Siena II

Megan was unsatisfied with the lack of museums in our Florence day, so she got up early and went back on her own. The rest of us slept in and spent a relaxing day in Siena. Shane did his laundry, Amy and Jamie read their books in the park and I wandered through the twisted maze of uptown shopping. Purple is so IN right now that I’m already sick of it. EVERY store window featured purple, shirts, pants, skirts, ties etc. That evening Shane, Amy, Jamie and I walked up to the Duomo, sat and chatted outside as the sun fell. It’s a pretty spectacular building. It was supposed to be bigger than St. Peter’s, but the Vatican put a stop to it before it was finished. You can see where they would have built had they not had to seal it up early. Eventually we moved down to Il Campo to meet Dave and Megan. We sat in the big square and watched cute kids chase pigeons and played “I’ve Never” and “Off a Cliff” until they came. In case you're wondering, "Off a Cliff" is a singles only game and it actually works much better when you have a ward directory in front of you. You pick four names for another person and that person has to decide of those names which one he would marry, kiss, hug and push off a cliff. (Great for dinner parties).

FYI

Someone requested a map to follow where I actually went. It doesn't look like a very practical sequence, but it worked just fine for us.

Florence

4:30 came early the next morning, but we dragged ourselves out of bed and RAN to the train station. Tickets for the Accademia Gallery (where the David is) were sold out on line, so we wanted to get there early to avoid a ridiculous line. Our early morning efforts paid off. We got right in and got to see him before the halls were packed with tourists trying to sneak photos when the guards weren’t looking. (He’s AMAZING, fyi). From there we went to the Duomo and climbed the 438 steps to the dome on top. A little rough on my poor biking legs, but the view was definitely worth it.

We wandered around the city most of the time and ate the best gelato of my life! The pear was INCREDIBLE with Strawberry and Mango as close seconds. Since Florence was one of the cities that Shane served in, he knew of a beautiful olive orchard that overlooks the city. We took a bus up there and discovered that some time in the last seven years they built a very tall wall around it with barbed wire around the top, so we didn’t attempt to sneak inside. Instead w found a park trail and started hiking.

This statue street performer was so entertaining. If you gave him some money, you could get your picture taken with him and he would make it as awkward as possible. We got a kick out of watching others do it too.

I guess rubbing this boar's nose is good luck. I thought maybe kissing it would get me a little extra.

Finally, we took a bus to the far side of the city, (another beautiful view) and took model pictures as the sun went down. That night I had the best Spaghetti of my life! (maybe. It was pretty good.)

Back at the train station we had sometime to kill before our train left. We decided to pull out the Uno cards (I guess it should have been Una since we’re playing in Italy) and settled down in a McDonald’s booth. When it was clear that we were having too much fun, the McDonald’s workers demanded that we leave before she beat us with a broom and dumped us in the deep fryer… at least that’s what her tone of voice said. I have no idea what she really said, but the message was pretty clear.

Siena

We arrived at our “camp ground” in Siena in the evening. It was more like a little trailer and it was perfect. Two rooms a kitchen and a bathroom. Shane was staying at Dave’s apartment, so the girls had the place to themselves. We settled in and took a taxi into downtown Siena. I had no idea what to expect of Siena, so I could barely contain my excitement as the taxi sped through narrow, twisted cobblestone streets and ended up in a massive open town square. It was love at first sight. Siena is where the opening scene of Quantum of Solace takes place so we made sure to watch it while we were there. We found a restaurant and I ordered a “Typical Tuscan soup” which looked like green mush you might feed to poor little orphans but tasted amazing. I couldn't identify anything in it. The menu indicated that it came with bread, but when I asked about my missing bread the waiter just told me it was in my soup. So I guess that's one of the ingredients. The next day we wandered into town to find that everything was closed. We had some difficulty locating breakfast. “Oh it’s Easter Monday,” I said. They all laughed at me as if I had made it up. “Easter Monday!! I suppose tomorrow will be Easter Tuesday!” Americans! (Amy shakes her head). Thank goodness we found a bike rental place that was open. We rented some bikes and headed out of town in search of picturesque Tuscan hills. We rode down and down and down, all the while wondering if we were going to be capable of riding back up at the end. Eventually we found what we were looking for; a beautiful country road.

We ate lunch in a small town and then began our grueling trip back up to Siena. I’m proud to say I made it, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel it for the next four days. Give me a break. I haven’t ridden a bike since I was about 14.

We crashed in Dave’s apartment for a little while and watched some Italian Soap operas making our own translations, then we went out took some pictures at Il Campo and ordered some pizza. We crashed early that night to prepare for an early morning in Florence.

Pisa

We made a quick stop in Pisa on our way from La Spezia to Siena, because you have to get the holding-up-the-tower pictures, right? After several individual photoshoots, Shane, Jamie, Amy and I lounged on the lawn enjoying the supreme weather while Dave and Megan toured the Baptistery.

Cinque Terre

Cinque Terre was easily in my top two, so I have a lot of pictures. We were meeting Jamie and Megan in La Spezia but before they got there, Shane and I headed to a grocery store to stock our apartment. We had 15 minutes till the place closed, so Shane shoved a basket into my hands and instructed me to get the breakfast stuff and he’d do dinner. So there I was wandering around the grocery store trying to look at pictures to figure out what I’m buying. This box has a cow on it… it’s probably milk… Shane took one look in my basket and had to run back and make some corrections for me. “I forgot you’ve never shopped in Italy before.” Well YEAH! We met the girls and took the train to Corniglia . Corniglia is the smallest of the five towns that make up Cinque Terre. It’s also the only one that’s on down on the water. It sits 382 steps up a cliff. It was late when we got in, so the busses weren’t running anymore. Sweaty and tired we entered the village and were immediately charmed by its narrow, windy walkways, colorful shutters and laundry hanging out to dry. I’m in love with Corniglia. We also arrived on Good Friday and just in time to watch the town gather and follow a procession through the candlelit walkways. It definitely felt like we were guests in a small village rather than tourists.

This photo is so classic. Anywhere you go in Italy, just look up and there will be some old man or woman at the window, just checkin' stuff out.

Jamie, Shane and I got up at sunrise the next morning to go take pictures and explore the town. When everyone else was up, we took the train to Monterosa and dipped our feet in the Mediterranean. Then we hiked from Monterosa to Vernazza. The hike is GORGEOUS! (but a little crowded). Vernazza hasn’t changed in size or shape for the last 500 years! We went back to the apartment for Lunch and met up with Amy. We spent the remainder of the evening in Manarola.

I think this is the only picture we have of all six of us.

Killing time at the Train station. We had a lot of photoshoots at train stations to help pass the time.

We woke up easter morning to find little zip-lock bags of easter candy for everyone. Megan is such a sweetheart! We dressed quickly for church, loaded up our gear and walked down to the train station. We took a train to La Spezia and then a Taxi to help us find the Mormons. It was a neat experience to hear the gospel taught in Italian with Shane whispering sweet translations into our ears. The gospel is true no matter where you go.

ROME

My flight to Newark airport was delayed; enough that I had to move to the front of the airplane as we landed, so I could sprint off the plane to make my connecting flight. A shuttle ride and another security check point later, I skidded to a stop in front of my gate as the Lady said, "You must be Amy Walton." In all that panicked running, it never occurred to me to turn on my phone, so I missed the three phone calls telling me that Shane and Dave would be late to pick me up in Milan. I only waited 45 minutes though before they found me and we headed to the train station. Unfortunately all the trains to Rome that day were full. We could only purchase tickets for standing room only. So for the next four hours we stood/sat on the floor next to the train bathrooms. Initial impressions of Italy were that it was rather unremarkable. Milan is like any modern city, billboards and graffiti, business men and bums.
Rome reminded me very much of London with its cobbles stone streets and tiny cars… a perfect juxtaposition of ancient, ornate buildings with a giant Hyundai ad hanging off the side. We checked into our hotel and then headed straight for the Coliseum. We walked around the forum (we never did find the entrance) and then headed to Trevi Fountain.
That night I had the best Penne Carbonara I’ve ever had, but the worst gelato. The next morning, we headed to Vatican City. We didn’t really know if we were going to go in, but pretty soon we found ourselves buying a guided tour. Dang salesman! It was cool to see inside the Vatican (it’s crazy how much art work they have in there), but I could have done that tour in half the time. Then we would have had time to see the Pantheon, but as it was, we went to the train station and hopped on a train to Cinque Terre.

Dave and I waiting for our Vatican City Tour to start.

Piazza de Venezia