as the most like a "beach resort", so we decided that we would eat lunch, grab our bathing suits and then take the boat over to check out the beach scene. We had lunch at a restaurant that was built into the side of the cliff overlooking the water. It was a little pricey, but the great seafood and scenery were worth it. We then headed down to the boat dock to catch the boat. Well, we were a little out of luck, because the next boat did not leave for another 2 hours. This did not sit well with Mr. Austin who thought the boat should be there when he wanted it to be. To top it off, a very dark cloud seemed to be rolling in over the mountains. We decided that a little hike along the trails would be fun for the kids to kill time, so we headed up the mountain. We had heard that the hike between Vernazza to Monterosso was the toughest hike, but since we weren't planning on making the entire journey anyway, we thought it would be fun. Well it stated with a bunch of stairs up through the city and continued with a very narrow pathway up through the mountain along the edge of the seaside. While we were blessed with amazing views of our village, it was very rough and rugged and a little tough for the kids. After making it about a 1/4 of the way, we turned around and headed back towards Vernazza. When we got back into town, we decided to stop for Gelato to reward ourselves for the hike. (You should see how many excuses we can come up with for Gelato stops!) Just as we got our Gelato, it started POURING rain. We were under a table umbrella, but the wind was blowing a little and so we were getting wet. We noticed that there was a hair salon right across from us so we decided it was a good time to get Austin's haircut again. Once inside, Abby decided that she also wanted her hair cut. So when it was all said and done, three out of four Gathright's got their haircut...can you guess who was the lone holdout????? While we were getting our haircut, the showers passed through and the sun came back out. At this point we decided that it was too late to get any beach time so we decided we would take the boat over to Monterosso and have dinner. We changed clothes, caught the next boat and then headed over. It was a very quick boat ride (each of the villages are only a couple of kilometers, at most, from one another), but much enjoyed by the kiddos and provided spectatular views of the region from the water. When we arrived at Monterosso, we walked along the waterfront for little while to enjoy the views. Then we noticed a playground and decided that the kids deserved a little playtime. Amy and I enjoyed a nice glass of Chianti while we watched them play. We then went and had dinner at Belvederes, which was a great Italian restaurant on the harbor. We again enjoyed a great meal of Italian specialties (pasta and pesto) and seafood. After dinner, the boats were not running so our only option of getting back was train. Unfortunately, as we arrived at the train station, the train heading back to Vernazza was leaving and the next train was not for another hour. So we found a little bakery nearby and enjoyed dessert. We then headed back to the train station only to find out that our train was delayed 35 minutes. So we sat in the train station waiting. Austin fell asleep waiting and I must say, it was no fun caring an extra 30 pounds up through the village to get to our hotel! Our room consisted of a king size bed and one twin bed with a private bathroom. It was perfect for us! The kids and Amy got the big bed while I took the little one. We were all pretty exhausted and fell asleep quickly.
Friday--7am. Well, apparently the church bells followed us. While I think we would have all liked to have slept in today, it was good we were awoken so we could get an early start to the day. The sun was shining bright and the temperature was cool...a perfect morning in the Cinque Terre. We went down to the local bakery and picked up some pastries for breakfast. We then took them down to the harbor front and sat on the rocks overlooking the water and had breakfast. The colors of the rocks were really pretty...some were shades of purple. After we enjoyed our peaceful breakfast, we went back to the room and checked out. We decided that we would try to combine hiking and boats today to see the remaining three villages. We took the train to the 1st village, Riomaggiore. We then took the hiking path towards Manarola. This was an easy, flat, paved path cut into the cliffside along the water with beautiful views. It was only about a 2o minute walk and so it was perfect for the kids. The pathway is nicknamed Via dell'Amore: Pathway of Love as in the 1940's it was a meeting point for boys and girls from the two connecting towns. It has continued to be the local lover's lane and has a section with a cluster of padlocks as locking a padlock with your lover is the current craze. While we didn't lock a padlock, we did lock lips and Abby captured the moment for us with the camera! We continued our hike into Manarola. We had originally intended to take the boat to the 3rd village, Corniglia for lunch so we could visit all five villages. However, we realized that Corniglia is the only village not on the water, but instead perched up on the cliffs above the water, so the boat does not stop there. Since the kids were not up to hiking up the hill this morning we decided to settle on a view from the boat. So we stopped off at a deli and picked up some sandwiches. We then hopped on the boat and took the ride past Corniglia to our original home, Vernazza. Here we perched back up on the rocks and ate our picnic lunch. We sat around enjoying the views and the laid back atmosphere of the Cinque Terre. After 5 packed days in Florence, it was great to have this relaxing break. We had some time to kill before our train back to Florence so we stopped off at the playground right next to the train station. Amy decided that she would go mail her postcard at the nearby post office while the kids played. After a few minutes, I see Amy come back "fake crying". Words can not even explain the next few minutes but I will try. At first I couldn't figure out what she was doing but she seemed to be trying to get down to the creek that runs below the street and playground where we were. I finally got enough words out of her to realize that as she was walking to the post office, a gust of wind came and whisked the postcard out of her hand. Amy describes it as the postcard "fluttered around" in the air and ultimately over the rail and down to the river. Well apparently, this must have been a 500 dollar postcard, because she was bound and determined to retrieve it. She was half way down the side of the creek before I could gather up the kids and go after her. By the time we got down to her she had just jumped over the creek and was standing on the other side holding up the postcard like it was some found treasure. The kids were somewhere between laughing and crying as they couldn't figure out what their deranged mom was doing. She made it back to us and we headed back up to the playground. Amy was laughing so hard that it took me a minute to realize that she had not made it all the way over on her "leap" and so her right foot had landed in the water and was completely soaked up past her ankle. So, she sat down with the kids and took off her socks and shoes to dry while I took care of the postcard mailing duties. Let's hope this postcard makes it to its destination! We then caught our train to La Spezia where we were to catch our train to Florence. Amy and Abby went to get the tickets while Austin and I grabbed our suitcase from the storage (we had stored it earlier in the day so as not to carry it around with us.). Well, just as we are getting the bag, I see Amy at the other end of the tracks yelling at us to run. So Austin hops on the suitcase and I take off running with him. She is yelling at us to go to track 3 and that our train is leaving in 1 minute. We hop on the train just as it is taking off. As we are pulling out of the station, I notice that the sign for the train says "Sarzana". Something didn't seem right about that "destination" so I asked Amy why she was yelling for us to get on the train on track 3. She said it is because that's what the lady at the ticket window told her. We did not have a good feeling about this train, but at least knew we were going in the right direction. We decided that we could hop off at some train station and verify we were on the right train. After about 15 minutes, we arrive at a train station and Amy looks out the window and notices that the sign says "Sarzana". The train "turns off" and we realize we have gone as far as this train goes! The station was pretty small, but we found the ticket window and handed the lady our ticket. She writes "15:00 and 2" on it and we realize that the train to Florence arrives at track 2 at 15:00...in 5 minutes. Well, that train had also stopped in La Spezia (where we just were) 5 minutes AFTER the train we RAN for. So why the ticket lady told Amy to run for the train that was leaving and had a train change vs waiting 5 more minutes for the direct train we will never know. I'm pretty sure it has to do with the same bad karma that caused the wind god's to rip the post card from her hand and the water god's to pull her foot into the water! Finally, we were on our way back to Florence was some good laughs to go along with our relaxing trip to the Cinque Terre.

Early bird eats the canoli

April 22nd--We headed out of the apartment early this morning hoping to miss a lot of the crowds for the museums. Since it's "Week of Culture", all of the State Museums have free admission so we thought we would try to see as much for free that we could. Anyway, first on our list today was the Uffizi Gallery. We knew going into this that our chances were probably not very good at getting right in since the museum is the most popular in Florence. We walked up and there was already an incredibly long line. Well, we knew that we could purchase tickets with a specific reserved entry time, so Mike went to the ticket booth to check on buying tickets. It turns out that all we had to pay for was the advance ticket fee (4 euros), but not the actual entry ticket. So, we walked away with a 1:15 p.m. entry time into the gallery. We are still not sure why so many people were standing in the long line. This worked out well because we had another museum close by that was on our list for today, the Pitti Palace. On our way to the palace, we stopped off at a bakery for a morning snack. This was our first taste of a canoli in Italy and it was goooooooood! We ate them sitting right outside the Pitti Palace. Once we finished up, we entered the Pitti Palace free of charge and with no wait at all (this was extremely good because when we left, there was a pretty long line). The Pitti Palace houses 3 separate museums and 2 gardens. The palace itself is pretty massive but with a plain outside. The main museum that covers most of the former residence of this Palace is the Palatine Gallery. This gallery houses the 2nd best collection of paintings in town and we toured all 56 rooms of them. The walls were sagging with 16th and 17th century masterpieces. The paintings were hung literally everywhere and some of the rooms which served as royal apartments previously were decorated with time period furnishings as well. It would probably have been a little tiring and overwhelming for the kids if it had not been for the room guides. Each room had a cardboard room guide that provided a layout of the pictures with a number and description of each. While Abby could not read the description, she could find the picture on the map with the corresponding number. So in EVERY room, she had to pick up the room guide and point out each painting and its number on the wall. After a while, Mike and I were dragging her and Austin out of the rooms! After finishing up the 56 rooms, we were a little tired of looking at paintings so we ventured out to the Boboli Gardens. This garden is located behind the palace. We walked up the hill to the top of the garden and got a wonderful view of the palace and parts of Florence. From here, we decided to get a quick sandwich before heading to the Uffizi Gallery for our 1:15 p.m. entry time. The line to get in to the Uffizi was still really long, but luckily we had a separate entrance since we had gotten the tickets this morning. We got right in the gallery at 1:15 p.m and used Rick Steves' guidebook to tour us through the gallery. The Uffizi Gallery (pronounced oo-FEED-zee) has the greatest overall collection anywhere of Italian paintings. The Uffizi is a U-shaped building. So, our question of the day is "Is the building U-shaped because it's called the Uffizi" or "Is the building called the Uffizi because it's U-shaped?" hmmmm.... (Actually, Uffizi means "office" and the building was originally the offices for the Florentine magistrates.) Anyway, we enjoyed seeing pictures transition from 2-D artwork to 3-D artwork over the Medieval to Early Renaissance periods. We also saw Early Renaissance works by Botticelli (including the Birth of Venus) and Leonardo da Vinci. After viewing some of the Medicis' collection of sculptures in the Sculpture Hall, we entered into the High Renaissance period artwork. Here we saw masterpieces by Michelangelo (his only completed easel painting), Raphael and Titian. As we've mentioned before, we are not art experts or historians and so probably miss a lot of the true importance of a museum like this (or the one from the morning). However it is enjoyable to take a basic guidebook like Rick Steves' and learn about the transition from 2-D to 3-D paintings and also to appreciate the periods and some basic concepts of each (i.e. works with balance and order = pure Renaissance). As we left the Uffizi on the way back to the apartment, we, of course, finished up the day with a gelato. We've decided that we are so lucky to have ended up in Florence during "culture week" because today alone we saved over 50 euros in admission fees. To celebrate, we went to our favorite Italian restaurant by our apartment, Trattoria "da Giorgio"!

Burnt Siena

April 21st--"Burnt Sienna", a color known to artists and Crayola-users, fills the Il Campo square and it's buildings. This square was our first stop after arriving by train to Siena. We found a restaurant that had outside seating in order to relax and enjoy the view. The City Hall and it's 330-foot tower dominate the square. The City Tower (Tore del Mangia) is Italy's tallest secular tower. We enjoyed, yet again, a wonderful Italian lunch. In fact, we are starting to wonder if we'll ever get sick of Italian food during our time here....the answer, problem not! Anyway, after finishing up lunch, the kids were able to burn off some energy playing in the square before we did some tourist things. We left the square and headed toward Siena's Cathedral area, but stopped along the way to buy a recommended souvenir. We bought one of the scarves/flags that depicts the symbol of one of Siena's 17 contrada (neighborhoods). Each contrada is represented by a mascot and unique colors. We choose the contrada represented by the giraffe; primarily because Abby liked the giraffe and we liked the colors (red and white). The Siena Duomo is a beautiful white and dark-green striped church. Upon entering the Duomo, we purchased a 10 Euro "My Name is Duccio" combo-ticket. This ticket included entry into the Duomo Museum, Baptistery, Crypt and the Facciatone. We visited all of these particular places so I'll give you a little information on all of them. The cathedral has one of the most ornate, busy interiors of any church we have seen. It is filled with Renaissance artwork including sculptures by Bernini and Michelangelo. The Duomo Museum preserves numerous works of art and finds, the majority of which were originally inside the Cathedral: statues, tapestries, altarpieces, panels, gold and silver pieces. The Baptistery is the town's baptismal church and while small, is full of beautiful artwork. The Crypt dates back to the mid 1200s. In 1999 when restoration work was being performed in the church, portions of wall paintings were found in a room beneath the pulpit of the Cathedral. This room had been filled with rubble in the 1300s and left buried and concealed for nearly seven centuries. The Facciatone, the big facade, was originally intended to be the entryway into the cathedral, creating the biggest church in all Christendom. However after beginning construction, the town was struck by the bubonic plague which cut the population by 1/3 and killed their will and desire to finish the massive project. We climbed to the top of the Facciatone and got our best view of Siena. About the time we finished up in the Cathedral area, it started to lightly rain. We got a gelato so that we could sit down out of the rain (notice I used the rain as an excuse?). Then, picked up a few postcards, took the bus back to the train station and departed at 6:18 for our 1 1/2 hour ride back to Florence.

Bells will be ringing....

April 20th--We had a better plan for our day today so we headed out and went to the Santa Maria Novella church which is located really close to our apartment. In fact the bell tower at this church has become our 7:00 a.m. rooster. Our first morning, Sunday, the bells went off at 7:00 a.m. and we just thought it was to let everyone know to get up and go to church. Oh no, they go off every morning at 7:00 a.m.! The worst part is it's like a 2 minute song when they go off; not just 7 dings! So, no late sleeping in Florence. Given the church's proximity to our apartment, we had passed it a couple of times so far and didn't think it to be overly impressive from the outside. However, we were amazed by the inside. The long, 330ft nave appears even more massive thanks to a 14th century perspective illusion. In addition, the church is full of Renaissance paintings and statues. The centerpiece is Masaccio's The Trinity, the first painting of modern times to portray three dimensional space. We left the church and headed towards the Duomo. We stopped off at a great Italian sandwich shop for a cheap, but filling lunch. The sandwiches were so big that no one was able to eat more than half and the kids were only able to eat 1/4 each. We took the rest with us and had them for dinner. We then got in line for the climb to the top of the Duomo dome. We met a mother and her 2 adult daughters from Ohio behind us in line. They were on a tour of Italian shrines and had broke away form their group to climb the dome. They were great to talk with and made the time in the line pass quickly. Once inside we began our 463 step climb to the top of the dome. While we have climbed many towers at this point, this was a climb like no other. After climbing for a while, we emerged into the inside of cathedral at the base of the dome. From this vantage point, we were able to see the amazing frescoes on the dome interior up close. It also was impressive to look down into the church. We then headed back into the stairway for some winding, steep steps to the very top of the dome. The kids are troopers on these long climbs and candidly, I think they really enjoy them. While it's tiring for us adults, its great fun for the kids. We emerged through the top of the dome. From this vantage point were were able to see amazing views of Florence and the surrounding Tuscan hill country. After a few minutes to catch our breath and rest, it was back down. We left the Duomo and stopped off for an afternoon gelato snack. We then headed over to the Bargello. This museum houses a great collection of Florentine sculpture. We saw works by some of the greats including Donatello, Brunelleschi, Chiberti and Michelangelo. We saw 3 different David sculptures which are interesting to contrast with Michelangelo's masterpiece. Also, with all of the "nude" sculptures, our kids are getting an early, advance lesson in anatomy. In fact, one of the funniest moments was after leaving the museum. We were walking and Abby looks at me and says, "Daddy, when am I going to get little boobies?". I, of course, quickly directed her to her mom! Oh, well, I guess something has to balance all of the churches we see. Once we left the Bargello, we just sorta "wandered" the streets. We passed through the Piazza della Signoria, the main civic center which includes the Plazzo Vecchio and the Uffizi Gallery. We then continued our "wander" until we ended at the Arno river with a view of the famous Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge). As we were making our way back to the apartment, we passed a gelato place that seemed to be calling our name. We convinced ourselves that the first gelato of the day was really dessert from lunch and this was our late afternoon snack. Have we mentioned that we love Italian cuisine? We finished our walk with a purchase for the kids. Given their love of Disney movies, they have been begging for a wooden Pinocchio (which are EVERYWHERE here). After listening to Abby ask for one about every 5 minutes, we finally broke down at the end of the day and bought them. It was fun watching them put on their marionette performances once we got back to the apartment.

Duomo Do-over

April 19th--We ventured out of the apartment today with no real agenda. We headed to the Tourist Information office where we were thrilled to find out that most of the museums and churches were free of charge this week due to a state holiday (or something like that). Anyway, it was lunch time and we are NOT going to miss a meal while here in Italy. We found a cafeteria style restaurant with cheap food and headed in. We had another great Italian meal and headed off to the Duomo, Florence's Cathedral. What a sight! It is absolutely gorgeous from the outside with all the different colors on the building and it's impressive dome. Before going into the Duomo though, we headed into the Baptistery. This is Florence's oldest building. But before we could actually take it all in and get some good pictures, Austin announces that he has to go "pee-pee" really bad. So, off he and Mike go. Abby and I follow shortly behind and meet them outside. I decided since we had only been in for a few minutes that maybe they would let us back in and they did. Inside the relatively small, octagon shaped baptistery, we were able to enjoy the remarkable ceiling mosaics. Once outside, we were able to see the bronze doors built by Ghiberti. From here, we stood in the line that entered into the Cathedral. Luckily, the line moved really quickly. About the time we got to view the high altar, only 2 minutes after being inside, Austin announces again that he has to go "pee-pee" really bad. This time I exit with him. Mike and Abby meet us outside and we decide at this point that we will just head back to the apartment to regroup. We've also decided that Austin is NOT allowed to drink an entire Sprite again for lunch. After a short rest period, we walk back toward the Duomo, but stoped for our first Gelato on the way. We REALLY like Italian food! We all enjoyed our Gelato as we walked, but upon arriving at the Duomo doors we quickly realize that it had closed. It was a little rainy at this point so we decided to walk back to the apartment, taking in some of the various stores and sights along the way. We'll try again tomorrow for a Duomo do over.

Buon giorno Florence

April 18th--It was a beautiful morning in Nice so we were able to enjoy the views of the Mediterranean one last time before we left. We took a bus to the train station and boarded our first of two trains for Florence. This one took us to Milan. We were on a train with "compartments" which have 6 seats in a small room. Luckily when we got on, no one else was in our compartment as our luggage filled up the small storage space above the seats. Right as our train was about to leave, 3 other people joined us in the compartment. We figured out that some of the locals take the train but do not have seat reservations so they just find any empty seats they can. One of the ladies that joined us in our compartment turned out to be a great travel companion. She was born and raised in Italy, but now lives in Nice. She is a trained interpreter so she spoke fluent Italian, French and English. She was traveling with her brother and his wife who had come down from Belgium to visit. They were taking the train into Italy from Nice to go to the Saturday market to get some fresh foods. Anyway, we took the opportunity to ask her all kinds of questions about the EU, local culture and perceptions of America. It was great that she spoke such great English as it was the first "local" we had truly been able to engage in political / cultural conversation. Given that she "speaks" for a living, she was not short on words or opinions. She had some very interesting thoughts on the EU and its potential impacts on the political landscape of Europe, but her most interesting comments came when we began to speak about President Obama. Many people have asked us what the impression of Obama/the US is here and we have always answered "positive", but today, we got a glimpse of why. Her insight was that many Europeans had always looked at the US as the beacon for democracy but have been somewhat sceptical because they saw it as being ruled by the rich. However, Obama's election immediately gave hope to the middle class and minority groups that they too could one day have a voice in their young democracies. So putting political ideologies aside for a moment, the US is currently seen in an incredibly positive light and at least one Italian/French lady has more hope for a bright future because of the positive leap forward our democracy took by electing Barack Obama. Kinda cool! Unfortunately, she got off after about an hour and then we had the compartment to our selves for about an hour. We were then joined by 3 elderly Italians. I think it was a man and his wife and her mother. They were also great travel companions because they were so entertaining to watch. They only spoke Italian so we have no idea what they were saying, but the lady and her mother seemed to be constantly bickering at "Roberto". The ladies were very expressive in their speak. It was like watching an Italian episode of I Love Lucy or The Honeymooners. We finally arrived at our first stop, Milan, a little after 3pm. We then had about 30 minutes before our next train departed. This train was a high speed train with the usual seating arrangement. We had a non-eventful 2 hour ride to Florence, arriving about 5:30. When we arrived, we met the sister of the apartment owner at the train station and she walked us to our apartment. It was only about a 5 minute walk. When we entered the apartment we were immediately impressed. It is very large for what we are used to and looks "homey". We ventured out to find a grocery store since we assume they will all be closed tomorrow (Sunday) as they have so far. We picked up the necessities and then came back to the apartment to drop them off. At this point it was about 7:30 and we were all pretty hungry but set on having good Italian food. We noticed that Rick Steves' had a restaurant recommendation that was close to our apartment. Well, it turned out it was about 5o yards from our front door. We walked in and almost immediately fell in love. It was quaint but noisy (great for kids). The menu was full of great Italian choices and for 12 euros you got 3 courses plus a bottle of wine plus water! Our biggest problem was choosing which dishes to order. The food was AWESOME and we are sure we will be back here many more times before we leave. Amy decided that we could put on some pounds here if we are not careful. Luckily our apartment is on the 3rd floor (4th floor American) with no elevator. So at least we will get a little "StairMaster" time every day.