Lucca, Cinque Terre, Vinci, and Pisa with the Joneses

Over Veterans Day weekend we went on our first major outing with the Joneses. We decided to do as much of the best of Italy as possible given the good weather. We stayed in Lucca, an old walled city in Toscana. Tann took Friday off and they were able to explore the town a little before we arrived that night.

We had a room on the ground floor of the hotel and the Joneses were just above us. A cat that lives on the property followed us into the room and spent the night on the bed with the kids. Which was great until 2:00 am when it wanted to be let out. We heard Landon and Jacquelyn crying almost all night long, which I was able to tune out no problem but Tann and Angela not so much. Landon was freaking out about Payton's Lego Chima mini-figures the whole weekend. Tann was ready to chuck the Chima out the window on multiple occasions.

Saturday morning was bright and warm, a perfect day to see Le Cinque Terre. "The Five Lands" are five small fishing villages on the Sardinian Sea in the southern part of Liguria. They were discovered by tourists a couple of decades ago and have been transformed into tourist traps, but that doesn't detract from their natural and man-made beauty.

This is the town of Vernazza, Ashley's favorite city from her college backpacking trip and also the place where she met Valentino. Great story, but not for this forum. This is nearly the whole clan, minus Juliet and me. We drove to La Spezia and parked at the train station. The train ride to Vernazza was very quick with breathtaking ocean views.

Here we are.

In Vernazza Ashley gave us a tour. The best place to get fresh focaccia, the place where she met Valentino, the best place to get gelato, the place where Chelsea met Rafaello, etc. Pretty much food and Italian guys. No wonder she loved it so much.

Georgie and Samantha hanging out at the cove. You can see the train tunnel in the background.

The main square in Vernazza in November, crowded with boats.

The hiking trail between the towns is the main attraction. The area is a national park and there is an entry fee to hike the crowded trail during peak season. But in November the trail is nearly empty and the fee booth is vacant. This is the view as you hike up out of Vernazza. You can see the castle and duomo of Vernazza as well as the distant town of Monterosso al Mare, the northern most of the five villages.

We live here! Well, not here, but close.

These kids have no idea how good they have it.

This is one of the many olive orchards on the trail. 

This is the town of Corniglia, 4 km from Vernazza. And in the background on the left you can see the town of Manarola. The setting is unreal.

Georgie and Samantha, together again.

The trails are meticulously maintained. Guardrails and pavestones are regular features, which made hiking with the kids very safe. As we started the hike from Vernazza to Corniglia, an older gentleman looked at our seven children and said, "Quattro chilometri!", meaning four kilometers. We said, "Va bene!", meaning okay, no problem. I'm sure that they have to rescue unprepared tourists all the time.

Juliet and Georgie wore matching outfits. Ashley and I had to take turns carrying Juliet, but all of the older kids were great hikers.

Love this picture.

Isaac with his buddy Payton. They have become great friends and act like the older/younger brothers they don't have. And Jubie, of course. In the background is Corniglia.

I have no idea what is going on in this picture. 

That's better.

Ashley with the girls. Practically sisters.

This is the narrow walkway leading in to Corniglia. Ashley wanted a honeymoon shot of just the two of us. 

The kids were great hikers and they earned the late lunch and gelato we got in Cornigila. Plus they got the chance to do a funny face picture. Which for Isaac just means a regular face.

After lunch we split up and the weak ones (Ashley, Isaac, Landon, Payton, Juliet, and I) took the train to Rio Maggiore while the intrepid crew (Tann, Angela, Samantha, Georgie, and Jacquelyn) hiked the crazy mountain trail from Corniglia to Manarola. It was dark before they reached the town and we were a little worried about them for a while. We had a great time in Rio Maggiore, the kids playing "blind tag" in the town square with Isaac's hat pulled down over the eyes of whoever was "it." We walked down to the dock where the evening waves were crashing against the rock barrier and sending spray high into the air. A magical evening. Finally, we reunited with the insane hikers on the train and headed back to our hotel in Lucca.

The next day, Sunday, it was raining off & on so we decided to spend most of the day at the Leonardo museum in Vinci, the town where Leonardo was born and raised.

Tuscany, baby! The olive orchards, the hills, the houses, the rainbow, and of course, Jubie.

She's mine. You can't have her.

Georgie and Samantha looking at some of the computer exhibits inside the museum. Outside you can see an enormous wooden sculpture with Leonardo's Vitruvian Man in the center.

Engineers have studied Leonardo's drawings and built many of the machines and devices that were never built in his lifetime. On the ceiling you can see the glider wings he desiged.

The girls taking refuge from the rain and Juliet pouting about something.

I told you, she's all mine.

Next stop was the town of Lucca, where we were staying. It is the home of Giacomo Puccini, the famous Italian opera composer, second only to Giuseppe Verdi (and maybe Rossini). He composed "Madame Butterfly" and "La Boheme." 

Here is the stature of Puccini in Lucca with his house in the background.

Lucca is also famous for it's well-preserved ancient walls. There is a huge mound of earth behind the walls that encircles the entire city and on which there is a walking path. Here are Samantha and Georgie trying to stay out of the rain on the path.

And a couple of 30-somethings, one a little goofy and the other one too hot for her own britches.

Finally, on Monday we drove the short distance from Lucca to Pisa for the obligatory leaning tower trip. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed Pisa.

Seeing the tower just knocked me over. Just like seeing the Mona Lisa. You know what's coming, but you still can't believe you are looking at it. The baptistry is in the foreground and the duomo is in the middle.

The doors to the duomo, engraved with different religious scenes.

This is the view from inside the tower. The tour cost 18 euro, so only the select group of Isaac, Georgie, Samantha, and I went in. You sit down at the base of the tower first while you listen to a tour guide and wait for the group ahead of you to come down.

Then you head up the winding staircase that takes you all the way to the second uppermost level.

Then you go up an even smaller staircase to the very top, where you see this.

TUSCANY BABY!!!

The kids loved it. Worth every euro cent we spent.

Displayed on the top floor are the various bells that were hung & rung in the tower over the years.

Georgie's excited about sumthin'.

Samantha took this shot and did a great job!

A fellow tourist snapped this one for us. The Leaning Tower group.

If Galileo truly did do his experiments on gravitational mechanics here, then this is where he would have stood to drop the objects. The kids are pretending to drop something off the edge as an homage to our man G.G.

Don't let it fall, Isaac!

Hold it, Georgie, stay strong!

Way to go, Jubie!

The one souvenir I wanted from Pisa was a Leaning Tower mug. Just the right combination of kitschy and cool. We bought five of them and after we got home we celebrated with a Leaning Tower mug of hot chocolate.

Unfortunately they come from China and are probably painted with lead-based paint because a sticker on the bottom warns that they are not meant to be used to consume liquids and are for decoration only. Crap! If only I had seen that before I bought FIVE of them. Don't be surprised if you receive a Leaning Tower mug as a present in the mail.

Overall a fantastic trip to Tuscany and Liguria, hopefully one of many trips we take with the Joneses in the future.

Zombie Run

The Saturday before Halloween the base fitness center put on a Zombie Fun Run. Not as cool as the one in Wichita Falls according to the Joneses, and certainly not as elaborate as the one that my cousin Brian stages in North Carolina, but we still appreciated the opportunity.

Georgie dressed up as Mavis, the vampire teenager from the movie “Hotel Transylvania”. So strange to see her transformed from a platinum blonde to a jet black goth girl with makeup and everything. She wasn’t too excited at first but she got into the spirit as things moved along.

Isaac dressed up as Dusan Basta, the midfielder from Udinese. I love the faux-hawk and eye black, but his attitude could use some adjustment.

 That's better.

Juliet was a black widow in a costume that was recycled from two Halloweens ago. The sleeves were too short and her navel was hanging out all evening, but still dang cute.

Pipe cleaner spider hair clip

My girls

The Joneses were there in their family reunion outfits. Everybody has a number based upon when they were born. Both sides of their family have an insane number of siblings, spouses, and children. When Angela’s mother was staying with us she told our neighbor, Bruna, through Ashley the translator, that she had 56 grandchildren. After getting over her shock, Bruna put a hand pistol to her head and pulled the trigger.

Everyone was issued a flag football get-up and lined up at the start. The zombies were kept in a corral off to the side. They were all young volunteer airmen and civilians who dressed up in torn clothing and macabre makeup. We only ran about one lap around the track before they released the zombies.

At that point we ran onto the grass field and tried to prevent the zombies from pulling our flags. The zombies went after the adults first and then started picking off the older kids. Isaac and Georgie lasted a long time and I think Isaac only sat down because he was tired and not because anyone had pulled his flag.

I was carrying Juliet the whole time and they pretty much ignored us until there were way more zombies than victims. Then they started to swarm us and Juliet almost came unhinged. Imagine being three and having all these creepy-looking people start running after you. I honestly think we could have won if Juliet had not been so scared. I had to stop running and allow them to pull her flag so that she could see that they were just normal people dressed up.

Afterwards there was a costume contest and Juliet won 2^nd place for funniest costume. The women running the contest were great, but they pretty much picked out the winners on the fly based upon what they saw in the crowd. The best costumes were a family with the father as El Guapo and the kids as the Three Amigos. I can’t believe those parents let those kids watch that movie! I specifically remember Steve Martin telling El Guapo, “I’ll pump you so full of lead you could use your #%@$ for a pencil!”

We love Italy, and having the Joneses here is just icing on the cake. Look how happy those people are. Even Landon is smilling! Landon is one of the most unintentionally funny kids ever, which we discovered on our epic trip to Toscana and Liguria. But that’s another blog post…

All in all, the Zombie Run was a great experience and we really appreciated the efforts and enthusiasm of all the fitness staff and volunteers. Even some of the non-European aspects of living here are great.