Sleepy Head

Josh really liked the sleeping mask that I got on the airplane from London. I couldn't resist snapping a few sleeping shots.

Self Portraits

This is what I find when I turn on my camera . . .

The Trip

This summer I went on a 15 day tour of Europe with my parents and sister Susan. It was called the European Whirl and it certainly was a whirlwind. We spent almost every night in a different hotel, ate some interesting things (but avoided even more "interesting" foods), spent more time on a bus than I ever thought I could, and saw all kinds of amazing things I thought I would only experience via postcards. It was amazing. This will be long post but a seriously abbreviated version of our adventure.

Day one:

We spent the whole night on a British Airways jet. I was a little miffed that they considered a 10 hour flight the first day of the tour, but what could I do. We did get some fun little sleep packets on the plane that Susan and enjoyed. They gave us socks, a toothbrush and tiny tube of toothpaste, and best of all--a sleeping mask. Susan and I were so giddy by then that we really had fun with the masks. I don't think any of us slept very well, which actually turned out for the best. We arrived in London around 2 p.m. so by bedtime, we were so tired that jet lag wasn't too much of an issue.

Day two:

By the time we landed, day two was mostly gone due to the eight hour time difference. We took a shuttle to the hotel and my first impression was that London has crazy drivers. They park on both sides of the street so we came so very close to hitting these itty-bitty smart cars. Little did I know what Roman drivers were like. My second impression of London was how crowded it is! I know I live in a small town now, but I haven't always. But people in Phoenix don't really walk around outside so the volume of people on the streets was overwhelming. I've been to New York, and this somehow felt different. Wish I could explain it more clearly, but there were just a lot of people. We wandered down Oxford Street to Hyde Park and back to the hotel. The Killers were playing in Hyde Park but I couldn't convince anyone to stay with me for the concert. Strange.

Day three:

Our London bus tour started with a trip to the Prince Albert Memorial. Queen Victoria really loved him. Lots of bling on that one. We also saw Big Ben & Parliament, Westminster Abbey, and the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. We were going to take a tour of the Tower of London, but they were full so we took a walked the city with Mom and Dad. We saw the Tower Bridge (which I thought was the London Bridge which turned out to be a little bit of a let down), St. Paul's Cathedral, the British Museum, and Harrod's. Since we didn't actually go inside and find out the history of these amazing buildings, I will admit that the food court in Harrod's was my favortie place of the day. It was awesome. Unfortunately, I have no pictures. I left that up to Dad. I left a lot of pictures up to Dad. But since he took over 2000, I think I'm covered. That night we tried our best to use up all of our pounds since we would only use Euros from here on out (except for Switzerland) so the boys got lots of little candy bars from the nearest grocery store. They loved them but still think M&Ms beat out the English version called Smarties.

Day four:

We left London in the morning and drove to the ferry crossing at the breathtaking White Cliffs of Dover. I, however, have no idea how breathtaking because it was a very foggy morning. We crossed to Calais, France on the ferry (that only accepted pounds not euros. Darn those silly candy bars!). We drive through Belgium and stopped for the night in Amsterdam. We took a canal cruise through the city and saw their lock system that keeps their below sea level city dry. After the cruise, our director took us through the Red Light District and showed us where to buy marijuana. Yippee! We walked down the main street to Dam Square and ate fast food. I bought some fries that traditionally come with a huge scoop of mayo, but I couldn't quite stomach that. Cheese sauce instead please. Last stop before the hotel was a traditionaly windmill. Very picturesque except for the car out front. People still live in this one.

Day five:

Germany! Our first stop was Cologne to see the cathedral. I love the stained glass in all these churches. It's incredible to realize they created all these buildings without modern cranes and technology. We continued to Boppard where we took a Rhine river cruise. I had no idea there were so many castles in Germany so close together! We drove to Heidelberg and saw the Heidelberg castle that was burned by Louis XIV and never inhabited again. We did some quick shopping where I picked up my German Christmas pyramid. That was the main souveneir I was looking for, so I was excited to find one and even more excited to have it shipped home instead of carrying it around. We spent the night in Mannheim where our hotel introduced us to clear glass bathroom doors. Who's the crazy who thought that was a good idea?!

Day six:

Today we drove to Munich, Germany. We drove past the BMW headquarters, the Olympic stadium, and the goverment offices with the enormous glockenspiel. After a two hour drive, we passed into Austria. The Alps! We stopped at Wilten Basilica--very ornate, very pink, and very beautiful in a Roccoco way. We spent the night in Innsbruck and saw the Golden Roof. The director told us the king built it to pay back debt to the city for all the food and lodging he mooched off the Austrians. Susan had to go and ruin the legend by Googling it for her blog. Not thrilled with the hotel here. The porter ripped the wheel off my suitcase and then proclaimed it "Ka-poot." That became a new family catch phrase. Also, the bathroom smelled like a latrine. Although the frosted glass door was a step up from the clear glass in Mannheim. That night around midnight I got seriously ill with food poisoning. It was a good thing that the bathtub was close to the toilet. Enough said. Poor, poor Susan.

Day seven:

I started to feel better as the day went on, but Mom started to feel worse. I was so angry that I got sick right before we got the Italy. I was soooo excited to try Italian ice cream but was so nervous about eating that I had to postpone it. Good thing we had two more days in Italy. We drove to Venice--well, just outside Venice. No cars or bikes are allowed in Venice. Only foot traffic and boats. We toured the Murano Glass Factory where I couldn't resist taking a picture of the glass maker. Afterwards, Mom sat down in the shade while Dad and I wandered the town taking pictures. I was a little worn out so I rested with Mom in St. Mark's Square. During the summer, they host concerts in the square and that night Andrea Bocelli was singing. It was so fun to listen to them practice while we people and pigeon watched. Unfortunately, I wasn't paying enough attention to the pigeons and Mom got blasted while she sat in the shade. Sorry Mom! We ended the day with a gondola ride and water taxi back to the bus.

Day eight:

Ahh, Roma! It's incomprehensible to me that the buildings I'm seeing and the streets I'm walking on are over 1800 years old! We met our local tour guide, Paolo, and walked the Spanish Steps, went down fashion street with stores like Prada, Gucci, Ferragamo, Bulgari, etc., and got caught in a serious thunderstorm. My camera ran out of battery, so you will just have to imagine what it looked like when we went inside the Pantheon and saw Bernini fountains and an Egyptian obelisk. We ate our first real Italian pizza--yum!--and ate tafuti (sp?) which was rich chocolate chunk ice cream with a cherry hidden inside. We did a quick drive to see the Vatican City at night and see the Pope's window lit up. Almost forgot to mention the Roman drivers. Can you say, insane? They don't follow any rules--especially the scooter drivers. They double park all the time and just leave the keys in so you can move the car if you need to get out. I've never seen anything like it . . . ever.

Day nine:

We went straight to the country within a city--the Vatican. We speed-walked through the museum (apparently that's how the Romans give a tour--"Oh, that's an ancient greek statue. Those are priceless Cardinal rings. There are some rocks from the moon." Like these are every day things!). Each pope added a wing in the Vatican that was even more elaborate than the last. We finally made it to the Sistine Chapel. I can't believe Michaelangelo hated painting! He thought of himself as a sculptor not a painter and ended up very angry with the popes who commissioned him to complete the ceiling. Next was St. Peter's Basilica and then the Colosseum. The most amazing thing about Rome was learning that the Colosseum was destoryed by the Catholic church. I always assumed it was earthquake, flood, time . . . some kind of natural disaster or war. But no, the church just "recycled" the marble and put it into their buildings. Incredible. Ancient Romans even took out the steel girders to melt for metal and left the Colosseum full of holes. It was very strange to walk around and see buildings that are 2000 years old with a tiny little Fiat parked in front as if it were only a 7Eleven. Very strange. We finished off the official tour by driving past Circus Maximus, Caesar's Palace, the temple to Venus, the original Arch of Triumph, and touring the Catacombs. It was nice to get out of the heat even if we had to go underground to tombs to do so. I finally got my taste of gelato this night. Pistachio, and yes it lived up to all the hype.

Day 10

Firenza--otherwise known as Florence, home to Michaelangelo's statue of David. I'd never seen pictures of it up close so it was pretty amazing to see it in person. I don't understand how he can create such tension out of stone! Also in the museum were unfinished statues my Michaelangelo. Those were incredible. You could truly see what Michaelangelo meant when he said he didn't create statues. God put them in the marble and he just chipped away the excess. Then we walked to the Duomo which I think is the fourth largest church in Europe. By now, facts are starting to blur so don't quote me on that. We went inside the Santa Croce and spent the rest of the afternoon shopping. Leather and 18 karat gold. Neither of which we purchased. We had a highlight dinner at a local creperie that night. Absolutely the most delicious lasagna I've ever had! Little tired of tiramisu though. Just had to buy more gelato--peach this time. Soooooo good.

Day 11

Today we left Italy and entered Switzerland. The scenery is breathtaking especially the higher into the Alps we got. We stopped at the lake town of Lugano for lunch. Apparently the Swiss are quite proud of their food because it was expensive! Tiny kids' meal at Burger King for over $7. Susan and I did find a tea room that had awesome desserts. Can you tell that I came to Europe to eat? We continued to Lucerne which was probably my favorite stop of the whole trip. We got there on a Sunday, so all the shops were closed and the town was very quiet. After Rome, it was so nice to walk around by ourselves in the cool, mountain air. And how beautiful!

Day 12

Today we stayed in Lucerne, shopped, took a trip to a traditional Swiss farm, and went up Mount Pilatus. Susan and I bought our Swiss Army knives and watched a fellow tour member spend over $3000 on a watch. Wow. The trip to the farm was really charming. They served us a light lunch where everything was homemade--even the cheese and the apple cider. Made from their 200 year old apple trees no less. They still use the cow bells to find their cows as they take a "holiday" in the mountains each summer. The trip up Mt. Pilatus was via the longest and steepest cog railway in the world. The trip up was amazing but the peak was a bit of a disappointment because of the rain clouds (which we were above). The trip down was even more amazing. Switzerland is such a beautiful country I can't even describe it.

Day 13

Paris! Well, just barely. More driving, driving, and driving. I will take a moment to say that European rest stops are infinitely better than ours though. Full service restaurants, take away food that puts McDonald's to shame, and chocolate! And once we hit Italy and stopped paying to use the bathroom, even those weren't bad. We got to Paris in time for dinner and had another highlight dinner at Chez Jenny. Best French onion soup I've ever had. (One would hope, being in France and all). We skipped the optional cruise and walked around Paris by ourselves. We headed for Notre Dame with its great gargoyles, walked past what we think was Saint Chappelles (not sure but it had gold gates), saw the back side of the Louvre, and waited to see the Eiffel Tower after dark. Since it didn't get dark until after 10:30, my family was very nice to accomodate my desire to see it lit up.

Day 14

We are all exhausted by now but can't quit on our last day! We picked up our local guide--Luigi. Susan and I couldn't help it--we snickered. Nintendo has ruined the names Mario and Luigi forever. He took us through town pointing out sights on our way to the Eiffel Tower. We went up to the second floor and overlooked Paris. First thought--wow, it's flat. Second thought--look at all those apartments! If it's not a major architechtural icon, it's an apartment building. We took a trip to the Palace at Versailles where Louis XIV through XVI lived. Ate the worst chicken sandwich ever. I was so glad I split it with Susan so that I didn't have to eat the whole thing by myself. We were sooo hungry and that didn't help! Susan accidentally ordered a $7 Sprite. She was not happy. My favorite part was the hall of mirrors--what girl doesn't like a little, ok a lot, of sparkle? After the tour, Susan and I went to the glass pyramid at the Louvre--had to after seeing Da Vinci Code. After that, we walked down the Champs de Elysses. On our way there, some kind Frenchman threw water on us from his car. I desperately wanted to believe it was from a sprinkler which sent us into complete laughing hysterics. It was definitely near the end of our trip.

Day 15

On our way home! Well, almost. We flew out of Paris to London where we had a 2 1/2 hour layover. I was so happy to hear English (as a native language) again! Did a little duty free shopping and spent the last of our euros. Josh and Jake got some very expensive M&M dispensers out of the deal. But they're cute and they loved them. We got to our gate, boarded a bus that drove us to the plane, got all settled in, and then were told there was an engine problem. But it would only take 2-3 hours to fix. Four hours later we were airborne. Finally on the way home! I was so happy. Homesickness--for the boys, not Canon City so much--was really starting to get to me. I slept for a bit, watched 3 movies, and fidgeted until we landed. Today was possibly one of the longest of my life. But with the six hour time gain, it worked out to be 30 hour day. Whew!

Unofficial day 16

I flew home from Phoenix today. It was so fun to see the boys again. They actually missed me and kept spontaneously saying, "I sure missed you Mom" or "I'm so glad you're home." Nothing warms the heart like being missed. Of course it only lasted a day and then they were back to themselves and even worse at church on Sunday. But I guess I had to expect a little backlash from such a long trip.

I was so glad my family was willing to do this with me. Good and bad, it's a trip I will always remember. Thanks guys! Love you!

Wide, Wide World

As you all know, I recently returned from a 15 day tour of Europe with my parents and sister Susan. It's embarrassing to admit, but as I traveled the world most of the sites were familiar to me because of the boys' nightly story. Almost every night we read Richard Scarry's Busy, Busy World. We call it "Mommy's special book" because it is out of print and they are not allowed to touch it without me in the room. They love the stories and I love how short they are. But from the red busses in London to the Spanish steps in Rome to the cows climbing Swiss mountains, Europe was just as Richard Scarry describes it! Much to my family's chagrin, I recited almost every story as we went. Strangely enough, he left out Amsterdam. Can't imagine why . . .

Pictures will be coming soon.