Misson...Possible

Sunday night I received this email from my mother:

Here is your mission...should you choose to accept it...but really I'm your mom and you really have no choice or else I will be very dissappointed in you. Fine, that was for dramatic effect she didn't really type that but she did type this: Can you get me a cross for a boy on a chain (beckys boy) then when you are home we can go visit them. Also could you get it blessed??

You may think, why this request seems simple. You are in Italy for crying out loud finding a cross for a baby and getting it blessed should be a breeze. To quote Adam Sandler from the Wedding Singer "information I could have used yesterday". Well maybe not yesterday, although another day when stores were open would have helped, but if I had known this a week ago I would have had an abundance of choices on Ponte Vecchio in Florence! While I agree that under normal circumstances it wouldn't be a problem to fulfill this request but I was not under normal circumstances. First, I was leaving early Wednesday morning to come home. Second, most stores are closed in the morning or all day on Mondays. Third, we had a presentation to finish at work. Fourth, it was pouring rain.

At lunch on Monday, I asked Massimo if he could help me in this quest. He accepted the mission. We walked all over town and found no stores open. I had also mentioned my mission to my office mates and Cristina said she would look into finding out how we could get the crosses blessed. Another recruit to the mission. I left work around 6:30 to see if I could find any open before the 7:30 closing hour...did I mention it was pouring? I went to four stores and did not find any small crosses. Tuesday morning I arrived at work nervous that my mission would in fact be impossible. Cristina informed me that she had spoken with her sister who plays the organ at Santa Cristina in Piazza San Carlo. Her sister had asked the priest if he would be able to bless the cross and he said that he would be available until noon and from four to six. So now I had the priest, I just needed to find the cross! I waited until around 10:30 when most stores open and walked up to the jewelry store Massimo had suggested on Monday. They had three wonderful choices and after much debate I decided on one. Part one of the mission complete! We went to lunch to gear up for the rest of the mission.

Enrico, Veronica, Massimo, Eliana, Silvia and Cristina at lunch

All afternoon we worked on the presentation and all of a sudden it was almost 5:30. Cristina and I ran to her car, tore out of the parking space and made a mad dash to the church. We parked in the underground park under Piazza San Carlo and ran up the stairs and across the piazza to the church. As we approached we noticed three doors...time was running out which one do we choose? We quickly walked by the first two and thought the third looked the most promising. Eureka! It was the right one (sure it had a sign on the door indicating it was the Sacristy but I like to think we made a good "guess"). The priest was waiting for us inside and performed the blessing of Jackson's cross and the cross I had purchased in Florence in the nick of time. Mission complete! (OK fine the last part was an exaggeration with the tire squealing and the running but we really did cut it close). We went inside to look at the church and Cristina showed me the organ that her sister plays. The beauty of the churches here still amazes me. Thanks to all who helped in this mission!

Santa Cristina in Piazza San Carlo

Cristina and the priest

The priest and me



The grand organ Cristina's sister plays

The Final Leg...Florence and Milan

Monday morning we were up bright and early again for the drive to Florence. We decided we were going to follow the google directions the entire time so as to take the quickest route. We didn’t think it would be that tough but of course we were wrong. It is hard to see the street signs here as they are not signs but instead carved into the side of the buildings which makes it a little tough to see! Somehow though we magically ended up on the street we needed to be on after being a little off the map. The streets in Florence are so narrow and there are motor scooters and people everywhere. We found a parking garage a few blocks from our hotel and decided to park which was a good thing because you couldn’t go any further due to construction! Our hotel was very nice and we were all excited to have a normal size shower (Bob barely fit in the one in Rome) with hot water! We set our stuff down and walked to the central market and had lunch in one of the café’s. Our first stop after lunch was to the duomo and the surronding square.

Florence Duomo

Giotto's Campanile

Baptisiry

After lunch we explored the city and walked to Ponte Vecchio which is a bridge lined with shops built in the early fourteenth century.

Ponte Vecchio

We explored the city and stopped for a drink in a wine bar owned by a man named Luigi. We admired his hand blown glass chandelier and had a wonderful conversation about his business.

Renee and I with Luigi (he insisted we come around the bar)

Luigi's chandelier

We left to go explore some more until we had dinner at the restaurant Luigi recommended. It was just across the street from his shop and he said it was far enough from the city center that it was not touristy. The meal began with complimentary sparking white wine and appetizers of cheese topped with an amazing sauce (honeyish tasting) and crackers with a creamy cheese spread. We had decided on an appetizer of meatballs and potatoes. The chef split them so we each had our own plate of two meatballs, shoestring type potatoes, and a mayonnaise type dipping sauce. It was amazing. Bob took Luigi’s suggestion and had a steak served Florentine style. Renee had salmon sautéed in bread crumbs with vegetables. I had tuna filleted into small circles that were fully cooked on the outside and raw on the inside and a side of asparagus with cheese. Hands down best meal!

Aperitivo

Bob and his steak (which Renee and I helped him eat)

Tuesday morning we got back into our car and headed to our last destination. It was hard to believe our whirlwind trip was coming to end. For once the journey was easy! We took a highway all the way to Milano and followed the signs for the airport. We returned the rental car and took the train to the city center, took the metro to our hotel, walked out of our way (google maps was a little inaccurate) but finally found our hotel. We were a little strapped for time so we hopped in a cab (which was actually the only one we took while here…we got very good at public transportation) to go and view the Last Supper by DiVinci. I am not sure how but we had an English guide who explained the picture to us. The picture is in what used to be a dining hall for Dominican monks. It really is an amazing site. We only had about fifteen minutes for the tour as it is such a highly viewed piece the tour groups are small (about twenty people) and limited to fifteen minutes. The guide explained that during World War II the structure that housed the painting, along with another painting by a different artist on the opposite wall, was destroyed. They were able to recover both the paintings relatively unharmed and rebuild the structure that houses them. We grabbed another quick round of piadine and some gelato from GROM and headed to they city central to view the duomo. The duomo was truly amazing.

Duomo Milano

Duomo Sqaure, Milano

We did a little shopping around the city and took the metro back to our hotel (much easier to find this time as it is right across the street from the metro). We set our bags down and then decided on a place for dinner near the hotel but were not able to get a table as we didn’t have a reservation. We walked back towards the hotel and found a place with very good pasta! I gathered my bags and Renee and Bob walked me to the metro and since we had purchased all day passes they were able to wait with me. I was sad to leave them as we had such an amazing trip and it was wonderful to be able to spend my birthday in Rome with them!

Saying goodbye at the metro

When in Rome

Saturday we got up early to being the four or so hour drive to Rome. As we were getting ready we were treated to an amazing rainbow over and into the sea. It was the first time I have actually seen where a rainbow ends…we didn’t go out into the sea to see if there was a pot of gold though!

We got to the top of the hill in Cinque Terre just as it started to hail. What could be more dangerous than driving along a winding seaside road at night in the fog…possibly driving through said road in the hail. Good thing it didn’t last very long! We stopped in La Spezia to get some breakfast and of course Renee and I had more focaccia. Renee stuck to focaccia di Recco but I opted for focaccia with chocolate chips covered in sugar and was very happy with my choice. The drive was pretty easy and Bob took his turn behind the wheel and was very excited to put into practice years of playing pole position! We arrived in Rome and I am not sure any words can describe the chaos that is driving through the city. After stopping to buy a map (we had somehow gotten off the path of the google directions) we figured out where we were and where we needed to be. We were very lucky that we didn’t need to go into the city center where the streets are even more curvy and crazy. Instead, our hotel was close to St. Peter’s where the streets seemed relatively straight. Besides the streets being crazy curvy, there are usually no lines in the road to tell you if you are in a lane and they are about four lanes wide so people are basically just criss crossing everywhere. Not only are the drivers crazy but I think every person on a motor scooter had a death wish…at least they had helmets on. We arrived at our hotel and parked in a yellow spot. I wasn’t sure what yellow meant but I knew blue was good and blue was right behind us so it couldn’t be that bad. We asked the man at the hotel and he said it meant handicap but since it was Saturday we should be fine as long as we moved it when we got back (did I mention there was a Caribinari…similar to police…station half a block away). We didn’t have much choice as it was three and the last entry to the Vatican Museum is at four and it is closed on Sunday so off we sprinted to the Museum. We had no problem getting in and viewing the extensive art collection of the Church. Of course we ended our visit with the Sistine Chapel (sorry you can't take pictures in the chapel) and it was actually bigger than I remembered it. It is truly an amazing work of art.

Vatican Museum Pictures

Upon our exit we grabbed some piadine (it was the first time we had eaten since breakfast and there was a good chance I was going to hurt someone if I didn’t get food…although eating during the day was almost an after thought the entire trip we were always so crazy) and Renee had her first gelato before we headed to St. Peter’s.

Holy Doors

Ancient Egyption Obelisk from the thirteenth centruy BC

The first time we went to St. Peter’s Stacey and I somehow found a free tour and since I didn’t see anyone offering those this time we decided to get the audio guides. We went through the metal detectors and past the Swiss Guards in the crazy jester looking uniforms. I hope they have something more than the giant hatchet thing they hold while protecting the entrance to what I believe is the living quarters. I will be honest I don’t think that is going to stop today’s crazy people unless of course the guards are trained to use the hatchet to deflect bullets!

I don’t think there are any words to describe walking into St. Peter’s. It took my breath away the first time and the same thing happened the second time.

View as you walk in. On the floor there are markings to indicate the lenght of other churches around the world are in comparison to St. Peter's.

Inside the church

The church is so large, the history is so old, and the significance so great it is overwhelming. We listened to our audio guides as we made our way around the church continually in awe of the architecture, sculptures, paintings, and history. We left our tour, returned our audio guides and maps for fear of being thrown in jail (ok fine it was only a fine), and walked back to our hotel to decide where to go for dinner.

St. Peter's at night

Castle Sant'Angelo at night

Bridges over the Tiber River

As we were truly exhausted from the hike the day before and sprinting around Rome, we decided to walk to a place close by for dinner. We were lucky enough to find a place around the corner, Vito’s, that had excellent food…again my pasta did not disappoint! It was a small restaurant (as most in Italy are) and there were only two other tables around us…both filled with fans very intensely watching the Juve-Inter game on the television. Renee and Bob got a small taste of how much Italians love soccer! We had some good news was on the way back to our hotel as we noticed that the scooter that had parked in front of us had moved so we pulled the car up and were now only 2/3 in the yellow! We headed up stairs for our nighttime tradition. Around 11:45 Renee noticed a loud noise outside the hotel (our room faced the street our car was parked on) similar to a tow truck. Bob jumped up and looked outside (forgetting the window was closed and hitting his head) to see a garbage truck picking up the garbage! Phew, no tow truck…although a bit odd that at 11:45 on a Saturday the garbage was being picked up.

Sunday we decided to walk to Piazza Popolo and then take the metro down to the south end of the city and walk back up seeing the many sites. We picked up some sandwiches and focaccia from a corner store and began our journey. Bob had his first experience on public transportation (I mean who doesn’t have their first time on a subway in Rome?).

Piazza di Popolo

Piazza di Popolo

We got off the metro at the ruins to a heavy downpour and ducked into a café to have a something to drink and a snack while we waited out the rain. After about ten minutes we decided that it wasn’t going to stop, in fact it got heavier, so Renee and I took my trusty umbrella with the daisies and headed out to buy Bob an umbrella from the street vendors selling them at the top of the metro stairs. We decided Bob looked good in pink (well, really that Rachel would love a pink umbrella from Rome) so five euros later we were in business. We walked around the ancient ruins and had lunch outside near the Coliseum but protected from the rain.

Bob admires the ruins with his new pink umbrella

Roman ruins with the Colosseum in the background

More Roman ruins

Santa Maria Maggiore (one of the four major basilicas of Rome)

As I pealed off my jacket and sat down I realized I had never been soaked by the rain more in my life. Now most of the time there are hand dryers in Italy but not of course on the day I needed one! We had a great lunch (more pasta for me) and tried to come up with a plan of attack. We thought about going back to the hotel to change but decided that we didn’t have much time left in Rome and also that it was probably going to let up soon so continued our journey. We stopped for ponchos (thanks for the birthday gift Robbins’ family) which as lame as they looked were amazing as they were warm and actually kept the rain off my pants from my knees to my waist (which was currently soaking wet).

Roman ponchos (they actually said Rome on them)

We walked to more churches, fountains (of course the Trevi which we threw some coins in to ensure our return), and piazzas as we made our way back to St. Peter’s so we could visit the tombs as they were closed when we were there on Saturday.

Trevi Fountain

It was very interesting to see the different sculpting on each tomb and how some were very detailed and some were not. There was a large crowd, many flowers, a few candles and a security guard in front of the tomb of Pope John Paul II. His tomb was a very simple marble stone. We headed out for our walk back to the hotel to change into dry clothes for dinner. On our way we passed Castle Sant’Angelo and Renee noticed the sign that indicated it was open…and free because it was cultural week! We hiked up to the top (our day would not be complete with steps) and had an amazing panoramic view of the city. Although the castle was built around 400 AD it has been outfitted with modern conveniences…like a Bar! It was a perfect spot to have birthday drinks and Renee may have had the best hot chocolate ever!

Birthday drinks at the castle

View of St. Peter's from the castle

We went back to the hotel and changed into dry clothes before our walk to the Spanish Steps.

It was a nice night (it had finally stopped raining) so we had a great walk around part of Rome on our way to dinner. It was so nice to have friends in town for my birthday!

Birthday Dinner

Cinque Terre...The Hike

Friday we got up early to start the hike. First on the list to do was to get some breakfast. We bought some focaccia (Renee tried Eliana’s recommendation of focaccia de Recco which is with melted cheese and amazing). Second thing we needed to do was move the car. The parking lot for the bed and breakfast was closed when we arrived so we parked in the public lot. The problem was there was no ticket to take so I did the only thing I could think of which was to move the parking clock on my windshield to show the time we arrived. So up the hill Renee and I hiked (Bob decided to go back up the stairs to get our passports for the bed and breakfast). Of course we had a ticket on the car for twenty euros. We went to the parking attendant and explained we arrived when no attendant was on duty and he ripped up the ticket, we paid our five euros and eighty cents and moved our car to the bed and breakfast parking. We bought our tickets to the Cinque Terra National Park and walked down the hill to meet Bob. We walked all the way down to the sea (to get to our room we took a bunch of stairs and hallways before you got to the sea) and I realized why I didn’t know about the huge hill…Stacey and I never had to walk down it as we took the train which lets you off at the sea! The hike was amazing. Stage one between Riomaggiore and Manarola…no problem…paved and railings. Twenty minutes. Stage two between Manarola and Corniglia got a little harder. At the end of stage two there are 382 steps up and the sign at the top said you were now in the middle of the Cinque Terra. We stopped in the third town and had a snack. We began stage three between Cornigila and Vernazza. Bob was on the fence in the morning if he was going to do the entire hike so Renee and I bought him the park pass which included a train ticket so he could ride the train between the towns if he wanted. He decided he wanted to do the entire hike. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that although we were in the “center” of Cinque Terre stages three and four were infinitely harder…and by harder I mean death defying. I remember the trail being very narrow, filled with rocks and steps and usually there are no guard rails so you are really one misplaced foot away from falling into the sea…oh and hitting jagged rocks on your way down! The thing that made it even more treacherous is that it had rained the previous few days which meant that the rocks you were walking on, over and around were slippery. My dad calls me “Grace” for a reason…because I am NOT Graceful. As you can imagine all the factors listed above contributed to a little fall down some slippery stairs. I am very lucky it was not worse and that all I sustained were some bruises on my arms and legs (Stacey I’m pretty sure they will be healed by your wedding…but yellow goes with black right?). During the fourth stage Bob commented that the hike started out fun, then the terrain became interesting, then it became ridiculous, and then it became insane (he said this as we were descending about 500 stairs...and I use the term stairs to loosely mean a rock you must step on to descend). The views during the hike were amazing once you stopped in a safe place to view them. This hike isn’t leisurely and you don’t have much time to enjoy the views while hiking as you are trying not to slip and fall to your death. At times you would look back at the area you had just hiked and you would not be able to even determine where you hiked! We finished off the hike with a drink in Monterosso and some much needed relaxation before heading to the station to take the train back to the town we were staying in. Renee and I had to purchase our tickets and as the woman was handing them to me I heard the train whistle…perfect timing I thought…except that the train comes out of the tunnel (which is only about 100 feet from the platform) but on the other side. We make a mad sprint down the steps, under the tracks and back up the steps on the other side and slide onto the train just in time. As you can see from the picture we were very tired and the sprint did Bob in! The twenty or so minute train ride back to Riomaggiore made it seem so easy to get between the towns! Renee made a great comment when she said that the people who built the trail hundreds of years ago are probably laughing at all the people who hike it instead of taking the train! We went back and showered (although I use that term loosely since we had cold to luke warm showers) before going to dinner. The town is not that big so it wasn’t too long before we had decided on a place. We had great pasta and wine to end the night. Well, I mean we did watch a little How I Met Your Mother when we got back…it was becoming a tradition!

Leaving our room to start the hike


The first set of stairs on the hike


It was a little windy in the beginning!


Outside Riomaggiore


Pictures along the way...


We were half way...in distance but not in time!!


The skinny paths


View of Monterosso


Looking back at the towns we had passed


Leaving Vernazza


Lunch in Vernazza (Bob's favorite pizza)


Approaching Vernazza


More stairs


Corniglia


Monterossa...it looked so close!


Up the stairs...again


Over the "bridge"


Vernazza





We made it!!


This dog looked like how we felt!


You would never know we just hiked five miles!


Bob is wondering how she is so happy!

Renee and Bob walking up the hill from shopping

The sunset over the sea

The view from our room as the sun sets