Bon Voyage (Cruise Begins)

When we rounded the corner and saw our ship we were all very excited. Most of all, it was great to see Matt’s face because the size of our ship was ten times larger than the one we saw in Bordeaux...and Matt hasn’t been on a cruise!

We boarded the Emerald Princess ship and ran all around checking out the main balcony, the clubs, pools, dining rooms, etc. What an enormous ship! We had dinner in the Botticelli dining room and met our two waiters Dan and Ignacio “Iggy”. We set sail for Marseille, France, and enjoyed our first night in our room made up beautifully by our steward Grace.

That night we enjoyed the entertainment on the ship and said “Bon Voyage” as we left for Marseille, France. From the looks of the ship, our nice room and balcony view, and the great company - this was shaping up to be a great time in the Med.

Laurence Clan pickup @ the airport & Barcelona!

After getting to the airport early we stood by arrivals with our little plate saying “Laurence”. It was so great to see them and they seemed happy to be going to a spot where they could get some sleep. We had a REAL breakfast with bacon that didn’t look strange. It was s wonderful! When Anne gave us our bags for the cruise it was like Christmas morning (Thank you Sharon, Anne and Jennifer for the great packing!!)

We spent the afternoon walking Las Ramblas, the famous pedestrian only street where you can eat, shop, or even buy chickens. It’s crazy! We arrived on the weekend that Barcelona was celebrating their city with bands and parades. The parade that we saw was full of different drum squads, each sharing their cadences with the massive number of people out and about that day.

Later in the day we stopped for our first Barcelona meal - which ironcially turned out to be at an Italian restaurant! Anyway, we enjoyed the food and catching up the the Laurence clan - we certainly had several stories to tell. But we were all tired at this point - we’d all either just flown 8 hours and were running on over 30 hours awake or had just been on a train all day the previous day - so we went back to our hotel for a good night’s rest & to get ready for boarding our cruise the next morning!

Next stop: Med Sea!

Trek to Barcelona & Lourdes

So we were up before 5am this morning, the earliest morning so far on our trip, but for good reasons. We needed to start our long day of many train rides to get from the west of France to the Northeast of Spain. We first took a train about 3 hours to Lourdes where we planned to stop off for a while.

At Lourdes, the Basilica was celebrating the 150th anniversary of Bernadette’s apparitions in the grotto (which is right next to/underneath the Basilica). When we got off our train we saw more nuns than at world youth day. Accompanying them were nurses. When we walked down to the Basilica area we found out that on this location is a hospital, a hospice, numerous chapels, and, of course, the grotto. We watched as elders were wheeled around by volunteers and people were getting water from the fountains. Although it was rainy this afternoon, we made the best of it and went to Mass. We got some water ourselves to bring back to the States and then had a nice lunch. Unfortunately, Matt had a fall walking down from the top of the Cathedral. Even though crocs are the best, we need to get new ones because Matt has worn the tread down to basically nothing. Not a nice combination with wet, steep, stone stairs. Matt’s okay but the rest of the day sitting wasn’t the most comfortable.

We grabbed our packs from storage and then took our next train to Toulouse where we needed to catch a connecting train in less than 10 minutes. Running from platform to platform is easy since we are used to it but still very stressful! We took this next train across country to Narbone, our last stop in France (which we were thankful for after all the weeks in France up to this point!) We had about 25 minutes to get our next train so we grabbed a sandwich. Kristen put her small bag down for a minute to think about what to order. Some frenchman came right up and made Kristen nervous because he was a little rude. When she bent down to pick up her bag this man was very rude and, for the first time since we started in France, a french person stuck up for us! The lady behind the counter said some harsh sounding words to him but we don’t know what she said since it was in French. Oh well.. We walked away and ate quickly.

On our last train we had about 4 hours along the east coast of France into Spain. We saw the Med Sea were excited to see flamingos in the bay. As Matt was listening to the Ipod Kristen heard the couple sitting behind them speaking English. So excited, she turned around and asked where they were from. Los Angeles! And they were backpacking, too! How rare to meet other American backpackers (we can count the number we met on one hand).. The four of us chatted for a long time and hopefully if they are reading this they will see their “shout out”. (We hope you had a great time in Cinque Terre!!!)

When we arrived in Barcelona station we were on alert for pickpockets since Barcelona is known to be the worst city in Europe for this. We were sized up several times but decided that at 10pm not to take the subway, and rather to spend a bit more and just get a taxi. We got to a nice hotel near the airport. The nicest on our whole trip so far! We decided to sleep early since we needed to wake early to go to the airport to greet Anne, Bob, Kate, Fran, Lorraine, and Reggie!

Tours and Bordeaux

At this point in our journey, we began to feel like we lived in France and didn’t really have a desire to site see. We enjoyed walking around both Tours and Bordeaux and eating at great restaurants. However, we don’t have a ton to blog about because we didn’t do much sightseeing.

In short, we found a great chocolatier in Tours and so we bought some delicious french pastry and champagne to enjoy. We stayed in a cute little hotel and watched Marie Antoinette (and Enchanted which Matt hated) because we had just been to Palace of Versailles in Paris.

The buildings in Bordeaux were more modern and the city was very nice to walk through. Our favorite part of this area was walking at night along the boardwalk. Giant lanterns hang from the poles all along the water and many people are out walking, biking or rollerblading. Matt enjoyed seeing a small cruise ship because it got him excited for our cruise coming up. He wanted to know if our ship would be the same size as this “big” one. I didn’t say anything because I knew our ship was ten times bigger but wanted him to be shocked when he saw it.

We went to bed early because we knew we had a long day of sitting on a train ahead of us and had to be up super early.

On our own in Caen, France

Today was the first day that we were able to activate our EUrail pass. We rode from Paris to Caen, the Normandie region in north France. We got to this cute little seaside town and checked into our hotel. The owner was so nice to us. I think it also helped that we told him we were Canadian! He was so cute and sweet and wanted to help us with whatever we needed.

Just ten minutes outside of this town is Liseux. Kristen’s favorite saint of all time (St. Therese) is from here so, of course, we took the train on day one to check out the village. There, we went to the cathedral with relics of St. Therese and a huge crypt church dedicated to her with colorful mosaics that tell her story. We walked through a wax museum telling her story as well. We were able to walk around the town and go to the Carmelite convent where St. Therese once lived. We saw where she is buried and the real journal that she wrote in that was eventually published and sold everywhere called Story of a Soul. It was a great afternoon. What was interesting was inside the Cathedral. The community was getting ready for a big celebration which would start the process of St. Therese’s parents becoming saints themselves. Also, a small altar that locals were praying at that was specifically to pray for Catholics in the United States. This was very moving. Last, in one corner of the cathedral was a spot for people to leave their notes to St. Therese... thank yous for giving them miracles. There were so many plaques and notes and pictures it was amazing.

The next day we went to church at St. Pierre Cathedral which was said in French, of course. Even though we didn’t understand much, it was still Mass and we knew what parts they were at. After this we took a tram to the Normandy museum a little outside the city of Caen.

At this museum, we booked ourselves on a very small group tour of the beaches of Normandy. We were very prepared for this trip since the two nights prior we had stayed up until 1am refreshing every detail about WWI and WWII. We originally thought we could take a bus to one beach and walk around the beaches and cemeteries. However, we quickly learned how huge these beaches are and how far apart we needed to drive to get to each one.

For those who don’t know the significance of Normandy, France: In short, this is the landing spot where the Americans, Canadians, and British troops first came to fight the Germans who had pushed their way into France during WWII.

There are many cemeteries in this region. We went to the American cemetery, of course. It was beautiful. This is also where the soldiers rip who were the inspiration for the characters in the movie Saving Private Ryan. Near this cemetery is Omaha beach. Out of the five beaches Omaha was the bloodiest battle and Americans were the ones who landed here. We went to the second American beach called Utah. On this fifth beach special forces had to scale high walls to reach our enemies. They were delayed in getting to this beach because of the tides so the germans were onto them and this too was another beach where many men died from our country. We walked around the cliffs at Utah beach and we can still see the bomb craters covering it completely. We walked in pill boxes and, for the first time, I wish I had watched one of those war movies that my dad (Bob Laurence) is always watching in his recliner. I guess we’ll watch a WWII documentary soon!

The next morning we delayed getting on an earlier train and went back to the Normandy museum. It was fascinating. We learned so much about WWII and even stayed a while to take in two other special museum exhibitions. We walked along the time line for the Cold War and we were very moved by the tribute the French were paying to the September 11th tragedy. We saw artifacts like clothing, plane parts, pictures, and walked along reliving the timeline. Of course, we all watched on tv the people in other countries celebrating the fact that America was attacked. However, it was very moving to read in an exhibit what people in other countries did positively on this day.

We learned that the Queen of England had the United States national anthem played during the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace. In Berlin, 200,000 german troops marched in silence. Ireland declared a national day of mourning. Iran held a candlelight vigil. Wow.

We were able to catch the later train out of the city and to our next destination: Tours, France. As we were leaving our hotel, the owner (who thought we were Canadian) wrote in big capital letters CANADA on our handwritten bill. We smiled and said, “Merci” and he ran to grab some croissants. He put them in our hands and we walked to the station with our packs. Ha.

A Change in Plans

Hey everyone,

We're sitting in Venice right now - in our hotel near the airport. Today is our last day of the trip as we will be heading back to the states bright and EARLY tomorrow. But before we head out to explore a bit more of Venice we wanted to tell you all about our change of plans.

A few days ago while sitting on our cruise ship we were thinking about the next 30 days ahead of us - touring Central and Eastern Europe on another group organized trip. We decided that since traveling on our last trip for 3 weeks was a challenge with the small group (and we're starting to get a bit tired now that we we've been away for almost 3 months) we're going to save Central and Eastern Europe for another trip a couple years from now. However, we also want to go to Southeast Asia on a next trip - so if you're interested let us know :-)

Anyway, we'll be landing at JFK on Sunday afternoon and we're excited to see all our family and friends!

But don't worry - we still have to post about our travels through France to Barcelona, about the Med Cruise, and about the great time we're having in Venizia!

See you all soon,
Matt & Kristen

Paris! (and the end of the Intrepid Trip)

Day one in Paris... we were excited to have our guide Monica show us around. We went on an all day walking tour of the city. We walked up the step steps to Mont Marte where they were preparing for Pope Benedict to come just two days later. We got a great view of Paris from so high up and then we walked down into the red light district to see the famous Moulin Rouge.

We took the Metropolitan (subway) to the center of town to see Notre Dame. Inside is a piece of wood from Jesus’ crown and also a piece of the cross. We heard the organist practicing for the Pope’s Mass.

We stopped for pictures outside the Louvre and then down into the park that leads to Cleopatra’s needle. We then walked all the way up one of the most famous shopping streets in Paris to the Arc de Triumph for some unbelievable views. Walking next under the Eiffel Tower was so cool. We went for dinner in a small french restaurant off the beaten path. What a nice way to end the day!

On day two of Paris, we rode a train out to the beautiful countryside where we enjoyed a full day at the famous Palace of Versailles. When we arrived at the Versailles train station we walked out and saw a beautiful building. As we walked closer Matt was being quiet and then eventually said in a disappointed tone, “Is this it? I thought it would be bigger.” Shortly after that we walked around the corner and realized that we had the wrong building. Thankfully, the palace from was fifty times the size of the first building we saw!

We took a guided tour through the palace. We learned so much and it was neat how the rooms were named after the planets (of course, rotating around the king’s room which was the sun). We saw Marie Antionette’s room with the secret hidden door that she escaped through when people were storming the castle to get her. FYI - they caught her and she was beheaded...

The most beautiful part of the palace, besides the hall of mirrors, was the gardens. These gardens stretched for miles and we walked around in the hedged labyrinths, past roman statues and columns. Ponds stretched forever and kids could sail toy boats in them while older people rented row boats. We ate lunch in a great cafe on the palace grounds. What a grand place!

Later that night we met up for our final dinner with Monica. Scotch and Phil never showed which was interesting...but we had a blast with Monica, ate at a really nice French restaurant, and drank some nice French wine.

On our third day we spent our time in the most famous museums in Paris (and the world really). The Louvre and Musee D’Orsay were well worth it. The Louvre is enormous - and there too much to describe - but we took a lot of pictures and we posted some of the highlights. We had a blast and got to see most of both museums.

We left Paris on the 4th day--on our own now that the Intrepid trip was done. We headed to the train station and hopped onboard our train to Caen!

Rheims, France

Bonjour!

On the way to Rheims, the champagne region, we learned a lesson about Joan of Arc. Surprisingly, this was one saint that Kristen hadn’t researched before so, of course, she was intrigued. In short, young Joan hears three saints telling her to lead an army and defeat several troops so that a king could be coronated in the Notre Dame cathedral in Reims. At first, she didn’t have much luck trying to convince higher authorities of this task but eventually she convinced them that divine authority is telling her to do this..... so she does, but after the king is crowned, she gets greedy and wants to continue fighting. After some time Joan gets caught and is brought to Rouen where she is tricked into signing a document and is later burned at the stake. If you are interested, juicier details can be provided when Kristen gets back.

Aside from Monica teaching us about Rheims and Joan of Arc, we also got to experience our first train with the compartment of 8 seats - 4 each side facing each other. That was pretty neat - all our trains up to this point had been regular train cars with 2 seats, an aisle, and 2 more seats. It’s the little things sometimes that get us excited...moving on:

Salut! We got to clink our champagne glasses several times towards the end of our Veuve Cliquot champagne tour. We were lucky to go underground into the chalk cellars to see the history and making of some of the best champagne in the world... just one step below Dom (or so the French say). We got the skinny on which years were the best and vice versa. 2008, not a good year. 2004, drink it up! Matt’s idea is to buy many bottles when we get back. Since the vintage champagnes age incredibly well we will drink some every five years on our anniversary. Each year will get better and better!

We had fun exploring the downtown area in Reims. We ate the best dessert in France, crepes and creme brule. We also got to see the impressive Saint Remi Cathedral and the part of town where 2 people once lived that inspired Disney to write about Quasimodo and Esmerelda in Hunchback of Notre Dame.

On our last night we heard out our hotel window a bunch of chanting and singing. It sounded like a riot breaking out so, of course, Matt was brave and went out to see what the racket was. He thought it was probably some soccer fans cheering for their team but when he rounded the corner onto the main street he saw a bunch of teenagers with orange cones on their heads climbing up one of the angel statues in the center of town. Weird... Since no one spoke English we still don’t know what the orange cone protest was all about.

We are heading into France’s capital city tomorrow and we are excited to see some of the sites that we have seen on tv and in pictures many times before. Au Revior!

Dijon, France

Today we day-tripped to Beaune, the burgundy wine region in France. This was our first day in a new country so we decided to study some phrases to help us with the basics thanks to Matt’s ITouch applications. We first stopped at a French pastry shop where, of course, we tried cream puffs and eclairs. Yum! Not as many French people know English like the Swiss did so “Bonjour Madame or Misuer” did us well.

We rented bikes and rode through the countryside vineyards. It was picturesque, as the grapes were ripe and ready to be picked two weeks from now. We stopped at Chateaus to taste great wine. Our favorite was Chateau L’Ange Gardien “Guardian Angel”. Pierre, the owner, shook our hands and did the tasting for us himself. We tried fantastic 100% local vine wines plus some sparkling wines that were just as good as champagne. (He’s too far south to be able to call it champagne). We’re bringing home a special liquor (Creme de Cassis) that he makes that has been proven to prevent Parkinson's disease and some cancers - or so says some study done at Chicago University. So, if come visit for pancakes with this goodness drizzled on top you will get to try it! Food update: Matt has yet to try escargot. Kristen loves french bread and blends into the crowd carrying a baguette around the town.

Our next stop: Rheims champagne region! We are really trying to study our french basics because we are quickly learning that we must try to attempt their language before speaking ours so that they are somewhat kind to us. Au Revior!

Bern, Switzerland

On our way to France we made our last stop in Bern, Switzerland. This is the capital city. Bern means bear and got its name because the man who founded it said the city would be named after the first animal he killed.

Today, they have bears you can go feed which we did. It was sad because they’re in this pit but I guess the city is building a very large place for them next year where they can play in the woods and fish. In this city Einstein once lived. We went to an amazing Albert Einstein exhibition. Matt enjoyed reading the similarities between him and Albert. :) We read every sign and learned so much about this genius. Did you know ---- that Einstein had a schizophrenic son? or that he was asked to be president of Israel but turned down the offer because he felt he was too old for the job? or that at one point in his life, he was so tired of being well known that he wished he were a plumber.

We eventually hopped on a train and crossed over into France! Bon Sioux!

Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland

You know how at Christmas time it’s common to see train sets with cute little trains puffing through mountains in neat little villages... We feel like we are in that scene up in Lauterbrunnen. Seated at the bottom of the valley between soaring mountains with waterfalls cascading down from above us; we are loving our new destination. For three nights we’re in the most beautiful land where the mountains are snow capped and yet it is still about 75 degrees down where we are.. perfect. The waterfalls create rivers and these rivers run all over the place. The water hasn’t had anytime to get dirty since falling from the glacier above so people can fill up their water bottles right in the river. The rivers make Lauterbrunnen seem like the Caribbean waters have come to the mountains. Poland Springs... this is better.

On our first afternoon we walked through the valley to Trummelbach Falls, where ten cascades make up the waterfall; most of which is inside of a mountain. The 20,000 liters of water that it drops every minute comes from a glacier that sits on top of Mount Eiger “The North Face”, Mount Munch, and Mount Jungfrau (the tallest in the Swiss Alps).

We spent several days here and got to cable car our way to the Schilthorn. This is where James Bond shot the skiing scene from his movie Her Majesties Secret Service. We sat where he did and saw the most amazing views. We were eye level with the three large mountains I already mentioned and could see into other countries as well as down below into the gorgeous town of Interlaken. We definitely had some Swiss hot chocolate here since the temp. was significantly lower over ten thousand feet up. As for other Swiss favorites, we tried Rosti which is a potato dish and fondue.

On the way down the mountain from the top of the Schilthorn we stopped in a little town called Murren (which we want to return to during the winter as it looks like it’d be an amazing ski town) for lunch. We ate at this little restaurant in the middle of the village which had views right down the valley and looking up into the mountains. It was amazing. We’ll post a picture to show everyone - but it was by far the best view we’ve had while grabbing an afternoon meal.

As we left this fairy-tale land we cheered out our train window as marathon runners ran past us on their way from Interlaken headed towards Jungfrau. They waved back and then we waved goodbye to such a great place. Au Wiedersehen!

Lucerne to Lauterbrunnen

We are riding on a Swiss train right now traveling from Lucerne to Lauterbrunnen. This is quite possibly the most beautiful scene we have come across on our trip thus far. The lakes and rivers are bright green/blue and clear. The grass is so green and the fairytale houses built on the mountains are amazing. The train is weaving up the jagged mountains (Kristen is still breathing) where we can see marble quarries and up high snow capped mountains. Matt can not sit because he is too busy taking as many photos as he can of the scenery. Switzerland is gorgeous!

Lucerne, Switzerland

Arrivaderci Italia! Our train from Stresa to Lucerne took us through our first amazing views of the alps and into Switzerland. One immediate perk of heading into Switzerland meant nicer trains. The Swiss have got trains down. The always run on time and are always super clean and comfortable. We liked Switzerland already despite not knowing exactly what to expect during our next several days here.

As we arrived in Lucerne we thought about how it was interesting that in the US (I suppose it’s just because of the English, and not specifically that we’re from the US) we all call cities by their English name. However, every European we met including Diane and Monica call cities by their local names. For instance, Lucerne is Luzern, Roma is Rome, Venizia is Venice, and Wien is Vienna. But back to our story....

The minute we got into the city we realized how beautiful it was. We found our hotel - the Hotel Alpha which wasn’t too far from the city center and was quite nice. It was raining a bit the day we arrived, so we grabbed some umbrellas from the lobby and headed out to explore town.

Lucerne is right on Lake Lucern - go figure - and a river that drains out of the lake flows through the city. Over the river are some super old wooden bridges that date back to medieval times (though there were fires and restoration needed along the way) that were completely covered in flowers and just awesome for views along the river and pictures. A lot of the building were very German looking - as this part of Switzerland is very German (language and culture). We tried out a Swiss Chocolatier as well - which was a hyperglycemic experience. It was super tasty though.

Through exploring the city in the rain we eventually made our way over towards a little restaurant where we tried some Rösti - which is traditional Swiss entree that’s basically potatoes shopped up and baked with cheese, hams, sometimes eggs and other things on top. Kristen, being the potato enthusiast she is, could hardly contain her excitement after learning what Rösti is - but of course she ordered it with potatoes and “nothing else!” We also learned about Bier Panache (we tried Heineken Panache) which is basically 2 parts lager and 1 part Lemonade - which is Sprite over here. We know, we know, mixing beer is just not right - we got it already from “real” beer drinkers - but this was super good. Our over 21 friends will have to try it - or just go to Europe where anyone that is tall enough to see over the bar can order!

Anyway, Monica knew of a place right around the corner that did traditional Swiss dancing and music - so we wanted to check that out for the rest of the night. We found that the place charged like 75 Euro for dinner and the show each - so instead to opted for the 10 Euro option without dinner and found a little Thai place for a meal on our own first.

The show was awesome - we got to see traditional dancing and hear traditional music including the alp horn, yodeling, the massive cow bells, and playing other inanimate objects like the broom and the saw. Yes, not a mistype, we saw a guy play a broom and a wood saw - and it sounded really cool!

We had a lot of fun at the show but afterwards headed back to the hotel for the night with Edelweiss stuck in our heads. We still had tomorrow in front of us - and we hoped we’d get some better weather to explore Lucerne in.

When we woke we had gotten our wish of perfect weather! We decided to go back to the beautiful downtown and climb what is left of the medieval walls. When we reached the top of the tallest tower we had amazing views of the city, a castle, the lake, and the Alps way in the distance. The water is so clear and the lake looked gorgeous with the sun on it.

After our wall walk, we went to a monument that the Swiss built in memory of fallen soldiers. This monument is a lion with a spear in its side that is carved into the side of a mountain. The sculpture is so well done that when you look at it you really feel bad for the lion.

We learned about the Swiss soldiers while we were here - as we thought the Swiss were always neutral. Apparently, back after the middle ages the Swiss did have quite a military - which every citizen required to serve for at least some time. The military was ready to defend the country. But during all the fighting through the 17th, 18th, and 19th century the Swiss decided to make their military for hire. They were paid mercenaries fighting for anyone with money - while back home using this massive influx of money to build their cities and establish the world famous banking system we know today. They were pretty slick. But enough history...

Walking back past the side of the lake we decided to look into renting a paddle boat for the afternoon. When Matt walked up to the boat man he realized that we could rent a motorboat for several hours and did not need a boating license. We obviously chose the small boat that was paddle free.. We treated Phil and Scotch to a boat ride on Lake Lucerne and Scotch conquered a fear of being on boats. Matt and Kristen were the captains and we took our boat across the lake closer the mountains and past mansions. The pictures we got are amazing. Kristen allowed Matt to drive back to shore so she could ride with her feet in the crystal clear water. Matt would just like to point out the word Kristen used, “allowed.” :-) Moving on...

We should mention that in most places we’ve been on our trip thus far there have been swans. It seems to be a recurring theme.. and of course, there were many swans in this beautiful lake who swam right by us. Our boat ride was a highlight of Lucerne and we finished our great day with dinner at a restaurant right on the river.

We are sad to leave such a great city, however, tomorrow we will make our trek up the mountains and settle into a valley for several nights.

Auf Wiedersehen!

Lake Maggiore & Stresa

Our previous night had been back in Cinque Terre - and we were still struggling with leaving by the time we got to Stresa - but this city on Lake Maggiore had some excitement to offer us as well. Stresa is a little town along the western banks of Lake Maggiore, which is the lake in Northern Italy right to the west of Lake Como. The lake actually extends just a bit into Switzerland - but we stayed on the Italian side our nights here.

The lake is beautiful - and massive. Within the lake are the Borromeo Islands, of which the largest is Isola Bella, which the Borromeo family owns. The island is the family’s summer escape and they still visit the island to this day. We also learned that Italy’s Paris Hilton is a part of the family and visits the island occasionally as well. Super.

Anyways, we took ferrys during our full day in Stresa out to the islands. Our favorite island was Isola Bella - which in Italian means “Beautiful Island” - we decided this was an appropriate name. The island had a small hotel, the Borromeo Summer Palace, and many little restaurants and cafes on it. Touring the palace was similiar to touring the Newport Mansions back in Rhode Island - but this island had quite a bit more history. Napoleon Bonaparte had slept there one night and after his stay he was asked not to return because he smelled so bad. Unrelated to this, we learned he was a very short man - and so we starting thinking of him as the short, stinky Frenchman. In other celebrity news from the island, Charles and Diana spent the night there once as well.

We also learned that Mussolini and a French and British ambassador had signed a treaty in Stresa back before WWII broke out that basically said the three nations would be allies against German aggression. Of course we know from history that this didn’t quite go as planned in the agreement - but it was nonetheless neat to see Mussolini’s signature and such an important part of history.

The island also has some fantastic gardens in the back of the palace which we got to walk through and explore. There were pure white peacocks roaming around, statues, beautiful flowers, and of course the lake backdrop to it all.

We stayed right along the lake in a nice little hotel where our room came complete with a balcony over looking the lake - it was awesome. There wasn’t a ton else to do in Stressa so we used this as an opportunity to catch up on some much needed rest. We also got to enjoy a great dinner a the hotel next door on our second night where Kristen enjoyed some gnocci and Matt had the best seafood and pasta so far. Later that night Matt took some neat nights shots over the lake - which we’ll post for you to see.

The next morning we were off to Lucerne - thus ending our time in Italy and starting our Swiss adventures!

Milan

We left Levanto the following day by train on our way to Stresa. But we were going to stop in Milan for the afternoon on the way - for a chance to explore another great Italian city. The train ride wasn’t too long and as we arrived in Milan we were greeted with the coolest train station we’ve seen so far. It was massive and all covered by an arching roof. We learned that Mussolini built the train station and we got to see examples of Facist architecture right as we arrived. It was interesting to see how the facists really wanted to build the New Roman Empire - the architecture reflected this quite a bit.

The plan was to leave our bags at the train station - but you were only allowed to leave one 20kg bag. Both of ours, of course, were just a few kilos over that - which spurred us to finally send a few things home that we just didn’t need any longer. So thanks to Post Italia and some translation assistance from Monica, we shed about 4-5kg each off our bags and happily left our bags in lockers in the train station and headed out to explore the city.

We explored the Piazza del Duomo - or big square in the middle of the city right in front of the cathedral. The cathedral was simply massive. Monica told us that this was one of the four largest cathedrals in the world, dwarfed only by St. Peters in Rome, St. Pauls in London, and one more we could not remember. Anyway, after exploring the inside of the cathedral we got to take an elevator to the roof of the cathedral and walk around. This was cool - we got to see the massive flying buttresses and other parts of the building up close as well as take in some amazing views of Milan.

We spent the rest of our afternoon exploring the famous malls and shopping areas in Milan’s center. They were neat but Kristen and I aren’t quite the Prada and Louis type - so we just enjoyed them from the windows. Our wallets were relieved :-).

We collected our bags and then boarded a train that night for the last piece of our journey to Stresa.

Cinque Terre

First, we should tell you that Cinque Terre means “five little towns” in Italian - and that’s exactly what this place is. Mountains dive right into the sea along the coast and in between the little valleys between the mountains little towns have been built. They’re all quite close together - and while they are all right on the sea and have great views all around, they each have their own differences. The mountains that surround each village have vineyards filling their slopes and the towns themselves are filled with a few hotels, a couple restaurants, vibrantly colored homes and narrow alleys between buildings that wind their way up the sides of the hills. Hopefully that sets an image for everyone (if not, there’s always our pictures) - but this is one of our favorite places on the whole trip - so if you get the chance to go here...go! Oh, and make sure you like cats - they roam everywhere in the little villages. Anyway...

We started our day of exploring by taking the train from Levanto (where we stayed for the night) out to the furthest village, Rio Maggiore. From here we planned to hike between villages and make our way back closer to Levanto. Rio Maggiore is a tiny little village and after we walked its few streets we joined a coastal walkway that wraps around the mountains on the way to the next village, Manarolla. On the way, and as we enjoyed the crystal clear ocean and mountain views from our clifftop perch, the path continued on through a covered portion that has graffiti all over the walls. This part of the path is called the “Via del amore” which in Italian means the “path of love” - and couples are encouraged to leave their own marks on the walls as they pass through. We left a little message on the wall and took some photos.

We continued along our path to Manarolla and as we got there we explored this next tiny village and continued on our way to Corniglia - which is perched at the top of seaside cliffs. This second walk was a bit more of hike and less of walking a paved path like the first portion had been - and it was getting quite hot out by now - so Kristen and Scotch decided that when we got to Corniglia they would take trains to the next villages to explore them. Matt, Phil, and Monica decided to continue along with the hike. Before parting ways in Corniglia, though, we grabbed a bit of lunch and filled up our water bottles.

The three person hike continued, and at this point on the way to the 4th town of Vernazza, we were climbing up and down the mountains on tiny tiny paths. It was a lot of fun and the views were well worth the effort, but it was tiring at the same time. By the time that the three of us arrived in Vernazza (almost 2 hours after leaving Corniglia), Kristen and Scotch had just gotten to the town as well. So while Matt was hiking up and down mountains, Kristen was wandering around villages, shopping, and enjoying focaccia...nice. Vernazza was the most bella of the villages (beautiful). This little town was so clean and beautiful - with great food and shops - and even better views to boot. We said hello quickly but continued on our separate ways as we knew we’d be back to this town later that night.

The hike from Vernazza to Monterossa was another 2+ hours and once again involved climbing up and down mountain paths and along the top of little cliffs. The path was well worn in - and we saw a lot of people on this path --- there were a lot of stairs in the steeper portions of the path as well. I figure we hiked about 10km overall that day and along the way climbed a couple thousand stairs!

We made it to Monterosso though and Matt hopped on a train back to Levanto to get cleaned up and to relax for a little while. An hour or two later Kristen arrived at the hotel fresh from her village shop adventures with Scotch. (Monterosso, btw, was the largest village - but by this point seemed to be more of the same. Not to downplay it, it was also gorgeous, we’re just running out of ways to describe these fantastic places!)

That night, after some relaxation in Levanto we decided to go back to Vernazza for some dinner - this time directly by train which was only 2 stops away... We had dinner right by the water - the food was amazing and the views of the sunset were spectacular. We also got some fantastic photos - including what is probably our best panoramic shot yet. You’ll see this shot hanging in our home for sure. We had a blast -- and it was a perfect way to cap off a tiring day. Vernazza is one of the best places we’ve been to yet!

Levanto

When we arrived in Levanto we had traveled quite a bit by train and we were super hungry. We found some lunch right be the beach and got to enjoy our first Mediterranean views. We paid for some beach chairs a bit later in the afternoon and spent some time relaxing by the beach with our eyes shut to avoid speedo sightings. Matt was especially concerned, but all worked out. After this we headed over to a tiny shop where the owner taught us how to make pesto from scratch the Italian way. We each had a go and taste tested each others creation. Kristen’s was a bit salty as was Scotch’s, and Phil’s was bit Garlic-ey. Matt, being the master chef that he is (in no way is this true), got it just right. It was a lot of fun - and now we have a recipe to bring back home...which means pesto and wine at our house!

We tried some wine, Limoncello, and some fantastic parmesan cheese as well. The Limoncello (which is a strong liquor with Lemon flavor) from this region is supposed to be the best, and it’s usually made in cellars of people’s homes from lemon trees grown in their backyards.

We walked around the town afterwards and caught a gorgeous sunset that Matt caught a panoramic shot of we can hang in our house one day (where ever that house may be!).

We were super excited for our next day - where we would be exploring the five villages in Cinque Terre which were only a quick train ride away!

Pisa

The next morning we took a train from Lucca to Pisa to, of course, see the leaning tower. We quickly realized by looking at the buildings in this city that several are actually leaning - not just the tower (though it is the best know of the “leaners”). We learned that the Leaning Tower of Pisa, while a famous tourist attraction today, originally gained game because it is where Galileo performed some of his experiments with gravity. Yet here all the tourists stand oogling the building because it’s not straight and taking what were originally creative photos with it. We can’t speak from a pedestal though, as we did the same thing and snapped a few photos ourselves :-).

We took a stroll through the cemetery where Galileo is entombed along with many archbishops and wealthy people. Pisa is small and really the only cool thing about it is the section with the leaning tower and the baptistry which is called the Field of Miracles. The baptistry is neat and has amazing acoustics. We heard a singing demonstration inside and, of course, Kristen tried out a few notes herself just to listen!

After we finished snapping our pictures (of us trying to hold the leaning tower up or pushing it over), we took a train back to Lucca for our last night in the walled city. We are getting quite good at understanding Italian trains and figuring out the time schedules despite the Italian language.

After exploring Pisa for a little while we headed back to Lucca for our last night out on the terrace. The next morning we were off to Levanto!

Florence

On our second full day out of Lucca we took a full day trip to Florence. Monica is full of spunk and loves life itself. She dances and hums in the train stations and stops several people every twenty minutes to chat and double check we are on the right path to our next destination.

When we arrived in Florence, we were able to see how the marble buildings and the cathedral were colorful as opposed to all the other churches we had seen thus far. In the center of historic Florence we first visited the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore - which is the Duomo (cathedral/church) of Florence - it was gorgeous, and massive. The painting on the inside dome above the Altar was neat how it depicted the layers of Heaven and showed Hell/purgatory - this was one of Kristen’s favorite pieces of art in Italy. We were also impressed with the baptistry’s doors (the baptistry is right across from the cathedral itself) - they took over 20 years to create. We later learned the doors we saw on the baptistry were replicas, and the orginials were in a museum - but we couldn’t tell the difference. Whoever the people in Italy are whose job it is to make replicas of famous stuff, kudos to you. As we walked around the streets we saw some statues that were sculpted by Donetello (these were originals) - which was wild as they were just part of the streets and buildings (not in museums or anything). Street vendors, however, soon reminded us not everything in Florence is authentic as they lined the side streets with copies of famous pictures by Leonardo di Vinci and Michaelangelo - attempting to sell them to any and everyone.

Monica gave us a walking tour of Florence at first which included a central piazza (Piazza della Signoria) that held some impressive sculptures including a copy of the David and many more original Michaelangelo sculptures. We also saw Cellini’s sculpture of a man holding Medusa’s head from Greek mythology (Thank you, Mr. Graham). Later we walked down to the Arno River to take some photos that most postcards captured. Monica also gave us a local history lesson and we learned all about the Medici family - who ruled Florence/Tuscany for a long time and were basically behind the start of the renaissance.

Monica left us to venture out in this city on our own so the four of us looked for a small side street to find a little nook to eat in, since the small places make the best food! We found a tiny door that led us down into the cellar of a building where we sat and had a terrific lunch and drank amazing house wine. The house wine, btw, is better than most expensive wines you can order at restaurants back home. AND, wine here is way cheaper than ordering, let’s say... soda and about as expensive as a few waters! The cook made our first and second courses nearly ten feet from us and gave us a wave as we were leaving. Italians are so friendly!

Next, we stood in line for the Uffizi Gallery (one of the best art galleries in the world) and walked through the hallways with Phil and Scotch admiring the many paintings, mostly of Mary with her Bambino (baby). We saw a bust of just about every important person in ancient Rome as well. It was definitely a nice place to say that we have been but we are getting a little tired of studying art and sculpture already! We need to take a break so we can be ready for our ending location in Paris... which we’ve heard has a museum or two worth checking out.

Okay, one more sculpture... the best one actually! Of course it is not located in the Uffizi like most people think... it is in a more random museum across town, the Accademia Gallery. So, we paid our entrance fee and sat and admired Michaelangelo’s finest work: David. Even for a couple people who are by no means art aficionados we were stunned by the sculpted marble that is David. Nicely done MA (that’s our nickname for Michaelangelo - we feel like we know him now).

After another delightful cup of gelati, we took the train back to Lucca for a nice quiet night to end our loud and crazy day in Florence.

Lucca

Still not having read the trip notes in detail, we were pleasantly surprised to arrive in our new town of Lucca. Lucca is a small medieval town that is completely surrounded by walls. In order to get inside this beautiful village, we had to walk through a little path inside the wall and up on top where a walking path now exists. We walked through the tiny cobblestone streets to our apartment that Intrepid rents out each year. It was old fashioned but very nice with the best perk being a roof top terrace. Later, we stopped at a grocery store which was fun. Diane helped us by being interpreter of food labels and teaching us grocery store protocol such as how it is a requirement for you to wear gloves when choosing fruit to by. We bought some great wine to taste up on our terrace and headed back to watch the sunset over this beautiful little town.

The next morning we rented bikes and rode around the tops of Lucca’s walls and then ventured out along the river and picnicked there. We stopped for some gelati which is heavenly, btw, and rode all the way back completely tuckered out. We ate dinner that night at a very special place called The Black Sheep. Here, people with disabilities get a chance to work at this restaurant with a one-on-one helper and they are taught how to interact, share responsibilities, and feel a huge sense of accomplishment. How come we don’t have restaurants that we know of like this in Vernon? Our waiter was kind. He used a long check list with numbers to help tell the cook what we ordered. Our menu was numbered and so he looked at where we pointed and checked off his list. Each table has a brightly colored centerpiece with a picture on it. Ours happened to be a Flying Duck. Diane explained to us that the reason they do this is so our waiter can remember to bring our food to the table with the flying duck. The food was exceptional!

We enjoyed our terrace once again and went to sleep in anticipation for a great day visiting Florence ahead of us. Luckily, we were able to take trains to and from Lucca so we were able to unpack our big packs and stay for 4 nights taking day trips for the next two days. It was a nice change to be able to stay in one place for so many nights.

This was as our last night with our interim tour leader though. Diane was getting ready to leave us because Monica finally made it to Lucca late this same night after three layovers and a long train ride from Rome. So tomorrow we will get to meet our new tour guide Monica.