Morning at the beach and an evening in the snow covered mountains! Our visit to the Matterhorn!

This picture should have been on the last post, but it didn't make it on.  A seagull came to visit us during dinner and Brady was thrilled!  He had me taking video and you can tell by the smile on his face how happy he was to have this little visitor!

Our last morning in the Cinque Terre area was spent at the beach.  Let me tell you, the water was freezing!

 

Finally we clean ourselves up, load back in the car, and make our way to the Matterhorn.  Do you know what that is?!

The Matterhorn (in German), Monte Cervino (in Italian), or Mont Cervin (in French) is part of the Alps located on the border of Switzerland and Italy.  The summit reaches 14,690 ft. high, making it one of the highest peaks in the Alps and one of the most deadly to climb (around 500 people have died on it).  I'm more than happy to look at it from a distance!

We found a little playground before checking into our hotel (and our hotel had the most amazing views!)

After resting a while, sitting outside listening to the nearby waterfall, and keeping the kids somewhat entertained, we ventured into town.  Apparently, June is the off season in a ski resort town, so we found a whole lot of empty streets, closed stores, and deserted restaurants!  It was at this point I also realized that my camera was broken!  Please forgive the next few pictures that were taken with my phone.  Oh the disaster of it all!

 I loved this beautiful stained glass artwork!

Completely famished, we finally found a restaurant open for dinner.  This place was something I would imagine a horror movie taking place in.  It seems charming and to me that added to the creepy factor.  

It was a family owned restaurant where the mother cooked, the father was the host/ waiter and I wished I got a picture of him!  He was decked out in capri pants with ruffles sticking out of his sleeves and on the front of his shirt.  You could hear children creaking the floor above us, and I don't know why, but it made me uncomfortable. There was a long family history for the property and I wished I remembered some of the stories, but too much time has passed (and I don't remember what happened 2 hours ago much less 6 months!).  The host was very nice and accommodating and Greg really enjoyed it.  Once again the views here did not disappoint!

 

The next morning, we went on a search for a screwdriver to try and fix my camera but were unable to find one.  Then we went on a search for a place to buy a new camera.  What a mess!  With a new camera in hand, we were off to Paris!

Monterosso and Vernazza... part of the Cinque Terre, Italy

The next stop on our road trip was the Cinque Terre.  I was most excited about this stop!  I had heard how charming this place was and of course Pinterest is littered with pictures of these 5 brightly colored towns.  First we had to get there and here are a couple of pictures from the road.

We stayed in a small beach town just outside of the Cinque Terre that only required a short train ride into the first town, Monterosso.

Captures the coastline

The kids entertained themselves on the beach while Greg and I took turns venturing out into the town.

We caught the train to the next town of Vernazza where we went on a search for dinner!

We struggled with finding a place to eat and just happened to come around a corner where there was a restaurant on top of a rock formation.  Lucky for us, they had just received a cancellation and we pretty much had the best table in the restaurant! 

I was hoping to catch another town, but we missed the timing for the train and decided it would be best to catch the last train headed towards our hotel! 

A Day in Pompeii

This post has been a long time coming.  I had intended on writing a clever post for each stop on our Italy/ France vacation, but now that so much time has passed, most of clever is out the window (I always keep a little bit of clever up my sleeve).  To complete the posts for our vacation I will bombard each post with pictures.  Enjoy!

After leaving the Amalfi coast we drove to Pompeii.  The kids found bags and collected rocks as we walked the ruins.

 

 I honestly expected to see bodies preserved in lava while we were exploring the ruins, but there were none to be found.  I also thought the city was covered in lava, but turns out it was just covered in ash.  I'm glad we went because obviously the history lesson I had remembered was a bit off!

 

I don't remember why they were hugging, but I'm glad I got a picture of it!

Yes, that would be a temper tantrum thrown just outside the entrance to the city.  We watched as she cried and screamed, making quite a show.  When she was done, we continued on with our day, eating lunch at a small pizza joint and then moving on to the Cinque Terre.

First stop: Salerno, Italy and a snapshot of the Amalfi Coast

The car was packed (it was organized too until we were in the car for about 5 minutes) and we were off for a 2 week driving extravaganza!  After driving up to Messina, we boarded the car ferry that took us across to Calabria.  This was the first long day of driving and quite frankly I was concerned about how it was going to turn out.  It turned out to be no trouble at all!  Could it possibly be true that we were all going to survive this vacation?!  It was a beautiful drive and it was clear that driving through Italy and France was going to be a feast for our eyes.

Of course, a gas station stop must include ice cream!

 

I wanted to go to the Amalfi coast.  I had heard how beautiful it was and didn’t want to leave Italy without visiting.  I had also heard many times over that people with motion sickness would have a hard time managing keeping breakfast down with all the winding roads.  I felt like I had prepared myself for this and was going to enjoy our time.  We made it to Salerno, Italy a town just before entering the coastline drive and settled in to our hotel with a fabulous view.

 

We took a walk through this charming town while waiting for restaurants to open for dinner. 

 

I love these tiles with the painted scenes! 

 

 

Tiny door!  My friend found the smallest door I've ever seen in Sicily, so I got excited when I found a small door too!

 

After the kids finished dinner, they played in the piazza while Greg and I sat at our table enjoying watching the children from a distance!

At this point I would offer an entire post to the drive along the Amalfi coast, but we didn’t make it very far.  I thought I had prepared myself for the curves but I think all of the stories got into my head.  I was scared before we even left the hotel parking lot.  We curved and turned and I was managing OK until Juliette said she was going to be sick.  I get sick and nervous when a family member feels ill, so that set me off.  I panicked and just wanted off the road as soon as possible.

 

My only picture from the drive along the coast.  Sad but true.

 

Just before we reached the town of Amalfi, we took a road that took us off of the coast and wound us through the mountains. 

 

 

It was once again a beautiful drive and we eventually found ourselves overlooking the city of Naples.  Pompeii here we come!