Day 4: Chianti Region

Monday was one of my favorite days of our trip… we left the chaotic, tourist packed streets of Florence and headed to the calm, scenic countryside… with a tour guide.  I've never booked a private tour guide, mostly because of the $$ involved,  but since my mom was traveling with us we were able to split the cost, and I'm really glad we did it.  Francesca was fabulous… super nice and awesome with the kids.  She has three kids of her own, similar in ages to mine.  She's a native of Florence, and knew a ton about the history, culture, and politics of the area.  It really enhanced our trip. 

She took us to the famous Chianti region.  Ok, I admit, I didn't know it was famous.  And I didn't know about Chianti wine, but according to Ben and my mom, it's common knowledge. Not the first time I've been enlightened by "common knowledge" as an adult.  I blame it on my upbringing in Price.  

We got smart this time and brought the scooters.  It made a world of difference!  The girls were happy to scoot along, no whining involved! I don't think we'll ever travel without the scooters again.  

The first place she took us was a town called Greve in Chianti.  We went to a bakery and butchery and picked out items for our "picnic" which the girls were all pumped up about.  

Caroline doesn't let a bad hair day deter from her sense of coolness.
Also, close-up of my terrible bang cutting job.  Sometimes I nail it, sometimes I totally screw it up.  

So, this was cool… I didn't know until I happened upon this statue in the town square that we were in the birthplace of the famous explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano. Do you remember him from history class??   I taught my 7th graders about this dude!  He was the first European since the Vikings to explore the Atlantic coast from Florida to Canada… including the New York bay. The bridge over the opening of the New York harbor is named after him.  And this tiny town is where he was born. Cool indeed.

Can you see how pleased I am to discover this statue?

 Then we went up to a "winery" where we picnicked on the property of Francesca's friend, and of course I can't remember his name now.  We didn't do any wine tasting, obviously, but after the picnic Francesca said, "That's the first time I've done that without drinking wine, and it was still very enjoyable!"  See, you CAN have fun without alcohol.  

She then took us to this tiny medieval town called Montefioralle.  It was so quiet… nobody around except for the postman, happily delivering his mail… I guess people really do live here!

Now, this was another very cool discovery.  Francesca is standing in front of the door where some claim (including Francesca, and she is very smart) Amerigo Vespucci was born.   

Now you know who he is, right??  America was named for him!  He was the explorer that realized America was a "New World" and not Asia.  See the coat of arms and the V above the door?  Francesca said that Leonardo da Vinci was friends with the Vespucci family and had visited this home.  

She then took us to an overlook of the surrounding area and pointed out the home of Mona Lisa!  We didn't get up close to it, but Ben pulled out his long lens and that home you see is where da Vinci painted the portrait of  Mona Lisa!  Yes, very cool. 
 Now I want to read more about the history of da Vinci and this painting.  I guess it took him years to paint and perfect, and he never sold it… he always kept it… maybe he was in love with her?  But in 1910 I guess it was stolen from the Louvre by a janitor who kept it under his bed for like two years before he was discovered trying to sell it to the Uffizi gallery in his native Florence.  And that's how the Mona Lisa gained its fame… headlines all over the world reported about the stolen piece of art and the subsequent search for it.  Where could the Mona Lisa be?? Under the janitor's bed, you fools. 

Our last stop of the day was a famous medieval town San Gimignano (difficult to prononuce and to spell)

This place was a pitstop for European pilgrims headed to Jerusalem.  It also had a ton of tall towering buildings.  There used to be 70 some… now there are only fourteen or fifteen.  Anyway, it's considered a medieval Manhattan.  

I guess the towers were actually private homes and it became a competition between rival families of who could have the tallest tower, even though they only lived on the first couple floors. 

We just hung out there… enjoyed amazing gelato, scooters, and beautiful scenery.  

Oh, also, I got pooped on by a bird while standing in line for the bathroom.  Like full on pooped on.  Somehow, it went straight down my back… under my shirt and garments and actually onto my bare skin… nastiest feeling ever.  I guess it's all part of the rich cultural experience.  I also got pooped on during my mission in France.  According to Ben, it's extremely rare.  But if it happens to you once, it's very likely it will happen again.  He's so smart that husband of mine.  

Too cool for gelato.  Doesn't this look like it could be an album cover or something?

I love this sequence of Nana and James pics… thanks to our amazing photographer, Ben, of course:

Tuscany Day 3: Florence, birthplace of the Renaissance

After our short stay in Bolzano, we drove three and half hours on to Sesto Fiorentino, which is right outside Florence.  We stayed at Villa Paradisino, an authentic 16th century family owned villa.  It was sweet.   

They had orange trees, lemon trees, a ton of olive trees, a big garden, fresh herbs, etc.  The highlight of the stay was the cooking class we took in the main home.  More on that later.

Sunday morning we attended an LDS church, it was only ten minutes from where we were staying, so that worked out great.  But, it only left us half a day in Florence.  And man, there is A LOT to see and do in Florence.  We didn't begin to cover it all, but I just have to be grateful for what we were able to see and do:

Piazza della Signoria:

Neptune's Fountain by Ammannati, created in 1565!!

Loggia dei Lanzi 

This is a REPLICA of David by Michelangelo… the real one is in the Accademia Gallery, which we didn't make it to.  Shameful, I know. At least this one was free to view and admire :)

We then went to the Uffizi Gallery, Florence's famous art gallery, which I kind of wish we hadn't bothered with.  I thought it was overpriced and they wouldn't even give us a map of the museum.  You had to pay 10 euro for a book that had a map insert in it.  I relied on my travel book to get an overview of the layout, but it turned out several of the rooms, like the Raphael room, were closed for maintenance and the paintings were relocated to different parts of the museum.  So, I was frustrated.  If I had to do it over, there are other attractions in Florence I would have rather seen, but didn't get a chance to.  

One of Michelangelo's few paintings.  He mostly did sculptures

The girls did amazingly well in the museum.  Don't they look like serious art critics?

Only Ben would take a picture of this priceless treasure

We continued making our way through the Florentine streets (narrow and packed!) and crossed the famous Ponte Vecchio.  It was jam packed with tourists, but I made Em pull over to snap a few shots.  She's always a good sport about it:

Then we hiked over to the Boboli Gardens.  Everyone was pretty spent at this point.  So, we just relaxed on the grass and were extremely humored by Caroline's crazy tales of "a little shrimp."  Really, the best moments of the trip were when we just took a break, enjoyed our surroundings, and hung out with each other.

Our sad "picnic" consisted of only a crust of bread.  I was lame on the snack front.  Afterwards we went out for a delicious dinner and yummy gelato, so all is well. 

Florentine skyline, not bad, eh?

Tuscany Trip, Day 1&2

I've been seriously anticipating my mom's visit since she booked her tickets back in January.  

Planning, daydreaming, researching our trip to Italy is what got me through the winter blues.  I was so excited to have my mom come out and see this beautiful part of the world.  So excited for the kids to have her undivided attention.

There it is: undivided attention

Of course, when you're expectations run so high, there's bound to be disappointment… naturally the trip didn't go as smoothly as planned.  Nonetheless, it was a great trip.  I'll give more detail in regards to the highs and lows later.  

Mom arrived early on Thurday morning.  I picked her up from the airport with the three kids in tow.  We stopped by the new mall on the way home and did some last minute shopping for Emily… she outgrows her clothes so fast it's ridiculous.  It was fun to show Mom the new gorgeous mall.  Mom took a short nap when we got back to the house and then we spent the rest of the day relaxing at the park across the street while the kids ran around.   I finished some last minute packing… Ben had deadlines breathing down his neck at work and didn't get home until 1 a.m. The next morning we were Italy bound!

Last October I took this same route to Italy when I ran my race.  I was by myself and it was the most gorgeous drive… through the Bavarian Alps, crossing into Austria through Fern Pass, and then taking the Brenner Pass over the Alps into Italy.  So, I was excited to show Ben and Mom how beautiful it was.  April's different than October though and I was surprised at the amount of snow on our drive!  Much different look than October, but still beautiful. 

Adorable Caroline showing off the Zugspitze (highest mountain in Germany) from the Austrian side

We arrived in Bolzano, Italy (the foot of the Italian Alps) late afternoon.  We went to an archeology museum where we learned about Otzi, the 5000 year old  mummy discovered recently in the mountains nearby.  We explored the town a bit, ate dinner, and went back to our hotel.  The next morning at breakfast Emily took a bite into an apple and lost her second front tooth!  Why didn't I take a picture?!  

Here they are running around the hotel grounds:

The girls were very sad we didn't swim in the pool.  I wish I would have worked that into the itinerary… but it was pretty dang cold!

 Day 2: we took an adventurous cable car ride up to Renon, where we had a beautiful view of the Dolomites.  This cable car ride was awesome.  It took you up and up and then it glides across the top of this huge valley.  Beautiful but not for those with a fear of heights!

Once we were up on top we took a train to the last stop and then hiked to the "earth pyramids"

The "hike" was more of a very long walk through a town and why didn't we bring the stroller and scooters???  Oh, because I thought it was a hike in the woods, which it wasn't.

This is the view we were rewarded with:

"The earth pyramids" in the bottom left

Emily made it all the way

Don't you love Emily's toothless grin?? 

The cable card ride/hike was definitely the highlight of our short stay in Bolzano.  I just love the mountains here!!