Venice

Terry and I actually got to visit Venice twice!  When we arrived in Mirano mid-afternoon on a Sunday, the kids were tired and didn't want to go into Venice.  Caleb was also feeling poorly.  So Terry and I went on a date to Venice!  It wasn't sunny, but it also wasn't very crowded.  

Thanks to FB, I had discovered that some dear friends of ours were also in Venice.  We arranged for all of us to meet them for lunch the next day.  After lunch we split up.  Terry and I hung out with our friends, Caleb and Meredith headed back to our AirBnB because Caleb had a fever, and Noah took off on his own to look at art and search for the perfect meal.

I'd been told that Venice was really overrated, but I quite enjoyed it!  We did not ride a gondola as it was about $100 each!  I was really wishing we could drive our own boat!

Rialto Bridge - Smile, Terry!

with the Franks

We really enjoyed going up in this tower!

there was a Batman boat playing the theme song

Noah love galleries.  I liked the colors the artist used here. 

Noah takes off

Pisa/Modena/Verona

 I kept a journal on the trip, so for this entry, I’m just going to copy/paste what I wrote there:

Yesterday, we left La Spezia about 9:30 and drove about an hour to Pisa.  We dropped off the kids and then found a place to park. We enjoyed taking goofy photos and watching other people take goofy photos.  I was surprised at all the other pretty buildings around.  They were also leaning - they’re just larger so it’s not as obvious. 

We drove to Lucca for lunch because I read that it was a better spot than Pisa.  But I imagined a little village with a cute town center.  It was actually a large town center with a wall around it, and we had to park and then walk in.  It would be a nice place to spend more time in, but I found myself a little aggravated because I just wanted a simple lunch.  Noah enjoyed it, though.  He got a margarita pizza AND a Nutella pizza.  I got a bean soup that was good but caused me quite a bit of discomfort later in the day.  

We decided to go to the Gelato Museum in Bologna on our way to Modena.  Turns out you can’t see anything without a reservation made ahead.  But they had a gelato store next door that we visited.  We all had some excellent gelato there!  Turns out that Noah loves pistachio gelato best, Dad and Meredith go for chocolate, and Caleb and I like lemon.  

 

We found our place in Modena easily, and it is very nice.  Turns out there is a luxury car show going on here, so we walked to the town square to see it.  This town obviously has more money than other towns.  I enjoyed being in the crowd of Italians and not an obvious tourist.  

Turns out there is a Burger King right around the corner from where we’re staying, and that sounded good to all of us.  I had hoped to do some farm to table eating here, but Caleb (who was the one most interested) didn’t choose a place, and I just didn’t want to spend that much money for something we might not even enjoy. 

The next morning we stopped by the Ferrari museum, and I drove a simulator with Caleb and Terry as my “Mother’s Day present.”  I was terrible at it!  The best part was hearing Noah and Meredith laughing hysterically in the background.  Caleb won the race, but Terry had the most consistent driving, if that makes sense.  I didn’t even finish!

We stopped by Verona on the way to Mirano, where we will stay while we visit Venice.  Here we are at Juliet’s Balcony.  I think that this town owes its popularity to Shakespeare.  

Cinque Terra

Five towns - Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, Monterosso - which we just called #1,2,3,4, and 5. Awesome hiking and views! The only bad part (other than a little rain the second morning) was the fact that two trails were closed due to rock slides. That just means we have a reason to return some day!

We stayed in La Spezia and took a short walk each day to catch the train.

Town #5

Town #4 - my favorite!

We ate lunch here both days!  It was called Fritto & Pizza. 

harbor of town #4

Town #2

Starting the hike from Town #4 to Town #3

A bar along the hike.  It was closed. 

Town # 3 - Corniglia, in the distance.  This is the only town of the five with no harbor. 

Noah strikes a pose in town #3

On the water near town #1

This gull was guarding her nest, and we got to see the babies!

One of my favorite pics of the trip!  A little excursion down a path we discovered.  

Waiting for the train

Portofino

Here we had a lovely lunch and took a fun stroll.  Noah said his margherita pizza here was the best he had, and he kept trying in vain to find another one on our trip that could to live up to it.  

We had perfect weather, though the weather apps here all forecast 99% cloud cover and rain storms.  It was 70, breezy, and beautiful!  

I'm not sure that this is a place I would ever return to given that Cinque Terre is not that far away.  The crowds are all concentrated in this one spot instead of being spread out among five towns.  Plus, though we found a parking spot in a garage, if it had not been mid-week in the off-season, we would have had no hope to park anywhere near the town!