First, we are so thankful that Mark got a three-day weekend this past weekend due to Italy's national holiday celebrating their independence (like 4th of July in the States only w/o fireworks). It was a plus that the weather was sunny and 70 degrees everyday from Friday-Sunday.
Friday we went down to the Marina (di Massa) and found a big park for the kids to play at. The city name, actually, was Ronchi, but Massa sounds better, doesn’t it? After we parked, we unloaded the stroller and the kids. As we were approaching the intersection to cross over to the park, we heard all these sirens and honking cars and watched as several police cars, medical vehicles, motor cycles, and a handful of other "important" looking cars came cruising through the intersection. We were puzzled by this at first, thinking maybe an important political figure was coming through, but then we saw one lone cyclist in competitive racing uniform come past, so we thought maybe there was a bike race passing by. There was a man directing traffic looking rather official and he wasn't waving us across the street yet, so we wondered if more was coming...Sure enough in a few seconds a whole group of cyclists came through! Zooming fast- probably a hundred or more! It was some sort of race and we all got a kick out of seeing them come through.
After the guard waved us through, we walked across to the park and the kids had a blast playing. We are so glad to have found a nice park like that! The bonus is that right next to the park is a little tiny amusement park (if you can call it that) that has a covered area with bumper cars and arcade rides like you might find at Chuck E. Cheese or something. There were probably twenty different rides and the kids were thrilled (as you would imagine)! They also have a small group of inflatables you can pay extra to bounce on if you want, but we decided to save that for another day (maybe Hailey's birthday or something). Cami and Hailey quickly discovered the bumper cars and had the time of their lives trying that out. Mark rode around with them first, to get the used to it and then they were hooked.
(Now Mark writing) After our stop in Marina di Massa, we headed south along the coast. The freeway is called the A12. You can go as fast or slow as you want, and everyone does. At one point, I was rattling along in the minivan at 130-135 kph, which is roughly 80 mph. About once per minute, a car going at least 90 is passing me. Occasionally, a sports car going 100. No big deal. I’m passing small cars going about 50 mph, too, it seems. But the freeway driving is nothing compared to the surface streets. If you’ve ever been in Italy, you know what I’m talking about. It’s both horrifying and wonderful at the same time, driving within inches of walls, cars, mopeds, and people- on both sides, all day long.
So, we made our way down to Viareggio, which means “Way of Kings”. It’s a sea port now well known for it’s yacht manufacturing, but also for it’s Carnival festival in January. We parked a few blocks from the main promenade, and enjoyed a nice walk along the river leading to the ocean. As has now happened many times, a very friendly older couple, counting the number of kids, will call out something like “Bravo!” or “Bella!”, often then asking about our daughters. I pick up the words “Tutto femina?”, meaning, “All girls?” and do my best to explain that I don’t speak Italiano, but that yes, their all mine and all girls. I love then pointing at Jessica’s tummy, and saying, “e incinta!” (She’s pregnant) which yields even further response and cheering! The Italians are now well known for having very few children, and it’s a concern to many people that they country will not be able to sustain the older generation.
Of course, we ended our day with a round of gelato. We’ve never seen all four girls so messy at one time. Ellie completely covered her outfit, and Maisie wasn’t far behind. But the grins on their faces, for such yummy cioccolato gelato, is well worth the mess!
On the way out of Viareggio, back to our apartment, I made a wrong turn. We were heading to Rome, instead of north towards Parma or Genoa. No big deal, I thought- we’ll just turn around at the next exit. Sadly, the next exit was like ten minutes down the freeway. Upon exiting, I shot onto an older (non-toll) freeway. Not much better- it’s moving slowly and it’s going to take forever to get home. Eventually, I found my way into Pisa and then back onto the freeway. But at one point my GPS system was providing me some outrageous directions, which are captured in this great photo. The green is where I was supposed to go!
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