Buongiorno Italia

With Thanksgiving came our next long weekend and our best planned trip yet: Rome, Italy.

We flew from London to Rome Thursday morning, and by lunch time had arrived in Rome, taken a 65 Euro cab ride to our hotel, checked in, and were enjoying lunch at a local cafe. A fellow diner even began serenading us with a lovely Italian tune. We were immediately impressed by how well the locals liked our children. Nowhere is set up for children (no high chairs, children's menus, children's activities, etc), yet children are welcome everywhere. At our first meal, they served Lexie's water in a crystal wine glass. She got a pretty big kick out of that. Lauren's nervousness only heightened her level of excitement.

After lunch, we wasted no time in taking a local bus and walking to some of the nearby attractions including Piazza di Popolo, the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain, and the Pantheon.

In line with other major cities, street vendors walked the popular areas, trying to make a few euros. The man who took this picture was selling roses and insisted Ryan hold his bouquet for a photo op, and then insisted he "take" a flower for each of his girls. No matter how much you give them, they act quite insulted as if you are the one ripping them off. Still, Paris was much worse for this kind of thing.

Petrol stations like this one were located on the side of the roads

One of many stops for yummy gelato

Our view from our dinner table on a rainy Thanksgiving night. Once again, they were very kid friendly. They brought out a bowl of crisps for Lexie, and a couple of the waiters continuously came to our table to play with Julia

A view walking across a bridge on the way back to our hotel

Friday we utilized the city buses to head "downtown." We gave ourselves a walking tour of Rome including the Colosseum. It was nice to se everything on our own schedule, as we've found guided tours are very difficult with 2 little ones n tow.

This was our attempt at a family photo. Fail. An American family tried to help us out. he lady and I thought it would work if we let Lexie take her photo at the same time. Lexie still has the picture of the other woman on her camera.

Saturday was our day in the Vatican, and it was nothing short of impressive. My only regret was maneuvering a stroller everywhere we went. If there was ever a time to wish I was a baby-wearer, this was it! Still we did it, and saw *almost* everything. Unbeknownst to us there was a service with the Pope present at St. Peter's Basilica and only those holding tickets were aloud in the church. We waited outside for quite some time in hopes of finding tickets with no luck. Most of our day was spent touring the Vatican Museums which lead to the Sistine Chapel. The entire museum was very exquisite and actually took away from the splendor of standing amongst Michelangelo's masterpiece. he chapel was lined with tourists with no room to walk. While the stroller was a pain to maneuver through it all, it proved a blessing in disquise. We had many people, both museum staff and fellow tourists, help us and lead us to short cuts in order to make our way through. Pictures were allowed throughout the museum with many signs leading to the Sistine chapel stating no photos or videos allowed. However, once inside the chapel, we viewed hundreds of cameras in action. Seeing me with the baby, one of the guards actually lead me to a roped off area with seating where nobody else was allowed. I sat and nursed Julia while taking in the sites (as well as taking some photos of my own)! I must say the Sistine Chapel is the most famous place I have ever breast fed a child.

If ever there was a must see place before you die, Italy is it. I hope one day we can tour much more of the gorgeous country.

October 2010 travels

As mentioned in our "Goodbye 2010" post, we took trips in October and November, and we are finally taking the time to journal these trips, only 4 short months after the fact!

With October came another birthday for Ryan, and what better excuse for a vacation than a birthday?! This was our most extensive trip yet, covering 5 countries in 4 days: the UK, France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany. The trip started out by leaving very early in the morning to attempt to avoid traffic on the M25, a road that encircles London and turns into a parking lot during rush hour. Fortunately, we missed the traffic, but we were very early for the ferry, so we killed a few hours by detouring through the ancient city of Canterbury, seeing its Cathedral and

famous medieval streets made famous by Chaucer. From there, we arrived at the port of Dover and boarded a ferry boat for Calais, France.

A view of Canterbury, England with Canterbury Cathedral

We arrived in Calais, France and headed east through Dunquerque and arrived in Belgium at the city of Bruges. Bruges is an old, well-preserved medieval town and you feel that you are in Europe when you're there. It has canals, outdoor dining, huge squares and lots of food, beer and Belgian pastries and chocolates. We checked into our hotel which had a separate loft area for Lexie to sleep. We saw the Cathedral of All Saints which boasts one of the few Michelangelo sculptures outside of Italy. Ryan had been here before and he liked it so much that he felt the entire family should see it. We spent a lot of time meandering through the old streets and taking in the town. We woke up the next morning, ate at a lovely pastry shop and loaded the car full of beer to take back to England for a few of our friends who had made requests. Speaking of beer, Lauren even had one (and enjoyed it), despite not being a beer drinker herself.

Our hotel room in Brugge

Brugge

The 'Madonna and Child' (1504 - 5) by Michelangelo Buonarotti

From Belgium, we drove south to Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. Luxembourg is not really a great place to visit. Not that it's dirty or unsafe, it is neither, it's just there. The next morning we drove over to the American Cemetery in Luxembourg and saw the final resting place of over 5,000 US troops who lost their lives in World War II, many at the Battle of the Bulge. General George Patton's grave was there, at the head of the cemetery. We drove out of Luxembourg and entered Germany in about 20 minutes, since Luxembourg is such a tiny place. In Germany, Ryan had the chance to try his new Volkswagen out on the Autobahn, a highway without a Speed Limit. He was mindful of his family being and the car and kept his speed to a modest 115 MPH. It was a nice drive, especially as we approached the Moselle Valley, with its picturesque winding rivers and valleys.

Moselle Valley

We arrived in Trier, the oldest city in Germany, in the afternoon and checked into our hotel in the city center. Since Trier is so small, it was easy to walk everywhere. We saw St. Peter's Cathedral and the Porta Nigra. St. Peter's is a 9th Century Cathedral and the Porta Nigra is a well-perceived Roman city gate dating from the 2nd Century BC. We also got the chance to have some Schnitzel at a German streetside cafe which was just awesome. Anything beats British Cuisine. We left Germany and took the longer way back through Alsace and the Verdun in France, stopping in Epernay in the Champagne region to pick up a few bottles. All in all, it was a great trip and we got to see some highlights in Northern Europe.