Cinque Terre

About a month ago I get on an ITT trip with some ladies from the EOD shop to Cinque Terre.  The weather was wonderful, it was pretty warm, but not hazy, which is good.  Our guide didn’t take us to do all the things that we were supposed to do, I definitely want to go back and spend more time there on our own. Here are some pictures of this amazing place!

First stop….Manarola

See the guy fishing in the picture below?

At the train station waiting…heading to Monterosso

Monterosso

The color of the water was AMAZING!

We hopped on a boat and went to the bay by La Spezia.  I’m not sure what this places was called, but there is an old castle here, good lookout point.

After we were done for the day, we got back on the bus and went to Genova (Genoa), where our hotel was.  We passed by this…they say it’s the ship from the Goonies and also one of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

Christopher Columbus statue in Santa Margherita

Portofino- One of the richest places in Italy.  They say that it is known as the resort of the rich and famous.  We didn’t see anyone famous…bummer

Looking over the town from one of the churches.  Look at those yachts!

Lindsay, myself, Madison and Debi

We had a pretty amazing time, the pesto was FABULOUS!  Will definitely have to buy more when we go back.  This region of Italy is where Pesto originated from, simply the best!

Bridal Shower Fun

As I was cleaning this weekend, I came across something from my bridal shower.  I haven’t been to many bridal showers, we can thank the military and moving around for that.  But really, I have been to 2 bridal showers, my friend Heather (who threw my bridal shower and did a wonderful job!) and also my friend Leah (this is when we lived in SD, he hubby was in the USAF too.)

So, game is…for someone to write down things you (the bride) say as you open your gifts.  I of course had no idea this was going on, I thought people were just writing what I got so I could send thank you notes.  So, when I finish my friends announce…..”This is what you are going to say on your wedding night.”

1)Do I have to take these off?

2)What does it look like down there ladies?

3)That’s so nice…..

4)Do you want me to put it back on?

5)That’s for me! Okay, I’ll give some to Dan.

6)Ohhhh, it’s chocolate.

7)Ohhhh, it smells.

8)I’ve got little helpers down there, that’s so nice.

9)Wood

10)Gotta wrap it back up good

11)Woo Hoo!

12)They’re nice, they’re really heavy too. You guys want to look at them?

13)They’re so soft

14)They smell so good

15)ooohhhhh

16)oohhh yea

17)I smell leather!

18)and then it gives it to you the other way too

19)Holy crap, look how small that one is

20)How are we going to find our heads from our butts?

21)I think I got glitter in my eye

Okay, so let me start off by saying…when this was read at the bridal shower I was laughing so hard I think I was crying.  So freakin’ funny.  I should have written down what I was referring to with some of these things, I remember some, but not all.  Like wood, I have no idea why I said that.  I remember #1 I was referring to the ribbon on the gifts, #12 I was referring to silverware, #13 towels, #19 was euro change.  My friend Kristina gave me a travel purse with euro in it.  If you’ve ever seen a 1 cent euro coin, you would say the same :)

Just thought I would share that. Good times, great memories.

Tuscany!!!

I cannot say enough good things about Southern Tuscany, LOVED it there. Wish I could live there.  We stayed in a hotel called Sevens Resort, looked really nice on the internet and was SUPER cheap.  When we got there, we found out why it was cheap, they were still in the process of building.  They had their main building done, which was 12 rooms, the restaurant, tennis courts and Olympic sized swimming pool were also done….that’s all we needed.  Even with the construction going on, it wasn’t very noisy, it was such a nice place to stay.  I’m glad we stayed there before they are finished building, because once done, they will have 100 rooms. It’s nice when you go to smaller places, much more personable. The staff was excellent, we were a little nervous about the restaurant, but it was amazing!  Sevens Resort is located just below the town of Cortona, which is where Under the Tuscan Sun was filmed.

Our Hotel

The first day we got there we went up into Cortona to check it out. It was a neat little town, with some great views overlooking the area.

The receptionist at the hotel told us of this beautiful church up in Cortina. When said “up” she really meant it.  Many long stretches of the picture below, took us about 30 minutes to get up there, maybe a little longer.

The beautiful Church

This is one of the main squares in Cortona

Looking up at Cortona from our hotel

My dinner at the hotel restaurant.  It was one of the best meals I have had in Italy!

Looking up at Cortona after dinner

The next day, our chef from the hotel restaurant met us in a nearby town to show us around the area. Nice, right?  First, he took us up to a castle and a beautiful garden.

View from the castle

Mom and Scott with our Chef, Andre

The garden

The guard dog…LOL. Sleeping in the back of a Land Rover

Then, he took us to a tree.  That’s right, I said a tree.  He said it’s a very famous tree and is well known to many of Italians for it’s size.

Driving through Southern Tuscany, on our way to Montepulciano

Montepulciano, in a lot of ways, reminded me of Cortona, or even Assisi.  It’s another town up on a hill. It’s a very neat little town.  It was in this town where they filmed a scene from the Twilight Saga, New Moon.

Walking up into the town

Looking into a cute store

Once again, some beautiful views

This is where the scene from New Moon was filmed.  In the movie, they set up a fountain in the square, but the scene that was filmed here is when Edward was going to expose himself in the sun so the Volturi would kill him.  And sweet Bella comes running across the courtyard, through the fountain and pushes him back into the doorway.  Yeah, I’ve seen the movies and read the books, I’m a nerd, but they were good.  The books more so than the movie.

We ate lunch at a great place in Montepulciano, explored the area and came back to the hotel.  We hung out by the pool for a bit, then headed back up into Cortona that evening to look around some more and eat dinner.  We came across this neat theater with girls practicing a recital.

We ate dinner at a yummy pizza joint and headed out to see the sunset.

This place was fabulous. I loved it and can’t wait to go back.  I would LOVE to stay in the same hotel too, not one bad thing about it.  Such a great vacation with my family.  Memories I will for sure hold on to!