Weekend on the coast

J. and I spent the weekend away in the Italian Riviera.  We stayed in Santa Margherita Ligure, it was so so beautiful!  It was still a little chilly, so no swimming, but it was also not crowded at all.  We stayed at the Hotel Mediteraneo, the owner's wife was Finnish and she had a good time trying to communicate in Finnish with J!

When we arrived in Santa Margherita Ligure we set out to explore the beautiful seaside town.  We loved walking down by the water, it felt so good to be in the sun and breathe in the sea air.

This was so funny - and ice skating rink right next to the sea!  And people were skating almost all the time.

So beautiful!

Since it was so sunny, we decided to take a boat ride.  The boat took us to Portofino and then onto San Fruttusso.    

Portofino in the background.  

After the boat ride, we took a walk around Santa Margherita Ligure.  We looked in the lavish churches and walked around the manicured gardens.  This is us in one of the gardens with the harbor in the background.

The next day we woke up to rain.  It rained almost the whole day, but it was still fairly warm.  We decided to walk the 2.5 miles from Santa Margherita to Portofino.  It was a beautiful path with stunning views of the water.

We thought this sign was so cute.  Oh, a sweet little beach to play with your children and dogs...

This was the beach...

Not exactly the sandy fun-land pictured in the sign - ha!

All along the walk, there were beautiful beaches and places to swim.  We heard that beaches cost up to 50 euros per day just for a "piece of sand" to lay on.  I think this place is quite different in the summer then when we were there.

We were happy we remembered to pack our umbrellas!

We ate lunch in Portofino right on the harbor.  It was a really special place to eat, the ultimate "ambiance."  

Once back in Santa Margherita Ligure, the sun came out and we relaxed and strolled by the water more.  We found an Irish Pub and had a beer, sadly the "Irish Pub" didn't serve a single Irish beer, oh well!

We had a wonderful and relaxing trip in the Italian Riviera, it was a perfect get-away!

Lucca

On J's day off, we made a quick trip to Milan to get the rest of our stuff, so now we are "officially" moved!  We then decided to take a trip to Lucca, which is just a train ride away.  We arrived in the early evening and spent a few hours before supper walking around the little historical center of Lucca.  We spent the next day also walking and exploring, this was a great city to just relax in.  We didn't worry about having to stand in line, or be sure to see a particular piece of art - we simply enjoyed Lucca for Lucca.

The historical center of Lucca is completely surrounded by a wall, which was built during war to protect the city.  They city was never attacked and the wall is completely intact.  Now it is used mostly for recreation.  There is a really nice path on the top of the wall, it is 4 km around the wall.  This is me on the wall - the right side is the historical center and the left side is the city where most people live now.  

About 7,000 people live inside the wall now, driving (and especially parking) are problems that force most people to reside out of the center.  But apparently within the walls, there are 70 churches!  Crazy!  This is me in front of the Cathedral in the historical center.  

This waterway flows through the center.

I am not really sure what it is with me and climbing towers.  I hate it, yet I keep doing it!!  It must be because the views are so beautiful!  This is a picture of the the stairs in this tower, I am going down but you can still get an idea of what I am putting myself through for a good picture!

And good pictures we got...  Beautiful Lucca.

J and I rented bikes and we biked on the wall.  It was really, really nice.  Spring has arrived and it is so beautiful.  The blossoms are starting and the sun is warm.  The only problem is that my allergies arrived too...  I think I sneezed 200 times on this bike ride, J stopped "blessing me" after about my 5th one...

Even with all the sneezes, the bike ride was still quite nice and relaxing.

On our way to the train station we had to "escape" out the walls.  We literally walked in a secret passage through and under the wall, it was cool.  This is a picture of the outer part of the wall, it gives you a good idea of what it looks like.  J decided to take a little nap in the grass, see him?

Our Apartment!!

With the help of an English speaking agent we found this wonderful apartment in the middle of the center.  We are about 3 blocks away from the Duomo and Piazza Republica is a straight shot on our street.  

I love our apartment and am so happy to be here.  I know this will help us feel more settled in our town.  This is the first gate we go through to get into the courtyard of our building.

This is the courtyard.  They have been restoring this building for the last 5 years.  While they were restoring the courtyard, they discovered this beautiful fresco painting which dates back to when the Medici family was in power.  Since they discovered this, they have to leave the main door open so "the public" can have a view of this work of art.

We have to go through a lot of gates to get to the apartment.

Our little entry way which leads right into the living room.

Our living room.  There is a fireplace and a big table.

Off the living room is our kitchen.  Notice the "American size" fridge (very uncommon in Italy).  There is also a little breakfast table.

Down the hall is the guest bedroom.

The ceiling of the guest bedroom.  Another beautiful fresco - what a view!

This is our bedroom.

And then this is our study.  The sofa pulls out into another bed.

This is the only room that is next to the busy street.  Apparently, our neighborhood is pretty happening.  We can't wait to explore it more!

March Concluded

Our Internet has been touchy so I haven't been able to update our blog for a while, but now we are up and running.  

We had a nice March - of course it was filled with lots soccer.  This is the Fiorentina/Siena game - it was an exciting win!

We thought we finally found our apartment - it was on an olive grove, out of the city, up on a hill, unfortunately the road to the house was really dangerous to walk on, so we decided it was not the place for us.

This is a picture of the living room.

The bedroom.

And the horrible, claustrophobic kitchen.

J. by the Ponte Vecchio.

J. and I had quite the VIP night out in Florence.  

The star player from the team asked if J. and I could go to supper with him because there was a rapper from Philadelphia in town.  His name is Cassidy, we had never heard about him, but we did recognize one of his songs.  He has a very shady past (as google will tell you) and my mom told me she didn't want me to hang out with Cassidy anymore... haha!

We went to a nice restaurant where we were all treated like superstars.

After supper (which finished at 11:30 pm) we went to the show where we were escorted through the packed crowd to the VIP section behind the stage.  We had a really fun time at the show.  After, Cassidy came to hang out with us.  

J. treated him and his "crew" the next morning, they told us that anytime we are in New York we need to call them up, but we decided we were a little too afraid to do that... :o)

The Church of San Lorenzo

We found a movie theater that shows movies in English once a week.

It is such a pretty theater, this is the ceiling.