wil and kris (and gracie and ava)

hey…while i should have been cleaning the house, doing laundry and packing for our trip home this weekend, i loaded all of our pictures and weeded through the crappy ones. i edited and played with a few and loaded about 60 or so of my favorites to a europe set on my flickr site. please peruse if interested!

as for the rest of the pictures, i am putting them onto a disc, as i type, to hopefully make it easy to share with whoever wants to see them (yes, i’ll be bringing the disc with me this weekend, family).

since editing the pictures is just as fun as taking them (in my opinion at least), i may continue to pick at and upload photos here and there to my flickr site as time progresses.

enjoy!

since it’s been 90 degrees here every day for the past 3 months, we decided it was time to get the ac fixed.

a guy came out today and it was fixed in 20 mins.  HECK YEAH!

Holy crap… Kris and i had the most insane last 32 hours of our lives!!

I wrote my post about our last day and we were hanging around the train station waiting for it to arrive so we could finally head home.

The time came and our train didn’t show up…  I went to go check the board more closely and kris pulled out our tickets just to be sure.  As i was walking away she yelled, “wait!”  The ticket didn’t say Firenze Santa Maria Novela (the main train station in florence); instead, our tickets read, ‘Firenze campo di marte.’  We were at the wrong station, and our train was leaving in 20 minutes.  Kristen started to freak out and a million thoughts of how we can get there in time ran through my head.  Can we take a train to get there in the next few minutes (it’s only a 6 min. train ride to the next station)… none were available; could we get to the metro and over to that station in time… no freakin’ way; our only other option was a taxi.  We ran out the main station entrance to the taxi stop and the line was all the way down the block.  This was when i started to freak out.

We thought about asking people if we could take the next taxi, but we didn’t know the language well enough to explain the situation.  We saw a lone cab that looked like it was off duty and ran to ask the driver if he could take us.  He freaked out about us asking him while he was busy and that he was going to get a fine by the police or something (all of this in italian, of course).  We tried to explain ourselves and he started yelling and pointing down to the main street where a roundabout was.  We nodded in agreement and quickly (i mean, freakishly quickly) we ran down to the drag to see if a cab would drive by that we could catch.  At this point, our train is supposed to leave the other station in 12 minutes or so.

We saw a car with the taxi sign on top and waved our arms, he quickly pulled over and he immediately sensed our haste.  He threw our bags into the car and we told him of our ordeal.  He said it is usually a 15 minute drive and that it would be 17 euros.  I said, “if you can get us there in time i’ll give you 30!”  He zoomed away faster than any other cab i’ve ever been in!  We zipped between cars and swerved out into oncoming traffic.  Part of me was freaked out that i was going to die, and the other part of me was excited because he was sure he could get us there on time.  He barked directions to us for when we got to the station… where to go, what to look for; he was a HUGE help!  We screeched to a stop and jumped out of the car and down the stairs to sift through the binarios (tracks).  We arrived 4 minutes early and it turned out our train was delayed 10 minutes.  WHEW!  We got to the right track and saw all the other people waiting for the same train.  We set our bags down and we began to catch our breath (kris basically had a combination break down and hyperventilation attack)… we had made it.

The overnight train ride was a little bit odd.  We shared a car with an african american couple from france who didn’t speak english, a french guy (about my age) who spoke english, and a very strange french african american lady who wore a little music player around her neck that just sort of played all the time (thankfully not while we were sleeping).  She made a lot of phone calls… even when it was overly apparent that she had no service on the train; she also did this strange snort thing when she was trying to clear sinuses… it sounded like she was causing fatal damage up there.  Aside from that, we slept well and awoke to a beautiful, sunny, french countryside.

We were excited about returning home until…

Our train was late… an entire hour late!  This was bad news for us since we had to travel to the airport from the train station.  We started to panic again.  We knew it was going to take about an hour to get to the station using the metro, we also knew that there was no train to the airport (from where we were).  Our only other option… again… was a taxi.  We ran outside and guess what we found… another giant line to get a cab.  Not only that, but i didn’t have enough cash to get us all the way to the airport.  Kris hopped into the giant line and i asked information where the nearest bank was.  They pointed in a vague direction (as does everyone in europe) so i ran down the steps to see what i could find.  Twenty minutes later, i came back with no luck.  Kris had moved up in line and we decided that our best bet was to ask the driver to drive to an ATM, then to the airport.. YEESH!!

I think he thought we were a little odd, but he came through.  It was straight to the bank, then to the airport.  We arrived to the airport 40 minutes before our flight was to take off and went to check in.  We knew we were late but figured we still had enough time to get there.  We were asking agents where we could check in for our flight and they all seemed a bit confused, until one lady told us that checkin had closed and we had missed our flight!!

“We’re never going to get home,” we thought.  We went to the information desk to see what we could do.  The lady was very kind and understanding that it wasn’t our fault that the train was late.  $400.00 later we had a later flight home. (We didn’t really have much of a choice on the fee…I guess they’re not as generous about swapping flight times). The lady directed us to the check in counter, and a few hundred hoops later, we were on our way to the gate. The kiosks were practically impossible to use (even when in english), then we waited forever to get our bags checked, then we walked through customs, then through security, then walked a long time, then took a bus that took us to the plane (but felt like we had traveled out of the country). With the entire process of all that, we made our gate right as it was boarding! We realized then that there was no way we’d be able to even make it through the airport process if we had made it “on time” for our initial flight. The paris airport was so complex…definitely not like the usa, where you can catch your flight with a few minutes before take off.

Our plane was huge and the line to board was unending. Knowing we were at our gates with tickets in hand, we relaxed for what felt like the first time in the last day or so and waited till we were the last ones on. Unfortunately we were stuck with two seats on opposite ends of the plane, but with a bit of manuevering, i was able to convince a few people to move around a bit for kris and i to sit together (and also got a thankful family of three together as well).

To say the least, we were relieved to actually be sitting on a plane getting out of europe. Maybe a few hours later than anticipated, but we were on our way home, after all that! We savored the free wine, warm meals, and the movie to make the flight a bit more enjoyable. 8 and a half hours later we landed in our new connecting city (atlanta…thank heavens for american soil!), went through more customs and boarded our last 30 minute flight to hop over to nashville.

With an arrival at 8pm, we were exhausted, as we had been awake for a long day. But SO happy to be home, see our girly girl and sleep in our bed!

thanks for enjoying our travels with us along every step, and thank you for keeping our safety in your prayers.

Well… our trek has come to a close.  We’ve traveled afar, seen quite a bit, and experienced the life and culture of a couple european countries.  If i had to use one word to describe my response and feeling after all that we’ve seen and done… ‘exausted!’

Kris and i were walking back to the train station today and we were talking about our time in europe and good and bad things about it and what we would do differently.  We both decided that this last day in florence was probably our favorite. We slept in a bit this morning after a long night on the train and after we got up, ready and packed all of our stuff, we checked out of our hotel.

We walked down the streets pulling our luggage toward the train station and we came across a giant crowd that seemed to be protesting something.  There was extremely loud music, police at every corner, and people holding signs and chanting.  Then we turned a corner and saw another very large crowd doing the same thing… only, they were protesting something else (perhaps the opposing group).  It was quite the scene, and luckily we were able to step around the large groups quite quckly and ducked into the station.

Earlier in the week we saw a spot were you can store your luggage during the day so we walked over and checked in our bags.  This was great because now we could travel around the city without having to carry our bags everywhere.

We had read about an open market in the center of town so we made our way the three blocks east to see what that was all about.  We came upon a large square that had vendors lined up and down each way!  Too bad they only had a bunch of knock off ‘touristy’ crap.  There was a large building along one of the streets with a bunch of people going in and out, so we went up to the steps and stepped inside.  This was the open market we were thinking.  Meat, bread, cheese, pastry, fruit and veggie vendors were everywhere!  They were chopping, portioning and wrapping up stuff for locals that were out to get their weekly supplies.  It was really cool to see all the fresh foods.  We wanted to buy a bunch of groceries and start cooking just to be able to live and taste the culture. Kris grabbed a small basket of fresh strawberries for 70 cents and claimed they were some of the best strawberries she ever had.

After our walk through the two stories of fresh foods we we took a taxi up to the piazzale michaelangelo… a large terrace that overlooks the city below.  The drive up was short but winding!  When we reached the top, we saw another replica of the david statue; he was looking out over the city.  From here, not only could you see the city, but you could see plenty of surrounding countryside.  There were fields with ranch style houses, olive tree orchards, grape vinyards and a giant wall that protected the city (somewhat like the wall of china).  Next to the terrace was a stairway and down that stair and around the corner was a little cafe that had tables next to another (smaller) terrace in the shade.  We sat down and had some italian pizza and pasta (accompanied by, the regular, warm water).  Knowing we had about 7 hours until our train left, we spent lots of time sipping our water and enjoying the view under the shade.  A few lattes later and we asked for the bill so we could venture back down into town.  I reached into my wallet… i only had 15 euros left.. not only that, they didn’t take credit cards.  I asked our waiter where the nearest ATM was.  He smiled and pointed down to the city below… We weren’t worried about taking one of his tables for such a long time since in italian culture, guests are welcome to stay as long as they want at a restaurant.

So, I made a dash for the city to grab some cash.  I had no idea where to look so i just decided to walk along the main streets and ask people where a bank was.  I went down the steep hill (there were some steps for pedestrians) and turned the corner.  The nearest bridge (to get across the river and into town) was about a third of a mile.  I walked across and began to ask… anyone who spoke english had no idea where one was, and all the italians just pointed in a rather vague direction deeper into the city.  I walked and walked and after about 3 miles and a half hour, i ended up at the atm that was about 2 blocks from our hotel (which is at the complete opposite side of the city, it was the only one i could find!!)  I ran the 3 miles back to the giant hill and walked back up the stairs.  I ordered one last water and we paid our bill to the chuckling waiter and ventured back down the hill into the city.

We decided to head towards the train station to wait there, but on the way, kris spotted a small cafe that offered wine by the glass.  We sat down and kris had a white wine from the cinque terre area and i ordered an expensive chianti.  One of the guys that worked there came out with a couple bottles to offer me some of their more exclusive wines.  We chatted about what was what for a couple minutes and I went with his suggestion (which was a similar chianti).  The wine was excellent!  Probably in my top three wines i’ve ever tasted!  This time we had enough cash to pay right then.

After a last gelato stop, we ended our day back at the train station.  Kris and i are now sitting in the cafe waiting for our train to come and whisk us away and back to paris.

Today was what we thought our stay in firenze would be like.  Long, quiet lunches with romantic views of tuscany, sipping wine on the street watching people walk by, and some fine gelato to end our evening while walking through the streets.  If every day here was like today, i think we would’ve enjoyed it more.  That not to say we didn’t enjoy it, i guess it just wasn’t what we expected.

We are both excited to go home.  We are worn out and we miss our daily lives… and our baby.

Kris will probably write a post about our overall european experience in the next few days, so keep an eye out for that.

Until then, Arrivederci!

we made it home…have two more posts to upload (didn’t have internet access within the last two days of absolute traveling chaos…you’ll read later) but since it feels like 5 in the morning, we are going to bed!

what an amazing day!

we heard how cinque terre was a place not to miss, but beyond that we had no idea what to expect…five villages along the coast. sounded interesting. well, wil and i agree, cinque terre was probably our favorite place in italy by far.

our day started bright and early, knowing we wanted to catch one of the first trains out there. we knew we were cutting it close, but we impatiently waited at the automatic ticket stand to grab some reservations…the person in front of us obviously had no idea what they were doing as each button was like a ten minute decision. we ran to the real ticket stand in hopes that would get us on board faster, with the man reminding us we can just get on the train without reservations, with our passes. of course! we ran from the counter, knowing the train was leaving in mere seconds…and we were just a few mere seconds too late. we watched the train coast away from us as we caught our breath. : (

although we missed our first chance, we were able to hop on the next train an hour and a half later. after a stop in pisa to change trains (we decided to nix a preciously planned day trip to pisa, so this was the extent of our visit to this town- no site of the leaning tower for us), we made it to the first town, riomaggione.

the site wasn’t much out of the station, and we immediately came to the info booth to buy our pass to hike between villages. we started our trek and a few minutes later we came around a corner of the hill and we were hit with something very unexpected…a cliffside path along the amazingly beautiful mediterranean sea more specifically the “ligurian sea” along this part of the coast). the breeze was salty, the water incredibly blue and the view back to the cliffside village was unlike anything else.

since it was about lunch time, we stopped at a little cafe in the middle of the walk, with the table and chairs hovering over the edge. not long after our nourishment, we made it to the 2nd village, manarola. buildings huddled next to one another as they crawled up the slope; terraced vineyards climbed beyond the homes; boats were parked in front of the teeny restaurants and shops down the main drag; and people swam in the deep blue waters in the harbor below. we followed a self guided walk from our book starting at the harbor and took in the intimate characteristics of this little town as we walked uphill… the church from the 1300’s, the family owned vineyards, the quiet cemetery overlooking the rest of the city and the far, blue ocean.

unfortunately the path to the next town, corniglia, was closed due to repairs, and it is the only one not accessible by boat…we opted to skip it (only other way to it is by a small train) and grabbed a boat taxi to take us to the town after that, vernazza. we balanced across a narrow plank to hop on the boat and soaked in the site of the stunning coastline…clusters of homes and vineyards defying gravity and the elements, faithfully clinging to the sides of the mountains.

we pulled up to the breakwater and stepped into the harbor of vernazza, a bigger, busier village. as the heat began to increase, we grabbed some gelato and took a seat along the very edge of the breakwater in the shade, looking back towards the town, reading our guide about the interesting history of the place, and watching people swim, sit and just enjoy the quieter, slower pace of living.

as the last hike was for serious hikers (not us), we caught the local train to monterosso, the fifth town of cinque terre. monterosso, was the most like a resort town…bigger and a bit busier due to more and more people discovering this wonderful slice of earth. the entire time we wish we had brought swimsuits to take a dip in the sea, but instead we took another self guided walk through the streets…we followed a trail up through the mountain, called the “switchbacks of the capucci monks”, away from reality and the rest of the town. it was just the two of us as we hiked together, looking back on the city, stepping through old ruins of fortresses from the days of pirates, and coming across a church, alone on the top of the hill. we stepped in the cool, dark sanctuary, greeted by an ethereal sound of monks singing somewhere within the church. the undisturbed worshippful voices, combined with birds chirping and the belltower softly ringing made us immediately forget everything: the heat, the sweat, the hike, trains, taxis…life. after a moment we made our way back down the hill into the city to finish off our time in the cinque terre.

in order to catch or last train, we had to eat dinner…of course before any tratterias or osterias opened. but we found a place open, more like a wine bar, that served local wines and appetizers. we filled up on delicious italian foods…salami, smoked salmon, rustic bread, bruschette, and great wines.

*speaking of wine- i think i’ve had a wine revelation this trip. wil called me a wine wimp halfway through the trip (thanks dena) and ever since then, i’ve tried and loved every wine i’ve had. i guess i just had to sample the best to convince my palette!

at the end of the day, we took the train back to florence…and when our faith in the rail system was at its highest (wil was talking about his plans all day to start a high speed rail system all across the u.s.), we had some major delays on our train…originally to arrive back in florence at 10 or so,  we didn’t get back to our hotel until after midnight (thus no post at the end of the day). we were tired and grumpy from the rough ride and went to bed immediately, to prepare ourselves for our last day in europe!

two big sites were on our plate this morning- the uffizi gallery (extensive renassaince paintings) and the accademia (the david). upon our arrival in florence i started reading the guidebook to get a feel for the area and our plans, only to find out that unless you want to stand in freakishly long and slow moving lines, you need to get reservations to these two places. and of course, sometimes you have to call a month in advance in order to get a time slot. one piece of advice to future travelers: read through your guidebooks before you travel!

i was able to get a time at the accademia (easier to get a time a few days in advance), but as the uffizi was booked through next week, our only option was to wait in line. you don’t necessarily have to have a reservation to get into the museums, they just confirm you can get in at a certain time without waiting in line- especially since most places only allow so many people in at once. knowing this we planned on heading to the uffizi first thing in the morning, right after it opened. good thing we did because the line was already decently long. once we grabbed our spots, it just continued to grow and grow behind us.

while standing in these lines, we’ve found a good percentage of the people around us are american. spoke to two girls who just graduated college and were on a month long trip throughout europe. we’ve met quite a few people at the train stations, laundromat, etc. with similar itineraries. i know we thought we wanted to do a month in europe at first, but i don’t know if i could have done it. it’s just too exhausting to never be on a regular schedule, room, diet, language, etc. maybe i am just a travel wimp.

back to the day…we got to the uffizi around 8:30 and stood in line for a while- definitely not as bad as if we tried to hit it in the middle of the day. we were ushered in and immediately surrounded by hundreds of italian paintings by michelangelo, da vinci, boticelli, giotto, and of course many more. it was interesting to see the subject matter of the time…i decided i don’t think i would want to live during the renassaince. yes it was the rebirth of humanity and art, but it seemed so dark. mostly all the paintings revolved around gruesome religious stories or martyrs or christ’s suffering.

our museum walkthrough ended around 11, and being the normal americans we are, we were ready for lunch. but nothing opened till at least 12! and to make it worse, everyone opens their cafe doors and displays before they even open… we walked to kill time and found a little corner cafe with great little pizzas. they were wonderfully simple. it makes me wonder why we feel like we need to slap all sorts of meat and veggies and sauces on our pizzas, when a combination of just good bread and one or two toppings and herbs make a great meal.

with a large chunk of time between lunch and our reservation for later in the day, we relaxed, later had some gelato (we can’t get enough of it- especially when it’s on every corner), and sat and watched a busy piazza. around the corner was our next stop, to see the david.

although we had reservations for 4:30, we got there a bit early, and waited in another long line. seeing that the line without reservations never moved at all, i was happy to have made the call, but we still stood outside forever. we watched a nearby street vendor desperately try to sell cheesy prints of italian paintings and scenes to passerby tourists…without luck. our time was called and we made our way, thankfully no later as the temperature was starting to increase!

in the first room we saw some awesome sculptures by michelangelo- probably my favorite sculptures thus far due to the fact that the entire series of 5 or 6 was unfinished. each sculpture was of a figure, only halfway emerging out of the rough stone, revealing every chink he made with his tools. the visualization of his process was more impactful than the perfect polished finished products we are so accustomed to seeing.

but of course, our sight was not long after distracted to the end of the hall where the david stood. a huge sculpture of 17 feet (plus the 4-5 foot pedestal he stood upon), he demanded everyone’s attention. unfortunately no pictures were allowed, so we couldn’t capture him, but it won’t be easy to forget the site.

we laughed as we left the museum, realizing that we stood in line longer than the time we spent inside the museum, at both places today. surprisingly, florence has felt more “touristy” than rome or even paris (paris was probably the least!). maybe because this city is the smallest of the three, and the visitors are so concentrated around the few sites here.

either way, we enjoyed what we saw and went straight back to our room. the temperature is up to the 90’s today…we were happy to waste a couple hours out of the hot streets until dinner. wil is checking for a good place to eat right now in the book. it looks like we’ll have another leisurely evening together enjoying to drawn out meal, and later preparing for our big day trip to cinque terra tomorrow (yay for more train rides!).

here’s a video while we were bored in line at the uffizi…get ready for some edge of your seat action. oh and by the way, if you can tell in the video, yes, my cheek decided to break out in the last couple days (without me thinking of bringing any medication). what fun.

ciao!