Rome

From Florence we headed south to Rome, center of the ancient universe.  Expectations were high.  

The first stop was Vatican City, where you can see some of the most amazing art collections in the whole wide world.  We ended up queuing for over two hours to get into the Vatican museums and were plagued constantly by tour guides offering various deals to skip the queue.  Was it worth the wait?  Let's have a look.  

The first item of interest I spotted on the spiral staircase up to the entrance.  It's a carving all the way from New Zealand!  A little piece of Aotearoa had made it to the Vatican.  Choice.

Onwards to the tapestry room.  I must admit I've never been that impressed with tapestries until I saw the ones in the Vatican.  Aled, my artistic consultant, further explained the fine art of weaving these sorts of tapestries.  The drawing alone is impressive but then imagine having to re-create it with tiny strands of thread from the backside of a gigantic piece of material.  Incredible.  

After perusing various rooms full of Renaissance art, we headed in the direction of the famous Sistine Chapel.  As you can see, Aled and I weren't the only ones with this plan...

Inch by inch, we were herded from room to room like cattle, admiring centuries-old frescoes overhead.  My neck was starting to get a little sore from staring upwards but I didn't want to miss anything.

While everyone looked up, they were missing some awesome stuff on the floor...

And then finally we reached the Sistine Chapel itself.  Signs demanded no cameras but in the age of digital photos and smart phones, I'm afraid no one was listening.  Snap snap, flash flash...!  The ceiling which took Michelangelo four years to complete was instantly posted on Facebook.

Afterwards, we headed over to St. Peter's Basilica, possibly the most famous of all Catholic churches.  It's hard to imagine the scale of this structure from this picture...  

...but maybe this one of Aled helps.  St. Peter's was totally awe-inspiring.

The crowds we experienced in the Vatican existed all over Rome.  No matter where we went, the mob was there.  It was here at the Colosseum...

...and here at the Roman forum...

...and here at Trevi Fountain...

...and here at the Pantheon...

By the time I arrived at the Spanish Steps, I was totally over the crowds.  "Look at that fungus on the steps!" I exclaimed to Aled.  We snapped a photo and hopped on the subway back to our hotel for a shower and dinner.

My final verdict?  Rome was a little bit too crowded for me.  Although the sights were really worth seeing, the sheer volume of people vying for photos of each and every inch of Rome's treasures detracted from the experience.  Legend has it that throwing coins over your shoulder at Trevi Fountain ensures your return to Rome.  I'm hoping my stingy euro penny toss means it might be a few years.    

Pisa and Florence

We left Cinque Terre for Pisa to see the leaning tower and I loved it.  It was another gorgeous day in Italy and I somehow found the tower hilarious.  As you may know, I'm a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt and do business improvement and project management for my job and saw many fantastic metaphors here.  Have you ever seen such a beautiful structure tilting so ridiculously?  Talk about a silly project sponsor!  

Onwards to the lovely Florence, or Firenze as the Italians call it, where we climbed up the tall straight tower next to the Duomo for an awesome view of the city.  Florence is definitely one of the most beautiful cities in Europe.

There are about a zillion museums in Florence to visit but because we only had about a day and a half there, we had to choose wisely.  We were stuck between the Uffizi gallery, which houses an impressive collection of Renaissance art bequeathed to the city by the Medici family, and the Gallerie dell'Academia, where you can see Michelangelo's famous David sculpture.  Both have notoriously long queues which you can avoid if you are organized and book in advance.

Knowing that we were heading to the Vatican later in the week, we opted for the Gallerie dell'Academia, where we were stuck in a line moving like molasses for about an hour and a half.  My process improvement skills did little to get us in the door faster.  To distract myself, I ate some gelato (the cure to just about everything).

In the end, the wait was totally worth it -- and this is not just down to David's perfectly sculpted buttocks.  Michelangelo's craftsmanship is simply astonishing and the size of the overall sculpture is incredible.  How on earth did he manage to chisel that creation out of one piece of marble?  Pure genius!

We spent the rest of the day wending our way through the streets of Florence.  Here is the famous Ponte Vecchio:

Later in the day, to reward ourselves for all our hard work spent eating prosciutto paninis and oggling at art, we had a beer in the sun:

And finally, one last pass of the Duomo in the evening sun -- what an incredible facade!

With all these beautiful creations, Florence was very inspiring.  Look at what humanity can do if it really puts its mind to something...  aren't we amazing creatures?

Cinque Terre

John and Lillie dropped us off at Riomaggiore, the first of the five villages which make up Cinque Terre.  In order from southeast to northwest, the villages are: Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and finally Monterosso.  Cinque Terre is both an Italian national park and a UNESCO World Heritage site and once I got there, I soon understood why.  

Look at Riomaggiore!  Bellissimo! 

On our first evening there, we simply sat on the rocks overlooking the water, basking in the sun and enjoying the view.  The next morning, we were blessed with an equally sunny day, so we headed down to the train station where we obtained a combination day pass for the national park and unlimited train travel between the villages.  At €10 per person, it's a bargain!

Here's the beginning of the path between Riomaggiore and Manarola, which only took about 20 minutes to walk. 

The trail between Manarola, Corniglia, and Vernazza was closed due to a landslide in 2011 so after poking around Manarola, we hopped on the train to Corniglia.  After climbing a very steep hill to get to the little town, we had a look around but came back down quickly so as not to miss the next train to Vernazza.  Although the trains run frequently, they go at random times so please don't rush down the hill at Corniglia if you don't have to.  Have a glass of wine instead. 

In Vernazza, you can still see evidence of the mudslide damage in the town and in the harbor:

Poor Vernazza!  Here's a particularly nice shot of the beleaguered town's church:

From Vernazza, we walked onwards to Monterosso along a dirt track that climbed cliffs high above the water.  This was my favorite view of the whole walk:

About two hours after leaving Vernazza, we arrived in the lovely little town of Monterosso and headed straight to the first restaurant for a late late lunch.  With a cold beer and a porcini mushroom pizza all to myself, I was a very contented lady. 



Piacenza, Morfasso and beyond

We left Cannes for Piacenza to visit an old friend of my father's, Gian Luigi.  They were friends in college and have stayed in touch ever since.  The last time Gian Luigi saw me in person was 1981, when I was only nine months old.  My mother swears it was that trip to Europe that gave me the travel bug for the rest of my life. 

Gian Luigi, or John, as likes to be called by English speakers, is a dentist in Piacenza, but spends most of his time at his house in a small town called Morfasso, up in the hills to the south of Piacenza.  Here's me and John:  

On the way up to Morfasso, he took us past Castell'Arquato, a beautiful medieval village which I just read about on Wiki.  Its origins are uncertain but it's had an interesting history over the centuries. 

An hour or so later we arrived at Morfasso, a tiny little village up in the hills, where we met Lillie and Chiara, John's wife and daughter.  They live in the last house at the top of this valley with a very lovely view where John grew up.  

John and Lillie took us out for the most delicious meals.  On Sunday, we travelled a few kilometers down the road from his house to taste some "specialities of the region" (as John calls the local food) at a farm-to-table restaurant called Ca Ciancia.  Had I known how much we would eat -- or how amazingly delicious the food would be -- I would have gone without breakfast (and maybe even the previous night's dinner!).

We started with a selection of cured meats.  The prosciutto was so tender it melted in my mouth.  Then a selection of tortelli came out, which we would probably refer to in America as ravioli.  I certaintly wasn't going to argue over the terms.  As they are known in Emilia-Romagna, tortelli contain a spinach and cheese mixture in little dough pockets which are then boiled. 

We were instructed to taste the tortelli first without any of the sauces just to ensure we tasted the distinctive flavors of the spinach mixture.  Once we tasted them plain, only then could we have them with parmesan cheese or with the mushroom sauce.  After we finished those tortelli, a plate of porcini mushrtoom tortelli were then passed around which were just as fantastic.

Here we are with the tortelli -- and two types of red wine.  You can see John, Lillie, Chiara, me and one other woman whose grandfather owned a house in Morfasso.  She lives in London but spends a fair amount of time here in the mountains soaking up la dolce vita. 

By then, it was probably an hour and a half into the meal and I was already stuffed to the gills and feeling a bit sleepy.  Little did I know there were three more courses to come!  Tortelli in broth, wild boar and a type of pork, then a selection of desserts.  We didn't get home until 5pm which means we ate and drank for over four hours.  Gosh I love eating!

Here I am, hiding from Chiara:

In true Mediterranean style, we all opted for a nap when arriving back at the house.  Eating for four hours is exhausting!  When we woke at 7pm, John was already back at the stove, cooking up a mushroom omelette with a fennel salad on the side.  As usual, it was absolutely delicious but I wondered if I would ever fit into my skinny jeans again! 

In the morning, we said goodbye to the little Chiara who was off to school and John and Lillie drove me and Aled down towards La Spezia, the gateway town to Cinque Terre, our next destination.  We stopped in Porto Venere, a spectacular coastal town just by La Spezia. 

Of course, John and Lillie farewelled us with one final Italian meal showcasing the specialities of the region (by then we were in Liguria).  We were always happy that John took over ordering the various plates as Italian menus can be daunting with so many different options.  We even joked when they left us in Riomaggiore that we'd be calling John every night for advice on the menus until we left Italy. 

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With much love to John, Lillie, and Chiara -- thank you so much for your hospitality and generosity.  Our trip in Italy never would have been the same without you. 

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Here's a map of the places we went in this post, if you're interested in the geography:

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Avignon and Cannes

After Annecy we hopped on a train south to Avignon through a beautiful valley:

We had chosen Avignon as a destination because it was both historically significant and surrounded by famous wine-growing areas in Provence.  A town enclosed by medieval walls and great wine -- what more can one ask for?

So here is the first interesting fact about Avignon -- it was the seat of the Papacy from 1309-1377 instead of Rome.  After spending a day and a half there, I can see why the Pope chose it.  Just lovely!  

Avignon has also become famous for its bridge which was built in the late 1100's but kept getting washed away in various floods.  In 1668 a really big flood took out more than a third of the bridge.  Although the "Pont d'Avignon" features in a famous French song, the bridge is actually named the Pont Saint-Benezet.  Before arriving, I didn't know the bridge didn't go all the way across the river so I found the whole thing quite funny.  Here I am on the Pont d'Avignon with the medieval town behind me. 

All right, enough education, on to the wine tasting!  Here's a lovely shot of  the provencal countryside...

And here I am in my element.  My nose has finally found its calling...

We went through Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Gigondas, and one other village whose name I can't remember which means it was a good wine tour. 

The next day we headed south to the French Riviera, or as they call it, the Cote d'Azur.  We had a choice of Nice, Cannes, or Monaco (which is its own separate country), and we opted for Cannes because it sounded like we could get to the beach relativel easily and because I thought it would be cool to see where the Cannes Film Festival was held. 

What started out as a misty morning turned out to be an absolutely stunning afternoon.  I love the colors of the Mediterranean Sea!  

Although I was delighted to be at the beach, I can't say I liked the looks we were getting from the other passers-by who were all decked out in designer clothes.  Aled and I headed straight for the beach and spent the whole afternoon lazing in the sun.  Please note we were on the free stretch of sand (for the peons!).