Tuscany: San Gimignano & Volterra

Well, we left Rome with a bang. Got to the parking garage, where we left the car for the last 3 days, had no ticket. Dad and I remembered Mom saying to give it to her and she'll keep it in her backpack. The guy at the ticket booth was yelling at me in Italian "Biglietto"! I'm trying to explain to him we can't find the ticket. Mom's looking everywhere for the ticket. I'm ticked off completely at this point, which is not pretty. Finally the guy calls someone else, who I'm thinking will speak English. At first he was really nice (didn't speak English), but then he turned out to be kind of rude, while the first guy was starting to be nice and speak more English (amazing how that happens sometimes--hmmmm). In the end they found the record of when we parked the car and charged us for the three days, after writing Mom's driver's license # down and the contract # for our lease. It was crazy at the entrance of the parking garage, which is where we chose to load our vehicle with all our stuff. Got honked at a couple of times. Just as we take off out of Rome I put the sun visor down and out flies the parking ticket. OH MY GOODNESS! Now I remember...Mom said she was going to take it, Dad and I didn't think that was a good idea, so she suggested we tuck it in the sun visor. Funny how nobody remembered that! Oops...sorry Mom!


Arrived in San Gimignano and found our beautiful place on top of a hill. It's so gorgeous! Unfortunately all the fields are plowed and the sun flowers dry and ready to harvest. Good for the sun flower people, but would've been nice to see them standing tall and facing the sun. 

We drove over to Volterra and ate lunch there. I had spaghetti and everyone else had pizza. Again, very good! Had a piece of Mom's pizza as well. I had to go move the car cuz we parked in a residential zone, but were so hungry when we arrived we decided to eat first, move later. Mom thinks everything is so easy with driving and parking--"Oh, just park there"--I went to the one she saw on the way up to the city. It was "completo". There were police outside. I pulled over and asked them where I could park. One didn't speak English and smiled, while the other told me there were "many parkings around the city". Well, I drove around to the other side and finally found pay parking. Of course I had no cash and started to walk away. I thought I'd double check my bag and found 1.50 Euros. We got an hour of parking, now to find my family somewhere in the gates of Volterra. Oh my goodness...I started at one end and walked through this market in the square, chose a wide street that continued on, turned right...and found them! So many times I was wondering if I should go straight or right. I knew the general direction they were in and just kept heading that way. Crazy! Very cute place though. Found an amazing bakery and this beautiful leather purse shop. Wow! The market in the middle had all these candies, cookies, and nuts...and biscotti. They had these flat, thin cookies that they pressed out on this machine and then the machine would scrape it off a hot plate into a bag. Sampled some, very tasty. 

The weather was not cooperating. When we arrived in Volterra we were greeted by a ton of hail (we had to wait under a gate for it to pass). Then as we were leaving there was a crash of thunder and it started to rain. Must've been the vampires! Haha! Anne was very excited to see Volterra after watching New Moon. 

We got back to the hotel and were all so tired. Everyone napped this time, except me. I did relax though. 


The guy at our hotel recommended a place for dinner. It was very nice, but wasn't easy to find. There weren't very good signs in town--Il Pino was the name. However, we sat down to look at the menu and there was almost nothing Mom could eat. I found an eggplant & ricotta ravioli. Delicious! She did find salmon, which was pretty good. The portion sizes were very small though. Dad's risotto was soooo tiny! Good thing he ordered the hearty Tuscan soup to start. 

We're all very tired and Anne & I have started to giggle. Not good. We need bed! Buona notte!

Roma Day 3 - Laundry & shopping!

Buon giorno!

Started off the day at the laundromat, bright and early. Good thing we got there when we did because everybody came to do laundry and it got so busy! If you beat them to the washers, you also beat them to the dryers. Yay! We were out so fast. I was surprised to find free wifi so continued to work on my blogs. Happy to get a few more done.

Me and my bad of clean, folded laundry! :) 

Once we got back to the hotel we looked at the map and planned our day. We were off to hit the Pantheon, Piazza Navona, and whatever else we could manage on a hot afternoon. Mom keeps thinking everything is so far when you look at the map, but it's really not. 10-minute walks here and there. This is supposed to be the last hot day for a few days. A bit of showers coming tonight. 

The Pantheon was fantastic! So big. It's just amazing to think they could build such huge and intricately-designed buildings so long ago. 













Piazza Navona is so pretty. Bernini's fountain of the four rivers in the middle is spectacular. All the little painting kiosks in the middle are nice too. 

We headed back to the hotel to get out of the heat. Took a little break and did some more blogging. 

Then we went shopping!!! I got a beautiful sweater and a little something for my man. Had fun looking thru shops. So great here. So far I love Italy. 

Having our last dinner in Rome tonight at one of the places around the corner that mom found in her book--Di fronte a. Have to make reservations everywhere. I went in to the place on our shopping adventure to book for tonight and asked the guy if he wanted my name. He laughed and said "No, I remember your face." Hmmmmm we'll see. Dinners are late here. People don't go out for dinner until about 8pm. That's very hard for mom, who's used to eating at 5:30 or 6pm. We booked for 7:30pm tonight and Dad flipped out cuz he's HUNGRY!

The restaurant is literally a 2 min walk from our hotel and dad is so concerned that we'll be late. They knocked on our door at 1919. Really? We walked slowly, Mom stopped to look in a window and dad said, "We're gonna be late!" Oh my goodness! Someone needs food. 


So...he did remember me! However, he thought it was a table for 3, not 4. Fail! I ordered funghi pizza. Can't wait to try it. It was a toss up between linguini al pesto or the pizza. Decided at the last minute. 


By the way, fashion = Ray Bans on everyone (sunglasses or regular) and these balloon-ish type pants on the ladies.  Look comfy. All the girls are wearing them. But do you think you can find a store that sells them? No! Anne was looking pretty hard. She did find a dress during dinner while we waited for our food. 


Back to the pizza...so good!!! It's really hard to eat pizza with a fork, but it's also hard to pick up a thin crust right out of the oven. Fork it is!!! 

One thing I notice about dinner, we wait FOREVER for our bills at the end of dinner. Tons of attention when you enter a restaurant and then they disappear! Hmmmm. I guess everyone chills and takes time to enjoy their food, while at home we're so used to eating and then getting out of the place. 

Colosseum & Trevi Fountain

I can hear mom and dad coming down the creaky stairs to the lobby. We're on our way to the Spanish steps and the Colosseum. Can't wait. 

...Just got back to the hotel to get out of the sun for a bit. It's supposed to be 33 degrees today but feel like 36. It feels like 40 almost! 



Anyway, the Colosseum was so great to see. Took lots of pics and walked a lot! Mom was a little confused about the Foro Romano but it was the area we were walking through. Saw so much stuff, a lot of ruins, old columns, and beautiful buildings. 

I was ready to keep going and see more, but everyone was tired. We've done a ton of walking and a ton of stairs. I think Dad counts the number of stairs almost every time because he can never believe there are MORE! 

It does feel good to be back in the hotel, just relaxing. I might even have a nap myself. Everyone else is going to...

So nobody napped, except me! Haha. I fell asleep trying to blog. Woke up when Dad called us to join him in his room to watch the first of 3 tapes he's already recorded. We didn't. So tired. 

We walked to the Trevi Fountain and tossed in some coins. I did one for Sharisse as she requested. Dad even got it on video. There were soooo many people there! Apparently it's busy from 10am till midnight. You could barely get to the fountain. Just as we were leaving this marching band came around the corner and they were running in circles while playing. All the people swarmed around them taking photos with cameras, iPhones and iPads. So funny. It was pretty cool to hear and see. 

Dinner was a choice of 4 places. We walked around and settled on one. It was so good! Tried a new type of pasta--Trucioli. ? Can't remember if that was the spelling now. Why didn't I write it down!!! Anyway, it was very good with pesto, almonds, basil and garlic. Delicious! 

Came back to the hotel. I was on my computer and Anne was watching TV. She couldn't find an English channel so settled for a dramatic Italian family reunion show. It was hilarious! I fell asleep.  

Buona notte!

Arriving in Italy

0600--Buon giorno! Breakfast was small but got some good cereal and coffee in. I asked for bijela kava and it was mostly just milk. The ferry ride is almost over. It was very smooth though, not rocking at all. Can see Ancona, Italy. Sun's just coming up. 

 



0815--Pulled over at a rest area to fill up on our way to Rome. I was feeling pretty tired from not sleeping much the night before. It was good to get out of the car and walk around. Italy is very beautiful along the coast. All the rolling hills and the trees are so pretty. Time to get out that Italian phrase book--Where's the washroom? How much is this?--knowing numbers would be good too. I really should've learned some Italian prior to this. On the road again. 

1120--We arrived at our parking garage where we're leaving our car for 3 days. The taxi went in a big circle to drop us off at our hotel, didn't seem to know where he was going. Mom had to show him the address a few times. At least we all fit into one taxi! 

1230--The room is lovely. Fabric on walls. High ceilings. The view outside our window is of housing/hotels with super nice shops along the bottom. The Spanish steps are at the end of our street--Via Condotti. Heading out on the Metro in the direction of the Vatican. Hope we find it ok.  

1700--Just got back from walking thru the Vatican and St. Peter's Basilica. The outside area of St. Peter's Basilica alone was absolutely huge. Didn't expect it to be that big, but I guess when they fill that area with people it's gotta be that big! The Vatican was interesting to walk through. Walking through the Sistine Chapel was not what everyone expected. Very dark inside. A ton of people standing everywhere, could barely walk through the crowd. We couldn't take pictures in there. That was the only place we couldn't. It was very cool to see t

1930--Dinner @ Hosteria da Pietro. Food was amazing! Very good Italian food--soup, pasta, meat & dessert. I had delicious ravioli, filled with ricotta and topped with a nut and cream sauce. It was Mom & Dad's 40th Anniversary so the girls took them out for dinner. Happy Anniversary!

Brac to Trogir

1000--Enjoyed a lovely breakfast with COFFEE! Decided to walk to town along the promenade. It was shaded and lovely, but when we got to town I was dripping down my back as soon as the sun hit us. Needed a bankomat. Mom and dad ditched me for a mini train ride back to the hotel--sore feet! I did the walk again because I had to buy a few things before leaving Croatia. Today's our last day here. I bought lavender sachets, a ring made from the stone here and a scarf. Had I known the walk was so lovely, I would've woken up a little earlier to go for a run. Darn!

1045--Managed to get on the computer that was working in the lobby of our place. There was a line-up so took a few minutes to write Matt a quick hello. Too bad I sent it to the wrong address. I also heard from Maureen. She had sent me an email the day we left Split. A picture together across the world would have been so cool. 


1200--Now we're waiting at the ferry to go back over to Split (where they have an abundance of peas--inside joke--haha). We, of course, found a Pekara (bakery) to get a snack. I'm burek-ed out so just got a plain bun with sugar on top. The lady there was so cute. She didn't really speak any English, but Dad didn't say anything in Croatian till the end. She gave him crap (jokingly) for making her attempt English when he could've translated everything. It's ok. I prefer to try my Croatian when I can. Everyone speaks English here so it's hard. I think I could pick it up pretty quickly if I lived here for a little while. I love watching TV in English and reading the subtitles. It helps when you see how words are spelled. 

1246--We're on the ferry heading back to Split. Couldn't sit upstairs. Although there was a nice breeze, the sun was scorching hot! Came down to the "air conditioned" area where Mom and Anne are. Once you get used to it, it's really not that cool. Mom's reading, as usual. Anne's fanning herself. Dad's staring out the window. I'm madly typing, wondering when I'll next be able to transfer all of this from my phone onto my blogs. It's been a few days. We've had late nights and bad internet connections, which = no blogs. OK! The dude in front of me on this ferry STINKS SO BADLY! I can't even sit here (breathing thru mouth)!


1430--Back on the road from Split to Trogir. Had some time to kill today so drove 30 minutes to Trogir. What a beautiful little town! We saw some HUGE yachts today. The streets are so narrow, maybe only 2 or 3 people can squeeze through. So pretty. I found a bracelet here Mel! Dad got me to the right store by asking some girl. Really enjoyed the town!

These are the narrow roads thru the town, so uneven. The rocks are smooth on top and you slide off them as you're walking.

1836--Just sitting, waiting to get in line for the ferry to Ancona, Italy. I booked the biggest cabin possible, but there are no showers or toilets in the cabin. This is gonna be interesting! We leave Split at 2100 and arrive in Ancona at 0700. Long ride across the Adriatic. Mom's freaking out about the whole cabin thing and having to pee in the middle of the night! Haha!

1935--We're on the ferry. We've check out our cabin. Bunk beds and SMALL! There's a sink. Toilet and shower are just outside our cabin. No big deal. Parents snore. Anne and I are looking forward to arriving in Italy and having our own room again. We're sitting up on the deck. It's pretty hot, beautiful though. The sun just went down not long ago and the sky is so pretty. Split is all lit up along the Riva. Hard to say goodbye to Croatia. Dad's sad. It may be the last time he comes to Croatia. 

2130--We've officially left Croatia. The moonlight on the water looks so pretty with Split lit up in the background. I feel sad for Dad. We're heading down to our cabin to attempt showers and go to bed.

2230--The air conditioning in the room is basically non-existent. The back of the door says to turn both knobs on this vent down for warm, straight for a mixture, and up for "colder air". It's so hot and stuffy. It's got cold air coming out but ever so slowly--so slowly it's not making the room one bit cooler!


0400--Well, I've been up looking at my cell phone clock every hour. Now I'm just WIDE AWAKE! Anne got up at midnight, Dad at 0100, and Mom at 0330. Thought I might as well go to the washroom too. Now I'm sitting here playing games on my phone. Have a wicked headache. Once we get off the ferry we have a 3hr drive to Rome. I just want to get some sleep! My alarm is set for 0545 cuz breakfast is from 6-7. Laku noc!


...And just for the record, dad has slept this whole time. I know this because he's been quietly snoring the whole night.


0450--Still up! Just put my phone down. Will try to fall asleep.


0500--Just dozing off and dad yells, "Breakfast time!" I'm all, "Dad, it's 5 o'clock!!! I have my alarm set for 0545." Dad says sorry and is asleep in seconds. I'm still wide awake. Oh my goodness!


0600--Breakfast time for real. I haven't slept since 0330. So tired!!! And I'll be driving to Rome!