Wallamble

Surprisingly breakfast at the monastery didn’t start until 8:30am and we had to be an hour away at Pisa for our slot to climb the tower at 9:15am.

First stop Pisa, to climb the tower…

When convincing the family to take the cliche shot, I never thought it would end up being mum left holding up the tower 🙂 but I happily took on the mighty task…

A special treat for our hard work!

And see the sights of Pisa.

Then through Tuscany

to San Gimignano, a medieval town to soak up the atmosphere…
(San Gimignano is a UNESCO world heritage site, famous for its perfectly preserved Medieval layout and streets, as well as for its stately towers which have given it the name of Manhattan of the Middle Ages)

Eat more yummy Italian food…

Climb the bell tower…

Admire the views over Tuscany

A little gelato of course after the huge steep climb…

Then back to the car to head to Florence our final destination.

At the rental car company, Eli did an impressive job checking the car for our items before we handed it back. The she used Google maps to guide us the 15 minute walk to our accommodation. She really has grown up since our last trip and we appreciate having such a good helper. (Lachie helps too in his own way remembering he is two years younger).

A little down time (i.e. enjoying wifi!!!) in our apartment.

Then we hit the streets for our first wander around Florence (a truly gorgeous city!), to grab our train tickets for Thursday to Venice  🙂

…and for dinner in a local pub.

Back for showers and to recharge our batteries (literally – the phones aka maps, pokemonGo gadgets were flat), before a final stroll along the river bank.

A traditional Italian breakfast of cold meats, cheese, pastries and coffee! Yum!

We had a great wander around Verona – which truly is a gorgeous little town.

Including seeing Juliette’s balcony which was a real highlight for Eli 🙂

Eli and Lachie both had a chance to catch Mr Mime (which is just unheard of in Pokemon Go circles!).

Then we headed to Cinque Terre – where parking again provided a challenge but not an insurmountable one!

We then caught the train between towns, and wandered up and down hills and around cute towns.

Vernazza

Manarola

Where I think the highlight for E+L was the gelato, and for B+N certainly the views!

Finally off to the surrounding hills to the picturesque “serene” Monastero Santa Croce where we would spend the night in a monastery.

the view from our room was spectacular!

The monastery was not quite as Sound-Of-Music-esque as B had hoped, but probably too much so for BNE+L – so it was probably the right balance 🙂 A great experience 🙂

With a 9am on-time arrival we were well placed for an action packed day of fun! I love the way airlines can be delayed … but make up the time mid-flight…almost like they had planned on being delayed…!

First up – is the standard airport drill – quick snack, bathroom break, fill water bottles, attempt to buy a local SIM car and finally pick up rental car.  Then we were off!

First stop Lake Garda for our first Italian meal – pizza and pasta of course! It was yummy! If this is a taste of Italian food – it is going to be a super fun trip and everyone is going to be happy!

We had planned on walking around the peninsula but then we got a taste of Italy in peak season – traffic, people everywhere and no parking! So we had a quick drive around the area (enjoying the view) before heading to Verona to where we spend the night.

Our first impression of Verona was amazing. It is a gorgeous cobbled city with churches on every other corner and cute bridges.

We found our hotel only to find although they website had said they had parking, you had to pre-book…which we didn’t. So we left our bags and then trolled the streets for parking and parking lots. With a little difficulty we chose on-street parking over a unmanned expensive secluded security-free overnight parking lot.

Then we explored the town…

On this walk we saw Mr Mime (the elusive Europe-only Pokemon – ask me if you need more info than this!) but were unable to find him and catch him. Poor Lachie was devastated and may or may not have shed a tear in devastation.

Back to our hotel for a little rest.

Then another wander around town, before another magnificent Italian meal. N&E had their second pizza of the day, and B&L shared some antipasti and a salad – all were in heaven. B&N decided that when in Rome do as the Roman’s and joined the oterh tables in ordering an Aperol spritz (Aperol with sparkling wine and soda) – which was just as good as it looked!

Next stop was Arena di Verona – the world’s best-preserved gladiatorial arena to go to see Carmen, Bizet’s Opera. Unfortunately, as we headed there it bucketed down raining!!! B&E were devastated. We checked with the usher who told us that if the show didn’t go on our money would be refunded, but that it could start up to 3 hours late. Given that it was a 4 hour show starting at 8:45pm we had our doubts about how long we would last. We gave it half an hour and as it was still bucketing, we headed home to bed.

At 10pm, B glanced out the window and noticed that the rain had stopped. She (on her own unfortunately as E+L were fast asleep and poor N had to stay as the adult at the hotel with them) wandered over to the arena and caught Mr Mme outside it. Lach would be overjoyed in the morning!!!

She was also super-lucky to see about an hour of the show. She then went home to play tag with N so that he could see some of the further two-and-a-half hours of the show. Unfortunately as she did it started bucketing down again, the show was cancelled and he didn’t get to go 😦

(The next day E was very upset to have missed the opera. B was upset that NE+L missed it as it was Opera how Opera should be. With a cast of two hundred, in an outdoor arena, sung by a cast who hit the notes smoothly and effortlessly – it was just magical! It would have been a perfect introduction to Opera for E+L. Another time hopefully!)

At 11:45pm, we received an email that we had left our Credit card and drivers license near the restaurant where we had had dinner, and that we could pick it up after midday. Considering that we had planned to leave Verona first thing in the morning…we would just adapt our plan a little for the next day. A full day wandering the Cinque Terre – would become an afternoon 🙂

Okay not the best start to our holiday – a little speed hump – but we were off on our new adventure!

Off, off and away….
…of course we were up to midnight packing the final night at home
….of course mum spent her last lunchtime at work printing travel books
…of course there was excessive traffic on the way to the airport after school/work (We really should leave on Saturdays not Fridays!)
….of course there was a last minute scramble to the gate through long security lines
….of course the flight was then delayed

But at some point we made it! We were off 🙂

The kids know the drill, a rushed last minute dinner at the airport, walk around the airport to ensure they are super tired, climb on the flight, watch half a movie and make a feeble attempt at the airline dinner, roll over go to sleep and wake up ready for a new adventure of an airline breakfast and the last half of their movie!
E+L rock! They slept like champions! It definitely helped that we’d been super lucky and had been upgraded to premium economy (yes an extra 4 inches really does help!). Even beyond that – the plane had three seats in the middle and so we booked the two aisle seats (with an empty seat in the middle) hoping no one would book the center seat – and we were super lucky!!! No one did. So we had three seats between two – making for a super luxurious flight! YAY!

Let the adventure begin!

On what seemed like one of the hottest days of the year we whipped into the city and walked along the High Line

…to go to the pop-up Museum of Ice Cream. What is not to like about a place that describes itself as: a lick-able, likable, shareable ice cream-centric experience. Interactive highlights from the inaugural iteration in New York include a swimmable rainbow sprinkle pool, edible balloons, an immersive chocolate room and a collaborative massive ice cream sundae.

It was about as good as it gets when it comes to museums 🙂

There is no shortage of wildlife in New Jersey 🙂

At home…

Over lunch…

Or on our way home from the picnic shakespheare performance: