Church in Pisa and
Volterra:
On Sunday we went to church at a branch in Pisa. As we sat down in the little, marble-floored
chapel with rows of chairs instead of pews, out of nowhere I got a little
emotional. I felt like I had stepped
into a time-warp and was sitting in a small, branch building in Holland as a
missionary. When we started singing the
opening hymn, How Firm a Foundation,
my feelings became more tender, and I had a hard time singing the opening
hymn. That happens to be my favorite
Dutch hymn, as the translation better communicates the message of the
hymn. For example, the line “What more
can He say than to you he hath said” reads this way in Dutch: what more can He
say than for you he hath done.” That’s a subtle but powerful difference.
I had attended so many similar meeting in small chapels with
50-60 people throughout Holland, and for some reason the blessings and
wonderful memories of my two years flooded my heart and mind.
Though we couldn’t understand a word that was said other
than “Joseph Smith,” “Moroni,” and Nephi, it was great to attend church with
the saints in Pisa.
After church we drove to a great hilltop town of
Volterra. This is an old Etruscan town
with phenomenal views, charming backstreets, and a great museum full of
Etruscan artifacts. The Etruscans were
the predecessors of the Romans, and eventually their civilization was extinguished
by the growing Roman Empire. Our day
here consisted of a great lunch, the museum, and an aimless yet fulfilling
stroll through its crooked lanes. Images from Volterra:
The Cinque Terre
The Cinque Terre, otherwise known as the Italian Riviera, is
a series of five connected towns built into the hillsides right on the coast in
the northwest section of Italy. These
are not glitzy (French Riviera-like) towns built for yachts ad the rich and
famous; on the contrary, they are gritty, down-to-earth places built for
everyday-people (and about 10,000 tourists a day thanks to Rick Steves and
other guidebooks talking this region up).
Steves says that you must spend two nights here to really
get a feel for the region (particularly because the tourists leave in the
afternoon, and evenings are un-crowded and delightfully quiet and peaceful in
these seaside villages built on hills that would make San Francisco look like
Kansas). Unfortunately, when I put this
trip together, I found it very difficult to find accommodations for seven in
one place at a reasonable price. I
decided to settle for a week in Lucca partly because the Cinque Terre was only
hours drive.
Unfortunately, Rick Steves was right. We didn’t get the full
Cinque Terre experience because of that; we did what most of the tourists
do. We shuttle in for a day, and left in
the late afternoon just as it was starting to get good.
Our plan was to drive to the first town, dump the car, and
take the train or walk the trails between towns (all five towns are connected
by rail and a trail that provides some dramatic scenery). After we parked our car in the first town,
Riomaggorie, we intended to walk to town #2—apparently the easiest of the four
hikes: just 20-30 minutes on relatively
flat ground. Unfortunately, there had
recently been a mudslide that wiped out some of the trail between towns 1 and
2, so we had to alter our plans.
We hopped on the train for town # 4, Vernazza, a town that
the kids and I loved, but Lisa didn’t care too much for. Vernazza is a gem, and therefore,
crowded. Not one for cold water, Lisa
didn’t join the kids and me as we played in the ocean just off Vernazza,
swimming from rock to rock, and jumping off whatever we could. Instead, she got to sit in the hot sun on the
rocky beach, watching Abby and a band of topless Germans. Let’s just say, as Seinfeld said, that there
is “good naked” and “bad naked” and I wouldn’t classify this as “good
naked.” It just isn’t that attractive—a
swimsuit would have much more flattering
for most of these woman. But I digress .
. .
From Vernazza, we took the train to town #5, Monterosso al
Mare, the biggest and perhaps most resort-like of the towns. I wanted to hike from Vernazza to Monterosso,
as the views are supposed to be the best on the hike. However, by that time, it was 2:00 p.m., very
hot, and the whole deal really wasn’t conducive for a three year old. At Monterosso, we settled into a sandy (well,
mostly) beach, and had a great time.
This was much better for the family: everyone’s tops were on, and mom
could join in on the fun on this sandy beach.
By the time we pulled out of the Cinque Terre it was 7:00
p.m., and the place was already quiet, 80% of the tourists had left, and I
found myself wishing that I could spend the lazy evening there.
I regretted not having spent more time there to get a flavor
for it in the evening. I had built this
place up so much in my mind from all the reading I had done about it that in
some ways it was a disappointment. We
didn’t hike it and we didn’t stay long enough to truly savor it. And even though I found it as beautiful and
charming as I had expected, the fact that I couldn’t savor it made it less than
what I had built it up to be.
Thankfully, I have yet one more reason to return. Images from the Cinque Terre:
From Lucca to Venice
We left Lucca and Tuscany on Tuesday and drove to
Verona. This was supposed to be a
“filler” day that would split up the 4.5 hour drive form Lucca to Venice in two
small segments, and give us a little time to do nothing (I was also hoping to
get a little office work done).
Just before leaving Lucca, I booked a room at the Holiday
Inn Express in Verona, which is just about an hour out of Venice. The plan was to check into the hotel, let me
get a little work done for the first time in a few weeks, and then hop into
Verona’s old center in the evening to see its well-preserved and still
marble-clad roman arena.
I decided to spend a little extra on the Holiday Inn because
I wanted a nice place to unwind before we headed into Venice the next day. When we stepped out of the van onto the
pavement in front of the Holiday Inn in Verona, we felt like we had stepped
into a furnace. We had been spoiled with
incredible weather up until that point—low 70’s for most of the trip. It had started to heat up on Cinque Terre day,
but by the time we got to Verona, it was 90 degrees and the humidity was
rising. As I walked into the lobby, I
reflected on how happy I was for paying a little extra for the Holiday Inn to
make sure we had good air conditioning, as opposed to choosing an older hotel
with makeshift, retro-fitted AC.
Sadly, just after lady at the front des handed me my keys,
she said, “Oh, just to let you know; we’re having a little problem with our air
conditioning. It’s not working, but we have technicians here now and it should
be fixed soon.” Two hours later, the
seven of us almost spontaneously combusted from the heat. I thought I would have about three hours to
get some work done in my “nice” hotel room before we checked out Verona, but by
the second hour, my kids were climbing the walls, begging us to get out of that
room before their innards fried.
So off to the Verona city center we went. We were so hot by the time we got there that
we spent about twenty minutes in a fast food joint (a “pasta” fast food joint),
sipping Fanta and ice cold water. We
then meandered over the old arena, and learned that we had arrived five minutes
too late—apparently, they don’t let any new visitors inside the arena within 60
minutes of closing time. So we never got
the see the arena. If the rest of Verona
hadn’t been so charming, we might have felt bad but that old town, and square
next to the arena was spectacular. This
might rival ‘il Campo from Siena.
We spent the evening in Verona, wandering in the old city
center, and we found it delightful. We
ate dinner at another recommendation of Rick Steves, and we were glad we did
(again). Add Verona to the list. One more place to which I must return.
At some point, we got the courage to return to the Holiday
Inn, praying as we drove toward it that the AC had been fixed. The second we hit the lobby we knew nothing
had changed. I went to the front desk
just to confirm: indeed, the AC was
still not working, and likely would not be fixed that evening. I don’t know why I had hoped for anything
different: this is, after all, Italy, where locals joke that you should call a
plumber not when you need one, but just to reserve one, because by the time he
finally shows up to your house, you will actually need one.
We walked to our rooms, hoping that perhaps by opening the
windows we might let some of the evening’s cool (now 80 degree) air into our
rooms. If the hotel windows actually opened more than 3 inches that might have
been possible.
At a certain point in the evening, I couldn’t stand it any
longer. I filled up the tub with cold
water, and I submerged my baking body and sat there for twenty minutes while I
read my Dan Brown book. This actually
helped and for about 60 minutes I felt great, yet before I fell asleep my
temperature has risen again, and checkout time couldn’t come soon enough.
Good night. Tomorrow I will share Venice with you. Images from Verona:
No comments:
Post a Comment