​It was hard to think about leaving our wonderfully nice apartment in La Spezia. It was so clean and comfy, with big showers and bathroom counters and a nice little patio. We had breakfast (granola) and then packed up our stuff, got back in the car to drive back to Florence. On the way, we detoured to Pisa to see the leaning bell tower there. It was a bit overcast, and we marveled at how lucky we got to have nice weather on our Cinque Terre Day. In Pisa, we were back on the tourist trail. There were lots of people everywhere. Also, there were awesome people trying to scam us. How fun!
 
The cool thing about Pisa is that the bell tower is beautiful and quite amazing, and it is really leaning. You think 4 degrees and then you see it and you’re like, that thing is gonna topple right over. Turns out, it hasn’t fallen over. The rest of Pisa is pretty much, meh, but it was worth seeing the tower lean. Pisa is a detour destination, certainly not something you want to spend all day fiddling around at. 
 
After the tower, we headed to a giant Carrefour to get snacks and water and use the bathrooms. Then we were back in the car and headed to Florence. We had to have the car back by two because Mike picked it up early. We were cutting it close, and we had to get gas on the way. We got gas at one of the stations right off the highway, which was more expensive, but really easy. Navigating the streets of Florence was a little stressful. We made it back to the street of the garage and then some dude parked his car in the middle of the street. It was two o’clock and we were right there! No time to waste! The dude didn’t like Mike’s horn and came to the car and said, “Just because you are a big man, do you think you can honk your horn?” Mike said “yes” and the man disappeared and someone came and moved the car. Good thing because there were now other people stuck behind us and they were not happy. A man got off his motorcycle and started yelling at them too, so Mike was in good company. We dropped the car off at the garage and then walked to the train station. On the way, more missionaries! We talked to them for a bit. One of the Elders was from Saratoga Springs, Utah, the other from Argentina. They had a great light about them and were super happy. They said that they were having lots of success and were doing well. Good to hear it! 
 
At the station, we had about an hour to kill, so we got lunch at the station bread store, which was pretty good again. Really, there is pretty decent food everywhere you turn in Italy. We had business class tickets for our short trip to Rome, so it was nice to be in comfy seats. The views from the train window were quite wonderful and you could envision driving through this countryside, stopping at every little town on a hill and just walking around. If only we had all the money in the world to explore. 
 
We got off the train at Rome Termini and instantly got to enjoy 10,000 Italians smoking right on the train platform. Seriously Italy, enough with the cigarettes. From there, we made the ¾ mile journey to our apartment. We knew it wouldn’t be as nice as our last place, but at least it was clean. The second bathroom smelled pretty tart (like the sewer), but the rest was fine. It would be fine for our last stop on this journey. We put all our stuff in the apartment, ate a snack, and then headed out quickly to try to go to the Pantheon. Unfortunately, time wasn’t on our side, so we went to the Trevi Fountain, tossed in our coins, and then made our way to the Spanish steps. The fountain was truly unreal, both in number of tourists and in its sheer beauty. The Spanish steps were in fact steps with lots and lots of tourists. The view from the top was pretty cool. From there, we bought Rome metro cards and got on the metro to go back to our place. On the metro, it was nuts crowded. These German guys got on and then some dudes in masks and hats and dark clothes pushed in behind them. They were pickpockets. They did all the classic moves. Pushed in on people when they were loading into the train, then pushed in at stops. One dude tried to get Mike’s wallet out of his pants pocket but instead got Mike’s hand. Mike then looked at Abby and said, “This guy is a pickpocket, so watch your stuff”. Mike then pinned his arm to the rail and the thief got real scared. He and his companion bolted at the next stop, and we got off and walked down to our apartment. Mike was so thankful he didn’t get robbed and was super careful the rest of the trip. It was a close call.
 
We were pretty tired, so we found a restaurant at a hotel on the way back to our apartment. Mike got a salad (yippee), the girl’s got fish and chips (yippee), and Sara a cheeseburger that was cold in the middle and soggy (boooo). This led to our next mantra: no hamburgers outside the United States or Iceland. 

​Since we were already in La Spezia, we got up early, but not that early since we didn’t have to drive from Florence. The rain had cleared and there was a beautiful day ahead of us. We walked down to the train station and since Mike had purchased Cinque Terre tickets months in advance, we hopped on the train and took it to the last stop, Monterosso. It was great, because there were very few people there and we started our hike up the long ascent into the vineyards. The views were wonderful and the sea a mesmerizing mixture of blues. The air was fresh and the trail gorgeous. It was rather steep, and Abby started having second thoughts about being part of our family, but she dug deep and did wonderfully. Emma and Madeline raced each other from time to time. Madeline has an amazing ability to just go with the flow and never complain. She is a wonderful little hiker and did the entire ten miles without muttering a peep. Maybe the gelato and treats helped, but I think she would have been fine either way. The first town we came to was Vernazza. It was right out of the movie Lucca and the locals knew it and there were opportunities to capitalize on it. We grabbed some lunch (which turned out to be unbelievably delicious) and ate down by the waterfront. It was wonderful. From there, we hiked up the alleyways toward the next town. There were grapes starting to come forth on the vines, and lemons on the lemon trees. Spring was well underway, and it was a wonderful day to hike. Mike even got to speak French to some hikers and take their pictures for them. He enjoyed speaking Italian, French, Portuguese, Chinese, and Japanese on this trip. It was fun to watch him talk to people in their native language.
 
The next town we came to was Corniglia. This was the town where we got gelato and looked out over the water and enjoyed the creamy goodness. Having completed the hardest two parts of the hike, we were ready for the easy route, but they were closed due to landslides, so we had to take the train to Manarola. This was a very picturesque town and is the most photographed of all the towns in Cinque Terre. It didn’t have the same charm on its main street as Vernazza, but it did make for great pictures and the views from the point just north of town were spectacular of the rest of the coastline. We bought Nutella biscuits here and devoured those. We had to keep everyone’s spirits up. After Manarola, we stopped in Riomaggiore and walked down to the rocky beach and threw rocks in the water for a while. It was a magical way to end a wonderful day of hiking. We could throw rocks in the water for days and be happy. It seems to be one thing that all of our children love. Everyone was pretty tired, so we took the train back to La Spezia, picked up pizza for the girls, then Mike and Sara headed out to watch the sunset in Manarola and take nighttime pictures. It was pretty magical. Once the sun had disappeared and all the pictures were done, we headed to La Roma, a restaurant in La Spezia, and had a quiet dinner with the most unusual and delicious cheesecake of all time. It was the perfect ending to a wonderful and magical day. Thank you Cinque Terre, Gratzie Mille!

​Surprise, it’s daylight savings in Italy! You get one less hour of sleep weary travelers! With that nice surprise, we were up at 6:00 AM to get ready for the day. The best part of the morning was the ridiculously amazing breakfast offered by the hotel. There was fresh squeezed orange juice (by fresh, I mean you pressed a button and the oranges got cut and squeezed into your glass in that very moment), delicious fruits, croissants, granola, cheeses, meats, yogurts, eggs, bacon, and every food imaginable for breakfast. After the gluttony of last night, it’s hard to imagine how we were going to make it up the cathedral stairs. 
 
After breakfast, we headed out to the metro on our now very familiar walk to and from the hotel. Every time we crossed the road, we saw the little trolley coming down the road. At 9:00 AM, we entered the cathedral and were instantly taken back by the vast interiors, massive columns, and ornate stain glass. It felt like we were in the Mines of Moria. After taking in the cathedral and poor St. Bartholomew, we headed back outside and started the climb up to the terraces. Aside from its vast interior and exterior, the intricate nature of the cathedral is quite stunning. With its 3,400 statues, 200 reliefs, 150 gargoyles, and 135 spires, it is difficult to take it all in. Even the main door is amazing in and of itself with its depiction of the joys and sorrows of Mary. It was truly a marvel to behold. 
 
After taking in the terraces and rooftop, we headed back down to the metro and then went to explore the quiet quadrangle (mostly for the pink flamingos). At this point, Emma’s metro card wasn’t working well because she had crumpled it and covered it in grease, but we made it work for her to continue to ride with us. After seeing the flamingos, we walked over to the park and played on the slides, swings, and then just walked around. The trees were starting to bloom, and spring had started to arrive in Milan. People were out enjoying the parks with their dogs, kids, and since its Milan, everyone was well dressed. 
 
After the park, we headed back to the hotel, gathered up our bags, said goodbye to our nice little haven, and then made the journey to the train station one last time. We tried to switch our tickets to an earlier train, but there was no such luck. With time on our hands, Mike busted out his Italian and ordered a bunch of sandwiches and calzones and we ate tasty food in the train station until our train arrived. From there, we boarded the train and made our way smoothly toward Venice. 
 
Upon arriving in Venice, we were met by waves of tourists and people trying to get us to take a taxi ride. It was quite confusing at first on how to buy tickets for the Vaporetto, the little water bus that takes you around Venice (unless you are a super-rich person, then you come by water taxi). Even as a regular person, the Vaporetto tickets for a 48-hour pass were pretty spendy at 30 Euros each. Fortunately, Madeline was free because she is still a little bambina. We took the waterbus to the Rialto bridge station and the walked through the narrow alley ways to our apartment. The crazy thing is that the narrow alleyways are full of first-class stores that you would see in Manhattan, not in some crusty old alleyway. The apartment was on the top floor and so we had to carry our luggage up to the top floor, or at least Mike had to carry it up. The apartment was pretty fun with a little balcony at the top that overlooked St. Mark’s Basilica. 
 
After dropping of our stuff, we headed out and walked over to St. Mark’s Square and saw about 1.2 million tourists mulling about. From there, we headed over to the Ponte dell’Accademia and then to a little restaurant down an alleyway for some dinner. Mike got squid ink pasta, which Emma nicknamed the pasta you eat in hell, and the girls got spaghetti carbonara with Abby rounding things out with a pork cutlet. The walk home was in the pouring rain. Fortunately, we had three umbrellas, so everyone stayed pretty dry. Mike had to go without in the rain to navigate our way home, which is hard to do in the dark, when it’s raining, in the narrow alleyways of Venice. However, we made it home, warmed up in the shower, and tucked into bed. It had been quite a long day from the streets of Milan in the morning to the canals of Venice in the evening.

​Friday March 24, 2023
 
One day, we will be able to sleep in, but not today! Today we have things to do and places to go, and it’s not work and it’s not school. Sara and Emma got up early and went running and Mike got on the Peloton and went biking. Then we finished packing and cleaned up the house and got things ready to go. Abby did the dishes and cleaned up the kitchen, Madeline made sure her room was clean, and everyone else did everything else they could think of. Then at 9:30 AM, we were off to the Denver Airport. Of course, Mike had to make use of the time by having the girls stuff envelopes for him for work. They did a TON in the car and when we parked at the airport, he mailed them while the rest of the clan got in line to check the bags. Then it was through security and onto our flight to Atlanta.  Fortunately, we were flying Delta and not flying Frontier or, heaven forbid, Allegiant or, never in a million years, Spirit. Our flight took off a bit late, but we zoomed in comfort toward the east coast and our tight connection in Atlanta for our flight to Milan. 
 
At the Atlanta airport, it was all go, go, go to get to our connecting flight to Milan. We landed at the B concourse and had to get to F. We got there, grabbed some snacks, and then got on our flight. It started boarding 10 minutes after we landed in Atlanta. That’s cutting it close! Fortunately, we had good seats in comfort plus, which is what economy used to be before Airlines got super cheap, so we had a bit more leg room. 
 
Saturday March 25, 2023
 
Friday blurred into Saturday as these trans-Atlantic flights tend to do. Comfort plus is not that much comfort nor that much plus, but it sure beats the cheap seats in the back. Regardless, it was still hard to sleep, unless you are Madeline, then there was lots of sleeping. The food was pretty decent, and they gave us pillows, blankets, and ear plugs, toothbrushes, and eye covers. Overall, it was a good experience, until the Alps. As we were descending over the Alps, the plane started descending rapidly and then it was turbulence city. The purser got on and told the flight attendants to sit down in a very worried voice, which was a bit alarming. Then he said, “brace yourselves” and I thought, “this isn’t good”. Overall, it was like coming over the mountains into Denver, but it leveled out and we landed without too much fanfare. 
 
Passport control wasn’t that bad and then we grabbed our bags and headed to the train station. We missed the first train by seconds, and then the next train got cancelled, so we ended waiting a solid 40 minutes to get on the train to Milano Centrale station. The train ride was pretty crowded and not that great. The first thing we noticed was how much graffiti there was everywhere along the way. There was also this really annoying lady speaking Russian with a loud kid. Definitely not comfort plus. 
 
Milano Centrale was quite the train station. It felt like being in a movie with its grand ceilings, numerous platforms, and trains to everywhere. There was even a train to Frankfurt (made us think of Andrew). We exited the station and Abby was entranced by all the guys riding skateboards (by entranced, I mean that she was instantly embarrassed of her family). We walked a couple of blocks to our hotel and were instantly grateful for our little Hilton home. Every time we come to Europe, we stay in a Hilton hotel the first night, which makes things easier because we can check our bags, and then go explore the city while we are ultimately jetlagged.  
 
So that’s what we did, checked the bags, then headed back to the train station to head out into the city. We bought 24-hour metro passes for 3 zones, and then hopped on the metro for the Duomo. It was a zoo! But we like the zoo, and we eventually made our way through the madness after not having slept much. As we were exiting the station, the Duomo came into view, and it was breathtaking. It was such a large, intricate building that dominates the plaza. It was truly breathtaking. The plaza was full of people and clearly the place to be in Milan on a Saturday. Since we were starving, we headed straight to Luini’s for a panzerotti. We took our fried dough and mozzarella goodness back to the Duomo and ate on the steps overlooking the plaza. One of the things we noticed quickly was how many people in Europe still smoke, especially young people. I guess throat and lung cancer haven’t made their way here yet.  
 
Once we were full of food, we headed into the shopping mall to ogle at the super expensive clothes at Prada, Dior, Louis Vuitton, and so forth. The girls took their turns spinning their heals on the bull’s testicles on the floor so that they could be blessed with good luck and a few thousand dollars to spend at the stores!
 
From there, we got back on the metro and took the red line over to the church Santa Maria delle Grazie. We got there a little before our tour time, so we exchanged our vouchers for the actual tickets and then headed over to the Sforzeco castle and park where we grabbed our first gelato of the trip. Everyone got chocolate. After our quick detour, we headed back to the church for our tour. The Last Supper Painting was pretty great, and everyone was pretty intrigued by the things we learned about this famous painting by Leonardo Da Vinci. It’s a miracle that it survived the bombings of World War II and the photos of the destroyed building with the two wall still standing is impressive. 
 
Once done with the tour, we headed back to the hotel and saw a flash mob of 1,000 teenagers riding bicycles down the main street. Mike got a high five. From there, we checked into our room, took showers, and then took a power nap. At 7:00 pm, we headed back out for dinner at a little trattoria called “Alla Cadrega”. It was recommended for its traditional Milanese food, and it did not disappoint. We had meatballs and ricotta stuffed zucchini flowers for appetizers. For our “prima” course, Sara and I got risotto Milanese, while Emma got spaghetti, and Madeline and Abby both got pizzas that were a little bigger than they thought.  It was all delicious. For dessert we all shared apple pie and a molten chocolate cake with pistachio ice cream. Divinely fed, we headed back to our hotel for a well-deserved rest.