Our second day in Cortona started out with a buffet breakfast in our hotel -quite an impressive spread.  Croissants, Crostata (a baked italian jam tart), fruit, yogurt, cereal, eggs, proscuitto and some other meats.  A sweet Italian lady was making drinks for everyone and we both had a cappucino.

It was a beautiful day, the nicest our entire trip -sunny and warm… I was so excited we could wear short sleeves!  We headed out to the town to do some more sightseeing.  This time we took a path that went below the town.   

There was actually a couple of escalators that took you back to the top (why I didn’t take a picture of this, I don’t know). 

Then, Funnel and I headed back up the stations-of-the-cross-path to the church.  It was much harder climbing up that path then going down it.   We found some paths that led even further up the hill, above the church.

We were both tired from walking uphill, so we sat on a bench for awhile and just took in the beautiful views.  It was so peaceful – the only sound were the birds singing.

Then we headed back into town and Funnel and I made a plan to meet up for lunch after he took a nap and I did some shopping.

Funnel and I continued ascending the hill above the town of Cortona. 

At one point, we ran into an American and talked with him for a bit.  He’s a professor with the University of Georgia, which has a study-abroad program in Cortona.  He was currently there with a group of students, teaching a course on wine grapes.  He told us a bit about the area and made some suggestions of some places in Cortona to expore. 

The road we were traveling on took us to a church at the top of the hill.  As we were standing out front looking at it, a young, beareded priest in a long, brown, hooded robe came out to talk to us.  He was Italian, but his English was perfect.  He told us about Frances Mayes, the American author who wrote “Under the Tuscan Sun” and some other memoirs about Tusacany, and lives in Cortona.  (She’s the reason I picked Cortona as one of the places we would visit).  He was super nice, as were most of the Italians we talked to.    After he went inside, Funnel whispered to me, “He looks like Friar Tuck” . 

Behind the church, we found a path that led back down the hillside, into the town.  Imbedded in the walls were the “Stations of the Cross” that showed the story of Jesus and his crucifixion and resurrection. 

After our walk up and down the hillside, it was time for dinner.  Our hotel had made some suggestions for us, so we checked out one of them, Trattoria La Grotta. 

We had a wonderful candlelit dinner: I had really good chicken, Funnel had really good steak, and we split a huge pitcher of really good red wine that only cost 5 Euros.  I love how dinners are drawn out over there.  When you have dinner, that seat is yours for the rest of the evening – there is no pressure to pay quickly and leave so the next couple can sit down.  Funnel and I lingered for a long time over our wine, talking and playing a trivia game that we made up, which ended up turning into a Star Wars trivia game (maybe we had a little too much wine.. haha).

Our train from Venice left late in the morning.  It took us three trains to get to the tiny Tuscan hilltown of Cortona, and it was absolutely gorgeous riding through the Italian countryside.  The red poppies were starting to dot the landscape and I saw so many little villages that I wish we had time to explore. 

When we got to our stop, it was late afternoon.  The train left us at a quiet, empty train station, looking up at Cortona on the hill.   We waited for a bus to come and it did,-  a gigantic bus that looked even more giant as it navigated through the tiny, winding roads up into the city.  It dropped us off along the main road in town, and we walked down it- past a gelato stop, pottery stores, a bakery, a hat shop.  And there was our hotel.

After staying in pretty basic and bare 2-star hotels in Paris, Nice and Venice, our 4-star hotel in Cortona made me feel like royalty.  Our luggage was attended to, our room was beautiful and roomy and our bathroom was triple the size of any of the bathrooms we had up until that point – and had a real walk-in shower! (not just a tub with a hand-held showerhead!) 

After checking in, we headed out to see what Cortona was all about.  And our first view at the landscape below literally took my breath away.   Now this is what I traveled across the ocean to see.

We were pretty hungry, so we grabbed lunch at a little cafe.  Funnel had a pretty un-photo-worthy sandwich, and I had tuscan bread soup.  It had potoatoes and beans and big chunks of Italian bread in it.  (I’ve been trying to find a recipe for it since we’ve been home – no such luck.  All the ones I’ve found have been tomato-based).

After lunch, we wandered around town a bit and headed up the long, winding road that went above the town and up the mountain…

For our last night in Venice, Funnel and I wanted to have  a special evening: a nice dinner and a romantic gondola ride.  I was especially excited for dinner because I had been sick for several days, and this would be my first meal in awhile that wasn’t plain pasta or white rice.  We headed out on the Vaporetto to an area along the Grand Canal that had some nice restaurants:

The restaurant we picked had a large canopied terrace, as well as big heaters all around, so even though it was wet and cold out, we could have a nice candelight dinner along the canal and watch all the boats go by.

 Funnel and I both decided to order fish.  I ordered salmon, and Funnel ordered their special: sea bass that had been caught earlier in the day.  When they brought out our meals, they brought out the whole, intact fish for Funnel, and then prepared it right at the table: they cut off his head and tail and then de-boned it. 

During our dinner, our waiter and some of the others started singing.  It wasn’t something gimicky that they do for tourists.  I could tell it was impromptu, as they were all huddled together under the awning trying to keep warm, talking and laughing.  I’ve always heard Italians love to sing!

There were many options for dessert, and we asked our waiter to tell us his recommendation.  Between our limited Italian and his limited English, we were able to decipher that it was gooey, caramely, and custardy, and so we went for that.  It was an excellent choice.

As we were eating our dessert, the water level started rising so much so that the patio started flooding a bit!  “Ah… nine o’ clock” the waiter told us.   I guess they are used to the flooding at certain times!

Unfortunately, as dinner ended, the drizzle turned into a downpour, so we didn’t get to go on our gondola ride.  I was dissapointed, but the evening was still absolutely lovely and romantic.

Our first two days of Venice, I still wasn’t feeling well.  Pretty much any food gave me issues, I was sick all night, and the pharmacist told me I could only eat plain white rice or plain pasta (no sauce).  Not so great when you are in Italy surrounded by amazing food.   I still felt a bit better than I did in Nice, so we were able to do some sightseeing those first two days.  But day three, I really started to feel like myself, and even though it was raining, I wanted to make the most of our last day in Venice. 

Funnel and I had already explored Piazza San Marco, so we decided to head out to the area past it.  The further East we got, the less tourists there were.  It was almost like we had that part of Venice all to ourselves.

Since I was feeling better and not having the food issues I was having before, we decided to get some gelato: my very first gelato of the trip!

And it was good.    Pistaccio.  Strawberry.  Nutella.  Cookies & Cream.

The area East of the square seemed more like a residential area, but it was really neat, we got to see a communist club with some old men sitting in there talking (I didn’t take a picture of that.. eek) and this mailbox that looks like a friendly little guy:

We came across what used to be Venice’s shipyard, and is now a military zone.  We both thought it was strange that they would have a military zone in Venice, which has literally become nothing but a tourist area.

After an afternoon if walking around in the rain, we headed back to our hotel to get ready for our last evening in Venice..

On our second day of Venice, Funnel and I took our vaporetto to a little island called San Giorgio Maggiore.  It was teeny-tiny and there wasn’t much there: a church, an ice cream shop, some ships and little, old man, but it was fun to explore and we got some nice views of Piazza San Marco.

The Piazza San Marco (aka Saint Mark’s Square) is the main area in Venice.  It was full of guided tour groups, vendors selling carts of souveniers, gondeliers offering rides, people eating gelato, and pigeons.   We spent time there, during our 2nd and 3rd day in Venice.

On our last day in Venice, Funnel and I paid to go up St. Mark’s clocktower to get a beautiful panoramic view of Venice. 

After being sick for our entire stay in Nice, I was excited to head to Venice, hoping that I would start feeling a little better.  We boarded our train early that morning and headed to Italy.  It took us three trains to get to Venice, and none were as nice as the train that took us from Paris to Nice.  There was no dining cart, but on each, a man pushing a little cart of snacks, with a little bell that he rang as he came through.  I enjoyed the views immensly, especially as we rode along the coast for the first bit of our trip. 

We arrived in Venice, and right away I was in awe.  There is something magical about Venice – it really feels like a completely different world.  There are no cars and where there should be a main street bustling with traffic and vendors and stores, there is the Grand Canal: bustling in it’s own way with vaporettos (water buses), gondaliers and water taxis.

Here are some photos of the Grand Canal, taken from the bridges that cross it, as well as the vaporettos:

The morning that Funnel & I were to leave Paris for Nice, I wasn’t feeling well.  I told Funnel to get breakfast without me so that I could stay in bed for a little bit longer.  While he was gone, I got sick.  He brought me back a croissant and some tea, which I thought would make me feel better, but it didn’t.  I got sick again. 

We packed up our stuff, checked out of our hotel and took the metro to the train station.  It was the first of many trains we would take on our trip, and it was a five-hour journey- a direct route with no layovers.  Funnel played our Nintendo DS or slept most of the trip, I looked out the window and tried to sleep.  I thought I was feeling well enough to eat something on the train, so Funnel bought me a sandwich, but I couldn’t keep it down.   

As we got closer to Nice, the views from the train got really pretty.  Beautiful blue water with little houses and towns dotting the coast.  It reminded me of how I always pictured Greece. 

After we arrived in Nice, we rolled our luggage a few blocks to our hotel, which was one street away from the beach, along a pedestrian-only road.  Our room was lovely.  They upgraded us to a suite with two bedrooms – one with twin beds and one with a queen bed, and we had  a little pink bathroom. 

We unpacked, then headed to check out the beach.  Beautiful.

I don’t have many pictures of our two days in Nice, because I was sick the whole time.  We didn’t get to see Monaco at all, and we hardly got to see Nice, aside from what we could see out our window and a couple of short walks we took.

I told Funnel he should go out and explore on his own, but he was so sweet to want to stay with me in our room. 

It was really dissapointing, but maybe I will make it back to France one day.

After visiting the creepy Catacombs, Funnel and I had a late lunch on a cafe terrace (under some big heaters – thank goodness!)

I had a nicoise salad:

Funnel had a clazone that was bigger than his plate:

And we split a plate of french fries:

Then we headed to where we knew we could get the best view of Paris: the Arc de Triomphe.

The Arc de Triomphe was commissioned by Napoleon, and it took thirty years to complete it!  We took a long spiral staircase, went through a little museum, and then took another staircase to the top, where we had a beautiful 360 degree view of Paris. 

Paris was lovely, and I definitely was feeling bummed that it was our last day there!  There was so much that we didn’t get to see.  (That means we’ll have to come back again someday!)