Italy - Day 12

Monterosso, Cinque Terre
We had our last breakfast in the Palazzo dal Borgo, and our wonderful server, Andre, made us each a special cappuccino. It not only was heartwarming, it was the best coffee we have had in Italy so far. We had given Andre (and a few others) an American flag pin and tootsie roll wrapped in a flag, and he genuinely seemed excited to receive it. From then on he took great care of us each morning.

Dan about to enjoy his cappuccino

We left the city of Florence for the resort town of Monterosso in the Cinque Terre on the Italian Riviera, and we were all too happy to leave the hustle and bustle of the big city behind. As we traveled from Pisa through the Tuscany countryside to La Spezia and into the Cinque Terre, we saw the landscape transform from row upon row of sunflowers and houses dotting the countryside with their classical orange and yellow colors with red tile roofs, to hillsides scarred by the mining of marble and granite, and finally breaking through the tunnel of darkness into bright sunshine with the Ligurian Sea greeting us as we clung to the rocky cliffs perched high above the water. In all, we traveled only about three hours by train, but the vast difference in the regional economy was apparent.

We checked into our hotel, which overlooks the Monterosso harbor and the Ligurian Sea, and hiked around the city checking out small shops and tasting the local wine specialty Sciacchetra, a sweet raisin wine which was potent, but very delicious.

View of Monterosso harbor and Ligurian Sea from our room

Afterwards, we took a quick swim in the water outside our hotel and lounged on the beach soaking up the sun and listening to the myriad of sounds around us. We soon realized we were next to a few others from the U.S., a couple from the south that had moved to Hungary eight years ago, and a teacher from California. We had a pleasant visit before heading back to our hotel room for a shower followed by enjoying the wine and anchovies (another local specialty) and listening to a jazz concert from our hotel room. Tomorrow we plan to hike the Cinque Terre trail which connects the five cities of Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore.

Dan and Carol in Monterosso

Rock sculpture in Monterosso

Boats in the water

Italy - Day 11

Florence: Mercado Centrale, Uffizi Gallery & Accedemia
We headed out to the Mercado Centrale (central market) this morning to check out the market recommended by a coworker. It did not disappoint as we wandered through area after area of fresh meat and cheese, fresh fruit and vegetable stands, home made pasta, spices and a vast variety of wines. It reminded us a little of Pike Place Market, but much cleaner. Later that afternoon, we stopped by to pick up a lunch of provolone cheese (much different than the US version), some salami Toscano (not as good as yesterday’s, but still good), farzanella (risotto with tomatoes, cucumbers, onion and spices in an oil/vinegar marinade – wonderful!) fresh made faccocia bread and fresh grapes. We took this back to the comforts of our hotel room and enjoyed our feast in quiet. We have enough left for dinner tonight as well, quite the bargain.

The Uffizi Gallery was impressive and we saw paintings by many well known artists such as Da Vinci, Michaelangelo, Boticelli, Ricci, Ruben, Rembrant and others. Everything was impressive, but we enjoyed seeing in person Boticelli’s “The Birth of Venus” and “Spring”. (I know Mr. Polka is smiling down at me as I remembered works from my humanities class). Only one piece by Michaelangelo was in the gallery, but what a piece it was. We don’t remember the name of the painting, but the colors and vividness of the paints was remarkable. We even saw a painting that had been taken by Goring during WWII and recovered in the 1970’s. We also saw marble sculptures dating from 90 b.c. to 100’s to 400’s a.d. It is amazing to realize these pieces are so old, and still remain today. After a while one becomes “arted out”, but it was a once in a life time opportunity to see these collections of great works.


We headed off to the Galleria di Accademia to see the Statue of David by Michaelangelo and other works of art. The David is very, very impressive and quite large, with an incredible attention to detail. It was more impressive than either of us imagined. We also saw unfinished sculptures by Michaelangelo which appeared to be straining to free themselves from the marble in which they were contained. Also on display were the photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe. We found it questionable as to whether these were actually art. We would not have paid to see these photographs and only looked at them because we’d paid already to get in. The galleria had a book for people to leave their thoughts about the Mapplethorpe exhibit, and one entry we saw put it succinctly by calling it a bunch of rubbish. We concurred and I had to add “Is it art?” (I am sure Polka is turning in his grave over that one.) At 14 euros each, we are not sure the tour was worth it, but at least we can say we saw Michaelangelo’s David.

Dan and Carol with the Ponte Vecchio in the back ground

After three and a half days in Florence, we are anxious to head off to Cinque Terre for our last two days on the Italian Riviera. We have walked many, many miles these past few days and seen many, many great things. It has been a unique experience, but we are ready for a quieter pace and more relaxation before our trip ends.

Italy - Day 10

Pisa and Lucca
We debated of whether to spend the day in Rome or to head to the smaller communities of Pisa and Lucca. Because of difficulty getting an internet connection to check train schedules and tickets for select places, we opted to go north and see sights closer to Florence. We talked with a couple from New York and after their description of how crowded it was in Rome, it seems like we made the right decision.

We headed off to Pisa around 9:00 a.m. and bought tickets at the station. We decided to wing our trips, as so far it has been fine. We arrived in Pisa around 10:30 and headed off with the rest of the masses to the Square of Miracles where the leaning tower and church are located. It was quite the zoo in this location with many cruises in for the day. We toured the site and took pictures of the leaning tower before heading off to Lucca.

Leaning Tower of Pisa

Church and Leaning Tower

Lucca is a small community not far from Pisa which still has the ancient wall surrounding its main town center. More churches, cobbled streets and narrow alleyways in this town, similar to what we have seen already. The highlight of the trip was stopping at a local market for supplies for a picnic lunch. We bought a little of the local salami, and after eating this, it makes me wonder what cheap imitation they are serving in the states. It was so good and flavorful that we wanted more, and I am not a big fan of salami. We also had a pasta salad, a risotto salad and faccocia bread and enjoyed our time under the shade of the trees. The town is impressive, but looks much like many of the other towns and cities we have seen in Italy. One thing we noticed was that it was not as clean as San Marino. That place was immaculate.

Typical Lucca alleyway with the tower and oak tree, symbol of Lucca

Italy - Day 9

Florence
We set off this morning on two separate walks around the city, the first the Renaissance Florence walk, and the second the Walk to Piazza Santo Spirito. The Renaissance Walk started at the Ponte Vecchio Bridge, the only ancient bridge in Florence to escape destruction during World War II. It was constructed in the 13th century and was used as a butcher’s and grocery shop before being replaced by goldsmiths at the end of the 16th century. Today it houses mostly jewelry shops, with smaller vendors all around, and was worth the trip to see.

Ponte Vecchio Bridge

We then traveled on to the ancient deconsecrated church of Santo Stefano al Ponte and then to the Mercado Nuovo, a site on which there has been a market for centuries. This was very neat with many merchants selling leather, silk, wool and specialty hand crafted items. It is a large structure with massive columns that covers the majority of the square, and on the south side is the famous bronze porcellino (wild boar). It is said that if you rub his snout, you will return to Florence some day. Of course we both rubbed his snout.

Mercado Nuovo

Dan rubbing the snout of the porcellino

Not far from the Mercado Nuovo was the open air sculpture gallery and the Uffizi Gallery. We did not enter the gallery, as we have reservations for viewing in a few days. Outside were many statues as well as people posing as statues. Some were so realistic you did not know at first that they were not actually statues. We did see the replica of the David outside the gallery, which was impressive. We traveled on to yet another church, the Badia Florentina, and on to the Bargelio Museum, which used to be a prison. After grabbing sandwiches to go, we headed to the Piazza di San Giovanni and the massive duomo, Santa Maria del Fiore, that dominates the square. All we can say about this is “Holy jumping up and down Batman, that sucker is huge!” This church was incredibly ornate and had so much detail. The pictures we took do not do it justice, we just simply could not get the whole thing in our camera. Being Sunday, we did not go inside, so we plan to revisit it on Tuesday when we are at the Uffizi Gallery.

Santa Maria del Fiore (at least part of it)

We traveled on see Brunelleschi’s octagonal Rotonda and on to the Piazza Santissima Annunziata where we had our first serving of gelato this whole trip. The most notable thing about these two places, other than the good icecream, was the bad smell. Florence is definitely not as clean as San Marino. From here we walked to the Piazza San Marco, the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi and the Medici Chapels. Along our route was an open air market (yet another one) that had even more goods that the Mercado Nuovo. We eventually returned to the Piazza Santa Maria Novella and had a great view of the church. In total, we walked over 2 miles and saw many, many great things. It is too much to try to put into words, so I’ll leave that to the travel books.

Santa Maria Novella Church

After a break in our hotel room for a few hours, we headed back out for a second walk around this city, this time further south in the city. We walked to the Piazza Santa Trinita which marks the meeting of three ancient roads, and then on to the church of Ognissanti which houses Botticelli’s tomb and frescoes by him and others. We entered this church (mostly because we didn’t have to pay) and were awed by the frescoes covering the walls and ceilings. It was neat to see, but we are starting to get burned out on churches. Someone told us before we left to choose our churches carefully because after a while they become overwhelming. He was right.
We crossed the Arno River to see Porto San Frediano, built in 1324, whose massive wooden doors and portions of the wall are still intact. The wooden doors are quite massive, and it’s hard to believe they are actually from the 1300’s. We stopped at a local market to buy something to take back to the hotel room for dinner. It was quite simple, but was a wonderful dinner, something the locals would eat. We wandered a while more before returning to our hotel, satisfied we had seen a good deal of this ancient city.

Porto San Frediano (notice how large the doors are compared to the cars)

Italy - Day 8

San Marino and Florence
We spent one last morning in the fairytale town of San Marino, hiking a trail up to the third tower, doing some last minute shopping and hoping to get a glance of the changing of the guard. We were successful with the first two but not the third and never did see the changing of the guard. However, it was a beautiful morning after a frightful night of thunderstorms and heavy rain, perfect for a morning hike around town.

Dan and Carol on our nature hike to the third tower

Third tower of San Marino

We headed into the lower part of San Marino, the new part of the town, for one last lunch with the team before separating and heading to the Rimini train station. We had arranged with the hotel to have a driver pick us up at our lunch location rather than catch a bus to the train station and were looking for a Voyager van. Imagine our surprise when a sharp dressed gentleman greeted us and escorted us to a Jaguar sedan for our drive. It was pure luxury (and a tad more expensive than the desk quoted us) and we moved A LOT faster than in the bus! It was totally worth it and a great ride.

We entered the train station a little apprehensive about beginning our journey on our own, hoping we would make it to Florence. We purchased tickets to Florence via Bologna and boarded the train and found seats. Our experience with city to city trains is limited to our time in England, which turns out is not the same as in Italy. In England, we could find any open seats and settle in. In Italy, you are assigned seats within a particular compartment, even for second class, and if we had looked at our tickets closer we would have figured this out. However, we did not realize this until we had chosen seats and then felt too stupid to get up and move. When the ticket man came along we stated we thought we were in the wrong seats and car and he just waved us off as if no problem. We were sure to get it right for our trip from Bologna to Florence, which was completely filled. Now that we have one trip under our belt, it doesn’t seem so unnerving.

Carol waiting for the train in Bologna

We arrived in Florence around 5:30 and proceeded to our hotel close to the train station. The hotel was once owned by the Medici family and has been artfully converted into a handful of beautiful rooms. The window to our room has a view of the duomo Santa Maria Novella and is within walking distance to many sights. We had dinner at a small restaurant before heading back to the hotel to crash. We were so exhausted from the past few days, and combined with the luxury of an air conditioned room and no noise from street sweepers or garbage collectors we crawled into bed and crashed until 8:00 a.m.

Picture of the Duomo Santa Maria Novella from our window

Italy - Day 7

Riccione & Game 4
Today was a late morning in San Marino spent walking the stone streets, taking our time before heading off to the beaches once more. A courtyard just outside our hotel, the Hotel Titano, has a statue and a large building with guards posted outside. We aren’t sure what the building is, but the guards looked neat, and there was a changing every half-hour.

Courtyard outside the Hotel Titano

Guards outside courtyard building

We headed to the city of Riccione, which is near Rimini but just a tad further south on the Adriatic Sea. Much of the team chose to spend the day again lying in the sun with jaunts to the water for a refreshing swim. Dan and I chose to walk the streets filled with shops and have a memorable lunch. We found a small restaurant that fit the bill and had one of the best meals of our stay yet. We tried the piadina, a flat bread this area is known for, and found it was much like a tortilla, albeit slightly thicker. We finished our lunch by ordering Cafe’ Italiano, or espresso, and slowly sipped the strong beverage while enjoying small pieces of sweet cake for dessert. At first the drink was a bit strong, but as we slowly consumed the café’ and cakes, the taste began to wear on us and we really began to enjoy it, perhaps as much for the atmosphere as for the food and drink itself.

Afterwards, we continued to walk via Dante and take our time looking at the shops and sights around us. We stumbled upon a small wine and grocery market and entered to see if we could find a local Sangiovese to take back to the hotel. The owner of the shop did not speak much English, and of course we spoke no Italian beyond hello and thank you. After a few minutes, Dan began to speak in Spanish and it was enough for the two to communicate. We asked the owner if he could recommend a bottle of Sangiovese and he pointed to several bottles. Dan asked what he would drink and he pointed to a keg atop a small table next to us and then gave us each a sample. It was the “all day” wine that the people of this town drink, leaving the bottles for special occasions or as presents. The locals bring whatever bottles they have to fill with the wine (even water bottles). We selected a bottle (a regular wine bottle, not the two liter the gentleman first pointed to us) and took it home to enjoy. It cost 1.70 euros, about $2.45 US, and while not a superior wine, was good enough for us to enjoy as we relaxed for the evening.

The girls played their fourth and final game at 6:00 p.m. against an American team from the east coast, UK Elite. The girls played hard and began to really start to connect on their passes to each other on the turf. The opponent got a lucky goal just over the fingertips of our goalie, which was enough for them to hang on for a 1-0 win. It was a heart breaker, as the girls really did out play the other team, especially in the second half, and it was to be the girl’s last game. They have played well the whole tournament and represented not only the US, but the city of Longview and Timber Barons soccer as well. It has been a wonderful tournament and given everyone a new perspective on soccer in the world.

The Timber Barons 93 Select Soccer team in front of the Hotel Titano, The Republic of San Marino, 2009

After the game, we headed back to the hotel for the girls to shower and change for the dance that night. It was the goalie’s 15th birthday and Teri was able to find a store to buy a birthday cake. At dinner, the team sang happy birthday and the hotel staff wheeled in her cake, a happy surprise to her. She commented it was her best birthday ever.
As the girls prepared to leave for the dance all spruced up in their dresses and makeup, it caused me to pause and reflect on the past few years. It seems like just yesterday I was helping coach them in 4th grade basketball and it is hard to believe they have grown into beautiful young women already. It reminds us to cherish our time with our own beautiful daughters and to enjoy every moment.

The dads headed off to chaperone and the moms (and Dan) gathered in the sitting area to enjoy some wine and to share tales of the day, the trip and years past. It was a fitting end to a wonderful trip so far and we thoroughly enjoyed the evening. Tomorrow it is packing day and heading our separate ways. The team will head to Milan for their flight home, while we will begin the second half of our trip in Florence.

As we lay in bed resting for the day to come, we listened to the huge thunderstorm going on outside. It was a bit eerie yet enchanting to sit in a “castle” and watch the hillside and town of stone light up from the lightening, and was so intense it reminded me a little of Frankenstein. Quite the memorable night.

Italy - Day 6

Game 3 and Bologna
The day started even earlier with a game at 9:30 against a team from New Jersey, USA. Going into the game, the Timber Barons were in first place based on a tie in game one and a 4-0 win in game two. The team we played, however, is quite good and beat the girls 3-0. It was warm once again, but there was some relief playing in the morning. One of the girls blew out her cleats in the first game, and Dan wrapped her cleat to keep the heel on. In the warm up for this game, her other cleat separated at the heel as well, so again Dan stepped up to save the day. She looked more like a football linebacker than a soccer player, but it got her through until a new pair of boots could be obtained. We had a good view of the hillside where we are staying from the soccer field we played on. You can see the three castles in the distance perched atop the cliffs.

San Marino Castles, “Our hill” as one group member stated

After returning to our hotel to freshen up, we boarded the beloved tour bus once again and headed to the city of Bologna for a quick tour. Many of the guides we read stated that Bologna is an overlooked city, with Rome, Florence and Venice getting all the tourists. However, Bologna is noted for its good food, great wine and having the oldest college in Europe, the University of Bologna established in 1087.

We arrived at the bus station for our drop off and took a short walk to the Piazza Maggiore, the main square in town. Just outside the bus station are the remains from a wall from Roman times. It just amazes me how much from the Roman times remains within Europe. On the other side of the modern street the Roman wall continued, and the massive storm sewers, likely created at the same time as the wall, were continuing to be used today to collect and convey storm water.

Ancient Roman wall

We walked along the main street in Bologna, Independenzia, under a series of porticos in search of the leaning towers, the piazza Maggiore and some much needed food. The porticos were created by the decree of the city council of the time to provide refuge for visitors, and are wide enough to allow a man to lie down completely under shelter.

One of many porticos along the street Independenzia

As we reached the Piazza Maggiore we had views of the leaning towers, the half finished church and the statue of Neptune. In the mid-evil times the towers were build by wealthy families and the taller the tower, the more money you had. The two towers in Bologna are from two families trying to out do one another. The towers have leaned over the years, with one leaning about 3 feet.

Leaning towers of Bologna

Dan and Carol in front of the Statue of Neptune

The church in the square was built to be the largest in the world, larger than St. Peter’s in Rome, but the money ran out and/or the Pope did not want a church larger than St. Peter’s, and the building was stopped. It started again years later, but instead of marble the building was continued in brick. It is an interesting sight to see.

Unfinished church in Bologna

We wandered along the city streets in search of food, walking through portions of the University of Bologna, and sections off the beaten path and finally found a restaurant for the small group of us. We followed the advice of the waiter and had a typical Italian meal of an anti-pasta plate for starters followed by pasta. The anti-pasta plate had fresh, hot bread with a platter of meats (2 kinds of salami, mortadella and prosciutto) and a cheese spread. This was terrific, and if the meal had stopped there we would all have been happy. However, our second course was two dishes of pasta: an asparagus tortellona (a cross between tortellini and ravioli) and spaghetti Bolognese. This meal has been one of the best we have eaten so far, and seems typical that when you find small restaurants hidden within the city, they have some of the best food to enjoy. As we left the basement of the restaurant we noticed it had started to rain, and not just small drops like in Washington, but large buckets of rain that comes with thunderstorms. We all just shrugged our shoulders and made our way back to our starting point.

Dan and Carol after being drenched by the rain.

Alley in city of Bologna

Having spent just a small amount of time in the City of Bologna, it becomes apparent that the modern world must fit in with the ancient buildings of the city. It is fascinating to walk along the streets and see cars driving on cobblestone and brick roads, to use sidewalks and steps made with granite and marble, and to see ancient buildings and relics of the past melded with conveniences of today. As we passed another of the many churches in the city, we noticed an ATM machine cut into the wall of a building adjacent to the church. All around the city, artifacts from centuries ago are dotted with everyday articles of today. It was a short trip to Bologna and we could have spent several more hours exploring the many sights of Bologna.