Over the years I’ve been responsible for a number of creations but I’ve never been this proud…

On the weekend I had the opportunity to participate in a Defensive Driver training program at Subaru. It had all of the tire-screeching excitement I was expecting, but it was the safety aspects of the course that had the greatest impact on me (excuse the pun). The one day program had well structured mix of practical experience focused on building skills combined with classroom sessions delivering a wealth of knowledge. Of the many startling facts, in the time it takes to complete the program 51 people will die on roads around the world.

You’ll come away with a new perspective on driving. It really was a worthwhile experience. You’ll find more information at www.murcotts.com.au.

After a little sleep in, we had breakfast that was supplied by the hotel. We decided to check out the local tourism office and participate in one of the walks along the cliff face to Monterosso. We were told that the walk from Vernazza to Monterosso was going to take 2 hours, so we thought that would be enough exercise. We started by catching the train from Manorolo bypassing Corneglia to Vernazza where we got off. Next we walked thru the town and onto the path to Monterosso. It wound around a tight little path that was nearly vertical in parts. It was quite hard going, as there was no made path, just dirt and mud in places caused by the rain the night before. The path made its way high up to the top of the cliffs overlooking the village. It took us about 11/2 hrs to complete and we were saturated with sweat by the end of it, but it was a fantastic walk and we got to see some amazing views. We arrived in Monterosso at lunchtime and settled on a cafe right on the beach. Monterosso is the biggest and most popular of the five fishing villages. We had a lovely lunch right on the beach and then walked down onto one of the public beaches. There are many private beaches covered in deck chairs, sun beds and umbrellas but you have to pay for them. We sat on the beach and admired the scenery, we even saw a large man sculptured out of rock on one of the cliff faces. Contemplating whether we should do another walk on the way home, we decided against it as it was already getting late in the afternoon and we didn’t have time to do another 2 hour walk. Instead we boarded the 1630 hrs train from Monterosso back to Manorolo.

Once back at Manorolo, we walked down to the waters edge to go for a swim, however the tide had changed and bought with it jellyfish. Instead we went back to the hotel for a shower before dinner.

For dinner we decided to go back to the same restaurant as the night before. Again we had the mussels, they were so good the night before that we couldn’t resist. We then had calamari and shrimps for the main meal and again the same bottle of red. Our luck must of changed as we ended up with a cheap meal. The restaurant forgot to charge us for the bottle of wine! Again we ended the night with a walk on top of the cliff that overlooked the village.

With no sleeping in we were off early to the train station. We were able to reserve our seats on the train in first class to Cinque Terra. On finding our seats in the carriage we were surprised to find a mother and daughter in them. With my best Italian translation I managed to convey to them that we had reserved seats and that they were sitting in them. Fortunately they were nice enough and gave us our seats by the window. The trip with one train transfer lasted 41/2 hrs and we finally arrived at Manorolo at about 1430 hrs. What a stunning view we were greeted with, the cliffs covered in little houses cascading into the sea. We had a short walk thru the tunnel that runs beside the train tracks and down a little street that was no wider than a driveway. We found our little hotel that was right on the little marina, hence the name ‘Marina Piccola’. We checked into our room that looked onto the marina, where there are fishing boats and people swimming, and rested for an hour. The heat was searing and we were so tired from the previous few days and changing trains we had to have a small break.

Late afternoon we decided to go for the 1km walk along the Via dell’Amore (Lovers’ Lane) from where we were staying at Manorolo to Riomaggiore. The views of the vines and olive trees on top of the cliffs overlooking the sea were breathtaking. We spent an hour in Riomaggiore looking at the small town whose houses were hanging over the cliffs. We walked to their local ‘beach’, not quite like we have in Australia – instead the sand has been replaced with rocks and pebbles. Even so, there were many people sunbaking on the hard ground. On our way back to Manorolo, we stopped on the pathway at a bar that was overhanging the ocean crashing underneath onto the rocks. The view was spectacular and we enjoyed a beer and glass of wine there. They even gave us some nibbles, and we ended up staying there for nearly an hour taking in the scenery. We were even lucky enough to get one of the drinks free as they charged us only $6 instead of $16. We made our way back to our little boutique hotel and had another little rest before dinner.

For dinner we decided to go to the little restaurant that is owned by the hotel and is right on the Marina. We kept seeing plates of mussels go past us, so we thought we had better have some as well. They were marinated in white wine and were delightful. We continued with the seafood theme and I had the seafood marinara and Matt had Penne with curried scampi. We washed the meal down with a rich bottle of Shiraz. Even though we were full, Matt ordered dessert. It was a sponge cake that had been drenched in a local liqueur. It was very nice but very potent! We finished the night off with a stroll around the cliff top overlooking the town, with the village lights shinning over the marina and onto the water.

We started the day much the same as yesterday. Still buggered from the day before, we started by catching the same tour bus this time to the Pantheon. This building is the oldest ruins in Rome, and it is probably the most well kept. We nearly got lost trying to find the place, dogging down small back streets to get to it, but we finally arrived. Spent about 45 mins taking photos of the old structure and the statues and paintings inside.

We walked all the way back to the Vatican, had an early lunch and decided whether or not to go on a tour of the Vatican. We decided to do it ourselves and in the boiling heat had to cover our arms and legs. It was sweltering waiting to get in through the x-ray equipment and then up into a queue for the Dome. At least this queue was only for about 1/2 hour and then realised it was because you had to walk up 350 stairs to the top. Once at the top we looked down into the inside of the Basilica. We were very high and looking down into the church we were able to see things differently. On the way out we saw the entrance to the Capulet. Little did we know that it was going to be another 100 or more steps up a very narrow and winding passageway. The views from the top were well worth the throbbing legs and not to mention the sweat pouring down our faces. We had a 360 deg view of Rome from a bird eye’s view. Coming down was fun – not only were we sore but now getting very dizzy from the tight winding staircase not to mention dehydrated.

Once down on ground level again, we came out into the Basilica. This is the biggest church in the world and it looked it. We spent the next hour in the depths of the church taking many photos of the famous sculptures inside while keeping cool. We then walked to the Vatican Museums where the Sistine Chapel is located. By this stage it was just after 3pm and we thought it may be closed. To our surprise it was still open but better still there was no queue! We were able to walk straight in. Walking around the Museums we saw many pieces of art ranging from marble and bronze sculptures and paintings. We found our way finally into the Sistine Chapel – not what I was expecting and saw Michaelangelo’s masterpiece. We weren’t able to take any photos so Matt thought he could sneak one as he did of David. Unfortunately he was busted but we didn’t get kicked out luckily. By the time we saw the Chapel and walked thru the maze to the exit we had had enough and it was time to go.

Last stop for the day was Palazzo Venezia, or what the American soldiers called “The Wedding Cake” as it is a massive white building with large pillars that really look like the top layer of a cake. We were able to spend about an hour there seeing the grave of the unknown soldier and looking at the view right across Rome before we were due on the last bus back to the train station.

We had two extremely busy days in Rome and by the end of these we were absolutely exhausted. Unfortunately we just didn’t have time to visit Pompeii as it would have taken a full day in itself just to get there and back. Maybe next time?

First day in Rome. Slept in after Matt’s early night due to the virus I kindly shared with him. Breakfast was provided by the hotel, and with Matt feeling a little better, we were off to our first Roman attraction. We walked to the bus terminal and began to queue for a bus tour of the city. Some hagglers came up to me and sold me on another bus. At least this one didn’t have any queue and it still was a reputable company, plus the bus had air-conditioning. On the agenda was the Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain to begin with. Well can’t comment on the Steps much – they were just a couple of flights of stairs with heaps of people snapping photos. We climbed up to the top and there I found a painter who’s water paintings I just couldn’t resist. So I bought two! Better to buy more than one anyway because you then get a discount. Well that was my understanding and thats what I’m sticking with! After the Spanish Steps we walked to the Trevi Fountain. What a sight! People everywhere trying to get the best position for a photo throwing coins into the water and indians trying to sell toys that blew bubbles. I’ll have to agree that the fountain is pretty inspiring. The statues are so much bigger than I ever imagined.

On the bus again, our next stop was the Colosseum. We bought some lunch and sat on the grass overlooking the arena. To see the stadium in its original condition, 2,000 years old, was hard to comprehend. It seated over 50,000 people then and when you compare this to the MCG now there really isn’t much difference in the design. Of course except for the technological advances. We bought tickets for a tour of the Colosseum – only cost 8 Euro more and it included a tour of the Roman Forum to follow. At least we skipped the queue waiting to buy tickets – it was nearly an hour wait. We are getting so sick of queueing everywhere!! At last we were inside, and to see the old structure and hear how life really was on the inside of the walls was unbelievable. We heard all about the Gladiators, the way in which they were trained to fight, and all about the gruesome entertainment.

We joined another tour following the Colosseum of the Roman Forum. This lasted for just over an hour and was conducted thru the ruins in the vicinity of the stadium. We saw where the chariots used to race and the living conditions of the Roman people. It was astounding to see how these buildings were established without all the modern equipment that we now take for granted. Back then everything was done under people and horse power.

It was a big day and we finally got back to the hotel after 7 pm. Dinner was very late, about 9.30pm at a little restaurant over the road from the hotel.

We were woken early with Matt’s sister Jaq vomiting in the bathroom. Finally it was someone elses turn to be sick. We started off with Matt also feeling pretty ordinary and drove from the villa in Tuscany to Siena which took an hour. We drove around Siena stopping about every 5 mins to ask directions to Europecar. Everywhere we stopped we were given the same response – that it was very hard to find. Finally our luck changed when we pulled into a service station to ask there. We ran into the Europecar people filling up one of their cars. We ended up following them and finally found the car depot. They even called a taxi for us to get to the station in time to catch the train to Rome. We had to change trains once and it took 3 hrs in total in a over crowded extremely hot train.

Rome train station was chaotic. People going in all directions and Matt by this stage was feeling quite unwell. I was able to navigate our way to the hotel which was about a 15 min walk in the stinking heat with our heavy packs on. We finally arrived at the hotel, checked into our room and no sooner had we put our bags down that it was Matt’s turn to drive the porcelain bus. We spent night in the room and I ended up with take-away pasta and a bottle of wine.

With Mel feeling much better we hitched a lift to the Certaldo station with Dad. Within an hour we were in Florence and in search of the red double-decker tour bus we had heard about. Before long we were on the bus and equipped with little red headphones. We plugged in and brushed up on our history.

Our first stop was The Duomo Group, consisting of Brunelleshi’s noble dome, Giotto’s slender belltower, Ghiberti’s robust gates and Michelangelo’s tortured Pieta and two panoramic terraces, all wrapped in red, white and green marble and surrounded by beggars and hawkers.

The next stop was San Marco and the Accademia where Michelangelo’s David lives. Funny thing is that there was no clear indication where the Accademia was. None whatsoever. We soon bumped into some more people looking for it and formed a small search party. Finally we all ended up down a small side street with what looked like a queue for a nightclub in a wherehouse. We joined the queue and our new found search party friends realised we were in the queue for tour groups. So we left the queue and walked to the queue on the opposite side of the entrance. And we kept walking. Finally we went around the corner and joined the end of the queue. Word made it to the end of the queue that the people at the front had been waiting the better part of an hour.

While in line we found out from our new friends how not to see Italy. They had arrived in Rome the day before, with a sick baby, without any idea of Rome traffic, without any accommodation and only a day to see everything! Then this morning they came to Florence and this afternoon they are off to Venice. It wasn’t a total surprise when they gave up and left the queue. But we persisted and in an hour we were inside. We wandered through several rooms filled with nondescript 15 century paintings. Finally we entered a corridor where at the other end stood David.

I must admit, it was an impressive sight. Bathed in sunlight and surrounded by people silently staring upwards. Someone else must have found this to be a curious sight too, as the walls of the corridor were covered with panoramic photographs of previous visitors all standing and admiring Michelangelo’s work. These obviously weren’t the only photographs that were taken as many people secretly (and not-so-secretly) took photographs. Risking having our cameras “bagged” Mel and I snuck a couple of photos.

Next we were off to the Uffizi, a large “U” shaped building adjacent to a large square bordered by statues. One of the statues was a replica of David which stands where the original once stood facing Rome. Beyond the statue stands the queue for the Uffizi. We joined the end of the massive queue with a couple of Americans. Straight away we were approached by a tour guide we had seen a couple of times earlier in the day. She claimed she had booked 4 tickets to the Uffizi that were no longer needed. We had been approached plenty of times over the last couple of weeks so I was a little skeptical. Once she reminded us of the hour and half queue ahead of us we all jumped at the opportunity. So we jumped out of the line and over to the reservations window. The four of us claimed we were the “Jacobs”, presented the reservation code we were given and walked straight in past the queue. “Thank you Mr and Mrs Jacobs” said one of the Americans. Here, here. We’d just saved an hour and a half!

Originally the uffizi (“offices”) of the ruling Medici family, the building is now home to some 1,700 works by Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Giotto, Caravaggio, Titian, etc, etc. The building also has some awesome views of the River Arno and the famous Ponte Vecchio (“The Golden Bridge”).

By the time we were back on the bus it was late in the day and we still had one more destination on our checklist, the Pitti Palace. Mel and I agreed that although it was indeed a pitty we weren’t going to get there, we had seen a lot and it was time we got a train back to Certaldo.

We finally got back to the Villa for our final meal with the family. We enjoyed an Aussie bbq Italian style (or is it an Italian bbq Aussie style?). Tomorrow my parents are off to Venice and we are off to Rome.

With Mel still feeling sick and gloomy skies outside, we decided to ditch our trip to Florence. We dropped my sister’s friend at the station and wandered into the now familiar coop (the local supermarket). While the coop has a decent range for such a small town, it presents a number of challenges. Firstly there is the language barrier (we seemed to be the only people who spoke English). Then there is the problem of finding what you’re looking for. There’s the weird scanner system, member’s only isles, 8 items or less isles, bagging and weighing your own fruit and vegetables, etc, etc. Of course we had no idea of how any of this stuff worked. The staff who spoke no English (or didn’t want to) had little or no patience for us, and even seemed to act as if we shouldn’t have been there. Needless to say, trips to the Coop became a necessary evil throughout the week in Tuscany.

My sister and I returned from the Coop with some more food and beer. By now my parents had left for their day trip to Siena and Mel was still resting in bed. Without any decent weather to go out by the pool, my sister and I faced a quiet, uneventful day at the villa. In the end we returned to the Coop and bought a DVD to watch!

Awaking from another long night of mozzie tennis, we effectively wasted another morning before a last minute decision saw all six of us again in convoy to a tourist attraction. This time the destination was Pisa and like all last minute decisions it was poorly planned. We managed to make our way to Pisa without any problems. However we had no idea where in Pisa the “Grassy field of Miracles” is. In our desperate hesitation we pulled off at the first sign for Pisa. Before long we found ourselves guessing and I promptly pulled over and stopped. The Megane with rest of the family followed suit and almost immediately both bonnets were covered in maps. After 5 minutes of intense pointing and gesturing we were all in complete disagreement. Dad seemed certain he knew which way we should go but he didn’t want to lead. So we headed of in the other direction and soon became lost again. I gave up and pulled over again. Mel got out and asked some people sitting on a nearby park bench. Luckily they spoke English and even more luckily they told us to leave the cars where they were and walk half a kilometer down the road to the “Grassy field of Miracles”.

Upon entering the gate we were immediately surrounded by black guys selling watches and sunglasses (at least it was a change from the Louis Vuiton bags in Venice). Like Venice there was that same “oh my God, it’s the Leaning Tower of Pisa” reaction. Although unlike Venice it soon wore off. The neighboring Dom was almost as interesting as the tower itself. Surprisingly we were allowed to take photos inside. Speaking of which we’ve taken about 700 so far this trip!

You’d think we’d have a fairly clear run back to the villa, but we got just as lost as we did earlier. This time dad was in the lead. The third time he pulled over he was completely lost and oblivious to where he had pulled over. There were two dodgy guys with a van and a fruit stall, a very masculine “woman” in fishnets on a deckchair and two guys with knives in a Mercedes. A great time to look like clueless tourists!

Finally we were on our way back to the villa. By the time we got home everything was closed except a local pizza shop. We were all content except for Mel. Looks like she scored a bad panini, so she was on the porcelain bus tour for the rest of the night.