I think this will make sense even if you have not read Part I. But I suggest that you do. You know. Just in case.
July 17th
July 20th & 21st
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July 15th
We were staying at a place 5 minutes outside of Lucca, a town an hour from Florence. (Sidenote: Florence in Italian is Firenze. Can't help but think about centaurs.) The whole day was spent in the pool and in the evening we walked around Lucca. In other words, a day for relaxation.
The pool and the house we lived in
July 16th
We spent the day in Lucca. It was the first time we had the like, you know, best ice cream ever. Like. Yeah. Gelateria Venetia in Lucca. BEST ICE CREAM EVER. It's so good that I'm having problems with being able to coherently write about it. A picture instead.
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| It might look like a lot but the scoops were actually pretty small. |
It was my Dad's birthday (happy birthday!) and we decided to do something special. We drove to a place called Cinque Terre. It is five villages by the Mediterranean Ocean which you can walk in between. We only walked from the first village, Monterosso al Mare, to Vernazza, which is the second village. Not that it is very far, less than 4 km, but when it's 30°C and you have walked hundreds of stairs in the sun you get tired quickly.
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| Walked from Monterosso al Mare... |
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| .... to Vernazza! |
One of the coolest things about this whole hike is that my parents walked the same hike but 30 years earlier. Apparently there were no tourists, no stairs or railings and definitely no fee to enter the park. How times have changed!
When we got to Vernazza we were so warm that we quickly jumped into the ocean to cool down. After lunch we took the train back to Monterosso al Mare and swam in the ocean there too. Even my mom swam in the ocean (and she's really wimpy when it comes to cold water, so you know it must be really warm. Mom, if you're reading this, no offense!).
July 18th
Still exhausted from our adventures the previous day we spent the day relaxing at the house and then had dinner (and ice cream) in Lucca again. I probably read a book or two. (During the week in Lucca I found a pile of books and decided to read as many as possible. I think I read eight or nine books.)
July 19th
We did a day trip to Florence where we walked around, looked at buildings, shopped and ate. We did not go to any museums because it was "too hot to stand in a line-up". I had the best pasta ever. The sauce was just tomatoes, olive oil and garlic. But it was so good. I can't even...
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| Doesn't look like much but SO YUMMY! |
The reason I am putting these days together is because I don't think we actually did anything special or noteworthy. Swam in the pool and ate (delicious) food. But that is probably all.
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All in all it was a great trip and if you ever go to Italy my tips are: eat lots of food and ice cream, enjoy the sun, don't be too hard on the locals they're nice, drink lots of wine and most importantly enjoy yourself! (That's a great clichéd ending to this post)
Hope you enjoyed reading about this trip! Next entry will be about my trip to Stockholm. Exciting, I know.
Ciao!
Ps. If you missed the last entry, Part I, to this trip (really you shouldn't have, I posted the link at the very top of this entry) you should go read that too!
