Italy trip!

We left our house in L.A.at 6:15 for a 9:30 flight and landed in Venice the next day at 11:30 pm! By the time we got our bags and our transfer, it was close to 1 am!

We arrived in Venice late at night. ^thcentury! I’ve never slept anywhere so old. We quickly got the kids to sleep so we could make our 9 am tour in the morning!  I could feel that it was magical, just cutting through the water on the way to the apartment. When we arrived, I loved the antiquity of the apartment. We learned it had been built in the 15

I was so excited that I didn’t sleep (and the bed was hard). We went out to explore and I was tickled pink by the quaintness of the town. It is SO DARN CUTE. I don’t know if I have been so excited to be somewhere in a very long time. The boats and gondolas floated down the river as we charged through the maze of a city. Sometimes we walked down alleys not much wider than our bodies. I guess they were just smaller people when they built the town!

We met our guide, Sara, for a Scavenger Hunt of Lions in one of the squares. It was amazing. We walked out onto the Grand Canal and St. Marco’s Square and they are 2 of the most magnificent places I have ever been!  It was truly exceptional! We toured 12 different winged lions, learning about their meaning as the symbol of Venice and the Bible accompanying the lion. I felt like an art history expert by the time we were done!

We quickly ate a delicious meal at Acqua Piazza. The kids loved it and sat still for long enough (Italians believe in long meals). We sat and sat and sat. We ate and ate and ate. We got up with full bellies and a bunch of excitement to go meet Martina.

We met Martina at the Rialto Bridge where we boarded a water taxi. The taxi took us along the Grand Canal as we explored what it meant to be a merchant in the Middle Ages. We began the voyage with stones, wood and salt. Along the way we traded for paintings, marble and other such things to build a wealth and upgrade our own Palace. After all, that’s what the wealthy merchants of Venice did! I highly recommend this tour for children at Arte Del Sole!

We went for dinner and showered and had an early bed! Not really early, but early by Italian standards. They don’t eat until 8 pm, which results in a maybe 10/10:30 bedtime!

In the morning we were up early again. We walked to Fundamento (which means street by the river) Nove. We took the waterbus to Murano/Colonna (and I wondered aloud about the Cimitero, but that’s for another post).  We wandered for 30 minutes before we met Roberto and saw glass blowing. I’ve seen glass-blowing at Six Flags, which is impressive in its own right if you’ve never seen ACTUAL glass-blowing. We spent an hour watching them make a gorgeous sculpture. It was amazing and we learned so much about the apprentice process and the beauty of the pieces. They deserve the full 5000 Euros for that sculpture!

After that we had lunch at a fancy Ristorante and hopped on the waterbus to Giardini. We were somewhat annoyed that the tour I had booked was 1 tour that included glass-blowing and then glass bead necklace making. Anyhow, we navigated the waterbus like locals and got off on Giardini. Although there are no trees in Venice, Giardini means “garden” and there were tons of trees there. Actually, the entire island was a gorgeous park where locals hang out. There were no crowds or Americans or tourists. It was lovely. So we went to a little playground and then a garden and the kids played for hours, making dream catchers and necklaces out of lovely Murano glass beads. It was incredible. Landon and his huge heart made me a necklace that I love and will wear all the time. Martina was amazing with the children. It was a wonderful afternoon.

After showers we went to Al Timon for dinner. This was our favorite dinner of the trip. The meat is SO good. We didn’t order the horse because we love horses, so we stuck to regular old cows. Moo. It was cooked perfectly and so tasty and we loved it all! As we walked home along the canals, I felt an aching in my heart to know that we were leaving town.

In the morning, Brian ran to the pasticeria and bought breakfast pastries and café and I packed like a madwoman. The children were asleep until I woke them up at 10. They had all been up at night and didn’t sleep well. So I packed the wet clothes (no dryer at the apartments) and we headed out to the water taxi. We hopped on the train and made it all the way to the countryside (2 hours on a high speed train).

Today was a gorgeous day in Florence. We went to the Da Vinci museum and had so much fun exploring after a fantastic lunch at 3 pm. We were starved. Then we went home for showers and hurried to Pointe Vecchio to meet a childhood friend who has the love story of all love stories. They met by chance, kept in touch by Skype. When she came back to see him, her Visa ran out and she had to decide if she would marry him or go back to the U.S. to teach autistic children. Well, she married him and here we are 10 years and 2 daughters later. Isn’t that the sweetest story? We stayed out with them until almost midnight. It was so lovely to see her and meet her sweet husband. They took us to a local’s restaurant and we loved every minute of it. We will see them again tomorrow, as they look out for my kids. Brian and I are going on a special tour in Tuscany. I am so excited!

The tour in Tuscany (Grape Tours) was amazing. We did the Elite level (ooh la la), which means that we went to 3 wineries and had an absolutely fantastic lunch! It was so good! We liked the group we were with and the wines. The guide was fantastic and made the entire trip so fun an fantastic.  The lunch consisted of a variety of traditional Tuscan appetizers (bruschetta, burrata, beef carpaccio, etc). Then we had 2 pasta dishes. It was amazing! I also had tiramisu – which is the best tiramisu I’ve ever had.  We got home and the kids had been on. A great adventure with Tyler and her friend. They went on a scavenger hunt around town, meeting a boar ()who brings good luck if you rub its nose), stood between 2 sculpture lions and traveled entirely around the Duomo. They were happy and tired. Then we had dinner with Tyler’s family. It was quite wonderful – pizza and gelato for the kiddos. We have let them have gelato every single day of the trip so far! What fun!

Today was beautiful. I had to wake up 3 of the 4 kids. Hunter was already awake, but he has a cold, so he wasn’t in a wonderful mood. We had a tour to see the David at Accademia. I loved this tour through Walks with Rome Accademia and Food Tour. Michaela expertly informed us about the Medici family and their power and 300 year reign over Florence. They were the biggest supporters of Michaelangelo, and the primary reason that he was so famous. They used most of their money (from banking) to support the arts! In fact, the Medici palace has 2 domes that were designed and made by Michaelangelo himself! We walked over to the Accademia and saw the David! He was absolutely incredible – 17 feet tall, but on a pedestal making him about 22 feet tall. He was constructed in a time when people had very little knowledge about anatomy and physiology. His attention to detail- bones and muscles and tendons – is fascinating!! After we saw this and some of the pietras, we walked over and around the Duomo, learning about the history of it all.  We walked to San Lorenzo market – which is the market that inspired Mario Battali’s  Eataly concept. We walked around and had some snacks, followed by lunch. We were out and about and allowed the kids to get gelato (again). We had a 30 minute walk to a ceramics class where we learned about traditional Florentine plates and shields. We each created our own seal and painted our own plate! How Florentine of us! Then we were able to sculpt with clay and see if we could create our own masterpieces. Brian was constructing his “Patricia” and it was quite amusing. Now that we are showered and ready to go out, we may get aperitivos prior to a 7:30 dinner. I’m so sad that we have already spent 6/7 days traveling. We only have 2 more full days in Florence, and tomorrow is spent going to Siena, Luca and Pisa!  How fun!

Early! We had to wake up early and we ended up leaving the house late. I guess it’s the parents’ ultimate payback when you wake up your kiddos! So I did and they were good sports anyways. We had 4 minutes to grab breakfast pastries on the way to the train station to meet our guide.  We were on a Walkabout tour of Florence that we bought through Viator and I was not expecting 3 busloads of people. I almost wanted to leave, but then I was reminded of what I paid for the tour and thought it best to stay. We only had 60 in our bus and the guide managed it so beautifully, that I ended up with no complaints. We wanted to see Pisa but my friend told me not to waste a day in just Pisa…so we did Siena and San Gimignano. Let’s just say – I’m so glad we did! Siena is quite possibly my favorite Italian town I’ve been to. It has SO much history and comradery. It’s the cutest town and we learned about Palio, a horse race that happens in the town square! Isn’t that so funny? I loved that town and it had some sculptures by the masters, including Michaelangelo! What a treat to be in such a special town! Then we drove to San Gimignano for lunch at the CUTEST farm followed by a visit to the “Manhattan of Italy” because of all the tall towers. Of course, the towers are centuries old and were built JUST to show off their money. The bigger the tower, the more money they had. I think it’s an old-fashioned “mine is bigger than yours.” Finally, we rode in the car for another 80 minutes (and most of us napped), to Pisa. We saw the leaning tower of Pisa, which was honestly way cooler than I imagined. We were some of the VERY few people on the tour who go the tickets to walk to the top. It was amazing. You could feel the wear on the marble stairs from centuries of people walking up them. We were lucky enough to hear the bells chime while we were in the tower, too! When you were on one side of the tower, you were pitched towards the center and on the other side, pitched towards the outside. It was so interesting to climb, especially with an 8 year old boy who ran as fast as other people would allow, all the way to the top. If you remember, Landon studied the Leaning Tower of Pisa extensively last year. It was so cool for him to see the fruits of his labors! I loved the entire tour and the guide. We ended up back at San Lorenzo Market for dinner because we wanted to get to bed…..and yet, it’s 11:20 pm and I’m writing this journal entry. My kids do not fail to impress me. Maisy walked almost every single one of the 24,000 steps we took today! They didn’t complain, or whine. They handled the tour better than most adults I know would and I ended the day with copious compliments. I really am proud of them!

What a day! Florence is quickly rising in the books as one of my favorite cities. We wereon our way for a tour and had to meet on Via de Vitarechia ore something like that. I always make the family walk to where we are meeting the tour and then we get pastries and coffee for breakfast. This proved to be a genius move this morning when we ended up at Rivoire (evidently very well known). It has been a chocolate factory since 1872 (I think) and they still make the chocolate in the basement. It was DIVINE and the first pastry I’ve had on this trip!  Then we went on a Symbols and Legends tour with Context Travel.  Because we have taken a few tours in the past with them, I knew we were in for a treat! This tour is kid friendly, but it should say “adult-friendly.” We went through multiple squares and saw works by Michaelangelo, Donatello and multiple other famous artists. We learned about secrets and saw a graffiti that Michaelangelo did with his hands behind his back! Isn’t that amazing?! We thought it was and I was sad for the tour to end – but the children couldn’t take another minute. We walked over to Sally’s recommendation (our tour guide) for a great lunch at Quattro something….I can’t remember, but we had to cross the Arno River. Anyhow, it was an AMAZING lunch. We refueled so that we could climb the Duomo! One of our friends who studied abroad here had suggested we climb it, so we did. The history and context of the Duomo is behind powerful and inspiring. Being in the Cathedral was breathtaking. But climbing the Duomo was a dream I never knew I had. We had 360 degree breathtaking views from the top of the Duomo – the highest point in town. We learned and saw and walked in the steps of Bruneleschi – a jeweler turned architect and artist! After that, the kids really wanted to climb the bell tower, but there was a line. They were pumped up! There was a line and we were tight on time, so we picked up our artwork from the other day (it had to be fired) and took showers before going to a highly recommended dinner place, The Golden View. It sure was – with an incredible view over the Arno River of the Pointe Vecchio (Old Bridge). Interestingly, it is the only bridge in Venice to survive the German airstrikes during WWII! Anyhow, we came home and packed, but we have an 11:48 train, so I promised the kids we could wake up early and go to the Bell Tower to climb it first thing in the morning. Then we head to Rome. I feel sad about leaving Florence, but I remember being inspired by Rome as a teenager. You know how teenagers aren’t impressed by anything? Well, I was impressed by Rome. So it must be pretty great!

In the morning, we climbed the Campanile attached to the Duomo. I had asked the kids if they wanted to sleep in or wake up early and go for a climb. They unanimously decided to climb! So, we did. It was incredible. Then we finished packing and got on a train, heading directly to Rome! I was SO excited. When we got to Rome, we dumped our bags and walked to Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps. We realized we knew absolutely nothing about either and Wikipedia wasn’t helping us, so we thought about taking a tour. In the meantime, we met an awesome guy named Marco at the Campo D’Fiori in order to go for an illuminated tour of the city highlights with pizza and gelato! I needed more pizza and gelato, so that’s a good thing! Ha! It was an amazing tour and we hit it off with Marco so well that we asked to go with him on a tour of the city center highlights on Thursday! We were out way too late, listening to Marco talk about history of the Pantheon and an elephant sculpture that made it’s rear end face a Catholic building…we couldn’t get enough information because he made it sound so exciting. Even the kids loved him by the end of the night!

This morning was an early morning, and our first in Rome. People are generally not as friendly as they were in Venice and Florence. Don’t mistake that to mean that people were friendly in Venice and Florence because they weren’t. People are just LESS friendly in Rome. SO we hustled to the Colosseum to see the world’s least engaging tour guide. No worries, it was amazing regardless. The Colosseum is an exciting place and the Forum goes about 2000 years deep. To not be entertained by it is pathetic, but she presented it in a way to make my children fall into a deep sleep. Ok, maybe not but it was disappointing. I let Marco know how boring she was! We had lunch and then went back to the apartment to relax. The kids showered and plugged themselves into their iPads for the first time this trip (day 11 so I guess that’s pretty good). I rested, did laundry, showered and prepared for the evening. We took our first family cooking class and I anticipate many more. We really enjoyed cooking and eating together. It was so much fun to spend time together learning something new. I also think it’s very important for my children to learn how to cook and make delicious food. We had 2 amazing pasta dishes and homemade tiramisu (which was SO easy to make!) Today goes down as one of my favorite days ever. 

On our second day in Rome, we woke up early and walked 35 minutes to the Vatican for a private tour. Everyone was hungry and cranky when we got there because it took longer to get going than expected. When we arrived for our tour, we had to eat and then hustle for the Vatican. I remembered being there as a kid, but this was different. It is so special to me to share these experiences with the children and hear their impressions and see their faces. Each kid always has a different take on what they learn and see and think and feel. I love how they share all of it with us. So we went through the Vatican and it took hours. It was crowded and hot and no one complained. They saw the Sistine Chapel and they’ve been learning about Michaelangelo, so they really loved it. They looked and oohed and aahed and they were in no rush to leave. It was gorgeous. Then we went to St. Peter’s Basilica and walked around among the masses. Brian and I could have stayed hours longer, but they had only eaten a small pastry and were about to FREAK OUT! So, we decided to go to lunch after mailing a postcard from Vatican City. After a slow and refreshing lunch (all lunches are at least 2 hours), we walked to St. Angelo’s Castel to meet Marco, our favorite tour guide. He was wonderful and great with the kids. He took us on a private walking tour through backstreets and pointed out things we wouldn’t have noticed but were happy to learn. For example, did you know that there was a tax on windows for about 150 years? So, the wealthy would hire an artist to paint a window outside the building so it looked like they had a window, but there was actually no window there! The kids had fun pointing out “Madronellas” or Virgin Mary and baby, and fake windows. We saw the Pantheon again (and went inside which was breathtaking!) and then went to Spanish Steps and learned why they are the Spanish Steps (the land used to be Spanish, so the steps were named Spanish steps, and connected to a French area above where the church is built.) The Spanish Embassy to Italy is still on that street! We also went to Trevi Fountain, which was closed the entire time we were in Rome. We learned about the symbolism of the fountain and the Gods in the fountain. The funding of Rome, and for hundreds of years afterwards, the religion was Pagan. So the Gods were the Roman Gods. Really interesting stuff! That night, Brian dragged us to a 3 Star Michelin restaurant. Actually, it’s debatable if it has any Michelin Stars. If I were in charge of giving out the stars, they would have none. The kids were so well behaved, using their best manners while sitting in this gorgeous restaurant, overlooking Vatican City. The food was meh, but the experience was beautiful!

This morning we woke up and walked around Rome. We had pastries and cappuccino again, for the final day of the Italy portion of the trip. Then we drove to Civitavecchia to our cruise ship. We boarded the ship and explored. We settled in and enjoyed our room, the food, and the kids immediately made friends with some Aussies.  There were also some South African kids whom our kids befriended. It was a relaxing day!

Today we are at sea all day. We did a lot of nothing. The kids went to kid’s club and enjoyed their new friends and then they all played in the pool for hours. We had a nice dinner and we really enjoyed all the little moments, and the relaxation that Brian and I enjoyed while the kids were otherwise entertained.

This morning the girls (mostly Aspen) were whining about another tour. Actually, we were in Dubrovnik and didn’t have a tour. So, we just went to the walls of the city, which were used to hold the land for centuries. Game of Thrones was filmed there (we don’t watch it), but we hear it’s a cool place to be! The coolest thing we saw was soccer jerseys from the Croatian World Cup soccer team. We even got one for each of the boys. Then we took the cable car to the top of the mountain. It was beautiful and we explored an old fort. The fort had been used for centuries, but was still used in the Homeland War (1991-95). It was quite wild to hear about the craziness that happened in those days and how new some of the Slavik countries are! It’s a beautiful city.

Oh, Montenegro. This town (Kotor) has my heart. I loved everything about it. The bay that you enter to go to the town is a UNESCO most beautiful places site. It is absolutely gorgeous and quaint and perfect. The town is trying to attract tourism and visitors and, because of the wars of surrounding countries and their involvement in the war, they are a brand new country. That’s not actually fair. They were their own country back in the 1500s but were taken and absorbed by many other countries. They joined Yugoslavia for years and separated again….they only became their own country again in 2006! It was a 12 year old country. We went to a farm that was in the family for 3 centuries – right in that exact spot. And we heard about the economic downturn and how people are abandoning the farms. This man who gave us the tour was so kind and also a University professor. He taught us about modern olive presses and showed us an old-fashioned olive oil press (which used donkeys to turn a huge stone and would crush the olives!) We had a snack in which 90% of the food they gave to us was produced on their farm! How incredible! We were in the cutest cellar underground and it was idyllic and perfect. Then we went to the walled town, Old Town, and saw the 1500 stairs that went to the top of the mountain and provided a lookout and safety point. My group was too tired to go up, so we didn’t. I guess if I ever get back there, it’s a bucket list item.

Corfu, Greece. I had all the hopes in the world for this day. We had chartered a private sailboat and they were going to meet us on the boat with lunch from an excellent restaurant and we would sail for 5 hours. The kids could jump into the water and…..there was a huge storm and it was all canceled. I pouted. For hours. Then, Brian and I tendered to the dock (the water wasn’t that bad!) and we had our feet eaten by fish. We wandered around and had a coffee….it was nice. But disappointing. The kids stayed on the ship and played with their friends in kid’s club, as they did every single day on the ship.

Today we woke up in Katakolon, Greece. We took another private tour to Olympia. Our guide couldn’t go inside with us, which was somewhat disappointing. We did a self tour. We walked around the old museum that had ruins and statues from thousands of years ago! We saw the town where the Olympics began and we saw the original Olympic track! It was so neat to be in the presence of so much history. The kids impressed me, as they so often do, by really slowly moving through the museum. They asked a million questions and had me explain everything they saw. Even Maisy was asking me “Mommy, read this! Mommy read that!” They were really engaged in their learning and we had a TON of fun! Then we went to the honey tasting farm. The woman, Klio, was a 4^thgeneration beekeeper. She showed us her farm, gave us samples, and we all had SO much fun. The old Greek grandma kept filling up our plates with fried dough, covered in honey. It was delicious and we didn’t want to leave. But we did, and we had a lovely lunch in Olympia. It was delicious and we really needed something to eat then! Following that, we went to an old Monastery. I think they use the words “convent” and “monastery” interchangeably. Regardless, it was in an amazing location on the top of a mountain. It is still active, with cloistered nuns there today.  We found someone there who opened up the church where a vision of Virgin Mary keeps appearing. The nuns thought that it was a message for them to build a chapel there, so they did. It’s only 40 years old.  It was amazing! We loved all we learned this day and enjoyed the non-historical moments as well.

Today was Athens. Honestly, I am really disappointed by Greece. It isn’t what I expected. Did you know that the population of Greece is 11 million people and 5 million of them live in Athens?! Talk about a huge dirty city. And the driving is terrifying. Not my favorite place ever. So we met our tour guide (after a stressful and expensive transfer), and climbed the Acropolis (which means high point of the city). It is interesting that they do not allow any large buildings to be built higher than the Acropolis. Acropolis, by the way, is not a building. It is the mountain on which the Parthenon was built. The Parthenon is a temple built to honor Athena. The story goes that the king of (present day) Athens sent a message to the Gods to ask for whom they should name the city. Poseidon and Athena were both interested, so they were invited to show the King why the city should be named for them. On top of the Acropolis, Poseidon pointed his trident and made a spring of salt water. Athena pointed her spear and an olive tree immediately grew. Because saltwater is not helpful, but olive trees are, the town was named for Athena! It was hot up there and maybe 20,000 additional people were up there. It took us 30 minutes just to get off the mountain!  After that, the kids were tired and cranky and we returned to the ship. They spent the remainder of the day in the pool and with their friends.

Santorini. Another day I was kind of like – this is it? I would have been angry if I had flown all the way around the world to spend a special holiday there. But we didn’t, so it was all good! We had a catamaran tour and they cooked fresh food on the boat. We went in a hot spring on the volcano that created Santorini and we dove into the ocean from the boat. The kids snorkeled for the first time and pretty much fell in love with being on a boat. We were incredibly sad for this excursion to end. On the way back, we were planning on taking the cable car down the mountain but there was a 45 minute drive. So we were going to just walk the 1000 steps, but they had burros that would take you down if you paid a ransom. Maisy was SET on going on the burros and Landon wanted to try it too….so being the sucker that I am, I also went down.  I thought I was going to die. I honestly don’t think I’ve ever done anything more dangerous. And Maisy was on the same burro as me and his foot kept sliding. It was terrifying. TERRIFYING. We got on it about 1/3 of the way down and when we hit 2/3 of the way down the non-English speaking guide started screaming at all of us “get off! Get off!” Then he tore Maisy out of my hands and put her on the ground. So, our ride was over. I was miffed that it was so expensive but also so happy that it ended because….OMG!

Today we were at Sea. We hung out with our new Aussie friends and relaxed by the pool. We had a nice dinner on the ship.

Last day! We went to Pompeii and got pizza in the birthplace of PIZZA! It was amazing! In Pompeii we had an incredible guide named RoseAnn. She was passionate and knowledgeable and knew how to involve the kids! She brought gummies for them. At first, I was nervous because no one appeared to be listening. Before too long though, they were asking all kinds of relevant questions and begging for more information. They became so curious that they just didn’t want to leave! I thought Pompeii was the most amazing place we went – actually – most of us did. The fact that there is a 50 acre city with 30,000 people in a fully preserved town that was completely buried by a volcanic explosion in 79 B.C. was incredible. It wasn’t discovered until 1780s and then actually excavated starting in 1863. The columns, mosaics, and basic structure was incredible. The way they used Greek knowledge (the educated people) and Roman influences (the heavies) to complete this seaside town was simply inspiring. Maybe the most interesting fact is that Pompeii now sits 6 miles from the ocean because the volcano pushed the crust of the Earth UP. Pompeii was a seaside town until this explosion. How incredible!!! We loved our day in Pompeii. Then we had pizza at a place that had mostly Italians (always a good sign).  The pizza was SO good and different from Roman pizza.  We loved it!

Today we woke up and transferred to the airport, flew to Philadelphia (landed late). We ran through customs and stressed about missing our flight. We boarded in the nick of time….sat down and were promptly…..kicked off the plane because they had to replace a tire. That took 3 hours, which delayed us 3 hours!!! We all slept the entire ride home from Philadelphia, slept all night last night, and now we are working on our school assignments. It’s a busy day!