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Abshire’s Abroad

Maret - Mei 2023
Gabe, Veronica, Andrew and Renee are spending 2 months traveling around Italy. With a few stops along the way. Baca selengkapnya
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  • Abshire’s Abroad
    Hari 23

    Como v.2: Day 2

    5 April 2023, Swiss ⋅ ☀️ 7 °C

    Fun Fact: Did you know only 2 countries in the world have square flags? Switzerland is one of them! Today, Mom and Dad brought us breakfast and Dad made lunch for the car ride to a water park and spa! But first, Andrew and Dad went to go get haircuts. After the haircuts, we drove about 35mins to get to the waterpark, which was in Lugano, Switzerland. We didn’t have to be there until 3:00, so Dad bought us some tickets to ride the bobsled at the top of the mountain. The gondola ride was about 20 mins up and down. The bobsled was very fun and fast. Not to mention, it was FREEZING. By the time we were done, it was about 2:30. So we headed down to the waterpark, checked in and got our lockers. Mom and Dad went to the spa, leaving Andrew and I to ride waterslides and explore the place. There were 6 slides, three with tubes, two without. We rode all of them, one almost making Andrew fall off! We actually rode one with our parents, it was called the Galaxy Killer. It was short, but deadly. Mom hated it. After the ride, we got a snack and started packing up to go to dinner. We drove to a Lebanese restaurant, had some hummus and chicken, and drove back home just in time for bed.

    Disclaimer: We didn’t take any photos at the waterpark or dinner. Sorry!    Baca selengkapnya

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  • Abshire’s Abroad
    Hari 24

    Como v.2 Day 3, Genova & Portofino

    6 April 2023, Italia ⋅ ☀️ 4 °C

    Today we woke up surprisingly early. We walked to the Como Yacht Club so we could go on Vitto’s boat. She just got it and this was her first time to take it out. We cruised around the lake for a while on the boat and we saw a lot of lakeside villas that were beautiful. We also saw several sea planes take on and land. Tommi and Franchi had to go to tennis so we took the boat back to the marina and helped Vitto put the cover on. After this we walked and had lunch at this place by our house. We ordered a Tacchino cotoletta. We had to ask our waiter what that was. We know a cotoletta is a pounded and fried cutlet but we didn’t know what kind it was. He told us it was a large bat!? Gabe said do you mean a turkey? I translated the word and confirmed it was turkey! It was really good. After lunch, my mom wanted us to go see the Duomo in Como. I'm not sure what our church count is up to. Then we packed up our stuff to leave. We loaded the car and drove straight to Genova. We parked the car and walked around for a while and tried to go eat dinner. It was Holy Thursday and everyone was out to eat. We tried 3 different restaurants. Then we finally settled on this small restaurant on the side of the street. Genova is known for its sauce called the Genovese pesto. It’s a green sauce that tastes very good. I had it on some Gnocchi. After we finished eating we went to get gelato on the boardwalk. After we got gelato we left Genova the plan was to drive to La Spezia and see Cinque Terre. But my parents decided while we were on the way to La Spezia that we did not want to cram in our day in Cinque Terre. We are going to visit that area after Easter. So we found a hotel in Portofino and drove there. It was dark when we arrived but the hotel was very nice. I want to see the water in the morning when we get up.
    Ciao,
    Andrew    Baca selengkapnya

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  • Abshire’s Abroad
    Hari 25

    Pisa & Travel Day to Lucca

    7 April 2023, Italia ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    We woke up in Portofino and had breakfast on our terrace. It was such a pretty view out to the Ligurian Sea. We walked around the hotel and explored the pool. The beach area at most hotels won't open until Mid to Late May. Because it's still pretty cold here.
    We loaded up the car again and drove about an hour to Pisa. I found an app called Wonders of the World and downloaded the Pisa walking tour. We found a parking spot and walked to the Square of Miracles. This is where the Tower of Pisa is located. There is also a Cathedral, a Baptistry and 2 museums. One is a cemetery. I read somewhere the Cathedral is prettier than the one in Florence. I'll get back to you on my opinion of that.
    The square is surrounded by a high wall that you can walk on like soldiers would do. The wall is the reason the tower and the church have been so well protected. The square has never been attacked. The Cathedral is said to have the vase that Jesus used to change water into wine.
    The Tower is really pretty in person. It's not quite as tall as I expected but its radius it much larger than it appears. We decided not to climb to the top. The line was also very long. The square overall is very beautiful. I would not skip on seeing this place.
    After we toured all the sites, we got back to the car and started our drive to Lucca. The drive was about an hour. We got a little lost trying to find the villa. Once we arrived we met the property manager and she showed us around. The villa is huge. It has 3 floors, 3 kitchens, a secret room, mutiple staircases and a servants floor and it's FREEZING! After a couple of hours we realize the heat is not working. Then we notice there is not any hot water. We call the property manager and she comes back and determines the furnace is not heating the water. The landscape person calls and tries to walk Gabe through fixing it. He isn't able to. So we have to sleep in this huge freezing house. We get all the blankets we can. Andrew slept in front of the fireplace with the fire going. We wake up super early to let the repair people in to fix the heater. Ultimately, we decide to move to another house in Lucca. Gabe gets in touch with the property owners and they get it ready for us quick. What an adventure!    Baca selengkapnya

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  • Abshire’s Abroad
    Hari 26

    Lucca Day 1

    8 April 2023, Italia ⋅ ⛅ 10 °C

    We moved from our freezing cold villa to a townhouse closer to the center of town. It’s 3 bedrooms with a nice backyard and a pool. Still too cold to use the pool tho. We dropped off our stuff and drove to the town to meet Vitto and her family. The center of Lucca has a wall around it. The wall was used to protect the city a long time ago. Now it keeps cars out. There is a really nice walking path on the inside of the wall and the outside of the wall. We are going to rent bikes and ride the perimeter. We found a pannino shop to grab a quick lunch while we wait for our friends. After we met up, we walked around the very busy streets. Most of Europe has a extended Easter break and the city is bustling. We explored the narrow streets and made a plan for dinner. The boys requested Gabe to grill them Texas steaks. Vitto decided to go to the store for us and get everything we needed for Easter dinner. Everyone came over to our townhouse and Gabe got the grill going. For dinner we had, warm focaccia and cacio e Pepe as our first course. Then we had the huge bissetecca steaks Gabe got from the macelleria (butcher) with mashed potatoes, salad and spinach. The spinach was just like my Nani used to make. In almost every market the spinach is sold in balls ready to eat. It’s so good. For dessert, Vitto made us fresh crostada. We saved some to eat for breakfast. Bunoisimo!!Baca selengkapnya

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  • Abshire’s Abroad
    Hari 27

    Easter Sunday

    9 April 2023, Italia ⋅ ☀️ 11 °C

    We woke up to a beautiful Easter Sunday. After having our delicious crostada and espresso for breakfast outside on the terrace, we got ready for church. We walked a couple of blocks over to St. Anne’s church. We walked in right at 10:30am. It was packed. Gabe and I found 2 seats on a bench along the side wall. Andrew and Renee stood in the back. The church was relatively small. The pews only held 4 adults. Maybe 5 if you wanted to squeeze. Mass was of course in Italian. We have been to mass in Italian before and what is cool about mass is that the order of mass in any language is the same. So you should know what’s happening no matter what the language is. The best part was communion. In true Italian fashion, it was chaos. Everyone just rushes to a person handing out communion. There is no order or waiting for the pew in front of you to go. It was so funny. On our walk home we stopped to get some hot focaccia bread. We also picked up a few fried snacks. We piled into the car and drove to Pistoia. A town about 40 minutes away. We met Vitto and her family for a light lunch. It took forever. We tried a new green vegetable called Agretti or monks beard in English. It was delicious. We walked around Pistoia and it started to rain. We decided to go and visit another town can San Miniato. It was set high on top of a hill. Thankfully we were able to drive up and park close. We walked to the top were the bell tower is. There was a nice grassy space for the boys to play soccer. The sun was starting to set and it was time to make the drive back to Lucca for Easter dinner. Our Easter dinner was a very Italian Easter meal. First we had a long pasta with a white Parmesan bechamel sauce and fresh peas, then we had a baked pie with fontina, speck and potatoes. It was amazing. I want to try this when I get home. Our 3rd course was rabbit, lamb, and vegetables. We have gotten to try so many new vegetables on this trip. After dinner we had 2 very traditional Italian Easter desserts. A egg made out of chocolate and covered with pistachios. And a Columba. Which is a bread with some type of fruit filling. It’s a very light filling on the top. We had a great time cooking and talking with our friends. The boys all get along so well and its nice to see their friendship grow. We plan to see them again in Como before we head home.Baca selengkapnya

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  • Abshire’s Abroad
    Hari 28

    Lucca Day 3

    10 April 2023, Italia ⋅ ☀️ 13 °C

    Today, we woke up and went to go rent bikes with Vitto. They were a little late, so we went to explore. When they came, we rode around the wall surrounding Lucca. The bike seats were uncomfortable, and the boys kept drifting the bikes. It was such a pretty day and the ride was really nice. It was time to take the bikes back and Vitto had to leave. We are hanging out in Lucca for the rest of the day. Dad wanted a kebab for lunch. So we had a little lunch and went back to our house to relax for a few hours. The kebab had MSG (according to my Dad) in it and he passed out. Mom wants to go back into town early to shop. Dinner was at a wonderful little restaurant called Trattoria Nonna Clara. They had zucchini flowers that my parents made me try. My parents loved them.
    Ciao,
    Renee    Baca selengkapnya

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  • Abshire’s Abroad
    Hari 29

    Travel day to La Spezia, Cinque Terre

    11 April 2023, Italia ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    Our day started off with a stop at Poste Italia. I was hoping for a UPS store experience but unfortunately I got a typical Italian experience. Slow…Gabe was losing his mind. We got some things packed up into a medium sized box and shipped it home. It cost $36 euros. I thought that was pretty good. We are out of room in the car. We finally got on the road to La Spezia. It’s the town we are going to sleep in for the night while we visit the Cinque Terre or the 5 towns. Cinque = 5, Terre= Towns.
    Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza and Monterosso
    We drove straight to Riomaggiore. Which is the 1st town . We parked and walked down 100+ steps to the marina. Gabe rented us a little boat to see the towns from the water. The boat company suggested we get here as soon as possible because the weather is going to be bad for the next few days. So we got a layered up with gloves, beanies and rain jackets. Even though it was chilly and foggy, the views are beautiful. Seeing the towns from the water is a must! We were starving of course. A family walked in front of me carrying a paper cone filled with Fritto Misto!. Shrimp, calamari, fish, fries…Yumm. I pulled out my phone and found the place. Andrew was in heaven because they had fish and chips. Renee got chicken nuggets which were pretty good. We didn’t get a photo of this. Next time…
    Our boat guide was a nice, young man from La Spezia who likes to surf. He told Andrew about surfing in the area. We pulled into the marina in Vernazza to have a little walk around. They have cute shops and lots of restaurants. This town is what the movie Luca was filmed based around.
    We got back on the boat and finished the tour down the coast line. It’s not very long. Approximately 2 miles. Lots of people hike from each town but its very hilly and there are tons of steps. It takes approx 5 hours to walk to all the towns. That’s why there is a train and its so easy. Just hop on and off. The ride back to the marina was interesting. The weather was much worse and the rain started. We did have a cover thankfully. But we all for sure got wet.
    We walked back to the car and Gabe got his first parking ticket. Oops. We drove back to La Spezia and checked into the hotel. Our suitcases would not fit in the elevator because its so small. So we had to walk up 5 flights of stairs. Oh we haven’t discussed how the floors here are 0,1,2,3…So the 5th floor is really the 6th.
    We took the boat captains recommendation for dinner and walked over around 7:30pm. I had a different version of bean soup. It was chickpea and farro. La Spezia seems to be a nice town. It’s a huge shipping port. And the Italian Navy has a base there. The ships were super cool to see docked in the harbor.

    Cinque Terre is a National Park and a UNESCO world heritage site.

    **Laundry saga - Things have been going well with the washers. I successfully washed at the townhouse and they had a laundry line outside in the yard. I still don’t want to hang dry undies and socks. Hoping to find a coin operated laundry soon.    Baca selengkapnya

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  • Abshire’s Abroad
    Hari 30

    Cinque Terre, Monsummano Terme

    12 April 2023, Italia ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    Check out times at hotels and Air B N b’s are super early. 10am. So we had to get the car packed before we got on the train. We are going to take the train to a couple of the 5 towns today to explore the ones we didn’t get to see. We boarded the train at 9:55am and rode the train about 13 minutes to Cornelia. It’s the smallest of the 5 towns. The train station is over 220+ steps below the town. We walked all the way up to the town. It was very small and very empty. We found lots to eat. I had a delicious piece of Formagio Focaccia. It was delicious. There are actual Focaccirea’s. Renee got a pizza version. Gabe got the pesto and cheese. They were all excellent. Then we got gelato from the place that Renee found in a Cinque Terre video. Also excellent! I had basil lemon. Soo good. The plan was to walk from there to Monterosso. But we realized that would take an hour so we decided not to. It was also raining. We rode the bus back to the train and took the train to Monterosso. It’s the largest of the 5 towns. They have some really cute beach clubs that I’m sure are fun in the summer. The weather was not good so we decided to go back to the car and drive to our next place.
    We drove about an hour and a half to Monsummano Terme. It’s a smaller town in Tuscany that’s know for their Thermal Bath / natural underground grotto. We are staying at the Marriott property that used to be Giuseppe Gusti’s palace. It sits on top of the grotto. The hotel has turned the grotto and its water into a day spa. The pool is filled and heated from the natural water coming from the ground. We brought the kids with us to the grotto. They didn’t mind the heat but they had no patience for relaxing and sitting, We went to the sauna and pools and then got dressed for dinner. We are sleeping here for 2 nights. Gabe and I are getting massages tomorrow. Yay!    Baca selengkapnya

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  • Abshire’s Abroad
    Hari 31

    Monsummano Terme

    13 April 2023, Italia ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    After an underwhelming breakfast we drove into town to wash our clothes at a launderia. We needed to wash socks and things that need a dryer. This place was 100% 1st class. Digital Touch screen control panel. All our clothes fit into 1 machine. It was a “Speed Queen” laundry. While we waited we went and got a few things from the Coop grocery store. Once everything was dry we went to lunch. We had some pasta, salad and the most amazing spinach…..But its not spinach. It’s called Bietola. It translates to “chard”. It doesn’t taste like Swiss chard at all. I saw it translated on a English menu to “Beet leaves”. But I dont think that’s right either. I may find some seeds and try to grow it. We love it.
    We got back to the hotel and changed into our swimsuits and headed to the Thermal outdoor pool. It’s naturally 34’C warm or 93’ F. Its really nice. The water is not clear and it has purifying minerals in it. You are required to wear a swim cap while swimming. They also give you towels and robes. You can enter the water though an enclosed room because its cold outside. They have thought of everything. Gabe and I took a nap in our lounge chairs. The kids couldn’t sit still. So we all went to the indoor sauna and wet rooms. We had a nice relaxing day. We went into a neighboring town for dinner. We found a cute little family trattoria and had the most amazing bean soup ever! Gabe and Renee got a steak while Andrew had pasta and I had veggies. We have an early morning drive to Florence tomorrow. Time for bed. Ciao!
    *photos added 4/17    Baca selengkapnya

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  • Abshire’s Abroad
    Hari 32

    Travel day to Florence

    14 April 2023, Italia ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C

    We were packed, loaded and in the car by 8am. We ate yogurt in the car and Gabe made sandwiches for the ride. We have to park our car and walk to the meeting spot because our tour in Florence starts at 10am. We made it on time! We used the “with locals” tour guide app in Venice and really liked our guide. So I decided to use it again and found Cristina. She is a Mom and gears her tours to kids. She was extremely knowledgeable about the art and has a vast understanding of Italian history and how art has heavily influenced Italian society. We began our tour at the Gallerie Accademia. This museum is dedicated to Michelangelos David. She told us a lot about Michelangelo himself. How he was arrogant and didn’t have any friends. He also didn’t allow students to study under him. He never let people see his work while he was creating. The man who commissioned David was allowed to see his progress. He came to the studio one day and told Mike that he didn’t like the nose. So M climbed up his scaffolding and took his chisel and pretended to chisel the nose. He let some dust fall down so the man could see that he was altering the nose. When he didn’t do anything to it at all.
    We left and walked over to the Uffuzi. We learned that the museum used to be the offices of the Medici family. The Medici family reigned over Florence for over 300 years. The paintings and sculptures inside are almost all from their collection. The only painting that Michelangelo ever painted is here. He even created the frame its in. To be clear, Michelangelo did other things with paint but they are considered frescos not like this. The Sistine chapel is a fresco. Most of the paintings from this era are on wood. We learned so much and it would take me forever to recap the day. Overall I think the kids learned something’s but it was a little too long.
    After we left the museum we were extremely hungry. After wondering and passing 4 perfectly fine restaurants, I found a 4.7 pizzeria. Once we were happy again, we went back to move our stuff into our apartment. Gabe thought it was a different apartment than the one from the photos. It wasn’t. The apartment his extremely old. It’s supposedly used to be one of the many many members of the Medici family apartment. It has been updated and things are fine. There is a washer and a dryer! I actually immediately started washing.
    We set out to explore before sunset and find a spot for dinner. Florence is a big city but much more compact than Bologna. It’s also a lot cleaner and not even remotely the same level of graffiti. The streets are wider and it makes it feel less crowded. There are a ton of piazza’s. We visited Florence for the day in 2006 on our first trip Italy. I’m so excited to be here for a few days.    Baca selengkapnya

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