"It's free if you give me a little something"

An hour and 40 minute drive west of Milan takes us through a hilly terrain that opens up to the Ligurian Sea to find the pretty Genoa.

Before I begin, in a quest to make Italy feel like home, soul mate and I have decided we should refer to towns as the Italians do. It is confusing to me why the world is so comfortable renaming places from their original name; for example Milan instead of Milano, Venice instead of Venezia, Florence instead of Firenze, Naples instead of Napoli and Genoa instead of Genova. So to show respect to the Italians we will try to speak as the Italians do where possible. As the saying goes, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do", (which should really be "When in Roma"). Check out a world map, you will be surprised.

In most populated areas in Italy, you will find yourself being propositioned to donate towards the upkeep of lifestyle that the swindling conman has become accustomed - mainly via sale of a knitted wristband or fake goods. We are mainly targeted for wristbands because we have children, they smile and approach and before you know it your child's wrist has been double knotted with a piece of fancy cotton (swift; sort of like a reverse watch steal). "A free gift for you, you just give me a little something." Not quite sure how that makes it a free gift, I suppose this guilt of accepting a gift without payment works for some? Daughter is still wearing her 'rainbow bracelet' from her first wrist attack in Milan over a month ago. It is remaining to deter from further guilt attacks.

Anyway, back to Genova. After wading our way through the school of hawkers selling fake Prada and Gucci, bags and sunglasses, we finally make our way to our destination of Acquario Village. Our family fun day (hour and a half) will take place at the largest aquarium in Italy and second largest in Europe. We all enjoyed our underwater adventure, but as with most activities now days, the children proceed with the attention of a goldfish, (appropriate fish analogy). "I want to see the sharks", we arrive at the sharks, "I want to see a turtle", we arrive at the turtle, "I want to see Nemo", etc etc. Not much observing happening, mainly just checking off her mental sea animal check list. With the help of some carrot sticks we did manage to camp out on the floor of native fish for 5 minutes, so that was calming to catch a breath. The aquarium was definitely worth the visit but will perhaps be more worth the admission once the children are older. (Seaworld at the Gold Coast Australia did come out champion in regards to aesthetics of tanks.)

We stopped for a quick lunch on the way back to the car and enjoyed a pizza and pesto pasta, (area is famous for its pesto Genovese). I am enjoying sampling the foods and trying to recreate these with my personal twist. I also think I have discovered the secret to Italian cooking - minimal ingredients, and fresh strong flavours.

Genova is filled with tall narrow green shuttered buildings, hanging gardens, palaces and church spires, all squashed into the hillside, ("let's throw a little curvy road in there so the visitors have to concentrate too much while they are driving to take in the view"). The drive along the coastline is gorgeous, as we went from port to beaches we saw cruise liners, tankers, fishing boats, ferries, yachts, a row boat and even a viking ship; only thing missing was the submarine! We had aimed to go to the beach, soon discovering this is purely a pebbled patch of space under a colour coded umbrella over looking the flat ocean, but it was a hot day and we were determined to participate in 'the lifestyle'. Unfortunately for us, everyone else was also participating in the lifestyle on this glorious day, parking was impossible unless you were transporting on a unicycle and we drove coastline for 20km with no parking space available. We reached Recco (famous for its Pesto foccacia, which we tried at a later date, cheesey, yum, yum), to look into the back seat to see our angels drooling in the back with mouths wide. Sleeping children have once again taken the day to its end. The coastline is definitely worth another day of exploring, perhaps next time we will go when storms are predicted so we can get a car park at the beach... Also next time Cinque Terra will also be on the wish list.