The Tuscan Sun

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June 2 was a long travel day, saying arrivederci to Venice and heading on the fast train to Florence. The train travels up to 300 km/h but was very smooth and a nice way to travel. We were going to take the train all the way to Pisa but the fast train stops in Florence anyway. When we got off the train in Florence it was raining heavily. We found a lovely restaurant in a piazza to wait out the storm. Unfortunately at some point on long trips you have to take a pass on some of the sites and for us that was in Florence, missing out on the Statue of David, and the other main sites. With a long drive ahead of us, we decided to walk over to Il Duomo with all of our luggage, enjoyed the exterior and the piazza, and then took a taxi to the airport to pick up our car. We hired a car in Florence, and since it was a manual transmission I (Caroline) was the only driver (Ken says he could have driven but apparently stalling on traffic circles is frowned upon so decided it was best to . I was very nervous about driving in Italy, and after we got lost not .5km away from the car rental I was despairing of driving without a gps. Luckily in Florence I picked up a SIM card with vodaphone so we would have some data and a phone if needed. Thanks to Google Maps we were able to find our way out to the Autostrada and on our way to our next destination: an apartment rental at a campsite near the town of Cecina in Tuscany. We were pleasantly surprised at the roominess of the apartment after staying in city rentals so far. We spent our first day at the pool and then a quick jaunt to Vada beach where the boys played in the sand and waves. Over the next few days we sxplored San Gimignano, a Tuscany town with lots of towers and an interesting church. We ate lunch at a lovely little stop which sold direct to consumer wine and olive oil. It felt like a true farmhouse, and we had soup and pasta with a great view of the fields. In the church in San Gimignano, the audioguide kept the boys' interest as it talked them through the images of the new testament. A condensed religious education if you will. The image of the "murdering of the innocents" was a bit much for Cole, he is still talking about it (!) After the church, we had our second gelato of the day at a gelaterie that had won best gelato and had title "world's best gelato". Of course we had to try! It was pretty amazing gelato. Cole wanted to return the next day to try another gelaterie there proclaiming itself "worlds' best gelato" which seemed more like a marketing stunt than an actual award like the other place. We should have tried it to find out. We also found a cool geocache near an old medieval fountain near the walls of the old city. On that same day we drove through the Tuscany countryside on some reallly windy roads. We had intended to go to Sienna but the roads were a bit too windy for most of the passengers, we had to make some stops. Running out of time we headed home.

On my list had been seeing Cinque Terre, a series of little towns on the coast. It was a long drive (2hrs to La Spezia to take a train to the towns) but we decided we didn't want to regret not going. Away we went, in La Spezia the driving was stressful and finding the train station parking lot full, had to drive around aimlessly to try to find street parking. Finally we were directed to parking at a shopping centre called Kennedy. We parked here and although our floor was flooded at least the car was parked. 30 min walking through a lovely pedestrian walk along cobblestone streets brought us to the train station. We werent sure which town to start, and after some research decided to try walking between Monterosso and Varnazza. The big draw is the hiking between towns, we wanted something the boys could do but was also scenic. Well, on arrival we found out that the hikes were all closed due to previous rains so we couldn't do a hike. So, instead of exercise we ate lunch and sat at the Monterosso beach where the kids had fun in the sand again. Monterosso itself was underwhelming and we ran out of time to esplore any other towns. The day was beautiful but it was a long way to drive for what we ended up doing. On return to La Spezia we took a cab to our car, and on exit could not get out of the gate. Luckily there was hardly anyone parked there, as we had to park for about 20 minutes while we tried 3 times to communicate with the "help" guy (not very helpful) to find out how to get out. Finally we asked someone coming in who directed us to the hidden away kiosk to pay for parking before exiting. We got a few strange looks, but we were glad to get out and finally get on our way. A late night and a promised one-time-only visit to McDonalds in Tuscany. It can be very interesting to see McDonalds around the world and Italy was no exception. I got a McVeggie burger with lots of chunks of vegetables, and Cole got fresh pineapple in his Happy Meal. The coffee and pastry selection was tempting but it was late so we headed back to our apartment.

Our last day was dedicated to a pasta and sauce making class, which Liam had been looking forward to greatly. Cole oriiginally said he didn't want to go and changed his mind at the last minute, which was good because we had registered for 4 and we had a private class! We were supposed to have cash on arrival, and once we figured out where the restaurant was we thought it would be simple to find a bank to get the money we needed. Well, 45 minutes later we finally found a bank and returned to class 30 min late. The restaurant was out of town in a semi rural area.

Let the cooking begin! We made two tomato sauces; cherry tomatoes (fresh) and canned tomato sauce. We use the tomato sauce base to make others; a spicy tomato and mozzarella sauce, a spicy pork cheek sauce, as well as carbonara, lemon cream, a blue cheese cream, and a seafood prawn sauce. I can't even remember them all, it was dizzying! We also made a semi-freddo with homemade prailine, which sat in the freezer until time for dessert.

The next step was homemade pasta. Cole was energetic in this regard, loving to use the pasta maker to roll the sheets. We made four different colours - plain, red (tomato paste), black (squid ink) and green (spinach). We were taught how to gradually decrease the thickness, then how to make ravioli - spinach and ricotta filling and salmon. We also made fettuccine and spaghetti. The salmon went in the black pasta, and spinach and ricotta in the other colours.

Our last and final step was to eat the pasta and try all the sauces. Interestingly, what we made was actually taken and used in the restaurant. Liam tried everything, including the salmon ravioli and blue cheese sauce, and Cole did his best effort. However, Chef Paolo pulled his leg telling him that he didn't get dessert because he didn't eat his lunch. The semi freddo was delicious.

Cooking class as a family was a great experience, and Chef Paolo was a great combination of efficient, talented and kind and joking. We have all the recipes to take home, although I might need a break from pasta for a bit. With the class in Lucca, we hoped to see some of the town but we didn't have time, if we wanted to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa. We drove into Pisa and took a wrong turn into a marked "autorizo auto" and ended up driving through the middle of a pedestrian piazza (not illegal, but I was apparently not an authorized vehicle!). Finally we found a parking spot along the river. Everywhere we turned we saw old buildings, towers and churches. We had hoped to do a geocache here but unfortunately my phone battery died. Ken was not interested in walking up the tower, so me and the boys got tickets and only had to wait 30 minutes for our turn. Going up and down the tower was interesting, in some narrow stone steps, but as you turned different parts of the tower it became a bit disorienting, as some parts you were feeling forced upwards and other parts feeling pulled backwards, depending on what section you were climbing. The views from the top were amazing, Hedwig (Cole's owl) had a great view but Cole took great care of him. There were some really cool bells at the top, and the view of the Basilica next door was amazing.

With our ticket for the tower (3 people) we had entrance to the Basilica - Ken and the kids went in to see the inside, a typical beautiful cathedral but with little stained glass and more paintings.

Once home, the kids went to the playground and made some 2 year old friends from the UK. We had hoped for more kids at the campsite but since school is not out yet (making our trip cheaper though) there weren't that many.

We headed out the next morning to Roma to return our rental car.

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