Epilogue

Was it worth it? The planning, the expense? You judge!!

What I told someone about my favorite part--too many to mention:

• Water taxi ride from the airport, then down the Grand Canl
• Seeing the girls in a gondola
• Lunch at our favorite restaurant in Venice, with our family
• Shopping for seafood at the Rialto
• Seeing Julia play with Italian kids at an outdoor restaurant in Verona
• Hearing 'Va pensiero' at the opera in Verona
• Our lovely Tuscan farmhouse
• All the hill towns
• My son-in-law's face when he saw the Leaning Tower of Pisa
• Having such a stretch time with the family

(If anyone is interested in the details such as how much things cost, either message me on facebook or email me: Gail V Barnes. I don't mind sharing because sometimes it helps to have concrete ideas so you can begin planning your trip!! Greg and I are passionate about travel and what it does to widen our world view. I don't think we've ever come back from a substantial trip without it changing our perspective in some way. Now, on to planning the next one!!!

  

The transition home

Such a great trip!

We won't let it fall!

SO tired!!!

Tuscany, Part 3

Pienza & Montepulciano

Ms. Julia and I share a birthday and the day's outing was to go to Pienza (where they specialize in Pecorino cheese)

and Montepulciano (where they produce some wine!) We had a wonderful lunch there.

Julia requested time in the pool, which she got. Nana had a nap and after waking, Julia and I got our presents!

By the fire pit, with pool in background

Jordan made a birthday dessert and we both blew out the candles.

We ended our week in Tuscany on Friday with a tour at a small winery and left the next day for Pisa and then the airport hotel in Florence.

Tuscany, part 2

Orvieto

Greg and I were really interested in the girls experiencing an Italian train ride. I'm not sure it really felt much different from the metro to them (except for the scenery, of course), but the trip to Orvieto was an easy 40 minutes. Keith, one of our landlords, had recommended it, because of the funicular and the Etruscan caves.

Ashley and Jordan at Cortona train station

Jordan and Ashley in the caves

Alison on funicular

Orvieto cathedral

Arezzo

We had intended to go to Arezzo in the morning, but reversed our plans when we had close encounter (or almost) with a small Italian car driving too quickly on the road leading to the house. It looked like they were going to hit us so John swerved to the right and into the ditch that was well-camoflouged with weeds and grass.  No one was hurt, there was nary a scratch on the car, so we decided it would be a good story to tell. . . sometime :) John took much undeserved ribbing at his expense in the next couple of days and we all noted that none of us were willing to drive the hill town roads!

Everyone's nerves after several hours at the pool and we did set off for lovely Arezzo in the afternoon. We got pictures of our boy Guido (musicians will understand. . .)

Guido of Monaco (aka Guido d'Arezzo) 

We had fun looking through the shops and watching some interesting street art, with a backdrop of a very threatening sky. 

We did find a really wonderful Tuscan restaurant. Highlights included rabbit (me), wild boar (Greg) and Jordan's pizza (arugula, shaved Parmesan, prosciutto, tomatoes), gnocchi (someone). They also served wonderful wine in half bottles and I had a conversation (in Italian!) with the proprietor about how rare it is to find those in the states. He said it was rare in Italy also.

Julia

Alison

Il gennaro (son-in-law)

Jordan

Ashley

Greg

Perugia 

The next day was a no-church, no museum day in Perugia. Greg and I had been to the museum several years ago and would have enjoyed going again but it is huge and there wasn't really enough time. We did enjoy just meandering

Greg, enjoying some Bach

and the girls got some chocolate.

Julia and the wonders of an Italian bakery

Tuscany, part 1

The intent after leaving Verona was to get to Florence for a quick trip to the Duomo and then head on to our rental in Tuscany. The highway after Bologna is somewhat harrowing but John handled it like a champ. When we arrived in the Florence suburbs, we had dueling GPS directions, between our car GPS and the one on my phone. .eventually, we arrived at the train station and parked in the underground parking area. We had a light lunch near the library of San Lorenzo, then walked through the market to get to the Duomo. We admired the replicas of the Ghiberti doors before moving on to the cathedral.

The girls had become adept at slipping a skirt over their shorts in order to get past the guards monitoring tourists' suitability for entering the cathedral. . After a bit there, electing not to climb the steps to the Duomo or the bell tower, we wandered through the mercato a bit more before going back to the car.
Even though it was only an hour and a half from Florence to Casa bel Posto (the name of our rental), we had some trepidation about the complexity of the directions. Tania, our host, had given excellent landmarks and we arrived by 7. We had just enough time to unload the van and while the girls all were ready to go into their excellent pool, John and Alison made a quick dash to the Coop (local grocery store) to get some things for dinner. John once again made spaghetti with sausage, which was excellent, but we declared a moratorium on sausage for awhile.

The house was perfect. Three bedrooms, 2 baths and a large common area:

The girls were excellent about cleaning up after dinner: 

Greg and I went to sleep (coincidentally on our 34th wedding anniversary) to the wonderful sound of the family laughing over a card game. 

The next day was a needed day of rest for everyone. The girls spent most of it in the pool. John drove Greg and I to the grocery store for more supplies. . I adore shopping at European markets but it was a free for all, particularly two hours before the market shut on a Sunday afternoon. The produce section provides some challenges, because you have to (or should) use gloves to pick out your selection, then need to memorize the product code, go to one of the scales, weigh it and affix the stamp to the plastic bag. There was only one scale that was functioning consistently and there was a lot of competition. Ultimately, we got a lot of fruit, vegetables, chicken, hamburger patties,breakfast things, sandwich fixings and various beverages for 148 euro or app. 193 dollars. . .considering that every time the seven of us sat at a restaurant, it was 100-130 bucks, you can see that cooking for ourselves was definitely cost effective.
The afternoon was more relaxation and the girls got to know the two dogs, Murphy and Stella. Stella was particularly enamored of Julia who was a bit intimidated at first her doggy enthusiasm.

Stella (chocolate lab) and Murphy

Nana, relaxing

After dinner, we drove up to Cortona and walked around the old town for a bit and got gelato.

One of many gelati 

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Verona

It's always hard to leave Venice. Greg and I reminded ourselves we have often believed it was the last time we would visit, but we always find a reason to return. We left the lovely apartment in good order and were checked out by Signora Maria's daughter, Daniella. Point of pride: she asked me, in Italian, how I came to speak Italian so well. I told her "era sempre una voglia e studiato per sei anni." (It was always a wish and I've studied for six years).

We said good-bye to the Zattere:

Vaporetto stop near the apartment

Next order of business: Vaporetto from Santo Spirito, only a few meters from our apartment and rode to Piazzale Roma where we completed the paperwork for our rental car, a Renault Elf (nine passengers!). Greg and I were more than happy to leave the driving to our son-in-law.

After driving to Verona, the plan was to leave Greg and I at the hotel while the Tisarannis went to Gardaland, an amusement park northwest of Verona. We had a GPS miscalculation and overshot Verona and had to double back. It all worked out and our room was ready a couple of hours early. Greg and I had lunch and then crashed for most of the afternoon.


After the Tisaranni's returned, they rested for a bit and then we all started getting hungry. I asked at the desk for a recommendation and the clerk recommended the Osteria Mattarana, only 2 kilometers from our hotel. It was a huge place with a very large outdoor area and was packed. They also had a playground and after deciding what she wanted to eat (small pizza, of course) Julia dived right in with the other kids.

red line pointing to Julia

Alison, the two older girls and I were all craving salads after our carb laden days but John and Greg both went for pizza. It was a lovely, balmy night and we all wished that there were places like that in the states. .good food, reasonable., calm atmosphere (read, no piped in music). It was in the middle of farmland on the city outskirts. Could such a place succeed in the States?

La famiglia!

On Friday (next day), we drove into Verona to see the Casa Di Giuletta and stroll the fancy shopping streets. The older two girls were really captivated by all the messages and the locks on the gates. That, timed with Alison and John's 16th wedding anniversary, had them clamoring for their parents to leave a lock with their names on it.

After some shopping and snacks, we went back to the hotel for a siesta before the opera. After five or so, we headed to a market which John found earlier that afternoon. We got sandwiches and snacks and made it to the Arena parking garage by 6:50 or so. The gates for those of us in the cheap stone (unnumbered seats) opened at 7, which ended up being more like 7:30. Surprisingly (ha!), there were vendors selling cushions to sit on. . .2 euros each.

Julia

Ashley

Jordan

Greg

Almost full moon over the anfiteatro

While we were waiting for the opera (Nabucco) started at 9:15 and we all read the plot and tried to figure out what was going to happen. The sets were very impressive, large pillars that could be moved to create a palace or a temple.


The highlight for Greg and I was at the end of act 3, when an enormous chorus sang Va Pensiero.
(linked to Muti conducting in Rome under a moon similar to that evening). This evening, there was so much applause, they sang it again! The girls were all doing very well, in spite of the minimal barrier provided by the cuscini (between bottoms and stone seats). Julia fell asleep on her mom and at one point jerked away a fell off her lap onto the step in front of her! Luckily, there were some people to break her fall and she sort of shook it off and climbed right back on Alison! That, in combination with the day we had planned for Saturday, convinced Greg and I that three hours of opera was quite enough.

Traveler's logistics: I was pleased that the tickets printed out from home were all accepted by the usher's bar code reader and also that our reserved parking space worked as expected. .before the opera, I had shown the attendant our voucher and he gave me back a paid receipt. John fed it into the machine at the exit and it opened it!

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