Spring Break 2011 - Italy

One of the first things I learned when I picked up my love of scrapbooking is that pictures do not tell the whole story. They come close, but they are much better paired with the actual story line. Hence, my issue with Facebook. It is easier and quicker to "throw-up" pictures onto FB and get pats on the back about them, but then I don't write about them. And since I feel I have done something with them, I leave them alone where they grow lonely and forgotten on my computer. I need to blog, I need to write about our adventures. It is nice that family and friends can look and read about us, it keeps us connected, but the most important reason is for my sweet little family. To remind us about how blessed we are and the adventures we get to pursue.

Spring Break was back in April. We went to Italy with my in-laws, we conquered and once again fell in love. I am writing about it at the end of May, shame on me. I have already forgotten little details. But I am determined to figure them out.

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I had to stay back and work for the first part of the week, so the family left early and drove down to the house we rented. It was near Aulla but no where near a paved road. We were so glad for a sturdy car and an experienced driver! Here are shots of the house:


In the next picture you get the idea of what the road to the house was a little like:


Before I arrived, the family investigated a couple of small villages close to the house and then spent the morning of my arrival in Pisa:


One of our days out was to Lerici, a little coastal village with a great personality:




The best view in Lerici:

The plan was to spend the next day at Cinque Terre but they weather had a different plan. So we set out on a driving tour through Tuscany. We stopped in Castellina in Chianti to shop for pottery, went on to Sienna and ended our day in Volterra. We told Bailey this was for her, but we all know I wanted to go there just as bad.


This is the view from the top of Volterra, it was amazing and no picture could ever do it justice:
We did the right thing by putting off Cinque Terre for one day. Cinque Terre is actually an area off the coast of Italy, made up of 5 coastal villages. It is now a world UNESCO site and therefore very intact and well taken care of. You cannot access it by car, only by foot, train or boat. It was an amazing day, full sunshine, sparkling water and just about the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen. Heaven on earth I tell you! We hit it before high season and enjoyed every part of it.


We even tried the local fare for lunch. McKenna still talks about this poor fish:
Here are some pictures of Mark and McKenna on a nature walk near our house.



And finally, because it needs to be said, my girls rock when it comes to traveling. They can ride in a car longer than I can, usually I am the one begging for a potty break or crying out, "Are we there YET?!" Granted we give them an obscene amount of modern day entertainment and force them to look out the window at times, but they are rockin' travel companions and I just want to say THANK YOU and you may vacuum out the car any time now. . .

Italy with a dollup of McKennaism

Let's just start with a bit of McKennaism, it has been far to long to share in what is my spunky 4 year old. Disclaimer: for those with children you will find this funny, for those without, just bare with me here.

McKenna is in the bathroom doing the deed and yells out, "Daddy, please come wipe me" Dad is no where near to rescue her so in comes Mommy, back-up superhero, and McKenna says, "Oh Mommy, you are such a pretty rose, you shouldn't have to smell this, that is why I called for Daddy. I'm SO sorry!" She is on to something! I should be relieved of bathroom duty from this day forth.

So I'm finding that I need more than one post to complete the Italy trip but I just can't do it. So here is the quick and dirty. This is why we went:


And to put smiles on these faces:

And so that this woman could spent time with this man:

Italian lifestyle continues to amaze me. Several times I went out wandering hoping to trade my euro for treasure and I found ghost towns. I asked, "Why is everything closed?" and these are the replies I got, "Well, it is Monday. Well, it is Wednesday. Well, it is lunch time (from 12 until 3 or 4:00). Well, the cow milk is not delivered until 6:00 pm" (I swear this is the truth) Then I found myself begging, "For the love of all that is sweet in Italy, won't someone take my euro and give me treasure???" . . . that would be a resounding NOPE.

We extended a couple of days past Mark's work days and sat ourselves down on Lake Como. Yes, my dear female friends, vacation home to George Clooney. He must have misplaced the note that I was coming because he was not waiting for me at his villa, with an ice cold Diet Coke and his shirt off. Someone needs to fire his personal assistant. But despite that hiccup we had a fabulous time.

Went spent time on ferry's with and without the Green Blaze o' Glory:

We spent time in the lake where my girls got to experience first hand the etiquette of European swimming, which is to say there is no etiquette and no clothing:


Then we spent time in a villa, Villa Carlotta that is:



And we spent time eating, of course! It was so picturesque and we now know why people spend an extravagant amount of money buying villas for their holidays! As for Mark and I, we will be content to stay at hotels, just driving through and enjoying the day, then maybe coming back again. . . and again.


At some point I will have to post about our drive home through Switzerland because FINALLY the elusive Bavarian cow was caught on tape. FINALLY! I can't wait to share.

Caorle Italy

I just thought I would start right out of the gate with my most favorite day of the trip, Caorle Italy. Right off the coast at the top of the boot. It is a fantastic little village that is so colorful my eyes couldn't find a place to rest which of course meant that I was completely trigger happy with my camera. Caorle is as colorful as a gelateria with thousands of flavors to offer.

We started the day at the beach, already off to a good start!




After doing our best to clean up, McKenna and I conquered the city by foot while Mark went "to work". Bailey could not tear away from the stage during set up and sound check. The great thing about European cities, big or small, is that the most exciting part of the city is usually closed to any motorized vehicle, so it is you and a whole bunch of others walking, talking and window shopping all out of doors. You overhear conversations in Italian, French, German, Spanish and of course the British English which is my favorite because first, I understand them and second it is sexy, it just is. Here are some shots of the splendid colors of Caorle. All the shots are of the living quarters above the stores.




Look at the red one with the blue shutters. Someone stole my house that I didn't even know that I had. I was so drawn to this one. The owner probably became a little paranoid to see a weird American staring into their shutters but I did not care. I just love it. You know, I find myself caring less and less about "what others will think" when we are out traveling. If I want to see something, touch something, taste something I do it, well unless it is a priceless piece of art that will get me thrown into jail forever! Really, even if I do embarass myself, I will most likely never see them again and I don't want to have any regrets. Well, except when I come back to claim my red villa with the the blue shutters. Won't that day be embarassing!

Of course we had to refresh ourselves, multiple times mind you, with gelatto. We. can. not. get. enough. Well, that isn't true, on our second to the last day Bailey turned it down! What the?! But who can blame her when her parents forced it on her 2-3 times per day. We spent a million euro on gelatto, I do not feel guilty, that was euro well spent. Plus we came across flavors we had not experienced before such as watermelon, coconut, mango . . . all on top of the main Frandsen favorite strachitella (that is probably a blundered spelling) basically vanilla with chocolate magic shell bits mixed in, only it is magic shell from heaven, not earth. McKenna was so funny, ordering "pink" everytime to find that each one tasted so different.

The night ended with a cool refreshing drop in temperature, a rockin band with a hot bass player, more gelatto, lots of dancing with just a bit of a meltdown from the 4 year old. She basically just passed out after that and peace was regained. What a great day!

I hope to add more tomorrow, we were there for 12 days which is impossible to blog with one post. I had such a great time with my camera on this trip. Every time we went to a gig or a city or anything I found such fascinating things to shoot. Believe it or not, I shot more scenery than children this time around. I want to print them all out and cover my bedroom walls from top to bottom. That way I have my own little "happy place" that I don't have to imagine in my head, I can just look at my walls and take big deep breaths. Aaaahhhh!