The best lasagna ever

As we left Pisa, we drove from major Italian highways to smaller highways to local routes and small roads and finally to a gravel country road to get to our agro-tourism farmhouse in Umbria, the countryside just North of Rome. We stayed in I Casali di Colle San Paolo, an absolutely wonderful place in a gorgeous location. Highly recommended!

http://www.collesanpaolo.it/collesanpaolo/en/

The owner kindly showed us the property, up on a hill at the end of road lined by olive trees.

We arrived just ahead of Jay's sister Katherine and her daughter Ella. Our kids quickly explored the small playground and tore through the limited toy supply in the rented house. And of course, thoroughly enjoyed catching up with their new cousin, whom they had not seen since the winter.

Katherine kindly made us all some delicious pasta for dinner, which we rapidly consumed and then headed for a good night's rest. Somehow, we all seem to sleep better in the countryside. Here is Lanna, relaxed after a bath (pardon the nip-slip), and Sammy chilling on a garden chair (which also served as an effective car launcher!)

The next morning, we struggled to find the local bakery in the morning. The only downside of our Umbrian hosts was their non-specific directions. For example, "Drive to the beginning of town, then at the first roundabout take a right, pass fourteen olive trees, take a left, and then find the bakery on the terrace above the street." Thank goodness for Google maps coming to the rescue. The bakery was great once we did find it-- amazing dark brown bread, cheesy pizza squares, and of course some cream-filled goodies for dessert. Despite not speaking any Italian, we managed to successfully place our order AND get what we wanted! We also stopped at the grocery store, where I gave in to the request for some new racing cars. Alas, grocery store cars are not the highest quality and one quickly lost a spoiler after doing jumps off the garden chair. So my kindness in the end turned into tears... and requests for new cars!

We did buy some bubbles at the store, which were much less expensive and a huge hit! The boys chased and chased and chased them until Jay and I were light headed from blowing bubbles. Even the babies enjoyed bubble time!

After going through half a bottle of bubble juice, we drove back down the gravel path to the local dairy where they make sheep's milk cheese and yogurt. Alas, they did not have any fresh ricotta (apparently it is only available in August-September) but they did have some very strong parmesan cheeses and sheep's milk yogurt, which we bought. They also had a nice dog and a plethora of cats. Our boys named two of them (Croc and RockJaw). As we were preparing to leave, the boys were heartbroken to abandon their new friends. So the "kind" farm lady offered that we could take them with us! Luckily Katherine was there with us to politely refuse this offer in Italian, as we would have had to strap these cats to the roof of our car Romney style.

That evening, Katherine had arranged for a local chef (Michela) to cook an Italian dinner for us. She had prepared most of the food in advance, so our mouths watered as we waited patiently for everything to heat in the oven. Michela spoke great English, and we discussed how she came to be a cook and how she had even visited Philadelphia as part of a student exchange! Then our amazing meal started.

Course 1: stuffed zucchini and stuffed mushrooms with a delicious Umbrian white wine. These items were not super popular with the children (other than omnivorous Lanna), which was fine because it meant more for us.

Course 2: Lasagna. Not just any lasagna. Absolutely the best lasagna any of us had ever had. Including Katherine, who has lived in Rome for 15 years. The kids devoured it, and we finished up anything that they left on their plates.

At this point we were really full, but there was more!

Course 3: Turkey rolled with smoked mozzarella and other cheeses, with carrots and raisins on the side, plus an Umbrian spinach flan. It was a struggle, but we ate more of this amazing food. We did not manage to start the bottle of red wine, though.

And saving the best for last...

Course 4: Ciaramicola, a typical Perugian cake with several kinds of liquor. Including one that gave it an amazing pink color in the middle. I thought the kids wouldn't like a liquor-filled cake, but they loved it. It didn't taste like liquor, but it did taste absolutely delicious. Sammy had a complete melt down when he couldn't have a third piece. And it wasn't that we didn't want him to eat that much cake, but rather that we wanted to have more for ourselves!

Thank goodness Michela even cleaned up because we were pretty much comatose by the end of the meal. We rolled ourselves off to bed. The farmhouse had amazing blackout shutters, so all slept well (and late!)

The Pisa Selfie

Searching "Top 10 lists" on the internet can be a very entertaining rabbit hole to fall into.  

Fully confident that the Leaning Tower of Pisa would be prominently displayed in any "cool building" list, I ran some quick searches to prove it.

Turns out Pisa was not as highly acclaimed as I thought it would be.  Should have left that well enough alone since this tower is iconic and we all know it's amazing.

The approach to Pisa is pretty anticlimactic.  It's flat farmland and feels remarkably normal as you drive in.

And then, in the distance, you see it peeking behind some other buildings, just a slightly bit askew.  

Walking towards the tower brought a surreal giddiness. This sensation always comes over me when I'm about to see a famous historical building, painting, sculpture, or when I'm in a place where something significant happened.

My pulse quickened as we walked towards the piazza.

We entered into the Piazza dei Miracoli, a UNESCO heritage site not only for the Leaning Tower (who's proper name is actually Campanile) but also houses the Cathedral, the Bapitstry, and the Camposanto (the graveyard).

A good site with a succinct summary of the Piazza dei Miracoli can be found here:
http://www.italia.it/en/travel-ideas/unesco-world-heritage-sites/pisa-and-piazza-dei-miracoli.html

The grandeur of this site really took your breath away.

The crush of the crowd also took your breath away. 

Once inside the piazza, I realized a much more entertaining search for Pisa would be "Pisa selfies."  Go ahead, check it out right now.  We'll wait for you.

Everywhere we looked people were posing to hold the tower up, using their fingers to push it straight, or trying to give it a hug.  

Of course, we had to do it too (except Alisa as she was more dignified and respectful than the rest of us):

Then we took a more respectful photo.

I really couldn't stop taking pictures of this tower.  We had hoped to climb to the top, but children under 8 weren't permitted.  Joey took it stoically.  Sammy was just happy driving his cars on the chains surrounding the tower.

We went to a local cafe that allowed us to gaze upon the tower while we had lunch (yes, we each had a piece of pizza in Pisa).

After that took about 300 more pictures of the tower and navigated through the crowds back to our car.

We loaded up and made our way south to our next stop in Umbria to meet up with my sister Katherine (who has been living in Rome since 2000) and my niece Ella!

On the road, I couldn't help but look back and see the tiny crooked top of the tower peering around the dome of the cathedral to watch us drive away, quietly imploring us to return again some day.

Five Clynes visit Five Lands

Based on the enthusiastic recommendation of our Italian connections (KC Clyne), we headed out from La Spezia to visit Cinque Terre (translated as Five Lands). This UNESCO World Heritage Site consists of  five villages (Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore) that have been built into terraces along the Italian cliffs bordering the Mediterranean Sea. The area is mostly inaccessible by car, so you take a train that connects La Spezia to the five villages. Jay originally planned to visit all five, but the day dawned cold, windy and wet. So we reduced our expectations to visit two of the five -- specifically those that did not involve a crazy hike up any of the aforementioned cliffs.

We first drove to the La Spezia train station, where our parking luck continued as we backed into a tiny spot in the garage right at the train station. We bought daily train passes, got a pizza snack at the store right next to the McDonalds (since our children had not eaten for about 30 minutes), and eagerly awaited our first train ride of the European tour!

Even more exciting was the fact that the train was a double decker! We pushed through the crush of people to get 4 seats together on the top... alas, the train mostly goes through tunnels, so the views were not amazing. We got off at our first stop, Manarola, and walked through a long tunnel to get into the town. Sammy drove his car along the tunnel walls - and when he dropped the car, he had to go back to the beginning of the tunnel to start the drive over. Sort of like writing the Torah, but luckily he only dropped the car once.

Once in Manarola, we wandered through the quaint streets of the town nestled into the cliffs all the way down to the water. There is a pathway carved into the cliff, which provides incredible vistas of Manarola as well as the next few villages. Alas, the walk was quite cold and windy, so we didn't get many great pictures of the other villages. But here is a look back at Manarola...

And a picture of all of us bracing against the wind. The picture was taken by a kind American couple, in return for us taking a picture of them. We stubbornly continue to use this old fashioned method of selfies, along with the long arm approach. However, we were impressed by how many people were using selfie sticks on a windy day near the water...

We got back on the train to head to our second stop - Vernazza. There is no cliff walk there, but there is a lovely harbor...

And a tower! We climbed up narrow steps to reach the base of the tower, which provided an amazing view over the village.

And then we climbed the tower itself (seen at the right of the picture right above). We asked a nice woman to take our picture. Alas, she neglected to get any part of the town in the background (this is the disadvantage of not having a selfie stick) but did effectively capture how windy it was up at the top. I would also like to point out that the tower had typical European stairs-- in other words, one person wide. But I made it up and down even with Lanna in the BabyBjorn without panicking. The boys have been fascinated by my claustrophobia and thoughtfully ask me if I am scared in every tiny European elevator that we take.

Here is the view, which we will have to get Chris or Jane to add into the background of the photo.

At this point, we were all cold, a little wet, and very tired. I decided to try to feed the kids again, but alas they were not hungry for the pizza we ordered and the place we chose did not have hot chocolate. (No worries- we got some at the store and made it at home later). So we headed back to the train. As we waited, and the platform filled up with an enormous number of tourists, we made friends with a couple from Ohio who were visiting Italy without their children... and then we smashed onto the train back to La Spezia, drove back to our villa (with the aforementioned grocery store stop), and spent a mostly restful night. 

The next morning we woke up to full rain, which made packing the car (which was down 43 steep stone steps) even more challenging. Nevertheless, Joey and Sammy posed for one last picture of our view from the villa.

Cinque Terre was an amazing experience, which I'm sure would have been even better had the weather cooperated. The major challenge was the flood of tourists everywhere we went. We heard more English that day than we had at any point so far in the trip. I can't imagine how crazy it must be on a sunny day!

French sunrise, Italian sunset

Waking up early to pack up and leave a tiny town you've only just discovered is never fun, especially when you're greeted with an incredible sunrise.

Mornings where we are departed usually feel hurried and a touch frantic, but the calm of Cassis exerted its influence that morning as well.  Things were well in hand, giving us time to return to the town center in hopes of going out on one of the boats to look at the calanques.

Before checking on the boats, the first stop was the bakery.

As we made our way to the bakery, we stumbled upon the morning market in Cassis!  Seeing this small square bustling with activity, filled with colorful fruit and vegetables and having a faint scent of fresh baked goods brought a smile to all our faces.

Since our original bakery had provided such amazing pastries and bread, we walked back up to that tiny store.

Life is full of precious moments, and we've been so lucky for this trip to provide so many.

Walking out of that bakery holding Sammy's hand in my right and two warm baguettes along with a bag of pastries in my left hand, with the bright Cassis morning sun shining down is a moment I will always cherish.

Unsurprisingly, we were down to one baguette in a matter of minutes. When we reached the marina, there was a notice that the boats would not be going out again this morning due to strong winds.

We bid adieu to Cassis and walked back to the apartment.  The car was packed.

Next stop:  Monaco via the Côte d'Azur. 

Sure, we've all heard about Monaco being the "playground for the rich and famous" with the giant yachts, the ridiculous sports cars, the casino full of high rollers, all in the setting of a flawless city rising up the steep hillsides with lovely vistas of the Mediterranean.

Well, it's pretty much true.

Not far from where we parked, we looked out over the marina towards the palace.

The wind was crisp and no hats were safe!  We took this picture of the boys before taking their hats off in fear it would never be seen again.

We mostly strolled along the hillside waterfront, enjoying the atmosphere of this unique principality. We walked by the Grace Kelly theater (who, as it turns out, was a Philadelphia native!).

The walk took us up the hill to the casino.  Here the boys had a chance to enjoy a few Ferraris and a Rolls Royce Wraith.

Joey is nearly eclipsed by the guy in the red plaid shirt but he did get to enjoy two Ferraris at once.

The Wraith is pretty crazy, sporting a 694hp engine and a $296,000 price tag.

They also had a chance to pose with Iron Man.  His presence has been felt in Monaco since 2009 and a dynamic scene in Iron Man 2 that takes place at the Monaco Historic Grand Prix.
http://www.thepaddockmagazine.com/2010/05/monaco-meets-iron-man/

Although this was no Spiderman Gordo, the boys enjoyed meeting another superhero.

We stayed for a Monaco priced lunch for which Lanna and I took a few selfies.

Given we had several more hours on the road, we headed back to the car.

The drive out was equally beautiful and steep but we eventually made our way out to the highway.

Almost as soon as Monaco disappeared behind us in the rolling coastline, we crossed the border into Italy.

Once in Italy it did seem that the countryside was different, but that's likely more exaggerated, feeling a new country would bring significant changes despite just going 1 mile past a border.

The towns and road designs were slightly different as we crossed what seemed like an endless series of bridges and tunnels.  I'll always think of Italy's northwest as a series of hamlets in the valleys between the mountainous coastline, each with one, sometimes two small white fingers of a church towers rising up above the scattered one or two story homes that make up these clusters of townships.

As we drove towards our final destination of La Spezia, Italy, we could see the sky turn pink and slowly darken as the sun set behind us.  The rugged coastline didn't allow us to see the sun vanish for the day but we finished our drive in the evening twilight.

The day had been long, but it was a good one.  It started with a brilliant sunrise and we traversed three countries before the sun set.

Now it's time for our Italian chapter to begin!

Cassis

This pleasant and cosy fishing village has been around over 2000 years nestled in a cove east of Marseilles.  It has evolved over time to add vineyards, with a specialty in white wines and aqua-tourism to scuba dive or ride a boat to view the calanques (French fjords if you will) which flank the village.

There's an excellent review of Cassis here:

http://www.beyond.fr/villages/cassis.html

Our apartment was just a few minutes walk east of the town, with its own private pool and cove.

If I had to rank the boys top 5 favorite activities thus far, it would be:

5. Throwing rocks (preferably into water)
4. Climbing on anything remotely resembling a playground
3. DOUBLE DECKER BUS
2. Consuming popsicles/pastries
1. Chasing pigeons

This beach, while bereft of pigeons and popsicles, did have plenty of rocks, so we had to check it out.

The views were pretty good as we walked down the hill to the water.

The kids suffered through a group picture, patiently awaiting the chance to hurl stones into a large body of water.

Shortly after that, they arrived on a quiet beach filled with rocks! Fun was had by all.

Such strenuous effort worked up an appetite, so now was time to go into town for FRENCH PASTRIES!

We found a tiny bakery and picked out a tempting assortment of pastries.  Our self control was phenomenal as we made it to the waterfront before tearing open the bags and  consuming their delectable contents.

As the boys sat back, sated on rock throwing and pastries, their eyes wandered to the small town square about 50 feet away.  Their eyes widened.  A large group of pigeons were milling about.

This could be one of their best days EVER.

They sprinted off and promptly cleared the square.

We joined them and walked about the small waterfront and out towards the beach and quay.  Despite the rising winds, it was picturesque in the middle of the marina

and out on the quay looking back at the waterfront.

Between the rock throwing, pigeon chasing, and walking, the children were once again famished.  We went to a new bakery which was more crowded than the first.  Lanna and I waited outside.  She longingly reached for the cookies.

And then suddenly a small boy was for sale in the bakery!  He looked delicious (although a touch bony) so we took him home.

The second round of pastries vanished as quickly as the first.

The bracing sea air and three pounds of butter we had already consumed in the pastries only spurred our appetite further.  We picked up some fruit, cheese, and quiches (along with the baguettes) and went back to the apartment for lunch. 

We had hoped to take a boat ride to see the calanques but the wind had become intense beyond Cassis and no boats were going out.

Given the private beach was sheltered and so close, we walked down there together so the boys could work out their biceps some more. Alisa had been working in the morning and missed the beauty of our private cove.

Alisa and I both went for a quick swim which was invigorating.

While I was swimming, Alisa and Lanna took a few selfies.

Alisa enjoyed her swim.

Back on the beach we took a family selfie with our selfie stick (my arm).  Sammy unleashed the turtle face.

As quickly as it came, the turtle face vanished.

We dried off and made our way back to the apartment, watching the sun set as we walked.

Cassis provided us all a wonderful day full of beauty.  The boys managed to hit three of their top five activities which left them happy and exhausted.

We would be sorry to leave such an idyllic town but will always fondly remember Cassis.

¡Adiós España!  Bonjour France!

Although a bit groggy from the day before, we packed up and were rolling out from Castelldefels shortly after 10am.  

Aside from some vomiting and a non-functional toilet, the time in Spain had been excellent.  

To be honest, I've only known really one French person and never been to France.  My thoughts on the country were largely stereotypical and I was not very excited about leaving a place I knew, whose language I spoke, and where I had had such a great time.

A few more days in Barcelona would have been fantastic, but it was time to head on to southern France.  Alisa found what looked to be a beautiful town called Cassis.

This link shows the basic map of this part of our travels from Barcelona to Cassis:

https://www.google.it/maps/dir/Barcelona,+Spain/Cassis,+France/@42.5927526,3.7518609,8z/data=!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x12a49816718e30e5:0x44b0fb3d4f47660a!2m2!1d2.1734035!2d41.3850639!1m5!1m1!1s0x12c9bac66b7ee435:0x40819a5fd970430!2m2!1d5.53712!2d43.215134!3e0

Fortunately we were off to a great start once we crossed the border and stopped at a rest stop at Lapalme.

Amazing.  It was like a French bistro, a good coffee shop, and a cookie factory made sweet love in a ménage à trois (also French). 

After enjoying a good lunch with delicious bread (French bread), sandwiches, and effervescent water (served in actual glasses which blew my mind), the kids played in a small play area after which they went up to a giant wall filled with cookies and candy.  It took them quite some time to choose a treat.

Once done, I picked up a tiny but potent latte before getting back on the road.

In homage to this adorable French rest stop, I took this photo:

Alisa had not been able to drive our dynamic Peugeot (also French) so it was her turn behind the wheel!

It's for the best that she drove this leg, as I probably would have stopped at every French rest stop along the way.

The drive was not as smooth as it could have been given our GPS got befuddled by an underground road in Marseilles.  We ended up driving the same loop a few times.  It was very reminiscent of this classic:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAgX6qlJEMc

We were able to get some great views of Marseilles though!

Fortunately Alisa powered through it and went underground, breaking that vicious cycle.

Once we escaped, we were immediately stuck in traffic.  That inched forward for nearly an hour before we broke free of that.

After the traffic came the rain!

It's safe to call it a deluge as it pounded the windshield and was likely the cause for the traffic as the intensity of the rain slowed all the cars on the highway.

As the rain abated, a rainbow appeared, showing us the way to Cassis where we would be spending the next two days.

Overall the kids did very well during this long ride.  

As we exited the highway on the only road into Cassis, France a police officer greeted us. He told us to stop and stay in our car.  Fortunately Alisa was able to speak with him and learn there was a single car accident further down the road and we needed to wait until it was cleared.

We tried to enjoy the sloping hills as they darkened with the blushing sunset but it was tough as we were so close to our destination.

Soon we made our way down into this quaint village and looked for the apartment we booked.

Due to my poor calculations, we went too far down a very narrow single lane road.  

This is exactly the type of road I feared to drive:  so narrow you're concerned about the car being able to navigate any turn without scraping the paint off the sides and so twisting that you can't see anything beyond 8-10 feet, making you deathly afraid when the next turn is revealed that your car is too big and you can't make the turn and you can't back up.

Thank goodness my greatest fears weren't realized at this time.  I wasn't driving, Alisa was!

She did phenomenal work navigating this long, twisty U-shaped road and exiting back on the main road.  We contacted our host for more precise directions and went back to the beginning and quickly found the entry to the apartment building.

We unloaded everything and settled in.  The walk to the city square was short, so once the car was unpacked we went down there for dinner.

It was quiet and peaceful.  The dinner was fine and we made the slow walk back up the hill to the apartment.

All stereotypes aside, it was a great introduction to France.  I was looking forward to what tomorrow would bring.