Spring Break in Italia
We decided to go back to Italy and do some repeats for our last Spring Break in Europe. I didn’t know if we would even be going at all thanks to the problems in Libya. But fortunately, we found out the night before that PJ was ‘on call’. So we headed out for Nove at the crack of dawn to do some last chance pottery shopping. We then headed on to Venice for 3 nights. The weather was to die for. Here are some pics of my gang in Venice, Italy…
Sweet paintings and painted tiles from a great store in Nove. Thanks family for the birthday money!
Free entertainers on the gondola ride.
sunset on the Grand Canal
blown glass in Murano
Murano, Italy
Grand Canal, Venice
sunrise in Venice
sunrise on the Rialto Bridge
sunrise on St. Mark's Square
sunrise on St. Mark's Square
sunrise on St. Mark's Square
After our wonderful time in Venice, we drove to Padua to see the Scrovegni Chapel. There are only 25 people allowed in the chapel at a time, but it was worth the wait. Giotto’s most famous paintings are shown here. It was beautiful.
photo from Christusrex.org
After the afternoon trip to Padua we headed to the walled Tuscan city, Lucca. We were there last November for the day but the weather was terrible. We decided to try it again. The food and ambience were perfect.
carousel in Lucca
family in Lucca
wisteria in full bloom all over Italy
Lucca, Italy
After Lucca we made the windy drive to The Cinque Terre. The five towns on the ocean are unique to anything else I have seen while traveling. I visited the towns while backpacking through Europe back in 1998. Not much has changed since then. We stayed in the town of Vernazza in one of Francamaria apartments right on the main square. Here are some pictures of our mostly sunny stay in the Cinque Terre.
Manarola, Cinque Terre
Riomaggiore, Cinque Terre
Most of the trails were closed so we had to train it to the 5 cities.
kids in Vernazza
Vernazza
Excited about water time!
Vernazza at sunset
our tour guide
Corniglia, Cinque Terre
Portovenere, Italy
Caden in Portovenere
The church just before the storm in Portovenere.
Our last destination on the trip was to Lake Como. We stayed in Varenna at the B & B Albergo del Sole. I had a wonderful birthday in Bellagio, and we spent a full two days relaxing on the lake.
park time in Varenna
view of the lake from our hotel room
the girls and I in Bellagio
Bellagio, Italy
Varenna, Lake Como
Spring canoeing from brave Swiss adventurers.
Rome
Each time my mom has come to visit us we have taken one side trip. This time she picked Rome. We left the kids behind with Grandma Bea, and had a packed 3 days sight-seeing the amazing city of Roma.
My navigation skills are not the greatest, but with the help of Rick Steves and a few extremely large monuments, we were able to pack in all the great sites. Viva Italia!
Trevi fountain at night
Spanish Steps
Exterior view of the Vatican and St. Peter's Basilica
inside the Vatican
The School of Athens by Raphael
Sistine Chapel, courtesy Web Gallery of Art
Sistine Chapel detail, courtesy of Web Gallery of Art
St. Peter's Basilica interior
Michelangelo's Pietà
view of Rome from Michelangelo's dome
Castel Sant'Angelo
Pantheon
early morning on the Palatine Hill
Colosseum
my mom and I in the Colosseum
Roman Forum
Ancient Rome
Four Rivers Fountain by Bernini in the Piazza Navona
Piazza Navona
Bernini statue at the incredible Borghese Gallery. Courtesy of Borghese Official Site
cooking school in Tuscany
A few weeks ago I spent a fabulous week in Tuscany/ Umbria at a cooking school. Our teacher, Faye Hess, was amazing. We learned tons about Italian cooking, techniques, and how to serve awesome full course meals. I highly recommend this experience to anyone who is interested. Here is a link to FayeFood.
Did I mention that besides the abundance of cooking lessons, wine tastings, and touring Tuscany, we also did some shopping? A day in Deruta, oh yeah, and the Prada outlet on the way up. Although I missed my little ones at home immensely, I can’t think of a better way to spend a week with the girls.
Here are some pictures of lovely Tuscany, Umbria, and our cooking extravaganza!
Our villa in Mercatale, near Cortona, Italy.
A Deruta pottery maker
FIMA store in Deruta
Pic with Michele at FIMA. I ordered a full set of painted dinnerware, it came with personal inscription on each piece!
Todi, Umbria
cute Italian couple
a visit with Rameria, a copper maker in Montepulciano
wine barrels at the Contucci winery in Montepulciano
me and Erin in Montepulciano
Tuscan landscape
grove of cypress trees in the Tuscan hills
Our group at a Tuscan vineyard.
A tour through olive groves. I'll never go back to the other brands!
We didn't see as many poppies as usual because of the rain, but when they did open up they were Bellisimo!
Bevin and I in the olive grove.
Dinner at the Bonci factory with the Scarpaccini family. What an experience.
Perugia
Perugia
Gubbio
medieval Gubbio
Sunrise shoot near Cortona.
sunrise on the vineyard
sunrise in the Tuscan hills
Assisi
nuns in search of St. Francis sights
Assisi
asparagus salad, one of our many incredible dishes
risotto with roasted tomatoes
Thanks Faye, you rocked!
Toscana and November fun with the Grandma’s
My mom and grandma just left after a great 3 week trip. We took them to Tuscany, Füssen, Ülm, and Christmas Markets. We had so much fun having them here. My grandma is a great baker, so I watched as she made some of her specialties. We cooked Thanksgiving here at the house and had the Kling family over. Everything was gobbled up. I think the pumpkin pie was a big hit with the Kling’s. And they tried Eggnog for the first time. Well, I should say Brigitte tried it, I don’t think anyone else was that adventurous. We love getting the change to share different traditions with our best German friends. It’s been a wonderful experience. Can’t wait for Christmas Eve at their house for fondue and other festive food.
Here are some of the hundreds of family photos while the grandma’s were in town. My mom is an avid scrapbooker so many of the photos were for her.
PJ and Micah in San Gimignano
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Abbey of Monte Oliveto Maggiore
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Fall trees covered in snow on the drive to Tuscany.
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Florence, Italy
Can't get enough gelato!
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Cambria and the Leaning Tower.
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My funny boys.
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Volterra
Cambria in Sienna.
Addy smiling for another tourist.
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Adelaide in Sienna
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Volterra. No Volturi sightings on this trip...
Milan and Vicenza
I really wanted to check out the clothing sales in Milan. We did some shopping, and travelled around the wonderful city of Milan. Is there a city in Italy that isn’t wonderful??
Here are a few pics…
Carnevale in Venice
We went to Venice for Carnevale for my husband’s birthday a couple of weeks ago. We had a wonderful time and ate great food! We love Italy. Our kids enjoyed the masked Venetians. Venice is a beautiful city. We plan on going back when the weather gets warmer.
Here are a few photos from the Cummings galleria…
me, in Venice, one of my all time favorite cities
Family in Venice
Favorite past time in Italy= chasing pigeons.
