Friday, July 31, 2009

Conquering the Tower

If you haven't seen the blog about the castles, you really need to go to Monica's blog to check it out. This is all about Pisa.
When I was growing up, Pisa was quintessentially Italy. I don't know how or why those two items became linked in my mind, but they did. When we were in Italy in 2001, one of my most anticipated events was going to Pisa. I knew the Tower had been under renovations to correct the 'lean', but it was suppose to open that year,(and I had thought I had seen that it would be open in summer). When we arrived in Pisa, to my great disappointment, the tower was still closed to the public. We could, and did, walk around it and take tons of pictures, but I couldn't climb the tower. This time around, I wanted to be sure to go back to Pisa, as the tower was now open. Monica was amenable to that idea, so off we went. We decided to take the scenic route, well it was both scenic and an amazingly complicated route. The state roads, as opposed to the Autostrada, are not toll roads, this makes them smaller and they go through the more rural areas. Our route from Reggio Emilia to Pisa took about four hours- about twice as long as it took going back on the Autostrada- and it was mountain driving for at least three of those hours. I am not talking about Coquihalla type mountain passes, I am talkng about a slightly larger than one lane track (although it was paved) that switchbacked up and down mountains for three hours. Intense, and yet Monica claimed it was fun - I'm just glad I was in the passenger's seat. We did see some beautiful mountain views, pictures just don't do it full justice.
Well we finally arrived in Pisa, and the Campo dei Miracoli- the Duomo, Bell Tower, Baptistry, and the Camposanto (a fancy cemetary really)- is just beautiful. We stood in line at about 4:00 pm to buy tickets for the museums and entry into the various parts of the Campo dei Miracolui, and of course for me to climb the tower. My entry time for the tower was not until 7:20 pm. A lot of tourists in that little town want to climb that famous tower.
We toured through all the other buildings, and in one museum they have many Sinopie - the premilinary drawings done on the walls before the artists would paint the frescos on the fresh plaster. These were found during restoration of the Camposanto, and they are incredible, some artists had been so intricate in their sketches, and others were much more just outlines. What a sight it must have been to see all the frescos on the walls at the time ( they were done in the 1300's) Finally my time had arrived. I lined up and handed in my ticket to a bored looking Italian guy. I wonder if they get tired of all the enthusiastic tourists -ah well. The steps are narrow, steep and very worn. How many hundreds of thousands of feet have trod those stairs, Galileo Galilei was one of those multitude, as this was the tower from which he performed his experiments about gravity. There are around 290 steps so I definitely had my workout for the day. At the very top there is a spectacular 360 degree view of Pisa, of which there really is so much more than just the few blocks we explored. After our allotted time, the guards kept telling us we needed to go down, as the next group was on their way up. It was worth the climb! For supper Monica and I just found a neighbourhood cafe and had a very good meal of pasta, steak, salad, dessert, and wine. (Gotta love the Tourist Menu!) We walked back to our car as the buses were no longer running and then we drove home - on the Autrostrada - mountain driving is definitely a daytime venture. What a fabulous day.

Just for Kaitlyn


Kaitlyn, you didn't tell me that KT
had cousins in Italy who were models!
We found this magazine at the Bed and
Breakfast where we were staying. The ad
says: Valmora (brand name of this water)
makes you love it.

All about pizza ...oops... Pisa

We have been able to go to so many cool places on this trip. One day we went to Pisa, it is famous for the leaning bell tower. I bet Kaitlyn and Rachael's daddy wouldn't be so silly as to build a house on ground that is so soft the whole house would fall over, but that is what these builders did. Except instead of a house they built a very tall bell tower.


Even before it was finished being built it started to lean over, but they just kept on building it. I guess the amazing thing is that it didn't fall over entirely. We decided we needed to take a picture (like all the other tourists) where we are holding up the tower.

Then we sat on the steps of the Duomo (the church building) as we waited for Auntie Kendra to climb all the many steps of the tower - we were too tired to climb all the steps with her! There was some old Latin writing on some of the marble steps but we couldn't read it.


Then after supper we had a very long drive home, and we didn't get in until after midnight.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Climbing Castles


We had fun storming the castle... Well all we had to do was drive there and then CLIMB.



We went to two different old castles in the area. The first castle we visited is called Rosseno because it is built on volcanic rock that is reddish in colour. This castle was built about a thousand years ago, well at least the first part of it was. Then it was expanded over the next few centuries, and lived in for even longer! This castle had been built so well that only surface repairs were needed to fix it up for visiting today.

Even the dungeon (which really was just a room high up, with no skeletons in it) was kept really well.


They found a secret stair way in the walls of the original tower! The stairs ar so narrow only one skinny person at a time could climb them, and there was a second staircase for the trip down.


This castle had a garden of trees and grass around it, and one of the trees was buzzing because it is a huge nest for bees. We made sure to stay away from that tree.


Then we visited another castle in a town called Canossa, but this castle had been attacked hundreds of years ago, and so it just a ruin today.


Sunday, July 26, 2009

Meandering in Milano

We stepped around the corner of the street and just stopped. Monica and I stared in awe at the majestic Duomo in Milan.


Now I know we have been here before, but it really is so breath-takingly beautiful. We took an audioguide tour of the cathedral and were inundated with historical facts and information. What amazes me is how old parts of the structure are, but that newer acquistions have been added much more recently, it really is a work forever in progress.

We had to catch the tram into Milan, just a short block or so away from our hotel. The tram was of an older style and had wooden seats around the outer walls, and wood paneling, very retro - or is that just old?

The tram took us directly into the city, so it was very convenient. We went shopping first, but not for boring old shoes or handbags or such, no we went shopping for books and videos. Of course as 98% of the material was in Italian I had a harder time spending my money in those stores, but I did find a few things to buy. Monica, however, managed to spend a few more Euros than me.

We had lunch at a sidewalk cafe in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. We ordered pizza, the crust is much thinner and the sauce is much more just tomato, but it is so good.

We tried to go to La Scala, but there were no performances that day, we also went to Sforza castle, but got there just as all the museums were closing for the day. So we went for dinner at another restaurant that had a beautiful view of the Duomo, gleaming in the setting sun. Monica and I shared a salad, pasta dish, and dessert, and decided that was a good way to be able to have more than just one dish for supper.

As we took the tram home it poured rain and there was thunder and lightning (same storm you had maybe? just kidding) but it had mostly stopped even by the time we had to walk back to the hotel.

The next day we toured Sforza Castle, a beautifully restored castle from the 1400's. We took an audiotour of this building as well, but I can never listen to all of the information... my brain goes into overload. What is amazing is that people back then really didn't have as much stuff as we do, even the wealthy people in the castle. They did however, have lots of colour on the walls, in gorgeous tapestries, and in frescos painted on the walls and ceilings. They also seemed to like statues.



Monica and I finished our tour, then went back to the hotel and headed out. We left Milano, and only took one wrong turn on the road to our next destination - Bosco del Fracasso (A Forest of Chaotic Sound is the translation!) More about that and the amazing sights later.

Missing you in Milano

We had such a good sleep after our very long day with the plane ride. In the morning we had a nice breakfast of fruit and cookies, and then it was time to head into Milano.


We went shopping in many bookstores and found some fun souvenirs. Then we had some yummy pizza for lunch.


After lunch we toured the Duomo in Milan. The building is entirely covered in marble and has many statues and carvings on it. This cathedral was built centuries ago, but it took hundreds of years to complete, and they even add new parts these days. We met some new friends and they decided to join us on the rest of our trip.


We took the Metro (Subway) to another part of Milan where we saw a really old castle. We couldn't stay long on this day because the castle closed down at five o'clock, all we got to do was pretend to be a statue in the Ducal Courtyard.


We then had supper and went back to the hotel. It rained really hard while we were on the tram, but most of the rain had stopped before we had to get off, so we didn't get too wet.

The next day we went back into Milano to tour the Sforza castle. This castle was first built in the 1300's. but in 1450 Francesco Sforza began reconstruction of the castle for his family. They were a very important family in the area. After our castle tour, we went back to the hotel and drove to our new location. We are staying on a farm in Emilia-Romagna. There are many castles in the area, we will probably go touring them tomorrow.

Friday, July 24, 2009

La Piccola Grande Avventura - Il Primo Giorno







(for those non-Italians among you that means a Small Grand Adventure - Day One) A special Edition Blog for the nieces.

One day some very special animals got to go an a great adventure with their aunties. Cutie -aka QT and Katilyn's Kitty or K squared - aka KT (for KTwo) and Elyssa's Kitty -aka EK and Amy's Kitty-aka AK, got all packed up and headed to the airport. They were very excited to be heading to Italy for the first part of their trip. Thank you Auntie Claire for the fun flags. When we got to the airport we unloaded the bags and headed in to the terminal. We had not got very far when we noticed that QT had gone missing. Auntie Kendra raced back to the parking lot to see where QT had wandered off to, and sure enough she was there just looking around. Uncle Frank (Grampapa') then said we would have to watch her very carefully, because we all know that lambs can sometimes get lost, just ask Little Bo Peep. Once we were checked through security we had to wait for hours. It was a very long time, thank goodness for electronic toys to keep us entertained. We listened to music on Auntie Kendra's new iPod nano, and watched EK play Flight Contol on the iPhone. We hoped that the real air traffic controllers do a better job of landing planes than she did. We finally got onto our plane and buckled in for the 9 hour flight to London. We got to watch some fun movies (Monsters v. Aliens, Ice Age the Meltdown and 17 Again). Then we had to wait in London for our flight to Milano. We finally arrived in Milano and drove to the hotel. We were so tired we went straight to bed.

The Great European Adventure





...and so it begins. (Babylon 5 anyone? and yes Coli, it is a good show!)
We had a very smooth trip from Abbotsford to Seattle (thank you so much Uncle Frank and Auntie Eileen). After a delicious lunch at California Pizza Chicke..Kitchen, we got to the airport with hours to spare, which for Monica and I is not a bad thing. There were no lines in the airport, it was just smooth sailing from check in to boarding. After a long night -which included movies, pasta and wine for dinner, and TRYING to sleep- we arrived at Heathrow at 12:15 pm local time (yes that really is 4:15 am BC time!) So now we are sitting in the airport in London, waiting for our flight, and even more important what gate we will be leaving from. Our flight is at 2:55 pm, and the gate opens at 2:05 pm, so until then we don't even know where we need to go.
To be continued...
The Next Day: We arrived in Milan at about 6pm local time. We had such good flights and connections the whole way here. Our lugggage was unloaded in a few minutes, and we didn't even really have to go through customs as we had nothing to declare. (Well except how glad we were to be in Italy!) We got our car which is a Mercedes A180 - see picture for further details - or ask Monica. She says it drives well, and we sit up a bit higher in it so we get a great view of the beautiful countryside. Our hotel is very quaint and fun. We had supper last night at the restaurant here at the hotel because we were too tired to go out to eat. At this point we had been awake for about 30 hours because neither of us got any sleep on the plane. For supper I had Risotto "Vecchia Milano" - or flavoured with saffron and of course parmigiano - and Monica tried Risotto con pere dolci e toma - sweet pear and fresh cheese, it was surprisingly tasty. We both fell asleep almost the minute our heads hit the pillows. We woke up this morning to the birds singing and a wonderful cool breeze, Monica swears it smells like Italy (which is a good thing as we are in Italy) but I can't smell the difference. This morning we sat down to a breakfast of brioche and cappuccino - so good. Monica skipped the coffee and had tea instead. We also had fresh squeezed orange juice. Mmmm. I know this seems like a list of food, but really all we have done so far is travel, eat and sleep. We are heading into the city later this morning so we'll have a whole other adventure to blog about.
Monica and I will alternate posts on our blogs, so if there is nothing new on my blog, you might try Monica's at http://twocatsandamonky.blogspot.com - or I think there is a link on the side of my blog. Ciao

Thursday, July 02, 2009

Presents for a special niece.

Amanda is off at camp all summer, which means I get to send her fun packages, so she doesn't forget us...cause that's likely to happen! Actually it is mostly because I like buying her things. So the first thing she will get is a nondescript shoe box, but inside...
is a homemade card. This care package is "brought to you by the letter "S". So all things starting with S. See if you can find all the s-words yourself on this card.





Then when she gets a little farther into the box, she'll find a bunch of prizes, all wrapped and numbered of course. And no, you don't get to see the unwrapped presents, that's just for Amanda. Hopefully she doesn't actually have an internet connection like she has said, or this might not be much of a surprise for her. Oh well. I mostly posted this so I can practise taking pictures, putting them on my computer, and then blogging. Well that's it for tonight.
Posted by Picasa

How many computers does it take to make me a techie?


Why have only one computer when you can have three? Although I do have a very good reason for having so many pieces of tech. My Macbook Pro is essential for school, my iPhone is for fun and for keeping busy when I am waiting for someone, and my newest acquisition is for keeping you all up to date on Monica's and my soon to happen trip. In fact, I am blogging from this little computer right now, so that in three weeks it will be second nature.

It is pretty funny though, I have more options to "Google" something, than I have hands to type it. I guess this is good for when I have company over, we all get our own access to the web.