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.

Good bye 2010

As I sit here on New Years Eve in a house too seldom this still, I find myself with the time to reflect on this past year. What a year it has been! From The infamous Herman family adventures have not been included on the blog for too long. I will do my best to update with a year in review:

December 30, 2009: Alexandria and a A very pregnant Lauren join Ryan at our new home in Somersham, England.

January 2010: While waiting on our belongings to arrive from America, we take the opportunity to get some traveling in before Julia arrives. Our first weekend in England was spent sightseeing in London. Merely 2 weeks later, we found ourselves in Paris.

February 2010: We celebrated Alexandria's 3rd birthday, and continue the process of adapting to our British life becoming more involved in play groups.

March 2010: Ryan's mom visits and is here for the birth of our second daughter, Julia Elise.

April 2010: *Our adventures resume with a trip to York

*We celebrate Pascha with Julia's first trip to church

*Lauren's parents visit

*Julia is baptised

May 2010: Trip to Bath, Bristol, Stonehenge, and Wales

June 2010: Alexandria begins play group (preschool)

July 2010: *We spent our 4th of July holiday in Scotland visiting Edinburgh and St. Andrews

* Towards the end of July, we took another holiday to Lyme Park and Liverpool

August 2010: Still inspired by Lyme Park, we make our way to Burghley House in Stamford

* We make another family trip to London concentrating our visit on the city of Richmond and attending Liturgy at the Orthodox Cathedral in London

*August comes to a close with a visit home to St. Louis

September 2010: Our first weeks of September are spent in St. Louis visiting with friends and family, attending services at our home parish--Nativity of the Virgin Mary, trips to the zoo, and a Cardinal's game

October 2010: Another trip? Don't mind if we do. Ryan celebrates his birthday with a road trip through Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, and France. We first rove to Dover where we took the ferry across to Calais, France. We drove straight to Belgium where we stayed in the beautiful city of Brugge. The next day we traveled through Luxembourg stopping at the American Cemetery there. Then we continued into Germany's oldest city: Trier. Finally, we made our way back to the ferry by traveling through the champaign region of France. It was an exhausting but amazing trip. I find myself in awe at how easy it is to travel from one country to another throughout Europe.

*Julia begins crawling in our hotel in Germany

* We host a Halloween party with some American friends. Alexandria is Lexie Bo Peep and Julia is her sheep

November 2010: We celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday in Rome. Amazing Rome. I am dreaming of my return to Italy!

December 2010: How did December arrive so quickly? Didn't we just move?!

* Alexandria participates in her first school play which is focused on the Nativity. I LOVE that they keep Jesus in Christmas here!

* Christmas is quaint and wonderful!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

The loss of a family member

On a recent trip across the English channel, we lost a dear member of our family: Kaelynn.

Kaelynn joined our family on 25 December 2007 and fell victim to loss and assumed kidnapping 8 October 2010. Kaelynn was a well traveled child. Having lived in both America and England, she traveled the 2 countries extensively with her mother, Alexandria. She also visted Paris, France with her mother. She was preparing for a trip through France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany at the time of the loss. She may be gone but never forgotten.

To America and back

I must once again apologize for my hiatus. It has been nearly 3 months since we made our first trip back home and Julia's first trip to America. On the 28th of August, our family of 4 flew out of London's Heathrow airport to St. Louis, MO (with a brief stop in Chicago).

The girls both did very well on the flight. The only mishap we had was 1 blowout diaper surprise, which of course occurred just after lunch was served. Fortunately, I had packed a change of clothes for everybody, because Julia and I certainly both needed ours! The onboard television screens and radio kept both girls entertained for the majority of the flight.

Highlights of the trip:

• Visiting with all of our fabulous friends and family

Lexie and Julia enjoy reuniting with their Nina

Smiles with Mawmaw

Spending time with cousins Elijah and Abigail

This was our first time meeting Abby and their first time meeting Julia, cousins born 11 days apart

Cousins Brody and Julia

• Attending services at our home church, Nativity of the Virgin Mary, including sharing in the 110th anniversary with Metropolitan Jonah

• Julia's first Cardinals game

• Visiting the St. Louis Zoo
• Enjoying the BEAUTIFUL weather

Chilling by the pool

Julia's first time in the pool-- She loved it!

Unfortunately, the return trip did not go quite as smoothly as the first flight. Ryan returned to England on the 5th of September as he needed to get back to work. The girls of the Herman family stayed an additional week, returning on the 12th. I planned the flights to have a connection in New York, thus making the 2nd flight shorter than flying from the midwest. This plan backfired on me in a major way as BOTH girls fell asleep on the flight from St. Louis to New York. If you have ever tried to wake a sleeping 3 year old, then you likely know what I dealt with once the flight landed in New York. Despite the embarrassment of the giant spectacle, we made it to our next flight with time to spare. The next flight, though long, passed smoothly.

The one thing I was concerned about for myself with this trip was that I would fall homesick and dread the return to England. Much to my surprise and happiness, this was not the case at all. It was during this trip that I realized how well we have all adapted to living in England. Although I thoroughly enjoyed the visit "home," it felt even better to return HOME!

Awaiting a visit 'home'

After an exciting July, I realized we still had the entire month of August to just wait for our trip back to St. Louis. I knew straight away this would not do!

There is an estate called "Burghley House" not too far from here. We had always talked of visiting so figured the first weekend of August would be the perfect time. It is located in Stamford outside of Peterborough, and ironically enough allowed me to continue with my obsession of Pride and Prejudice adaptations. This property was used in the 2003 film and represented Lady Catherine De Bourgh's property, Rosings. Besides being another amazing area to tour both inside and out, Burghley House is also home to some very friendly deer. Upon entering the property, I thought I noticed a couple of deer behind a fence in the distance. Only minutes later, we were parking the car mere feet from grazing deer. Much to my surprise Alexandria grabbed a leaf from a tree, approached a buck, and fed it straight to him!

The following weekend we headed toward London but away from central London which we have tired of seeing already! Instead, we visited Richmond, which is essentially where all the people who live in London actually live. Despite constant rain, we enjoyed ourselves with shopping and gelato. One of the things we hoped to do while there was walk along the river. Here is what we found when we made our way down to the river:

Yes, that is a pub in which people cannot get out due to the river flooding... every man's dream.

July travels

The summer has come and gone so quickly, but it did not pass without more adventuresome travels by the Herman family. During July we took 2 trips: One weekend to Scotland and another to Lyme Park and Liverpool.

July began with a long weekend for us Americans in England, and we refuse to let a long weekend pass at home. Being stuck on the island (due to Julia's lack of a passport), and having already visited Wales, there was little doubt in our minds that our next trip would be to Scotland. Between strollers and luggage, we decided it best to drive and stick to Southern Scotland. The drive was gorgeous! Although crossing from England to Scotland is no more difficult than crossing from Illinois to Missouri, we observed a distinct difference in the landscape and architecture. Architecturally speaking, stone is very popular in Scotland, as opposed to England's use of brick. To our surprise, we spotted even more sheep in Scotland than in England.

We spent the first part of the weekend in Edinburgh, traveling the Royal Mile and the surrounding area. While we enjoyed the sights, we found Edinburgh (like most other capital cities) to be very touristy. We joked that we heard more American accents there than in all of our time in England. Upon sighting Edinburgh Castle, we took the hard way up. With 2 kids and 2 strollers (we're still experimenting on the best 'transportation' for the kids), we traveled up and down about 5 flights of stairs and a very steep hill before arriving at the top. After getting to the castle, we discovered the whole 'mile' is at a slight elevation. We started at the highest point and worked our way down! Both a workout and a memory... I couldn't have planned that better.

Next we visited St. Andrews, the birthplace of golf. Fortunately for me, the husband could neither afford nor play his way on to the courses there. Despite rain, wind, and cold we had a fabulous visit. We saw both St. Andrews Castle and St. Andrews Cathedral. We have all grown quite fond of historic sites such as these, because there is something for everyone, and they are 100% kid friendly. Between these attractions, and a few pubs before, during, and after the drive, I deemed this holiday a success.

Only 2 weeks later, we were all growing antsy waiting at home with our next planned trip not until late August. While watching the 1995 BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, we wondered about the films locations. After a bit of research we discovered Lyme Park, which acted as Mr. Darcy's estate Pemberley in the film, was only a few hours from home. After a bit more research, we learned that Liverpool was only an hour from Lyme Park. Once the weekend arrived, we were off. Lyme Park is absolutely gorgeous inside and out as we toured both the gardens and the interior of the estate.

Feeling satisfied with our time at 'Pemberley,' we hopped back in the car and headed for Liverpool. I absolutley loved Liverpool. There were so many things to see and do all within walking distance of our hotel. While we visited a few different attractions, the highlight was the Beatles Story Exhibition.

They had 2 different locations full of facts, photos, videos, and memorabilia. My favorite aspect was the second exhibit made almost entirely by donations from Cynthia and Julian Lennon. It told many stories of John Lennon and the Beatles that I had not previously heard and had some really awesome artifacts including postcards sent between Julian and John and original notes on Hey Jude.

Alexandria in the 'yellow submarine.' At one point she started singing Yellow Submarine as we walked much to the amusement of passersby who were happy to listen and join in.

Though we planned this trip only days before it occurred, our visit to Lyme Park and Liverpool is arguably my favorite trip we have made thus far. The only downside to the trip is that Liverpool seemed to have an awesome nightlife in which we were unable to partake. Don't worry though, I will most definitely be going back one day sans kids and husband. Anybody interested in being my travel companion?

That is the end of this saga as I have another full month of travels to catch up on as well. It was difficult to narrow down the pictures to share here, so if you would like to see more, you can view the full album here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2138476&id=48000029&l=8f59b8d4cb