Enamored with Cinque Terre

May 17:  Today we woke up bright and early and said goodbye to beautiful Rome!   We would have been happy to stay another week, but alas, it was time to move onward.   We took a train to Pisa and walked from the station to the infamous leaning tower (with all of our luggage) so we could take our obligatory propping-up-the-tower photographs.  

We were only mildly successful in our attempts....

so we branched out and tried other poses too....

Or in Adam's case just stood there for good measure.....

And we're Goolds, so we had to do a jumping picture too!

After Pisa, we got back on the train and headed to La Spezia, where we were spending the night.   La Spezia itself isn't that beautiful a town, but it does lay claim as the home to the main train station that brings you to Cinque Terre.   So as soon as we arrived, we dropped off our luggage and headed for the station!    

Never heard of Cinque Terre (which is pronounced "Chink-uh Tair-uh") ?   Let me enlighten you with  photographs that will make you drool and immediately add Cinque Terre to your bucket list too!  

Cinque Terre is Italian for "Five Towns".  These five picturesque towns happen to lie on the west coast of northern Italy right on the Mediterranean Sea.   You can hike or take the train to each town.  We were short on time, so we took the train from town to town, then got out in Corniglia and hiked to Vernazza, because the guide books said that this hike had the best views.

It was about a 90-minute hike....

through some mighty gorgeous scenery....

We were pretty enamored with the whole experience...

When we neared the town and came across this restaurant right on the side of the cliff...

we decided to stop, eat dinner,  and watch the sunset over the town of Vernazza.  

Between the hike, the scenery, and the seaside dinner, it ended up being one of our favorite experiences of our entire trip!

If you're planning a trip to Italy anytime soon, I highly recommend a couple of days in Cinque Terre...

Our only disappointment of the whole experience....

is that we didn't leave ourselves enough time to hike between all five towns.

I'm pretty sure there's a spot in heaven that looks a lot like this picture....

Amo bella Italia!
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Rome in NUMB3RS

May 16:

Standing since 1626, St. Peter's Basilica is considered one of the holiest shrines of the catholic church.   We were in awe at the breathtakingly beautiful and ornate works of art that adorn the walls and ceilings there.   

The artwork honors our 1 true God!  

We faced the choice of paying €7 to take an elevator to the top of the cupola (the dome of St. Peter's, which was created by Michelangelo) or €5 to walk up the 551 steps.   

Our family did not hesitate for 2 seconds before deciding unanimously to take the steps! The steps were narrow and jam-packed with people, but it definitely added to the adventure of being there in the first place. 

 The 1st view we came to was very lovely, but a bit of a disappointment for the amount of euros we'd paid to get there. 

 Then we found some more steps--even narrower and more crowded than the first set--and eventually got to step outside to this crowd of 1000s.   

We trepidatiously made our way through the masses and finally got a picture of 5 of us.   

And, even better,  got to see this €1,000,000 view of the city!

Wow times 10! 

After Saint Peter's we found ourselves 1 good place to get some lunch (at a restaurant called Fa'bio)...


but there were 0 tables, so we ate on the sidewalk.

After lunch we headed to the Vatican where the line was said to stretch for more than 2 hours.


Luckily we had pre-reserved tickets for the 6 of us and we got to skip the lines.


We got audio guides and started wending our way through the  40-gazillion other people that decided to visit the Vatican at the same time as us.

The statues and artwork were amazing and it was crazy to think how they are 100s of years old. 

 It's hard to imagine the 1000s of hours that went into creating artwork of this magnitude, detail, and beauty!  (I know I'm  stretching myself here with the whole NUMB3R thing now.)

I knew that my sister, Heather, would appreciate this finely crafted reproduction of a mama swan and her 3 babies. 

I'm so glad to have these 4 kiddos along for this adventurous ride through Europe! 

After spending the day in the crowds, we were ready for a little fresh air and we made one of our last stops of the day to Villa Borghese, a city park right in the heart of Rome.   After wandering for a bit,  we found this overlook that really made us want to stay an extra week or 3 and explore this fascinating city more. 

We kept up our tradition and made sure we gelato 2 times again today! 

But with the 25,000+ steps we walked again today, it's hard to feel too guilty about that! 

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