Pisa, Cinque Terre and Nice !

Bonjour ! Parlez vous Francais? Well, the seven or so years of French classes aren't really helping in the land of Crepes, Baguettes and Escargot, but we are sure enjoying our time in France thus far. We won't jump ahead of ourselves let's go back to our day in Pisa.

We woke up nice and early to beat the rain in order to get a good look at the Leaning Tower of Pisa. When we got there the rain clouds parted and we had an enjoyable few hours walking the grounds and taking typical candid Pisa snapshots. We had a quick bite to eat and headed to a campsite situated North on the Cinque Terre road. We were extremely excited to see the natural beauties of this coast line and to embark on a hike that led you through all five villages. If there was anything we wanted to see/do on our Europe trip this was it. However, we soon found out that not everything goes as planned.
As we made our way along the highway the rain started pour but we didn't really think twice about it because we had already decided that we would sleep in our car that night at the campsite. The forecast the few days to follow were sunny so having rain on a travel day wasn't a big deal. As we passed the first village we were stopped by a police man that told us the road ahead was closed and to use another one. Conveniently, there was a back road not too far away. Again, as we passed the first village we got told the bridge ahead has collapsed and to take a highway. Eventually we made it to a highway and lone and behold the highway was closed due to mudslides. At this point the rain was falling like buckets, we have never seen a downpour like this (even in rainy Vancouver).We eventually found a hotel and hit the hay...... dreaming of tomorrows sunshine. When we woke up we found out that not only was the highway closed (for 3 days) but both roads along th Cinque Terre were closed indefinitely. We really didn't understand why until we had Internet and were able to read the news. There has been devastating damage, several fatalities and still today, people are missing. We are blessed that we are safe and hopeful for the people of this community.
http://www.ricksteves.com/news/travelnews/cinque-terre-floods.htm  (check out this article and some of the pictures)

We had to go back to Florence if we wanted to get out of that region so we went back to the campsite that we were at a few days past. We woke up bright and early for travel day to Nice, France.

Our day in Nice was absolutely gorgeous. The sun was shining (24 degrees) and there was not a cloud in the sky. The Promenade was so inviting so we sat down and enjoyed a picnic. We climbed up the cities castle, Le Chateau, and enjoyed panoramic ocean views. We went through the famous flower market, old town and indulged in our first French crepe. Nice is stunning and we both agree that a summer vacation there is a must.

We are halfway between Nice and Barcelona in a small town called Nimes. We are spending the day answering e-mails, getting groceries and doing laundry. Tomorrow we will be in Barcelona!

Cheers,
Carmen and Carlo

Pisa

Typical Pisa Picture

Nice, France

Enjoying the view in Nice.

Florence !

Granzie, Grazie ! That is the extent of our Italian. Oh, and Gelato!

We are at the neatest campsite in Florence. It is a hostel/campsite with warm common area where we can eat dinner and update the blog. Last night there were a lot of Canadians here and tonight the room is filled with the French.

We woke up to the actual 'cock a doodle doo" of a rooster from a farm down the road. Fortunately, it wasn't at sunrise, he let us sleep until 8am. We made a warm bowl of oatmeal and brewed a piping hot cup of coffee and made our way into town.

Florence is very different then the other Italian cities we have so far explored. It is much calmer, more relaxed and a lot cleaner. We thoroughly enjoyed our day here. We went into several churches, made our way through the local markets and most importantly indulged in two amazing Italian dishes; homemade gnocchi and a homemade calzone. We both agreed that the plate of gnocchi is one of the best things we have ever ate. (But not as tasty as Nonnas)

We ended our day with an amazing view of the entire city. It was a look out area that was dedicated to Michelangelo. We could have sat there all night but we had to make a trip to the local grocery store. We stalked up on breakfast, lunch and dinner foods.

We are headed to Pisa tomorrow and plan to camp somewhere along the Cinque Terre.

Wishing Mom (Teresa) and Dad (Donato) a Happy 30th Wedding Anniversary.

Cheers and well wishes.

Carlo and Carmen

David



Calzone

City View

Night View of Florence

Rome !

Well its true, Rome was definitely not built in a day ! Rome really tuckered us out. There was a lot to see in such a short amount of time.

Our campsite was in Rome but it required us to train into the city. We woke up early and caught the campground complimentary shuttle to the train station. We we got off the train and entered the city we were greeted with a riot/protest. We were by no means threatened but there were a lot of chaos everywhere. We made our way out of this area and over the the Sistine Chapel. There were thousands of people waiting in line so we took in the exterior architecture.

Our two days in Rome were phenomenal. We saw several churches, monuments, and fountains which were inscripted with beautiful Roman artistry. We couldn't wrap our minds around the amount of time, dedication and skill it took to master these world renown buildings.

We had a fabulous time in Rome but we have just over a month left in our trip and we have to get a move on. We are now heading up to Florence and in a few days we will be driving th coast of France.

Lots of Love from Italy,
Carmen and Carlo

Viva Italia

Colosseum

Miss you!

Amalfi Coast !

The Amalfi Coast is an incredible stretch of coastaline ocean on the southern coast of Salerno.There are 13 municipalities that wrap themselves around the rocky edge and we were able to visit four of them. The views are exquisite and breathtaking none the less. We set up our tent in Sorrento, the only town to have a campsite. Our site was decorated with olive trees and had a crystal clear, ocean view.

Each town was full of character, especially the town of Amalfi. As we parked the car a man recommended to us that we visit his moms restuarant in the centre of town. We walked in and there she was, a true Nonna cooking up a storm. She prepared a delicious meal that we will forever remember. We walked the streets sampling Limoncello, dried fruits dipped in chocolate and homemade gelato.

We made our way down to the Amalfi beach where people were tanning and swimming in the bright blue Mediterranean Sea.

Cheers!

View from the drive

Campsite

Drive along coast

Drive along coast

Nonna's homemade pasta

Town of Amalfi

Drive back to campsite

We loved this painting

Night view just by our campsite

Venice !

First of all......HAPPY 50th BIRTHDAY DAD FROM ITALY. Wishing we could be in Burnaby with you celebrating your special day. Lots of love.

Venice was our first stop in Italy. This is the first time we parted with our tent and went into a bed and breakfast because there are no campsites in this area.

We spent one day in Venice and that was all we needed. It was neat to walk the narrow, cobble stone streets of this historic city and to explore the findings off the beaten paths. However, if you stick to the popular streets you are swarmed with a completely, overwhelming tourist trap. There was miles and miles of streets vendors selling souvenirs and knock off items.

Once we got away from the main streets we found ourselves on a maze-like adventure. It was incredible to tour around the tiny streets looking at the cities beautiful architecture, traditions and artistry.

Please take a look at the pictures below.

Gondola

First Pizza Slice

First Gelato

Transportation on the River

Nice man took our picture

Venice at night

Switzerland !

Greetings from the land of cheese and chocolate!
We have been in Switzerland almost a week and we have loved every minute of it.
Our Swiss adventure began in Switzerland's largest city, Zurich. We camped on lake Zurich, just outside of the city centre. We never ventured into the city because it is very, very expensive. Our friend Damien told us that minimum wage is $3500 dollars a month. We found that the average meal at a restaurant is around $30 dollars. That is why we bought most of our breakfast, lunch and dinner items at a grocery store and them at our campsite.

Our first day brought us to the Rhine Falls, Europes largest waterfall. Apparently in July the rapids are the strongest, however they were roaring the day we saw them. Then we made our way to the famous Lindt Chocolate Factory; we loaded up on all kinds of chocolate for the remainder of the trip. They have an extensive selectrion, much more than Canada.

After Zurich we travelled to Luzern, "the stereotypical Switzerland." It was filled with stands for fresh fruit, pasteries and other Swiss specialties. We only needed about an hour there and then we drove to Montreux.
Montreux is spectacualar, it reminded us of the Okanagan. The town surrounds this beautiful lake, in which many people were still swimming in. The water was looked very enticing. We found an impressive campground away from the main strip that landed us a lakefront site. For dinner we met up with our friend Damien. Damien attended UBC on exchange a few years ago and now he is the trainer for a professional Swiss soccer team. It was really good to catch up with him and if all goes as planned he may meet us in Paris at the end of our trip for a few days.

Next stop, Interlaken. Interlaken was recommnded to us by a friend and we are so glad we made our way there. It is an outdoorsy town filled with hiking, biking and skiing. The scenary is breathtaking and the town is filled with character and culture. We hiked a mountain called Harderkulm, that is where we realized how out of shape we were. From the top of the moutain we saw snow caps on other mountains and raident teal coloured lakes. That day we made the best decision yet; we bought an electric kettle! Say goodbye to sandwiches 24-7, we boiled water to make pasta, oatmeal and coffee.

We had one more stop in Switzerland before we departed into Italy. Zermatt is a a small ski village, only accessible by train. It is situated at the foot of Switzerlands highest peaks, including the Matterhorn. Here we had our first Swiss fondue. There was close to two rounds of cheese melted in the pot. They gave us boiled potatoes and crusty bread to dip. The owner, an older veterine of Zermatt, demonstrated how to properly dip the cheese.......basically dunk and smother your piece of bread.
We have a bunch of pictures to show you from the past week. We hope you enjoy them. We will update you with more of Zermatt as today we are hiking up the Matterhown before we start our departure into Italiano.

Cheers and well wishes.

Carmen and Carlo

Tomato and Boccocini in our tent with our new favorite beer.

Preparing Dinner

Waterfall in Interlaken

Herding sheep down the street

Interlaken

Our friend Damien

This was for Megan

Beautiful Drive

Montreux

Montreux Sunset

Luzern

Zurich

Feeding the ducks in Zurich

Lindt Chocolate

Rhine Falls



Fondue in Zermatt



Zermatt pre dinner walk

Happy Hour Coffee in Zermatt

Pasta made with our kettle

Harderkulm hike in Interlaken

Harderkulm Hike in Interlaken

Interlaken

I love my Oma and Opa



Interlaken