Cinque Terre - Hiking at Pace's Pace

Jason and I caught a train bright and early this morning and headed to Cinque Terre.  We were heading here to hike between 5 coastal cities.  The views from the train were amazing, we checked into our hotel and hoped a train to Riomaggiore to start our hike. It took us about 6 hours to complete the hike and the hike was one of the most physical exhausting things I have ever done in my life, but the views were well worth it!


Our internet is very slow here, so I am just going to post a few pictures and maybe do a more detailed post in Milan. So enjoy!

This is the view from our hotel room.

Jason and I are sitting in our hotel room with the window open listening to the waves crash against the beach and it is so relaxing.  We are so tired from today so are about to go to bed.  We head to Milan tomorrow where we will hopefully have faster internet. Love and miss you all!

Florence Day 3 - Visit to the Ferrari Store

Jason and I had a pretty relaxed day in Florence today.  We woke up early and went to the Galleria degli Uffizi.  This museum houses works of art from Michaelangelo, Rafael, Leonardo and many others.  We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, but it took us about 2 hours to walk through the whole thing. It was a great museum and the artwork was amazing.


We then headed to lunch in the piazza right by our hotel.

We then headed to the Ferrari store.  The store was pretty cool and it had a car inside.  I tried to take a picture of the steering wheel up close, because it has so many buttons on it, but I got a big NO NO, from a worker, ooopps.

Dad and Charles, I got you guys something from the Ferrari Store.  No peeking!

Tomorrow we are heading to Cinque Terre to hike between 5 different cities.  It looks so pretty, take a peek. Our hotel is the yellow building to the left.

We don't think we will have internet there, so you probably won't hear from us again until Thursday.  Love and miss you all!

  

Lines, Lines and More Lines - Florence Day 2

Hello everybody, hope you had a great Easter!  Jason and I are still in Florence and decided to visit the Duomo, Santa Croce and Galleria dell Accademia today.


Before I get started on that, heres a few things on Italy:

• People don't speak as much English here as in Germany and sometimes we really struggle to communicate when doing things.  Like today at Dinner, I asked about Ravioli and some how ended up having no idea what I was ordering, when it came out I was surprised to see that I had ordered rigatoni.  Jason ordered a Florentine Steak and couldn't figure out how to communicate the size he wanted and somehow ended up ordering a 35 Euro steak, so lets just say dinner was expensive!

• We are constantly making fools out of ourselves, always pushing doors when they should be pulled, walking across the street in front of cars, never having cash when they don't take card.  It really hasn't been frustrating though, we just laugh it off and call ourselves Stupid Americans!

• Everybody smokes over here and it is really messing with my asthma.  Since being in Florence, I have rarely had a breath of fresh air.  It so ironic to me, they work so hard to preserve our world over here, but don't give a crap about themselves.  Doesn't make since to me.

• People write, yes write, all over the historic monuments over here.  The Duomo had writing all the way up the stairs and all over the look out.  I can't believe that tourists come and WRITE all over something that is so historic.  At this pace, these monuments won't be around much longer, it was very disappointing and shocking.  Have some respect people.

Ok, also, if you want a picture to make you laugh, just look at Jason below!

The Duomo is a breath taking church, here are a few shots.

Here are a few pictures of the inside.

We decided to climb the Duomo, over 400 steps to the top and got to see this amazing view of Florence.

We then went and grabbed some lunch, I had some Authentic Tuscany Beef Stew and it was amazing!!  Next stop was the Santa Croce, this is the church were Michelangelo and Galileo Galilei are buried.

Michelangelo's tomb.

Galileo Galilei tomb.

We then headed over to the Galleria dell Accademia, this is where the statue of David is.  We were not allowed to take any pictures, but the statue is so big and so amazing.  We also got to see several other statues by Michelangelo that were never finished.

Tomorrow we are going to go to the Galleria degli Uffizi.  They have several pieces of artwork form Leonardo, Michaelangelo and Giotto's.  

All in all, we are having a great time!  We are desperately missing Mexican food and plan to go straight to Abuelo's when we get back! I am really excited about heading to Cinque Terre in a few days to see the coast.

Dad, I just had some caramel and butterscotch gelato and it made me think of you, it was delicious!

Jason and I are watching the Rangers, yes, we are watching baseball.  My technological savvy husband has made it so we can watch our tv at home in Europe!  He didn't want to miss opening day.

Love and miss you all!

Easter in Florence

Today we caught an 8:45 am train to Florence from Rome.  It takes about an hour and a half by train, but the scenery is so nice that it seems quicker than that.  


Here are a few photos from the train, they aren't great because of the glare of the windows and the train moving, but you get the idea...

Once we got to the Florence train station, it was about a 10-15 minute walk to our hotel.  Our hotel in Rome was pretty out of the way, but convenient for using the metro.  Here in Florence we are right in the middle of everything and I think we'll be able to walk everywhere.  When we got to the hotel they needed a little more time to get our room ready, but they encouraged us to walk outside and see the Easter tradition of "Scoppio del Carro".  We had no idea what this was but once they explained it, we were excited to get to see it.  Here is the wikipedia explanation of the tradition that dates back to the year 1097 and the First Crusade, followed by some pictures.  The cart shows in some pictures but the daytime fireworks show didn't really turn out.  We were quite a few meters (as the Italians would say) back from the main event...

On the morning of Easter Sunday, the 30 foot tall antique cart (in use for over 500 years), moves from the Porta al Prato to the Piazza del Duomo . Hauled by a team of white oxen festooned with garlands of the first flowers and herbs of spring, the cart is escorted by 150 soldiers, musicians, and people in 15th century dress.

Meanwhile, a fire is struck using the historic flints from Jerusalem at Chiesa degli Santi Apostoli. It is then carried in procession to the cathedral square by members of the Pazzi family, clerics, and city officials.

The cart is loaded with fireworks while a wire, stretching to the high altar inside the cathedral, is fitted with a mechanical dove (the "columbina"). Shortly thereafter, at the singing of the Gloria in excelsis Deo during Easter Mass, the cardinal of Florence lights a fuse in the columbina with the Easter fire. It then speeds through the church to ignite the cart outside.

During all of these stages, the bells of Giotto's campanile ring out.

The complex fireworks show that follows lasts about 20 minutes. A successful display from the "Explosion of the Cart" is supposed to guarantee a good harvest, stable civic life, and good business.

After checking this out, we went back to the hotel and the room was ready.  We are staying at a bed and breakfast in Florence for three nights and the room and location are both very nice...

Once settled, it was off to lunch at a place recommended by the hotel and then out on the town to check out the city.  

I decided to check out the stone guy's butt...

This is a replica of the Statue of David in front of the Palazzo Vecchio which is a 30 second walk from our hotel.  The real Statue of David by Michelangelo is in the Accademia Museum in Florence and cannot be photographed.  We are going to try and see that on Tuesday...

The Ponte Vecchio bridge and surrounding area is very pretty.  The original bridge dates back to the Roman times but was washed out by a flood in 1117.  It was rebuilt, destroyed again, and now the current bridge has stood since 1345...

We have become very fond of Gelato and have several places to buy around out hotel in Florence, doesn't it look delicious?

We'll post more on Florence tomorrow.  It is raining outside and not sure how much more we'll get done today.  Happy Easter and we love and miss you guys!