What's a vacation without a Beach?

Our family loves the beach.  It is always a highlight of every vacation we take near a coast.  Beach days offer many pros, but the best is the much needed kid tax.  They can only handle so many museums before it gets "old and boring"

This beach was literally down the road from where we stayed at near Pisa.  It is a resort town called Tierrenia.  It was not a super warm day, but that did not stop the kids from jumping in!

 The coolest part about this beach is One it was empty!  We hit it before tourist season.  And two, there were piles and piles of shells washed up on the beach.  My kids were sifting through the shells like they were sand.  We found some really great ones!

 Looking through all the shells to find the best ones.

 Oh look, there is a hermit crab inside this one!

 Look here, I found a star fish.  

This was actually one, of two star fish we found and rescued.

After playing at the beach for a couple of hours, we got cleaned up and decided to check out a town near where we were staying.  It is called Lucca.

This was a pretty neat town. It was not full of tourists, so we felt like we had the place to ourselves.  we got to partake a little bit of normal Italian living.  The town center is still walled, and it went virtually unscathed by bombs during all the wars.  Eventually they increased the size of the wall from the thin medieval wall to a thick wall (which is almost like a hill) to withstand attacks by cannons.  Napoleon's widow (who eventually inherited Lucca) decided to make the top part of the ramparts a park.  There is now a running path, benches and trees all along the top of the ramparts.  It was pretty neat to walk around.  A lovely evening stroll!

 Outside the main Duomo of San Martino 

We have to go inside churches in shifts, because the boys are so loud and irreverent!  They love to yell and hear their voices echo.  So half will go in, while half wait outside with the mischief makers, and then we switch.

 In the center of Lucca is the "bones" of an old Roman amphitheater.

Here we are going inside.

 Here we are in the center.

It has been converted to shops and apartments.  I thought it was ingenious.  I have never seen anything like it before.

While in the center of the amphitheater, we picked a cute Bistro to eat dinner at.  I think this was one of our best meals in Italy.  Not only was the food fabulous, the service wonderful, but the ambience was incredible.  It was a really fun night, and one of my favorite towns that we saw while in Italy.

Lucca was also the birthplace of Giacomo Puccini.

Pisa, it is really leaning!

Our Second day in Italy we did a lot, mainly because we got an early start going here, the Leaning Tower of Pisa.  It really is an amazing thing to see.  I was skeptical, but once I saw it, I got it.  You just kind of stare at it and think "It is going to fall any minute...it has too".  I had to laugh because when I looked at most of our pictures afterwards, the tower doesn't look like it is leaning.  I think that is because we were lining up with the tower and not the landscape, so you don't get the magnitude of the lean you would in real person.

This is practically the only photo took, where you can really see the tower leaning.

 For a long time I didn't realize that it was a bell tower for the basilica here.  In Pisa, this area is called the "Field of Miracles".  You can see the milestones of the Pisa Citizens life here at the Field.  As babies they are baptized in the baptistry.  The Bells of the leaning tower mark the passing hours, days and years of their lives.  They are married in the Basilica, and eventually the buried in the cemetery behind the Basilica.  I loved this tribute about Pisa...it really brought this area to life for me.

 Of course we had to do the tourist "thing" and try to get a picture of pushing or holding up the tower.  My kids picked pushing...nice of them!  It was hard to get a good picture, my kids do not like to hold still for long.  This was a good one of Hannah "pushing".

 Matt and the girls were able to climb the Tower of Pisa.  The boys were too young, so I elected to wait with them while the other's climbed.  For the sake of time (I am all about time management when on vacation) I decided not to make them all wait, while I climbed it.  It was fun just sitting in the square and waving to them when they made it to the top.

 There they are, on the top of Pisa.

Off to the left, waving to me down below!

 I tried to get one of all the girls holding the tower up...boy was that one a challenge.  Trying to line up all their hands and angle the camera just right, and then making everyone hold still...near impossible.

This was the best we could come up with, but we had fun doing it anyway.

While we were sitting in the square, just basking in the presence of so much History, a sweet, elderly Italian woman approached us.  She started rattling off in Italian, and Matt could understand most of what she was saying due to his Spanish training.  He would talk back in spanish, she would correct him in Italian, and they were holding this huge long conversation.  They exchanged the time, talked about families and she showed us pictures of her grand babies.  The Italians have loved our boys so far, and she was no exception.  She also kept going on about how big and beautiful our family was, and how big!  When we said goodbye, she gave the boys each a little wooden whistle carved into Pinnochio.  Then I got my first European salutation, the infamous two cheek kiss.  It was awesome.  

Such a wonderful woman we met.

Venezia (Venice)

Our first real day in Italy we spent in Venice.  It was a very fun day, but very busy with people swarming.  Venice is a big cruise port, so we saw gazillions of people strolling along in Venice with their suitcases in tow.  I thought it was comical.

 We had no clear plan for Venice.  We mainly just wanted to wander around and get "lost" in Venice.

 At some point in the day we ended up in San Marco square.  That was breathtaking with all the ornate buildings.  What did the kids like the most?  Feeding the pigeons!

 Our first Gelato in Italy.

So yummy!

 Getting lost....

 One of the few things the girls really wanted to do in Italy was ride in a Gondola.  This was even something Hannah wanted to do (and it is hard to find things that Hannah wants to do).  We were skeptical and weren't sure if we would do this activity.  We had heard that it was expensive.  However, as we reached Rialto Bridge, a Gondolier approached us and started talking to us.  He gave us a price range and we picked what we thought was an acceptable tour and price.  Before we knew it, we were seated in his Gondola and shoving off on our way.

I think it was a highlight for all of us.  It was so peaceful and relaxing, and we saw some of Venice we wouldn't have seen by walking.  Definitely  worth doing!

Over all, Venice treated us pretty well.  When our day came to a close, we hopped on a water bus and made our way to the garage where we had parked.  The bus took us around the outer Island, so we got to see most of Venice...that was a nice surprise!

Spring Break Begins...

I continually tell the girls that I came to Europe for the three "C's": Churches, Chocolate, and...Castles.

I am still taken away when I see a castle on the side of a road I am driving on, in some of the most random places.  Spring Break was no exception!  We went to Italy for Spring Break, and these are just a few of the castles (mainly the pictures that aren't blurry) that we saw driving down the auto bahn to Italy.

 This one is blurry, but I love how it is just perched on a tiny peak.  It looks completely in accessible! 

This one was our favorite.  It is called Castello di Avio.  I loved how it still had a fortified wall surrounding the castle grounds.  Below there are vineyards galore.  It was breath taking...even on a cloudy day!

The three "C's"

Berlin

Matt has loved this music band called "Big Country" since he was a young teenager.  They are not a country genre group, more rock/new age...very eclectic.  They don't really fit in too any genre.  Anyway, Matt has almost all their albums, even all the rare B-sides they put out.  So, when he found out that they were touring again, and coming to Berlin...he jumped at the chance to go to their concert.

They have a new lead singer, since the original passed away some time ago.  However, the new guy used to be the lead for a group called "The Alarm", and Matt actually liked them too.  So it was a win, win for Matt.  Having listend to Big Country's albums over the last 15 some odd years with my love, I thought the new guy did a pretty good job of staying true to the original, unique sound that is Big Country.

Since we had to drive the 3 1/2 hours to Berlin for the concert, we decided to stay the weekend and look around Berlin.  The sign below is left over from the East Berlin era, it was right outside the window of the hotel we stayed at. You can still find these signs up all over the city.  A reminder of how much better things are today, perhaps.

The infamous Check point Charlie.

They have actors standing in as guards that you can have your picture taken with.  I wish I had brought my passport with me, because they will still stamp it for you if you ask.  Symbolizing the crossing from West to East...or East to West.

Of course we had to see the Berlin wall.  There are only a few places in the city where the wall is still preserved as a monument.  We found one of them.  If you walk along this wall and continue to follow it, at the end where the wall is no longer is a path of unique cobblestones.  These cobblestone paths (about the width of the original wall) follow the original path the wall took...through parking lots and modern buildings that have been built since the walls fall.  I thought that was very thought provoking.

"Madness"

says it all...

Brandenburg Gate

Marks the entrance from East to West

Memorial to the German Resistance

In front of the Building

Years ago, Matt and I watched a film called "Valkyrie".

It centered on the German resistance within the German military itself.  There were several high ranking officials and officers in the German military that did not believe in what the Nazi movement was doing. They tried several times to assassinate  Hitler, but failed each time.  Towards the end of the war, they were all executed here, in the courtyard of this building.  Which used to be the Headquarters and offices of the German Army.  We really enjoyed the history of this movie, and researched the various people and components surrounding these events.  Since that time we have always wanted to come here.

The courtyard where the executions took place,

this building is now a small museum and apartments.

I don't know that I would want to live here...

A progressive timeline in pictures that leads up to the attempted assassinations of Hitler and eventual executions of these brave men.

The memorial wreath and plaque dedicated to these brave men.

To end the day we went up the Berlin Radio tower.

This was the kids favorite part!

 

There she is...

Remember how I told you that Matt had taken picture of Miss Mona Lisa on his phone.  Well I finally downloaded them.

They aren't the best, but you can tell it is her, non the less.