Loads of Tuscan Cities, Love, and Pizza: Italy!

It's officially Easter break here-- so 5 weeks off! Kind of daunting. I have been feeling a little homesick, but know that the next 46 days will fly!! Now, on to the main event:

First stop: London! We were flying out of London that night, so we went ahead and made a day of it. Hello Big Mr. Ben! Funny funny story: We had just seen and marveled at Benny-boo and were walking to Westminster Abbey and while there Kev and I wondered aloud the time. So, we asked a fellow tourist... and there was an awkward silence and a raised eyebrow and a point up-- to Ben! Bahaha... we were right in front of it and we asked the time! Seriously...

We got on our flight to Italy and ended up sitting next to a VERY nice Italian, Roberto.

He ended up being our unofficial travel agent and gave us all the best places to go and see... basically planned our trip for us! Thanks Roberto!

FIRST STEPS ON ITALIAN SOIL! (Or concrete...)
We got our car and began our adventure driving through Italy. And trust me, driving is nothing but an adventure... at least that's how Kev saw it... I was just stressed the whole time in the car. Haha! The next morning, we got up early and went to our VERY favorite place of them all: Portovenere. Yes, I said it wrong in my Facebook video.
A great introduction to the beautiful country!

Portovenere is a little fishing town in the bluffs on the coast. When we drove through the hills to get there we saw sail boats, men fishing, fisherman fixing their nets... and Portovenere continued that enchanting theme! (It kinda reminded me of the Greek town inSisterhood of The Traveling Pants!) We found the ancient, all-stone church on the top of the bluff and spent a couple hours probably up there! Through the stone walls there is a BEAUTIFUL rocky cove (the pic above). I literally teared up by its beauty. It was moving!

So cute!

Next stop: Sestri Levante and the Bay of Silence. Very pretty. Kind of a small more tropical looking town rather than a fishing town. We stopped in a little pizzeria w/ the nicest lady there! She was very eager to share her travels through the states! And gave us free samples! So good! Next, we saw Genova, which we were not impressed with. Just a big city, nothing special. Not much charm. Not even worth a picture post.

On the way back, we stopped in Levanto and ate a great little pizzeria! We ate pizza everyday, sometimes twice a day and one day for breakfast!

This is Levanto at night... it's another little fishing town.

Day two: Florence! A beautiful art town! Though big, it had such rustic and artistic beauty everywhere! One of the many beautiful churches. Notice the paintings rather than carvings: unique!

After accidently stumbling upon a highly recommended restaraunt, we ate Dessert! Well, Kev ate dessert, Mine ended up being face paint... and finger paint and drip art on my dress... bahaha! It's two waffles (more sugary than ours) with gelato and fudge in the middle! Expensive (which we didn't know until we paid... stupid tourist mistake), but GOOD!

This is the famous Gold/Jewlrey bridge. It's one of two originals standing in Florence. You can see where bombs hit in the war, but it still kept standing. And now there's a bunch of expensive jewlrey stores on it.
We drove up a hill we saw in the distance to a monestary/cathedral in Cortono, that had an amazing view of Florence and a really interesting cemetary there.

We came upon this statue in the cemetary and I think it is the first piece of art that has ever really spoke to me... apart from music. What a unique and incredibly accurate portrayal of Christ's death on the cross. How many hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of pictures that portray his crucifiction as a graceful dignified way to go out. Jesus's cheeks are a little flushed and theres a few drips of sweat over his forhead, sometimes w/ a pinkish tint to represent blood. And he has a loin cloth on, to make sure he's 'decent' for people to see. And there's a nicely cut hole in his side and his hands w/ a touch of red around them. And while I understand the artistic view of the fact that it was an incredibly beautiful act, it was also INREDIBLY gruesome! And that's what this statue portrays. He was POURED OUT for us, like the metal gush from his side and its gnarly and unrefined and undignified... all of which explain how Jesus's death on the cross was really. It was ugly. And mortifying. And demeaning. All for us. Instead of avoiding that reality like art so often does, this displays it in cold hard stone as cold hard fact. I loved it and hated it at the same time. Much like feelings about Jesus on the cross should be.

That night we stopped in a big ship docking city by Pisa called Lavante or something--there's alot that are like that... I get them confused. And we watched the sunset on a wall overlooking the ocean and naval ships coming in. That night we stopped at a little restaraunt on the way into Pisa and met Lisa and Nicola. What amazing people! They were so inviting and showered us with "presents" like free drinks and appitizers, but more enjoyable for us, their story. It was a family owned business named the Seven Dwarfs in Italian, from Snow White! And they just shared w/ us a little about their life, a newly wed or engaged couple (we couldn't understand) with their mother/in-law who was the cook in the kitchen! So fun!

The next morning we got up and visited hill towns. First stop and favorite of the hill towns: Volterra! I wanted to go to the market, imagine that. It was on a hill surrounded by beautiful vineyards for miles and miles! It was like "Under the Tuscan Sun!"

This is the ancient ruins of a Roman Theatre! Cool, huh?

Awwww... leaving Volterra to the city of San Gigigmano (or something)

14 Roman towers still standing from 1,000 years ago!!! 44 of them have collapsed.

Next, Sienna... a beautiful town as well! Kinda like the Italian version of Kansas City's Plaza, plus a couple 1,000 year old cathedrals and a great city square.

This is the church that I thought about when writing about Simon and his church... the ones with incredibly elaborate designs and intricate details on every inch. And that's what people equate as a church... I just don't think that's what Acts meant. It doesn't mean that there aren't people who live life together that may go here, but to me that just doesnt seem too conducive to living life together. I don't know about you, but I don't walk into places like that and feel at home and at rest... just a thought. Not to discount its beauty, we really enjoyed its beauty and think there's such value to beauty... but to define it as church was the part that grated on our hearts.

Aww-- thanks to Rick Steve's advice, we found a balcony overlooking the city pentagon thing. Basically it was a stone laid open area in a pentagonal shape w/ the town hall at the top and little shops forming its shape. Some coffee and crossiant and people watching w/ my love... very cool!

Before we left in the early morning we went to the leaning tower and 5 (but weonly counted 4) surrounding churches. It leans b/c of the ground settling beneath it. And now its supported so it won't collapse.

Then, sadly we left and spent the afternoon in Birmingham before arriving back in Leicester. While this trip was a big whirlwind of seeing Tuscany (10 cities in 3 days!) it was an incredible experience. Because it was so much more fast pace, it was alot more stressful. Kev and I learned alot (the hard way :) about learning to work together.

(Poor guy, the driving really did stress me out and I was pretty cranky! But Kevin, being the man he is, put up with it patiently:)

So, that was our trip! Beautiful people, romantic ocean, busy schedule, a little driving tension, some good problem revolving talks, amazing art, picturesque vineyards, and a great little Fiat :)

Next up, ROME! Tomorrow morning I'm back to Italy on a school tour for 6 days in Rome! Good thing I love Italy! Then I meet up with Chels and do Spain before coming back and working on some school work.