Mamma Mia! Florence and Tuscany were beautiful! Belissimo!

Thanks everyone for reading and commenting on our blog!  We really like writing it and has been an awesome way to remember what we did... we miss everyone at home (we can't believe we'll be home in less than 2 weeks) but have had a really fun time so far.  We are now in Greece (after an eventful time getting there - we think that our mussels in Bari gave us food poisoning) but we are here and loving it.  Below is about our time in Florence... 

Old Bridge in Tuscany

We had been told before we got to Florence that, like Rome, they would be in the middle of a heat wave (45C).  Although we love the heat, it’s a little hard to see everything when it’s so hot.  Thankfully, when we got to Florence, the heat wave was over.

Florence, or Firenze, is known for its museums and history.  It was home to one of the most influential families in all of Europe - the Medicini family; it is also home to ‘David’ the statue done by Michelangelo (see pictures below but beware you may not be able to tell which is the actual David).  Anyways, coming into this city we knew there would be a lot to do and so, you may think that (by the information I just wrote) that we did all of it. But, alas, it was just a copy and paste from our good ol’ friend Wikipedia.  Travis and I were a bit done with museums and decided to take a cooking class, visit Tuscany, taste wine and drink balsamic vinegar (which we had a lot more fun doing) instead.

David? Travis??

When we first got there we walked around and then headed to our cooking lesson.  I think this is one of the most fun nights we have had during our trip.  We were put in groups of 5 and each assigned to a kitchen (I felt a bit like Grade 8 Cooking).  We started off by making our dessert which was a frozen chocolate and cookie roll as well as a strawberry and cream mousse.   Our appetizer was next and was an eggplant, tomato and melted mozzerella cup. We then made a mushroom linguini pasta from scratch (Rebeccah you would be SO proud of us!) and finished off with rosemary and garlic chicken.  They then took us to their cellar where they served the food we had made tonight and we drank wine and visited with our group.  In our group we had a couple from NYC (his name was Donny, he had an annoying accent and I was not impressed with him from the start when he said ‘what? at least I don’t play with dogs all day’) and a girl on a highschool exchange from Switzerland.  Nonetheless, Travis and I had a lot of fun and would recommend  everyone to try it out.

The next day we spent wandering around the markets.  Florence has a huge amount of leather goods (you can buy a really nice leather bomber jacket for around $100 Euro) so we spent the day shopping for a purse for me, some sandals for Travis and little presents for our families.  We also managed to go for a run through a  park that overlooked the historic center of Florence.

Our third day in Florence we signed up for a trip into the Chianti region of Florence (Tuscany area) and it was absolutely beautiful.  We left early in the morning and went to a small historic town.  Before we left, our guide asked if anyone was prone to car sickness because the roads were windy (and he drove like a bat out of hell which really didn’t help). While I thought I would be fine, by the next town I was sitting shotgun with my head out the window.  After arriving in the second town, we walked around a bit.  The historic part of the town was situated in the middle of a castle and you could walk around beneath the perimeter castle walls.  Also, every other shop was a wine shop, some with bottles over 100 years old. 

We were then off to the winery.  When we got there, the owner told us that he used to be a veterinarian but after working for over 20 years decided to buy an old vineyeard and fix it up (maybe that’s in my future???).  He had since fixed it up into a paradise.  In addition to his vineyard and growing rosemary (which was delicious) and lavender, he also made balsamic vinegar and organic creams as well as hunted wild boars and truffles.  We sampled his balsamic vinegar (who knew that if you let it sit for 30 years it evaporates into a syrup – one that he charges ~$50 for) and then he made us a lunch that he paired with the different wines of his vineyard.  He also had an outdoor pizza oven (which is something I’ve been talking about building since I was in Seattle) so he explained to me and Travis how he built it and how to cook food in it.

Balsamic Vinegar Barrels

We then headed home.  We spent the rest of our day wandering around Florence and at night went back to the park overlooking the city to watch the sunset (with a couple hundred other people).  We also tried to call the Carusos (who are in Florence) because we thought it would be cool to see them but they didn’t have their phones on.  Anyways…

This guy drew this... in chalk

We are on the train now to Bari, Italy (its in the south east) where we will be catching a plan to Kos, Greece tomorrow.  CIAO!

Rome wasn’t built in a day… but it was seen in 3

you know what they say... when in Rome?

We arrived in Rome to find out that we were in the middle of a heat wave (and as we found out later, the two hottest days of the year).  The first day we wandered around to see what we wanted to do in the next couple we were there…  Our bed and breakfast (another awesome one) was about 10 minutes from the Colosseum so we decided to walk and check that out first. 

On our second day we did a lot of the touristy sights.  We found the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps, lots of plazas and churches, and a monument dedicated to Vittorio Emmanuel (the first president).  Travis and I thought it was pretty cool but, as we read later, a lot of people in Rome thinks it a bit of an eye sore as all of buildings in Rome are brown and this one is made from marble (and has 50 tonne bronze statues on it).  We spent the night walking down by the river where there was a lot of restaurants and things to do.

What crowds?

Our day in the Vatican City was probably our most entertaining. We had heard from multiple people to book tickets in advance as lines can get very long. When we got there we were happy that we did because the line was close to a kilometer long.  Once in the city (which is a separate state so you are no longer in Italy) we went to the Vatican Museum.  There we saw lots of statues, books, pots, etc. (dating back thousands of years) as well as the Sistine Chapel. 

Travis' illegal picture of the Sistine Chapel

The Sistine Chapel is where our entertainment began.  When you enter, it is a long rectangular room with  frescoes (by Michelangelo, among others) painted on the ceiling and is packed with people.  As a rule, you are not allowed to:

      a. take pictures

      b. sit on the steps or

      c. talk loudly. 

Well, as you can imagine, that doesn’t bode well with tourists so people try to secretly try to snap photos.  This results in being screamed at by the guard (see rule a.) who then yells SHHHHH to everyone.  Because the room is so crowded and the ceiling has so much to see, many people try to sit down (again guard yells and see rule a, b and again c).  So, while it is amazing, most of the time is spent in a very crowded room with guards screaming and people trying to secretly take pictures.  Anyways, the Sistine Chapel was really amazing and an experience to see.

After looking at the rest of the Vatican Museum (which consists of the different wings that different popes have had built) we were off to St. Peter’s Basilica.  Before you are allowed in, you are shuffled through security and then pass through two guards who inspect your clothing (the real life ‘fashion police’ as Travis called them).  If you were wearing something that didn’t cover your shoulders or was above your knees (aka no tank tops or shorts) you weren’t allowed in.  Despite there being multiple signs and people being turned away everyone still tried to get in.  So, instead of going right into St. Peter’s  we decided to sit on the steps and watch the tourists who hadn’t dressed properly try to change their attire to get in. 

This included:  1. Unbuttoning your skirt and pulling it as low as it would go even if that meant your butt hung out

                           2. tying a scarf around your knees and waddling in

                           3. tying a scarf around your wife beater and getting turned around by guards who tell you scarves are only for women

                           4. wrapping yourself in a giant sheet

   … or (my personal favorite) 5. Charging the guards and running as fast as you can away from them into the church

         

After watching this for a while we went in. The Basilica is absolutely amazing and something that really can only be seen (I’d be doing it a disservice to attempt to describe it). 

Our last day in Rome was spent at the Colosseum and Palatine Hill.  It was really amazing to see something that old (and really, kinda hard to understand how old it really was).  We then walked around some more and went to one of the top 3 rated restaurants in Rome (delicious of course).  We are now on a train to Florence.  We have a cooking class booked for tonight and are thinking about booking a Tuscan wine tour for tomorrow (I’ll check it out for you mom!).  CIAO!

            
                          

Ciao Cinque Terre

Oh... if any one ever visits Italy my advice for them is to visit the Cinque Terre!!

Getting to the Cinque Terre, five small villages on the north western tip of the Mediterranean, was not easy.  Vernazza, the village we were staying in, is the second most northern of the five and accessable only by train (or hiking in as they don’t allow cars in the village).  Along the way there we met another couple – Drew and Rachel – who were also trying to get to Vernazza so we decided to stick together.  Little did we know how much we’d end up having in common as well as hanging out after arriving. 

After finally arriving we found a phone to call the owner of our room who told us to wait at the train station where she would meet us…. she then hung up (this occurred in Italian so I assume that is what she said).   After  walking through the train station yelling my name (or pretty close to it) she found us and took us to a very cute little apartment.  Our friends had read in Rick Steeves that they would not need a reservation as people who own rooms will find you at the station… and that they did.  They ended up finding a great place so it was a great start to our stay in Vernazza.

 This picture is for my mom - the hydrangeas were unreal!

The rest of the first day was spent checking out the town (which is smaller than Picture Butte so it really only took about 5 minutes to walk from one side to the other) but there were a lot of neat shops.  The houses were amazing with each one usually having multiple levels and beautifully colored exteriors.  Our village was one that had a harbor so there were also lots of cute fishing boats as well as fisherman fishing from the harbor.  Most were catching anchovies so we knew it was something we had to try (and they were actually delicious).  I’d like to mention too that  Travis had a big break through in his dislike of olives while in Cinque Terre (he used to gag every time we’d walk by the olive cart in the grocery store) and now he thinks they are delicious! Anyways…

The second day we met Rachel and Drew at a restaurant we had heard about.  The Pirate Shop (or so we called it because it was easier than the Italian name and it had a pirate on its sign) was run by twin brothers  who specialized in pastries.  We had a croissant stuffed with cream and berries for breakfast  as well as a fresh fruit smoothie (don’t worry, we are hiking it off).  We also returned to have gnocchi in a pesto cream sauce (home made of course) and  lasagna as well as bruchetta (all unbelievably delicious).  The twin brothers are also hilarious so it made for a really entertaining meal. After breakfast  in the morning though,  it was then off for a hike. 

Hiking is very popular thing to do in Cinque Terre as there are paths that connect the 5 villages.  We wanted to do a longer hike than the ones that directly connect the villages  so we decided to get to the next village by hiking up to the peak of the mountain and over to the next village.  While we had a map, we discovered (about 2 hours in) that our path was the only one that wasn’t actually ON the map so proceeded to wander through vine yards and creeks until we reached where we were going 4 hours later.  It was an absolutely beautiful hike though so we can’t complain (although we were a bit nervous as we didn’t pass one person on the way and there were some pretty suspect parts of the trail). 

After meeting up with Drew and Rachel later on – who we discovered also met in high school, are celebrating their anniversary in a couple weeks, she just graduated as a Physical Therapist, his dad is also a general contractor, her mom is also a teacher (the list goes on an on and gets weirder and weirder about how much we have in common) AND - best of all, they are originally from Montana and ski Whitefish – we planned a hike for the next morning.  This hike was to the most northern town and was also a beautiful hike.  We enjoyed breakfast with them and then took the train south to do another small hike.  We left them to continue on hiking while we headed back to our beach.

We spent the rest of the time in Vernazza having a great time on the beach, rock jumping and sea kayaking (except for my sea sickness).  On our last night, we got a couple bottles of wine, bread, pesto, cheese and meats and had dinner with Rachel and Drew on the rocks.  We are now headed on a train to Rome and are sad to be leaving them as we had such a great time, but seeing they are from Tacoma we’ve planned to run a half marathon together (because they do that too) or at least come down for a visit.

Good bye Cinque Terre!!

Nice was.... Nice

(Sorry we haven't been on in a bit.  We like to write  about our last place when we are on the train and then post when we get to the new city.... but Cinque Terre didn't have internet so we're a bit behind).... Anyways....

Nice was nice....

But we’re happy to be leaving..We’re back on the train again.  We decided to change our plans a bit and leave Nice earlier than we had originally thought – not because we didn’t have a good time but because France is not cheap and Nice was pretty dirty.

We stayed in another good location – it was about a 5 minute walk to the train station, but because of this, it was extremely loud (you know, it sounded ‘like a freight train was going through your room’ -  except that it actually was).  This bed and breakfast was quite a bit smaller than the other ones we had stayed in and the owner was originally from Scotland and had lived in San Franscisco for 25 years before moving to Nice last year.   She also smoked… heavily.  Which is why I’m not that sad we’re leaving (although its not unusual because EVERYONE smokes here).

The city of Nice is about the size of Saskatoon and has an old and new part.  We spent our first day hiking along the seaside and ate lunch in one of the harbors.  Our waiter happened to be Australian and he asked us where we were from – we said Canada.  He then told us he had lived in Banff for 8 years and had just recently gotten a job offer in Panorama.  We looked around for a bit more and then wandered by to check out all the yachts.

Yesterday we spent the day on the beach – contrary to what we thought the beach would be like  (sandy, beautiful etc.) it was the complete opposite.  The beach was made of large rocks and you had to nose dive into the water so you wouldn’t get slammed into the ground.  The water was beautiful and blue though so that made up for it. 

We have also found that Nice was very dirty and very expensive.  Because you have to pay to use the toilets, people decide that it’s better to not.  Therefore everywhere smells like urine since people will pee in the streets…. Which is really quite disgusting.  As for food, it is still delicious (but a bit more expensive).  While we were here, Travis finally tried Nutella crepes and loved them (he wondered why he hadn't discovered Nutella sooner - I said we had it at home in our pantry....)

We also went to a market on our last day and that was really cool.  There was so many cool foods (and alot of olives and CHEAP olive oil)

We are now headed to Cinque Terre (5 villages) in Italy and are staying in Vernazza.  I’m so excited (not that every part hasn’t been great) but this is what I’ve been waiting for.  

A quick tour of Barcelona

Although we were only in Barcelona for 2 days we still managed to do and see a lot of the sights.  Our bed and breakfast was really nice and, again, in a great location for being able to get to the things we wanted to see.  This included:

A giant Calzone

The Sacred Family – by Gaudi

Olympic Park (where the ’92 Olympics were held)

The beach (and it was packed)

Gaudi Architecture (which I thought were really cool but Travis thought looked like cartoons – which they did) in the park he built.

And a view of the city.... from a gondola ride!

........And a lot of walking.  As we were walking, I saw a stadium on the map that I thought would be cool to see.   Once there we realized it was a bullfighting stadium and there happened to be a fight that night.  We figured that we would get tickets (although I was reluctant) to experience some Spanish culture and history.  I initially considered not mentioning that we had gone to a bull fight but after going, I wanted to write about the experience and let everyone know that I will never, EVER, go again (caution rant to follow).

After arriving in the stadium, the three bullfighters entered the ring on their horses (I did not realize they fought on horses – instead I thought they ran around the ring with red blankets).  While on their horses, they did a lot of tricks (I’m sure Reba and Jane would have appreciated how talented the horses were).  Then it was time for the fight.  Well, when the first bull came out, I was already feeling a bit ill over the whole thing.  There is a lot of fancy horse work and then (as you all know) multiple small daggers – some with flags, some without – get stabbed into its back.  At the very end a LONG dagger is stabbed into him and everyone watches him die (and its not a happy rainbow kind of death if you know what I mean)  

At this point, most people stand and cheer and the bullfighter dismounts from his horse (some of which get hurt – we saw the sutures of a pretty big laceration on one horse)  while others (me) look at Travis in horror, start to cry and tell him that I’m leaving immediately. 

While I understand that this is tradition deeply entrenched in Spanish history, I cannot fathom while people would want to watch an animal suffer like this.  Nonetheless, the stadium had hundreds of people in it who continued to watch as bull, after bull (yes – again another misconception – I thought there was one, but nope – there was SIX!) are killed. 

So to sum up, Travis watched a few more rounds while I wandered around the stadium.  It was interesting to note that the bulls were immediately taken to the back where they were butchered and where one of the butchers told me he’d sell me a horn for 10Euro.  At this point I wasn’t impressed by any of it and was tempted to beat him with it. 

So, not to be a buzzkill, but bullfighting is not for me.  I seriously hope they consider banning the sport (if you can call it that); however, I do suppose I should have known better for going when the first thing we saw on the way in was protesters across the street covered in red paint blowing whistles and holding signs. (I admit after fight one I would have blown whistles with them if I had had one!).... Anyways...

 Barcelona otherwise was amazing – we definitely wish we could have stayed longer but we covered a lot of ground (my feet are one big blister).  We are now off to Nice, France (and Monaco so Travis can visit the Monte Carlo casino)….. Au revoir!

We-a-speaka-no-Spanish

Ahhh... how beautiful the Mediterranean is!  After getting off the train in Malaga we rented our car and started off for our timeshare.   According to MapQuest it should have taken us 33 minutes, as it was a little over 40 km away.  Apparently MapQuest didn’t take into account that you have to be able to read Spanish.   3.5 hours and a realization that the A-7 and the AP-7 were two entirely different freeways, we got there.  (And no there were no GPS’ to rent).  Our resort was in a small town on the Mediterranean called Calahonda.  The resort was small (maybe 50 rooms total?) which was nice as we didn’t have to fight anyone for beach or pool chairs. 

The first day we were there we spent on the beach and the next we went to Gibraltar.  Although Uncle Phil and Auntie Elaine told us its not the most interesting place (and really – all it has is a giant rock and a bunch of monkeys) we had a lot of fun hiking the rock and enjoying fish and chips (you actually cross out of Spain and it’s a colony of the UK  - I think that’s how to explain it – so everyone speaks English and there are fish and chips pubs everywhere). 

After spending another few days on the beach  we headed to a small town north of Calahonda called Ronda.  At the resort we were told that, while only 45 km away, the road was windy…. and we realized that not only was it windy but up hill the entire way.  That meant that most of the time, there was a cliff on one side (and the drivers are nuts)  After talking to a couple later, they said that its much better now as the truck drivers now wear glasses.  At one stop, I looked over the edge to see a rusty old car.  Anyways – we made it there and back safetly.  Ronda claims to have the ‘oldest’ bull ring in Spain.  It also has a beautiful bridge.  We decided to hike to the bottom of the bridge, enjoy the waterfalls and then hike back up.  It was great until the hike up when we realized it was like being in the Sahara desert.

While we were at our resort it was nice to be able to cook our own food and not eat out all the time.  We made tacos one night and realized that their beef isn’t quite the same as ours (it has a pink hue to it that does not go away even when you burn it… luckily we are still standing).

  At night we would head into the small town next to Calahonda called Puerto Cabopino to (as Travis called it) “the best restaurant he has ever ate at”.  The first night, however, we didn’t eat there and instead walked past it to keep looking. We instead chose a restaurant on the beach (for the atmosphere) and ordered.  Lately I had noticed that avocado and prawn salads were on a lot of the menus so seeing I love both I decided to order one; Travis got spaghetti bolognese.  When we got our food I looked down and laughed.  Travis got exactly what he had ordered and I suppose I did too, but not what I had been expecting.  On my plate was a full avocado, cut in half with 4 shrimp on it.  Covered in ‘Mary Rose’ dressing (aka thousand island).  Anyways – we didn’t end up going back.  The rest of our dinners were spent at a delicious restaurant in the harbor where they made all their pasta fresh (Reba I thought of you) and their seafood was from a few feet away.

We really liked Calahonda.  It was a lot different than Madrid but are ready to go back to sight seeing….

So we are now off to Barcelona for a few days and then off to Nice, France (just when we were starting to learn a bit of Spanish).  

Holy Toledo its hot out!

The last 4 days in Madrid were really busy.  At the start of our trip Travis and I had talked about whether or not we should do the really ‘touristy’ things as we didn’t want to be stuck on a bus with cameras slung around our necks wearing Hawaiian print t-shirts and dorky hats… and there are lots of those people, believe me.  I think staying in the bed and breakfast was one of the first good ideas we had because we actually got to live in someone’s house that is from the city.  In Madrid we stayed at a great B & B called Abracadabra.  The owners, originally from Argentina, were really awesome at showing us great out-of-the-way places to eat and see…..but we still managed to get in some touristy places.

Madrid has been really hot (~35C) so we’ve gotten up fairly early to go to things.  While there are a lot of hop on hop off buses we decided to walk to most of the places because where we were was so close to everything.  We visited the Palace and the Prado Museum (home to more than 7700 paintings).  While the Palace was amazing, we’ve decided we aren’t art lovers as all of the paintings started to look the same after an hour (although Travis made us stand by a Rembrandt just so we could say that we did).   We also managed to wander into a random park one night and get on a gondola that took us across the city.  Very cool until the wind picked up – then it was not as ‘exciting’ as it initially was.

While, the first couple days were a bit hard for being tired as we were both pretty jet lagged we’ve fallen into the Spanish way of life of eating supper at 9 and staying out late.  There are so many plazas just to sit and watch.  The most fun we have at night is sitting in one of the larger ones and watching immigrants (mostly from Bangladesh) sell illegal knockoffs.  They have made these blankets with string on them that they put their watches and purses among other things on.  The second the police come they quickly pull the string that closes their blanket and off they run…. leaving the tourists who are trying to buy their knockoff Prada purses there standing there wondering what the hell just happened. 

Eating has been interesting too.  A big dish in Spain is Paella, which is a Spanish rice with various other ingredients.  I finally tried one the other night and have decided it wasn’t for me (I felt the octopus tentacle was waving at me from my plate)… at least I tried it though. 

As well as staying in Madrid, we decided to take a day trip to Toledo.  Toledo is a small town about 100km south west of Madrid.  The center of town is very old (I think I heard that the government will not let anything new be built there) but really cool.  It’s known for its cathedral, which is amazing (Travis is currently churched out at this point and we haven’t even made it to Rome).  While in Toldeo we went for lunch at the smallest little plaza in the place – it was beautiful.  One of the problems we are having right now is that when we walk up to a restaurant we understand a few of the words that the waiters say to us. This makes them think we understand it all.  So each time we order, or nod, it’s always a surprise as to what will come back to the table (I’m not sure why I didn’t learn some Spanish in the 6 weeks off I had before I came).  Nonetheless, while we were there we were sitting next to a Spanish couple (or so we thought) until the guy turned to us and said (in English), are you from the States?  After telling him we were from Canada, he told us he was from Buffalo and was getting married on Saturday.  We were then invited to their wedding – which was pretty cool.   Unfortunately we were headed back to Madrid and so we wished them well.

Anyways… After 4 days in Madrid we are now headed to Malaga, which is in the south of Spain on the Mediterranean Sea.   We are currently on a high-speed train (our first – we are going 270km/hr – YIKES!) and will pick up a car (I have the international drivers license and Travis is already crapping his pants) when we get there.

I hope everyone is enjoying our updates… we’ll try to do the after every city as this is as much as a travel diary for us as it is for people to see what we are up to.