Wishing He Were Eight Already....

The fourth morning of our trip to Tuscany we piled in the car and drove to Pisa. We had fantastic luck driving and parking the entire trip. Oh Nuvi, how I love you! Let me count the ways.... When I think of my parents (20 years ago) driving all over Europe with only MAPS to guide them, my heart is filled with pity. Granted, Nuvi did take us on a couple of roads in Italy that perhaps don't really deserve to be called roads (goat path might be a more accurate designator), however, overall we quickly and easily reached each of our intended destinations. The only stressful moment in our drive to Pisa was parking. We easily found street parking. The problem was determining whether or not it was legal for us to park where we had parked. The cars surrounding ours had stickers in the windows. Were the stickers parking permits? Proof of registration? Indication of political party affiliation? Not wanting to experience the horrific nightmare that would be recovering a towed car Italy, I stealthily examined the stickers on the cars around ours. Proof of registration. I think. At any rate, our car didn't get towed. (I must confess I was a just a little worried about it while we were wandering around Pisa.) Anyway, Pisa....


The first thing we did when we arrived at the Campo dei Miracoli was make a stop at the ticket office. You have to pay to climb to the top, of course, and it is a VERY popular thing to do, so we made sure to get there early. To our relief, tickets were available for 10:15. We pulled out our Euros, got in line, asked (in Italian!) for 4 tickets, and were promptly told that Ian and Naomi couldn't climb. The minimum age is eight. Seriously?! These kids are veteran climbers, and really, the tower of Pisa isn't that tall. So much for kid friendly activity number one of the day. We quickly revamped our plans and Ben climbed to the top while I watched the kids.




Next up, the cathedral and the baptistry. So, so, so beautiful. Both are filled with sculpture and artwork by renowned renaissance artists. The sculpted pulpit is by Pisano.





After spending some quality time alone with the children on the pathways outside (too bad the grass is more protected than the lawns on BYU campus) we met up with Ben and made an exchange. I left the three of them to explore the souvenir stands and spent some peaceful time alone in the Campo Santo (a cemetary). Unfortunately I sent both cameras off with Ben so I wasn't able to take any pictures. I guess I'll have to go back....darn.

We only spent the morning in Pisa. Outside of the field of miracles - not really too much to see. So, off we went to Lucca (another hill top town - very close to Pisa).

Things that worked in Lucca - a tower to climb (in lieu of the one that leans), a bicycle ride on the ramparts of the city (the walls are wide enough at the top for a bicycle/jogging path), the Lucca cathedral (somewhat rundown -it obviously doesn't get the funding from tourist visits that the others do) and yummy food (I think my calzone had 2 pounds of cheese in it).

Ian particularly enjoyed the statue of St. Martin on the facade of the cathedral. He learned about St. Martin in school last year and made a lantern for the St. Martin's day parade (in which we marched).



Here's a picture at the top of the tower. I can't tell you how much I really, really hate this picture. Unfortunately it's the only one we have. Truly unfortunate. Interesting to have trees on top of a tower, no?


Things that didn't work in Lucca - okay, there really only was one. The "remains" of the Roman amphitheater. So for some reason I had the idea that the amphitheater was in ruins, and that the kids could climb around on it. Nope. The Italians have converted the amphitheater into a piazza. Note the oval shape and the rounded portals (from which entered the gladiators, I guess). It was quaint, and there was room to run - it just wasn't the climbing paradise I had envisioned. Definitely a disappointment for the kids. Two failed kid friendly activities in one day is pushing it.



And that's it for Pisa and Lucca. I also wanted to visit San Gimignano and Volterra but there just wasn't enough time. So, back to Italy we will have to go! I think I can take it.

Time to See the New(ish) James Bond

So apparently the new(ish) James Bond movie has a scene that takes place during the Palio (a crazy horse race) of Siena. Before we went to Italy I hadn't thought that I wanted to see that movie. Now I do. Note the large, fan-shaped piazza in the picture above. That is where the Palio takes place. Apparently they haul in a bunch of dirt to make the race track. It must be a lot of dirt. Anyway, now that we've seen the place, I'd like to see the action - just not in person. I can't imagine dealing with the crowds.

I really enjoyed our visit to Siena (day 3 of our trip). It is a beautiful town. I loved the cathedral, I loved the Campo (the piazza), I loved the art museum, and I loved walking through the streets. I also loved the ice cream... (see previous post!)

Here are Ian and Naomi at the beginning of the day. The church is the first thing we came across when we entered the city. The kids are standing by a well (with which they were fascinated - thank goodness it had a grate over the top!) which stands in front of the church. Everything in Siena is so picturesque. I had to remind myself to pause and enjoy what I was seeing - not to see it only through the lens of my camera.




Our first official stop was at the Pinacoteca Nazionale, an art museum that houses primarily Sienese art. Naomi was fascinated by the sculpted crucifixes. I literally had to drag her away from them so we could move on to other things. I explained the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ many times that day. Unfortunately it was much harder to find any depictions of the resurrected Christ than it was to find pictures of Christ on the cross, so the lesson was a little unbalanced.

Here are the kids letting loose after a couple of hours of good behavior in the museum...

Here they are after lunch. Doesn't Ian look thrilled to be in Italy?


Our next (attempted) stop was the Palazzo Publico, home of the Museo Civico and a wicked cool tower to climb. (Definitely a kid friendly activity - our kids love climbing to the tops of things.)



Unfortunately there was a very long, very SLOW moving line to climb the tower. The kids would NOT behave. (I think it may have had something to do with having spent the morning in an art museum.) We quickly gave up on the tower and moved on to the cathedral. (One may ask how taking unruly children into a cathedral at this point was a good idea? Well it probably wasn't. It was, however, our only shot at seeing the Duomo. Plus the kids knew that if they didn't behave in the cathedral, not only would the lose the opportunity to climb something, they would lose gelato as well. And that, my friends, is a dire punishment indeed.)

I love Tuscan cathedrals and churches. I think the white marble facades are strikingly beautiful.




The interior of the Siena Duomo (cathedral) is eye catching as well. (Not necessarily in a good way, however, maybe eye assaulting would be a better way to put it!) Pardon the bluriness - I don't think flashes were allowed.


My favorite part of the interior was the Piccolomini Library. Just look at the ceiling...



...and look at what it housed. I'm such a sucker for neumes.


The kids were good in the cathedral (for the most part) so we did do some climbing. Fortunately for us (and unfortunately for them) the climb to the top of the Duomo's facade took us through a museum housing the treasury of the Duomo (aka the bones of dead saints) and some fantastic art. We all made it to the top, however, and this is what we saw...




After we stopped in the baptistry (which is fantastic - none of the pictures are blog worthy)we spent the afternoon meandering. If you ever get a chance to go to Italy, make sure you leave some time to meander.

Some pictures from our walk...

Senus and Aschius (The twin sons of Remus. Apparently this family had issues with mothering their young. We saw variations of this statue all over the place.)


a nifty door....

a nifty ceiling....

laundry...

a view up...

a well....

and finally GELATO!!!

The Place Where We Ate Lots of Ice Cream

My goal of catching up on blogging....obviously not met. We have been so busy and been traveling so much that I haven't had the time to blog. And truthfully, I haven't been in the mood. Does that ever happen to you? I just haven't felt like communicating. Well, now I do. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that school finally started today (HOORAY!) and I actually have an uninterrupted moment to myself. (Then again, almost uninterrupted. Naomi's school starts tomorrow, so she's still home. She, however, is easy to entertain - for instance, right now she's listening to samples of Christmas carols on the digital piano. Easy.)

I promised a long, long time ago that I would post pictures of Italy. I'm here to make good on that promise. Italy is the place my kids refer to as "the place where we ate lots of ice cream." I like to think of Italy as, "the place I could gain lots of weight and feel happy about it," or, "the place where I can spend A LOT of money and not regret it," and finally, "the place in Europe that feels like home." It was so great to be in Italy. I've lived in Germany longer now than I lived in Italy, and I still don't feel as comfortably at home here. I think it is because I've been forced to live on an Army post and haven't learned the language and haven't been immersed in the culture like I was there. (Granted, living on post is much, much, much easier.) I experience a huge sense of relief each time I cross the border (I feel the same way in France) because I can understand all of the road signs and know that if there is an emergency I can talk to people. Ben and I have resolved to learn German this year. I want to feel like Germany is home. I want Germans to talk to me IN GERMAN! (They usually give up after a sentence or two.)

I digress...

Here are some pictures of our first days in Italy. We went to Tuscany the first week of April. It was beautiful. We spent day one driving to Florence. Our original plan was to (after having checked into our apartment) make our way into town, wander, find some food, return to the apartment, cook up some mouth watering pasta, and relax.

What actually happened -

We drove to Florence (Ben was amazed to see that I was right - lanes really are only suggestions in Italy.

We spent at least a good hour touring and checking into the apartment. (Naomi was, during the check-in process, horribly, horribly distraught because she had (while in a period of deep sleep) wet her pants in the car. She woke up right when we pulled up to the gate.) It was not a pretty scene. I think that the owner of the apartment may have had some second thoughts about us as renters during the check in process...I would have.

We drove around in a futile attempt to find a grocery store with parking.

We drove around in a futile attempt to find a restaurant that the apartment owner had recommended to us (we had left the address behind - oops!).

We finally gave up and ate at the first restaurant we found that had a place to park nearby.

Here are some pictures of views from our apartment. It was a lovely place to stay. We could see the old city of Florence from the gate.









Day 2 was much more successful. We were, in fact, able to accomplish just about everything we had planned. We parked our car in a rather frightening public parking lot and took the bus into downtown Florence. (I was rather pleased to discover that I remembered enough Italian to ask directions, buy bus tickets and actually understand what people said back to me. We spent the day visiting the Boboli gardens, the Pitti Palace and wandering the old town of Florence. We did learn one valuable lesson, however, on day 2. Just in case you're wondering, it is unwise to give your children Camelbacks completely filled with water while traveling in Europe. Big mistake. We'll leave it at that.

The Pitti palace....


Naomi by the fountain at the Pitti Palace....


The Boboli gardens....


Let me insert here that I think the Boboli gardens (attached to the Pitti Palace)are a waste of time and money. Such a waste. I've now been there 3 times, and each time I've gone I've been disappointed. If you want to see beautiful gardens go to Isola Bella. Or Villa Taranto. Or Versailles. Or the Schwetzingen palace gardens. My point is that the Boboli gardens get all kinds of positive press, and they're really not that impressive. They are big. They are a great place for a picnic, or some shade on a hot day. That's about it, however. Nothing to shout about.

Views from the Pitti Palace....




Naomi and her Camelback....


Ian and Naomi in the gardens....


As you may be able to tell from the pictures, the weather wasn't the greatest that first day. It wasn't terribly cold, but it was drizzling. Unfortunately I left all of the umbrellas in our car (which we were hoping was not stolen). We ended up buying some new umbrellas from street vendors who magically appeared, arms laden with cheap umbrellas, the moment it started to rain. Thank goodness for hawkers of sub-par goods who prey on tourists. They saved my bacon that day.

Oh, and we did eat gelato that day. Very, very expensive gelato. Note to future travelers - ascertain the price of your gelato before it is scooped. It will save you a lot of grief and a lot of money.

Well, I made it through day 2. Only 8 to go. I SWEAR I'll cut back on the narrative. It's the only way I'm going to survive....

This post is not about Italy....

....it is, however, about Bruges. You see, we went to Bruges before we went to Italy. I finally got my act together and downloaded a bunch of pictures onto this poor old beast (we got this computer in the middle of dental school – I think it is now 6 years old) and am going to forge ahead with the blogging. A word of caution, however. The formatting of this post will be rotten. Lousy. Unattractive. I don’t have LiveWriter on this computer, and I’m not going to go to the trouble of installing it on this computer. I’m not sure what would happen. And it is more crucial now than ever before that this computer last just a little bit longer. (If we had trouble getting a cord here – imagine trying to ship an entire computer!!!) I’m thinking we might just have to buy another computer during our UT visit this summer and mail it to ourselves. (Don’t tell Ben this – officially I’m anti-purchasing-a-new-computer.) So, Bruges.

Lately (usually in the car) we’ve had a lot of conversations that run something like this…

Naomi – “Remember when we went to Bruges?”

Me – “Yes, Naomi, I remember when we went to Bruges.”

Naomi – “And there were lots of streets that were water? What were those streets called mommy?” (This question gets asked a lot.)

Me – “Canals.”

Naomi – “Yeah canals. And…”




At this point Ian interrupts. “Oh, those canals were COOL. But you know what was even cooler? The BELL TOWER!!!”





(This picture is, just so you know, of the giant music box-like mechanism which plays the bells in the bell tower. The music nerd in me just had to include it.)




Usually about this point the conversation meanders in another direction, usually prompted by another statement like, “Mommy, do you remember the place we ate a lot of ice cream?” Yes, Naomi. That was Italy. We’ll blog (I mean talk) about it later.

Here are pictures of a few more Bruges moments….

Chasing ducks in the park…




Chocolate… mmmmm… There were some interesting chocolate sculptures in Bruges – and they were not necessarily interesting in a good way. Let’s just say I had to carefully aim the camera to keep this picture G rated.




Waffles….again mmmm…… I think half the fun of traveling in Europe is experiencing the yummy, yummy food!




We loved the architecture – I think the facades with the staircase like roofs exude charm. Europe is definitely not short on charm. Provo and Orem might seem a little dull this summer…(Only architecturally, however!!! In terms of company, UT will be great. We can’t wait to see everybody!)












And, of course, some pretty darn good looking kids. (The extra child in picture 3 is our friends’ son, Austin.)