scenes from tuscany part 2

And here are some more....

Enjoying another beverage (make like the locals do, right??) on a lovely evening in Florence.

Sadly, on Monday we had to say goodbye to Meg, and the rest of us headed north of the city toward the Apennine mountains. We twisted around, and around, and around the windiest (is that a word) bends, through the steepest (this either?) mountains, until we reached Riva Ridge, a WWII site......it was a long day for me (see below: my penchant for car sickness) but well worth it for the stunning views and small town italy feel away from the heaps of tourists in Florence.

Next it was an early morning climb up teh 473 steps of the Duomo...fantastic, here's a shot of the painted ceiling. The view from the top had gorgeous views of the city that pictures couldn't do justice of.

And, finally we reached Siena...all museum'd out, but we still made time for Siena's Cathedral. Which, in my limited opinion, was actually more intersting than Florence's Duomo, thanks to the black and white, Conor termed "beetlejuice" columns and facade. Conor also had time to get back to his days of speaking with stone animals. Enjoy!

scenes from tuscany

Welcome to Tuscany!

So plans to meet the Horrigans on Friday night at the Florence train station went smoothly, minus the part where Conor and I got off at the wrong Florence station, realized we were in the middle of nowhere, attempted to jump back on a moving train, and then realized we could easily just get on the next train that came through. After a late night catching up on family news, travel stories, politics, and the economy, we started early on Saturday with a car rental and driving south of Florence into the heart of Tuscany. We first stopped in a small town called Grieve (i've probably spelled it wrong) and had a great lunch followed by wine tasting at the chianti museum! Then we wandered along the windy roads (imagine my car sickness) and walked along vineyard roads. Here are a few pictures from the day.



Conor and Meg searching for the next vineyard...ooops, wait....it was someone's private house, we turned around immediately.








Conor and I at the Verazzano Vineyard...as in THE Verazano who landed in the New World Manhattan, and gave us the dreadful Verazano bridge....somewhere at sea he lost a "z."






Enjoying a late night beverage (Moretti) in front of the Duomo...thank goodness for the lack of public drinking laws in most of Europe.











A view of the Ponte Vechio from the Uffuzi above. While museums are not usually our forte, it would be a shame not to make a few stops while in Florence. And, surprisingly, Conor's "musem legs" didn't kick for 45 whole mintues!

The Riviera, French and Italian (post 3 of 3, I lied about there being 4, sorry)

If you are reading these posts top to bottom (and not in real time as we post them), then the last picture in the last post wasnt the clue we hoped it would be. It was a picture of Lindsay looking like a martian, and that was because she was wearing a helmet because we rented a scooter for the day!!! We rented a scooter in Nice and scooted up and down the Riviera, an exhilirating and terrifying experience (people pass whenever and whereever they feel like it). To be honest though, the most dangerous time was when I did a lap of the block as my training -- almost crashed into two cars and have cuts along my left shin to prove it. Anyway, this is a picture of Lindsay and I in Antibes, our last stop of the day. We wished we had more time in Antibes, a beautiful town filled with beaches and shopping which is located between Nice and Cannes, but we ran out of time and the weather was turning against us.

We also scooted North to Monaco and Monte Carlo to see the yachts, that were big enough you could land 747s on them, and the famous casino; we switch-backed up the hills to the quiet little town of Eze; we lazily cruised around the Greenwhich-looking neighborhoods on the pennisula that is home to Saint Jean Cap Ferrat and enjoyed a lunch on the water; and we scoped out the beaches of Villefranche, right next to Saint Jean (the martian picture of Lindsay overlooks the bay there). It was probably the most incredible day we have had on the trip and was well worth the risk of losing the massive deposit we put down on the bike (read: you buy it if you break it)!!!

A new country, Italy! The below picture is of Manarola, one of the five villages tucked along the Italian coast that make up what is known as Cinque Terre. We hiked the 9km of dusty and rocky terrain that up until this century, was the only way to get between the 5 villages. The trail weaves along cliffs overlookng the sea and the secluded villages were great rest stops that were packed with as much gellato and foccaccia as you could dream up.

This picture is of Vernazza, another of the 5 villages, and the last stop before the village where we stayed, Monterroso Al Mare. This last stretch of trail was one of my favorites, as it wound its way among picturesque vineyards, lemon groves, olive trees and pine trees.

Near the area pictured below, we actually stopped at a small lemonade stand tucked in the hills where a man was squeezing his own lemonade and serving wine from his vineyard. We opted for the refreshing lemonade as the trails were too dangerous to navigate unless you were completely clearheaded. It was a gorgeous time to be hiking as well, as the sun was beginning to set over the mountains that separate these villages from the rest of civilization.

Italy has been absolutely incredible so far, as expected. We've tasted some amazing local wines and have already consumed a year's worth of tomatoes, in the form of bruschetta, focaccia, and salads (and I've had to apply my own version of the Bush doctrine in my battle with heartburn, preemptively taking heartburn pills when I am experiencing no symptoms rather than waiting for the symptoms to show up and ravage me). Tonight, we meet up with our first visitors, my parents and my sister Meg, in Florence and are very excited to see some familiar faces. Arrivederci!!!

Bonjour! (post 2 of 4 today)

Below is a mixture of pictures from Villeneuve Lez Avignon, Avignon, and Nice.

This was the street that our Hotel was on, very French and very quiet.










I dont think Lindsay exactly expressed how much I loved this place. If the McCain/Palin ticket wins, I am booking a ticket to Villeneuve Lez Avignon. In addition to what sold Lindsay on it, I have two experiences to add. First, at one site, the Chartreuse, there was actually a kid who had a real football. I almost broke our new camera as I lazily handed it off to Lindsay while I motioned for the kid to toss it too me. It felt so good to have just one catch and throw of the pigskin, something I have been without for months, and this place gave me that opportunity. Second, I went for a run early our last morning here. I saw a track with a soccer field inside of it and I decided I would do some laps. All I could think of while doing the laps was how badly I wished a soccerball would materialize out of nowhere (I had spent a lot of time the night before reminiscing with lindsay about chilly fall days playing/practicing soccer and how I missed them). Well, as I was jogging by the far goal, lo and behold, there was a soccer ball in it. I abandoned my run and decided to get my exercise dribbling the ball up and down the field, juking invisible Zidane's and Henry's, and airmailing balls over both goals for the next 30 minutes. It would have only been 15 minutes, but I wouldnt leave until I had sprinted and scored on both goals, consecutively.


The below picture has the Pont du Avignon in the background, the famous bridge from the children's song about dancing under the bridge (sadly, the pictures of me dancing under the bridge didn't come out too well). Most of the bridge has been wiped out by the flooding of the Rhine, which separates Villeneuve Lez Avignon and Avignon, and it only serves as a tourist site now.











A picture of us on the beach in Nice. The water was actually warm enough to dip our feet in that night, and we almost fell in because it is a rock beach and the rocks often shift underneath your feet (and there were no dead, bloated rates on this rock beach, like there was in Lima). We stayed a block inland from the beach and enjoyed jogging along it during the mornings. Overall, Nice was very nice and clean and not as touristy as Marseille. We of course enjoyed some authentic French food, gallettes and crepes, because that is what we do.











Nice also gave us the opportunity to do something we have never done before, and this picture of Lindsay looking like a martian should give you a good clue....

Espana Dos

Finally, some pics!!! We are sorry it has taken so long. The internet is like gold around here, scarce and expensive. Anyway, here are a few photos from Spain...

This picture is of the Catherdral in Sevilla, obvisouly taken at night. As we may have mentioned in a prior post, we stayed about 15 minutes from the Cathedral and really enjoyed walking the narrow, lamplit alleys at night, which seemed to be bustling at all hours. Near the cathedral, we got more than our fill of tapas and sangria and were able to burn it off on the way back home!










This picture is an overhead shot of Las Ramblas from a tram car we took over Barcelona. We stayed right off Las Ramblas in a hostel whose guests varied from young high schoolers to older senior citizens. Somewhat bizarre, but since it was centrally located, we couldnt complain. Anyway, we managed to walk up and down Las Ramblas, which apparently is a combination of many La Rambla (something Lindsay had to explain to me) and really enjoyed walking through markets and watching the tourists gawk at and take pictures of crazy people standing still in costumes.













This is a picture of the other tram frmo our tram. It was actually a pretty scary ride as the windows were open and the trams shook a bunch. Also, it looked as theough they hadnt been serviced since the Olympics, so we were definitely happy when we made it back to the launchpoint, a rusty tower with a broken down elevator.













Lastly, a picture of me holding hands with the famous Gaudi lizzard in Guell Park. It only took me about 15 minutes to get in there for the picture because the tiled lizzard was being mobbed by individual herds of tourists who were sitting on it, kissing it, humping it, licking it, and all other bizzare acts that tourists believe are okay because of their groupthink deems them so.

french keyboqrds suck§

adios espana, benvenue france! and benvenue strqnge keyboards that make blog posts pqinfully difficult. Ill try my best as i sit key and peck away with two fingers at the keyboard like i got lessons from the ted murphy school of typing. ZING!

So on friday we traveled along the coast to avignon, it was a beautiful train ride along the water as we trekked up to avignon which is about é hours north of the ocean. When we arrived wr realised our accomodations were actually across the river (ie across the birdge of avignon for all the students of madamiesolle kearns) in a little village called villaneuve du avignon. instqntly conor and i were in love, yes with each other, but also with our new town. it was everything you'd imagine a quaint little french village in provance would be: frenchy type people carrying bagguettes, cigarettes that somehow seem cooler and better than other cigarettes, cute french kids singing french songs, white stone buildings; blue and lavender shutters, crepes, cheese, white wine, lavander and sage blowing in the wind. Anywho, you get the point. It was a great weekend, lots of good eating at small restaurants, barely any tourists, and good sites to see as well, since the villqge was once the fort and protector of the french enpire from the roman empire that was loacated across the rhone river in the center of avignon. at one point the popes residence was actually in avignon.

On Sunday we dreamily boardeed the train for marseille thinking we were destined for another great stop in provance, but, ......errrr, skreccch. No way, Marseille was cool, if you can apreciate its authenticity beaneath the grime and grub on the buildings, streets, and the people. We were relieved we only stayed a night. Even still it was fun to see, and our hotel had CNN global, a godsend. We got caught up on the mess at home, which is getting so serious, i feel awfully guilty typing the words "dreamily", but hopefully The Poor Mans Jet Setters is a good distraction from reality for now. Alas, CNN global gave us the latest SNL palin skit....we are really missing out!!!

So now we arrived in Nice today, the weather is fantastic, not for the beach but still sunny and cheery along the water. We only spent a few minutes down on the boardwalk but I can already tell the people watching is going to be amazing.. a cross between the atlantic city, madison avenue, and.. well, i guess i cant really put it into words. Tommorrow we renting scooters and driving to Cannes and Antibes, a good way to see the water, moutians and sites. Then its off to Cinque Terre and Florence on Friday to meet Conors parents and sister!! We're looking forward to some fun and family.

Sevilla and Barcelona

So, we`ve been pretty busy the past few days touring both Sevilla and Barcelona, our last 2 stops in Spain (or any Spanish-speaking country for that matter, and it`s about time because I`ve been fumbling my way through conversations in Spanish since mid-August and am ready for a new language to fumble through). We had a nice time in Sevilla despite our bad luck with a number of things. We spent a lot of time touring rather than relaxing, as the apartment we rented in the el Centro area smelled like sewage everytime you turn on any water anywhere in the apartment. We tried to get the ``best sangria ever`` as recommended by shaun and senior dunn at el tamborillo off the plaza santa cruz, but we mistook it for something else our first night and then it was closed the next 3 times we tried. So, we took to touring the back alleys of Sevilla that were lit up by lamp at night, trying to find tapas bars or really any establishment that would serve us sangria and we found plenty that were ready and willing. Unfortunately, we missed the last bullfight in Sevilla, which occurred the night we got there. We also missed out on the flamenco dancing at a neat locals joint called La Cabonaria because the dancers were on vacation, resting their legs and castinets. But despite all of our misses, we had plenty of fun experiencing the cuisine, finding out-of-the-way places, and walking every square foot of cobblestone in city (at my request). Lindsay was even allowed to do a little shopping while I read about the carnage in the markets on a bench nearby, her activity far more cathartic than mine. Anyway, despite our bad luck, Sevilla was everything it was cracked up to be and worth every minute.

Barcelona has exceeded our expectations as well. Despite going back to hostel living (and fighting to sleep through a conversation the first night between two smitten french high school students that we could hear through the paper thin walls next door), we were able to muster enough energy to really take on the city yesterday. We took a tram yesterday morning over the city that provided us some astonishing views of the sea and barcelona; visited the statue of christopher columbus, who they wrongly claim was born in barcelona, according to sean`s let`s go europe book; had lunch in the old part of the city, Born, with a good family friend, julia arnhold, who is studing in barcelona; and finsihed up with a visit to the Picasso Museum where we got to see his work before he founded Cubism. Then the best part....we saw our first movie since leaving the states. We went to see tropic thunder, which made us feel like we were back in America.

Today, we have been active as well. We went up to Park Guell, which overlooks the city and contains a lot of Gaudi art; we went to Sagrada familia which also contains a ton of work started by Gaudi and is still being worked on today; and lastly, we walked down La Rambla and watched all of the tourist gawk at the various people dressed up in weird costumes and paint. We also continued our American tour with a stop at a Chicago Pizza Restaurant. For some reason, we have overdosed on the Americanism in the past 24 hours, but that seems natural as we are about to hit the halfway point of our trip.

Anyway, time to go and see what else we can (and eat some local food for once). Tomorrow, it`s off to Avignon!!!

Barcelona