Siena

Well let me first off start by saying just a wee bit about San Gimignano.  This is a very small little hill town in the heart of Tuscany.  No cars are allowed in the town wall so we parked and made our way up the hill through the most quaint steets you can imagine.  I could have taken a few hundred photos just walking up the hill let alone what I posted from our room.  Unfortunately we did have reservations in Siena so after only one night we had to move on.  We checked out of our hotel only to find that the travelling market was in the Piazza so we did a bit of shopping, ate the best gelato ever then carried on down the hill to our car. 
The drive to Siena is only an hour away but there are only 2 speeds here on the superstrada...fast and super fast so it only took about 45 minutes.  Bill Naughton told us we wouldn't have any problems driving as long as we got out of the way of anyone wanting to get past us.  It is VERY obvious when they want past, so thanks Bill, note taken.
I knew a bit about Siena before arriving but not quite enough.  Again, this is walled city and you cannot have your car inside the wall.  I knew that we were allowed to bring our car inside the wall to drop off our luggage but I didn't not realize there was a camera taking a photo of us driving in and that there was a 30 minute time limit.  So when we arrived at our apartment an hour early we didn't think anything of sitting in the car to wait for our landlady and her husband to show up.  She arrived after 90 minutes then casually asked when we had arrived. We told them we had been waiting about 1.5 hours to which the husband got very excited speaking very rapidly in Italian to his wife then bolted out the door.  The landlady then explained the wall rules and how we would be in very big trouble for being in so long with the car.  The husband suddenly came back in the house with a picture of our license plate so that he could email it asap to the Polizia so that we would not have our car towed along with a very hefty fine.  They way he reacted I was sure that the punishment was probably public hanging or possibly being shot on sight.  The police here seem very scary, flauting their guns and such.
Oh well, that was our welcome!  Our time spent in Siena was exploring the duomo, (very impressive), wandering around the town wall, meandering through the shops and most fun of all, people watching in the Campo.  The Campo is a big square beside the duomo.  There is a very famous bare back horse race that is run in the campo every year.  This square is not much bigger than a school track so it would be quite spectacular to see.  This horse race has been going on in this square for 350 years and the competition is dirty and fierce.  The only thing that is taboo is messing with a horses reigns everything else is free game including drugging the horses!

This is the Campo

This is inside the Duomo

When the race is not happening this is THE place to people watch.  There are restaurants all around the square with the chairs facing out to do just that.  Joe and I spent a lot of time here just for the fun of it.
We didn't find Siena to be a particularly pretty city but it was very lively and had a good vibe.  We got lost a couple of times which is starting to be the rule instead of the exception, but as long as we stayed inside the walls we could eventually find our way.

The duomo was very impressive. Far more beautiful inside than the Church in Pajamas in Florence. It also had a tower that we could climb to the top, which we did.  This is my gelato consumption plan.  For every one gelato, I must climb a tower. Oh forget that, bring on the gelato and pizza!

Our time is short here in Siena, only 3 nights but we are moving on to Reniella in Montefollonico to pick olives which is how this whole crazy trip all started. (Actually it was a picture that Brad took of Reniella that did it for me.  I saw it and thought I just have to go there.)  How lucky we are to be able to do it!

San Gimignano

Not much to say but wow!  This is the view from our hotel room. 
A room with a view!

Firenze

 

The picture above is taken at the top of the duomo in Florence.  More about that in a minute...

Florence is a hustling city, small in physical size but huge as far as people, culture, shopping and sightseeing is concerned.  Argueably most people come to Florence for the art galleries (Michelangelo's David lives here) but the Duomo is supposedly the 3rd largest in Europe. Let me tell you when you round the corner and see the Duomo, you don't really care if it's 3rd, 4th or tenth, it just is really impressive.  Rick Steeves describes it as a church in it's pajama's but I think they must be pretty fancy pajama's if that is what he thinks of it!

We walked from the train station through the town to our apartment. We thought that because we were going to be here for 4 nights we would like an apartment with a kitchen and laundry. This was a good call...a very good call. Our little home was a 16th century apartment with a 17th century painting on the ceiling.  Although we only had sporatic hot water, we turned a blind eye to the lttle annoyances to concentrate more on the subtle things that made this place so cool. The door going in from the street was at least 20 feet high, inside that there was an iron gate that stood at least 25 feet high and as Joe said, "I have no idea how many men it took to hang that door but count me OUT!"

The Oak Bay gang had told us where we must go and what we must see and I am so thankful that we did everything they told us to do!  The Tuesday market was incredible, the drink at the Savoy was outrageously expensive but well worth the price for the people watching, the free anipasti and the location!  (Thanks for that one Bill!)  Massimo, the leather guy (apparently THEE guy) to see about coats, was not only charming but very accomodating.  A rotten woman from a country south of ours took the coat I was going to buy, so Massimo, not only ordered one for me but he custom fit one for me to make up for the other woman taking mine.  The only stipulation was I had to come back the next day to get it. I had no problem with waiting 24 hours for my new leather coat. Steve looks absolutely fantastic in his as you can see in the picture above. 
On our way back to our apartment one night we ran into the Food Network Chef, David Adggi, who is on Restaurant Makeover.  We stopped and said hi, and asked if he had any recommendations for dinner.  I think we threw him off a bit because he looked at us funny and asked us where on earth we were from. We told him we were from Victoria and that we loved his show. He thought that it was hilarious to be recognized in Italy by some random Canadians. I don't know who was more thrilled, us for seeing him or him for being recognized!  Ha, I knew my obsession for the food network would come in handy some day!!!
 

Thanks to D'arcy who suggested we download Rick Steeves podcasts of Italy, we got free tours of the Uffizi Gallery and a walking tour of Florence which helped with the orientation.  Unfortunately, I did not do my homework and I thought the statue of David was at the Uffizi, but in fact it is in the Accademia, so we stood in line for 90 minutes, when what I really wanted to see was down the road.  By the time we got out of there it was too late to see DAVE!!!!  We have to come back to Florence to drop off the rental car so i will see him then.  I did not come all this way to see a fake David in the Piazza!
I think the highlight for us both was the walk to the top of the duomo.  463 steps up (about half the Eiffel Tower).  The warning were clear...People with heart problems and claustrophia should not enter.  I get that, it was a tight staircase, and in spots you were passing people coming down. I felt very sorry for the young woman in front of us who was afraid of heights.  After about 300 stairs you could tell the panic was starting and her breathing became loud and anxious.  The last 25 stairs she was crying her eyes out and at that point I actually understood how she felt.  I was starting to feel abit anxious myself.  The view from the top was worth it all though.  Impossible to describe. 
On our way back down I started to feel really sorry for the woman that had the panic attack, it was far scarier going down than it was going up.  That said, we were both very glad we made the trek.

We are now off to Tuscany, we are planning on staying in San Gimignano for one night before heading to Siena.  I can hardly wait to drive our rental car out of Florence. If we can drive in Australia, we can drive anywhere!!!
Oh ya, we also walked across the Ponte Vecchio (pictured below) where Joe was going to buy me a diamond necklace but I insisted he saved his money.  Is he lucky!

Tuscany here we come. 

Venice

I think I said it best on Facebook... pinch me, I must be dreaming. From the second you get off the train in Venice and head toward the Vaporetto station (the public transit water bus) you just look like a gawking idiot with a grin on your face that you can't wipe off.
We had met an Australia couple on the train so we ventured into the new territory with them.  Denise and Richard are very well travelled and his Italian was much better than mine so we took lots of directions from them.
Our Vaporetto took us right to San Marco Square which is really the hub of Venice.  Every tourist that has ever stepped foot in Venice has been in this remarkable square.  (and it seemed like they were all still there by the number of people crowding around the Basillica.)
After having left the peace and tranquility of the Cinque Terre we were thrown into tourist mecca.  I am not saying this was a bad thing, just a bit of a shock from where we came from.
We separated from our Oz friends and tried to find our hotel.  It seemed like we had been looking for our hotel forever when out of no where we looked up to see our sign.  Apparently we had walked past our lane 4 or 5 times before noticing it.  But if you have ever been to Venice you know what it is like in some of those alleys. 
There are no roads in Venice, only canals and sidewalks.  You either walk or take a boat.  We got checked into our great bed and breakfast and then headed back to the action of San Marco square.  Saint Mark's Basillica is the picture above.  We had a great night out for dinner then home exhausted.  The next day started off great with the sun shining and 2 cups of coffee in our belly.  It is not customary in Italy to have more than one cappucino with your breakfast and we got dirty looks when we asked for a second one so imagine our surprise when we were offered a refill at breakfast.  (Joe and I drink an entire pot of coffee every morning at home so we had a bit of an adjustment to the local tradition)  Off we head to explore this amazing town.  With water and little bridges everywhere we just spent the entire day with our mouth wide open in awe.  We found the Rialto fish and veggie market where all the fisherman clean, and sell their fresh fish, and window shopped in stores like Furla and Ferrari which were both 2 minutes from our hotel.

The sights and sounds were overwhelming so we headed back to the hotel for a rest before we met up with Denise and Richard for dinner.  Earlier in the day Joe and I found a very cute restaurant with a garden in the back with grapevines hanging from the ceiling so we made a reservation for later that night. 
Dinner was an experience. Firstly we were tempted by the fresh bellinis (they were invented here after all) then when we ordered a litre of the house wine, the waiter asked if we liked pinot grigio to which we replied Yes! so guess what...we got a bottle of Pinot Grigio at a mere 35 Euro a bottle (to compare this, a litre of house wine is usually somewhere in the neighbourhood of 12 Euro/litre)  Our waiter now has us hook line and sinker.  We have no idea that we just ordered one of the most expensive bottles of wine on the menu so when he asks if we want another we say Sure!!!  Antipasti, Primi, Seconde, Dolce, wine wine, Limoncella and Gelati laced with Vodka, the final bill for dinner was a whopping 245 Euro (which is just a mere $347.00 Canadian!!!!  Good thing we all have a sense of humour (and we were drunk by this point so who cares) 
Today was our day to explore Murano, an island near Venice where they make blown glass.  As we entered San Marco square a man approached us with a very official looking badge saying he was an official for the municipality of Murano and they were having special free water taxi ride and tour of a blown glass factory in Murano and would we like to follow him to our boat now.  So unbelievably, we did.

The water taxis cost 60 euro one way and by the time we got half way to Murano we were all second guessing our decision.  Perhaps the Mafiaso were waiting on the other side to rob us blind of our ridiculously empty wallets (after last night).  Maybe, we thought, they were going force us to work off our taxi fare in some unscrupulous manner.  Nope, not at all. We were taken to a glass blowing shop shown a demonstration then quickly ushered through to the store, where no doubt they expect you to buy stuff, none of which was anywhere near our budget range.  They figured out pretty quick that we were not buying so we were unceremoniously shown the back door.  (Other people were giving prosecco and encouraged to linger, I guess we just didn't look wealthy enough) As I think about it now, we were nuts to ever go with the guy in the first place but I guess it all worked out in the end.  The day ended with a gondola ride down the canal.  It doesn't get much better (some think tacky, I say wonderful) than this.  This was on the list of things to do before I die...check!  I love Venice and we won't forget our adventures here anytime soon.  Next stop...our buddy Dave...in Florence!

5 Lands

What can I say about the Cinque Terre.   Words can't describe it really but I will try.  It is magical and spectacular, quaint and amazing, rugged and beautiful all at the same time. We arrived early by train on Oct 3rd. We didn't have a place to stay but I knew from all the books we had read which town I wanted to stay in.  We headed right for Manarola which is the second town after Riomaggiore. It isn't the biggest town in the Cinque terre but in my mind the most beautiful of the bunch.  We found a small room right on the main road of the town.  What you have to know is this entire area is very mountainous so everything (and I mean everything) is up at least 50 stairs, including our room. Thank God my suitcase converts to a back pack because between running to catch trains and getting into your room, I don't know if I could have done it.  Bahhh, who needs a stair master anyway! 
We wandered around the town had some lunch then decided to take the train to Riomaggiore then walk back.  This is the easiest of the walks between the towns, only about 20 minutes, so we thought it would be a good way to start.  As we found out, the path between Manarola and Corniglia is closed so we will have to do another route instead.  On our venture through Riomaggiore we met a fantastic newlywed couple from Kelowna on their honeymoon.  We hit it off right away and because they were new to travelling we ended up helping them find a room and thus began a great friendship.  We ened up spending the rest of the day and evening with them having dinner together and making plans for the next day.  Her name is Marlo and she is a pharmasist and he is a brew master named Sebastian.  How can you not want friends like them...booze and drugs haha. 
We arranged to meet the next morning for coffee at 9:30 in order to get an early start to Monterosso.  Our plan was to take the train then walk the path back to Vernazza.  This is the most difficult part of the trail, a mere 3kms but a strenuous 2 hour hike. 
We were paid off in views that would blow your mind the entire time, sometimes a bit scary but probably one of the most memorable things I have done in my life and I am really glad Joe nudged, no, shoved, me out of my comfort zone and made me do it.  Our new friends were absolutely fantastic companions and we just had to dine with them later that night after our hike.  We went to Trattatori Billy (the real name) high on the cliff looking over Manarola, (and yes we walked though our legs were screaming by this point in the day)  Joe wanted fish which is the village specialty so in walks Luigi with a tray of fresh fish.  "Which one is yours?" he asks.  We have no idea what kind of fish it was but it was amazing.   I had freshly made  green spaghetti with mussels which I shared with Sebastian and Marlo had pommadoro.  Vino of course added to the dinner then dessert was panna cotta (OMG) and tiramisu.  I know none of you want to know what we ate but the amazing part of dinner was after we were all finished the waiter came by with a free bottle of port and a free bottle of grappa aka lighter fluid.  We all had a sip of grappa then drank the bottle of port to forget that we tried the grappa.  I will now begin to build up my tolerance for grappa because apparently it is not optional at the olive farm and we arrive there in 11 days. Oh boy!
To say we were singing like Italian on a passeggiata is an understatement.  Oh how we are loving Italy!!!

We are off to Venice tomorrow so stayed tuned...

Lost in Lucca

 We left Pisa bright and early to catch the train to Lucca.  4.00 Euro for the train for 2 of us. We couldn't believe our luck.  The train system is easy to manage and language has not been a problem...so far. 

We arrived in Lucca to grey skies and decided to take a taxi to our hotel.  The front desk woman in Pisa arranged one for us.  We got in the cab and it became very apparent that the hotel was not going to be ideal.  Our lovely Italian only speaking cab driver was half way back to Pisa when we finally were able to tell him we didn't want to stay so far from Lucca.  Eventually he turned around and was kind enough to turn the meter off and on again to head back to Lucca.  20 Euros later he dropped us off at the tourist information centre where they helped to find a B&B inside the city walls.   Everyone in Italy walks everywhere so when they told us it was just a short stroll down the road, we believed her.  It would have been a short walk if Joe had read the map correctly but it was raining so hard by that point we could no longer read it.
We arrived at the B&B soaked through but laughing at what a day we had so far.  I don't remember ever laughing at our misfortune as we have so far.  We were after all, looking for adventure!
That afternoon after the rain stopped we decided to walk around the town.  I don't think either one of us has ever felt so confused by a street system before.  By streets I mean very small alleys where cars drive by so fast you have to squeeze yourself up against the wall for fear of being run down.  After 4 hours of continuous walking we figured out that as long as you see the wall you know where you are. (definitely slow learners!)
We got home about 5 o'clock and I instantly fell asleep.  We went out for a very early dinner at 7 and home by 9:30, asleep by 9:32.
Today was sunny and glorious. We went for a long walk then we rented bikes to ride around the city wall.  It seems that everyone walks the wall on a sunny day and  now we know why.  It was tons of fun!
 We made a picnic of bread, cheese and fruit and lounged on the wall for an hour or so in the sun.  Wander wander, like everyone else...home for a rest and showers, then out for dinner.  The streets were crazy busy because it is Saturday night.  Everyone and their crying baby were out strolling.  Great people watching if nothing else.  We had a just okay dinner then came home as we have an early start.  Tomorrow the Cinque Terre!  More pictures to follow,we have a weak connection!

Pisa, and the tower that leans

So we arrived in Pisa after our 13 hours of travel from Vancouver. All in all a uneventful flight.  We were able to upgrade to first class as we had hoped so that made the long trip a little more comfy. 
Pisa is a cute little town with not much going on but the tower but we had a great night wandering the streets, eating dinner at 9:00 then crashing due to jetlag!
The next morning we got up and went straight to the tower which is only about a km away.  We bought a pedometer so we could see how far we walk in a day and so far, I would say it is a lot. 
The tower is impressive and we overheard a tour guide say that it had been built to house the bell tower.  They do not know who orginally started to build the tower because no one wanted to claim building such a disaster of architechure!  I do not know if that is true or not but it made us laugh.
Our hotel is situated right on the Arno river and is the oldest hotel in Italy.  It is starting to show its age but that, I suppose, would be the charm.  (Draining the tub floods the floor...thank God that doesn't happen when you flush!)
After the tower we decided to go find a grocery store to buy our baguette, stinky cheese and a bottle of Vino.  We were using our GPS to find it so it took us on the driving route, which took us an hour. We decided to just walk toward the river to get back to our hotel.  Come to find out, the grocery store was across the river from our hotel, literally a 4 minute walk from our hotel. 
Oh well it was worth the walk, a bottle of wine, cheese and bread costs a whopping 4.19 Euros...which is less than $6 Cdn.

I think we are gonna like Italy!