So it's been a few days since we hit the road on Wednesday (not early) morning. Let me just preface this by saying that packing for a road trip for a family of six without a clothes dryer is challenging. Clothes can't just be washed at the last minute to get ready to pack: they need time to DRY. So packing was challenging. Then there's packing the car bit - what to bring to keep everyone occupied. And sure enough, even with all my planning, it still looks like we are sardined into the minivan.
So we got on the road in Italia and decided to stop in Collodi - home and birthplace of Pinocchio. Not! the Disney one. No. They don't like Walt in Collodi - seems he skewed the story a bit.
There is an overpriced park and lovely Villa Gardens that I will be posting pictures of. The kids enjoyed it. Well, most of them. Colin tolerated it. It was a very hot day - thereby confirming my theory that Tuscany is hotter than anywhere else in Italia.
Off then to the Cinque Terre - the backdoor wonder of the Italian Riveria. It's a wonder all right: a wonder I survived the drive, and I wasn't even driving. That drive alone will stop me from ever complaining about Brian's driving again. Harrowing doesn't begin to describe it. Death defying comes close. Sheer cliff drop offs, twisty and windy roads... Oh my goodness. And the horse that was stopped in the middle of the hairbend blind curve just iced that cake of a drive. It's no wonder that most (sane) people take the train in. It seriously left me wondering why on earth anyone would live in such a locale and choose to drive there constantly.
But we made it. And found our "landlord" (we rented rooms that she owns in 2 different bulidings.) When we had emailed her about parking, she responded (and I quote) "when here you will find a gate and a
boy or a girl who will tell you where will be possible to park your
car. Will be a place with a blu line." When Brian read this, he asked me, "what, are we on a scavenger hunt here?"
So we found close parking actually and moved the car the next day to the blu line, which we did find with her help :)
The Cinque Terra is a series of 5 (get it, *cinque*) rock towns on the Ligurian Sea. We stayed in the smallest town, Corniglia - the one in the middle. We had some nice rooms, but no AC which is normally not a problem unless your name is Aidan and you are horribly allergic to the mosquitos who really love only you so you can't sleep with the windows open. Aidan and I bunked together in a lovely room off of a smaller square in town. Right off the square. As in open the door to the room and you are in the square. With all of us coming and going, we had to be careful opening that door or else Corniglia was getting an eye full of us!
Brian and the other kids had a one bedroom small apartment with tiny cute kitchen included.
We spent the day taking the train to the various other 4 towns and then finally decided to get our beach stuff on and try out the beach. This required a few trips to and from the train station... below the town. 400 steps below the town. So we got quite a workout when the mini-bus wasn't running to and from the train station and the center of town. Once, Julia and Brian actually ran the entire way from the station and beat those of us who had taken the bus. It was quite awesome actually.
So the "beach" at Riomaggiore is technically a beach I guess because it is land next to the water. But there isn't any sand. Well, it might be sand SOMEDAY, but no time soon. It's all rocks. And not pebbles either. Big rocks. By the time we got down to the water, we were all so hot we didn't even care that there were far too many rocks. The water was beautiful, warm and clear. The rocks under the water were mostly slippery from some kind of moss/algae that will probably permanently be stained on some of our suits. But it was refreshing. There were clean water showers up on further rocks opposite the water. Two showers that Ed insisted we keep trying out. Which was fine by me as it was about 10,000 degrees outside. When not in the water, we tried to get as comfortable as possible laying on our towels (Winnie the Pooh, Dora the Explorer, and Princess towels... Aidan and Colin LOVE IT!) like the locals. This was a beach for the seriously hardy people. Not many wussy tourists here: they were all at Montarosso with sand and chairs and umbrellas.
Brian and Aidan took a break from swimming to jump off big rocks into the water, thankfully away from me so I didn't have to witness it. I was still delicate from the drive in. Then the big kids decided they wanted to kayak. Off they went to rent kayaks and pretty soon Edwin and I saw them come around the small marina into the bay. They said they saw schools of fish and even paddled into a cove and big cave beyond the beach.
After much sun and outdoor fun, we made our way to the largest of the towns, Vernazza, for dinner. We found a place we wanted to try the local specialty: pesto. The restaurant was full but for one table set for 5. Upon seeing the cuteness of Edwin, she made room for us at this table and proceeded to chat and smile with him all night long. He's a regular lady magnet that one. We can really get almost anything we might need as long as Ed is around.
It was a lovely day spent.
The next day we made our way with our "Grande Familia" - nickname given to us by a local shopkeeper in Corniglia - back into the car, navigated back to the Autostrade and went on to Monacco.
Monacoo traffic was crazy too, but in a completely different and expensive way. No more small - mini sized banged up cars... nope. Only the best of the best in one of the world's most expensive places. The kids were pretty amped from sitting all afternoon, so we spent most of our time in Monacco playing at the street carnival along the famous harbor. When not watching Ed crash his ATV into the side of the ring, or when not watching Julia jump up and down on the tethered trampoline, we could take in the sights of the ships and yachts. I kept listening for Robin Leach's voice to pop up over a loud speaker. We hiked up to the palace grounds and looked around a little bit, but didn't stay long. I think Brian got a very abbrieviated look at Monacco; I had seen most of it 17 years ago when I studied abroad and spent my Spring Break there visiting a friend.
We did see that for 140 euro you could rent a Ferrari for an hour and make the Monte Carlo Grand Prix circuit along the streets. Appealing, but not for that price.
Brian took the kids for crepes so I could sneak a peak at the casino. I didn't get far, as I wasn't thrilled about the cover charge to go in.
Then we bundled back in to make the 2 hour trip to Marseilles. Which proved to be the lowest of low points of the trip...
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