After leaving Padova (Venice area) we headed to the "Italian Riveria" (in quotes for reasons to be described later!) and an area called Cinque Terre (5 lands in Italian). I would cut and paste a map in so you can see the location, but that seems too difficult to figure out as I sit on a hotel bed in Florence.
Anyway... we drove to a town called La Spezia on the west coat of Italy... on the Mediterranean Sea. We parked the car in a lot that they said would be safe. I said a prayer our car would still be there as it seemed a little fishy to me. There were all these 'project' type high rise apartments looking right down on the lot as the American tourists unloaded there suitcases and walked to the train station. Talk about being able to scope out an easy hit! (car was still there upon arrival so you don't have to be kept in suspense!)
Took a train up to Vernazza...the 4th of the 5 towns (from the South) which would be our home base. They don't have hotels here ....just some locals that rent out a bunch of rooms in different spots. So you just walk down the little street and find someone's bell to ring and ask if they have a room. So cute and fun! We found a great room the 1st night, but had to switch the 2nd night and it was sucky (but not terrible).
Anyway.. there is a hiking trail that goes between each of the towns... 1 through 5. Some of the trail is very very easy and some of it more difficult. We had beautiful weather for our full day there (yesterday)... 65 and sunny. We hiked from Town 4 to Town 5 (Monterosso)... the hardest of the hikes. We had a great picnic lunch out on the big rocks and then the kids played in the sand on the beaches. We took the ferry boat back to Town 1 (Riomaggiore) and then hiked through Town 2 (Manarola), Town 3 (Corniglia) back to our town (Vernazza). I took TONS of pictures and we saw another beautiful sunset. The towns are all SO cute and very "old Italian" I think. Laundry drying on lines, people leaning out their windows talking to people down on the street, fisherman going out for the evening.... I just loved every single minute of our time there. I kept saying to the kids and Eric (Evan said I said it 40 times!) "Hey Guys, did I tell you we are on the Italian Riveria!" I was driving them crazy but you just couldn't wipe the smile off my face - it was just all so beautiful!!
I would love for you to go to Google images and type in Cinque Terre Italy... once you see the pictures you may book your trip. We'll meet you there! :) I will also post pictures when I get home. The kids did so well on all the hiking. Especially the hard part in the morning... many adults commented on how 'hearty' they are. The women at the train station said the town 4 to 5 hike was not for kids... we told the kids that she didn't know the Smith Kids and they crushed it. Corniglia is on a hill (the one town not on the coast line but up on rocks instead)... we knew it had 385 stairs to the town but couldn't locate them at first and started walking up the road. Once we saw the stairs we said "we can't skip the stairs - we came this far to do it!" So down the road we went and then back up the stairs - they loved it - counting each stair!
We had some great food too.... pesto is common for that area as well as good wine...there are vineyards all over their hills and they make a lot of wine! Jan, if you are reading this - I just couldn't stop thinking of you and your great photography and love of Italy... you have to go there and take your breathtaking pictures!!!!!!!!
This morning we got up and caught the train back to our car and headed out to Pisa. Most people and guide books will tell you that Pisa can be skipped... but the kids wanted to see the Leaning Tower and it was basically on our way so we did it. We climbed to the top (another 300 stairs) and took lots of pictures. The cathedral there is also beautiful. Boy, there are a TON of large, unbelievable beautiful churches in Europe.
Off from Pisa to Florence. We checked into our hotel today and then walked around the town a bit. Florence is much larger than I thought it would be. We headed to the Duomo (another large beautiful church :)) and hiked to the top of the Duomo Dome (another 460 steps up!). If you are counting (the kids were!), we did about 760 steps up today. This is a good thing because I have had a ton of Gelato this week!!!
Everyone is sleeping and I should sign off from this blog that is much too long for you to read - sorry! We are going to try and see a few museums tomorrow ... we may bring the DS's along because I think it may be too much to ask for the kids to spend a few hours looking at amazing Italian Art at the Uffizi. I was told today that they may have a strike tomorrow which could affect museums opening (what?!) - so we will have to make alternate Florence plans if that happens. Plenty to just walk around and see too... and the shopping won't be closed!
We will head back to Vienna on Saturday morning...long drive, but worth it to get home on Saturday night and have Sunday to recouperate before Eric heading to work on Monday. The kids have off Monday too. We will be preparing for the arrival of my parents on Wednesday - which we are all very very excited about!
More later.....
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Monday, October 25, 2010
Magical Venice
We arrived in Padova (actually a smaller town 7km from Padova) on Saturday night after a beautiful drive through Austria and the amazing fall colors and mountains. WOW! It was fun to drive to Italy! (sounds so weird still!!)
Sunday morning we took a train from Padova to Venice (about 30 minutes) We had SO much fun!!!! We wondered through the city getting lost on all the little back streets, alleys, bridges etc... It is everything I imagined and more. A truely magical city that I hope everyone can see one day (if you haven't already) We took a gondola ride (worth every eurocent!), which was so neat for the kids and us. We also saw the beautiful San Marcos Church and Square. I could go on and on about Venice... one amazing thing is how the city floods at certain times of the day depending on the tide. When we were in San Marcos Square (HUGE), they have to have these platforms up that people are walking on to get into the church etc... due to flooding. Crazy!
We went back to Venice again today and took a great walk to pick up the Ferry to Murano Island. This is where they make all the beautiful Murano glass. We bought some nice things had a great panini lunch and then headed back on the boat to Burano Island. This one is a little further out - about 30 more minutes. SOOOO worth the trip!!! This was the big lace producing area back in the 16th century and on. Supposedly there isn't a lot of lace still made on Burano, but we did see some really elderly women still making it. The incredible part of Burano is that most of the buildings are painted in vivid and bright colors - just incredibly colorful and happy. Even on a rainy and windy day, I was all smiles taking pictures and enjoying the scenery!!!
We ended up back in our hotel room tonight after 2 trains and a small walk back to our hotel. I figured I should blog a little before the end of the week while I have WIFI at the hotel.
Tomorrow we are headed to Cinque Terra area, which is on the west coast of Italy - North of Pisa. I have wanted to see this area for 15 years now - when I first read about it. They are 5 small towns built into the mountain coast that you can hike between. I guess they are about 7km apart -- some of which are strolls and the last 2 are really good hikes. I am so pumped!!! We were hoping the weather would cooperate as apparently it isn't a great place to go in rain/wind....supposed to be better tomorrow and then really good on Wedneday - so we are going!!
Thursday we will head to Florence ....with a stop to see the leaning tower of Pisa. We will begin heading back on Saturday ... don't know if we will stop or just drive all the way home.... we'll see.
More soon... and pictures when we get back!
Sunday morning we took a train from Padova to Venice (about 30 minutes) We had SO much fun!!!! We wondered through the city getting lost on all the little back streets, alleys, bridges etc... It is everything I imagined and more. A truely magical city that I hope everyone can see one day (if you haven't already) We took a gondola ride (worth every eurocent!), which was so neat for the kids and us. We also saw the beautiful San Marcos Church and Square. I could go on and on about Venice... one amazing thing is how the city floods at certain times of the day depending on the tide. When we were in San Marcos Square (HUGE), they have to have these platforms up that people are walking on to get into the church etc... due to flooding. Crazy!
We went back to Venice again today and took a great walk to pick up the Ferry to Murano Island. This is where they make all the beautiful Murano glass. We bought some nice things had a great panini lunch and then headed back on the boat to Burano Island. This one is a little further out - about 30 more minutes. SOOOO worth the trip!!! This was the big lace producing area back in the 16th century and on. Supposedly there isn't a lot of lace still made on Burano, but we did see some really elderly women still making it. The incredible part of Burano is that most of the buildings are painted in vivid and bright colors - just incredibly colorful and happy. Even on a rainy and windy day, I was all smiles taking pictures and enjoying the scenery!!!
We ended up back in our hotel room tonight after 2 trains and a small walk back to our hotel. I figured I should blog a little before the end of the week while I have WIFI at the hotel.
Tomorrow we are headed to Cinque Terra area, which is on the west coast of Italy - North of Pisa. I have wanted to see this area for 15 years now - when I first read about it. They are 5 small towns built into the mountain coast that you can hike between. I guess they are about 7km apart -- some of which are strolls and the last 2 are really good hikes. I am so pumped!!! We were hoping the weather would cooperate as apparently it isn't a great place to go in rain/wind....supposed to be better tomorrow and then really good on Wedneday - so we are going!!
Thursday we will head to Florence ....with a stop to see the leaning tower of Pisa. We will begin heading back on Saturday ... don't know if we will stop or just drive all the way home.... we'll see.
More soon... and pictures when we get back!
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do
View from on top of Fortress (built over 1,000 years ago!!)
Salt mine slides...we really went down 2 and a time and they are just wooden rails you straddle and slide down. Crazy!
Fountain in front of oldest church in Salzburg...beautiful!
View of Salzburg from the river side ... fortress is up at the top of the hill
Mirabell GardensCan you guess where we were this weekend? Salzburg! Home of The Sound of Music. We watched it with the kids a few weeks ago, so we were all ready. Eric thought that I downloaded all of the music to my IPHONE so we could listen to it on the car ride - but I hadn't thought of that. Maybe a good idea in the end?! :)
Funny thing was, when we went to Mirabell Gardens, none of us thought it was SUPER duper recognizable and we are all excited to watch it again to really notice things now.
Fist of all, Friday night was the halloween party at the school. It was very fun and the kids had a blast. Good thing our kids aren't high maintenance about costumes, because I didn't want to go out and spend 50 Euro on a costume! I told them to pick from something we brought... so Julia was Minnie Mouse for year 2 :) and Evan was another year of a professional soccer player. He wanted to be Ronaldo...which I think was just an angle to get a new soccer jersey as apparently he doesn't play for Manchester United anymore. I told him he could be vintage or "throw back" Ronaldo and he was good with that! So a soccer uniform and some spiked hair with gel and he was happy!
Lots of games, etc.. Evan mostly ran around with his houligan 4th grade friends bugging girls and getting into trouble. Julia saw some of her friends and was content playing games and getting her face painted and her nails painted.
We got an early start on Saturday morning. We ended up taking a back road as we got closer to Salzburg and drove through some spectacular Alps Lake country to get to Hallein, Austria about 30 miles south of Salzburg. This is where a salt mine is that can now be toured. It ceased operation in 1994 I believe. The tour was great and we all enjoyed every second at the salt mines. Hightlights were the train ride into the mine and the two slides out of the mine! You just sit on these wooden rails and slide town...super fun! We were even in Germany for our first time as part of the mine crosses over into Germany many meters below the earth! :) Salz is salt in german and Burg is castle... this is why Salzburg is Salzburg! :)
We got into Salzburg and checked into our hotel and then walked into town. The town is beautiful and quite small. We were looking for a restaurant that was recommended and found a Lions Club once/year FleaMarket instead occupying the restaurant this weekend. The next thing I know, Eric is buying ski poles for Julia and an Excercise Bike! Leave it to Eric! Anyway.. it was too good a deal to pass up, even if we didn't know if it would fit in our small car! We only paid 10 Euros for this nice bike - yeah! Maybe I can work off the 10lbs I have gained since moving here - UGH!
We did make it to a restaurant and had a great meal followed by a good nights rest. Eric and Evan did a hike up a nice hill in the am and then we all had a yummy breakfast. We were talking about how a few months ago we didn't understand breakfast here and even were confused by the eggs served in egg cups etc... We have now figured out the Austria breakfasts and enjoy them a lot now. (veggies, olives, meats, cheeses, breads, throw in a sof boiled egg or two and you are all set)
After picking up the bike (the kids had to ride with part of it in their laps but never mind that part of the story), we headed to the fortress. We took a cool fast train like thing up the mountain to the top where we did a nice audio guided tour and looked around ourselves too. Very impressive and historically interesting. We then headed down for a quick bite to eat and off to Mirabel Gardens. We ran around, played at a wet park (it was drizzling most of the day) and took lots of pictures.
Ready to start another school week. The kids have United Nations Day at school on Thursday and our Fall week long break starts after school on Friday. UN Day is supposed to be really neat and we are looking forward to it! All the children in the school wear clothing that is traditional to their country of origin or colors of their flag etc... There is an assembly in the morning where the kids will be singing and doing different dances they have been working on. The UN Rights of a Child poem will be recited to begin the assembly. This is super cool as Julia was chosen as her class represtative to learn the poem and the movements and perform it at the assembly. She has been working during recess with the other children that were chosen to learn it. Should be adorable! They also have country booths set up (by parents) in the gym so the kids can tour the booths and learn all about the different countries. ALSO, there is a feast for all the grades where they eat with their grade level. The parents bring in finger foods etc. traditional to their country for the kids to eat for their lunch. Isn't this AWESOME! :) Any ideas for all american finger food I can bring in????????? I was thinking about chicken wings -but this might be a pain in the butt. Please send me any ideas that you have!
Okay, sorry so long - I'll sign off now. Love to all!
Monday, October 11, 2010
The Hoff is Back
Got a notice in my mailbox today so I began the "Google Translate" process to figure out what it was saying. These kinds of things are interesting some days, tedius others. (Is that how to spell tedius?!) Anyway, turns out I have to be home at a certain time to let the dude in the buidling to do the meter reading. Another water reading guy comes tomorrow - they are putting a damper in my exploration time this week!
We are having a Halloween party at our school on Friday night. I think it will be fun for the kids. They do a trunk or treat and then a bunch of games. Why is it on Oct 15 you ask? Well, Hallween isn't really celebrated in Austria - although I have heard you can trick or treat up by the school on the 31st as so many Americans live up there. But our Oct break is Oct 23-Nov 1.... so Halloween Party on the 15th it is! There are some halloween things in stores etc.. so I wonder if they are just catering to Expats? I will have to ask an Austrian this one.
P.S. If you know me well, you can imagine how bummed I am to find out that they have NO CANDY CORN HERE!?! Are you kidding me? I would drive to another country at this point if I could get some.... my Mom is going to bring some bags for me - yeah! I am also shopping on line and my parents are bringing a bunch of other stuff too. I.e. Contact lense solution - $10 a bottle here! OMG!
Current big vacation travel plans: We are headed to see Northern Italy for this break. We will do our ski week in the Austrian Alps (western Austria near the Italian border). I think we are going to do Spain for Spring Break. I am hoping to squeeze something in over Christmas break too - even if it is just the kids and I as they have 3 weeks off. We'll keep you posted. There are actually SOOO many places we want to see and only so many "week" long vacations and only so much money - so this process should be interesting. I have made a list of places I would like to see and it is REALLY long and unrealistic. Dreaming big at this point.
I am still in my German class three times per week, 50 min per class. It is a nice class and I think I am learning a bit. I don't really care for the teacher that much - I think she could prepare for class better and give us even more information. Surprise surprise, Jenn has too high of expectations of others. (a little issue I work on) I enjoy trying to learn the language. I discovered today that if everyone had the vocabulary of a 4 year old, repeated everything 3 times, and spoke very slowly and clearly, I could pick up about 75% of what they are saying! Pretty good, huh? LOL
I am trying to get to Crossfit at least 3x per week. Not always easy with everyone's schedule and the class schedule at the gym - but trying. Today I hiked the Wiener Wald (HUGE wooded area here that goes on for miles and miles and miles) for my work out - the trees are changing, the sun is out and it is beautiful. Only thing missing? My hiking/running/walking buddy - MIA! I miss my dog so much during those kinds of times. Although I know she is better off at Tonia's house (getting spoiled, having a yard, not being alone a lot, etc...) so I am so glad and eternally grateful to the Kostorowski family!!
I am pumped my parents are coming to visit on Nov 4th for a few weeks. I am thinking of all the things we will see and it will be so fun! We are also planning 2 weekend trips - Prague and Salzburg. That will be fun!
So there are a lot of music concerts that come here and I keep seeing signage for them... i.e. Train (Tonia!), Maroon 5 (Tracey!), Sting, etc... Well I called my friend Kara today and said I have the concert for us!!! I saw a sign that said:
The Hoff is Back! David Hasselhoff in concert. Are you kidding me? Was he ever 'here' that he is 'back'!? I'm still laughing....
Talk soon!
We are having a Halloween party at our school on Friday night. I think it will be fun for the kids. They do a trunk or treat and then a bunch of games. Why is it on Oct 15 you ask? Well, Hallween isn't really celebrated in Austria - although I have heard you can trick or treat up by the school on the 31st as so many Americans live up there. But our Oct break is Oct 23-Nov 1.... so Halloween Party on the 15th it is! There are some halloween things in stores etc.. so I wonder if they are just catering to Expats? I will have to ask an Austrian this one.
P.S. If you know me well, you can imagine how bummed I am to find out that they have NO CANDY CORN HERE!?! Are you kidding me? I would drive to another country at this point if I could get some.... my Mom is going to bring some bags for me - yeah! I am also shopping on line and my parents are bringing a bunch of other stuff too. I.e. Contact lense solution - $10 a bottle here! OMG!
Current big vacation travel plans: We are headed to see Northern Italy for this break. We will do our ski week in the Austrian Alps (western Austria near the Italian border). I think we are going to do Spain for Spring Break. I am hoping to squeeze something in over Christmas break too - even if it is just the kids and I as they have 3 weeks off. We'll keep you posted. There are actually SOOO many places we want to see and only so many "week" long vacations and only so much money - so this process should be interesting. I have made a list of places I would like to see and it is REALLY long and unrealistic. Dreaming big at this point.
I am still in my German class three times per week, 50 min per class. It is a nice class and I think I am learning a bit. I don't really care for the teacher that much - I think she could prepare for class better and give us even more information. Surprise surprise, Jenn has too high of expectations of others. (a little issue I work on) I enjoy trying to learn the language. I discovered today that if everyone had the vocabulary of a 4 year old, repeated everything 3 times, and spoke very slowly and clearly, I could pick up about 75% of what they are saying! Pretty good, huh? LOL
I am trying to get to Crossfit at least 3x per week. Not always easy with everyone's schedule and the class schedule at the gym - but trying. Today I hiked the Wiener Wald (HUGE wooded area here that goes on for miles and miles and miles) for my work out - the trees are changing, the sun is out and it is beautiful. Only thing missing? My hiking/running/walking buddy - MIA! I miss my dog so much during those kinds of times. Although I know she is better off at Tonia's house (getting spoiled, having a yard, not being alone a lot, etc...) so I am so glad and eternally grateful to the Kostorowski family!!
I am pumped my parents are coming to visit on Nov 4th for a few weeks. I am thinking of all the things we will see and it will be so fun! We are also planning 2 weekend trips - Prague and Salzburg. That will be fun!
So there are a lot of music concerts that come here and I keep seeing signage for them... i.e. Train (Tonia!), Maroon 5 (Tracey!), Sting, etc... Well I called my friend Kara today and said I have the concert for us!!! I saw a sign that said:
The Hoff is Back! David Hasselhoff in concert. Are you kidding me? Was he ever 'here' that he is 'back'!? I'm still laughing....
Talk soon!
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Woohoo ... Night Out!
Thanks to a great babysitter... Eric and I went out tonight with a bunch of adults - SO FUN to get out together and spend some time with adults having fun and good conversation. We even stayed awake past midnight! :)
Beatiful fall weather today, Evan's soccer game and Julia had a birthday party... a great Saturday.
I made it to IKEA (again!) by myself on Friday in the car - a big accomplishment! :)
Will catch up this blog more tomorrow!
Beatiful fall weather today, Evan's soccer game and Julia had a birthday party... a great Saturday.
I made it to IKEA (again!) by myself on Friday in the car - a big accomplishment! :)
Will catch up this blog more tomorrow!
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Big Steps....
We have our car - yeah! I need to take a picture tomorrow and post. It is a black (NOT "Smith Silver" :)) VW Tiguan. We LOVE it and we are already thinking "too bad we can't bring this back with us" We'll be checking that out for sure when the time comes, but we have heard it is pricey and not worth it.
I haven't actually driven the car yet!?! We got it late Friday and then today did a lot of driving around town but Eric drove. Between the trams, buses, pedestrians, street signs we can't read, not having driven a car in 9 weeks, and stick shift (which we haven't driven in a few years) it is nerve racking starting to drive here. I'm sure it will get better fast!
We drove a few miles North of here to Grinzing area and grabbed some dinner Friday night. It is a beautiful 'village' with lots of Heurigans...which are like wine houses...homemade wine and food.
This am, Evan got to play a soccer game so that was fun. It was a 'friendly' as they call them here. We then headed to this huge shopping area called Shopping City Sud (South)...to hit the IKEA for a few more items we needed now that we have our stuff. This place is CRAZY-- I think it is the largest 'mall' in Europe. Geez Louise... not fun to go on a Saturday.
After some park time and dinner time, we put together a dresser and watched some college football! This was the other huge item we got yesterday. Thanks to my awesome brother, we are now slingers with Mike and Vic! I said slingers, not swingers!
We wanted access to some US TV ...especially for sports and a few other fun shows. So... we bought a slingbox and had it shipped to Mike and Vic. He hooks it up to his extra TV (and he hooked up another DVR for us to that TV) and then we can watch his TV through the internet. Isn't that cool!!!! The kids and I loved to watch Survivor last season together, so we watched it tonight...so fun!
Still unpacking... I'm going to hit it further before I go to sleep!
Happy Weekend!
I haven't actually driven the car yet!?! We got it late Friday and then today did a lot of driving around town but Eric drove. Between the trams, buses, pedestrians, street signs we can't read, not having driven a car in 9 weeks, and stick shift (which we haven't driven in a few years) it is nerve racking starting to drive here. I'm sure it will get better fast!
We drove a few miles North of here to Grinzing area and grabbed some dinner Friday night. It is a beautiful 'village' with lots of Heurigans...which are like wine houses...homemade wine and food.
This am, Evan got to play a soccer game so that was fun. It was a 'friendly' as they call them here. We then headed to this huge shopping area called Shopping City Sud (South)...to hit the IKEA for a few more items we needed now that we have our stuff. This place is CRAZY-- I think it is the largest 'mall' in Europe. Geez Louise... not fun to go on a Saturday.
After some park time and dinner time, we put together a dresser and watched some college football! This was the other huge item we got yesterday. Thanks to my awesome brother, we are now slingers with Mike and Vic! I said slingers, not swingers!
We wanted access to some US TV ...especially for sports and a few other fun shows. So... we bought a slingbox and had it shipped to Mike and Vic. He hooks it up to his extra TV (and he hooked up another DVR for us to that TV) and then we can watch his TV through the internet. Isn't that cool!!!! The kids and I loved to watch Survivor last season together, so we watched it tonight...so fun!
Still unpacking... I'm going to hit it further before I go to sleep!
Happy Weekend!
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