Pisa and Cinque Terre

Just before New Year's, Andy and I decided to take a mini road trip to Pisa and Cinque Terra. So, we packed Claire in the car, crossed our fingers that she wouldn't complain too much, and off we went. It was approximately a 5 hour drive and we arrived at Camp Darby (a small base just outside of Pisa) at around 4pm. We checked into the hotel and then hopped in the car to go see Pisa.


Pisa itself, is a pretty small city, but we wanted to see the leaning tower, of course. We arrived just before sunset, so we didn't have great light for the pictures, but we got some cute ones.

Claire is beginning to like jumping, and while she doesn't make it off the ground yet, she enjoys trying. In several of these pictures, she is trying to jump, oblivious, of course to the monument behind her.

In Pisa, we had an early dinner at an Italian restaurant that was clearly open early for the tourists and then headed back to the hotel.

The next day was a bit rainy, but we headed to Cinque Terre which is a series of five small towns nestled among the cliffs of the coast. Each town is darling and built into the side of the cliffs.


Walking paths connect each of the town and I think for a long time, that was the only way to travel among them. Now of course, there is also a train and a series of roads.





We walked the path between the 1st two towns and then took the train to visit the fourth town. We didn't really have time to visit all of them, but we had a great time. Claire, thankfully, napped in the stroller and even though the weather could have been better, it was a great day. I think we owe a lot of her good mood to her pink polar bear which she is becoming increasingly attached to.


On our way back, we stopped in Rome to have lunch with some friends from the states that were visiting their family in Rome. It was so good to see some familiar faces and to catch up a little.


This is a picture of us in a park in Rome that overlooks the city. We had just finished lunch with our friends.