It's hard to believe our time in Italy is over. Months of thought and planning and excitement and there's nothing left but to land and hug and kiss our loves that we've been missing. We've had plenty enough public transportation and airports and airplanes to last us quite a while. I'm writing this with 2 hours to go on our last leg into SFO. I've already watched 6 movies, eaten countless "meals", have no sense of real time, just that I'm tired, cramped, and am so close to holding my family I can almost taste it. Ciao to the Italian adventure, time to live the excitement of "normal" again for a while.
(Wednesday) We woke up and did some shopping, and walking. On recommendation we took the vaporretto (water metro) from San Marco square all the way up the grand canal. The views were nice...when we were able to see them in between people's shoulders, the boat was packed. We didn't even sit. We did think it was funny to see our host drive by on his little boat. Our train left in the afternoon and a few hours later we arrived in Milan Central. We checked our bags at a luggage storage and popped on the metro for the quick trip to see the most famous site - the massive Duomo. As soon as we entered the metro station we saw a few individuals walking around up to people using the machines, presumably to distract, although posing to help. It was very uncomfortable. Two people came up on either side of us touching our machine, telling us we needed to use a different denomination, grabbing our tickets to hand them to us. We clutched our bags tight and had to fend them off. It was a terrible feeling. If we hadn't invested in storing our luggage already we probably would have just left. The Duomo and surrounding square was impressive and beautiful. But sad to say, we were over Milan. When we stopped to eat, a waiter showed us his menu outside as we approached and when we said okay he started leading us down the street to the next restaurant. A waiter from the close restaurant called after us to look at his menu and stay. How cutthroat! Milan is not for us. I guess this helps us be ready for the comforts of our home. Maybe another sign that we're ready is that we stopped to get a milkshake at the McDonald's in the train station. ;). After much navigation and with lots of relief we found the bus to the airport, where we'll take a shuttle to our hotel and rest up for our long journey home, tomorrow morning. We've got a few euros left and they're tagged for our last wine and gelato. We left for Venice in the morning...driving the autostrade (fast/toll freeway). I never once saw a post for the normal speed limit, I'm pretty sure I was driving very slowly since cars kept zipping past me. It took us about 4 hours. We're relieved to have turned in the car safely, having no accidents, tickets, nor running out of gas (though we got uncomfortably close). We had a little difficulty connecting at first with our airbnb host here in Venice, but once we met up and he walked us to the place and directed us around town we were excited to explore this charming city! We walked the Main Street full of shops and tourists all the way to San Marco's square. All the while we were crossing little bridges with gondolas coasting by. There is so much character in the architecture here, fancy facades as well as water-worn surfaces. I couldn't stop taking pictures. We love our apartment, it's just far enough away from the main thoroughfare and our back windows open over the water. From our room we hear seagulls, water trickling, and people unlocking their doors. What we can hear from our room: silence. Especially because we were too afraid to open our window for fear of bug and cat intrusion. It was so quiet it was hard to fall asleep last night. Today we rested. We went into the closest little village for lunch and to pick up some groceries. Back at our place we wandered the property and close hillsides and found goats and bunnies and endless vineyard and olive groves mixed with golden wheat and wildflowers. It is so peaceful here. The town of Greve is charming. Every time we have driven in it smells like flowers and somehow reminds me of Jamma's perfume. The food has been fantastic. Everywhere we go, but some places noticeably more amazing. Today's dishes were top notch. We basically get primmi patti (pasta), 1/4L house wine (basically the same price as water) and on occasion an appetizer to share. In the evening we opened the bottle of wine (Chianti of course) that our host, Emanuele, left us. Late in the evening he came home and we enjoyed talking to him about music and culture. It's been raining in the latter part of the day. We drive to Venice tomorrow and are hoping for favorable weather again. (Saturday) We saw thunderstorms on the weather forecast for the day so we decided to take advantage of the morning sunshine and visit the beach. When I say "beach" I mean big boulders clustered by the water's edge. It wasn't necessarily very comfortable for sunning, but it was beautiful. When we carefully navigated our way over the rocks into the water it was wonderfully refreshing. We wished we had floaties with us to bob up and down all day and watch the local kids rattle off Italian to each other while jumping from rocks. We shopped in the afternoon- finally making our first souvenir purchases. And then we explored a few of the hilly and winding side streets of our town to the big church plaza, the little elementary school for the few dozen kids that live here, and another breathtaking lookout. The thunder and lightning started at sundown and it was a powerful storm! Our local hangout has been Bar Centrale, where the World Cup is always on, and there's the best wifi signal. It's fun revisit the same places and start recognizing the same people. We've been enjoying the local dessert drink: limoncino. Home to pack...off to Tuscany tomorrow. We've come to realize transit days are hard...but it's the trade off for seeing more parts of Italy. On our way to our room in Tuscany today we had moments of "I can't handle it! Pull over so I can take a picture!!" We were convinced Tuscany would be our favorite of the trip. And then, many hours later, confused by directions and checking into our musty house that does not actually have wifi anywhere near it we had the "oh my what have we done, let's go back." In actuality, there is amazing charm to this house-especially from the outside. :). Our day started off with a train to Pisa, where we picked up a rental car (we'll drop it off in Venice). As much as I was anxious about driving in Italy, I knew that the landscapes and little towns we want to experience are just not reachable any other way. I must have asked the guy at the counter 20 questions about road signs and toll protocol. Jess was an awesome navigator, considering the crazy route we chose that was basically all small winding roads with an infamous town (to us) called poggibonsi (poochee boojee). It was beautiful, but took us hours longer than the faster autostrade. A notable driving moment was when we hit a stoplight at the top of a hill of a town (pop 15 maybe?). There was not a car or person in sight but we obeyed the sign that directed "red light time: 3 min. Turn off your engine." We routed through Volterra for the alabaster-making history on our parents' recommendation...and because it's of Twilight fame. We parked outside the town wall and walked through a gate down stone and brickways...in many ways similar to the winding and tall streets of places we've been but at the same time a completely different feel. It's so fortified. We had the biggest calzones of our lives for a late lunch and visited the alabaster worskshop. Volterra was a highlight for sure--especially because we didn't get a parking ticket (past experience has me paranoid, I'm just never confident in my interpretation of the signage here). After a lot of driving and some handholding from a little old lady, we finally found our place, in a little hamlet (collection of buildings) at the top of the hill called Borgo di Dudda. I dare you to find it on a map...it's near Greve in Chianti, in fact that's where we had to go to find dinner and luckily a little wifi. The neighbor and about 14 feral cats and one very protective dog received us. We're settled now. We're fed, showered (a story in itself), and happy to rest and recoup for a new day tomorrow. The adventure continues! While very different from Rome, we are still in a somewhat "urban" setting in that it's narrow streets and tall buildings with apartments all clumped together. What we hear from our room here: birds chirping, women having long conversations in Italian probably from a terrace above us, periodic cheers from the people in the town center gathered to watch the World Cup on big TV's in the street, quiet church bells, and then loud church bells. It was the latter that woke us up Friday morning. It was the mind of waking up where you feel like it could possibly be 7am...or maybe much later. It was noon! The church bells rang for about a minute straight as if to insist we get out and explore their town. We hesitated wondering if we needed to make new plans for the day and then decided to just go for it. The Italian days are long. We had plenty of time to enjoy all that we wanted to do. We bought an all day train pass and visited each town. Riomaggiore (where we're staying) is the farthest south. We stopped first in Monterosso al Mare, the farthest north. It has more of a resort-feel, bigger town and a long stretch of private beach with umbrellas and boats/paddle boards for rent. We stopped in each town in order on our way back to Rio. Vernazza was charming...we had a heavenly moment with gelato near the harbor while kids from the town were inside the church practicing a song accompanied by organ. There's a "castle" (though not really) we climbed up with stunning views all around from the top. The next town is Corniglia, the only one of the 5 without a harbor as it's set more up in the hills. This one was smaller and less crowded with tourists. The final stop before home was Manarola. The streets were winding and more confusing to us and we ended up at a beautiful piazza at the church overlooking the town and with views of a little old woman tending her grape vines terraced on the hill in the distance. We dined like queens just off the water, sipping house wine and limoncello. The sun was setting when we finished dinner (almost 9:00!). We were going to take the 20min Via del Amore walk back to our town but it was closed so we waited for a train instead. What a beautiful day. Today was a travel day...early checkout in Rome. We definitely realize we could have had half the luggage we brought and still have been happy (and we thought we were packing smart!). All we want to wear is light dresses and skirts. We were pleased to receive double cheek kisses from the nice man who runs La Casete coffee shop we visited as much as possible. He would make Jess a special cappuccino con almondo. If only Italian coffee came in larger quantities...we need like four little cups to match our normal morning cup. :) We made it to Riomaggiore (cinqueterre) but our train ran 1.5 hours late. We were fairly confident in what we were doing but the delay made us a bit anxious. It was a long ride, and we were very hot and sticky upon arrival and most of the evening. The humidity and the lack of wifi took some adjustment. We sort of thought we were leaving behind some of the walking in Rome, but of course these amazing cliff towns are full of narrow alleyways and steep stairs. We might have had flashbacks from St. Peter's as we hefted our luggage up to our little apartment. This time we asked the owner to show us how to use the stove so we could make our own coffee. The town is magical. Colorful buildings, beach-touristy feel, rocky cliffed coastline. We dipped our toes in the Mediterranean. We ended the night watching opening ceremonies with some very passionate World Cup fans.
We spent the morning in the Forum Romano...I knew this place would require some squinting and imagination. It was much cooler than I anticipated. The arch of Titus-built by Jews in captivity, the columns of ancient temples, the very via sacra that Caesar walked on. Rick Steve's free audio guide was perfect. We ventured home for siesta and braved the laundry machine...appliances in general have been very foreign. I had to turn the water connection on to get he laundry running, and when we thought it was done we opened the door and water started trickling out! We didn't flood the place but definitely sacrificed my towel, and ran an extra drain/spin cycle and voila. When in Rome...you hang your clothes to dry outside your window. In he afternoon and evening we walked the city some more, this time hanging out in he Piazza Navona (fountains, people, street performers) and walking through the Trastavere neighborhood (bohemian, college-y). It was a beautiful sunset from the bridge and we enjoyed the sights on the near-full moonlit walk home. What we hear from our (very urban) room: Italian TV, computer powering on, keys in locks, suitcases rolling on cobblestones, metal doors rolling up to open stores, jingle of dog collars, babies, motorcycles, sirens, street cleaners, seagulls (from the forum). With the lingering soreness from some of yesterday's bad choices, we set out to do better today. We started properly with croissants and cappuccinos. We outsmarted the colloseum line by buying our tickets down the street. We listened to free downloaded audio guides (Rick Steves), and we made it back for siesta at a reasonable time. We stopped at a market for bread, cheese, tomatoes and arugula, and brought it home for delicious (and cheap!) lunch. Smooth sailing. After lunch we went back to the Pantheon, this time to go inside. We had a frozen coffee treat afterward at some famous Italian coffee place. We had hoped for a relaxing stroll through he forum at golden hour but the entrance was really hard to find and we just missed last entry. We did some free exploring today in random stunning churches (they'd be the main attraction somewhere else but hardly even make it on the map in Rome). One church had four statues representing faith, hope, charity and religion. We loved that the one representing hope used an anchor as a symbol. When we eat in restaurants here, we are always seated about three inches from the next table...tonight we talked with our table neighbors who were a father and son from Holland. We're generally not very brave with strangers but it is fascinating to talk with people from other parts of the world. All in all today was a great day. I heard Jessica day she wants to come back some day, which I take as a good sign. It can't hurt that everything we eat is delicious and she insists we have gelato every night. Thank goodness for all the walking! |