#30 - Old and New Memories in Italy

After our wonderful weekend in Switzerland, we headed south to Italy.  We drove through Milan to Cinque Terre, then through various towns in Tuscany (Lucca, San Gimignano, Siena, Orte) followed by a few days in Rome.  We took the overnight ferry from Civitavecchia to Sardegna for a few days to finish our Italian tour. In this post, I’ve asked Tera and each of the children to join me in writing up some of the highlights so you’ll get to hear from them as well.

​​(Click below right to Read More and see Pictures . . . .)

Highlights:

1. Seeing the Hodges in Milan – Tera
2. Cinque Terre - Erik
3. Stopping through Tuscan villages – Tyler
4. Kids Tour Presentations - Megan
5. Meg-Juk Massage Clinuk - Jacob
6. Gelato and Pizza – Anna
7. Seeing old friends from my mission in Sardegna - Erik

 
Lowlight:

1. Vatican Museum skip the line tour - Erik

1. Seeing the Hodges in Milan (Tera) - One of my favorite parts of traveling through Europe is spending time with friends and seeing their lives in new places. We left the Aepli’s house near Lucerne after breakfast and drove on to Milan for lunch, where we were excited to meet up with our friends, the Hodges, on our way to Cinque Terre. And, since we were now in Italy, that meant a lunch of pizza and gelato. These never disappoint in Italy!! It was great to visit friends and see their modern flat in Milan.
2. Cinque Terre (Erik) – “Le Cinque Terre” means five lands, or five villages in Italian.  It is a series of small towns along the Italian Riviera coast that are full of colorful quaint houses and shops, some of which descend right down to the ocean, and others which cling to the hillside/fjord overlooking the steep cliffs and rocky coastline.  They are all connected by a trainline which passes every 15 minutes or so from La Spezia where we were staying.  You could either take the 5-minute train ride through the tunnel, or drive the 45-minute windy path up and over.  We decided on the train. There used to be a cliffside hike which connected all 5 villages, with wonderful views of the ocean.  This is a hike that Tera and I took 23 years ago in 1995 when we visited together before we were engaged.  Unfortunately, a massive rainstorm & rockslide in the early 2000’s washed out some of the hiking path, and so parts of it are closed indefinitely.  While our hiking hopes were dashed, Tera, Anna, Tyler and Megan rented a pair of kayaks in RioMaggiore to paddle out along the coast, while Jacob and I stayed back in the village for a much smaller hike.  Then we all took the train to Vernazza for lunch, then farther along to Monterosso for some time on the (insanely crowded) beach.
   
3. Stopping through Tuscan villages (Tyler) - One of our favorite things to do while on our long drives is looking out the window at the incredible views – and Tuscany didn’t disappoint. The fruit trees and vineyards we passed were great. We also loved the quaint hilltop villages and castles we would see, especially in Italy. On our drive from La Spezia to Siena, we passed by a small city called Lucca. It was one of the few cities where the old Roman wall was intact. We were able to ride around the whole city on rental bikes. We also walked to the main piazza and got gelato. That same day, we visited two other cities, San Gimignano and Siena. At San Gimignano we walked around the city for a while, which was a lot like Lucca and window-shopped a bit. Siena was a bigger city in Italy, and we didn't get to see it all, but we did go to a big plaza where they were about to host their annual horse racing competition. They were setting it up for the next week. Also, in Siena, we visited a cathedral and a chocolate store. We loved it when we would look out the window while driving through Tuscany, and see a hilltop village. One of those hilltop villages was the city of Orte. We passed by on our way from Siena to Rome and decided to drive up to it so we could walk around it. The wall of Orte was a natural cliff all around the village. We got out and walked all around it. We loved that it was one of those cities that was not a tourist trap, so we could see their normal life. These were all also a great way to get out of the car and stretch our legs.
4. Kids Tour Presentations (Megan) - Since we are traveling a lot, we kids don’t have many chances to earn pocket money so . . . . . . . . Mom and Dad devised a plan. We were in Rome and had a busy afternoon/evening planned, seeing lots of sights like the Roman Forum, the Colosseum, etc. Mom and Dad divided up all of the places that we were going to see during the day, and had us each make presentations on them. They had to be on paper because we were going to be out and about without wifi. I (Megan) got the Colosseum, Jacob got the Roman Forum, Anna got Palatine Hill, and Tyler got Circus Maximus. We each had to make the presentations as many minutes long as we were years old. For example, I am eleven and I had to do mine at least eleven minutes long. We also had to make an interactive activity to do with the whole family. After about 4 hours in the morning of preparations, we were ready. We left for the Colosseum first. I did my presentation, then we did a play that I had prepared about the Colosseum. Then we went to the Roman Forum and Jacob did his. He had a memory match game instead of a play. Anna then did hers and we did a Bingo. Tyler did headbands with his presentation. (Oh yeah, the activity did not count for part of the time). The next day, we were doing things in and around Vatican City and since the day before, the presenting thing went so well, we did it again with the Sistine Chapel (Jacob), Vatican Museums (Anna), General Vatican City (Tyler), and St Peter’s Basilica (Megan). It was a very good idea and we had a lot of fun researching.
5. Meg Juk Massage Klinuk (Jacob) – We set up a massage business to earn some money.  Me and megan give massages to the family, and dad is our best customer.
6. Gelato and Pizza (Anna) - In Italy, when we went last, which was like three years ago, we made a tradition: every day, gelato. At that time, getting dessert that wasn't fruit salad was pretty revolutionary, so getting ice cream during the day, every day, for a week, blew my mind. Back then I didn't have much of a taste for gelato except 'yay sugar', so I am glad that we returned so I can truly appreciate the artisanal genius of Italian gelato. Well, the genius of certain Italian gelato. In all of the small Italian villages on the hills, the gelato was creamy, flavourful and delicious. Tyler made an effort to try a new flavour every time (nice, daring, not my cup of tea), Jacob got lemon sorbet and stracciatella pretty much every time, and I, every time I could, paired raspberry and the darkest chocolate available. As good as most gelato was, in touristy places like the Trevi fountain, or the Vatican museum, was quite terrible. I personally believe that we are now connoisseurs (vocab words ftw) of the treat. 
7. Seeing old friends from my mission in Sardegna (Erik): 26 years ago, I had come to Italy for the first time as a missionary, serving first in the Rome area, then in Sardegna.  I came to the town of Oristano, and was called as the first branch president of the little fledging branch.  I had corresponded with a sister who I knew, who was still living there.  On the Sunday of our arrival, we attended the branch in Oristano, still a tiny little branch, with just a few handful of members in attendance.  Nicoletta was incredibly gracious and made lunch for us and the whole branch after church.  It was a delicious meal, first of lasagna (the pasta dish), which my family thoroughly enjoyed – going for seconds.  But then, in true Italian style, came another course, which the kids were unaware of, and already full of the pasta, they looked at their now full plates of chicken and vegetables with satiated stares.  I felt their pain, and they finally understand my mission stories.  After the meat and salad, came dessert, three different types of cakes, including tiramisu, made with Orzo instead of espresso.  It was absolutely heavenly, and a very memorable Sunday.

 
 Lowlights:

1. Vatican Museum – Skip the Line tour (Erik) – What a massive waste of money this was.  The best way to buy tickets to the Vatican Museum is online, but they sell out months in advance (especially during high season) so we couldn’t do it that way.  The other way is to wait in the very long line for same-day tickets, or to purchase “skip the line” guided tour tickets from one of the dozens of local vendors.  We looked at the line, and decided to buy the skip the line tickets, which were 4 times the cost of the regular tickets.  Unfortunately for us, something happened that day, and we had to stand in the line anyway.  And the guided tour was awful, and the museum was PACKED!!!!!  We felt like we had been taken and duped in a major way.  Seeing the Sistine Chapel was wonderful, but the rest of the museum was a crowded blur.  I understand the crowds, since the Sistine Chapel is one of the greatest artworks in the world, but I didn’t like being a part of that crowd one bit.