sorrento/capri vacation central

We arrrived here a few days ago and picked up our keys at a house on a back "street" that was being gutted. The workers there called a guy who arrived on a scooter and said "follow me".....

He took us down a narrow street and then through an alley so skinny that i drug my mirror on the building.....

It is a nice place that is once again large enough for all six of us.

the first day here we drove down the amalfi coast....its known as a white knuckle drive...tight curves, narrow road. fantastic views.

four hours later we were at an ancient greek ruin place called pasteum that lynda has always wanted to see.

the next day we rented a boat and boated over to capri. docked for 10 euros and walked the city for a while....then rode a single chair lift to the top of mt salerno. then back down for a run around the island...with a few swims here and there. we also drove the boat straight through one of those big famous rocks.....well there was a hole there of course, but it was really neat.

lynda though we were going to die when a large boat wake came into the boat to visit us while we were stopped and changing fuel tanks. overall it was a fun memorable experience.

hopfully the kids will post some boat photos...i was too busy driving....

more later..off to tuscany next....

Rome!

I've finally got a chance to write about rome, so here is my take on it for those who prefer paragraphs and no ellipses.

I would have to say rome is my favorite city we have visited so far. It's an amazing mix of ancient, old and modern. We stayed right by the Colosseum, as Jim already talked about, which seems like it was dropped into the middle of a modern city. The drive in was crazy, but we managed to get to the place with no wrong turns thanks to our awesome navigator, and a little help from the GPS.

The first day Trillion and I got up early and took the incredibly busy subway to Vatican city. We had bought tickets ahead of time to the museum (which is supposedly one of the best collections in the world) and that allowed us to skip the line which spanned two city blocks. There were tons of statues of everything from animals to emperors. The coolest part was the map room. It was a huge room with big maps all along the wall. Here I am gazing at one of the many maps.

The museum ended with the Sistine chapel, which was packed with tour groups. We exited through the tour group exit that took us out by the entrance to the cupolo, which is the gigantic dome on top of st. Peter's basilica. There were over 500 stairs to climb, but it was definitely worth it as we got the most spectacular view of the city.

Walking down left us inside the basilica. I wish i had a picture that showed how big it was, but there's just no way to capture it in a photograph. We did the Vatican in less than 3 hours! leaving us plenty of time to see more of the city. After meeting up with everyone else, we walked to the Borghese gardens, kind of like the central park of Rome, except on a big hill. One the way was one of the best meals of the trip. I got a rigatoni carbonara, but trillion's pasta pesto was the best. And the portions were so big that I couldn't finish everything even though i wanted to. At the park we rented big pedal carts. It was really fun to ride them all around, and it makes for a funny picture.

The next day was the Colosseum and Roman forum. They are really old, and it's weird to think this was once home to the most powerful civilization in the world. The Colosseum was very impressive, but the forum was mostly fallen or taken apart. On our last day trillion and I went to the ruins of the nearby port of ostia antica, which was much better preserved and really neat.

In the evening we spent a lot of time at piazza Navona and the Trevi fountain. Piazza Navona is a huge square (though actually a rectangle) full of fountains, artists, and street performers. There are also tons of great looking restaurants just to the west, we ate at a couple. The Trevi fountain is weird because it is right up against a building. It was always packed. Also in that area is Pantheon, which is one of the best preserved roman buildings, mostly because it was converted to a church. It is so strange to come around the corner and right in the middle of the city is this ancient building.

We did much more in Rome, but there just isn't time to cover it all. We saw more churches, museums, piazzas, and all kinds of great food. The best was Navona Notte. The four cheese gnocchi was delicious, as was the pasta alla vodka. They also had the best chocolate mousse I have ever had. Trillion even liked it better than the tiramisu.

Time to say goodbye to Rome, until next time, that is.

Rome...we like it!

well we have been here for a while, eaten a lot of pizza and gelato

The last couple of days we split up and go our own ways because lynda has sore feet and walks

a bit slower. Its wild but we have run into each other out in Rome a couple of times. Seems like our family tends to wander around the same places

...here are some pictures of the street performers at Piazzia Navona....both the puppet guy and mr freeze guy were there last time we were.
Our family talked to them both, the puppet guy is on year 17! wow..what a way to make a living.

7 has been in pizza heaven eating at all the best places in the world...buffeta etc. while some of the rest of us have ventured out and had a pasta, etc. I even tried a steak here.....which was different to say the least.

I have taken a few car, machine, ape, motorscooter etc shots.

Tommorow we take off for sorrento...

I am not sure how the connections will be so this may be my last post for a bit. Traffic here is WILD so pray for us as we brave the traffic circles on the way out of rome. Ask barrrett about left left..no right! ooops.....

he has been a great help for all of us!

as always....

jim/j

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All roads lead to rome!

So I know Jim has been posting about Rome already, but I want to talk briefly about a few of our stops on the way to rome. After leaving Venice, we drive about an hour to Verona, where obscure play Romeo and Juliet was set. It was actually a very pretty city apart from the whole Romeo and Juliet thing, but I don't think that's what draws in the crowds. Here you can see me in the crowd with the supposed balcony where Romeo wooed Juliet.

There are a few interesting things to note. As Romeo and Juliet is fiction, this whole thing was really just put on to bring in tourists to the city. But on the other hand, the house shown above has been owned by the Capoletto (not sure on the spelling there) family since the 1200's, and that's of course where Shakespeare got the name Capulet, so the site is not without history of meaning. Also there is a statue of Juliet right below the balcony. There bronze has substantial wear on the right boob, I think you can guess why.

After getting some of the best Gelato in Italy, we drove about three hours to where we stayed for the night. It was this very strange camping resort in Tuscany with spectacular views of the Tuscan countryside. It was kind of like the beach resorts they have in the Caribbean, except not all-inclusive or on a beach. It was full of Europeans though, and they told us the tap water wasn't drinkable, possibly mimicking the resorts in Mexico, except there it actually is dangerous to drink the water.

The next day we went to Assisi in Umbria on the way to Rome. If you are like me and not familiar with Catholic history or hill towns in Italy, you wouldn't know that Assisi is famous for being the home of St. Francis. He brought the message of the gospel to the commoners (the bible was only in Latin in the middle ages) gave all his riches to the poor, and started a radical evangelical movement. Soon after his death, a cathedral was built in his honor and to house this remains. No pictures inside, but here is a shot of it from the outside.

Other than that there wasn't really much to Assisi. We then spotted a cool looking town up on a hill near the road we were on, and decided to go take a look. It was fun exploring the town, called Trevi, and it had a really weird playground. It was nothing like you see in the states. Here I am doing the rope swing. It was kind of like a zipline, but you sat down.

Finally on to Rome, which is seems you have already heard a lot about. More to come from me on that soon I hope. By the way, if you would like to see more pictures, Trillion has been posting them on facebook as we go, so if you friend her, you will be able to see more than just the few I put up here. One last thing. I want to talk about at least one meal each post, but the food at these places was subpar at best, so I am going to cover a place in Rome because the food here has been spectacular. At dar Poeta Pizzaria I got the pizza with spicy salami and chilies. It was the best pizza I have had so far on this trip. They also had excellent bruschetta. It's off to Sorrento tomorrow!

rome 89 steps up

hi all!

this is a shot of our apartment building through one of the arches of the colusieum which we toured yesterday...hot hot hot!!!

you can also see it in the background of the second shot..

finding a place to park the car near here was a tough job. Barrett and i drove around for like and hour trying to figure out the rules etc. we finally found a good legal spot...and a motorhome jumped into it!

its not like there are very many motorhomes around.......we couldn't believe it.

we have walked a lot, and find ourselves wandering around even when we think we are cutting it short.

last night we all split up. two couples were having their anniversary night dinner.

lynda and i toured the capitoline museum and then left when it was closing at 8pm to find a nice place to get dinner.....

we ran into barrett and trilly in the piazza nuevollia (spelling error) and two of our favorite "acts" were there. The french finger puppet guy and the freeze man.

later right after dinner we ran into 7 and lauren!

they had picked a place to eat within 50 meters of the place we did, and finished dinner at almost the exact same time!

so everyone is up now...so i have to close.

as always

jim/j

we are in rome...but here is venice......

well.....jim here...

first time i have had time to do this.....and had internet.

today is june 17th....both 7 and lauren's and lynda and my aniversary.

we walked our feet off in venice going through all the winding streets and canals. actually didn't walk on the canals......

Venice is lynda and my favorite city, because you can just wander around and there is always something new around the next corner.

yachts are parked all along the dock at san marco....and there are lots of interesting people watching opportunities.

this one was named siran

we bought some cool murano glass when we rode the boat over to that island...

the kids only stayed about and hour...lynda and i stayed for about 3 or four ate, shopped and

enjoyed this "mini venice"

glass blowing was moved there about 400 years ago to avoid fires on the main island.

..

well it is very late and i have done enough.

i will try again on another day


jim/j

ok, Venice this time

So last post I wanted to talk about Venice, but I got sidetracked because there was a ton of interesting stuff in the couple days before, and then got pulled away from my computer because it was time to go back out and tour Rome. Now finally I get to cover Venice, and maybe someday I will actually catch up and post about what I am doing right now.

As for Venice, I would say it is the most unique city I have ever been to. It feels very old, but still very nice, and the history is fascinating. Above is a picture from the bell tower in san Marco's square, the main square in Venice. You can also see the grand canal on the far left. Then the next picture shows a view of the bell tower, and you can also see the doge's palce (the 'Doge' was like the king of Venice, which was the most powerful city-state in europe for 400 years).

There are no cars in Venice, which is really weird, but I quickly got used to it. The canals weave everywhere and seem endless. I think my favorite thing was walking around the city and exploring. Riding a boat down the grand canal was amazing. all the buildings are right up against the water, and it is full of "traffic."

The food in Italy has been amazing, and I would have to say the food here in Rome is even better than it was in Venice. We did eat at a great place in a back alley of Venice. The best part was the cannoli, and my "4 seasons" pizza was really good too. It was four pizzas in one, mushroom, ham, artichoke, and pepperoni (which in Italy is peppers). I've got some roman churches to see tomorrow, which hopefully you will hear about soon. I'll end with a final picture from our three wonderful days in Venezia. It's Trillion and I on the Realto bridge.

Venezia!

It's more than a week into our grand tour of Europe, and I wish this wasn't my first post, but a combination of spotty Wifi and a very busy schedule didn't leave much time for a blog. Trillion was able to write about Paris, and since then we have traveled across most of Western Europe and toured all around the beautiful city of Venice (or Venezia, in italian).

On our way, we traveled across Switzerland, Austria, and the Dolomite region of Italy. In Switzerland we visited interlaken before driving the Sustenpass, a high elevation mountain pass in the middle of the alps. It was terrifying as we meandered up switchbacks in to the clouds where we could only see 30 ft in front of us. Unfortunately, the clouds meant no stunning views of the valley below, but there were plenty of other spectacular views when we were not at such a high elevation.

We stayed the night in the sleepy skiing village of Gaschurn, Austria (shown in the picture, notice the clouds covering the tops of the mountains). We were the only people staying in our Bed and Breakfast called Gastehaus Rifa. Dinner was the memorable

part. We ate at a nearby restaurant and all got classic Austrian fare. The inside was covered with cuckoo clocks and wood carvings and it was truly spectacular. I got the schnitzel (fried pork) and it came with a ton of delicious fries.

The next day we went to Innsbruck, and then drove on down through the alps to a town called Treviso near venice. Innsbruck was a really interesting city. The picture is of Trillion and I in front of the town square, with the famous golden roof behind us. I got some good

Schweinebraten at the biergarten we ate at. You'll probably hear about more Schweinebraten in about a month and a half. It's time to head back out to Venice, so that's all for now. Hopefully I will post about Venice soon! It is truly a unique place. Hope all is well in the states.

1029 steps later

That's right, yesterday Barrett, Lauren, 7, and I (10^12) did over 1000 stairs. I did this with a cold/fever. So worth it! Yesterday, our last day in Pairs, The young ones walked to the top of the famous Notre Dame bell tower (407 steps each way) and saw where Quasimodo used to live. Then, we met up with Lynda and Jim and went to the catacombs. They were pretty amazing and well worth the wait. Then we saw Napoleon's tomb which was massive and way to big for his size. We went through the Musee L'Armee and saw Rodin's house and the Thinker before heading to the Eiffel Tour. We were smart and got tickets in advance so we could go up right at 9:30 pm which was sunset. I had never been up there at sunset and must say it was quite amazing. We thankfully rode the elevator. We stayed at the top to watch darkness set and the lights of the city turn on. We got some amazing pictures. Speaking of pictures...I look EXTREMELY pale in all of the pictures. I blame this not only on the fact that I am somehow related to Casper the ghost but also on the fact that I was sick. 7 assures me he can edit in a nice tan for me on any pictures he took with his nice camera. I plan on taking advantage of that edit option.

Today, we woke up early and had to leave our lovely Paris apartment. We got our new car which is a Renault Scenic Grande and headed out of Paris. The car is very nice but a bit snug. It turns out the back pull up seats are for children aka no foot room and very small chair. Lauren and I are practicing our kid voices so we'll be ready if a cop pulls us over and sees one of in the back haha. We stopped in a quaint city called Beaunne for a late lunch and ate at a wonderful restaurant. Definitely the best meal of the trip so far. Then we did the rest of the driving which landed us at a hotel in Besancon. We walked around the city and ate dinner there. It was kind of depressing. The city was huge and had a lot of potential, but was completely run down and covered in graffiti. Tomorrow we head through Switzerland and drive through the Alps. Dramamine here we come!

Time to go!!

It's time for me to have a go with this. This is Barrett, 7's brother-in-law, his sister Trillion's husband (everyone may know this already, but I don't know who all reads this blog). I will hopefully be making a lot of posts this summer because Trillion and I would like to document that, so it seems natural for me post throughout the entire trip.

I am unbelievably excited right now!! We leave tomorrow morning, and the anticipation is killing me. I have my one large backpack and one small backpack all packed up and ready to go. I decided not to go with the rollers like everyone else because I couldn't stand rolling something like that around the streets of all the big cities in Europe. I also have a functional back.

After the 6 of us tour around Italy for a month, we are heading to Barcelona, and from there Trillion and I will be breaking off and traveling by train and bus through Spain, Germany, Austria, and the Czech Republic. It's going to be an amazing experience, and I hope you all enjoy following along.

Finally I would like to give a shout out to Shaq. Thats right, the newly proclaimed big AARP is retiring and quite frankly I think Shaq is awesome. I hope we see him as an analyst or in a movie soon...

Anyway, it's time to sleep so we can finally get to tomorrow and get over to the other side of the pond. Have a great summer everyone!

Last Minute

After months of planning and searching our trip to Europe is almost here! Only 2 more days of waiting and then we will be on a plane headed to Paris (with a couple of detours to NYC and Helsinki...so I will be able to say I've been to Finland!). These last few days are not filled with waiting through, they have been occupied with last minute errands, laundry, cleaning, and lists. As many of you know I am a queen of lists...I love making them and checking things off...so right now I have a list going for everything...packing, "to do's", food my parents can take, care notes for our cat...you get the idea.

I love packing for vacation and this one is especially challenging. I have had to fit everything I need for 6 weeks of travel in 1 carry on backpack and 1 suitcase measuring 22"w x 14"d x 6" h. Challenging. I managed quite a variety of tanks, dresses, and shorts and my list is a bit more extensive than 7's, so I'm not going to list it here. I'm pretty proud of what I fit in my bag and I even left some room so I can buy things while we are there!

I will miss you all while we're gone...enjoy following our Dots on the Map! :)