And the adventure begins!

We have arrived!!! We have already been to Siena and now we are in the Cinque Terre (Manarola is the town we are in). I am sitting on the balcony of our room and have the most stunning view.

Honestly I have not seen a view in Italy that is not breathtaking.

But to start a quick recap of our adventure so far, lets start with out flight. I had been dreading the 9 hour flight since we booked it because well imagine a 14 month old just learning how to walk flying for so long. But the whole experience went so smoothly. We were 3 lbs over our weight in luggage but for some reason the person ignored that and let our buggage go without a fee! Then when we boarding our flight to Italy, the lady (angel) that checked us in gave us 4 seats (a whole row) to ourselves. The flight was about 2/3 full so people were able to have a more comfortable flight especially us! "Little" George slept beautifully from after dinner till when they let us off the plane (we actually had to wake him up. (Not sure if this is due to the Benedryl we gave him or the fact that we have a wonderful little boy.)

Customs was a breeze. I walked through and I started to pause in front of the customs agent but he just looked at me with a blank stare and just motioned for me to go on. Everyone just walked right on through without him even touching the passports.

Getting to the rental car was a more of adventure than desired. The only amusing point to share as that we ran over the stroller that we bought especially for Italy with the rental car! We were both so frazzled and just forgot to load it in leaving it leaning on the front of the car. We realized we forgot it about 15 minutes from the rental place so drove back. It is actually fine the only real damage is to the handle bar grips. So no tears shed just silly on our part.

George drove to Siena (the roads/ drivers are not as scary expected- no worries, Mom, George is driving wonderfully here even on the tiny town roads and windy mountain roads we have been on!)
We had lunch at a rest stop, part of a gas station (yes, this was our first meal in Italy) but it was good! Proscuitto sandwich and an yummy espresson! Only in Italy!

Our hotel in Siena actually is adjacent to the church San Domenico where St. Catherine's incorrupted head is at and it is also adjacent to her home. Our room had a balcony that had a gorgeous view of Siena!

"Little" George enjoyed being able to move around finally!

We first went to San Domenico to the chapel to see St. Catherine. The church was beautiful but not as grand as I would have expected it to be. After praying there for a little bit, we started to wander Siena. We realized that were actually there just a few days before Palio de Siena which is a horse race that occurs twice a year in Siena (look it up, the history of it and traditions of it are really interesting). So ended up at the Duomo where a procession that is part of the Palio de Siena tradition was being starting.

I do not have wonderful pictures of the procession itself as I was just so interested in watching it. The people that were part of it were dressed in medieval garb and there were four men dressed up in a cart were being pulled by two oxen. Not sure the significance but they were clearly the big deal of the procession.

Then we walked to the Piazza del Campo were they had everything ready for the horse tryouts later that night, the next morning and the race itself. Every where we went we saw people wearing different flags around their neck in support of their particular neighborhood in Siena and for the horse running for their neighborhood.

We ate a yummy dinner liked especially by "little" George or Giorgio as we now are calling him here :)   There were fresh olives in the salad and I loved them (I have never like olives before.) Then of course we had gelato which we all loved. We sat down in a little grassy area, people watched and enjoyed our treat! How I love being in Italy!

(Side note: while people watching I noticed lots of people with dogs so Aunt Jill I now know the answer to your question. Yes, Italians just like us are dog lovers.)

This morning (while all of you were sleeping) we went to mass for the Assumption at the Duomo (where the procession was the day before). It is a stunning cathedral! Our pictures of the inside our a little blurry but here is the outside which gives you an idea of its beauty.

We stopped briefly at the place where St. Catherine lived. We saw her families home and the room her parents shut her up in when she told them she wanted to be a nun. The both have been transformed in to beautiful chapels. No pictures were allowed to be taken.

Then off to the Cinque Terre we went. The drive was so beautiful. Vineyards everywhere you looked, quaint ancient villages on top of hills and tons of plant nurseries. (I thought a lot of you, Dad, seeing the nurseries and just the beautiful farms that they had in Tuscany.)

We went on a walk around Monarola and once Giorgio had fallen asleep in the stroller we sat down to a long delicious lunch (really more like dinner since it began at 3:30 pm). We had fresh sardines (thought of you, Dan). We drank wine made in the Cinque Terre.... magnifico!

Now we are in the hotel. We settled in a little here and "little" George is asleep. We are staying here two nights so we can relax and enjoy tomorrow without having to worry about moving. But on Friday, off to Torino we go!

Sorry for such a long post.... hope you enjoyed and thank you for reading it. Tell us how you all are doing!