Tuscany

Day 4-6- Tuscany!!

 After departing Venice, we made our way southwest towards the beautiful region of Tuscany.  It was about a 3 hour drive and was surprisingly painless!  My dad was pretty much an expert Italian driver at this point so we all just sat back, relaxed and enjoyed the views.  

And yes, we stayed in the CASTLE shown above.  This was totally a God thing.  I came upon the website for this castle and was like, seriously, is it possible for us to stay there?!?!  I called them and they said their private house just outside of the castle was available for a party of our size, so we booked this insanely nice place the night before and got a steller low season deal!  It was perfect for us because we were all able to stay together, vs separate hotel rooms.  The Castle was a beautiful 20 minute drive from Florence and was located right in the middle of acres of quiet Tuscan vineyards. 

Proportion check.. Molly, the door, Molly, the door. 

 Because it is Winter, there were only a few other guests in the entire castle, so it felt like we had the place to ourselves. 

 Tuscany in the Winter

-- not much different than Tuscany in the summer, lol

This is my, 'Ahh, I'm content now" face :)

Our Tuscan home away from home.  Because everything is so old, heating wasn't the best, so we kept this cozy fire going the whole time (no problem for me:)).   You can't help but make memories and tell great stories snuggled by a fireplace when there is no TV to distract you.  Those are the times we look back on years from now and thank God for!.

  I had to put this picture in here because it was a very traumatic experience and must be shared.  One evening while taking a bath, Daniel decided to throw his best friend "Bobo" in the  shower, thus soaking him.  For those of you who don't know "Bobo", Daniel does not sleep without him, EVER.  Thus the problem, wet monkey, no dryer.. So, Grandpa decides he will "hang" Bobo by the fire LIKE THIS for him to dry!  I'm sure you can imagine how traumatized Daniel was when he saw Bobo in this state near the hot fire.  He did finally calm down and had to go to sleep that night without Bobo.. Never again I tell you.

 Inside of the castle was an area with lemon and lime trees growing.  I love how you see this in so many Mediterranean countries. 

And of course, Molly and Daniel, running inside the Castle in Tuscany

 

Having an absolute blast.

 My sweet boy.  That smile melts me completely :)

 And our final picture, Bryon eating more crazy food.  This was some concoction of scampi, muscles and crab with who knows what else in there.  He just likes seeing me squirm.

Strange Eats

 These are of our unique dining experiences in Venice.  This particular restaurant was Sicilian and we got this enormous appetizer sampler of everything strange under the sun thanks to my adventurous dad and husband.. You don't even want to know whats on that tray. 

 This is squid.. And not the yummy fried Calamari like you get at Maggianos.  This is a live full squid, brains and all.  And oh yes, my husband ate the WHOLE THING!  

 And if his eating it wasn't gross enough, he fed it to my sweet little Daniel.  Who LOVED IT!!  He couldnt' get enough and basically at that nasty squid the entire dinner!

 Molly on the other hand, chose coconut ice cream served in the coconut shell.  

  The last two pictures are of our trip to the Murano glass factory in Venice.  This is world renound glass making from a family of glass blowers.  The trade has been passed on from generation to generation.  Was really cool watching them work.

I took this off of their website as example of how beautiful and intricate the work was.  The chandeliers were amazing and one of a kind.  Really cool experience!

Venice Part 2

More pictures from Venice.  We laughed a lot about Molly's pink obsession.  Everyone was always wearing black, black and more black, and then there was Molly who was always wearing, pink!  Not to mention toting her pink princess suitcase everywhere.. Such a girl :)

Family shot on the Rialto Bridge over the Grand Canal.  In the "City of Bridges" this was the main one.  Lots of stores, cafes and things to do in this area and what a view!

 Molly getting ice cream as we traditionally do everywhere we go.  Snow, rain or shine, we get ice cream.  This time, it was almost too cold.  We were all shaking afterwards and our fingers were numb..

Family shot in San Marco, the main area of Venice, with the bell tower in the back.

Gondola boats by sunset.

Beautiful quaint canals everywhere.. Picturebook really.

Nana, Grandpa and Molly, oh and woof woof of course, strolling through the streets of Venice.

Great shot of dad enjoying our gondola ride.

Our fantastic gondolier.  He sang, joked, and spoke great English which made our tour even better as he could be our 'tour guide' during the ride.  

I think Bryon is happy :)

I'd say Molly is happy too :)

Boats riding through the Gran Canal

Love this quaint shot.  Venice at it's best.

Found another couple shot!!  Right after getting off of our Gondola ride at the Rialto Bridge in San Marco.  

Lovebirds strolling hand in hand.

Venice by night.

Venice

Day 2-4- VENICE!!!

As you can tell, our plan to cruise the Med in luxery fashion was thwarted.  So, we moved onto plan B, thanks to Grandpa and Nana, which was Roadtripping Italy Minivan style!!  We figured, we were all in Italy, everyone had 1 week off of work, so we might as well make the most of it. 

 Backing up a bit, after we arrived in the airport we were all so shocked and exhausted, my parents suggested we stay overnight just outside of the airport to regroup and figure out what our plan was going to be.  After much prayers and some quick planning, we were able to put together a fantastic kid friendly road trip!! 

The first stop on our Italian adventure was the beautiful and unique water city of Venice!!  So, the next morning, we got up, packed up our rentalvan and my dad embarked on our 4 hour trip to Venice.  (side note: let me tell you how hard it is to find a big van in Europe, these little eco cars are for the birds).  Knowing little about driving in Italy he took the bull by the horns and got us there, no wrecks, tickets or accidents to boot!  We even stopped at a gas station on the way and had gnocchi for lunch!  Can you imagine gas stations in the States serving gourmet Italian food?  Venice here we come!

Bryon and Daniel in the main area of Venice.  When we arrived and checked into our hotel, I asked the man at the desk what all there is to do in Venice.. His response was exactly what I hoped someone from Venice would say... He said, "Oh, just let yourself get lost..".. WHAT, I LOVE IT!  So that is exactly what we did!

Some of the gondola boats lined up along the Grand Canal.  Being Wintertime, only certain companies were running tours, most had their boats docked until warmer weather. 

Me just before boarding our Gondola boat.. I'm uber excited if you can't tell.  Bryon felt he had to capture it on camera, lol.  Did you know there are no roads in Venice?  Public transportation is via boat and pretty much everything in the city is by foot.  If you don't want to walk, you can hire a taxi which is also a boat!  I was in Venice a long time ago, but it was a totally different experience this time being older and with my family. 

More beautiful shots of Venice.  Such a unique city.  My dad said he could never live there because there was very little green.  I don't know if we saw any grass or trees.  It is a very lively city in the summer though with lots of street artists and musicians, local Venetian resturants, vendors, etc. I remember on my previous visit having my portrait painted by a local artist.

Self portrait from the gondola boat.  FYI, did you know Venice is built all on wooden beams!  No cement, no nothing.  And living in Venice is soo expensive, pretty much everyone commutes into the city every day.  Most of the homes are rented our to tourists, the locals can't afford them!

Beautiful shots from our gondola boat.  Because there were so few other boats at that time, the water was pretty much still and the only sounds were of our gondolier singing.   Of course my dad pipes in, aren't you supposed to sing "That's Amore!!"  Geez dad.. Make it known we are American :) 

 More from the Gondola ride.  We passed alongside of Mozert's second home where he came to Venice for inspiration as he composed.  It was neat seeing people's private votes and how restaurants had boat parking areas vs car parking lots.

 

Molly watching the gondolier and checking out another boat heading our way.

Daniel and I snuggling on the gondola boat ride. I know we had a great group shot that I cant' find at this moment.  Will it and any other good ones as I find them later on :)

Feeding the birds that followed us onto the 'bus boat' as we headed towards our hotel.  Everything is so much more special with Nana and Grandpa here.  It wasn't just feeding birds, it was an experience :)

Got to have a picture of the kids running in every major place we visit.  We have these from the Eiffel Tour, Louvre, you name it!  Now we have the main square in Venice to add to the list. 

This was our attempt at a picture of the kids with Nana and Grandpa.. Didn't' turn out so well, but the memory was well worth it :)

Bryon hates this picture but it is the only one of us we have from Venice, so I have to include it!!  Me and my love in the City of Lovers!

Venice by sunset.  WOW.

Coasta Concordia Cruise Here We Come!

 Good Morning World!!! Off we go on our cruise!! It was so cute, the months before the cruise Molly could not wrap her head around the idea of sleeping on a boat, eating on a boat, and going swimming on a boat!  Every time I said something about it, she said, "Mommy, that's silly!"

 

 It's a beautiful day to fly!! .

  

Plane snuggles..Daniel was a lap baby, let me tell you that will not happen again.  He may be 1 but he's the size of a 3 year old and stronger than me!!!  So, Molly because the lap baby and Daniel was strapped into the seat.

  

Cheese!

Welcome to Italy!  I've got my suitcase, my Woof Woof and I'm ready to get on the boat!  OR NOT!!!!!!!!!!!