Joe's Blog

Today we got back on the bus and headed to Florence. It was a hot and sunny day with a slight breeze. When we arrived, we started the day with a walking tour of Florence.

As we walked into the city and saw the famous shops on the Ponte Vecchio bridge over the river Arno. After passing the bridge we made our way into Piazza della Signoria, which is famous for its sculptures, which include a copy of the David. Many of the sculptures were some sort of representation of the political powers of the day (Medici’s and the Republic). The square had the statue of Persesus with Medusa’s head, The Rape (properly translated to kidnapping) of the Sabine women, the Fount of Neptune and many others.

After looking around the area a little we went over to the Museo di Palazzo Vecchio where we saw rather odd carving on a block that looks like a doodle. We were told it was made by Michelangelo and was his version of a selfie.

After this we walked to the Cathedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore which is the 4th largest cathedral in the world and is madd of all local marble. The white marble represents the faith, the pink represents hope and the green represents charity. It was a truly stunning building. We also saw the Basilica Santa Niche which is holds the tomb of Michelangel and da Vinci.

After we finished the tour Joe and I broke away from the group and had an early Anniversary lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe. Every year we visit a different Hard Rock for a meal and to get a pin.

After a wonderful lunch we explored the city more and saw the famous shops and bought some street art from a painter named The Flying Painter, on Ponte Vecchio before heading back to prepare for the concert.

The concert went great and we enjoyed some delicious pizza for dinner before heading back to the hotel for the night.

Today we started pretty early. Breakfast started at 0630 and we were back on the bus by 0800 and headed toward Cinque Terre (five villages) where we had nice boat ride and a chance to swim in the Mediterranean Sea. People learned early on that I (Beth) am not a verbal person before I have had my coffee.

After a little bus ride, we got on a nice tour boat and started sailing along the Italian coastline. Cinque Terre is a beautiful area with five seaside villages which are centuries old and connected by hiking trails. The five villages are Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza and Monterosso. Riomaggiore is the first of the villages and is connected to Manarola by a walking path. It wasn’t until the 1960’s that they put a train line connecting the villages and the mainland. After that train was put in they also built a walkway between the villages. Before that everyone had to walk along the hilltops to get to the other villages and it would take all day.

The third village of Corniglia was built up on a rock and has very few house

One of the first architectural beauties we saw was St. Peter’s church on Porta Venere. While Porta Venere is not one of the five villages of Cinque Terra is is viewed as a bonus city and was only about 25 kilometers away from Riomaggiore. The church was built with white and black marble from the region and was stunning along the coast.

After we passed a few islands we stopped at the fourth village of Vernazza and stretched our legs and ate lunch at a cute Pizzeria. Of course we at some delicious Italian pizza before getting back on the boat and heading to Portovenere. We found the Ristorante Luca sign and had to take some pictures with the animals.

We got back on the boat and headed to Porto Venere where we got to go swimming in the Mediterranean. This is also one of the villages that the movie Luca was inspired from. They also had an awesome octopus water fountain.

I swam for a bit before going to find a cappuccino. (add picture of joe in water.

After our swim we got back on the boat and headed back to the bus. On the boat ride back we played a game of spoons and when we got closer to the first village we sang “He never failed me yet” for our tour guides.

That night we introduced Rachel to the wonderful world of Donor kebabs and I think she thoroughly enjoyed it!

From 23 July to 2 August 2024, 90 people from three different churches across the US came together in Italy to praise God and worship through song while soaking in the beauty (and heat) that is Italy. Our church had 20 people go on this trip and this trip was an opportunity for me to sing with the American Festival Choir and for Joe and I to celebrate an early anniversary trip. We explored seven different cities and sang in four concerts across Italy.

We started the trip on 23 July flying out of Dulles late in the afternoon and after a semi bumpy flight with no sleep, we landed in Rome around 0800 on the 24th. We picked up our luggage and joined the tour group to find our bus.  The group was split onto two busses and we got on the road around 0930 and headed towards Tuscany. It was a long drive with several jet-lagged people. We stopped for lunch at a travel center and then got back on the road. We arrived at our hotel, Grand Hotel Francia & Quirinale, around 1630 and had some free time, so we went around town with some new friends and did some shopping and quick sight seeing. After a long but delicious dinner we had a rehearsal with everyone. Most of us were punch  drunk tired and rehearsal only lasted about 30 minutes.  I think I was singing while asleep. We finally got released for the night around 2130 and I think most of the group slept wonderfully that night.

Not only did we get lots of great pictures of us, but we brought along a little stuffed animal for each kid and they got to explore as well.