Brian's Birthday

We just got back from our first day of church.  We were told ahead of time that we should go to the branch, not the ward, because it's currently bigger, with more kids.  They meet from 1-4 (which is also good since I don't even know what time zone we think we are in.  I slept in till 10 this morning before waking up the kids).  After breakfast, I went online to look up the address for the building.  I had it in an email from L3 Troy, but COULDN"T find it.  It was completely driving me crazy.  I couldn't reach Matt to have him forward anything to me. . . .  I did have another email from Troy with a few phone numbers.  I cold called a Melanee Stewart and got her husband who gallantly offered to swing by our hotel and let us follow him.  That was the first in a long series of kindnesses.

They call the church building "The Villa"  because that's what it is/was.  It's very nice house that has been converted into a church.  It is in a nice residential area.  The Branch President has been here for 4 years, the Stewarts hold the record with 15!  We met the Allens' friends, the Ramptons, and I had to turn down an offer for dinner because Isaac has to be in the lobby of the hotel at 6 to be picked up for a Fireside.  It seems to be mostly Americans, but one of the 3 speakers was Australian.  Isaac's Sunday school teacher is from Moscow, Jessica's teacher is from Swaziland.  Makenna's teacher has a pretty accent too, but Makenna has "not a clue" where she is from.  Isaac's teacher is married to a Ukrainian and they now know about a certain sister missionary heading that way.  Makenna has a girl named Emily in her class.  There is also an Emily who is a sunbeam.  There are 4 young men, 3 of whom are deacons.  Isaac is from, um, take your pick (he said he is starting to hate that question)  one is from the Philippines, and the other is from western Australia.  The fourth is 14 and from Connecticut.  There are a lot more young women.  People were literally lining up to meet us and offer help.  We stayed an extra 45 minutes talking with people, and it wasn't just me.  Isaac was actually the last one to the car.  Everyone is all smiles and feeling very good.

Our first Sunday in Ingolstadt, I stayed with the girls in Primary.  In Sicily, the girls wanted me to walk with them to Primary, and later I ended up coming back to help.  Today after Sacrament Meeting, Isaac disappeared before I knew where he was supposed to go and the girls headed off with Sister Stewart while the executive secretary was getting our info.  All the moving this past year has made them more confident and brave.  Being new is no longer such a big deal.

Here we are in front of "The Villa".  I was taking a shot of the kids with my phone when Adam Rampton offered to take it  for me.  

I'm going to include a few other shots that may or may not be interesting.  We currently do all our grocery shopping at Carrefour.  It's a huge super store or hypermarket that is based out of France, I believe.  It's inside the Mall of the Emirates, which is very close.  I love the fruit and vegetable section.  It tells you where each thing is from.  There are several "local" selections with a UAE flag, but most come from elsewhere on the globe.  If you are a local-vore, looking around will give you ulcers.  Now that we live in the desert, and not the desert next door to CA, I'm very grateful that food can and does travel.  You could teach world geography walking up and down the aisles.  We are finding most of the things we are used to, but I'm compiling a short wish list for Brian and Hilary.  The food labels are most often in English and Arabic, but sometimes English is replaced with German or French.  There is one international aisle (as if the whole store isn't international enough).  There is a Russian section with authentic Russian stuff, and Japanese, and Thailand, and then there is Mexico. . .

It's less obvious in the picture, but most of the stuff is Old El Paso brand, which I don't think is from Mexico.  We don't mind though.  Hooray for tortillas! 

This seems out of order, but I took this right before we went swimming for a couple hours yesterday.  The pool is on the roof of the parking section of the hotel, level 8.  There is also a wonderful gym.  The girls are in the shadow of the rest of the hotel with its 41 floors.  We are on 10 and often take the stairs because we are impatient waiting for the elevators.  

Okay, these are things in our cupboards/fridge that struck me as amusing this morning.  Little signs that we aren't in Kansas anymore.  They are a little less interesting at this moment, but oh well, here they are anyway.

Orange and carrot nectar is surprisingly delicious.

I wasn't familiar with the brand "American Garden" before, but they are currently our only sources of syrup and peanut butter. 

I put this is large so you can see the words on the bottom.  "100% pure cow's milk".  What are the other choices?  Goat?  Sheep?  Camel?  

There are exactly two flavors of Campbell's:  Chicken and Celery.  That means the girls' favorite tuna casserole, Hawaiian Haystacks and Swedish Meatballs are all possible.  

We Made it to Dubai!

Matt arrived just before midnight, local time.  He picked up one rental car and drove to the hotel to check in.  At first there wasn't the extra bed for Isaac as requested, so Matt got creative and moved the couches around to create a monster crib bed.  It ended up being so comfortable that he kept it for two nights before trying the single bed the hotel provided.  During the time, Matt was setting things up, the kids and I were in Doha (Qatar), waiting for the last quick leg of our trip.  Too bad there wasn't a direct flight from Venice, or maybe that's just what we get for cheap tickets.  Our plane landed at 3 local time.  It took another hour to get through customs and another hour to get the other rental car and drive to the hotel.  By the time everyone got showered and found PJs, it was after 6am.

 The girls LOVED their beds in their room, but were sorely tempted to trade Isaac for a night in the crib.  He wasn't thrilled with the idea of sharing with them, again.  

When we finally woke up and got dressed it was way past breakfast but we had zero food of our own.  We went to the Mall of the Emirates to grab breakfast that looked more like late lunch food.  They saw the indoor ski resort.  Then we went shopping to get some bread, milk, eggs and more.  Over lunch, we had a request from a young local couple to take Jessica's picture.  Was it her big beautiful eyes or the better than average princess braid?  She was pretty tickled and gave them a great smile.

Later we unpacked and showed dad the chosen Venice souvenirs.  Jess not only modeled her mask, but insisted on wearing it while we played hearts.  It looks quite good with her birthday scarf.  You can see a bit of our hotel apartment.  It is just a bit bigger than our place in Sicily, but there are two bathrooms.  That right there would be enough, but there's more.  The girls have their own room.  Isaac still is without a proper bedroom, but he has his own bed, not on the floor, with a dimming lamp switch at hand, and his own dresser.  The kitchen has a big fridge, a gas stove, microwave, dishwasher, washer/dryer in one, and no oven.  Can't have everything.  But there are lots of cupboards which makes us feel more like Mother Hubbard because even after two shopping trips, they are quite bare.

Matt first has to go in to work Tuesday.  It's been nice to have some time to get settled a bit, even though it's a temporary stay.  We took care of cell phones yesterday!  Our 4the SIM cards since summer.  The first order of business when he goes in, is to start on his work visa.  Once he has that we can sign a long term contract for . . . something.  Maybe still a hotel suite, but more likely a more house-like place.  We will make sure it's big enough because we are already expecting visitors in April.  3 cheers for Brian and Hilary!  

Unexpected things:  #1: it's chilly.  We took sweatshirts/jackets with us when we went to dinner and the fountain show outside the Dubai Mall/Burj Kalifa.  We ate at the Al Ijaza Cafeteria,  possibly the oldest eatery in Dubai--22 years of proud service.  It's a little place on a major road, but the food is amazing, the fancy fruity drinks are unbelievable and the prices are so low, you almost feel guilty.  Cars will drive up out front and honk and a guy will run out to take their order and then bring it back after a few minutes.  It's fun to sit and watch the cars.  It's like a moving auto show.  There are plenty of plain janes, but there are far more than normal of the more exotic variety.  The most unusual yesterday was a convertible Rolls Royce.  

#2: There were no kidding waves at the beach.  When I hung out for a few hours on a few days in the summer the water lapped, but there were no waves.  When we recently went to the beach, people were surfing/body surfing.  The water was cool, but thanks to the breeze felt warmer than the air.  Jess LOVES the beach.  We didn't go long the first time, pictured below, and as soon as we left she started hounding us about when are we going back, what time tomorrow, an hour after breakfast?  We heard variations on this theme ALL day, as we looked for cheap swimsuits.  When Matt took the kids the next day while I stayed to unpack 6 boxes, he said she ran into the water and just jumped up and down 20 times bursting with happiness.  

The buildings in the distance are on the man made island--The Palms.  

#3:  It's crowded!   We found out before we came that we were coming back at peak visitor season, but good grief.  At first we thought the crowds were because of the weekend shopping, but last night when we did another grocery store run at Carrefour, it was just as crazy, at 9:30pm on a work/school night.  We aren't adjusting to the 3 hour time difference very well.  Matt and I set our alarm for 8 this morning.  I opened the kids windows to let in the light, but we all still lazed in bed until 10.  It doesn't help that the beds are really comfortable.  I'm typing this at 11 as the kids finish breakfast.  The biggest pain about the crowds is the difficulty in getting an elevator.  There are 10 elevators and 41 floors.  We are on the 10th.  I'm glad it's not any higher because we have resorted to the stairs a bit too often.  Isaac now prefers them and will often race us.  Last night after shopping, we tried a new trick, walk down one level from parking to ground and catch an elevator.  That way they aren't all full and skipping us on level 1 or 2 or 3, depending on where we parked.  We had too many grocery bags to do the stairs last night.  

Orders of business for today are maybe an Ikea run to get some shelves.  And the girls want to try the pool.  We can make this more comfortable knowing anything we pick up at this point can easily come with us.  It's very nice NOT to be looking at another flight anytime soon.

Venice

While shopping for tickets to try and match Matt's flight from Sicily to Dubai, I noticed several of the choices were routing through Venice.  That got me thinking.  We couldn't fly through Venice without stopping for at least a day to let the kids see a beautiful city drenched (ha ha) in history.  So we finished packing and boxing our assortment of temporary living supplies Monday (including the warn on that last minute market dash the Friday before!).  Matt drove us to the airport Tuesday morning.  We said good-bye for two days.  We would be flying out of the Marco Polo airport about the same time he would be catching his connecting flight in Milan.  

I made the kids bundle knowing it was going to be cold.  They grumbled and griped about carrying a sweatshirt AND a coat through the little airport.  It was a chilly morning by Sicily standards, but we were all definitely overdressed. They quickly changed their tune once we landed a bit more north.  When we left the airport to find the bus, I was pulling out scarves, hats and gloves.  My phone said it was 27 degrees (negative if you are keeping score in C).  That was about the warmest we saw it for the next 48 hours.  

We drove over the long boring 5K bridge.  That brought back memories.  When we first got off the bus, I thought we could try walking through town over bridges and down alleys--it was only a couple kilometeres away--but after bump, bump, bumping our 5 pieces of rolling luggage and 5 smaller carry-on items up and down a painfully long bridge, we decided to forget that terrible idea and hop on a water bus.  (That's the bad thing about stopping for a little vacation while moving, you have way too much stuff with you!)  We bought 2 day passes and hopped on the next #1, direction Lido.  We made the mistake of sitting up front, outside.  After our 35 minute ride we were so cold.  It doesn't matter how beautiful your surroundings are when you cant feel your fingers or toes.  It was a very short walk to our hotel from the "bus stop", but we never would have found if I hadn't called the guy.  He came out of a hidden passageway to show us around the corner.  We dropped off our bags (lugged them all up a steep staircase) in our lovely and fabulously clean room before heading back out unimpeded.  

We went back to catch the boat to San Marco's Square.  We sat inside and enjoyed the ride much more. It was starting to get dark.  I pointed out a few things including the Doge's Palace, the Basilica, and the tower before heading off to find dinner.  The one we picked did not disappoint.  I had a seafood pasta, the girls split a pizza and Isaac had the quattro stagioni--just like I had described it--it sections.  Everything was hot and delicious.  No one was up for window shopping in the cold, so after we ate, we just went back to the hotel to crank up the heater, take hot showers and chill for a bit.  I taught the kids to play Hearts--big hit.  (Troy taught us all Scum the week before and everyone loves that, but 4 people seemed too small.)

Yes, I took a picture of the bathroom.  Sicily was a great experience for many, many reasons, but not one of us will miss that bathroom.  Ick.  This one was so wonderfully clean, with a fantastic heater and the water pressure was GREAT!  We all really liked the bathroom.  

The next morning after a marvelous breakfast, served in our room piping hot, we bundled up better and set out for a much happier day.  Everyone had on at least two pairs of long socks, extra layers were added on top, and the girls had leggings on under their pants too.  We brought along the old backpack in case anyone got too warm (no one did).  

Leaving the hotel.  

The alleyway where the hotel would accept deliveries. 

The kids are looking out that alley and I'm taking their picture from the nearest bridge.  

Now they are walking around the corner.  

I tried to take plenty of pictures, though not all will be included.

Our boat stop was called Rialto Mercado--The fish market.  It's open every morning and if you love seafood, wow!  It's amazing.  The kids loved looking at all their wares.  There are also fruit and vegetable stands.  

This fish head looks much bigger in person.  There were swordfish heads as decor too, but their noses were too long for the picture. 

Waiting for the boat.  It was foggy.  Bummer, but still beautiful.  

This picture is supposed to be showing the boat turning down the narrow waterway to make a delivery or maybe head home.  

One of the boat drivers on one of our many trips.  There isn't a right/left side for driving.  The boat bus zigzags back and forth according to where the stops are.  Delivery trucks, a few gondolas (too cold for most tourists) garbage trucks. . . . just drive along slowly and watch out for each other.  

Looking back at the market. 

The kids helped me find interesting buildings.  It's fun to see if they have connecting sidewalks or just little islands unto themselves.  Fun fact: Venice is made up of 117 little islands and 177 canals and connected by 409 bridges.

DHL delivery!

We had to yell at Isaac or he couldn't hear us. 

Is this the church in Indiana Jones?  

Drat the fog. 

We are on our way to Murano to go check out the glass makers of renown.  

Messing around keeps you warm.

The kids liked the glass blowing and shaping demos so much that we went in search of another as well.  We saw him make a delicate fancy pitcher and a horse rearing up.

It's hard to see the pitcher without a darker color behind it.  It was textured and the handle wrapped around the neck a few times.  It was so pretty.  

There's the horse.  It's about a foot tall.  The kids were amazed to watch him shape it out of the hot drooping glass, constantly turning it to fight gravity and fighting time while the hot glass hardens.  

He also blew a glass bubble till it was cellophane thin and then exploded.  Every jumped.  

Gas station. 

They started feeding pigeons while waiting for the boat.  

Makenna's warrior face. 

The Bridge of Sighs above and behind them.  This is where the prisoners would cross from the court to the prison, last look at freedom.

The Doge's Palace.  This was the center of control when Venice was a powerhouse in the Mediterranean, a center for trade helping connect east and west.  

The two famous pillars, one topped with the Venetian 

winged lion.  

Every pillar of the palace is carved uniquely. Amazing, beautiful stone work.  And not a bad shot with the misty tower visible off to the left.  

We couldn't go inside the basilica on Wednesday because we had Isaac's backpack.  It's free to go in, but they are strict about luggage.  The purple pillars in front rather look like porphyry.  I wonder if it's part of the Vatican's spreadsheet?

The pigeons were numbered in the hundreds, not thousands, but the kids had a blast regardless.  

Outside of a government building.  The original patron saint of Venice was St. Theodore who is most known for fighting a dragon (looking suspiciously like a crocodile in one statue in town).  But when Venice was coming into its own as a world power in the 800's, they decided they needed to upgrade saints.  They stole the remains of St. Mark from Alexandria, Egypt.  Along with Mark's remains came his symbol, the lion.  There used to be many, many more lions adorning the city, but after Napoleon sacked it in the very late 18th century, he ordered over a thousand lions be removed to humble the residents.  

Taken from the other side of the square.  See the absence of pigeons and cafe tables and chairs.  There was a full orchestra playing two visits ago in high summer.  In another month it will be full of fancy revelers for Carnivale.  

So sweet.  Window shopping. 

We saw amazing glass art, but refrained from photographing most of them.  These fish were calling out though.  

It really is a beauitful church.  You could fill a whole book with pictures of just the floor mosaics.  I would love to have a knowledgable tour guide someday to explain all the pictures on the ceilings and facades.  

Makenna, the winged lion. It's back there, above the walkway but below the arch.  

The most photographed lion with the blue and gold spangled background. 

Not the one she picked as a souvenir--that one has feathers!

Cool, but freaky cat.

The Bridge of Sighs plus 4 others. 

The other side of that same bridge. 

Wow? This is in the lobby of the largest shop in Venice.  Glass, masks, and puppets priced at top dollar.  We treated it more as a warm museum and enjoyed walking through 2 of the three massive floors.  

I broke the no camera rule.  We couldn't resist the temptation of the bat mask with BatJess right there.

Loading the garbage boat.

We stopped in a warm sweet shop and picked a few things to sample.  

I bet there used to be a lion on top of this pillar.  Drat Napoleon. 

Looking under the Rialto Brigde

Okay, it's another glass fish.  The fish skeleton stuck in the ice block was just funny.

Looks like a yummy restaurant, but doesn't have tourist hours.  It's real Italian and doesn't open until 7 for dinner. 

Heading back to the hotel to drop off a few things before dinner.  

The next morning we left all our stuff at the hotel after breakfast so we could visit the inside of the basilica. We fed some more pigeons and I took some videos with my phone.  I'll see if I can post them on youtube.  That's the gist of our brief trip to Venice.  We set off for the airport, driving through snow on the mainland.  We were flying from Venice to Doha and then to Dubai.  We flew Qatar Air and is was possibly the nicest I have ever sampled.  The kids were pampered and loved their private screens with loads of kid choices.   Between the two airports Isaac and Makenna played a whole game of Battleship.