A bientôt ... à de grands amis!

Translation (French to English:
Cheers... to great friends!

On June 23rd, we once again piled into our car and hopped on to the A1. Next stop (besides potty breaks): Monte Carlo, Monaco!

Riann and Lincoln did awesome on the long 8 hour ride, they are such troopers! Jamie and I are very lucky they are such well behaved, acclimated travelers.
Monte Carlo was Monte Carlo - full of expensive cars, top names in fashion, and high rollers being gawked at by the middle class. I wasn't really all that impressed by Monte Carlo. Sure, it was pretty, we saw the famous Casino Monte Carlo and Hotel de Paris, and a ton of fancy cars and multimillion dollar yachts, but I felt like this was one place we could say, "Cool, we went here, saw that" and that was good enough. Then again, maybe it had to do with the fact that I was SO excited to get to Toulon, France to see our good friends, the Hoblets!

One night in Monaco, a morning of yummy pastries, and some sightseeing, onward to Toulon!
We arrived to Sarah and Phil's chateau, mid afternoon; it felt like we all picked up right where we last saw each other - State College, PA and before that, Jacksonville, FL. Including the kids, Lily and Zack, who are the same ages as Riann and Lincoln, had a lot of fun all planned out on their own.

Our first afternoon, we just kept it simple with a nice little walk down the hill from their house to the beautiful beach where the kids had fun and the adults just enjoyed the crystal clear, clean, blue water.

Our friends Sarah and Phil made plans for a week full of side trips and a whole lot of fun.
Our first adventure was to The Abbaye Notre-Dame de Sénanque, which was founded in 1148 and populated by monks, a beautiful medieval Cistercian abbey known for its lavender fields. We didn't see any monks, but we did enjoy many photo ops with the lavender.

Our next destination: Gordes. Oh, lovely, lovely Gordes! I am convinced that Sarah and Phil picked the best places for us to see in southern France. Oh la la! Just a quaint little town where we picked a perfect spot for a fancy picnic, which included French wine and a baguette plus all kinds of other good stuff. We walked through the town, poked around in a few shops for treasures and treated the kids to glacées artisanales... French for gelato - delizioso! I mean délicieux!

Next stop: L'Isle sur la Sorgue and their Sunday market to find all things fun and French, new and old, and tasty too of course!! The market had everything!

I scored with a few more treasures: a linen table cloth, some fun French ceramics, breakfast of cafe and pain du chocolat, and a few more photos of the experience. We proceeded with our adventure and arrived in Avignon for lunch, a ride on a carousel for the kids, walking through the streets of Avignon, more photos, and a quick stop of... yup, more glacees. I'm telling you, it makes every adventure for the KIDS that much more enjoyable.
Our last sight of Avignon: Pont d'Avignon, a famous medieval bridge in the town of Avignon that originally spanned the Rhône River between Avignon and Villeneuve-lès-Avignon, now it no longer crosses the entire river but it does make for beautiful photos!

Back in Toulon, we had a quieter, less adventurous day - we spent it an a gorgeous beach just about a 40 minute drive from Sarah & Phil's house. The kids had a blast, the water was amazingly clear and aqua blue; we brought snacks and sandwiches which made the day even more fun.

We thought the beach had worn out the kids, but they still had energy to help celebrate Jamie's 35th birthday, a little early, but with a fabulous dinner outside and with some tasty pastries from a nearby French pastry shop and homemade Tiramisu that Sarah whipped up.

Sadly, all good things must come to an end, as did our visit to Toulon and the Hoblet's...
But not before having one last day seeing "Sarah's little corner of France": the usual places she goes for cheese, wine, baguettes, the market close to their house.

And not before the grownups had an evening out, kids at home with a wonderful babysitter:
Drinks at a bar with the (British) owner who Phil has become more or less friends with.
Dinner at fabulous restaurant called Le Lido was amazing, whatever it is we ordered ;o)
(Sarah and Phil had to translate everything for us, they even ordered for us... I couldn't fake this language!!!)

A beautiful, scenic walk home, up the hill, overlooking the Med... priceless! An amazing evening with friends who treat you like family. One adventure we will always treasure - I even have over 1,000 photos (yes, really) to remember.

Di imbarcarsi sull'aereo per Londra!

Translation: Boarding the plane for London!

When we knew we were moving to Italy, my #1 destination for a visit (besides seeing ALL of Italy) was London. Unfortunately, the day before we flew out, I had to make a run to the ER here (you go to the ER when there are no more doctors appointments available on base) and was diagnosed with Strep Throat. I didn't care what I had, we were going to LONDON the next day, please oh please, just let me feel better!!

We arrived in 2 short hours to London via the Southwest of Europe: RyanAir. Jamie did a case study on RyanAir while working on his Masters, I recall the day he came home and told me all about the terrible customer service but cheap, cheap tickets. I also recall thinking, and probably saying "We will never, ever fly RyanAir!!!"
Never say never, right??
Even RyanAir exceeded my expectations, there was no "standing room only" as I had imagined, both engines worked, the flight attendants were really nice... What was all the fuss about??

First London experiences: riding the Gatwick Express from the airport to the middle of London and then we piled all four of us and all of our luggage into their adorable black taxis and headed to our flat. It was late, so dinner was a must; a terribly expensive night out for burgers, about $65, but Mmmmmm, burgers!! and a huge variety of burgers, such a heavenly treat.


























We had 4 more full days in London, so we tried to see and do as much as possible.

Our first day, Saturday April 16 - We took advantage of the easy mass transit, mostly the double decker buses, but also the Underground (subway system). We visited the Tower of London,









enjoyed the Crown Jewels more than one would think - they were actually quite unbelievable! Then we began our "Rick Steves" recommended "The City" walk: we checked out St. Paul's Cathedral in The City (downtown), worked our way toward Westminster and Central London stopping at a favorite restaurant of Charles Dickens': Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese Tavern




which was rebuilt in 1667 after The Great Fire, but it has existed as Tavern since 1538. And of course, we indulged in a British favorite: Fish & Chips.
We stopped in for some tea in Twinings, a super cute, super narrow tea shop dating back to 1706. We had to experience Leicester Square and Covent Garden Market, landed ourselves in Soho where we stumbled upon more beautiful gardens - so many gorgeous, colorful flowers throughout London!!!
Like all trips, we had a bribe or two for Riann and Lincoln, and on this first full day in London, we walked down Regent Street and let them explore Hamley's toy store. Of all things they could have chosen, Riann picked a doll and Lincoln picked out a helicopter. They were happy, and that was all that mattered!

The new toys bought us a little more time, so we walked to Piccadilly Circus. Unfortunately there was a lot of construction going on and it wasn't really all that impressive to us.
After a quick rest at our flat, we boarded another double decker and headed to the Marble Arch, we saw the Horse Head where Riann and Linc took their turns standing in the nostril of the massive structure.

Day two, we took a ride on over to Paddington Station and took a train to Bath.

Bath was really pretty, very quaint, really cool and not very touristy, we loved it and we were so glad we decided to do a side day trip there! I would definitely recommend going to check out the Roman Baths, the Pump Room for a snack and tea, and The Royal Crescent. We also walked along the River Avon, saw a game of Cricket in full swing, and even peaked into the Bath Rugby stadium. Somehow the main memory Jamie holds of Bath is of a conversation he overheard in the park in front of the Royal Crescent: A man talking to his friend (?) (and you have to read it in your best British accent)
"Yea, that sandwich... It looks a bit mangey, but it tastes bloody good."

Something I did not expect to find in the London area: over crowded trains INTO London in the mid-afternoon. The train we boarded back to Paddington Station had no seats left, I'm not sure how they allowed us to board. So until the first stop, Jamie and I each kept one of the kids as close to us as possible. At the second stop, a woman removed her bags from the luggage rack that we were standing right next to. Instead of having any more near-misses of the kids getting bonked in their heads, we let them ride as luggage in the rack. A few minutes after finding their new "seats", one of the train stewards moved us up from luggage to First Class. Nice!

Day three, April 18th, we had to check off the major sights of London: Big Ben and Parliament, then Westminster Abbey. I will be a dork and gloat here: I was first in line at the Abbey!! The coolest part of waiting in line was speaking with an employee who was telling me about all the setting up for the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate which was taking place the following week. The Abbey had BBC workers walking in and out with tons of equipment, the Abbey employee was telling me they had been setting up for WEEKS already. The Abbey was also closed Thursday and Friday for the Queen to do an inspection for the nuptials... I was definitely starstruck!

Westminster Abbey is beyond impressive, it is so beautiful inside and out!
More sights to be seen!! We wandered over to the Wellington Barracks where we saw the changing of the guard - recommended by friends of ours, but also by RIck Steves for families with younger children. We were up front along the fence with a perfect view, meanwhile the massive crowds were over by Buckingham Palace, everyone trying desperately to catch a glimpse of the men in uniform. The Barracks holds a practice before the changing of the guard officially takes place, the Drum Majors played songs like "What a Wonderful World". These guards that leave Wellington Barracks are the guards that relieve the guards already at Buckingham Palace. It was really cool, and it totally entertained Riann and Lincoln!

After all that entertaining, we walked through beautiful St James Park, grabbed a bite to eat which we ate on the stairs of The National Gallery, then, thanks again to Rick Steves, made a sprint version of touring the Museum to see the tops in works of art. Riann and Linc aren't exactly museum-type kids just yet...

Day four, April 19th - We got out the door first thing and got ourselves to adorable, pristine Notting Hill... SO cute!!!

We were early, so early that the Portobello Market was hardly open, few vendors were set up and the only item I picked up was a dress that was "Made in Italy"... Well, I live in Italy and was visiting England, I can always find Made in Italy at home!!
A visit to The Natural History Museum proved to be an awesome adventure for Riann and Linc as much as for Jamie and me. Dinosaurs, the Marine Life Room, rocks and gems, birds, etc... We spent several hours there, but as we were getting ready to leave we noticed the line to get in to the start of the dinosaur exhibit - it was ridiculously long and we, the early birds that we are, had walked right in earlier that morning!

We ventured through Hyde Park arriving at Kensington Garden and Kensington Palace... impressive, even under refurbishment!! The gardens were amazing, gorgeous, and perfectly picturesque!

But the main reason we arrived at Kensington Palace: high noon tea at The Orangery!!! It was overpriced and a little fancy for jeans and a t-shirt but so worth the experience! Riann and I each had tea with a variety of "crumpettes", it was a fun made memory.

Lincoln had fallen asleep but woke up just in time to enjoy a few little crumpettes as well.

We walked over to the Princess Diana of Wales Memorial Playground - a wonderful, creative, fun-filled playground but we picked the wrong day to go, it was beyond packed, only later did we find out schools were out for a 2 or 3 week vacation. I would still recommend people to go check it out, just hope for a less crowded day.

And that leaves me with our last day in London...
We packed up and headed via another big red double-decker that took us to Harrods department store. Oh my, oh my!!! If I had a million or two dollars, I mean pounds, the damage I could do!! We had lunch at a little sandwich shop across the street from Harrods, then went back in to browse a few more, non-affordable but beautiful things in the store.

We hailed another black cab and arrived back at Victoria Station, where our London adventure started, to catch our train back to Gatwick and head on home. Lincoln was sad about leaving.

London exceeded all of my expectations! London is awesome, it is a perfectly huge, fun, vibrant, friendly city. It was truly a dream for me to book the tickets, do the planning, and finally, FINALLY get to London.

Now, if we can find a way to move there for a few years...

Matera, Alberobello e Zoosafari!

I thought keeping a blog would be an easy way to keep all my stateside friends and family updated on our travels: Much easier said than done.

February 18th, we took a little road trip adventure with our friends, the Pugh's, to Matera, a quaint little town about 3.5 hours from our house. It rained cats and dogs the entire way to Matera. Matera is where Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ was filmed. It is also an UNESCO World Heritage site.

It felt like we were much further from (our current) home, trying to find our way around the ancient town, on the narrow, curvy, one-way, hairpin roads to our hotel, Hotel Caveoso . It was a pretty cool place to stay but our friends Scott & Suzanne and their boys definitely got the much cooler room: a cave, or sassi which is a room or home dug into the calcareous rock of Matera.

We were all pretty hungry and thanks to the rain, we found a restaurant nearby and enjoyed a great meal and wine.
We decided the hotel was great and all, but we should get started and check out the cave town. We didn't get very far before the kids were wet, grumpy, cold and our umbrellas were whipped inside out and broken by the wind.
Of course, that is easily fixed by gelato, so the four kids enjoyed some cold gelato and the guys ended up warming up with some liquor spiked caffe.

The Sassi part of town itself was pretty amazing to see. It is a small town, and truly, NOTHING was open to eat until 7:30 or 8:00pm, so only some of us ventured back out for dinner, Lincoln ended up falling asleep as I carried him, he never woke up during dinner or on the way back to the hotel. He was out for the night. Jamie and Scott took the opportunity to walk around and take some photos of Matera at night, the caves lit up at night give the town a completely different look.

Mother Nature cooperated with us the next day at least, we headed out to take some pictures of the Sassi side of Matera, explored some of the cave homes, what a cool city!
We headed to the new side of Matera where we tried to visit the Tramantano Castle but it was closed for renovations. We walked through some of the new town, found ourselves in a Saturday morning market, bought some fresh produce and enjoyed some lunch where we were, of course, the only patrons.
We had the next portion of our road trip on our agenda, so we left the new side of Matera, and headed across the Gravina river to get a good view of the Sassi side of Matera once again, to see all caves from a distance.

On the road again, we let Scott lead the way with their GPS, and they choose to take the more scenic route. We came upon a flock of sheep, the sheep dogs and the herder. I'm sure to him, we looked like the silly Americans because we were taking photos and staring.
After only about an hour in the car, we arrived in Alberobello, another UNESCO site. Alberobello is such a unique town, the homes are constructed from the local limestone with conical roofs and all were painted white. We had the luxury in staying in a pretty awesome one, I think I would be happy with it as my vacation home someday.
We walked around the trulli homes, many of which are now various shops, but our kids were getting tired, it was getting cold and we were all hungry, and once again we found ourselves with very limited places to eat. However, we did stumble upon a crepe eatery, they had a ton of different types of crepes - some like pizza, some like sandwiches, and of course the sweet variety. The kids were happy, the adults were happy and so we called it a night.

The grand finale of our weekend was a visit to Zoosafari - a drive through zoo near Bari. I had heard it was cool but we didn't think it could be THAT spectacular.
It. Was. Awesome!!!
We first had deer, rams, donkeys, llamas and goats walking along the side of our car as we fed them peanuts and carrots, then we drove through the lions den (with our windows up!!!) where lions play, fight and walk along near your car - there was also a man in a truck who would drive toward the lions if they started acting up or getting too close, and I'm sure (or I hope!!) with a tranquilizer gun within reach. This was a similar set up for the tigers and bears too. Then we arrived at the giraffes... what gentle giants! We had SO much fun feeding the giraffes, Lincoln was a bit nervous and Riann was a little freaked out at first, she even made a beeline for the back dashboard. The giraffes cleaned us out of carrots, left plenty of drool, but we got so up close and personal and had a ton of photos, fun and video of them. It was too cool to hang out with the giraffes!!
We were also able to chill with some zebras, Jamie even got his photo taken with a super friendly one. And then we got to the end, where the enormous camels were unfriendly, stood in the middle of the road, they would look at us every now and then out of the corner of their eye, and not budge, not even an inch. I think we were stuck behind a camel for a good 10 or 15 minutes. Zoosafari was fabulous, we laughed so much and had a ton of fun, it is definitely something you HAVE to do!

On our way home, we stopped along the Adriatic Sea for some nice picturesque photos, ate a pretty amazing meal at a really nice (almost too nice for little kids!) restaurant. We headed home, back to Gricignano di Aversa...

The next several weeks were busy, but not really all that blogworthy.
We attended an Asian Auction on the Navy Base here, yes, Asian Auction, even though we are in Italy. There were some really fabulous pieces of furniture, gorgeous Tiffany lamps, and smaller things like jewelry and glassware. We came home with two new pieces of furniture, an Asian "Wedding Cabinet" and an antique hand painted trunk. It was a fun event that I'll look forward to attending again next year.


Jamie and I had the Supply Corps Ball which was held in Monte di Procida, but it was scaled way back from the original few hundred that were supposed to attend due to the events in the world (Libya), and many people being shipped out.








March 12th, my friend Tina and I went on a wine tour in Avellino to Cantine Antonio Caggiano. Avellino was a wonderful, adorable little town about an hour from here. We enjoyed tasting some fantastic wine, then ended our tour with a pretty amazing lunch and a bunch of fun people who also attended the tour. This is a picture of Tina and me with the owner, Antonio of Cantine Antonio Caggiano.











March 18th, Jamie was able to escape to Bormio, Italy to meet his mother and uncle for some skiing in the Italian Alps. Unfortunately, again due to current events at the time, he almost didn't make it, and his trip was still abbreviated to only allow him one day of skiing. He had a great time regardless, he even took a video of skiing down the mountain... probably not the smartest thing and hopefully he'll never do that again, but he had a much-needed fun time.








Riann had a kind of unexpected surgery - she had bilateral trigger thumbs that needed to be surgically corrected. Lucky for us, there was a wonderful visiting surgeon from the states that became her doctor, and she had an awesome group of doctors that took amazing care of her. Riann was even taken down the hallway to surgery while the surgeon, orthopedists and other doctors let her bed be the train and "chugga-chugga-choo-chooed" all the way down, you would have thought she was going to a party, not surgery! After only a week of soft casts and bandages that didn't slow her down much at all, she was back to fully functioning, happy, straight thumbs.









March 27th, we took a little half day trip and visited Ercolano, a town that sits below Mt. Vesuvius. Ercolano is a town that was completely covered in volcanic ash during the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in AD 79. Citizens of Herculaneum died of thermal shock from the extremely hot pyroclastic surges. In 1709, Ercolano was rediscovered and has since been partially excavated. It is better preserved than Pompeii and much smaller, easy and fun to do with Riann and Lincoln and visitors.







That brings me up to one of our BIG trips of 2011: LONDON!!! But I'll have to find more time to write about that...