Days 10-11: Sorrento To Tuscany

We left Sorrento on Tuesday morning and headed to Tuscany. To drive from Sorrento to home our homebase in Tuscany, the city of Lucca should have taken about 6 hours but the journey nearly took 12 hours, which included a diversion to a quintessential hill town (more on that in a minute), lunch along the freeway, and about 27 potty breaks.

First, the pain.  I've not been getting a lot of sleep so far on this trip.  By the time we finally settle in for the night it's usually 10:30 or 11:00 (and we're often out the door by about 9:00--often sooner).  When I am not completely exhausted I start blogging.  Some entires take about 90 minutes.  Writing is taxing exercise and it is not in my nature to do it poorly, and so each entry takes me longer that I originally plan (although with each passing day, I get more used to the idea and choose sleep over quality writing, which is why the general quality of my writing is deteriorating by the day, as you've surely noticed).  I it is often 12:30 or 1:00 before I get to bed, and then we're usually up around 7'ish.

So, regarding the pain:  the first four hours of our drive from Sorrento to Tuscany brought new meaning to the word "pain."  There's no better cure for insomnia to be lulled asleep by the gentle purring of a diesel on a Freeway where there's nothing to engage the drive.  I had to keep pinching myself to stay away.  That rarely worked.  So, I pulled over and got a Coke (which I never drink:  I hate that garbage--in fact, I don't care for most soft drinks--so not worth the calories and the ulcers).  But I needed some caffeine. That didn't work.  I then tried listening to a few Rick Steve's podcasts; that sort of worked.  But my eyelids felt like lead, and my head felt like it was about ready to spontaneously combust.  At one point, I remember having to hold my eyelids open with my thumb and index finger.

Finally, I decided I couldn't handle it anymore:  at one of our 27 potty breaks, I pulled the suitcase out of the back, and dug through it to find the Provigil (that "keep-you-alert" drug I mentioned in my first post).  I was trying to avoid succumbing to that, as philosophically I still don't like the idea of taking it beyond that first day in Europe to transition to the time change.  But I figure I had the following choice:  drug myself or kill my family.  Killing my family didn't seem like the good choice.

20 minutes later I had a new lease on life. Within an hour, we had arrived safely at our first destination for today: Civita di Bagnoregio, the quintessential hill town in Italy.  Built literally on an island of rock in the middle of a canyon, this town must have been the most impenetrable fortress of its day.  It's only connection to the rest of civilization is the saddle that connects it the neighboring town of Bagnoregio. I was afraid that due to its charm the place would be overrun with tourists.  Apparently, we hit it at the right time of year and day (about 4:00) and we had the town virtually all to ourselves.  Pictures below.

We spent about 90 minutes or so strolling around the town, as we consumer our daily dose of gelato.  We took pictures, and Abby pet each of the town's stray cats.

We then hopped back in the car, and headed toward Lucca, our home base for seven days as we visit various parts of Tuscany. 

Yesterday we spent the morning in Lucca itself, a charming and picturesque town that is not on the map for most tourists to Italy (though it should be).  The town still has its renaissance-era defense wall in tact (a 100 foot mound of dirt wrapped in brick) that has now become the perfect biking and jogging trail around the city.  We rented a could of multi-person bikes and took a treck around the city ourselves:

After the day in the city of Lucca, we drove back to our place just outside the city limits--a perfect little apartment, Casa San Rocco, which is on the same property as its owner house.  Three bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and the use of a communal pool (for the guests on the property--there are tree apartments) for 600 euros for the week. That's a steal.

We had a pleasant dinner (italian style) by the poolside:  bread, olive oil, balsamic, buffalo mozzarella, fresh tomatoes, greens.  It was the perfect dinner. Italian cuisine is rooted in simple, natural foods that are in season.  This meal probably cost $15 for the whole family, and was infinitely better than a meal we would have paid $120 for at a restaurant.

Parenthetically, I have been surprised how much it costs to buy a meal here, and how unimpressive a $15 meal is here.  You have to spend about $45-$60 a plate to get the real great stuff, which I'm not about to do for a family of seven.  Anytime we can cook our food, it's often better and infinitely cheaper.

After dinner at about 6:30, we hopped in the van and zipped over the Pisa, which is only about 10 miles from Lucca.  I figured that our best chance of avoiding a massive line for the Tower was to see it in the evening.  I was right; we had no line, and got right in.  

I had expected a tourist-trap feeling at the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and because I wasn't expecting much, it exceeded my expectations.  It was almost surreal seeing this icon. Next to the Eiffel Tower, it's one of the foremost icons in Europe.  And I must say that it is leaning more than I thought it was.  Standing atop it, I couldn't help but consider the possibility of it coming crashing down while we stood on its top floor (I was actually imagining various escape plans should that happen--none of which seemed to lead to a happy ending).  We took all of the obligatory photos of the kids trying the hold to tower up (just as the millions prior visitors have done).

The tower is part of what is referred to as the Field of Miracles, a series of three structures--Tower, Duomo (Cathedral), and Baptistry--that is surrounded a brilliantly large lawn.  All three structures in this sea of green are quite stunning.

A view of the Baptistry and side shot of the Duomo.

I'll close tonight with the following photos:  after we climbed the tower and toured the Field of Miracles, the kids enjoyed playing on the lawn (even though it says there a 25 fine for doing so).

From left to right: Sam, Daphne, and Jeffrey in a Yoga pose in front of the Baptistry.

Emma and Daphne doing back-handsprings.