Italy! (and the world's longest post...)

Europe

Erik and I were very blessed to be able to take advantage of him having a conference in Zurich and travel around Europe for a bit! After his conference was over, I flew in and met him. We hung out there for a few hours...

... then headed down to Lucerne (still in Switzerland). It was beautiful! We took trains between all of these towns, and the best part was the views in Switzerland! Look at these Alps!


Lucerne was fun because of how old some of the structures and buildings are there. The are famous for their covered bridges, like this:


Another famous attraction in Lucerne is this monument. The Lion Monument was dedicated in the early 1800's to pay tribute to Swiss mercenaries who died defending the Tuileries from an invasion of angry Parisians. It is a truly breathtaking monument...and HUGE!


There is also a wall that runs through part of the city with towers that you can climb up. I don't remember the exact time when the wall was built, but it was very, very old. And very cool.



Milan

Next stop, MILAN!! Before coming on our trip, everyone told us that Milan was not their favorite city. We decided to go anyway, just for a little while. We got into town on a Friday evening and left early the next afternoon. But boy am I glad we stopped! I would not have wanted to miss this treasure!


This is the Duomo. Apparently the facade of this church hasn't been free of scaffolding in a very long time...we got lucky! It was so beautiful. We climbed to the top the next day and got an awesome view of the city and the amazing details of the spires that dot the entire roof:



Cinque Terre

Next stop, Cinque Terre (or favorite place #1). I was so excited about visiting here after all that we had heard from family and friends about how wonderful it was. I was NOT disappointed in the least...in fact, I think it was even better than I could have imagined! So the Cinque Terre (or 5 towns) are a connected set of small, interesting towns that are like a flash from the past (or a movie set). Many towns have little to no allowance of motorized vehicles (ours had none). The walkways are narrow, with the apartments multiple levels high. Windows are open and laundry hangs out to dry everywhere. This is what I picture Italy as being! This is the main street in the town we stayed in:


There are also terraces above many of the towns with vineyards and flowers everywhere. Erik got ambitious and hiked to get this view of Manarola (the town we stayed in).



The towns are all linked with a walking path that travels along the ocean cliff. We walked to the two closest towns (Riomaggiore and Corniglia) and on the way back snapped this shot of Manarola:


Oh, and this was the view from our apartment!!! WOW. Paradise. An unobstructed view of the Mediterranean.


We are two very happy people!


Florence

Alas, our time in Cinque Terre had to end. But we traveled to the beautiful and bustling Florence! It was quite the change from the slow and small Cinque Terre! We visited museums nonstop, at least until we couldn't take any more, unfortunately! (museum-itis). And did you know Florence is supposedly home to the creation of gelato? Don't worry, I think we tried enough for EVERYONE (we had 1-2 two scoop servings daily :))

One of the most exciting attractions for us in Florence was the Duomo. Erik had studied it's unique and innovative design and was excited to see it in person. Here is a view of one of the sides (the side closest to our hotel, which was a block from this corner):


We climbed to the top, and here is a view:



We also celebrated my 24th birthday in Florence (don't rub it in...I'm feeling old!). It was so fun...we found a cute little restaurant with patio seating and had the most interesting meal. I got pumpkin filled ravioli with a duck sauce. It was delicious! OH, and we got gelato too :)


Did I mention we went to lots and lots of museums?! We saw David (which is breathtaking) and many other famous works by Michelangelo and Titian, Caravaggio, da Vinci, and many many others. One of my favorite sculptures was a Pieta by Michelangelo. This piece was created to be the monument on his own tomb, supposedly becoming a devout Christian late in life. Some event rendered it imperfect in the eyes of the artist, however, and was never finished. It's power is still evident though, and I thought it was so moving!


Another fun museum to visit was the Pitti Palace, long time home of the Medici Family. Some of the apartments are still furnished as they would have been, and hundreds of famous and not so famous pieces are art fill the walls. They also have a beautiful garden filled with sculptures:


I loved watching some of the street artists:


A sunset view of one of the bridges:


Venice

Finally, now, Venice (or favorite place #2). Venice was everything we could have ever hoped for! Relaxing and beautiful, with amazing weather and so much to watch!

Here is the famous Rialto Bridge, lined with vendors selling everything from carnival masks to fresh fruit:


The most beautiful windows and flowers everywhere!


I always thought it was interesting that all of the doors here were so beautiful!


Canals, canals, and more canals! We took so many pictures of beautiful canals! It was like being in a movie set...it couldn't have been more picturesque.



Our last night there we decided to splurge a bit on dinner and dined at this swanky place on the Grand Canal (that is the main waterway that runs through Venice). You can see it on the left with the lights. It was really fun and the food was fantastic! They even gave me an unpriced menu and Erik the priced one...it was pretty funny! We were out under the patio, and a couple times throughout the night, the waves from the canal came up under the deck and got people wet!


One of my favorite things we did here was go to a Vivaldi concert (Vivaldi was born here). Having some experience with music, I prepared myself for a somewhat disappointing tourist trap. I was WONDERFULLY surprised at both the talent of the musicians and the quality of the performance! It was held in a small church with only about 100 patrons, and the violin soloists were incredible. WOW I was amazed by every movement (they played the Four Seasons along with a few other songs).

Other highlights from the trip:

• Pesto in Cinque Terre
• Bread....pretty much everywhere
• Amazing cheese in Switzerland
• Talking to an interesting couple on one of our trains...they were globetrotters
• Did you know you can't picnic (ie eat and sit) almost everywhere in Venice? They are serious about this. They have signs everywhere and a "decorum patrol" (ie old women with florescent vests) explaining the crime to the young families with small children, telling them to stand up and leave
• Immigrants selling knock off purses everywhere in Venice...tourists can get fined if they are caught purchasing!
• Rick Steves books EVERYWHERE!!!!!!!!!!
• Ever had a Magnum? Go to Europe and have one...it's worth the plane ticket!
• A favorite discovered painting in the Pitti Palace: Ecce Homo
• Swiss chocolate. Enough said.
• A fun ENGLISH used bookstore in Florence...where I bought one of my new favorite books!
• The thrill of the hunt! (gelato hunt :))
• Reading and reading in Venice and on our porch in Cinque Terre.
  

All time Gelato favorites (and must tries...and only a fraction of the flavors we tried):

• Grapefruit
• Peach
• Kiwi
• Pineapple
• Coconut
• Melone
• Dark chocolate
• Nutella

What a trip!