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.

Trip 2 Begins (Intrepid)

We spent our next full day in Rome exploring the Roman ruins including the Colosseum with our fellow travelers Scotch and Phil. Our tour guide Diane took us through the Forums and we got to see Emperor Augustus Caesar's house. It was really cool to be looking back in history - Matt enjoyed it quite a bit. We learned that after the fall of the Roman Empire and into the middle ages the forum ruins were used as cow pastures - cows were just let free in the area in between old ruins! Anyway, it was neat to see the the aqueducts and the neat innovations they’d invented so long ago.

We went into the Colosseum as well - to get a better view than we had gotten quickly the day before. We tried to picture the movie Gladiator taking place as we walked around :-). The Romans even had their own ticketing system, and you could still see the Roman numerals that marked the different arched entrances. It’s a bit hard to describe all the ruins because we heard so much history in one day - but we had a lot of fun - and it’s certainly worth going to see.

Later in the afternoon after seeing our share of sights, and after Diane left us to take care of getting tickets and other things, Scotch, Phil, Kristen, and Matt headed off in search of a little roadside ristorante for some food. The best way to find a place to eat in Rome is to wander down an alley and explore until you find a place off the main roads - the food is better, there are less tourists, and it’s much cheaper! We found a cute place to eat off the side of a small piazza. As our waiter took our order he came down with a horrible case of the hiccups, and in his broken English we struggled to understand him as we placed our orders and held in the laughter. It was an interesting start to the meal... We had decided to get what we thought was a plate of different salamis as an appetizer, but when our waiter showed up with the meats they were in a giant basket that he placed on the table along with a knife and cutting board. There were probably 20 different salamis in the basket - and we were just supposed to cut and eat whatever we wanted! They were really tasty, but by the end of the meal as the table was being cleared (2 hours later btw), our waiter expressed disappointment we had not finished the basket (which would have been impossible for even 10 people). We asked if we could take some to go, but he didn’t get our joke... He was a nice guy though, and the meal was awesome.

After the meal we headed back to the Termini - the central train station in Rome - where we met Diane and hopped on board our first Italian train...to Lucca!

Conquering the Map

Rising early, we knew we needed to figure out train tickets and how to get to the Vatican early to avoid long queues (lines). When we got to our Vatican stop, we scurried past the people from our train and up past the Vatican walls to the museum entrance. We only needed to wait 25 minutos before roaming the beautiful Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel. Centuries ago Popes liked to decorate their palace courtyards with Roman statues of nymphs, centaurs, Gods and Goddesses which is weird since they did not really approve of pagan religion. We winded our way through rooms with paintings and tapestries until we reached the Sistine Chapel. It was brilliantly colored and smack in the middle of the ceiling was Michaelangelo’s famous painting where God touches man finger to finger and gives him “the spark of life”.

After the museum we walked back around the high Vatican walls and into the proper entrance to the enormous courtyard welcoming us to Saint Peter’s Basilica aka Catholic Headquarters. We waited in line to walk below saint Peter’s in the hallways where all of the Popes have been buried. It was especially amazing to witness the priests, nuns and pilgrims who had journeyed from far places to see where John Paul II is entombed. Guards stood near while people prayed. Just beyond this was a chapel where inside the bones of Saint Peter himself are buried. Not ironically, they are buried directly below the altar which makes one think about the bible quote, “And upon this rock I will build my church.” As we left the crypt we stopped for photos of the Pope’s special guards who are the most excellent Swiss Military men.

The Basilica was amazing and is the biggest Catholic church in the world. Inside among the gold and marble were altars and smaller places to pray or go to adoration. We saw a saint that we need to check if he was incorruptible - Saint Jerome - just laying there for us to see. We were able to go to Mass as well. Good thing we have it pretty much memorized because it was in Italian!

We continued on trying to get to some more of the sites on our trusty (yet poorly to scale) map of Rome. We saw the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, and the Vittorio Emmanuele II Monument (the monument to the unification of Italy and where the Italian Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is). The Pantheon was massive and quite a sight, we threw a penny over our shoulder into the Trevi Fountain, and from the top of the Vitorrio Emmanuele we enjoyed some spectacular views of Rome and the forum ruins. Just walking around Rome was a lot of fun, it’s a really nice city to explore and wander through. Later in the afternoon we stopped at a little roadside cafe (one of thousands in the city) and Kristen conquered Italian food with some pizza :-).

With the bit of time we had left (for the day) we managed to head over to where the Colosseum, Constantine’s Arch, and the Roman Forum ruins are. We checked those out quickly before having to hop on a train back to our hotel and get ready to meet our tour leader and fellow travelers!

After getting off the train at the Termini stop near our hotel we had to stop at an ATM along the way to grab some cash (which we needed for the meeting). This was supposed to be a quick and easy stop along the way...right? However, we were not informed by the ATM Pin Length Organization (APLO, ok I made that up) that in Italy ALL bancomats (ATMs) only accept up to 6 digit pin numbers when withdrawing cash. Matt’s ATM pin is 8 digits long and Kristen could not remember hers...super. Basically, after checking every ATM we could find we ended up having to go to the meeting without the money we were supposed to have with us. More to come on this pin-travesty later...

Going into the intro meeting we were curious as to how many people were going to be on our next trip, which was run by Intrepid and was going to take us from Rome to Paris over the next 21 days. As we arrived late for the meeting we found only 3 people, and one of them was the tour leader!

We took care of the paperwork and other Intrepid requirements during the meeting, but more importantly we met our group: there was Scotch and Phil from Melbourne, Australia, and our trip leader Diane from England (though she lives outside Venice now). Scotch and Phil were married just this March...making the only two couples on the trip both on “honeymoon” (well delayed or extended honeymoon...).

Diane, as it turns out, was not actually our tour leader though... The guy that was slated to be our leader had a last minute family emergency and he flew elsewhere to see his family instead of meeting us in Roma. Diane told us at our meeting that she would need to fly back to Venice but that she would guide us for several days before Monica from Spain would be able to fly and meet us as our guide for the majority of the trip... Anyway, we were excited about starting our trip through the heart of Europe.

After the meeting and getting to know each other a bit we headed off to dinner around the corner at Salsamenteria Verdiana -- which features food from North of Rome which was fantastic. Kristen tried gnocci for the first time, thus officially coronating her a pasta-eater!

Arrivederci!

When in Rome

We have arrived in Roma! We touched down in Fuimicini airport, which is about 25 minutes outside the city. Rather than spending an outrageous amount of money on an Italian taxi, we decided to try our luck figuring out the train system. In just 10 minutes we learned enough Italian to get us around (including uscita or exit) and managed to find the train we needed. We walked down the platform as the train was there waiting to leave. Apparently, however, we missed the Italian sign that said we needed to be on the other side of the train to get on. We figured this out after walking halfway down the platform, and as we turned around to walk back around an older man looked at us and said “uno minuto!” So we ran as quick as we could, got on the train, and it left 10 seconds later. Welcome to Rome!

There were helpful people everywhere in Rome, which really helped now that it came time to locate our hotel. Walking there we enjoyed the small cafes and ristorantes along the streets. But we finally arrived at our hotel, which it turns out is in a building that’s older than America.

When the hotel worker behind the desk and the owner saw that we had heavy backpacks on, he grabbed a room key to a room only a few steps away and carried our bags into the room. They were super nice.

We had not eaten much since leaving Dublin, so we went down to a cafe steps from the hotel. When we walked in the owner was standing behind the counter and he came running around to the front of the restaurant with his hands up shouting, “I’m so happy to see you! Welcome!” He then shook our hands and told us we were his new friends. Given it was past 10pm, we thought everyone was quite lively...or perhaps he had just enjoyed a few glasses of wine already...not sure. We ate while he danced around signing Sinatra, which we thought was funny, but it was a nice way to start our time in Italia.

Western Ireland

Driving across the entire country only took four hours. We enjoyed seeing so many castle ruins along the roads. Ireland can be summed up saying there are lots of cows and sheep and stone walls dividing all of the land we could see.

Kristen practiced driving again and did a good job but felt more comfortable letting Matt drive. We arrived in Galway Bay and our Bed and Breakfast owner greeted us. We dropped our things in our cute little room and headed into the down town to see what it was like. The clouds were ominous but it was not raining so we took advantage of it! Quay Lane is full of shopping and quaint restaurants. We took a walk by the ocean and knew we were the closest to home than we would be for the rest of our trip.

The next day we explored all of the shops and found the original maker of the claddagh ring. For those of you who don’t know what a claddagh ring is: It is a ring that has a heart held by two hands with a crown on top. The heart stands for love, the hands are for friendship, and the crown is for loyalty. Girls and guys wear them on their right hand when they are single with the heart point facing out. When two people are dating they turn their rings in symbolizing that their hearts are taken. Then, when an Irish couple gets married they put their rings on their left hand, heart facing in I hope! Matt would have had some more mulah in his pocket had he just put Kristen’s claddagh on her other hand instead of the engagement ring! : ) (Matt sighs..)

We went to another neat pub called The Quays where a few guys were playing their guitars and accordion while we enjoyed Guinness. (Which is incapable of tasting the same in any other country - it doesn’t travel well.)

The next day we had the most amazing breakfast cooked by one little lady on the front porch of our bed and breakfast. The little chairs had pretty white covers and the decorations and wooden bowls reminded us of different generations ago. We hopped in our little Tiida and drove south along the beautiful coast to the Cliffs of Moher.

Trying to describe in words these cliffs is indescribable and hopefully the pictures do it some justice. We walked along the edge and even to some more dangerous parts to get the best pictures possible. The sun shone on this day which made it our best day in Ireland so far. The restaurant up there was built into the mountain itself and it was neat to eat there.

Continuing on our way we drove down to lower elevations and past more cow pastures and stone walls. We made a quick stop and a man told us about a famous portal tomb, Poulnabrone, just ten minutes down the road so we decided to make a detour. This detour took us up a mountain for a while and we got some great shots of the mountains meeting the sea and little Irish villages. Poulnabrone existed before Stonehenge and, when excavated, was found to have been a tomb for 33 people.

We finally made it to our next destination which was Bunratty Castle in a little village outside Limerick. We had fun walking around and staying in the gorgeous Castle Hotel and eating at a very popular place called Dirty Nelly’s. It was very clean. : )
The next morning we arose early for the drive cross country back to Dublin airport. Matt drove back until we got to the airport then Kristen pulled into Avis successfully! We got a short flight to Rome and, of course, we had complimentary crying baby directly behind us with big sis kicking our seats the whole three hours. it is almost funny now that every single flight we’ve had there has been crying... no... screaming babies right next to us.

Dublin

Leaving London was a fun experience. We decided not to fly to Dublin so we could see more of England’s countryside. We had inexpensive train tickets, however, in the summer months I guess the trains turn one first class car into standard class. None of these classy seats were taken so we were lucky to ride first class through all of England. Once we got to Holy Head we boarded a ferry that would carry us across the Irish sea to Dublin.

We thought that we would be on a regular ferry with simple seats and people packed in... Wrong! We rode for several hours on a luxurious ferry with three restaurants, a casino, bars, movie theatres, and observation decks. On the ferry we met two older men from Dublin who taught us magic tricks and, like everyone else, asked us what we thought of our current President. (We have yet to meet any person from another country who is a fan of him and we don’t blame them!)

It was a rainy start when we arrived in Dublin but for a few days we made the best of it. We found out that after 5 or 6pm most pubs don’t serve food any longer and only serve beer and drinks so we got a long walking tour of Dublin trying to find dinner the first night.

There are pubs on every street. Some pubs are nice and have neat floor plans while some are crappy. To be honest, we enjoyed the traditional music we heard at one pub but weren’t too impressed with Dublin overall.

We decided to take a tour of the Guinness factory and this was the highlight of Dublin for us. Guinness did a nice job explaining the process of making their well-known beer from barley to marketing. We taste tested of course and then got to pour our perfect pints ourselves which is the first pour, letting it sit for 119 1/2 seconds, and then topping it off.

We investigated rented a car and scrambled to figure out where we wanted to go in Ireland before we needed to be in Rome for our next group tour. Luckily, Avis had a free car, however, it was manual... with the wheel on the “wrong” side of the car... driving on the “wrong” side of the road!

Of course only Kristen could rent the car being older, so she had to drive it out of the parking lot which was a challenge considering she’s only ever driven automatic. Successfully, we switched spots up around the corner and we were on our way driving across the country to the west coast of Ireland!