Europe Day Thirty Five to Thirty Nine - Cinque De Terre

In the morning we all woke up a bit tired so we didn't do much. We had some toast for breakfast and relaxed. At lunch, Sage and Mom took a train to get groceries. She let us stay at the apartment to get some rest and within a couple of hours they were back. The rest of the day was spent relaxing in the small apartment as it was quite windy out and the only thing we did was make some gnocchi for dinner.

The next morning we walked down the hill and took the 5 minute train ride to Manarola for lunch. We explored around the town for a bit and then saw a restaurant at the top of the cliff so we went up to see the menu. Once we got up there the view was fantastic, but the restaurant wasn't open and the tables were filled with school kids having lunch outside.

So we went back down. At the bottom there was a restaurant that served gelato (Italian ice cream). They only had one vegetarian option for lunch so we tried the avocado, boiled egg, and lettuce sandwich which we didn't think was going to be that bad. (It's even worse then it sounds.) After we finished we all had some gelato before we left and went back to the house for the rest of the day.

 The next morning when we went into the living room Mom decided that two days of relaxing out of thirty seven was too much so she insisted that we lazy sloths should go on a hike while we were in Cinque De Terre. Knowing that we couldn't get out of it we reluctantly got ready and left the apartment. We took a train to Monterosso (the farthest village at the north end of Cinque de Terre) to walk along the beach a bit before our hike. The beach was nice and there was a big rock that was overlooking the ocean that started right on the shore so we climbed up to get a beautiful view of the ocean.

 After we left we explored the town a bit before we found the entrance to our hike. Once we did we saw that it was almost straight up so we climbed and we climbed, up and up and the hike just kept going and going.  And after an hour of hiking we were still going up and up the steep stairs of death.

 After another half hour we finally stopped going straight up and started walking only slightly up, though technically it was still up. So then we kept walking until our legs hated us and our muscles were dying so we took a little break thinking that the end was just around the bend, but it wasn't so we kept going. We ran into a group of hikers coming from the other direction. They said that we were about halfway there so we kept going. Within another hour and a half we finally made it to Vernazza.

In Vernazza Mom had promised Sage that she would get gelato if she finished the hike so we all ate our gelato at the harbor for lunch and then had fish and chips before taking a train and going back to the apartment. The second we got in the door we all collapsed from exhaustion on the bed and relaxed for the rest of the day.

 We woke up in the morning and had some breakfast before doing a bit of school like making travel videos and writing a blog post before heading out into our little village to explore. We went over to talk to the guy who takes care of the airbnb that we were staying in. He worked at a little cafe in town so we decided to meet him there. Once we got there we talked to him about our stay and that all was good. After that we got a few paninis for lunch and walked around the town and saw some of the local kids playing pickup soccer in a courtyard by a church that looked out over the ocean. After a good half hour we walked back to the apartment and did some more school and read our books until Mom and Sage went to pickup Dad in Monterossa. When they got there Dad's train was delayed so they went down to the beach and found sea glass by the shore. Dad's train finally arrived and they all came back together to the apartment. After a while Mom and Dad went to dinner in Manarola so we watched Sage while they were gone. When they came back they said they had a great time and they picked up some pizza for us on the way back. All the kids ate and then we all went to bed for the night.

 The next morning we headed over to Riomaggoire, the only village we hadn't been to yet. We walked the village for a bit and went to a small hiking trail on the side of a seaward facing cliff and got some fantastic views of the ocean. Halfway through we saw a strip of rocks that were out on the ocean. We really wanted to go down and check it out but, we didn't have enough time so we turned around and doubled back to the train station. All of us except for Dad who thought that he could make it there and back in time. We tried to argue but he's Dad so he did it anyways. We sat at the train station for ten minutes waiting for Dad to show up and he didn't. The train pulled into the station and the next one was due in an hour so we thought we were doomed. Finally as the train was about to leave we saw Dad at the other side of the train station out of breath and sweating like crazy waving his hands in the air. He ran over to us and we all got on the train just in time to go to Vernazza.

Once we got there we had some got some flatbread pizza and some gelato to eat in the harbor. While Mom, Dad and Sage finished Zaddek, Kaden, and I played in some of the rocks that make up the wave barrier and found some caverns between them. Then we decided to take a nice hike back to Corniglia.

The hike wasn't as bad as the first one and Zaddek and I created a strategy. Because we walk faster than Mom and Dad and Sage, instead of walking at their speed we walk ahead for awhile and take a nice long break until they catch up. When they do catch up we do it all over again. Most of the time we found a nice place to sit on like a rock, but we got lucky once and found a perfect olive tree to climb up and rest in. The hike took an hour and a half and when we got to back to Corniglia we got a special treat of another round of gelato (Mostly because Dad wasn't used to the heat). We all enjoyed our delicious gelato before walking the rest of the way to the apartment for the night.

Total trains: > 10 (so many short ones between all the villages we can't remember)

Total miles walked: 0.7 + 3.4 + 6.8 + 0.1 + 5.3 miles

Total flights of stairs: 47 + 82 + 83 (each flight is 12 steps!)

Europe Day Thirty Four - Cinque De Terre Travel Day

We woke up on our last day in Florence not wanting to leave but at least we had a few hours before the train left so we decided to go and see the real David statue instead of the replica. We walked the streets in the rain and the cold and promptly got lost. We asked a few people for directions but not many of them spoke English so we kept moving and from the little bits of directions we picked up along the way we walked for what seemed like an hour before we found the museum. Once we finally got to the front gate we saw the entry way blocked off with a sign that said that the museum was closed on Mondays so we took shelter from the rain in a nearby church.

We sat in the warmth for a few minutes before continuing forward to get something to eat. We found a nice place to get some hot chocolate and gnocchi before hitting the road to the train station. We did make a quick stop at an Italian belt stand because with all the walking we were doing the pants we had brought with us didn't fit us and were falling down. So we got some synthetic belts made of fake leather before heading over to the train station.

 We all said goodbye to Dad who was going on a business trip to DC in the States and had to catch a train to Milan. We were leaving Florence to relax in Cinque de Terre for five days until he got back. Dad boarded his train within a few minutes after we boarded ours. The train ride wasn't that long but we had an hour delay because we missed our connection by a few minutes (trains aren't always on time in Italy like they are in Switzerland.) So instead of moaning and depressed like Eeyore the donkey we decided to go down to the grocery store to get some food for dinner.

 Within the hour we were back at the train station with what felt like twenty pounds of groceries. We got on the train and within 5 minutes we were there. Now I know you guys might be thinking "How lazy are you people?" but the train is the best way through the mountain unless you want to hike a mountain for an hour and a half with groceries and backpacks so just put it in perspective. Once we got off the train we started the climb to our apartment. So we climbed with our backpacks and the groceries (which for some reason I was carrying with Mom) up and up and up and up.

(Our apartment was to the left of the church - yes, way up there!)

Cinque de Terre is a National Park on the west coast of Italy with 5 small villages in it all joined by train tracks or hiking trails. Four of the villages are at the bottom of the cliffs by the water and one (ours!) is up on the cliffs.

So we walked into the apartment tired, and out of breath just to find that it was super tiny. We plopped our bags down on the floor and checked out the apartment. It was cute and clean but had one bedroom stuffed with a queen bed and a small pull out couch, a living room with just enough room for another pullout couch, but the worst of all was the kitchen which had a tiny two person table, a stove and sink and a mini fridge that if the door was open would take up half the kitchen. And right next to the stove there was a door to the apartment's super tiny bathroom. On paper the apartment was the size of a medium sized living room. So we made ourselves at home and relaxed for what seemed like the first time on the trip. Mom and I cooked some simple pasta with tomato sauce and fried onions for dinner and then we all took turns eating dinner at the two person table. Once we all had dinner it wasn't long before we went to bed for the night.

Total trains: 3

Total miles walked: 5.1 miles

Europe Day Thirty Three - Florence

In the morning we woke up and got ready to leave Venice, the city of water. We walked to the train station and said our final goodbyes to the Grand Canal before boarding our train to Florence. The train ride was nice but none of us had been ready to leave Venice just yet. We arrived in Florence after a four hour train ride and started to walk to our hotel to drop of our bags. The walk was nice and it was like we had gone back in time with all the old buildings and squares. As we walked we passed the Il Duomo Di Firenze church.When we got to the hotel we couldn't check in yet so we dropped our bags in their storage room and headed out to the streets of Florence once again. We headed over to Il Doumo also known as the Florence Cathedral.

We walked in to the cathedral and it was huge, the walls were beautiful and there was a huge painting on the inside of the dome. After we took in the site we left the church and headed to the square. The square had a ton of statues in it including one very odd one called Urs Fischer that was very bad.

 There was also one with Hercules with Medusa's head in his hands with a bloody sword.

Neptune's fountain was also there but it was being fixed. There was a replica of Michelangelo's David there where the original stood for 300 years before being moved to a museum. After awhile we headed back to the hotel to get our key. We got our key and had to walk a few blocks down to find the apartment building. The apartment was nice and we relaxed for a bit before heading to the Uffizi Museum that was just down the street. We had to wait in a really big line, but it as worth it to see the art that was inside. When we finally got in we walked up the stairs into the giant halls of the museum. It was built as a hollow rectangle with a courtyard in the middle and long hallways for the sides. There was a ton of paintings inside and it was a bit hard to take it all in.

We walked around for a bit before Sage started to get bored so we headed for the exit. Once we found our way out and got back to the hotel we realized that we had nothing for dinner. After a bit of researching we decided to go to a restaurant with good reviews a few minutes down the street. We walked all the way down to the restaurant but they weren't yet open and didn't have anything for Zaddek and Sage to eat. So, we ended up going to a nice outdoor restaurant with candles and lights strung around and got some pasta, gnocchi, and cheese pizza. After we finished our delicious meal we headed back to the hotel room and went to bed for the night.

Total trains: 1

Total miles walked: 5.3 miles

Europe Day Thirty Two - Burano and Murano

In the morning we got our day-bags ready and headed out the door. We found our way back to St.Mark's square and to the docks. At the docks we bought taxi boat tickets to the islands of Burano, home of the famous colorful houses and Murano, home of the famous glass sculptures. But in order to get there you had to take three separate taxi boats that were stuffed to the rim with people. Our first stop was Murano.

 At Murano we went to a glass blowing tutorial. The way it works is that the glass welder melts the sand into a molten like state and it glows orange. He then uses a metal pipe and takes out some melted glass and rolls it across a table into a ball. Once the glass has hardened just enough that it doesn't drip he blows into metal pipe and almost like a balloon blows it into the shape of a vase. He then carefully flattens the bottom against the table. He sets that one down to cool and takes another glob of glass and starts to stretch it with metal prongs into a beautiful glass horse. Everybody in the group claps and tips the nice glass worker before heading over to the glass store. In the store there was a ton of sculptures but the most beautiful of them were the glass horses. Kaden and I both picked out a glass horse for only five dollars each. Kaden's was gold and mine was clear with one streak of blue from mane to tail. After thanking them again for the free tour we headed to the main street to find lunch and look at glass shops and sculptures.

As we walked the street we saw every type of glass animal possible. There were polar bears, lions, tree frogs, monkeys, pandas, and even lobsters. They had almost any type of animal you could imagine. Once we hit the end of the street we got some flatbread pizza and sat down next the biggest glass sculpture of them all.

Then we walked  back down the street and got on a taxi boat to Burano. After the long ride we stepped out and felt like we were in a different world. All the buildings were different rainbow colors and colorful windows, doors, boats, and canals. We walked the streets and Sage, Mom, Dad, and Zaddek bought scarfs for the cold nights ahead.

We took a ton of photos and had a cup of hot chocolate (really thick and creamy) before heading to the taxi boats in the dark. We rode back cramped again in a stupid taxi boat to Venice. At one of the last stops we grabbed some pasta for dinner before jumping back on the boat.

Once we got to our stop we walked back to the room exhausted from the long day.

Total water taxis: 5

Total miles walked: 6.1 miles

Europe Days Thirty and Thirty One - Venice

Early in the morning we left Austria and caught our first cabin train ride to Venice. We had our own booth and nice seats as we took our two connections to Venice. On the last train we had a beautiful view of the ocean meeting the city as we arrived in Venice. The first thing we saw when we left the train station was the Grand Canal. The biggest canal in Venice.

After we took in a bit of the sights we started on our way to our hotel to drop off our bags. We twisted and turned crossing many bridges and canals on the way. In fact the way Venice was built was on top of wooden poles - tons and tons of them stuck into the water to make a secure place to build.

Once we reached our apartment we dropped off our bags and decided to take a stroll and got lost in the canals and buildings of Venice. We walked for awhile before we came across the Grand Canal in its thickest part so we took a few pictures with the sun setting in the back ground.

We walked for a long time and admired the lights and canals before we finally found a good restaurant to eat at. After we ate we headed back to the apartment for the night.

 The next morning we woke up ready to go exploring. We headed out of the apartment and into the canals, gondolas, and boats of Venice. We walked and walked through the labyrinth of canals and bridges. We kept going until we finally arrived at St.Marks Square.

We admired the square and the statues and were heading towards St.Marks Cathedral when we were stopped by a huge flock of pigeons. There was a ton of them and they would fly up on your hands looking for food. At one point Zaddek had at least 10 pigeons on his hands and shoulders.

After the pigeons found out we didn't have any food we went over to St.Marks Cathedral. Inside everything looked like it was made of gold. The walls, roof and everything we walked through. Then we headed over to the Douge Palace. Once you enter the gates you come out to a beautiful courtyard with high arches and bright white paint. We walked around for a bit before we entered the museum part of the palace.

 Inside there was a ton of artifacts like war helmets, swords, horse armor, knives, and weapons. They also had really old paintings and they even had a jewel room full of rare diamonds, emeralds and rubies. They had a swan carving that had over 30 separate diamonds, 50 rubies, and 20 emeralds and sapphires. We kept walking and when we took the corner we entered a room so big that you run and play and even throw long toss. (Which means throwing at least 150 feet to 200.) Another thing is that the whole roof was a mural with paintings and really fat baby angels with bow'n'arrows in really pretty gold that covered the entire roof.

The rest of the room was made of really pretty mahogany colored wood. We stayed in the room for along time and almost didn't want to leave, but we had places to go so we made our way to the end of the museum and the exit.

After we made our way out of the museum we made a straight shot for the Rialto bridge - the oldest of the bridges across the grand canal. Once we got there we walked up the bridge and got a amazing view of the grand canal and all of the gondolas.

 After we took in the view we doubled back across the bridge for some lunch. For lunch we had pizza and a little gelato (Italian ice cream). We took it to go and ate our lunch on the side of the Grand Canal. Shortly after we finished we decided to take a ride in a gondola down the Grand Canal. The ride was amazing and we got to see Venice from the water for the first time.

The gondola driver glided us across the water and we slipped through the water like a knife through butter. When we docked we all got out and thanked the driver before heading the rest of the way home. Luckily the gondola ride got us closer to home so we didn't have to go far but we had a new problem - where to get dinner. We walked around for a long time looking for food but everything was closed until 8pm. (Italians eat late.) We wandered forever until we found a nice take out pasta place. We all ordered and before long we were back at our apartment having dinner. After dinner we all read a little before going to bed.

Total trains: 2 awesome ones
Total gondolas: 1

Total miles walked: 5.3 and 6.4 miles