Florence...

Our last and final adventure in Italy...mind you, not our last adventure! Life is an adventure! Besides, we do still need to fly out of this joint...and who knows how that will go! But as for our exploring and adventuring in Italy...it has come to a close. But not before I got to go to Florence! Museums are not the best places for small children, so I have been scheming for a long time how to pull off Florence for a while...Tobin (the most wonderful husband ever) agreed to watch the kids on a Saturday...so I made my reservations for Uffizi and Accademia in Florence. It was SO worth it! Case and I made the adventure together...super fun memories! Here is a pic of Ponte Vecchio...

Here is the Santa Croce Church...

Covered markets near Uffizi...

And the Boar fountain in front of it...

The Duomo...

Case filling his water bottle in front of San Lorenzo...

Not being able to go to many museums, I have hand picked the few I wanted to go to. Vatican Museums, Uffizi, and Accademia...all well worth the price of admission. Uffizi was our first stop and it has the finest collection of Italian art anywhere...period. The art was absolutely spectacular...but it was the hottest place I have ever been! I don't know why I was thinking it was going to be air conditioned but I was sorely mistaken. I didn't spend as much time just absorbing the art, as it was meant to be, but I certainly hit the high points. The most striking pieces...at least to me...were two Carravagio paintings (not in the special exhibit) of Mary and Christ as a baby. Generally speaking, those kind of paintings tend to be very 'churchy' and full of Catholic doctrine and such. But these two paintings (one with Mary with an infant Christ, and one with toddler Christ) were absolutely breathtaking. The realism, the emotion, the images are forever burned into my memory. For a good reason.

Our second stop was Accademia (Micheangelo's David). Equally breathtaking! First, it was air conditioned and a welcome relief to the heat. Second, was David...absolutely exquisite! I, for one, was unsure that it was worth going to...you already know what David looks like, everyone has seen pictures. It was SO worth it! I truly appreciate being able to go. First, the sculpture is much bigger than imagined. Second, the detail is absolutely amazing (I am running out of adjectives here). It looked like he could just get up and move around...SO realistic. And out of marble! To make it more fascinating, they had on display several unfinished works of Michealangelo...it was almost like looking at his process...how the sculpture came out of the block of marble...being able to see some of the technique in sculpting...amazing!

So overall, I liked Florence and it's museums. I am glad that I made the effort even as I am packing the last few items in our suitcases (most of those last few items came from Florence!).

Have a wonderful and cool day!
Ciao a tutti!

Switzerland...

Day Four: Waking up in the middle of nowhere Switzerland...Awesome! Our next drive was south through Switzerland, back into our 'native' Italy, and our hotel was in Genova. Our first sight was this lovely pass...

Then by this amazingly blue lake...

Up Gottard Pass...just look how crazy it is...

Above the tree line...

Above the 'anything' grows line...

To what seemed like the top of the world...we are actually looking into Italy...

The kids loved it...

A very short stop to Milan...

And a wonderful night's sleep in our first air conditioned hotel in Genova...

Have a wonderful and cool day!

Ciao a tutti!

Todi...

As usual...I am a bit behind in the old blog! So many things have been happening lately...more on that later! Anyway, 2 weekends ago we had our first real drive through Umbria and we visited a few hill towns in this very mountainous region. Umbria is called 'Cuore verdi D'Italia' or the 'Green heart of Italy'. It is the only land-locked region in Italy and is a very mountainous and green area...LOTS of trees!

Our first stop was the very hilly Todi...

Think grocery shopping up and down this street...

Random fountain...

3 cute kids and a castle...

The entry of the local duomo...

The inside of said local duomo...

Stuck a feather in his cap and called it 'macaroni'...

Have a wonderful day!

Ciao a tutti!

Siena...

Italian Liberation Day. That would be from the Germans during WWII. So it is pretty similar to the 4th of July for us. It is kind of the kick-off of summer here (like Memorial Day). Everyone has it off, including Tobin. Siena was our destination of choice. It is about 2 hours away from Montalto on a fun road in the mountains. I am sure it was absolutely spectacular but it was pouring and we were in clouds for the majority of the drive!

I don't tend to pat myself on the back, much, but I am a REALLY good navigator! Give me a map and I can get you there, even in Italy! I enjoy maps, reading signs, finding great roads to drive on, and out of the way things to look at. I am pretty sure I get it from my father, Thanks Dad! I don't think I have left the house yet with my car without my trusty map! We have not been lost yet! We might have taken the wrong turn, been confused by signage, and turned around from time to time, but once we find a landmark or series of signs...off we go in the correct direction. Italian roads are pretty interesting. First, and obviously, everything is in Italian! We are working on translating the signage as we go! We now know when to slow down even (Rallentare). The roads are VERY windy, there are NO stoplights only circles, and there are about a million signs. But once you figure out the system, it is actually pretty helpful. The color of the signs is VERY important! Blue signs are cities, green signs are for the Autostrada, white signs are for local city points (soccer stadium, parking, centro, train station, etc), and the brown signs are for tourist sites (churches, archeological sites, etc). So once you know this, you can look for the correct color as you are zooming (literally) around the circles.

Now why do I bring this up...driving to our destination in Siena...I even found the exact parking lot I was going for...with the in-laws in the car behind us...Kudos to Tobin for not loosing them in the city...and brownie points for me getting us there! They wouldn't even leave without us! Just makes me feel good!

Anyway, on to Siena...the three main sights in Siena are Il Campo (the main square in the city), the Duomo, and the Church of San Domenico. Il Campo is pretty impressive. It sports the tallest secular tower in Italy. It is called Torre Mangia, due to a watchman who was eating at the top and fell to his death (what a way to be immortalized). The large brick building is the city hall. The square (which isn't really square but kind of like a half circle) is divided into 9 different portions (like rays of the sun) one section for each of the 9 neighborhoods in Siena. One of it's claim to fame is Siena's Palio. It is a horse race inside the square. They bring in dirt, line the walls with mattresses, and mark a race course. It is small, with 90 degree turns, with hundreds of screaming italians...crazy! Each neighborhood gets a horse and rider and which ever crosses the finish line first (sometimes just the horse) gets bragging rights for the next year. This happens twice a year July 2 and August 16. This is BIG stuff! Each neighborhood has its own colors and mascots...I bought flags for each of the kids...Case has a red, yellow, and blue snail flag, Clayton has a maroon, black and white owl, and Gwen has a pink, green, and gold dragon.

Here is Il Campo and Torre Mangia...

The tower from a distance across the city...

A good lookin' fam...

The other major site is the duomo...

It is really amazing, with pink marble accents...

Wednesdays are apparently market days in Siena, and because it was a national holiday, it was VERY busy! We walked around a little bit and I am amaze at how big it was...it seemed to go on forever. It kind of makes my local Montalto market seem very tiny...

It was absolutely pouring on the drive up. When we parked and started walking, it was raining but managable. And by the time we got to Il Campo it had stopped raining. I am actually enjoying the rainy days (secretly thankful because it doesn't get super hot those days)...I really like my Mary Poppins umbrella and the chance to use it!

Have a wonderful day!

Ciao a tutti!

Orvieto...

This past Saturday we made our first excursion into Umbria (another region of Italy...there is Tuscany, we live in Lazio, etc) to visit the hill town of Orvieto. It is pretty large as far as the hill towns that we have been visiting, but it is still a pretty small town. It is pretty impressive to walk through the cobblestone streets and then be faced with this HUGE Duomo...

This prickly church is amazingly detailed! The sculpture, mosaics, and stained-glass are almost overwhelming. Each of the 'pictures' on the fascade has been done with small 1/4 inch tiles...amazingly detailed...

Here is some of the details of the front...

The inside is very large and spacious...it was actually built to look larger than it is...the back portion of the nave is larger than the front causing an optical illusion...

The main reason such a small town has such a large church is the 'Miracle of Bolsena'. As the story goes...there was a priest who was skeptical about the eucharist actually becoming the body of Christ...during his blessing of the eucharist, it began to bleed and a linen cloth was soaked in blood...so they built this church. I even got to see the 'actual' blood-stained cloth...

Orvieto is also an Etruscan site. Historians think that Orvieto was some kind of mecca for the Etruscans, based on the number of tombs surrounding the city. The entire city lays on top of and entire underground network of tunnels and rooms...an underground city. We went on a tour of a couple of the tunnels...pretty cool! This pic is showing one of the actual 'houses' underground (notice the gabel roof)...

Later these underground rooms were turned into olive oil mills...

In some places, the tunnels and rooms can be 2 or 3 stories deep and even up to 5 stories deep...Here we are looking at a pigeon breeding room...they used pigeons for food (think little chickens)...brings new meaning to the term 'pigeon-holed'...

Overall, Orvieto was a pretty interesting place. It is known by the three C's...it's Cathedral, it's ceramics (I just happened to buy a jar for my home), and it's Classico wine (I purchased some and will have to let you know if I like it when we open it up!).

We ended up back at home earlier than usual...I think that we all are pretty tired from our siteseeing extraviganza! Hopefully we can catch up on some sleep and rest this week...we have a pretty exciting weekend planned...more on THAT later!

Have a wonderful day!
Ciao a tutti!

Field of Miracles...

Sunday, we had a REALLY fun adventure. It started by driving up to Pisa (about 2 1/2 hours) and visiting the Field of Miracles. It was a beautiful sunny day...though VERY hot to us. They call this complex of buildings the Field of Miracles. The sparkling white marble buildings sit on one of the greenest lawns I have seen in a long time. It creates quite a setting for these spectacular buildings. The Field of Miracles documented the lives of most of the people of Pisa. They were baptized in the Baptistry, married in the Duomo, and buried in the cemetary. In this picture is the Baptistry (in the front), Duomo, and the famously leaning Torre di Pisa (though Tobin was incensed that such bad construction was so famous)...

Here is a picture of the front of the Duomo...notice the 4 stories of columns...very impressive. This was the only site that we actually entered...it was a welcome relief from the heat!

Here is the famous Torre di Pisa...it is pretty crazy! It started to lean before the 3rd story was even completed...and yet they continued the rest of the 5 stories...go figure! We didn't go up the tower...children under the age of 8 were absolutely NOT allowed in...

And finally, one cheesey have to take picture of the Leaning Tower of Pizza (at least according to Clayton)...

Stay tuned for the rest of our Sunday Adventure...

Ciao a tutti!