Bier Gartens part two

After such a heavy day yesterday, we decided to stay light today, visiting beer gardens around town.

We started at the English Garden, an urban park that's apparently bigger than Central Park. There are multiple gardens there. While at the first one, we met a man who had a baby the same age as Owen. Well, he was actually 8 days younger, but who's counting? We sat for a while, chatting about baby stuff, how teething is going, whether they were crawling yet or not (neither are yet). It was nice. Owen and Jonas got to know each other too. They cooed at one another and Jonas tried to teach Owen how to say da-da-da-da. No luck though, to Kris's dismay. Then, a funny thing happened. Jonas started to cry. Owen's response was priceless. He stuck out his bottom lip, and after a few seconds, decided to cry too. It was cool to see him respond to someone elses emotion.



We ate some wurst (sausage), saurkraut, and potato wedges by the edge of the water. There were people in rowbats on the water, lots of ducks, and a few swans.

We walked through the garden to find another beer garden, called the Chinese garden. I know, that's a lot of gardens. There was a big open area where people sunbathing. Aparently the English Garden is known for having nude sunbathers, but we didn't see any. Good thing too, since most of the people we saw were dudes. It would have been a "wurst" fest.

After a bit of floundering, we found the Chinese garden. It was pretty packed, and they served Hoffbrau. While enjoying our beer, we posed Owen with Kris's 1L beer. Just as Kris snapped the shot, Owen reached over and tipped the glass to try to drink it. When we get back I'll post the shot. It's priceless.

We decided to return to Hoffbrauhaus for dinner as there weren't any places to eat around our new lodgings. Oh yea, we had to move because the apartment we rented wasn't available our last day. Good thing anyway, we got a hotel a block from the train station and had a train the next morning at 9:30. The Hoffbrauhaus was a little more lively being that it was Friday night. As always, Owen found some people to pay attention to him. It never gets tired seeing the joy he brings to the people he smiles at. They had a band and many of the guests would sing along with some of the songs.



I must admit, this time leaving Europe, I'm a little sad to go. It's been such a crazy adventure. Tomorrow we have a seven hour train to Venice Mestre.

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Dachau

We took a suburban train today to Dachau. We got a little lost which, at the start of this adventure would have really upset me, but now it's no big deal. We take it all in stride. It was a pretty hot day. There were lots of school groups visiting. One of the groups was from India I think. It reminded me of being back in school.

Actually, on this trip we've seen lots of school groups in every city. I can't imagine taking kids to another country. I've also noticed that they don't have nearly as much supervision as we are required to have. I'm not sure what I think about that.

Dachau was eerie and lonely and dark. The walls, towers, main building, and one set of prisoners baracks are all that remain on the compound.


There is a sign in the gate at the entrance that reads, "Work will set you free."


Also, just outside is the crematorium. You could go inside and see the gas chamber and the cremation furnaces. I could barely stand to be inside.

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Beer gartens

Yesterday, we took a train - two trains actually, to arrive in Munich. We had to make a connection in Stutguart. We had 8 minutes to get off one train and get on the other and we didn't know which car to get on. Needless to say, we missed the train. Thankfully, there was another, more direct, and thus faster train 20 minutes later. We sat at a bar at the station and drank a pint of Franziskaner beer. It was foggy and delicious. It helped with the stress.

We also drank German beer on the train. They serve it to you in a glass and you can take it back to your seat.



Our two room apartment is above a nice resturant about 15 minutes from the city center on the U-bahn. There's a room for Owen, and one for us with a bed and tv. No kitchenette. We ate a nice, traditional German meal in the resturant and drank more German beer.



Owen ate toast and made a mess of himself. He enjoyed every minute.



Today we headed for the city center to see what was up. We picked up a tourist map and saw there was a nearby market that has a beer garden. It was pretty cool. No fences or security like in beer gardens in Canada, they serve the beer in .5L or 1L glass jugs. Young people, old people, people in suits or leiderhosen. All sitting around having some pints. Some more than others, but all having a good time.

We did some walking around, saw some gothic buildings,




and a government building,



and then made our way to another beer garden. This one is in a famous inn. We ate more traditional Bavarian food and, you guessed it, drank more beer.









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Owen and Europe

Today we had hoped to go to the Eiffel Tower. We took the train there, saw it, saw the line and thouht, we'll come back another day and maybe try to get advance tickets online. There was no one in the reservation line. More on this monument when we actually get in...

So instead, we headed over to Musse d'Orsay. The gallery houses impressionist artists works. We were there later in the day, so it wasn't very busy. We saw a bunch of Renior, most notably the garden party. Also there was an extensive collection of Monet - the Lillies and the one with the bridge. Also at this gallery were paintings by Van Gogh, including his self portrait.

Impressionist art is very different from the art we have seen so far on this trip. These artists were interested in conveying the feeling of a moment, capturing people being people, rather than trying to immitate reality. Their works are softer, a little abstract, maybe even blury. Everyone in the gallery stood so close to the paintings, but we discovered that they look amazing from afar. A clarity comes out in the work, as if they are one of those stereograms coming into focus. Particulaly the Van Gogh, whose choppy brush strokes make things appear sort of cartoonish up close. (not funny cartoons, but big and thick and unreal)

After the museum, we sat down for some more typical French fare - crepes. They were mediocre at best. Kinda soggy, with canned mushrooms and olives. I'm being polite. They were gross. Owen ate well though. He had some pretty chunky food, which he actually chewed.

As we sat there on the tiny street, a motorbike passed us. I've never seen it before, but Owen actually did a rubberneck, watching the bike race past. It's yet another example of how much he's grown over this trip.

On the metro, Owen did his best to get people to notice him. He squeals and a-goos, looking around for anyone to notice him. Hen he lays it on thick, with smiles, ahhs, and oohs. He is becoming quite the attention seeker. Maybe he will become an actor or something. He certainly has the charisma for it.

I was looking throught some of the pictures and ran across this one from our first night in Paris. We ate at a bar not far from our place. The server brought Owen a cookie. It was cinnamon or somthing. Probably the most flavourful thing he's ever had. He made a face, but after a bit I think he didn't mind it.



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The Eiffel Tower

We managed to buy some tickets online and downlowd them straight to my phone. This phone has been a lifesaver, particularly when our return flight went south. The man at the entrance to the line told us it was an "excellent endeavour" to have pre-bought tickets. The lines weren't too bad, but it was still worth it.

The first elevator goes up the pilar. It was a bit strange, because you don't expect the elevator to go sideways as much as it does. Out on the second deck, you get a pretty nice view of the city.





We also had tickets to the top, so we waited in another pretty long line. It was a bit windy so it was chilly in the shade. This elevator was quite a bit smaller. Since we were the last ones on, we got an excellent view of our ascent. From below, the elevator looks like it's pretty well buried within the tower, but when you're on the thing, it feels as though your out in the open. It was quite scary. I spent most of the ascent clutching at Owen and trying not to look down, or out, for that matter. Once up top though, it's pretty cool. I still felt pretty exposed, and not too comfortable near the edge. They also have champagne up there -10 Euro for 10cl. Pretty steep, but you gotta do it.


Afterwards, we sat in the big park beside the tower and ate some lunch. We had packed some Italian salami, French chese, and a French half bottle of wine. We bought a baguette from a nearby cafe. It was delicious. Owen got a chance to sit in the grass and enjoy some freedom to move around. Of course, he got some baby food too.

We've noticed that Owen's hair has gotten alot longer and thicker since we arrived. Kris has especially noticed changes in Owen. It's so special that he's gotten a chance to spend so much time with Owen in this last month. I know it's given the two of them a chance to really bond.

We also made a trip over to Notre Dame Cathedral, even though we're pretty churched out from Italy. It's a different kind of church than we were used to seeing. It's newer, and in a gothic style, different than the style of most churches in Italy - taller, pointier, and with lots detail and gargoyles around the tops. We could have walked to the top of the tower, but we were pretty tired, so we sat at a cafe and had a beer instead.

French food sucks. It's all the same, sandwiches, croque monsieur, croque madame. Boring. We had seen a couccous resturaunt near our place, so we gave it a try. We were served way more couscous than anyone could ever eat, a big bowl of veggies in a broth, and two hunks of meat on a single plate- lamb for me and chicken for Kris. Delicious.

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Mama Mona

We went to the Louvre today. We did the Rick Steves iPhone tour. I know, you're laughing, but after the Uffizi Gallery tour we did in Florence using the book left in the apartment there, we're hooked. It's just nice because we don't know jack about art, and these tours give you the quick and dirty version - allow you to hit the majors and give you just enough insight into them to be worthwhile. Today we saw Venus de Milo, the Winged Victory, some more renasaince art (we saw lots in Italy) and also some neoclassical and romantic era pieces. And of course, we saw the Mona Lisa. She was, as Rick said, less in your face than you imagine she will be, but she grows on you. Also very interesting is the ability to photograph anywhere in the museum. It was very interesting to watch the papparazi show in front of her.


As you can see, Owen enjoyed himself.



It was cool to see another place in the Dan Brown books. As cliche as that is.





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Chur to Paris, via Zurich and Lusane

Poor Owen did not want to wake up this morning. Even though he had lots of sleep during the day yesterday, he had a late bedtime. The way he sleeps has changed too. For the last week or so he's been sleeping with his head jammed up against the top of the peapod and his head craned to the side and back. It didn't look too comfortable. This morning though, he was full on sleeping on his side.

We were unable to get the most direct route to Paris so we had to purchase tickets with two changes, once in Zurich, and once in Lusane. We figured the dicey one would be in Zurich, where we only had nine minutes to get from platform 9 to platform 17. The place is very efficient though, so there was no problem. In the train station there was an ad for the Mini (car) that read, "Don't be a gashole."




As we got closer to France, the language gradually shifted from German to French. Until finally they said welcome to France!

The train was pretty hot so we took Owens pants off to keep him cool. And we also tried to make sure he was hydrated.


It was a pretty long train ride. Owen had a couple of naps and tried to drink the evian we bought along the way.

We arrived in Paris 45 minutes late and then ate at a lounge that reminded me of the Mercury. We both ate burgers and Owen got his first taste of a gingersnap. He made a face.


Owen is again sleeping in the bathroom, ad there isn't a seperate bedroom for him.
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Tirano

Very few people speak any English here in Tirano so I was once again able to use some of the Italian I learned. I must admit that I'd given up a bit on speaking Italian. In the big cities, as soon as they hear you struggling they speak English to you.

Today I managed to negotiate the purchase of a bottle of white wine for 8 euro from a bar up the street from our hotel, and ask for directions to a supermarket.

Our hotel room had a little anteroom which was perfect for Owen to sleep in.

We had the most amazing dinner in the hotel. This was the view outside at dusk.






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Tirano to Chur

We have caught the most amazing scenic train through the Swiss alps to reach our next destination, Chur. Very quickly the language changed from Italian to German, which is crazy because neither Kris or I speak a lick. The train is electric and looks a little like a c-train, except it has these panoramic windows so you can get a better view. We climbed to 2253m above sea level and saw two glaciers that pour into a lake called Lago Bianco (white lake), probably because it's mostly snow.









Owen had a little cat nap on the way.






I am really looking forward to the different cuisine at our resturant tonight.

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Riding the rails and random stuff

"They grow grapes everywhere."
In the ditches beside major highways, in fields that look like they'd be better suited to wheat, and in their back yards, or front yards.

The train lady came by and said what many Italian people have said to Owen: bello (beautiful), and picollo (little). He gladly eats up all the attention.

Owen finished off the rest of the carrots I made for him the other night. I'm very proud of him because they were pretty chunky and there were a lot of them. We also managed to find some organic zuchini and potatoes. He hasn't had many veggies. They don't seem to be that available in Italy.

On the subject of food, there has been a lot of meat available for babies. Crazy meats like ostrich and rabbit and horse, as well as others like turkey, two or three different kinds of fishes, and pork. They all have pictures on them, so it's easy to tell what you're getting... We've tried to stick to the basics, in case he had a reaction (and because I couldn't bring myself to feed him some of the stuff) - pollo and vitello and tacchiria (I think that's how you spell it, or close enough). The other day though, we ran into something that had a picture of a cow on it called manzo. There was also some vitello there, which had a picture of a different cow too. But on further inspection, the vitello cow seemed somewhat smaller. We realized we've been feeding him veal!!!

Our train stopped in Milano and then we had to board another train to Tirano. We had about 50 minutes in the train station so we took a peek outside. Milano is a very different city than Roma. Much more cosmopolitan, with modern tall buildings mixed in with the old. We saw a McDonalds in the square. We ate there. We are pretty sick of paninni and pasta.

We are in the alps on our new train. Our first class ticket got us a bigger seat, but not air conditioning, like on the first train. But the scenery is already very beautiful.






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Trip planning, hardcore

We spent the better part if the day trying to organize things for the upcoming leg of our journey here in Europe. Funny, because I probably spent about a month organizing things for the first two weeks. So far we have worked out to take a train to the Italian-Swiss border, to a town called Tirano, where we will stay one night. From there we will take a scenic train called the Berninni Express through the Swiss Alps to Chur, again for a night, and then a high speed train to Paris. We have an apartment arranged in Paris until April 27th.

Although we didn't have the rest arranged, we figured that we should call KLM and tell them we would like to board the airplane in Amsterdam. Unfortunately, this was not to be. Although we are allowed to use the value of our existing ticket to purchase a new one out of Amsterdam, they have the prices so jacked up that it is impossible to do.

So we must return to Venice for a May 2nd flight at 7:05am. Nievely we thought we were, in a way, helping the situation, perhaps allowing some other passenger to use the Venice-Amsterdam leg to get home. The news reports say that more passengers have been displaced by the volcano than by 9-11, over 50,000. Even today, they are still not flying to England, Finland, and Norway.

Our host, Sebastiano, lent us his stroller to use and so we did do some cruising around.



The apartment is in the Santa Croce area and it is much prettier than where we were before. The canals are more quaint and the streets are filled with Venetians, not tourists. Perhaps if we had been here the whole time, we would have enjoyed Venezia a little more. Here is a photo from the window of our place.


During our planing, Owen had lots of time to spend on his tummy on a blanket. He did lots of playing and rolling over.



He even was able to take a nap in his bed again. It was a treat, I think, for everyone.

Dude, Freaking Wow!

It's official. Our flight from Venezia to Amsterdam has been canceled. So for now, we're stuck here. Everyone in the city is a buzz with this. A volcano in iceland that's been dormant for 100 years has blown ash into the atmosphere and the jetstream has carried it all over Europe. All European and intercontinental flights have been cancelled.

We are kinda without a place to stay tomorrow. There was an American in the resturant tonight who's flying Delta who was able to get a flight out on Thursday. Our plan now is to see if KLM will change our flight to depart from somewhere else in Europe - we're thinking Munich, Prague, or Paris.

Tomorrow, our priorities are to figure out where we are going and where we are sleeping. Thankfully we have some means to deal with the unexpected. Today, while in an Internet Point, we saw two young Brits who were kinda freaking out. They probably don't have two coins to scrape together. I'm somewhat worried about Owen as he's come down with a sniffle. It'd be nice to have him home instead of traipsing him all over Europe. But, he's such a good baby, I don't think he even really cares. He's got mom and dad and that's all that matters.

Like I was saying...

I'll start by saying that I thouht there was wireless in our place in Venezia. No such luck.

Perhaps I shouldn't have opened my big mouth about not having any problems with our train. I left my new purse and wallet on it when we got off at Venezia. There wasn't anything in it, except for the glasses cloth I bought with a picture of David on it. We went back to the station to find out that there is no lost and found. The man in the customer service office called the train, but they claimed not to have seen anything. Totally sucks!

We were all pretty beat from the day so took it easy and got a couple of take out calzones. Owen was crazed after we gave him a bath and bit my nipple pretty hard a bunch of times. He went to bet without his bedtime snack. He ate pretty late so maybe that had something to do with it. It was sad to send him to bed without breastfeeding him.


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Day 10...

We are up to 2 bottles of wine a night...


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A change of pace

After eleven days in Italy, we have all decided that we need to slow down more. Maybe it's the change of scenery, for the third time this trip, or maybe it's the different way of life in Venice. You can't really be in a rush here. I didn't set an alarm this morning, nor did we have anywhere to be at any time. We didn't even really have a plan. Owen even took his first nap in his bed today since we still hadn't decided what to do.

In the end, we hopped the Vapporeto to Rialto market on a quest for a new purse. No luck there but I did buy a pretty necklace made of Murrano glass. Then we found our way to the Bascillica di San Marco. We were too late to get in though and they're doing a bunch of restoration in the square. We ate dinner and then made our way home on the Canale Grande.

We've seen a couple of pieces of art but haven't bought just yet.


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Train to Venezia

No major problems with our train today. Our bags are getting bigger though. All three are zipped out. I think we could still pack a little more into them, but not much. Our train stopped off in Balogna before arriving in Venezia. The whole way I've been trying look for a single family home. I don't think I've seen one yet.

The landscape after Bologna is very different. Kinda like Saskatchewan - flat. There are still lots of orchards, in amongst the fields of what look like grains. Owen slept on my lap for so long that my arm fell asleep. The things you do for love.


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What follows are posts from the previous days in Venice, where we didn't have any Internet access. I swear that when I booked, I tried for places that had wi-fi.


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Dude, freaking wow, part 3

You may have noticed that there is no part two to this string... That's because it was somehow deleted. I don't recall what was said. Ce la vie.

This morning we focussed on finding alternate accomodation in Venice. It just isn't fair for Owen to sleep in the bathroom. We were lucky to find a place just off of Piazzale Roma which is beautiful and has laundry. There was no wi-fi officially, but someone nearby hasn't figured out how to set up their security, so we are currently stealing bandwidth.

I was finally able to skype KLM after the volcano in Iceland cancelled our flight on April 18. They have re-booked us for May 2!!! We figured we'd be here a few more days, maybe a week, but this is crazy. Now that we have an end date though, it's a lot easier to decide to go elsewhere. So we are going to tour a few other places in Europe. The plan is to go to Munich, then to Paris and on to Belgium. Who knew we were going to be an month in Europe with a baby. And people thought we were crazy to come for two weeks.

For a change of pace (and because we're sick of pasta and pizza) we made dinner at home. We made a trip to the supermercato and bought some potatoes and a small roast beef. We finally found some veggies for Owen - zucchini, and he also had some mashed potatoes. The same potatoes we ate ourselves for dinner. It's pretty nice to know that soon we'll be able to eat as a family.

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Stuck in Venice

We spent the day trying to figure out our options for staying in Europe. Both Kris and I think it's likely that we won't be able to make our way home for at least 4 or 5 days. Our original thought was to try and organize a side trip to Munich, but as the day wore on it seemed less and less possible. For one, the only train to catch was a night train, leaving at 11 pm and arriving at 7 am tomorrow. Then there was the uncertainty of trying to find a place to stay. By 4:30 pm it was just too much stress to get it done, so we walked into the first hotel we could find and got a single room for 1 night at €95. It's one room, but good enough. Owen is currently sleeping in the bathroom.

Tomorrow we will try to find something in Lido or somewhere other than here. A woman in the train station said it's way less expensive there.

I did manage to send off a bunch of emails to apartments around here during our time at an Internet Cafe. So far I've gotten a couple of responses. No dice. All booked. Looks like Owen could be seeing more bathroom floors.


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Lost in translation

Yesterday we saw a place where they brew their own wine not far from our place. Since we've been enjoying a lot of wine after we put Owen to bed (as per the earlier post), we thought we'd give it a try. It's ridiculously cheap, like €2.50 for 1.5 liters. We went into the store and asked the guy what he reccomended. He asked if we were looking for "medium or strong". We said strong, and got something called raboso.

We then hopped on a Vapoertto to an island called Burano. The tour book said it was a quaint little place with beautiful photo opps. That was very true. We found ourselves in a shop where a man makes glass and watched him for a while make lolli-pops. It was pretty cool.

By he time we got back to Venezia, it was getting late so we grabbed a quick bite across the canal from our place and then put Owen to bed. He was still a little crazy, but I managed to settle him enough that he got some milk before bed and didn't bite me at all. Thank goodness, because that was starting to get pretty stressful.

We got into the wine and quickly realized that we got a little "lost in translation". He said strong, but he meant sweet. It was gross. So, like the night before, off one of us went to the somewhat overpriced liquor store down by the train station for some half decent valpolicella.

The more we drink Italian wine, the more it grows on us.



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The Rennisance

Today we made it to Uffizi Gallery to see a large collection of Rennisance art. Neither of us know anything about art, but the Rick Steves book helped us out, highliting the main pieces and providing explanations of critical details. It was interesting to see how the pieces evolved over the period. The artists got more and more realistic with the human form. As Kris put it, we saw all of the teenage mutant ninja turtles: Donnatelo, Rafael, Michelangelo, and Leonardo (da Vinci, that is).

We also saw the David replica in the square. Not nearly as magestic as the original. Kris and I talked at length about why - maybe the setting, maybe knowing it's a fake, or maybe there are some things that are not quite right, as the books say. One nice thing is that you can take a picture of it.



We also went to Ponte Vecchio. It's the only bridge that wasn't bombed during WWII by the Germans. It's a wired looking bridge, there are buildings all across it. When you walk across, it's all jewelry and watch shops.

At dinner, we asked if we could get a small amount of boiled vegetables for Owen. All they had were beans. I tried to mash them and he ate a few, but he prefered to eat them whole and feed himself. He probably ate about 4 or 5 beans. He's growing up so fast.

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Climbing il Duomo

When we got back from la campagna, "some of us" were pretty tired, so they had a nap together in the big bed. If we were at home, this would never happen, but we're on holiday so anything goes. Owen's been sleeping in some sideways positions now, as he gets more mobile.

When he woke we walked over to il Duomo di Santa Maria (the Cathedral). The cahedral was closed for service, but there is a separate entrance to climb to the top of the dome, which is painted in frescoes. We hiked the 463 steps up, me with Owen strapped to my front, Kris with a backpack full of Owen gear. The staircases were very narrow and dark. We got to a spot about 3/4 of the way up where you could walk around and see the art closer up. Then there were more steps to a second turn around, but also, there was a side staircase to "the top of the dome". Who knew that we were going outside to the actual top of the dome, where we had the most beautiful panoramic views of the city. La citta di Firenze looks very different. You can see all the terracotta roofs and he outskirts of the city where there are many villas. In the distance you could see snow topped mountains. Belissimo.




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La Campagna

We organized a half day trip to la campagna (the countryside) to visit some wineries and un villagio Greve in Chianti. It is the head of the region where they grow the grapes for Chianti Classico. I'm still not entirely sure what the names mean, except that Chianti Classico is best drunk young. It is beautiful landscape. It's still pretty early in the season so the vines only have buds on them. The workers are just starting to get things ready for the growing season. Owen had a nice sleep in the car seat the driver provided.

We stopped at Castello Verrezzano to see la collina (hills) and to get a view of another castle in the distance. We did a wine tasting of the Verrezzano Chianti Classico and bought a bottle. We also sampled some olive oil. They serve it in a small glass bowl. The woman told us "you smell and then you taste". It was green, like grass, with pepper in the finish.

In Greve, we visited an enoteca (a wine bar) and had another tasting. Bought another bottle.



We also went to a ceramics shop and an olive wood shop and an art/framing shop. We got a nice watercolor, a ceramic bowl, a plate, bowl, and spoon made of olive wood, and a small ceramic plate.

We enjoyed lunch back in Firenze at a place called Za-Za's. It was a relaxing two hour affair. Owen had lunch in the typical seat, but with a nice cushion behind his head. Our food was delightful.

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David(s)

I didn't know there was more than one David. Yea, Florence is full of them... Well, maybe not full, but there are a few. Since it's Sunday, many shops and churches are closed. And, you need reservations for many of the museums to avoid long lineups. On he advice of the Rick Steves book left here, we decided to try a lesser known museum in the morning, where we could see Donatello's Davids (2) and then head over to see Michelangelo's version. It's in a museum now, having been replaced in it's original location by a replica. We came around the corner and it was one of those "ahhh" moments. Wow. We probably sat there for about 20 minutes, moving to a new perspective every 5 or so. Every spot we sat in, we noticed something different. It is a study in the beauty of the human form. Belissimo! Owen was happy to be out of the sling and spent a lot of time trying to get the attention of other tourists. It was cute.

Anyway, David. Wow.

No photos allowed.

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Via San Zanobi

We arrived at our new home in good time, despite some minor wrinkles. The high speed train was cool. For the first time since we got to Rome, Owen got his diaper changed on an actual change table. There was an empty seat beside us, which was nice for Owen. He had a nap lying down, again, for the first time in days.

Our apartment here is very nice. Smaller than the last place. But there is a nice personal touch here. There's a guest book where people have left recommendations for places to eat and must see. It's made us feel like we have a head start, since we aren't here for very long.

After some relaxing, we went cruising the market. Kris bought a beautiful leather man purse for €110. We found ourselves near a small wine store (okay, all the stores are small) where they offered a tasting of three wines with some crostini and tomato. For the first time, both Kris and I were impressed by Italian wine. I know, we came to Italy, and neither of us are thrilled with the wines here. But these were good. We had a Chianti classico, a Monticello Rosso and a Monticello brunello. The girl who served us was very nice and knowledeable. And she was very friendly to Owen as well. We ate a really nice dinner at a place she reccomended.

Owen slept in his bed in the closet so he could have his own space. He's little, so I don't think he minded.


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Italians love babies

We spent a lot of time in Rome on public transport. Everywhere, Italians offered me their seat, and always smiled, coo'd and talked at length to Owen. Once, we were goin down to the Metro and Owen was looking toward the other escalator. I looked over to see a younger man, probably in his 30's sticking his tongue way out at him. He wasn't in the least embarased at me having seen him.


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Piazzas, piazzas, and more piazzas

Silly me. When planing our days in bella Roma, I thought we would be able to see five or six things a day. That was when we were DINKs (dual income no kids). With Owen, we managed to see three if we were lucky. So today, we reassessed the places we still hadn't seen and headed off. We caught the tiniest bus (electric) to our first stop, Piazza Campo di Fiore, to see an Italian market. There was mostly produce, but also honey, some spices and olive oil, a stand with stovetop espresso makers and other sundry, and a t- shirt shop.

Oh yea, on our way to the market, we stopped at a women's clothing shop I saw yesterday. I bought 3 shirts.

We ate lunch at a mozzarella bar in the piazza - ate 3 different buffalo mozzarellas, with 3 different pestos. Street performers played saxophones, violins, and accordians. It was a nice relaxing start to the day.

Then it was off to Piazza Navona. There were some cool fountains at either end of the square. They were doing some restoration to the centre fountain, so we didn't get the greatest look at it.

The Scala di Spagna ( Spanish Steps) were next on the list. It was rife with tourists, like Trevi Fountain. We fed Owen at the base of the steps and I watched like a hawk for theives. There were some really pushy street merchants selling cut roses and bubble machines. We got out of there as fast as we could and climbed up to the top to see the view. It was spectacular, but the pictures don't do it justice.

Insert photo

After that we got back on the metro to find the last piazza, di Campidolio, near the Colosseum. It took some getting to, as we got sidetracked by an even bigger piazza, Piazza Venezia. There was a massive white building in the back of the piazza and in front, a massive traffic circle, which we watched for quite some time. I don't know what the rules were and there weren't any lines on the road and pedestrians walked in many spots around. Despite his, we didn't see anyone come even close to an accident. I guess when you live that close to everyone else, you figure out how to live in harmony.

We were very close again to the roman forum so we took a bunch of family photos, ate dinner, and came back home. For the first night, Owen was in bed by 9:00.


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Wandering the streets of Rome

We got off to a late start this morning, due to a bottle of wine last night. It was a really good time though, so no regrets.

The plan for today was a little less firm. We bought these Roma passes so that we could skip the line at the Coloseum, and had thought we could use our other free entry to visit Galleria Bourgese, but realized today that you need to pre book your visit. So we picked a different museum and headed out. When we got there though, Kris and I both admitted that looking at more art was kinda the last thing either of us wanted to do so instead we hit the streets to find Fontana di Trevi (it was in the film La Dolce Vita). On our way we stopped for lunch, which was delicious. I had a plate of fried fish, which came out with heads on the fish and shells on the shrimps. Kris thouht it was gross. Trevi Fountain was a bit overwhelming with all the tourists, but still neat. I fed Owen and we took off. Our next stop was a Gelateria I read about and wasn't dissapointed. We also bought a watercolor painting from a street artist.

We hopped on a bus for the Pantheon and got somewhat sidetracked by a Bascilica. On our way in Kris said "How good could it be?" Upon entering, his words were "Not too bad." It's hard to know how big these places are going to be when everything is wedged into everything else.

We did eventually make it to the Pantheon and took a 6 euro audiotour. There's an opening in the roof of the rotunda called the occulus. It rains inside and is drained by a sloped floor and drainage holes dating back to the 2nd century AD.

We snaked our way back through a few more piazzas and ended up at the parliment. There were lots of police and malitia and while we were there, they closed off part of the square for some VIP's. I snapped a couple of photos on the off chance we might be able to identify them later.

Dinner was at the same place across the street from our apartment as we ate last night, thought not as late. Owen had a good hunk of bread to eat and I tried not to freak out for fear of him choking. He did very well.


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When in Roma

Poor Owen had a pretty hard time staying asleep last night. Truth be told, we all did. This morning, though, we were all pretty sleepy, so we got a bit of a late start. We had some cappuccino and pastry downstairs from our appartment to get us going and then on to the Metro for Basillica di San Giovanni in Laterano. It was the Pope's residence until the 14th century. Everything inside was so beautiful. Even Owen was awe struck. He couldn't seem to stop from looking up. The ceiling was guilded everywhere, it seemed, with these huge statues of Christ, saints, and all sorts of other holy things. All throughout there were these little side rooms, some spectacular, some ordinary. Some were open to the public, where people prayed, others closed with signs saying "no photo". There was a pope sort of on display near the front of the basillica, but you couldn't see anything because the glass that covered it was opaque. In the back there were nuns selling various religious items. I bought my mom a rosary. Outside, in the square, we stopped to feed Owen before heading on.

We stopped for some pizza on our way back to the Metro. Kris had zucchini and ham and I had spinach. I ordered as best as I could in what broken Italian I could remember from my podcasts. It's hard to perform under pressure.

Next was the Colosseum. We got a tour by a young italian man who looked like Johnny Bravo. He spoke decent English and gave us a pretty good history of the structure. It was every bit as (actually, more) gruesome than in the movies. It was easy to imagine he crowds. One interesting thing that I didn't know was there was a retractable fabric roof on top. Aparently stadium technology really hasn't changed much.


We also took in Palatine hill and the Roman Forum. We spent so much time roaming around in the ruins that they kicked us out.




We ate dinner at a resturant about a block from the Colosseum. Once again delicious. Owen sat in one of those chairs that strap to the table. All the waiters came over to talk to him and he loved it! He also tried his first piece o bread. We gave him a crust to gnaw on and he was pretty much in heaven. By the end of the meal he was getting pretty cranky. We headed home. Whew!


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An audience with the Pope

We started off early today to visit Vatican City. Owen slept way better than either of us thought he would. So much so, that at 3 am, when he didn't wake up, that's when I worried. No problem though. He seems to have adjusted to the time better than either Kris or I. We ran a little late and rushed to get to the tour office where we had booked. There was a long and bouncy (for Owen) walk to the train station. We arrived at about 9:40 am - we were supposed to be there at 9:30 - and thankfully they were still taking people's money. I even had time to get a cappuccino and latte, which I ordered in Italian. I had to ask how to say "take out", but I did so in Italian and I think the old Italian caffe guy was impressed that I was trying. As always, the coffee was impressive. Take out (or take away, as the guy called it) comes in double cupped plastic with tin foil covers and in a tin foil disposable tray. Crazy.

Our first stop was Piazza San Pietro for he blessing of the Pope. Walking into the square kinda gave me goosebumps, it's just so big and beautiful. Owen slept through most of the ceremony. The Pope entered in a popemobile made by Mercedes. He is, after all, German. There was a short reading - thankfully - done in about 6 different languages. Then the Pope blessed everyone in the square, again in about 6 languages. We left after English.



When he woke up, I knew he'd be hungry, but our tour had about 70 or so people. They weren't stopping for me or anyone else. Even though the tour said we would skip the line, there seemed to be a tour line of line skippers. I'd never tried it before, but the carrier claimed that a person could feed the baby while in it, so I threw on my cover and away we went. It worked like a charm. It was kinda wierd to feed him while standing, but I got over it quickly enough.

The tour through Museo Vatican (Vatican Museum) was pretty cool. We crossed the Pinecone garden to get to them, where we stopped to get an explaination of Capela Sistina (the Sistine Chapel) and all of it's various works. I didn't know that Michealangelo wasn't the only artist to work in there. Or that he didn't want to do the work at all. Apparently, Popes can be very persuasive. Most of the art, of which most is sculpture, in the museums is Roman, Egyptian, and Greek (I think that's what she said). Pagan was the term our guide used-"so don't be disappointed". It was pretty overwhelming. Aparently, if a person spent 60 seconds with each piece, it would take 12 years to get to the end.








We spent about 15 minutes in Capela Sistina. What a beautiful place. No photos allowed though. Michaelangelo painted the ceiling over 6 years looking up with his neck craned back. My neck hurt after 5 minutes.

We ended off the tour with an explanation of the inside of Basilica di San Pietro and then were left to wander about inside. Yesterday, I thought that San Giovanni was spectacular. Today, it seems like small potatoes in comparison. It is massive beyond comprehension. Everywhere is covered in gold. There are tombs of previous Popes all around and marble, mosaics, statues, and paintings. I can barely describe it but to say that it was amazing.

It was a long day for all of us...


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We missed our train today for Firenze (Florence). We bought from the self serve yesterday and there was a guy at the machine pulling a scam to get money from tourists. He was so slick, we both thought he worked for the train company. He pushed all the buttons for us and by the end of it all, we had two tickets to Florence and he was asking for a "tip". Oh well...

Well, we thought our train left at 11:50, but that's when it arrived. In Florence. We did manage to get it changed to the next train, at 12:45. Whew!


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Leaving on a jet plane

We just had the scare of our life. No, nothing to do with Owen, but I'm still trying to come down from the stress. I had just put Owen to bed for the last nap in his bed for the next two weeks. We were doing some last minute surfing. Kris went online to check our flight and read it leaving at 15:12!!! The original time of our flight is 18:05. Meaning we had an hour to get to the airport and get on our flight. So Kris hammered all our bags into the car while I called the 1-800 number to confirm. Aaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!!! Thankfully, they were able to confirm that our flight hadn't changed. Turns out that Kris had looked up an arrival time for a different flight from Amsterdam. Whew! A pretty stresful 15 minutes. Thankfully, I hadn't woken Owen yet. He'd have been cranky.


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Only 4 teeth...

Only four teeth and he's figured out how to grind them together. Unbelievable and kinda scary. I hope he learns how to do something else soon so he can forget about this "skill" soon. It's kinda awful to hear him grind away and potentially wreck his new pearly whites. Speaking of that, I'm pretty sure a couple more are on the way. He's been kinda cranky and red cheeked for the last couple of days.

Hungry Hippo

Owen has been eating us out of house and home lately. Day before yesterday, Kris fed him an entire jar of baby food, plus about four additional tablespoons of cereal, and a one ounce cube of beef stew. Owen just keps opening his mouth for more. Yesterday, he ate almost he same amount at dinner, and breakfast and lunch were pretty sizeable meals too. I haven't checked any of the books yet, but he can't possibly be going through another growth spurt, can he? I keep reminding myself of what the public nurse said, that he'll tell us when he's full, but really? His stomach can't even be that big...

I don't dare even think how much food he's gonna eat when he's a teenager.