Deep in the Heart of..Tuscany

We’re writing now from the heart of Tuscany, and it’s been a challenging – okay, and interesting – couple of days. I keep repeating my good – and well-travelled – friend Susan’s words, like a mantra: don’t expect travelling to be fun every minute.

We left Cinque Terre on Saturday morning, after Frank had spent 34 hours in bed. He was still a bit shaky and sweaty, but we made our way to Pisa by train. I almost hate to admit it, but the Leaning Tower was thrilling. I’m sure every tourist says this, but: it REALLY leans! Rennell, we thought of you as a teenager, driving by it with well-meaning Germans who thought it was “too touristy” to merit a stop.

Shortly after I descended from the Tower (Frank, still feeling the afore-mentioned symptoms, wisely stayed on terra firma), I started feeling sick. Getting to the airport and picking up our rental car took FOREVER (or at least 2 hours) by which time I had made a spectacle of myself, vomiting on one of the main walkways into the airport. Luckily, my symptoms were a tiny fraction of Frank’s – I think that was because of the vaccine I took in February before going to Mexico. I felt pretty much recovered by this (Sunday) morning.

I have no idea how we managed to get to our destination: we had a crappy map and I, as navigator, was somewhat lacking in precision, due to my preoccupation with my digestive tract. We had only GPS 1.0 (Global Positioning SUN) to tell us which direction we were going. Miraculously, we eventually made it out of Pisa and found our way to Volterra, where we are staying.

Once again, this place looked especially good given the obstacles to getting here! But really, it is a gorgeous B and B/vineyard, and the Tuscan countryside is breathtaking. We both feel incredibly fortunate to be able to stay in a place like this.

Today, we explored a nearby, Mediaeval town, San Gimignano. 14 of 72 towers still stand within the town’s walls, built by wealthy and feuding merchant families and dating back to the 900’s. If it weren’t for the hordes of filthy tourists packed into the narrow streets, it would have been utterly charming! Even so, if you try hard, you can imagine what life was like there 1100 years ago.

Volterra means land of the clouds, because it’s up high on a hill and is often socked in. The skies opened…again…this afternoon. We tried to explore Volterra but came back to the B and B, defeated by the sheets of rain and needing a change of clothes. We almost cancelled our dinner reservations, but drove back into town. Here’s what we ate: ricotta and spinach gnocchi with truffles (first time for truffles); stuffed pigeon (me; first time) and wild boar (Frank; he got to keep the plate). We figured it was okay to have a nice dinner given how much we’ve SAVED on food the last couple of days by being sick…

So…not all peaches and cream, especially because we’ve been missing our kids and feeling very far away from them the last couple of days. But still, quite an adventure we won’t forget.

All our best wishes,

Wendy and Frank

One Last Post from Cinque Terre

Hi All,

It's been a quieter day in Cinque Terre: Frank's been horribly sick with either food poisoning or stomach bug. He's been in bed since about 8 pm last night (22 hours ago) and just ate his first food since then, a boiled egg and a banana. It was a little worriseome because he had such extreme chills/shaking and a fever, on top of  other symptoms that will go unnamed.

I stayed pretty closeby, but I did take the train 3 towns over, to Vernazza. Castle ruins, azure sea, striated cliffs, a maze of steps and alleys, sherbet-coloured buildings...you know, ho hum. Sadly, I have no photos to post as the camera was void of the memory card :  (

In the late afternoon after returning from Vernazza, with Frank cheering me on from the windows of our room, I swam in the Ligurian Sea, which was warm and clear. The rocks were trickyto navigate getting in and out, but I watched the other swimmers for a while and worked up my courage, and it was worth it.

So: tomorrow, we are off on the train to Pisa to pick up a car and tour around Tuscany for four days. Keep your fingers crossed that Frank's energy returns overnight!

Wendy XO

Buongiorno All,

We’ve made our way to the sunny northwest coast, specifically, the “Cinque Terre”, five tiny villages perched on the hillside above the Ligurian Sea and connected by walking paths. Last night we re-experienced the meaning of adventure, which is “something that sucks until it’s over” (i.e., then it’s an adventure!). After our third train ride of the day, we arrived in the dark in tiny Riomaggiore. Now came time to find the proprietor of the “affite camera” – private room we – had rented. We go to the Bar Centrale and I ask the bartender if he knows Simonetta and “Camere Paradiso”. He scratches his head, asks his brother, who makes some sexual innuendo about how he is paradise…while commenting on my eyes. The brothers discuss and, in a mixture of Italian, English and French (which I can barely hear above “AC/DC” blaring on the sound system) he says it’s a town of 1,000 people and he knows everyone and he doesn’t know Simonetta or her rooms. “Maybe you’re in the wrong town” he says; “It happens all the time” he says. Well, of course, I go to my familiar old reaction, and assume I must have screwed up. I hurry back to Frank: “Maybe we’re in the wrong town!” I say. His eyes widen. The “what ifs” start in my head: What if we have to get back on the train? Or worse, sleep on the beach? Much rigamarole follows. There’s a phone number, but it’s only on the webpage and so we have to get internet access to retrieve it. We buy a drink from the bar to use their wifi. We find the phone number, but of course we have no phone. In my head I am whining “Why can’t we go back to the olden days of landlines, with a pay phone on every corner?” Frank has the excellent idea of calling by Skype. Magically, after a few tries, he gets through, but the man on the other end can’t hear us. After much back-and-forth in broken English and barely-there Italian, he says “Meet me at the centre”. We don’t really know where the centre is, but we start walking back down the hill, and we hear a disembodied voice calling “Wendy, Wendy, Wendy”. We spin around: where is he? Finally, we see: he’s on a balcony, watching for us. He comes down to meet us. He is older and warm and kind; his name is Andreas but everyone calls him “Tuba”. He mimes playing the tuba. Simonetta is his daughter-in-law, he explains. He takes my bag and we follow him through the tiny alleys, with him making kind conversation all the way: he has been to Canada three times, on ships, including once to Vancouver. He leads us through tiny pedestrian-only alleys and up steep stairs (see photo) to a tiny, perfect, immaculate apartment and shows us around proudly. Now, I’m sure this little apartment would be almost as charming if it hadn’t been such an, um, adventure to find it, but the huge flood of relief we felt had to add to our positive impressions! Thanks to Tuba making arrangements, we had a late dinner last night at a restaurant right on the marina, which is also tiny, perfect and immaculate. (See photo; the view is from our window!!!!) Every single item on the menu was, of course, seafood, all locally and freshly caught. Yum, yum. Alas, Frank has been battling a cold and last night it came in full force, but luckily it is centred in his nose and his chest is clear. Off we go to start our walking and exploring.

Wendy and Frank

PS -- After the photos, there's more..and sorry about the cock-eyed photos -- for some reason they load in the wrong orientation...

 

We wrote this in the morning but didn’t get a chance to post it, so here’s an update written in the early evening. We headed off to walk to the next town, only to find…there was a landslide and the trail has been closed since Monday! Plan B: we explored “our” town, Riomagiorre, then took the train to the next town over, Manorola (see photo). It’s the shortest train ride you can imagine: when the schedule showed 2 minutes, we thought that was an exaggeration, but it’s truly 2 minutes, through a tunnel, with the 2 towns on either side. Even with the trail closed, we managed tol have an interesting day with lots of walking. One of our photos shows the very steep hills lined with terraces that are about 6 to 8 feet wide. They were made over the centuries by people stacking the rocks with no mortar; Tuba says there are about 1,000 km of these walls in the area. Amazing – see photo. The most interesting thing we ate today was a mixture of deep-fried seafood, including teeny fish about 1.5” long that we presume were not dressed in any way. I mean, can you imagine gutting a fish that small? : ) So tonight we will turn in early (a) because of Frank’s cold and (b) in hopes that at least parts of the trail will be open tomorrow and we can get an early start. I can’t believe how far away everything seems right now: I know I wrote a “to do” list before we left for when when we get back, and it was long, but I can only remember 2 things on it!

Wendy and Frank

From Padua/Padova

Hi Everyone,

We left Venice this afternoon by train for the prosperous little city of Padua (Padova). By today, we were ready to move on. Here's our summary of Venice versus Padua -- kind of like Edmonton versus Calgary! :  )

Venice: "Pinch-me-are-we-really-here?"

Padua: "Where??"

Venice: a "decaying Disneyland" (to quote travel writer Rick Steves) crammed full of tourists.

Padua:  a real city with real people.

Venice: hardly a tree in sight!

Padua: green, with space to breathe.

Venice: EVERYONE speaks English.

Padua: not so much. More stressful as a result, but more adventureous too.

Here's Frank's summary: "After 2 days, Venice makes you want to run away; Padua makes you want to stay!"

Patricia, you are hereby granted rights to say "I told you so!" :  )

Padua has been a university town for 800 years!!!! This is where Galileo Galilei developed his ideas that the earth revolves around the sun, and not vice versa. We went to the university district and watched some brand-new graduates being hazed. This included running a gauntlet of family members and friends and being smacked on the back 'til red. It was weird but fascinating to be gawking at these shenanigins. We will try to figure out how to post a short video.

Had a great dinner in an "osteria" where little English is spoken. It's very discombobulating to not know the rules: do you go up to the bar to order or let them come to you? how come they didn't give us menus? what the HELL does the handwritten menu say?? do we ask for the bill or will they bring it? Still, we communicated enough to have a really great dinner and leave in good graces.

Frank is now snoring beside me: this is my sign to sign off.

Wendy  and Frank XO

Hi Everyone,
It’s early evening on Monday, and we’ve been in Venice for about 24 hours now. We just got off a tour of the grand canal via Vaporetto (public waterbus) that, near the end, included a dramatic show of thunder, lightning and a rainstorm that was, well, “magnifico”! But…as I write this, the skies are clearing. Good thing, because I suspect super-heavy rainfall spells trouble for Venice. Already some canal-side routes were flooding! The sky and the light right now are spectacular and pink and gold, like a Dutch Masters’ painting.
Venice is crammed with tourists (you know, OTHER tourists!), shockingly walkable, and just surreal. St. Mark’s square and all its sites were amazing, of course, but I think one of the things I’ve enjoyed most so  far is listening to and watching the everyday sights and sounds outside our hotel room windows: gondoliers and boats drivers calling to each other and skillfully navigating the twists and turns of the narrow canals; church bells ringing; voices in all languages.
Olivia, you have to check out the paintings of Heronymous (sp?) Bosch: he was like a mediaeval Salvador Dali!
One sleep gone and 20 left…Time for dinner!
Good Wishes to All,
Wendy (and Frank)

Here we in the LAX first class lounge. This is my first time flying first class (OK Wendy claims it is only business class) but still… The things I am enjoying ordered in importance least to most:

• Priority seating
• First class lounge
• Free WIFI
• Bigger seats
• FREE Beer (and peanuts) !!

 Woot! How cool is that??

Hello Everyone,

It's one week today until Frank and I leave for Italy. We plan to write a bit every couple of days so that those of you who are interested can keep tabs on us and what we're doing.

Wendy

Hope you enjoy following our itinerary!

Frank