Tuscany 2011

I know I have been REALLY bad about posting on our blog. Our most recent trip could not go unmentioned!

Of all the traveling we have done...Tuscany was NOT our finest hour. This trip was a disaster from the word go. We were originally going for a whole week (Sat. to Sat.) but John had to cut it short due to work commitments. I am SO relieved to be back in London!

I had some romantic notion that renting a villa would be so relaxing, so we rented a villa outside of Lucca. John aptly said that "villa" is just a fancy word for "drafty old house." Being in a villa is NOT a vacation since I had to cook, make beds, clean up after my kids, etc. The coffee maker was crap...I had to hold the carafe so that it would press against the filter and actually drain. If I didn't, it wouldn't drain and spill all over, which I learned on the first morning…and it took about 30 minutes to brew. John had to light a fire every night so all of our clothes and hair smelled like a campfire. John and I have agreed that on future trips unless we are at a swank hotel with kids club and room service we aren't going!

We arrived to Pisa on Saturday and spent the afternoon exploring the duomo and leaning tower. We had a decent lunch (not amazing though as I expected in Italy!). Then it was on to our Villa…which was up in the hills outside of Lucca. The people who own the villa stocked us with some starter groceries so we made some pasta for dinner - not gourmet by any stretch.











On Sunday we drove to Florence. We had a private guide (Lior) who was amazing with the kids. We explored the Uffizi, wandered around the city to see the sights, had another so-so lunch and enjoyed some gelato – but then (like in Pisa and the village near our villa) there was nothing open for dinner before 8 p.m. (if open at all!) which was too late for our tribe after a day of sightseeing. So we found a mini– grocery market and put together a random assortment of groceries and I ended up cooking dinner..again! Cooking dinner is fine when you have all your stuff around you – but I was making due with a poorly equipped kitchen. And then there was the fact that we had to pay 50 euros a day for heat in the villa!









On Monday we had an okay day visiting Lucca - but all these old Italian cities look alike and unless you are really geeked up about architecture there isn't much to see...and certainly not for kids.







So after lunch we drove to Pinocchio Park in Pescia, which was a nice stop for the kids...lots of space to run around and climb on things. Anyway, after our day in Lucca and Pinocchio Park we decided we would try again to go out for dinner…three strikes (all places closed!) and we were back to the house eating pasta again!





For Tuesday we arranged a tour to the Cinque Terre. Our very lovely guide Giovanni picked us up at our villa at 9 and we were off. The weather was icky – rainy and cloudy – but we carried on. We stopped first at Porto Venere and bought a few souvenirs and walked around another old Italian city...same buildings different town.





Then it was on to the first of the five cities – Riomaggiore. Giovanni dropped us off and was to meet us in the last city, Monterossa, to bring us back to our villa. As we wandered through Riomaggiore, there was nothing open (we have not figured out the work hours in Italy) so we hopped on the train to the next village Manarola where we found a darling little place for lunch. Lunch at Trattoria dal Billy's was the highlight of the day!


The owner was lovely with the kids and he suggested some delicious plates for lunch - I could have sat there all day and now wish we did! We were going to cut it closet to make an earlier train to the last village so John and I ordered a second bottle of wine and more french fries for the kids. When we boarded the train to get to Monterosso and meet our guide, the train stopped in Corneglia – and didn't go any further. The rain caused landslides and flooding…here's a nice article:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/8850032/Villages-all-but-wiped-out-as-storms-batter-Italys-Cinque-Terre.html





We caught the last train back to La Spezia where the tour company was sending another car for us. The kids drank cokes and ate their weight in crisps (no restaurants were open…we were in a bar/café) while we waited...about 90 minutes. We finally made it back to the "villa" at 9 p.m…so I could cook more pasta!

This trip was so bad, at one point I just broke down into tears and started to laugh at the same time - "is someone filming us? are we being punked?" So, needless to say I am so happy to be back in London. Now, we are going to Singapore and Malaysia in December – If there is a tsunami I will believe I have bad travel karma :)

Cheers!