Spring break, Italy style

Spring break 2012 - It was way better than any tropical destination as we were headed to the northern parts of Italy to meet up with my sister and our three nieces. They spent their first days in Venice, they had an amazing time exploring the canals, and the nooks and crannies of the beautiful city of Venezia!

With some time to pass before meeting up with Gretchen, Paige, Molly and Megan, the four of us spent a few hours in the town of Riva del Garda, the northern-most town on Lago di Garda where we ended up in the middle of a youth sailing event. Sailboats from all over Europe and many other countries including the USA. The lake quickly filled up with hundreds of boats, and we were happy to just walk around the lovely, picture-perfect town of Riva del Garda.

Off to Malchesine to meet up with G & the gang - it's always nice to see family, especially when you're living far away in Italy! After hugs and greetings, we took a funicular-type "ride" up to the top of Monte Baldo. Up above the clouds and drizzly skies, we could see the lake and the valley below when there were breaks in the clouds.

Afterward, we checked out the town of Malchesine, had some Italian sweets lake-side, then headed south along the lake a bit further to the town of Garda where we ate some piping hot pasta dishes. We checked into our agriturismo, got settled and called it a night. The next day was Easter so we started with a short drive to the peninsula town named Sirmione. Sirmione is on the southern most end of Lago di Garda. We visited the archeological site of Grotte di Catullo (Grottoes of Catullus).

It was a busy morning with trying to see some sights of Sirmione, but we had to make our way back to the agriturismo as we had reservations for Easter lunch, Italian style. The food was outstanding, the wine was great, the room we had all to ourselves was fantastic and cozy, but in Italian fashion, we were stuffed and had to get moving.

We had a fun time letting the kids have a few Easter egg hunts on the property, the kids ran and had a ton of fun. The skies were sunny to one side and so grey to the other side, we were lucky to find no rain but a vibrant, long-lasting rainbow. It made for a wonderful afternoon of colorful eggs and fun picture-taking. After all that busy-ness, we headed back to Sirmione to walk around some more and to end Easter Sunday with a scoop of gelato.

As requested by Paige and Molly, we headed to Verona - the city known for the setting of Romeo & Juliet. We saw some of the main attractions, including the balcony claimed to be (but not REALLY) Juliet's.

Later that afternoon, we drove from Verona to Pisa, another "must see" request by the Hoffman girls. We arrived to our hotel, then got to the main sight - The Leaning Tower", of course, as it was all lit up for the night.

The next morning was an early one, very few people were among the Piazza dei Miracoli (field of miracles) as the Hoffman girls took their tickets and headed to the top of the Leaning Tower.

Jamie, Riann, Lincoln and I hung out at a nearby bar sipping on cappuccinos and eating pastries for breakfast. When the Hoffman girls were done, they kept Riann and Lincoln for us (you have to be 8 years old to climb to the top) so that Jamie and I could walk those crooked stairs and get to the top of that leaning tower.

It was really cool and a fun opportunity to take! Having some fun in Pisa, and do as all tourists do, we all took our turn holding up the tower for photo opps.

After our few hours in Pisa, we were on the road again. Next stop was Assisi. We walked all over Assisi, which is no small feat, as it is a hillside town, and it was a bit warmer than the other days. The pinkish brick that most of the buildings are constructed with is beautiful, the cobblestone streets, stairwells, etc make this town a fun but tiring one to visit. We ended our evening with a superb dinner at a local ristorante highly recommend by our favorite, Rick Steves.

Our fun adventure with cousins and Aunt Gretchie had to come to an end... It went by so quickly but we had so much fun. They still had a few more days to spend in Rome before flying out, so from Assisi, they followed us to Rome. We got them situated with their rental car checked in, and into a taxi headed to their apartment where they continued their Italian adventure. Two hours of a drive for us and we were back home, just enough time to get ready for the school and work week to begin.