Quist World Tour

This morning we packed up our bags and headed north. We were headed to the Italian version of the French Riviera, the Cinque Terre. This is an area of 5 beach towns that are old and beautiful, and I couldn’t wait to snap some pictures with dramatic views.  We're not so original...  First we stopped off in Pisa , to see the leaning tower. This was mostly because the tower is something that our children have heard of and were interested in seeing. Brian and I were feeling sort of sheepish, stopping at such an obvious tourist attraction. The guidebook suggested parking at a bus parking lot, where you could park for free, then getting on the bus (which cost all of 2 Euro for the 5 of us) for a round trip ride to the tower area. We were the only ones on the bus, and the kids stood in the “joint” between the two connected bus lengths, so that when the bus turned a corner, they spun back and forth with the connector. We got off when the bus stopped and the driver said “This is it.”...

Rather than a third day spent fighting the crowds in Rome , we decided to go to the ancient Roman town of Tivoli to visit Villa d’Este. This is the summer home of some cardinal or other who was in power way back when. He built it on the remains of a Roman structure, which was then a convent, which he then replaced with his vacation home. It’s amazing! He channeled the natural flow of water to fill the entire building and grounds with fountains. Paintings and sculpture abound, and we only had to share the space with a few other people. Highly recommend it. We enjoyed lunch in the main square, to which several in our group were attracted because of a sign that said you could get a hamburger and French fries for 5 Euro. The hamburger, to their disappointment, was not as expected—just a small hamburger patty minus the bun, tomato, lettuce, whatever. Andrew even requested his with some mozzerella on top, a request which made the server shake her head. It was hard not to laugh at thei...

A slightly later morning again today, after which we got on the train to Rome once again. This time the train felt a bit longer, because it made many more stops and was so crowded that we were just packed in the aisles. We were all relieved to get off of the train. At least someone did give up their seat so that Louise could sit down with the baby. Today we pushed into Roman Catholic territory. We got to the Vatican Museum just in time to be hungry for lunch, so we looked for some pizza before going in. As we walked down the busy street, we were approached by about 20 different people on the sidewalk who asked if we were interested in an English tour. Andrew answered once with “No habla ingles” which made me laugh, because while he meant “I don’t speak English,” he said “You don’t speak English” or “He doesn’t speak English.” Apparently he doesn’t speak Spanish either. We knew that the museum was the home of the Sistene Chapel, and for that reason were excited to go in, but we had ...

Carsten, Louise, and their 4 children flew in last night, getting here later than expected because of some protests in the city. They had to take a shuttle from the airport to the train station, then take a train from Rome to the outside town, Zagarolo, where we are staying. The shuttle to the train station took much longer than expected, because there were protests in Rome , with police everywhere and some cars burning in the streets. We saw them this morning at breakfast after a long night’s sleep. Their new baby, Emil, is just adorable! He’s round and fat-cheeked and very good-natured. He also has 4 mothers, as sisters Sidsel (14), Anne (13) and Line (8) take over when they can. Who could be crabby with all that love? The place we are staying this time, Olive Tree Hill, is a small olive grove with a bed and breakfast complex. The hosts, Ivano and Terhi, live in a house on the grounds, they have another building across the place where the rooms and common room are, and then they ...

Last night and this morning, the girls have been on a mission to finish the bulk of their schoolwork. And they’ve done it. There is great rejoicing in the land. Poor Andrew. We said goodbye to Isabela, who so warmly wished to make everything perfect for us. We also said goodbye to the wonderful “apartment” we had in her old farmhouse, which is so equipped with everything you might ever need that it is hard to find a place to put your own stuff. Our biggest concern was that we would not be able to tell if we left anything there! And then, saddest of all for at least 2 of us, was saying goodbye to the crazy galoot of a dog, Tata. Lots of hugs for her before we departed. Today I turned 43 years old. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate than the itinerary for the day: Drive through Tuscany , stop off at a chocolate festival in Perugia , and end the day with our arrival at the rooms we are renting near Rome . There was one minor flaw in the plan—the drive through Tuscany . It’s brea...

One day does not acquaint you with a city, but it can give you just enough taste of it to make you want more. Today we had an appetizer plate full of Florence , and we can’t help but want to go back again. But before our taste of Florence , we had a taste of French toast left outside the door of our room by Isabela Manfredini, the female half of the proprietorship of our bed and breakfast. Yum. Staying out in the countryside, we needed to drive our car to a nearby city, park it in a public parking lot and get on the tram service to Florence . This worked well, and soon we were deposited in Florence , near the train station. Nothing pretty is ever right near the train station, as far as we’ve experienced, but we went to Tourist Information for the free map and headed out. And really, it’s a very walkable place. More vinegar anyone? We walked first to central market, where you can find a dizzying variety of pastas, mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes, vinegars, oils and wines. Also, you c...

Under the Tuscan Sun (Thursday, October 13, 2011) It’s getting harder to remember what the day or date is. Repacking all the clothes and other stuff is getting old sometimes, too. We packed up again this morning and went to eat another free breakfast, which we took full advantage of, knowing how much we were now paying for the room! Towing all of our belongings once more up and down the steps of countless bridges, we bid farewell to Venice . It really was a pleasure to be there—a very expensive pleasure! Relieved to be back in the car after the long haul, we drove out of the Venice area, headed south for the Florence area. Why do we call it Florence when Italy has named it Firenze ??? Anyway. Wow, after being practically alone on the highway in Croatia , Italy ’s highway was a wake-up call. Semis line up in the right lane, while cars like us squeeze by in the left lane. I will, however, take back my disparaging comments about the Italy ’s bathrooms—we encountered the perfect gas ...

Breakfast is the most important meal, they say. For us, a free breakfast is the most important. It also poses a dilemma: We want the kids to really fill up on the free breakfast, in the hopes that it will cut the later food costs of the day. At the same time, we don’t want to look like ugly Americans clearing out the dainty breakfast buffet. Cheapness wins out as we push more food on our kids—“how about some fruit? Yogurt? Cheese? Okay, one more pastry.” And we’re off. The Grand Canal is magical—every building worthy of a photograph or two. We caught a vaporetto (no gondolas for us, we've checked the prices) to the market, checked out all the creepy, crawly sea creatures (thought Allison would balk at the smell, but she thinks it is cool). We walked by some souvenir vendors (there are miles of them), looked at all the masks and picked out a couple of things to take home. Walked to Rialto Bridge and watched the water traffic, the spectacular views and the odd conglomerations of...

It is sort of a helpless feeling to be in the passenger seat, next to someone who has to drive for 7 hours, knowing that no matter how sick and/or tired of driving Brian is, there is nothing I can do about it (I have to forgo all apostrophes because I am using an Italian keyboard and cannot find one on it). So I hand him snacks, and Coca Cola Light, and talk his ear off, and find the podcast that he wants to listen to. The drive of today was long, but not too bad. Trees and hills and lakes marked the stretch through Croatia, some portions reminding us of the Smoky Mountains. Then we got to Slovenia, which really was not too different from Croatia in the few kilometers we saw. Then we got into Italy. The biggest change we could see from the highway is that the gas station bathrooms took a significant turn for the worse. In Croatia, the highway must have been built in the last 10 years--the roads are much nicer than in Michigan, the trucks avoid it because it is a toll road, and ...