Cinque Terra, Italy

Cinque Terra, 5 villages, are located on the Italian coast.  You can't drive your car between them, so it is necessary to take a train in and between the villages.  At one time it was possible to hike between the villages, but in the fall of 2011 there were major mud slides and they closed almost all of the trails.  Truly a bummer because we really wanted to do the hikes along the coast line.  It was however, dumping rain most of the time there, so I guess it was Ok to take a train and not walk.  Despite being soaked, it was one of the neatest places.  We really enjoyed being there.

 

Here are a ton of pictures because I just couldn't choose.

 

 

We found these striped churches in Italy.  Kind of strange, definitely different.

 

 

(Not-so) Nice, France

Stop #4 Nice, France.  Everyone wished that we would have stayed in Monaco.  It was raining in Nice.  We COULD NOT find a parking place and found that the narrow streets make Darin grumpy.  We were seconds from him turning the car around and heading back to Monaco in a huff.  Once we found parking more fun was waiting.  The parking garage had a narrow twisty road that takes you to the top.  We came so close to rubbing both the front bumper and the rear at the same time.  It turns out that the only parking spot wasn't in the best part of Nice.  I was afraid as I hauled my grandma and my children past many a questionable business and person.  I just wanted to get away from the area.  We found the big church, on the main road, near the police men, to be the best place to eat lunch.

 Everything that I had researched about Nice seemed impossible to find.  It really was supposed to be nice, but the boys quickly started calling it Not-so Nice.  After briefly wandering and still not knowing where to look, we decided to ask directions...in Russian.  Darin passed by some people eating and overheard Russian.  We decided that would be the best language for us to communicate in because our French wouldn't get us anywhere.  Finally headed in the right direction we set off to find the part of Nice that we'd read about.

 

Eating lunch in the rain

We've eaten tuna packs in every country we've been in.  We'd hate to break our record and eat anything else.

The better part of town.  Check out the neat street lamps.  They glow different colors.

Finally made it to the water.  Every trip/city is better when there is an ocean for the kids to skip rocks in.
It was windy, the water was cold, the beach was rocky, but it didn't matter.

The beaches were all rocky, but judging from the large pile of rocks behind Christian I think they were trucked in rocks.  We are guessing, because we are so smart, that they bring in the rocks to keep the "beach" from eroding away into the ocean.

This time Christian wasn't the one that fell into the water.



Monte Carlo, Monaco

Nestled at the bottom of France on the water is the second smallest country, Monaco.  It is about 1 mile long.  I think that it is about that tall as well.  Home to the wealthy.  We stopped for the day and found even more SUN!  I guess money can buy anything.

 

Expensive cars!  The boys were loving the sites.

WARM!

Gelato
Grandma once told Noah that you must eat ice cream every day.  He made sure that she stuck by what she had said.

The boys were each picking out their boat.  Lofty dreams.



Houses and apartments built into the hill side.

Flag and palace in the background.

Casino Monte Carlo

 

Pietra Laguro, Italy

Stop #2 would be Pietra Laguro on the Italian Rivera. 

 It was amazing to drive through the Swiss Alps.  They were huge and beautiful and covered with ice and snow.  They were also very expensive.  Countries that charge to drive on their roads really bug me.  Switzerland is still a place that we will go back to.  Beautiful.

 

The roofs on the houses in the Swiss Alps had slate type stone on them.  I guess that rock is the only thing that can withstand the weather.  We thought that they were interesting. 

 

The closer that we got to Italy the more the sun shone!  Pietra Laguro was going to be our stop for 2 nights as we toured around the surrounding areas.  The roads to our apartment were super, super tiny and narrow.  You'd have thought that they would be one way, but they weren't.  It was an adventure.

 



Sitting at the water.  The Lagurian part of the Med in the background.  I am missing my picture of me eating my cannoli!  I just couldn't pass up a bakery or a cannoli.

Downtown wondering.  It was great jacket weather.

Narrow streets are very common in Italian cities.

Pizza-Of Course!

Grandma winning points with Jag. 
He made a "boat" out of a leaf and a pinecone to "sail" in the sea.  He kept throwing it and trying to set it down in the water, but it couldn't get past the waves and out to sea.  Grandma picked it up and ran it out past the waves.  Cold.  Jag was thrilled to watch it.

The beaches weren't sandy, but rocky.  They had great rocks for skipping.  This is just moments before Christian skipped a rock AND HIMSELF into the water.  Tears and yelling followed.  Nobody was surprised.

Surprised to see this sign hanging in Italy.

Bern, Switzerland

We started our Spring Break (Yes, we are still wearing coats in the "spring.") in Bern, Switzerland. 

This was stop number one.  Switzerland was beautiful!  It was really nice to wander around the main square and see the Bern Bears.  All of the buildings in Bern are a greenish-gray limestone.  Bern burned once upon a time and then they made an ordinance that all buildings had to be made of this limestone.  So, everything is the same color.

 

Anya finally taking a nap.  I've carried this girl all over Europe.

Boys and Anya with uncle Drew.

My grandma!  We walked her skinny little legs off.

Noah in front of a cellar.  Half of all the shops are actually in a basement cellar type place.

Bern Bears

My dad

BEAUTIFUL

There are 11 fountains through out the city square.  The boys were trying to find all of them.

In front of Einstein's house.  He spent 2-3 years living here.

Our visitors

I loved this clock.

Switzerland is expensive.
 The temple has a family hostel that is much more reasonable.  We coordinated our trip to Switzerland with a trip to the temple.  It was the first European temple.  The hostel is actually a bunch of metal bunk beds and a cafeteria so that you can prepare your food.  It isn't a bad way to see the country.