Our travel day home went pretty smoothly, despite a very early start and extremely long passport-control lines at Logan. Thanks to the Milan airport, we were finally able to try out an airport lounge! We declined to hit the bar at 8am (though some other people had to compunctions), but we did get a nice breakfast, cappucino, and a relaxing place to sit.
Some last thoughts about Italy. First, a few practicalities:
1. Italy was a good value! From past experience, we expected Europe to be pretty expensive. But that was not the case here. Even though we were staying and eating in the heart of the tourist areas, prices were quite reasonable. We got huge panini on foccacia bread for under $9, and could easily find high-quality pizza and pasta for around $10-$15 — and that included tax and didn’t require a tip.
Hitting the buffet at the airport lounge
Even drinks could be had economically. The house wine was usually a good deal at most restaurants, but it was not unusually to see cocktails for under $10 (again, with no added tax or tip). As an example, we ordered a liter of sangria at a restaurant in the heart of Cinque Terre, sitting on a terrace overlooking the beach near the train station (so, as touristy as you could get), and served with little trays of snacks — and it was about $23 total and served all four of us. Our morning cappucini could be had for 2 euros, if we found the right spot.
2. Getting the Firenze Card, which gives free access to a long list of museums and attractions, was a great deal for us. When it comes to museums, we’re more of a quick-browsing type family rather than a “spend hours studying each painting” type family, so it was great to be able to dip in and out of various places without worrying about the cost. (Psychologically, I also prefer to pay a lump sum in advance and then have everything be “free” rather than paying as I go.) l It was a bit of a hassle for a couple of the major places where we had to make advance reservations by phone, but also allowed us to skip long ticket lines. With the card, we saw the Uffizi, the Gallerie dell’Academia, the Palazzo Vecchio (including climbing the tower), the Galileo science museum, the Bardini Villa & Gardens, Boboli Gardens, and Pitti Palace. Many of these were just quick trips but all were worthwhile. Best of all, Lanie being under 18 meant she was added to our Firenze Card for free.
Getting our inexpensive spritzes to go from one of Nadia’s favorite spots
3. Seventeen is a golden age for visiting Italy. Lanie was young enough to get in to most attractions free or at a reduced price (see above), but old enough that she could order drinks anywhere without any questions.
4. Everyone we came across spoke English. This was the case even when we got away from the prime tourist areas in Milan. Everyone was kind and helpful, and we didn’t encounter any anti-American sentiment. However, everything was also CROWDED, especially in Florence. The major tourist areas around the Uffizi/Palazzo Vecchio (which is where Nadia lives) were jam-packed at all hours.
One of our favorite museum exhibits was fashion through the ages, at Pitti Palace.
5. Trains in Italy were very easy to use, and the train stations were beautiful. As recommended by Nadia, I used the Omio app to purchase our tickets, which were all online. However, bathrooms were very hard to find, and required payment, in both Milan and Florence.
Secondly, I was going to write about each person’s favorite activity, but I encountered a rare unanimity of opinions. All of us counted the hike in Cinque Terre from Monterosso into Vernazza to be a real stand-out. We wished we were able to hike between more of the towns, but were foiled by needing to stay available for Lanie’s suitcase delivery, and a section of trail being closed. In general, we all loved Cinque Terre and would happily return.
Other highlights mentioned included the Uffizi, the Bardini Gardens (site of the Amazing Race), the Iris Garden in Florence (only open 3 weeks of the year; we got lucky!), and our cooking class.
After all the excitement of the past several days, we decided to take it a bit easier today. We hadn’t planned or reserved anything, and didn’t really have any must-see agenda items. (The biggest attraction here is the Duomo cathedral/museum complex, and we half-heartedly checked for tickets in the morning, but none were available. Given all the art and churches that we’ve seen, no one was too devastated by this.) Bob and I let the girls sleep, and it was a record 11:30 before we made it out of the hotel.
Nadia loves aquariums — so we made that our first stop. It was in a beautiful old building with a cool fountain out front, and — being pretty small and low-key — was the perfect antidote to all the crowds that we’ve been encountering everywhere. We spent a relaxing hour or two strolling through the exhibits and gardens. (One of the coolest things was that in a random corner of the basement, near the bathrooms, we found a gorgeous shell collection — and saw that some of them were from the collections of Linnaeus and Lemarck.) Total cost: 13 euro (about $15) for all four of us.
we didn’t go into, but just the exterior areas were very impressive. (I was tempted to buy tickets for the Panoramic Battlements Walk, but wasn’t sensing a lot of interest from the troops in climbing a bunch of stairs.)
modern, but we found that the area around the Duomo is much more like Florence, but with even more beautiful architecture everywhere you looked. (Despite the crowds, walking was considerably easier because Milan has created actual pedestrian areas, rather than streets that appear to be pedestrian until a random taxi or delivery truck edges by.) It was definitely worth the trip to see the Duomo and all the amazing buildings around it.
tourist track again to find a place for a late lunch. We found ourselves walking through what was clearly a wealthy area of quiet streets and picturesque buildings. At one point we saw a tall wrought iron fence surrounding an area of greenery, with a few people peering inside. To our surprise we found that it was a large enclosed yard full of flamingos. We didn’t see any signs or public access, so we can only assume this was some rich person’s backyard. Eventually we got out of the wealthy area
pastries from a local bakery.
There are clearly many surprises left to be discovered in Florence (like, who, exactly is sitting behind those little doors in the wall waiting to dispense glasses of wine?), but we have limited time here. Today gave us our last few hours of exploring.
our bags for the day (about 18 euro for three bags in an automated locker facility near the train station). Then we headed off to the Boboli Gardens for a pre-planned rendezvous with Nadia.
A few seasons back, our family favorite show The Amazing Race visited Florence and there was a pivotal sequence that took place on a veranda above the city. Nadia was able to locate the site and pointed it out to us — it’s right across the river from her apartment. We have since been trying to get up there, and the Boboli Gardens provided our route. After strolling the upper portion of the gadens for a while — taking care not to follow any appealing trails back down towards the city, we found an exit that was only a five-minute (relatively level) walk to the Villa Bardini, which houses the famous (to us) Amazing Race Terrace.
Before we knew it, we were in the very same place where the Amazing Race contestant — who was a life coach and motivational speaker — came very close to having a complete breakdown because she could not figure out the task of carving a model of Michaelangelo’s David (that guy is literally everywhere you turn in Florence) from a block of plaster. Right behind it was the patio where teammates had to sit and watch the action take place. It’s a coffee shop now.
We reveled in reliving such a momentous event (this particular team wound up eliminated from the race, largely because of what happened on the Bardini terrace). It also has a very nice view of the city.
It’s worth noting now that since we got off the train from Monterosso on Monday, we have not been on any vehicles — with the exception of the ebikes from the tour yesterday. All day, all week, we have been walking around on our own feet. And we have been moving about a fair bit. Our legs and feet are starting to get worn out a bit.
Once back in the hills, even Nadia got a surprise because a special portion of the gardens recently opened up for a month or so. For the second time today, our march up the hill was tempered by such beauty as to lift the spirit and move our feet steadily along. Flowers can do that to a person.
The top of the Iris Garden led directly to Piazalle Michaelangelo, which is the most popular terrace overlooking Florence for people who are not Amazing Race fans. Thankfully, there are stands there selling refreshments, because our Italian sandwiches were salty and the water fountains in the Iris Garden were labeled non-potable.
Then it was time to collect our bags, re-unite with Nadia at the station, and give our feet a rest while we enjoyed a two-hour train ride to Milan.
Nadia suggested that sometime during the trip we Bob and I might like to do some kind of wine tasting tour, while she and Lanie went shopping. It may have been a ploy to get rid of us for the day, but it was a suggestion that we were on board with. I found a winery tour of Chianti (the region of Tuscany that we’re in) by e-bike, and we were sold.
Iacopo was an excellent guide — knowledgeable and funny and friendly — but he was not one to dawdle. A little way outside town we found we’d lost three members of our group somewhere along the way. Our route had had several twists and turns, and apparently they hadn’t kept up. Eventually Iacopo decided that we had to continue on without them. He sent his friend Simone (who was along for the ride and had no affiliation with the tour company at all) back to try to round them up. (“He has a map,” Iacopo declared confidently.)
We stopped at a family winery for lunch and wine tasting. The food, as always, was delicious. The winery also makes olive oil, but apparently this is so labor-intensive that it’s not very profitable. We got to enjoy some with our lunch, though. On the way back we stopped at a couple of viewpoints with amazing views back over Florence (and very steep downhill descents). After we returned to the city we went to another bar for some more wine tasting and snacks. (We declined seconds on the wine, being mindful of the upcoming periously journey back through the city.) Even though I ended up at the very back of the line and there
way over, and they were pretty good even though we accidentally bought still water instead of sparkling water.
We’re still not totally adjusted to European time, and the 8am alarm came early today. We had to be up and about to get to our 9am reservation for the Uffizi museum. Last time we were in Italy you could just pay your money and wander in to any museum you wanted, but these days you need to reserve well in advance. Nadia is in class this morning, but the rest of us managed to straggle out a bit later than planned.
arrangement — just a couple of minutes walk from the center of everything (Uffizi, Ponte Vecchio, Palazzo Vecchio) — and her room had a large open
window looking out over the river. (I will never not be jealous of these Europeans who can have wide open windows with no screens, and somehow no bugs.) Her apartment is also fairly close to the Brandy Melville store, which was a big draw for Lanie. Apparently the Brandy Melville store in Florence has different merchandise than what you can find on the Branch Melville website, or the Brandy Melville Boston store. Looking for Lanie in there was a challenge, because the store seemed to a veritable sea of little Lanies, with long straight flowing hair and white tank tops everywhere you looked.
For the afternoon Nadia joined us for a pasta and tiramisu-making class at a nearby restaurant. We learned some excellent Italian cooking tips from our very skilled and entertaining teacher, though there was also a lot of wine involved so we possibly won’t remember them. We’re not sure whether the ravioli and tagliatelle we were served at the end was actually
what we’d made, or whether they’d immediately thrown that away and given us something made by more highly skilled people, but either way it was delicious.
3. It’s not actually super expensive here. This is especially true on Mondays (see #1 above). Our walk from Monterosso to Vernazza was absolutely worth the 7 euro per person we paid. It was my third favorite hiking experience ever (after the Bright Angel Trail at the Grand Canyon’s South Rim and the Franconia Notch loop). It was a strenuous two miles of absolute pleasure. Honestly, it was worth the whole extravagance of getting here. After a few hundred meters of climbing stairs with dozens of other tourists, things spread out and we were able to climb stairs pretty much in our group of four.
Eventually we started getting glimpses of the pink buildings or Vernazza. We began imagining ourselves under one of the multicolored umbrellas in the harbor-side piazza. Soon enough we were there, eating lunch under one of those umbrellas. From time to time we would look up into the hills above us and see the people we had passed on our way over, still making their way along the path. It’s not totally that we’re fine specims of health — I mean, we’re not bad, but there were a lot of people much older than us on the trail, and it was not an easy trail. Lots of stairs to climb along the way, and lots of twists and turns in the trail. It was not as tricky as yesterday’s hike, where there were not dedicated steps and a lot of the rocks were covered in moss, making them slippery. But it was not a total walk in the park, either.
In terms of expense, we ate lunch in a seaside resort, on the main piazza of what most people think is the most scenic of all the town in the Cinque Terre, and we paid about 85 euro for the four of us. I think we would have paid a lot more in the US, and the food was better than it had to be, given the prime real estate. We have found some nice value here. A liter of sangria at a cafe right above the main Monterosso beach — 20 euro. And they gave us snacks. We ordered another round because we still had an hour before our train left. That’s right, we were in a cafe five minutes from the train station, staring our at the Mediterranian Sea, and they didn’t really gouge us for booze. That price includes the tip. Did I mention that?
Cinque Terre has done its best to live up to all our expectations. The town we’re staying in, Monterrosso al Mare, has all the the tourist guides promise — towering cliffs, blue-green waters, 
colorful buildings, copious walking paths. It’s not Monterosso’s fault that we’ve been forced into being preoccupied with a less happy focus — how to reclaim Lanie’s lost luggage.
into a lemon grove. This proved to be a delightful walk along a river with frequent waterfalls, lemon trees overarching the path from the hillsides above. Eventually the path led way, way up the steep hillside, and eventually we got some nice views of Monterosso and the sea in the distance. We were hoping the path would lead back down — and possibly it did somehow — but we hit a fence and a gated road and decided to avoid a potential trespassing situation.
Throughout this time, we’d been checking approximately every 5 minutes for word from the luggage courier. But our emails and calls were going unanswered, and the day was wearing on. After
another email asking them to PLEASE give us advance warning of their arrival, we decided to hop on a train to the village at the far end of Cinque Terre, Riomaggiore. (The train runs every 20 minutes and takes only 11 minutes, so we figured we could get back pretty rapidly if needed.)
Riomaggiore was another lovely little town. There was an area down by the water where you could climb on rocks (or jump off them into the water, if you were adventurous) and take in the views of the brightly-painted buildings rising up the cliffs above. Bob and I were a little more ambitious and wanted to walk to the next town, which didn’t look to be very far. The girls decided to bail on this plan — Nadia’s shin splints were acting up from the morning’s hike, and Lanie was feeling jet-lagged — so they stayed to explore the town and take the train back while Bob and I set off down the path.
We quickly found that to walk the path required both the Cinque Terre card (which was what we’d declined to buy that morning) AND a supplemental payment for this leg of the trail, called the Via di Amore. When we heard the 25 euro per person price tag, we walked away — but then weren’t sure what else to do with ourselves, so decided to grit our teeth and pay it. It must be pretty spectacular, right?
gelato (and checking my phone for word from the luggage courier).
There was a lot of traveling necessary for our trip to Florence to see Nadia. I guess, when you get down to it, it’s all traveling when we’re on these trips, but we’ve pretty much spent the last day and a half in constant motion. Also, we’re not actually going to be in Florence for a couple of days. So the traveling will continue.
It all started early Friday afternoon when I skipped out of school during lunch time, leaving the first graders with a substitute for the last 45 minutes of the day. We were facing Boston traffic on the first major leg of our trip, and we wanted to make sure we got an early start. Who knows what might be waiting on Route 1A in Roxbury?
free). It was very close to our gate. We took a special elevator to get there. There was a sign out front that said it was being rennovated and would be closed until this summer. We were disappointed, but not despondent. There was another lounge in Copenhagen that would surely have coffee and stuff for us during our hour-long layover tomorrow morning.
All the running came to a stop when we crashed into the considerable passport control line. It did not look good, friends. Even after Jen informed a woman in an SAS uniform that we had an pressing need to get over to Gate A21, and even after the lady moved us 3/4 of the way up the line (as soon as she did that, EVERYONE started telling her about THEIR pressing connection concerns, and she stopped moving people up — she told us moving up in line wouldn’t make a difference, anyway, and she said they would not be holding flights for people arriving late), it still did not look good. The Copenhagen airport appeared to be expecting 40 people to need their passports checked, and
there were 400 people who needed their passports checked. There were only two booths open! Eventually, they opened two more booths and we got through passport control.
And then, like I told you, we scanned our boarding passes and got on the plane, panting and coughing from our sprint.
dehydrated, our hopes of finding Lanie’s suitcase sank.
airport lounge in the train station, but our credit card company does not offer such perks, even though we pay them extra money. We did manage to get onto our train to Milan Center — actaully, we got on a train that left 20 minutes earlier than the one Jen bought tickets for because the train manager said it was ok.
the place to find it.
we did pass a tiny pickup truck, which must be how they get things around here.
