Christmas in Italy

We've spent three Christmas breaks in France and two in Italy. It's so nice to visit all the hot tourist spots without all the tourists. This year we rented a house on the Amalfi coast and except for the terrible traffic (I can't imagine what it's like during high season) and occasional rain, it was wonderful. After a week in Amalfi we spent three days in Rome and happened to be there on a Sunday when the Pope blesses the people in St. Peter's Square. Here are some pictures of the highlights. You'll see one that I labelled as Danny Glover (very bad picture, he's holding hands with some woman) in Capri. He was there for the Capri Film Festival along with Mimi Carey, but we never saw her.

Sardinia

We had another four day weekend here in Germany, so we booked a flight and headed to Sardinia. The island was beautiful and the food and wine were great (is there such a thing as food and wine that aren't great in Italy?). Unfortunately, the weather wasn't that ideal in the area where our hotel was located. We had lots of wind and overcast skies. I guess it could have been worse and it could have poured the whole time. We still hit the beach for the boys and then drove up in the mountains to check out some of the hill towns and Nuraghi (from Wikipedia - The nuraghe (IPA [nu'rage]) (plural in Italian nuraghi) is the main type of megalithic edifice found in Sardinia, dating back before 1,000 BC. Today it has come to be the symbol of Sardinia and its distinctive culture.)

Testosterone

For any of you out there without boys, here is an example of how testosterone can manifest itself. For some unknown reason Kenny's yellow hat made Jack react like this. Kenny only captured the very end of this spasmic outburst. It had been going on for some time before Kenny started filming.

Christmas Trip

I think I've finally gotten our pictures organized and completed some posts to go along with them. We had a great time and it all kind of seems like a blur. We saw and did so many things. The combination of travel, family and kids at a great age for Christmas makes for a perfect holiday season for us. My Mom had complained that sometimes on the slide shows it's hard to read the captions quick enough. If you want to read something, or look at a picture better, you can click on the picture and you should be able to scroll through at your own pace.

First days in Tuscany

After picking up Cindy, Alan and Lauren in Florence we headed to find our villa. Thank goodness we had a phone number and to contact spoke English because we would never have found it on our own. The villa turned out to be beautiful, big, and with an amazing view of the vineyards of Chianti. It was a former monastery and a great home base. We spent our first day wine tasting in Montalcino and the evening in Siena.

Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas Eve in Florence shopping, eating and sightseeing. I avoided telling Luc that it was Christmas Eve until we were on our way home and I'm glad I did. He couldn't wait to get home and open presents. The Transformers were a hit, but what the boys liked even more were the $3 pistols with some kind of suction cup "bullets."

Christmas Day

On Christmas Day we slept in as long as the boys would allow, found some more Transformers that Santa had left them, and then headed to San Gimignano. My French teacher had told me that San Gimignano was her favorite hill town in the area, and it didn't disappoint. Despite most stores being closed, we wandered around and discovered a cute town, gorgeous views and a great lunch. We had a really hard time finding an open restaurant with room for all of us and were a little hesitant when we were greeted by two dead pheasants on the table right inside the door, but it turned out to be a great lunch.

Leaning Tower of Pizza - as Jack calls it

The day that we were to pick up my parents at the airport we decided to head to Pisa for the day. A lot of the guidebooks I've read seem to think that Pisa is over hyped and not worth the trouble, but we've been there three times now and have commented every time how we think it lives up to all the hype. The last two times we were there the tower was closed to climbing, but this time it was open and we made the trek.
I also had almost 200 Euro stolen when it fell out of my pocket and I wasn't quick enough to realize it was mine. I looked down at my feet to see a hand scoop it up, but got a good look at the person and group of people who grabbed it. I told Kenny who confronted the group and to their credit, they fessed up and gave him the money. Look closely at the two pictures with a lot of people in them. Kenny and Alan are in the center talking to the people and then walking away with the cash. If it goes to fast you can click on the slide show to look at individual pictures.

Siena #2

We headed back to Siena in the daytime after my parents arrived. They had never been there and we all wanted to spend some more time there. We had an incredible lunch with some of the best risotto I've ever had. The chef served it himself scraping it out of a wheel of parmesan cheese and adding huge shavings of cheese on top. On the way back to the villa we stopped in the hilltop town of Monteriggione for a little wine tasting and views.

I love these pictures of Luc and Grandma cooking in the kitchen:

Venice

For me, Venice can be a huge pain in the arse. Most times we've gone there we've had a car. Before I'd actually driven a car in Italy, I didn't realize you can't get remotely close to the island with it. We've also had a dog, kids, luggage, stroller, etc. Navigating boats, stairs, winding streets, difficult directions and boat schedules, finding a place for the dog to pee, and so on can be exhausting even without all the baggage. Nonetheless, it is a beautiful city that everyone should experience at least once.

I've put together the above slide show of our days there, but my favorite picture from Venice is this one of Stella. We had no problem taking her on the boat TO Venice, but when it came time to take a boat back to our car we learned (by being yelled at and then refused boarding) that dogs must be muzzled on the boats. On our third attempt at getting off the island Kenny came up with a muzzle for our precious Stella - a CASHMERE scarf we had picked up in Florence. There will be no uncomfortable, leather cage on my little princess!

A week in Italy

Kenny needed to spend a week in Italy at his plant (Comedil) in Fontanafredda, so he thought the boys and I should go with him. Very last minute (5 days notice) we decided my Mom should join us to help me with the boys during the week while Kenny was working his normal long hours. We stayed in Lignano which is a beach town north of Venice. After picking up my Mom on Saturday, we drove to Martina's (General Manager at the Comedil plant) horse stables where she was hosting a big horse competition. The boys loved seeing all the huge, beautiful horses. Sunday we toured Burano and Murano. Monday and Friday we hit the beach. Tuesday we took the boys to an amusement park called "Gulliverland." The first two days we were without a car, so by Wednesday I was going stir crazy. Kenny arranged a car for us for Wednesday-Friday. I was a little hesitant about driving in Italy (their saying "there are no rules, just guidelines" was a little intimidating), but except for the larger city of Trieste, it wasn't too bad. Wednesday we drove to Belluno (where my Grandma Marin's family was from)and Thursday we headed to Trieste and over into Slovenia.

The little boy is Jack...beating the big kids through the gauntlet.

Day on Burano and Murano Islands

On Sunday we decided to take a boat over to Burano and Murano Islands near Venice. We'd all been to Venice before, so we wanted to see something different. I had high hopes for Murano which is known for glassblowing and didn't know much about Burano except that it was famous for lace. Turned out we liked Burano best. It's a really small island, so easily walkable and the colorful houses made it really picturesque. Murano was nice, but not as pretty and taking the boys in fragile glass knickknack stores really isn't a good idea.

The Beach

When we asked the boys what their favorite part of the week was, they would vacillate between "the beach" and "the 'musement park." The beaches were beautiful, with fine, white sand and the water was great with the boys because you could wade about 75 yards out and the water was still only up to my waist. We rented an umbrella and spent Monday and Friday playing at the seaside.

Monaco and San Remo, Italy

On our second day of touring with our family in the south of France we had breakfast in France, lunch in Monaco and dinner in Italy. It kind of puts into perspective how small Europe is. Here is a shot of Monaco's harbor and all the yachts.
Our lunch at the palace. Don't know if Price Albert was home or if he'd appreciate our picnic on his front porch. The boys favorite part of any meal... After the palace we were on to Monte Carlo where Cindy, Mom, Dad and I paid to go into the casino and lose a few bucks at the slots.We then drove to San Remo, Italy for an awesome dinner and everyone's favorite after dinner treat....GELATO!!! I guess at one time San Remo had a big Russian population (maybe still does), but since our trip to Russia this summer I've been fascinated with Russian Orthodox churches. This one was really pretty lit up at night.

Bra and Barolo, Italy

After leaving France we headed into Italy and stayed in Bra, Italy which is in the Piedmont area. The food in that area is incredible along with the wine from Barolo. We had some beautiful pictures from the Barolo wine area, but unfortunately due to a piece of cereal stuffed into our cardreader when we got home (wonder who could have done that?) the pictures on Kenny's camera were lost. All I had left from our travels through Italy were pictures on my camera of us enjoying awesome room service of risotto and gnocchi in our hotel room. Yum!!

Trip to Italy

We spent the last few days in the northwestern part of Italy with our friends Christer & Christine and we had a great time. Kenny's company Christmas party was Friday night so we flew down on Wednesday, Kenny worked on Thursday and Friday and then we went to the party on Friday night. We stayed in Sacile and the plant is in Fontanafredda. All I've got to say about the Christmas party is boy, do the Italians have it all over the Germans when it comes to throwing a party! I'll have to do a few separate posts on all the things we saw and did, but this first one is just on the flight down there. One of the best things about Europe is how small it is and another great thing is all the low cost airlines. For a penny each (plus taxes of course) we all flew a 1.25 hour flight from Germany to Italy. The boys were really good, but with Jack as usual, I was sweating trying to keep him entertained and quiet. Thank goodness both flights were pretty empty and flying with two kids helps ensure no one wants to sit near us. Ryan Air is kind of a free-for-all with no assigned seating and you'd seriously better be ready to duke it out for position when it's time to board. You get no points for having kids either and I'm starting to think that outfitting them with helmets would be a good idea. Here are some shots of the Alps as we flew over. We had beautiful weather the whole time we were there... chilly at night, but clear and warm during the day.

Sacile, Italy

Sacile is a beautiful little town near the Terex Comadil plant where Kenny works when he is there. It's in a great location with easy access to Venice, the Dolomites and the Veneto. Here's a map so you can see exactly where it's located. The star is Sacile and Venice (Venezia) is to the south. From Sacile, Kenny's plant is to the east, Belluno (where my Grandma's family is from) is to the north and Castelcucco (where my Grandpa was from) is southwest near Bassano Del Grappa. Sacile is fairly small, but very picturesque with a lot of water, bridges and surprisingly a lot of shopping if you're looking for clothes, shoes or eyeglasses. The people are very fashionable. This Italian gene definitely did not get passed on to me.

Gotta love Italian food

I grew up eating Italian food, so you don't have to tell me it's the best there is. Luc learned his new favorite dessert on this trip - tiramisu! And I learned how much dessert that kid can pack away...more than his daddy or most adults. Since we've gotten back he perks up and his eyes glaze over if anyone says that word near him. Pizza and tiramisu, that's all my boys need from now on.
Slow down cowboy...save some for Mommy and Jack!