While in the Cinque Terre area, we happened to be there the night of some kind of Catholic holiday celebration where they made all these wonderful designs on the sidewalk out of flower petals. Walking past each one was like walking along a beautiful quilt made up of individual squares full of color. Each one was of a Christian symbol. Later in the evening the town held a procession down this street and I would guess it ended up in the church. I thought that was a pretty cool tradition and wouldn't mind starting my own "flower walk" some day.
Our travels also took us to San Gimiano, a beautiful hill town with 13 of the original 72 tower buttresses left along the big wall. Here the girls met some other English speaking girls and the group of them danced to the violinist playing in the street. The Italian ice cream was especially good here.
In Milan we headed to the Leonardo Da Vinci science museum and saw some of his designs in model form- moving bridges, canal dredgers, ramming boats, the first furnace, and 2 of his attempts at flying. I left feeling very stupid and wishing I could remember things I've learned in the past. This guy could paint, sculpt stone, and design things not even conceived of at the time. It made me want my girls to enjoy learning more about science. The Dumo in Milan was very ornate, covered in statues of Saints and gargoyles.
The last day was spent in Lenno were we toured a Villa on lake Como. This garden was amazing. The trees were pruned into candelabra shapes, ivy grown like garland, and the view was fabulous. The girls loved chasing the lizards and Aubrie made a little home for a snail she found.
After Lenno we began our 8 hour drive back home through Switzerland and the majority of Germany. On our way we went over this mountain pass that had a glacier. The area below was filled with water falls and little mountain cottages. Everything was so scenic, it was a great way to end our vacation.
Unfortunately, Ted had to leave his new friend behind.
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