Cinque Terre, Lake Como, and our one year overseas celebration in Venice

Ciao from Italy!

Yesterday morning I found myself flapping my arms and making chicken noises so the lady in the local grocery store could understand I was looking for where the eggs were. Hardly anyone speaks English here, it's great. We're in a hill top village called Pitelli just south of Cinque Terre on the north western coast of Italy. I took the picture below of Riomaggiore, one of the five villages of Cinque Terre, last Wednesday. I had seen pictures of it in magazines over the years and dreamt about visiting one day.

 

We've had a lovely time in Italy so far, spending four nights on the shores of Lake Como, four nights in Venice where we celebrated one year overseas, and we're now here in Pitelli for seven nights. The people have been so friendly, the food delicious, the roads manic, and the scenery breath taking. I'm becoming a big fan of Italy. Wednesday was a memorable day at Cinqa Terre. Below captures the important ice cream stop, ie. when you're travelling with a four and two year old, with the back drop being beautiful Riomaggiore. 

We then caught the train to Vernazza. After doing a lot of boating on Lake Como and Venice, the kids were sick of boats (classic, hey) so the train ride was a lot of fun for them, especially all the tunnels. Venazza was another stunning gem. Here we are during our little hike up the mountain behind the village.  Spring is in full swing so there's flowers everywhere, and the legendary lemons of this area are hanging ripe.

We found this cool little cafe along the track so stopped for some refreshments. Here is Soph and Connor admiring the view.

Towards the end of the day we found this nice beach at Vernazza accessible through a treacherous looking tunnel in the cliff. Below shows Soph enjoying the beach, and expanding here impressive rock collection. 

And here is Jane showing a lovely contentedness, with the kids playing happily on the beach and the sun glistening over the Mediterranean.

So yes, one whole year overseas, we made it! And what a place to celebrate, Venice! Venice is amazing, so much interesting history, so many gorgeous canals, and again the people are so friendly! I would go as far as to say Venice is one of the friendliest cities in the world. Locals were so willing to help us find our way around, and I tell you it's easy to get lost. We had to go for a gondola ride, something I've wanted to do for many, many years. Below was taken just after we headed off towards the Grand Canal..... 

Sophie and Connor were saying "ciao, ciao, ciao" to people as they cruised past us on ferries and other gondolas, very cute.....

And here we are at the other end of the gondola, you can't help but be romantic in Venice...

We stayed in the Jewish Quarter of Venice, very old and quiet, just perfect for us. In the middle of the photo below you can see Jane and the kids leaning out the window of our canal side apartment....

The best way to experience Venice is to walk around the place. It's a lot bigger than I thought and it really is a working city, not just a massive tourist magnet.  Below shows Soph and Connor walking past one of the many character filled canals...

 

And here is another charming canal I snapped whist wondering .... 

 

Venice has a real battle on its hands. Some of the buildings are sinking and the ocean is very slowly rising. Here I am with the kids standing in front of a building which looked to be long since evacuated due to it sinking on one side, the left, as you can see. You can also see the water almost lapping at our feet...

 

And the photo below shows a clock tower in the distance leaning very noticeably to the left.... 

 

 

This nice photo of us was taken on the edge of Piaza Saint Marco looking out towards one of the nearby islands..

 

There are these classic vintage wooden boats cruising around everywhere. They are the taxis of Venice, I want one!

Here is a photo of Connor and I taken from above the 11th century Saint Mark's Basilica. On the left is the Palace or the "Palazzo Ducale" which was where the government of Venice ruled. Venice was never conquered for 1,000 years, amazing (and very unusual in Europe), from around 800 AD when tribes escaping the northern Lombard barbarians settled on the once swampy area, right up until 1797 when Napoleon Bonaparte marched into the city.

The Palace is remarkable, the paintings on the walls and the ceilings were incredible. When travelling with kids its important to keep them amused. Here I am throwing Connor in the air just before we entered the Palace, he loves that one...

This photo below shows Sophie and Connor saying "Ciao, ciao" to a gondola man just out the front of our apartment. That was the evening we got all dressed up and went out to a nice restaurant to celebrate our one year overseas, we did it! I'm so proud of what we have been able to do, all the those great memories..

Marco Polo (1254 - 1324), the great Italian merchant traveler, was a Venetian. The photo below shows the entrance to the "Arsenale" where they once had a production line that could produce a ship a day, including probably, Marco's boat.....

Going back to our trip through over the Alps to Italy from France, we stayed in Briancon, which is about 10km west of the Italian border. Here are Jane and the kids looking out over Briancon from the impressive Vauban designed fort.

 

The route we took through the Alps was the same one the Romans and Hannibal, along with his war elephants, used around two thousand years ago. Below shows Black Betty just a few kilometres from the Italian border.  

And then we made our way across to beautiful Lake Como, the scenery there was amazing. We stayed in this really old, authentic little village, called Lezzeno, which is one of the many spread along the shores of the lake. Here is Soph and Connor just after we arrived at well known Bellagio which was about 10km further along.

From Bellagio, seen below in the background below, we could catch ferries around the lake. Two clear benefits of travelling around Italy this time of the year, one, spring is showing off all its colours and two, there's no crowds, as you can see .....

Here is Connor and I taking in the views as we ferried past Varenna, another gorgeous town on the shores of Lake Como...

Buzzing from our first ferry trip on the lake I asked this guy to take a photo as we neared our final stop at Bellagio.

Below shows us having dinner that night . We were very excited to be staying in our little flat in Lezzeno. See that window behind Connor...

That's the view out that same window during the day, not bad hey.....

This is Lezzeno as seen from a ferry we were on the day we visited Como, down one end of Lake Como. Our flat is close to the middle left of the photo, tucked in behind a big orange house you should be able to see.

And here is another photo of Lezzeno taken from a lot further back. This puts into perspective the grand scale of the snow capped mountains that surround Lake Como.

We managed to snap George Clooney's house. There it is in the middle of the photo. Apparently he has an egg throwing machine in his back yard which he uses against paparazzi that get a bit too close on their boats....

Connor is developing a habit, whilst he's on my shoulders, of grabbing my hair, pulling it, and yelling "giddy up". Oouch! Here we are in the classy streets of Como.

When travelling with two wee ones there are a lot of distractions and diversions, so we've needed a lot of patience. This photo shows a classic distraction, toys on sale, these particular toys where at a news stand in Como. We wouldn't change it for the world though.

 

The owner of our flat in Lezzeno allowed our kids to use his kids' swings which were nearby, what a bonus, and what a view!

 

The photo below shows our first restaurant meal in Italy, this one on the shores of Lake Como. The meal was excellent, that goes for the food and the service. It's going to be difficult to keep to my current weight.

Here is Soph and I just after I went for a dip in the lake. It was refreshing, to put it mildly. The pink cap is the one I use when swimming in the Bold and the Beautiful swimming club back home at Manly, Sydney.

This friendly Italian lady started chatting to us and she had a little dog who loved to play fetch the stick. Here is Connor having a go at throwing the stick..

And just to finish off, Sophie's preschool teacher back in Provence recently sent us some photos of her little birthday celebration during school hours, here is one of the photos....

As they say in Italy, "arrivederci",

best wishes to you from Jane, Sophie, Connor, and me