Thursday, November 6, 2014

nonni

Nonni is the Italian word for grandparents.  And, as it would be, Holden calls my mother Nonni.  To be correct, she should technically be Nonna and my dad, who all the grandchildren call Pop, should be Nonno.  But for some reason, my oldest nephew, Andrew, started calling my mom Nonni and now all the grandchildren do.  And last week, the nonni finally came to visit us in Genova!

On Thursday afternoon, we picked Nonni and Pop up at the train station (after a slight delay) and Holden greeted them with a running jump into their arms.  He was so happy to see them after such a long time away.  We took them back to the villa and spent the afternoon catching up and showing them around.

reading with Pop


Then after playing for awhile, we went for a delicious dinner at Maniman (the best restaurant in Genova in my opinion) and also a they saw a view of the city and 'la lanterna' lighthouse at night, since most restaurants in Genova do not even begin serving dinner until 8:00.  Thankfully, Holden had taken a nap and was able to stay awake throughout dinner and then decided to have a snuggly slumber party up in the patron suite with Nonni and Pop.

dinner at Maniman

dinner at Maniman


After a good night's sleep with all three snuggled in bed, they woke rested and ready to explore the city.  We went back to San Nicola to take a taxi down to Porto Antico to show Nonni and Pop the harbor.  After exploring the harbor and playing on the playground (the only one with swings) we went to Eataly for lunch.

showing Genova to Nonni and Pop 

swinging

Eataly

Then after lunch we walked up Via San Lorenzo to Piazza Ferrari.  And then from there we went up Via Roma to Piazza Corvetto for some cocco gelato from Mangini.  Then we went shopping in the galleria and on Via XX Settembre and bought Holden some new Italian hightops.  

San Lorenzo

Piazza Ferrari

coming home in the taxi with new high tops


After all this, we returned to the villa for some rest and then went back out on the funicolare up to Righi for a Halloween dinner.  We skipped dressing up this year as Halloween is not really celebrated in Italy.

funicolare at night

Halloween dinner


We awoke on Saturday morning for a breakfast of pancakes and some playing in the garden with Pop.  We later took Nonni and Pop down to Via Garibaldi to show them all the palazzi of Genova.  Then we did a little more shopping and bought me a new pair of hightops.

pancakes

climbing trees with Pop

leaving the  villa


walking down the salita

heading down to Via Garibaldi

walking down from Castelleto

Palazzo on Via Garibaldi

Palazzo on Via Garibaldi

Palazzo on Via Garibaldi

sunset over la lanterna (the lighthouse)


The next day we took a train bound for Santa Margherita Ligure after some pastries from Il Forno in San Nicola.  We took Nonni and Pop on the public bus to the train station.

pastries and coffee before the train

bus ride to Genova Principe (the train station)

train to Portofino


When we arrived at Santa Margherita it was beautiful but we decided to go ahead to Portofino first and come back to Santa Margherita.  Portofino was beautiful, just as I remembered it.  It was filled with very nice, very high end stores and Nonni found the cashmere shawl she had been looking for.  We explored Portofino awhile and then decided to take the boat back to Santa Margherita for lunch

Portofino

Portofino

Portofino

Portofino

Holden and Nonni walking along the harbor in Portofino

beautiful ivy wall in Portofino showing off fall colors


Portofino

Portofino


Portofino

boat from Portofino to Santa Margherita

boat from Portofino to Santa Margherita

view from the boat from Portofino to Santa Margherita


We found Holden a really nice raincoat here and explored the castle before heading to da Gennaro for lunch.  After a delicious lunch featuring porcini mushrooms, the seasonal special, we went for a little more shopping, sightseeing, and gelato.  Then we headed back to Genova on a very crowded train for another night of snuggles.

view from the station of Santa Margherita

eating at da Gennaro

playing with Nonni outside Santa Margherita chiesa


Christopher Columbus statue in Santa Margherita

castle in Santa Margherita

view of boats from the castle

castle in Santa Margherita

store front in Santa Margherita

Santa Margherita beachfront 

beach at Santa Margherita

beach at Santa Margherita


Monday was a little rainy but we decided to chance it and walked down to the Spianata again for some wine from the cantina, Calice, and a lemon granita from Don Paolo.  Then we went for another delicious lunch at Eataly and explored the streets of Genova once again, stopping in a few stores for a toy broom and mop and for a birthday present for Andrew.

minestrone soup with pesto at Eataly

cioccolata calda from Eataly


outside the elevator at the Spianata


Then we headed back before the rain came and had a picnic in the patron suite.  Then we awoke very early on Tuesday morning, headed to the train station, and all caught the 7:20 train bound for Milano centrale.  In Milano, we got off and Nonni and Pop transferred to their train to Venezia and we had to say teary goodbyes but we knew it would only be a short time before we would see each other again.

train to Milano

2 comments:

  1. how exciting that your parents visited!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. What a treat to have family come visit! How lovely for Holden especially... Looks like the weather is still rather warm, good for exploring!

    ReplyDelete