Sunday, June 2-Florence

We went to church in Florence which was set up for tourists with english translation.  We then parked at airport to take train into Florence.  

Florence was hot and we knew we wouldn't last long after so many busy days with the kids, so we decided to just get a feel of the city without diving in too deep.

We walked past the Uffizi for pictures of the David replica outside the museum.

And then went to the bridge Ponte Veccio. 

The favorite stop was the Michael Angelo overlook. Florence is beautiful from above.

We got back to the house about 5:30 for a relaxing evening. Kids swam, we went on a walk around the vineyard…The views are stunning.

Dinner was another fantastic meal. They made us typical Tuscan dishes. A white ragu pasta was the favorite. We also had Pappa al Pomodoro dish.  And then vanilla gelato with strawberries for dessert. We ate outside again, not even starting dinner until 8:30pm. Kids were actually excited about going to bed again when we finished around 10.

Saturday, June 1-Cinque Terre, Greve (Tuscany)

The hotel we stayed for the night had vouchers for pastries at local bakery. Since we didn't want coffee they gave us a ridiculous amount of croissants.

We took the train from La Spezia to the last city (Monterosso) of the cinque terre. 

It was beautiful, but hot!  The boys swam in the ocean while James flew his drone and Brielle and I soaked our feet in the nice cool water. 

We then took the train to the next city down Vernazza.  It had a different feel.  Long and narrow streets (crowded with tourists) that then opened up at the ocean. 

This region is known for its pesto, so we picked up some pesto focaccia, which was pretty incredible.

We drove by Pisa on our way out, which was a fun stop.  

It really is leaning as much as it appears to in pictures.  

From there we drove to Greve to stay at a friend's bed and breakfast. It was so nice to get out of the city and into the beautiful Tuscan countryside. We were spoiled with a fabulous dinner with the family. Most of them spoke English pretty well. We had melon, grilled zucchini, bruschetta, grilled toast with fresh olive oil, ham, grilled steak, hotdogs, chicken and potatoes.  And with the amazing views sitting in the vineyards it tasted even more fantastic.

Friday, May 31-Parma, Carrera, La Spezia

We took a tour of a small farm/cheese making factory in the Parma region.

Parma is the only place in the world that is allowed to make Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.  

They claim the flavor can not be re-created as everything (the milk and the grain the cows eat) is local to the region.  

And also the guide claims they have the 'passion' that makes the flavor just right.  The sprinkle of love that goes into a recipe that no one else can imitate.

We got to taste the difference that aging has on the cheese.  1-2 years is just right.  3 years makes it a much stronger "spicy" taste.  Any spicy food we've had since then Preston has asked if it was aged 3 years.

After our tour we found a park for a picnic.

We then continued to Carrara where we got to take a jeep ride up to the top of the mountain where carrara marble is quarried.

This marble is famously used for many statues and buildings included Michelangelo's David, Bertel Thorvaldsen's Christus, the Pantheon and the Rome Italy Temple.

The mountains in both directions are all marble, so despite exporting a millions tons of marble a year, they said it would take 450 more years before they reach the limit of 5% they can quarry.

After leaving the quarry we stopped at the beach for another picnic and time to play before heading to out next stop for the night in La Spezia.

Thursday, May 30-Lugano, Milan, Parma

Before leaving Lugano we spent our last morning walking along the lake.  We had planned to stop at the shops to get some swiss chocolate, but found everything was closed for Ascension Day.

Our next stop was Milan.  The Duomo there is spectacular.

Preston didn't care about the cathedral.  He was just excited about feeding the pigeons.  There are a lot of locals that walk around selling bird feed, but we had some nuts in our backpack that worked well.  

We had a little hiccup when we tried to go through security.  James was carrying his drone (didn't feel comfortable leaving it in the car for the day), and it was not allowed.  Luckily Ian has a friend that works for security at the Duomo museum that was willing to hold on to it so we could explore.

The detailed carving was incredible.

St. Bartholomew with stained glass in background

We then went to San Bernardino alle Ossa known as the "bone church."  Apparently the cemetery ran out of room for burial during the plague, so a chapel in the church was used to hold the skeletons.  It was very cool, and creepy.

Santa Maria delle Grazie is the church where the Last Supper was painted.

We went through a series of rooms to dehumidify before we were allowed in the room to see the painting, and once we were in the room we had exactly 15 minutes.  The history displayed along the walls walking in is also fascinating to see how most of the building was destroyed during World War 2 but the Last Supper was protected by sandbags.

Europe has many interesting vehicles, a lot smaller than we're used to in America, but these 1 person cars were our favorites.  James was trying to figure out if he could fit in one.

After more the 20,000 steps our family was more than willing to have gelato as an appetizer.

Which gave them extra energy to play on the playground of the park outside the pizza place we found for dinner in Parma that night.

Wednesday, May 29-Lugano, Switzerland

Lugano was spectacular.  Wednesday we went to Mount Tamaro for more great views of the alps.

We rode a gondola up the mountain.  

It just kept going and going and going.  

The kids were thrilled with the playground at the top.  We had a picnic lunch overlooking the valley after they had time to play.

After lunch we went for a short hike starting with visiting the chapel.

The hike went along the ridgeline and included a rockpile perfect for kids to stack and play with.  

We then rode on the alpine slide.  It took you over the edge as fast as you wanted to go. 

Preston was very resistant to trying it out, but then loved it and wanted to go faster, and faster!

The attendant was from Portugal and appreciated James being able to converse with him in portuguese.  So he let us all go an extra time.

From there we went down the mountain and over to check out the Verzasca Dam (made famous by James Bond in Golden Eye). 

The Ponte dei Salti double bridge was a great place to get out and explore some more.  

The surrounding village had much more of the swiss feel with the beautiful stone buildings.

As is typical, Ethan was most interested in catching frogs in river.