Florence, Italy: Day 6, Part 2

      There is no real way to understand how much I loved Florence, how amazing it was, how absolutely fantastic it was, without going there yourself.  Hopefully until that day comes, this blog will do. 
      In the Tuscany/Florence area, sunflower fields are like Wisconsin's corn fields.  Everywhere; all the time.  Our driver, being a Tuscan native was rather confused by our need to point out EVERY sunflower field we passed, but it was just too exciting and foreign a thing for us, to say nothing. 
     Our very first stop, before we even got to the city, led us on the narrowest road of the trip for sure(at one point we had to pull into a driveway barely long enough for the van so someone else could go down the hill), through a tiny "village".  We wound up and back down on the other side where we stopped and met a stunning view of the entire city.  Italy, of course, is known for its red roofs, rolling hills and history-rich cities.  This is exactly what we saw.    In my opinion, absolute beauty.  And then we got to the second view.  This one was closer to the city and much more touristy, another kind of otherworldly to me. :)  We could see the Duomo up close, the river, and in the distance the Ponte Vecchio.  The same gorgeous roofs that by this point felt almost like my own way of life, though they weren't.  Then Francesco took us into the heart of the city, where we kept looking from the car window on one side, to the one on the other, ooh-ing and ahh-ing at the sights.  A huge, marble arch right above us.  The river on the left.  A famous museum on the right.  And then, all at once the Duomo, right in front of us.
       We went first to see David, created by Michaelangelo in the early 1500s.  Skipping the endlessly stretching lines altogether-thanks to Francesco-we headed inside.  The Statue of David went above and beyond my expectations.  He was enormous, a 10 foot tall man with almost exact proportions as well as being incredibly intricate(down to strands of hair and fingernails).  It was a statue that was completely unflawed, except for one crack in his left leg, left there forever by a crazy man with a hammer.  In the same hall leading to David's permanent exhibit, was something almost as interesting.  About 20 unfinished Michaelangelo pieces.  They were large pieces of stone with varying amounts of human features chiseled into them.  In some you could distinguish an entire man's figure except for his hands or feet.  In others all we could see was an arm reaching out or half a face, seeming to say, "Help Me". :) 
          After this, Francesco took us to a restaurant he recommended, gave us directions to the rest of the sights, and told us we'd meet up in an hour and a half for gelato.  Lunch was eaten outside a tiny, cramped, delicious deli.  We got slices of pizza or caprese sandwiches and ate on the move.  The Duomo was our next stop.  Having seen it on the way in, we only spent a few minutes, just to take pictures and admire.  Then we walked to the Ponte Vecchio, on the way seeing the town hall, and a huge outdoor market.  The Ponte Vecchio is a bridge, one that is not used for driving across, but rather simply for hosting two parallel rows of high quality jewelry stores.  From the outside you can see the backs of the shops protruding outward slightly, windows decorated with vines and flowers.  From another, much more plain bridge, you can get a great view of the Ponte Vecchio. 
          A quick walk back and we met up with Francesco who took us to his favorite gelato shop, Grom, where he suggested the Crema, an egg cream.  I took his suggestion and boy, was I glad I did.  It was amazing.  Our first gelato in Italy was a huge success.  I ended up getting the Crema every time we had gelato from then on. 

This concluded one of my personal favorite days of the trip, leaving me with many solid memories.  Two gorgeous views, the remarkable Ponte Vecchio, the flawless David, the enormous Duomo, my first real Italian gelato....and the bright blue color of Francesco's shoes.  :)

Pisa, Italy: Day 6, Part 1

Being our very first stop in Italy, of course we were excited, seeing as more than half of us had never been and Italy is just about the most well-known, beautiful country in the world.  We didn't spend the whole day in Pisa, just a few hours, leaving in the mid-morning to go to Florence.  Our tour guide for the day was named Francesco, my personal favorite of the trip.  Omi and Opa had been to Florence before and decided to have a more relaxing day, exploring Livorno(our port city), and spending time on the ship.
        Pisa pretty much consists of 3 things: some beautiful, Italian-typical buildings, an extremely old wall around the main city, and of course the famous Leaning Tower.  This was obviously the sole purpose of our visit and on the way to the tower our guide filled us in on it's history.
        The first three floors were created at the same time, but when the creators realized it was leaning they stopped building it for centuries and it was left unfinished.  Finally, someone came along and completed building the unique structure, but it leaned more each and every year.  Then in the late 20th century a group of scientists got together and figured out a way to make an enormously heavy marble building stop leaning in the soft, sandy soil it was built on.  They injected their special substance into the soil to freeze the tower in its current place.  And here we are today.
        So we visited.  We played the mega-tourists and took pictures holding up the Tower, as well as doing some souvenir shopping.  It was incredibly striking to look at a building that was so beautiful, so intricate and so obviously heavy, leaning noticeably to its side, yet still safe to stand in.  The buildings next to the tower are also very interesting.  One has an enormous door covered in carvings and the other is a dome that is red on one side and faded to white on the other.  One of the things that I liked the most about Pisa was the fact that surrounding these famous buildings is and area of extremely green and beautiful grass that makes the whole thing less touristy to me in some way.  I adored that grass almost more than the main attraction. All in all I never expected much out of this city OR the Leaning Tower of Pisa, but both surprised me by being above and beyond my original expectations.

Monaco and Monte Carlo: Day 5, Part 2

After leaving Eze, our guide, Sandrine took us right on to Monaco.  Monaco is divided into 10 districts, the most famous of which are the Rock District(where we began our time in Monaco and where the Prince's Palace is located), The Port District (Formula I Grand Prix location) and Monte Carlo (where we ended our time in Monaco).  To get on top of "The Rock" you must drive around a mile or so of curving streets, get into a parking garage, go up an elevator, walk across a gift shop and museum AND FINALLY, ride another elevator to the top.

View of the Royal Palace in my sunglasses

       Upon our arrival, our guide showed us the Oceanographic Museum, and then took us all the way to The Main Square, going past the gorgeous Judicial Building, covered in intricate stonework; the homes of the Princesses and numerous other beautiful buildings and gardens.  The square of Monaco was what you'd probably expect: colorful, bright and open.  At the center was the Prince's Palace, a unique building itself due to it's two parts, built in completely different centuries.  On either side of the Palace are incredibly gorgeous and different views of the harbors below.  On one side you can find a view that looks completely fake (in my opinion it looked like a miniature village), with the buildings perfectly cut and colored exactly the same.  In this same spot were the original cannons and stacks of cannonballs used when Monaco was first created, to protect from outside invadors.  The second view, on the opposite side of the square is where you can see the Grand Prix track, the biggest port, the Olympic swimming pool, and a great view of the hills AND the sea.
       We see the statue of Francois Grimaldi, who tricked his family's way into power by pretending to be a monk.  After this, Sandrine leaves us to explore on our own.  We eat lunch at a little restaurant with an even littler outdoor cafe where I fell off the patio's edge twice. :)  Then we saw the changing of the guards(the hourly, much briefer version than the 11 o'clock changing), went shopping and decided to take the tour of the Prince's Palace.  The Palace had it all.  Gardens, courtyards, famous artwork, paintings, and rooms in every color.
       After this we met up with Sandrine who drove us along the beginning of the Grand Prix track, (around the harbor and nearby areas) and stopped we in Monte Carlo.  We saw the famous and beautiful Casino(which Mom and Omi went in) and the Hotel de Paris(from the movie Monte Carlo) and then explored the gardens next to these famous buildings, which were filled with fountains, sculptures and more fountains.  Finally, we finished up the Grand Prix track on the way back to the main road, where we headed back to the ship.  The end of an amazing, beautiful, colorful day.

Eze, France: Day 5, Part 1



The church in town



This was our second excursion day from the cruise ship.  We had hired another private tour guide to meet us at the dock.  She took us first to the medieval village of Eze, located between Cannes(our port, think Cannes film festival :) and Monaco, our second stop.  On our way to Eze, we stopped once to take pictures of the whole town itself, a gorgeous sight to see.  Then she took us right into the base of the city and we walked to the top.  We stopped on the meandering streets to go inside the beautiful(and bright orange) church, which was filled with gorgeous frescoes and statues.  We shopped and walked and finally made it to the top where we found an exotic garden and absolutely AMAZING views of the French countryside and ports.  This viewing area is found at the prior location of the castle of Eze, (now just a few walls and bronze statues).  Let me just say, it was well worth the hike to the top.  And of course, a day wouldn't be complete for me without falling and embarrassing myself and this was no exception.  On the way back down I slipped and fell full out.  :)  All in a day.  Back on the road again, now, we headed of to Monaco, our second stop. 





The view from the top



Provence and the Cote 'd Azur, France: Day 4



The cliffs of Provence



Our first excursion day on the ship was to Provence.  I was extremely excited for this day and it did not disappoint.  We hired a private guide for the day, to show us the sights.  They met us at the dock and had already come up with a plan for the entire day.  Our first stop was to a tiny town about 25 minutes away from the port of Toulon, where a typical Provencal market was being held on the main street.  There were vendors selling everything from fresh fruit, to clothes, to olives, to knives.  We meandered the market street and stopped to get some coffee and tea at a cafe.  The marketplace is a setting where you can really immerse yourself in the non tourist culture of a place.  Our second stop was what our guides, David (the main guide) and Vincent (driver), called the French equivalent to the Fjords of Norway.  Our journey to these cliffs led us on a long, narrow and incredibly foggy road with stunning, but fleeting views of the port on one side and great views of the mountains on the other.  We stopped once to take photos of the mountains and then got back in the car to finish the drive to the main cliff view.  It was quite amazing.  The fog blanketed the towns below as well as the countless vineyards scattered throughout the valley.  After this we continued our drive to another small town, on the way seeing the basilica built into the high cliff faces where Mary Magdalene's body was discovered in a cave where she lived for 30 years.  We reached the next town and had a delicious lunch.  Me and about half of our group had crepes while the others had meat and fish dishes.  My crepe of choice was prosciutto, cheese and an egg cracked on top, baked.  In this same small town we visited the Basilica de Mary Magdalene, built in her honor.  It was a gorgeous church and featured in the center was her actual skull, in a container and framed by decorative golden hair.  After this, our last stop was a private winery tour.  We learned how they make wine and the adults got to try it.  We all got to try the olive oil as well.  We rushed back to the ship after this, completing a great first day in France.





ah, France









An olive vendor



The Basilica



The gorgeous mountains

Barcelona, Spain: Days 1-3

The first stop on our trip, Barcelona, at first struck me as a loud, crowded, dirty city.  But as our time there progressed I realized that while these things may be true, it was also a city full of culture, beauty and great food.   Our first day was only a half day and we were completely exhausted after a 11 hour flight, plus jet lag.  But after dropping our bags off at our apartment and getting freshened up, we headed out anyway.
        Our apartment was located on a side street off of Las Ramblas, the main shopping avenue of Barcelona.  We went to get some food and choose to go for Spanish traditional and have Tapas.  We were happy we did.  It was absolutely delicious.  To give you an idea, Caroline and I shared: La Bamba (a large rounded fried potato filled with meat and cheese), Patatas Bravas (my favorite; baked potato chunks covered in a delicious spicy sauce), a Ham and Cheese Potato Croquette, and Pan con Tomate (Bread with Tomato).  After this we began our search for the "Big Fish" a sculpture I learned about in art class.  Fast forward to an hour later when we finally found it, took some pictures and sat on a rock wall looking at the beautiful waves of the Mediterranean coming in.
      The next day, Theo was sick all morning and we had a late start.  But eventually he was feeling a bit better and we headed off to the bus tour we had signed up to do for the day. We saw the Sagrada Familia, La Pedrera, and then got off the bus at Park Guell, a park designed by Barcelona artist, Anton Gaudi, located on the outskirts of the city.  It was one of my favorite things about Barcelona.  We ate lunch in the Park, which was filled with interesting sculptures, paths and walkways, built in a natural style.  The front of the park was beautiful with two interesting and unique buildings framing the entrance.  Across from these was a set of stairs with a balcony on top.  All of the tiles throughout the Park were uniquely painted and often in shapes of valleys of hills, giving everything an even more interesting look and feel.  We climbed to the top of the balcony where we were met with Park Guell's famous curving benches and an amazing view of Barcelona.
       After this we got back on the bus for a scenic view of other parts of the city.  Along the way we saw the Palau Nacional, The Olympic Stadium, Monjuic and other beautiful sights.  During this time Mom got sick as well and we came back to the apartment.  Later, the 5 of us who weren't sick went out to another dinner on a street similar to Las Ramblas, called La Raval and once again had fantastic Tapas in a beautiful nighttime setting.  The next morning we packed up our stuff and got on the cruise ship, leaving the vibrant Barcelona behind us.

We're Back!

Here we are, back in Wisconsin, after a FANTASTIC 2 weeks in Europe!  We left on July 13th and came home on the 26th, and let me say, OHMYGOSH!  Europe is more amazing than all the rumors, pictures and stories put together!  Now, the next 10 or so posts will be about each individual place we travelled to on this trip.  Enjoy.  :)