K-Kids Family Fun: DON'T DROP THE SOAP!

Siena, Pisa, Lucca, Cinque Terre

Here we are again at long last with the email. I have no clue as to where I left off so I'm gonna just start typing. Siena was amazing with its picturesque features. We stayed in a bed and breakfast that was amazing. Jen and I got a private wine tour as well as enjoyed a 4 course dinner with the rest of the residents. This was awesome, since each dish was customed to a traditional family style with wine from their personal vineyard to compliment each specific dish. Seriously, we were greeted with a glass of white wine the second we walked in and it kept going until the dessert wine which complimented the biscotti at the end. Man! Being an alcoholic in Italy is challenging! Here we also had issues of getting lost. We started walking in to the central part of town which was explained to be a good 50 minute walk, when Jen started feeling uneasy about the direction we were going in. Mind you, she is not even the one holding the map! So we follow nothing more than her 'gut' and we turn around and go a separate direction. We walk forever and finally ask two boys where we are. I should have took it as an instant hint when they started laughing hysterically. One of the boys tried to explain in English where we needed to go. Finally the other boy said the only thing he attempted to say in English: 'We are here'. He wasn't even pointing on the map!! Let’s recap: I go in the correct direction. We switch because Jennifer's gut tells her to, and she leads us off the map. Perfect!

We ditched Siena to head towards Pisa. Here we drove with newlyweds whom we had befriended at dinner. This was a poor choice, since the ride made my breakfast have an upward battle with me and was almost about to win. I was so incredibly happy to get out of that car. However, Pisa was not a town of our choice. There was a united consensus to leave as soon as possible, because it was so saturated with tourists it kind of leaked the fun out of the town. You immediately felt like a target to get ripped off. This was an amazing choice since we headed to Lucca, which turned out to be a really fun town. Here we walked around where they had mass amounts of tents with a Saturday market feel. Here's a shout out to Justin, because there was this 3 man band that was playing guitars and a fiddle. They were awesome! I tried to record some of it. It was the coolest bluegrass-hick-whatever that we like to listen to at the Viking! We also caught a mass here, which was very unique, as well as when we were getting dinner we stumbled into a piazza that had a stage set up. Of course we grabbed a table as close to the stage as possible and waited to see what would come of the event. Multiple Italian bands ended up performing 2-3 songs each and then switching bands. All of the bands were boy bands, which of course meant a lot of teasing ensued. I think the epitome was when one guy started busting out Hey, Mr. Postman that we couldn't stop snickering.

Poking an umbrella at Pisa

We left Lucca around 11am to head towards the Cinque Terre. Again we had to jump trains to get there. Hmmm....based on our rough history, this did not look good. Nonetheless, we had no choice but to tackle the challenge straight on. Two unnecessarily bought tickets, a lot of questions, and 6 hours later, we finally arrived in Riamaggiore (the First of the Five cities in Cinque Terre). Here we befriended a group from Australia. They are, quite honestly, a kick in the pants. We bonded over our frustrations with the trains and our knack for messing up. Then, one of the ladies disappeared when the train finally came. All of us jumped on except for her husband who was waiting for her. The doors closed and there she came up the stairs with ice cream in her hands. An hour of waiting and they missed the train because the wife went to buy ice cream for everyone. Let’s just say the husband wasn't very happy, but Jen and I on the other hand couldn't help but to laugh at them. Vernazza, 4th of the 5 cities, is absolutely beautiful. We decided to spend our day splitting a bottle of wine on the rocks. This whole open container thing freaks me out, but when Jen bought the bottle of wine the guy was already opening it for her and handing her dixie cups. Italy Rocks! I got another watercolor done that night. However, it got so dark that I couldn't see what colors I was grabbing; let’s just say, its a very interesting image. I'm sure the wine helped ;)

Me doing a watercolor in Vernazza

Today was an extremely exciting day! This was the day that we were to hike the Cinque Terre. We got up and took a train to the 5th city where we decided to start. From here we set out on our trek. The trail was extremely interesting, to say the least. It was a good thing that we started with the hardest section first because I don't think we would have made the entire 7 mile hike otherwise. That's right 7 miles. Hard to fathom? Oh I know, let me say it again: seven miles! And I swear it was uphill the entire way! It was a beautiful trail and tons of fun for the first 1-2 cities. From there we hit the heat of the day, which pushed us over the edge. We ate gelato when we could, but even gelato wasn't helping the motivation factor. A guy behind us pretty much summed it up when he said, “What'd you do today?” ‘Oh, I climbed a FRICKEN MOUNTAIN!' It was definitely a good 5 hour hike. I made a choice to take the boat back to Vernazza. It was one of the worst decisions I have made the entire trip. The water was so rough that it, again, had Jen and I dying to get out due to the urge to puke. We crashed in our room for a bit, dying to take a shower but both too fried, weak, and now seasick. I try to take a shower, but the widest the doors will open is still not enough for any natural human body to fit into. Nice. Just what I needed. Let’s just say everything was very awkward. Now we are shopping and having fun buying stuff that is local to the Cinque Terre. Until Jen makes the comment, “Can we run this stuff back to our room?” Sounds easy until you remember that it’s another 100 stairs to get there. Bright idea after a 7 mile hike uphill! lol Welp, that’s all for now. I've definitely earned my dinner tonight and I’m more than ready to eat it! Florence is next, with a Venice finish. Hope everyone is well and having a blast! Peace.

- D