Two Weeks With the Family

     My family excluding my oldest brother David, took a trip to Italy starting on December 20th and ending January 3. In that time, we visited Venice, Rome, Athens, Pisa, Siena, and spent lots of time right here in Florence. We had lots of fun with a pretty jam packed schedule that my mom put together in order for them to make the most of their time here. I'd say they definitely did!

     Venezia, Dec. 22-24:
It was pretty cold when we arrived in Venice and it wasn't quite what I was expecting, I think I imagined much smaller narrower streets with more water ways and loads more boats. Instead, there were pretty big streets, and in some areas you'd never have guessed you were in Venice if every little shop wasn't crowded with figurines of striped men in hats and masks for Carnivale. But, all the little streets that you picture when you think of Venice do exist and they are wonderful. It's so fascinating to see a city not overrun by cars; to see boats doing the jobs that cars usually do. The mail boat, ice-cream boat, ambulance, fire boat, etc. The main piazza is inhabited by San Marco church, magnificent in and of itself. Right next to it is the Doges palace and the prison that is reached by going over the "Bridge of Sighs". We went inside both and the palace was covered in incredible paintings that hurt your neck when you stared at the immaculate ceiling for too long. The prison was even better though, I found it more interesting to see the cells and especially the room harboring all the prison drawings that were found in the rooms. On the 23rd we took a boat provided by the hotel to the island of Murano, famous for their glass work. We watched in amazement as a man created horses and many different vases from a blob of hot glass. When he would finish one he'd put a small piece of newspaper on it and it would immediately catch fire and turned to ash from the heat. It's an incredible talent, one I think would be cool to learn about! They say everyone gets lost when they go to Venice, well, we didn't really. If I was alone I would have been beyond lost but thankfully Jesse seems to have a built in GPS and did a great job leading us everywhere. I just followed along silently, taking in all the bridges and colorful homes. Also the sunsets in Venice were some of the most beautiful that I have seen!

Gondolas

Rialto Bridge

     Firenze:
Florence was our home base obviously, and it's also where we spent Christmas. Christmas Eve after we got back from Venice, everyone opened their presents from me and ones from each other. Dinner was a bunch of random appetizers or antipasta as dad likes to say. Christmas morning we opened santa presents and then started making a big American breakfast that I'd been craving for ages! French toast, sausage, scrambled eggs, fruit.. Luca was thrilled about breakfast and he and my dad got along really well. After breakfast was finished and none of us could think of eating another bite, we joined them in going to church at Santa Croce. Was quite boring actually, Italian catholic service is far from exciting. Back at the house we did pass the present; Mavi, Giova and Luca partook in our Christmas tradition and they enjoyed it very much! The rest of the afternoon was spent chilling; playing the wii, watching movies, and talking. Dad got a ham and had to look up how to cook an uncured ham, it took longer than expected, so we ate linner. The rest of the days that they were in Florence, I took them around to all the good places I know. Happy to be a tour guide :) New Years Eve we came back from Athens and at night I took Jesse and Hunter up to Piazza Michelangelo to watch fireworks, little did I know that they'd also be launching them from there and what a cool feeling! They set them off right next to us so we were standing right underneath them watching them explode with sound and color right above our heads! And if you peeled your eyes away, to overlook the city, you could see fireworks going off all over. Florence lit up sporadically in every color and shade was a beautiful site. What a perfect way to start the new year! Happy 2013!!

The Duomo

View from Piazza Michelangelo

Goofy kids

Christmas Day

Christmas gifts- she got the hat and
I got the scarf

     Roma, Dec. 26-28:

Rome had to be my favorite city by far and nothing I can say will do it justice. I love history and ruins and I could spend hours just imagining life as it used to be. Who was in this building, what were they doing, what were they thinking, what kinds of problems were they worried about, what hobbies did they enjoy? Questions like this could keep me enticed for days. I read what I could, and explored even more. The first big thing that we came across was the Pantheon. The columns were incredible! Just humungous! maybe 18 feet around and who knows how tall. Awesome feeling just to stand among them and to wonder how they possibly created this when they had no mechanical equipment to help. I could have stayed at the Colosseum for ages. When there, we did an extra tour that takes you underneath and also up to the third level, neither of which are open to the general public unless you do the tour. Of course if you've seen the movie Gladiator you know a bit about the Colosseum, but in person, it just blows you away. The woman told us that the structure is a mere skeleton of what it was in its prime. Since then it has been dismantled piece by piece by workers taking material for other buildings, and by those who sold the chunks they were able to pull off. It's a shame, but it's also so enticing to see it as it is, even though its only a fraction of its former glory. The Trevi Fountain was also nice, mom loved it especially at night when it was lit up. It is an incredibly huge fountain that accepts the wishes of many with a coin every day. Its large grand statues, with water splurging out and gushing around, signifies life and hope and that feeling swells inside those around as they turn backward and throw their change into the fountain full of silent ambition. The Roman Forum and Palatino Hill are a wonderful place to explore for a few hours, it's just full of ruins from all kinds of buildings, each with its own personality and history. The great thing about ruins is that everyone gets to draw their own conclusion of what it was used for and we can play out a little story in our minds and we become engaged in the history. Vatican City had to be visited, but wasn't that impressive. We got in trouble there also, went over the fence and one of the "cops" made us go back out. Oh well! When in Rome.. get in trouble at Vatican city :D One evening by the Trevi Fountain, a man convinced us to try his restaurant and good thing we did! They bragged about their lasagna and so we all ordered it, probably the best I have ever had! I'd recommend it to anyone. I hope I go back to Rome soon.

The Pantheon

Inside the Colosseum

Trevi Fountain

Gladiators outside the Colosseum

Vatican City

     Athens, Dec 28-31:

We took a plane to Athens from Rome, and got lost trying to find our hotel; more lost than we ever got in Venice! The day after we arrived it rained pretty continuously for the rest of our time there and we weren't the most prepared but at least most of us had brought a rain jacket. Mine turned out to not be very waterproof, as a rain coat rightfully should be.. So a couple hours in the afternoons were spent drying off in the hotel. But the rest of the time there were more ruins to see! Mars Hill we went to the first day, and it is said that is where the Apostle Paul once gave his sermon on the mount. It offered a fantastic view of all of Athens, and at your back, the Acropolis. The next day we explored the hill of Acropolis, seeing the Parthenon and the other buildings scattered atop the hill. The Parthenon was massive but unfortunately, covered in scaffolding. I'm thankful they are taking large measures to recreate and try to restore it to the way it used to be, but it isn't the nicest stuff to look at. We also went to the Acropolis museum that housed hundreds of statues of one Greek god or another. Another museum we went to had so many old artifacts; coins, jewelry, tools, toys, statues, and even a potty-chair/ high-chair that survived thousands of years.  One thing I really enjoyed was that in completely random areas you see a large fenced off plot of land and inside is all kinds or random ruins- buildings and columns and stones and pathways. Makes you wonder whats underneath all the rest of the city! It must be exciting to be an archeologist that gets to keep looking for more. Dad loves the food- he had kebabs every night for dinner. I really love the atmosphere in the restaurants; the live music, happy cheerful people, and of course tasty meals. One evening Jesse, Hunter and I sat up at Mars hill as the sun was setting and the views are nothing short of amazing. Athens was a beautiful beautiful city.

View from Mars Hill

The Parthenon

     Pisa, Jan 1:

On the morning of the first the boys and I went to a dirt soccer field and played for an hour with some other random Italians. I think this was Hunter's highlight of the trip. We had a great time, it felt so great for all of us to get to play again and together was an added bonus! Showers were quick so we could meet up with the rest of the family to go to Pisa. I've written about Pisa before and it definitely hasn't changed so I'll just share a few pictures. The bottom picture, was our main past time when we were bored on the whole trip. Hunter carried his hacky sack around everywhere and now I think I needa get one!

Hacking at the tower

     Siena, Jan 2:

Their last full day we went to Siena, and since I've already been I showed them around and we weren't there for that long because they wanted to do a bit more shopping in Florence before they went home. That Evening we got their last gelato, found Hunter an artist near the Ponte Vecchio that he was able to buy a painting from, had dinner, and they all finished packing. We did "End of the trip Video Monologues" at the restaurant and I filmed while Jesse asked random questions to the rest of the family, can't wait to watch those ;) back at my house, the boys and I watched Gladiator till I fell asleep and then it was 5AM and they were leaving! Ciara cried.. And they had to have two taxis come because there was too many of them for one. Hugs were exchanged and off they went!