The Leaning Tower of Pisa

So there is this town, between Florence and Cinque Terre called Pisa. You may have heard of it.  It's known for it's Leaning Tower.  Pisa was never really on our priority list of places to see in Italy, but we figured since we  had to change trains there we may as well cruise on over to the tower.

After changing out tickets to the later train (that's a story in itself), we had about 45 minutes to get to the tower and back in order to make the train.  Now most travel books say it is about a half hour walk both ways.  We're pretty fast walkers so we thought we'd be just fine...

Anyway, we speed walked/ran to the tower. Once we got to the tower it was all business.  Obligatory holding the tower up and pushing it down pictures.

Yep, still leaning.  Not as much as it used to I've heard though because they've done something about the shifting soils.  We basically ran back to the train station...we missed our train by 1 minute.  Just 60 seconds and we would have been on our way to Cinque Terre.

Nope, it was train station pizza (yuck!) and another hour to wait until the next train.  As you can tell Josh was not very happy.  Pisa was nice enough, but I would not recommend more than an afternoon trip there.

Florence-The City of Museums and Shopping

We took the train to Florence. I have to say that the Europeans have public transportation down! I wish that we had such an easy system here. Anyway, I was very happy when we arrive at our bed and breakfast, Il Salotto de Firenze. Not only was it beautiful but the location couldn't be beat. We were right on Via Roma above Gucci and literally around the corner from the Duomo and about two blocks from the Uffizi. Nice room isn't? Probably the only time we'll have the room that was recommend in the travel books.

Since we didn't have to be anywhere we just strolled around for a bit to get the lay of the land. We hit the Duomo first. We immediately got in line to climb to the top of the dome. Climb we did, 467 very narrow steps. It wasn't quite as bad as some of the steps to the top of St. Peter's but when we got to the top it felt a lot less secure. I wish it had been a little less foggy so that we could have gotten better pictures. After we climb back down, we checked out the impressive inside of the basilica. That evening we went to a restaurant recommended by the owner of our B&B. Trattoria Marione.

As you may be able to tell we were stuffed in like sardines but it was one of the best meals we had our entire trip. We shared a bottle of wine, spaghetti and roast beef. As you can tell we really enjoyed it. Tiramisu and gelato later we called it a night.

Day Two started early! After delicious Nutella on brochette and a cafe, we headed to the Uffizi. We got to see a little bit of everything. From Michelangelo to Botticelli. It was kind of unreal to see all of these painting that you've seen reproduced all over the world. We spent about 4.5 hours walking through and admiring the paintings and sculptures. Those Medici's were very smart to start collecting the fantastic artwork. Later that afternoon we headed out for our first run of the trip. Of course it was gorgeous so we had to repeat it the next day so that I could take pictures.

Day Three-Ringing in the New Year right! Another early museum appointment. This time it was at the Academia. We spent the morning checking out David up close and personal. Did you know back in ancient times it was thought of as crass to have the penis be proportional to the size of the statue? Who would have thunk it. Explains a lot really. We didn't spend nearly as much time at this museum. Honestly we were getting kind of tired of looking religious paintings.

It was time to run again so that I could get awesome pictures this time. Uphill all the way. We ran from the Duomo across the Ponte Vecchio up the Michelangelo’s Gardens. Ha stairs...bow before us. Just look at our view.

We ran back down the hill, straight to our room to look up a gelateria. Then we literally ran right out the door and to the best gelato I've ever had. Vivoli aka heaven. Not kidding, it took all of the self control in my body not to get a second serving. Especially after Josh took the last of my vanilla. We almost had to get into a fight about it, that's how good it was.

We had a 3:30pm reservation at a little tiny family owned restaurant, Coquinarius for our New Year's Eve dunch (as Ted would say) so we had to head back to get ready. This was another awesome recommendation we got from the hotel. We found out that most restaurants closed after lunch on NYE because Italians generally spend it with their families at home. We lucked out once again. The food was amazing.

We had the evening all planned out. We went back to our room, changed and took a walk around to work off some of the deliciousness we had just eaten. By 8 pm we were ready to have a snack and break into our wine. Bottle of wine down we headed to the main square for the concert.

By this time it was pouring rain and our umbrella had sprung a leak. Did we care? Absolutely not. We were wet and muddy but having such a great time. We had no idea what they were signing about but loved every sloppy second of it. When the clock stuck 0:00 the fireworks began. It was such a great way to ring in 2010. The start of another great year! Once the festivities were over we headed home to people watch from our balcony. There were definitely some characters, including this guy who was throwing firebombs.

The next morning we totally overslept and had to hurry off to the train station. Not to worry, we had time to eat some Nutella before we left. I know you were worried. The adventure continues...

First Double Digit Down

Let me just say that I believe my knees and I have come to an understanding.  I treat them to a three day a week training schedule with two day of crosstraining and two off.  My kindness results in no pain after running.  So far they are holding up their end of the bargain pretty well.  Last Saturday I did my first double digit run of the season and my first since the Denver 1/2 Marathon. 

We ran a new trail, the Boulder Bike Path, starting at Carpenter Park in Boulder.  I got to do most of my run with Amanda and Aaron.  I am just so impressed with their training and how hard they are working to raise money for the cause.  Amanda loves TNT so much that she's going to be a mentor next season.  She's going to do such a great job!  Anyway, back to the run.  Our coach Tina created a little more advanced training schedule for me since I've done the training before so I knew that I had a two hour run ahead of me when I laced up my new Mizunos.

I was understandably nervous about the run. It wasn't the distance I was worried about, it was the knees.  You see it was my first 12 mile run last season when I got injured.  I had the visions of barely being able to bend me knees , running in the pool and the pain of the marathon playing in my head the entire time.  I was determined not to let this be the run that did me in this time.

You ask what did I do differently this time.  Well I'll tell ya.  I took my time and stopped and stretched.  I stopped when I hit 30 minutes for a refreshment and quick stretch.  Every 30 minutes or so I repeated this.  By the end of the run I had covered a little over 12 miles and was on cloud 9.  I was walking upright, with no knee pain at all!  Yes my legs were a little sore but I was able to bend and go up and down stairs!  Just to be on the safe side, I came home and iced immediately.  I waited for the pain to arrive, but it never did!

I ran again today, quick 4.16 miles on the treadmill.  Still no pain.  Keep your fingers crossed that all of my training alterations will continue to keep me injury free.

When in Rome

I have to say I wasn't sure what to expect in Rome.  I had heard some many varied opinions from it's dirty and full of pick-pockets to it's one of the best big cities in Europe.  When we arrived we jumped on a shuttle and headed towards Campo de Fiori which is near the heart of ancient Rome.  We were pleasantly surprised to see our apartment and realize that we were staying in one of the best locations in all of Rome.  Not only was our Campo filled with restaurants and shops, it also was home to a daily fruit, flower and pasta market and we were able to walk everywhere!

Day One- We got into Rome at 7:30am.  On the advice of the president of my company, we were determined to stay up all day so that we could adjust to the time change.  After washing the plane and airport yuck off of us, we headed out.  First stop was Piazza Navona.  Other than the pretty buildings and fountain, I was not overly impressed. It's basically an outdoor carnival with crappy tourist stuff.

Next stop was the Panthenon. Now that was pretty amazing.  How they managed that dome I will never be able to figure out.

At this point we were hungry and stopped for a quick piece of pizza before we headed to the Trevi Fountain.  The Trevi Fountain is an masterpiece.  It was so beautiful!  We roped a fellow tourist into taking our picture for us.  Awe, Josh being romantic.  We also threw coins in for luck.

At this point we were started to become deliriously tired. We headed to the Spanish Steps...eh, not that impressed and then to the train station, stopping at a museum along the way.  I knew I needed a nap when I had to lean against a wall to look up at the ceiling.  We spent about 6 hours walking around that first day.  After an hour long nap, we headed to dinner and got some much deserved gelato.  I had a hard time choosing between all of the delicious flavors.

Day Two-I felt like a super Catholic.  We rolled out of bed around 8 am and headed to the Vatican City.  Walking into St. Peter's Square is amazing and absolutely beautiful!  First on the agenda was to get into St. Peter's Basilica.  It's a good thing we got there early, because we looked back as were passed through security and the line was half way around St. Peter's Square.

We were cruising around the church and noticed that there was confession going on.  So we found the English speaking priest and went to confession.  Now I was a bit nervous about this.  A.) I really don't enjoy going to confession and B.) I can never remember the Acts of Contrition so I feel like a dumbass.  Regardless I figured I'd porbably only have one opportunity to do it, so I did it and got the most penenace I've ever gotten.

Shortly after confession we realized the next mass was about to start.  So of course we got  up in the first five rows for mass in Latin.  Even with the program they gave out I had a hard time following it.  It was very traditional and cerermonial.  I have to say it was cool attending mass with some of the cardinals and receiving communion.

After mass we booked it out the door to catch the Pope's blessing.  We had awesome timing. Thanks to the zoom on our new camera we actually got some pretty good shots.  Did I tell you I was a super Catholic that day or what?

Now the Vatican Museum was closing early so we sped walked to get there and made it just before they cut off the line.  There were some pretty nice things in there, but we really just wanted to get to the Sistine Chapel.  So like a herd of cattle being lead to the slaughterhouse, we packed in to the the masterpiece.  It would have been much more enjoyable had the guards not been yelling "Shhhhhhhhhhhhh" and "No Photo."  But oh well, we still got to see it and Josh snapped these pics.

After all of this I was so hungry and thirsty. What's better for this than some delicious pizza, a mini bottle of wine and sitting out at a cafe people watching? Nothing.  Just a note, you have to go to this place if you're near Vatican City.  Best pizza we had the entire trip!

We stopped by a castle on our way home but were definitely ready for a little R and R.  Quick nap and some wine later were headed out for dinner. We found this teeny tiny place just outside our Campo.  Josh had an unfortunate, I'm not sure what this is because it's in Italian incident.  Oh Trippa.  Yes, that is tripe aka cow's stomach.  It did not go down well or really at all.  Good thing we were able to get a nice big serving of gelato later.  Josh was much happier after that.

Our final day in Italy we hit the big three: the Colliseum, Palatino and the Roman Forum. The Colliseum was pretty impressive as we walked towards it.  We rented a little mobile guide...skip if you ever go there.

The Colliseum was pretty cool and we thought about Gladiator as we looked down on it.  From there we headed just down the street to the Palatino and Forum.  What was left off both was pretty impressive. It's really too bad that the three sites had been used as quarries for the Vatican and other building around Rome. 

We ended the day with dinner across the square from the Pathenon and of course gelato.

To Italy and Back

We made it home!  We were up for an entire 24 hours when my head finally hit my amazing pillow in my own bed at 11:30 last night.  My bed has never felt so comfortable!  I'm trying to get all caught up and then I'll start posting recaps. It was an amazing trip! This is what awaits: