Marsha and Crampa come to visit!

Rand's parents were are first visitors! The best thing about having company is that it's a good excuse for us to take a vacation and see some different places. We decided to see Tuscany with them and booked a hotel on a very small army post down by Pisa. On the way we decided to break our trip up a bit and stopped in Garmisch for a night. Garmisch is on the German border with Austria in the Alps and has beautiful scenery. We had been there in the winter for a few days for a marriage retreat and were excited to go back in warmer weather to explore a bit more. We found this beautiful lake that we hiked to with breathtaking mountain views.


It must have been frog mating season because there were frogs and eggs sacks all over this little lake. We learned that "gruten" is frog in German.


We have driven to and from Italy 3 times now and I don't think I will ever tire of it. Driving through Austria is incredible!

The night we reached Camp Darby was very rainy, we went into Pisa to see the Leaning Tower and to eat dinner. We left the camera in the car so we don't have any pictures to prove we were there but the weather was so miserable anyway I don't know that we would have even documented it. The next day we drove out to Siena, a delightful Tuscan town with a lot of charm. We walked around for most of the day and even met up with our friends the Morris' who happened to be there at the same time.

Keith and Marsha on the very hilly streets of Siena.

This is the main piazza in Siena called Il Campo, and is definitely the place to be, it is also great for people watching. The pigeons entertained our kids for a good part of the day as well.


Rand really wanted to see Elba while we were there so we drove down and took the ferry out to the island. Unfortunately, we had more rainy weather but the island was still breathtaking. It is very green and less commercial than most places we had been. We would like to go back sometime and visit the beautiful beaches they had, under better weather conditions that is.

Cinque Terre was our FAVORITE! We loved these little towns and had the most beautiful day there. Cinque is "five" in Italian and these five little coastal towns are literally perched on the side of the cliffs that overlook the Ligurian Sea (part of the Mediterranean). We started in Monterosso al Mare which had a nice little beach and even a castle ruin on top of a hill. We decided to do the boat tour that takes you to four of the five towns. We got off in Manarola and Riomaggiore. Each had it's own little flavor and were breathtaking among the ocean views amid vineyards and orchards. We would love to go back and take the time to hike between each town (not dueable with our kids). When we returned to Monterosso in the evening we enjoyed the most delicious gnocchi and pesto for dinner.

Monterosso al Mare

A view down the coast, I could live here.

Manarola

Riomaggiore, probably our favorite of all the towns. The colorful houses and fishing boats were so charming.

Vineyards and lemon trees as far as the eye can see. You can also tell a little better in this picture how steep they build the vineyards on the side of the mountains.

Gorgeous ocean view once we climbed to the top of the village.

Finally, FLORENCE!! We really loved this city, it seriously had everything. Refined culture, world famous museums but had the feel of a much smaller city. Everywhere you looked you could still see the gorgeous green hills of Tuscany. We enjoyed seeing the Uffizi and Academia galleries which included Michelangelo's "David" as well as the Duomo (or cathedral) which has given Florence its famous skyline for centuries. Again we were rained on at the end of the afternoon and missed seeing the Pitti Palace. This is definitely a place we will return to someday.

The Duomo- The facade is covered with pink, green and white Tuscan marble and was the first Renaissance dome built and the model for domes to follow.

View of the city and surrounding hills from the tower next to the Duomo

It was wonderful having Rand's parents here and can't wait for their next visit. The reason for the post title are the names that Evie called them while they were here. Somewhere a couple days into our trip she just started calling Grandma, by her first name, Marsha, and it stuck for the rest of their stay. It was pretty hilarious. Grandpa is apparently pronounced "Crampa" in Evie's language. So cute! Please click on any pictures to enlarge them while viewing. Thanks for being patient with us while we catch up on these past few months.