My little artists drawing their version of the tower.
It was Thanksgiving the day we went to Pisa. A great way to celebrate a holiday, but we did miss the traditional food and games the Williams enjoy every year. We decided to eat our special Thanksgiving dinner at a restaurant near Camp Darby. We chose the perfect little spot to encourage our tired and hungry little ones. The atmosphere was relaxing. As you walk into the seating area your eyes are drawn to the cozy fireplace to the back and the beautiful Italian paintings of snow filled landscapes and autumn colored trees. Our dinner wasn't Turkey, mashed potatoes, and green bean casserole, but was pasta and steak surrounded by the love of tiny little family members expressing their love and thankful hearts learning a new culture together. Shortly after we arrived many other Americans joined our little restaurant to experience the same type of Thanksgiving as we were. It definitely was a Thanksgiving we'll remember.
The next day we decided to go to Lucca. It's a town of unique beauty and amazing culture. A wall is built around the town. You will often see residents running on top of the wall or walking their dog. The wall is a little over 2 miles around and easily walkable. The only problem with the city is not allowing oversized vehicles, such as our mini van, to go directly through the center of the city. When we arrived in Lucca we failed to notice that parking was directly on the inside of the wall. NO parking anywhere else. This city is for bicycles and walkers only. So as we are driving around "trying" to find parking, we start to notice there's not another car in sight. Soon the walls start to close in on us and we get the stare down that Italians are known for. Then we see bicyclists try to scoot to the side for us to get by and they end up running into other stopped bicycles because our American sized mini van is in the wrong place. We can't turn to the right or the left because we can't fit and going straight takes us to the center of the city....where we now know is not for cars! We were stuck going through the center of the city feeling helplessly lost and uncomfortable. When we finally found a place to turn right, a little old lady was standing directly in the middle of the road. So what do we do at this point...stop until she moves, with a smile on our face and a friendly wave, gesturing our appreciation. She gave us the flick of the hand and some pretty little words as we slowly moved our van ahead-hoping it was a correct turn out of town. All the kids were in the back hiding, while Ike and I were mouthing our apologies and trying to smile at the situation. Thankfully nobody got hurt-that we know of -and we found the parking area.
Once out of the stressful situation we were able to notice the beauty the town had to offer. It was gorgeous and the surrounding mood was thrilling, as we walked up and down the streets. We decided to actually walk to the center and try and enjoy what we missed. Once we were in the center, we took a break from walking and let Isaac out of the backpack so he could run a little energy off. Well, this was a highly trafficked area of bicycles and walkers, but us being us, thought Isaac would be fine roaming chasing pigeons. Dumb mistake. Before you know it, Isaac shot out chasing a pigeon just as a bicycler was passing with her two year old on the back. She smacked into Isaac and just about fell over herself. I'm sure she was cussing us out Italian style. We had no idea what she was saying, but through body language and tone we knew she was upset. And rightly so. All I could do was smile and apologise knowing we made another big mistake in this little town. Even with all the little mistakes made, this was one of our favorite places.
Isaac playing with the pigeons...a big no, no.
I will let the pictures tell you all about Cinque Terre. ..another favorite. Amazing beauty and culture again:-)
And yet another street. I would have got lost if it weren't for my husband's good sense of direction.
Going back down to the center.
Found that yummy Gelato. That is only paint...I'm still alive.
Florence
As we entered Florence we didn't realize that their was a HUGE marathon going on. It took us over an hour to find the train station so we could park. Our Garmin kept taking us to the marathon which was blocked off! We had to go in the opposite direction we knew we needed to go. We were glad to see those train tracks appear in the distance. We knew at last the search for parking was over and we could park and start walking and walking and walking. This was our last stop before home so we were all getting a bit tired of being tourists.
We went to the Accademia De Arte where Michelangelo's sculpture "David" is kept. What an amazing piece of art! Photo's were not allowed so I do not have pictures of it.
This is Galileo's tomb in the Basilica Di Santa Croce. We also saw Michelangelo's and Machiavelli's tombs in the same Basilica.
