Mt Vesuvius

            We made it to the top of the volcano, Mt Vesuvius.  It is the only active volcano on the European continent and approximately 3 million people live on or near it!  I think it has the highest population of any volcano in the world..how crazy is that?! And don't forget about Pompeii!
          Since, things seemed to be quiet on the mountain, we ventured out to hike to the top.  There were at least 1,000 tour buses there (I might be exaggerating a little but not much..ugh) After carefullly driving around all the buses (picture us in a large Ford station wagon on a, sometimes, narrow, curvy, and sometimes steep road maneuvering past huge tour buses!) okay, so, with that, we made it to the parking lot.  Phew!!
    Lots of crowds of school groups and tourists and an elevated entrance fee (when we first got to Naples, the advertised price was 6 1/2 Euros, we paid 10..ugh) didn't deter us from hiking up.
    We were reallly glad we went but we were disappointed with the increase of price and the inundation of souvenir shacks at the beginning, middle and end of the trail. Really?!  oh well...it's all good. It was a fun adventure and the views were wonderful.
      

Cousins in Italy part 2: Venezia

            April 3-5th we vacationed in Venice with my cousins Kat, Mati and Dante.  I found an appartment on the 'island' that could sleep 8-through AirBnB-check them out! Awesome resource for renting appartments for vacationing.  Anyway, we flew from Naples to Venice with no problems. Aaron and I got off the plane thinking, "this was too easy" (more on that later). 
        According to the map from the appartment owner, it should have been simple for us to find our destination.  Well, we walked around in circles for a while before we did..ugh. We just weren't familiar with the city and it is pretty easy to get turned around there.  Especially because we have always been able to use the water to find destinations; you know, "just go to the water and then turn Left".  We certainly couldn't do that in Venice-the water is everywhere!!  haha 
        The appartment wasn't quite ready but we were allowed to drop our bags off so we could go explore.  And explore we did!   However, since Aaron was with us, we weren't free to just roam.  He was determined to find a 'destination'.  We walked all over the place and found lots of churches, bridges, souvenir stores,etc.  The difference between Aaron and I when we travel is that I sincerely enjoy roaming and exploring. Seeing and experiencing whatever comes around.  I usually don't have too many expectations or 'set-in-stone' plans.  Aaron doesn't really thrive on that..however, he's great to travel with so it's all good.

 taken near the appartment we stayed in; in the Santa Croce district of Venice

 The famous Rialto bridge! 

 I love the orange and yellow next to each other. I like the perspective of this picture.

 Kat modeling and us feeding the pigeons near the church of Paul and John

 Isn't Mati cute?!

 Kat is reflecting my joy of being on the boat

        The next morning we got up and purchased 12hr water bus tickets.  The tickets allowed us to hop on and hop off any water bus traveling around Venice.  I could have stayed on the bus all day!  I loved being on the water and seeing the city from the water too.  We got off at the island of Murano-known all over the world for their glass art and jewelry. Beautiful! We also got to watch a glass blower make several different pieces of work.  It was especially nice too, because it was a little cold outside.  We got back on the bus and rode home.  It was our plan to get back on in the evening and ride around but we didn't. sob, sob, sob.. 
          Remember how I said our trip to Venice was so easy? Well, the 'other shoe dropped' on Thursday night when we got a message stating that our flight out of Venice the next day was canceled; due to a STRIKE. (go figure, strikes in Italy are so rare...haha NOT!)  So, we followed directions on how to remedy the problem: the airline told us to choose another flight.  We chose an earlier flight than what was originally scheduled. Early Friday morning we walked out to catch the bus to the airport-in the pouring down and sideways rain. Got to the airport only to learn (after lots of questions and pleading on our part) that our flight didn't exist. Aarghhh!!!  Long story short, we requested a refund for our flights and booked the train to get back to Naples.  The train would have been nice but it stopped at, I think, every stop possible between Venice and Naples(that's a long way!)..ugh..exhausting. Oh, and I'm pretty sure a guy seated near us rode the train for free. When the ticket checker came through he made the guy get out of his seat and then he gave him a piece of paper.  The guy proceeded to tear the paper up with no hesitation.  I'm sure it was a fine but how he would get the young man to pay it was beyond me. Interesting.
    

Cousins in Italy

       March 23rd was a super exciting day for us here in Italy.  Our cousins from Oregon flew in to Rome to travel around a bit with us.  It's crazy how the time really did go by quickly; it seemed like it was 'just yesterday' when Kat and I were talking about the possibility of travel to Italy.  I told her that we were moving to Italy for a few months and she said, "wouldn't that be cool if we came out for spring break and then left Dante with you until you fly home?"  It seemed that, all of the sudden, it was happening! 
     Since we have a car that only seats 5, I drove solo to Rome.  It's a 2 1/2 hr drive from our appartment in Naples so I popped in my Italian language CD's and drove.  It was a decent drive and I had no problems finding the airport plus free parking right up front!
     I didn't have to wait long until I saw some familiar faces: Kat, Eric, Dante and Mati!!!  I know Race and Juliann would have loved to have been there to greet them too but 7 people and luggage in the Mondeo would have been a rough ride home from Rome :-)
     I honestly didn't know what the Stones were going to think about Naples.  It can be a bit intense and overwhelming for the first time visitor.  It didn't take them long to find they loved this crazy city!
    First item on the agenda: pizza! off to the local pizzeria we went-actually, the boys went down and brought pizza back to the appartment.  We have made that a tradition. Company comes over, we get pizza to go :-)
    Second: Amalfi coast and Walk of the gods hike. Complete with our(The LeClairs) second visit to the little restaurant, Santa Croce where the owner grows his own vegetables, and where Eric felt the need to traverse part of the trail like the goats-up the side of the hill..haha (he took a wrong turn)
    Next: walking tour of Naples; castles, waterfront, many piazzas-including Piazza Dante, etc.  We enjoyed a few road side treats of pizzette, sfoliatella,etc. and rode the metro.
    Tuesday took us to Sorrento where we found the most amazing liquers! Chocolate, apple, limoncello (of course), etc.  Then, to Pompeii.  For Race, Juliann and I this was our second visit there and we finally found the casts of some of the residents..eery..  we didn't see them last time because we spent all of our time on the other side of the site.  This trip, it rained on us..blah..
   Wednesday we took the metro to the train station to go to Florence.  We walked up to catch the metro at 6 something in the morning..bleh.. also, we stood at the metro station for almost 30 min while we watched 4 metros pass by going the opposite direction.  What was that all about?!  Anyway, finally got to the main train station to catch our Florence train.  We chose Italo rail. It was the best travel experience I have ever had! The employees were kind and helpful, the train was on time, and the seats were comfy!  We got a good deal on our tickets so that was an added bonus too.
     Since it was the 2nd time the kids and I visited Florence, we enjoyed watching the Stones see it for the first time (minus Mati: she had been there already on a trip w/her Grandma).  We stayed in a little 1 bedroom appt. on the west side of the Arno river.  It was comical putting 7 people in a place that could sleep 3-4 people comfortably.  The first night, all 4 of us girls slept in the same bed.  HILARIOUS! The boys were in the living room. They said buses and what sounded like armored tanks drove up and down the street all night. ugh. We switched it up the 2nd and 3rd nights and it was still hilarious, but doable.
     As during most of our ventures, we walked A LOT! I don't mind walking and R & J have resigned themselves to it, for the most part.  We saw all of Florence in detail.  For us LeClairs, Florence will always be filled with lots of comical memories-especially relating to sleeping arrangements. haha
       

Well, I will have to write a second part to Cousins in Italy. I still have to tell you about Venice!

In the 'heel': Lecce,Puglia

 

 

 

 

 

 

just 1 shot of some of the windmills we saw as we drove into Puglia 

Pictures of the room we stayed

pics taken near a ruin. just behind Aaron is the sunken amphitheater

Above:frise; a dry, super hard bread that should be soaked first and then topped w/tomatoes, oregano,etc.  surprisingly good!  Below: my absolutely favorite pastry from the area. Aaron called it a high-end hostess pie filled with cream.  I just thought it was devine. and it looks kind of dry too but it's not. delicious!!

    The middle of March, Aaron and I got to go away for a few days-just the 2 of us. (Race and J stayed with good friends and they had a blast without us..sob sob..haha)  We traveled to Lecce, deep in the 'heel' of Italy.  Aaron had a work conference to attend and I got to 'tag' along.  Boeing put us up in a very nice hotel!  That was a nice treat. 
    The 1st night we went out to dinner with some of Aaron's coworkers.  Great company but...not such great food, unfortunately.  I usually like just about anything but not that night.  We were served an entire 'aquarium' of fish; most of it crudo-Italian for 'raw'.  yick...not delicious.  One dish looked and tasted like red boogers..sorry to be graphic but it was attrocious; and I am not exagerating..ugh.haha   Anyway, we now have funny memories from that dinner..
     While Aaron was in his conference, I walked around Lecce.  It is a lovely, peaceful town that I thoroughly enjoyed.  I always LOVE to have company but it was really nice walking around and exploring on my own.  After the conference, Aaron and I walked around a little bit together. That was nice too :-) 
     After we left Lecce, Aaron got to visit a factory in Grottaglie (a little north of Lecce) for Boeing.  While he was there, I drove to Toranto (30min from Grottaglie) to spend some time with my friend Leslie.  We walked around, went shopping and stopped for lunch.  It was a very fun visit and time with Leslie is always great!! 
     What a great little side trip.

Assisi & Gubbio, Umbria

Above: illegal pic. of the church St Francis built originally. The large building was built around the little one.

Statue of St Francis with live doves that we heard are always on this statue.

Views of Assisi from the drive up

Views as we were walking up

Some of the awesome people in our group

I don't remember the name of this church but it's where St Francis is buried

middle courtyard from the 2nd story of the church

This man was singing and preaching in the courtyard. He never wears shoes and after he preaches some of the people around walk up and give him food. He preached about how the Catholic church should get back to a poorer way of living. St Francis is the saint of poverty, etc.

 

View and carousel near the church of St Clare (sp?)

Our friends,Anna and Alaina carried me around a little bit. Quite comical..

Spectacular views from Rocca Maggiore, a castle above Assisi

Anna Juilann and Alaina

View of St Francis's church from the castle

Our friend Herb helping me get a view of the description of what we were looking at inside the castle

We were all confused by this exhibit..hmmm...

Pathway from one tower to the other. Above: inside  Below: outiside path on the roof

Picture below: time of praise and worship in the hotel breakfast room. An amazing time!!

Gubbio: above-street market  below: view of castles,etc. in the hills

Austin (older brother of Anna and Alaina) Aaron and Race

Our friend Steve :-) 

I have a 'thing' for taking pictures of people taking pictures and of doors, really cool doors of course!

View of a church in Gubbio. Below: Steve giving us a perspective of the size of this door. Wow!!

A few weeks ago, we had the pleasure and privilege to join a group of friends from church to accompany them to Assisi and Gubbio; 2 towns north of Rome a bit.  An Italian family organized the adventure so we went along for the ride.  We stayed in Assisi for 2 nights and I think our group took up half of the hotel!   There were 7 families in our group.  It was so fun to spend time with everyone and get to know all of them a little better.  One night, almost everyone came to our room to play UNO.  It was such a blast! I wish I had a picture or a video of that time. Probably one of the best memories we took with us.
   Assisi is full of churches and we saw most of them(only got a few 'illegal' inside shots :-).  Gubbio is known for its medieval castles and buildings.  It was really neat to see all of them.  It was fun to walk around the towns and take in the sites.