Visitors

There is light at the end of the tunnel.......

We are in shock.....

........after 3 years and 4 months........

We are going to have visiors........the beds have been made.....the room looks like a hotel (and includes fire evacuations, evacuations, earthquake drills, breakfast menus etc)......

Someone is about to turn 40. He's having a party and of all the people he wanted at his party.....

Grandma and Grandpa are it (your right side - that's Nan on the left (deceased)).

We don't mind our own space......

But we are ready for visitors.....we will make them feel welcome.

Because our little family would love to show their extended family that they really are okay over here in this "scary" (not so much) place.

Pisa

The morning after reaching Florence (straight from the snow), we went to Pisa to see the tower we had always heard about. We really should have allowed a full day just to go to Pisa but we underestimated how long it would take to get to La Thuille to Florence.

We went by train from Florence to Pisa, a short 1 hour trip with trains leaving every 30 minutes.

Ipods and DS's work wonders on the trains, I explored the My Chemical Romance cd "The Black Parade" on that trip (I still see the images going past when I listen to the songs). Once in Pisa, it's a 30 minute walk from the station to the tower - yes there are buses but we wanted to see what the town was like.

You have to have a few photo's of behaving a bit stupidly in front of this building. It is a spectacular tower.

I always thought it was just on a bit of a tilt - but this shows just how much it is on a lean. You have to be at least 8 to climb the tower, we figured this must be for a good reason (ie fall through something), so we skipped the climb. There was an excellent system in place for climbing tickets - you go to the ticket office and they give you the 15 minute time slot that the queue is up to (ie, we could buy a ticket for 2 hours time, but could wander around and not line up for 2 hours).

The obligatory photo - sorry. The tower was built as a bell tower for the Duomo and started in 1173. It was lopsided by 3rd story - where they tried to compensate and build up the other side. But the extra weight made it worse and they thought it might fall over, so they reduced the weight in early 2000 so that it was stable.

The battistero behind the duomo was also a stunning building - the whole thing exceptionally gothic. J and I really appreciate anything made of stone, given our background we have an appreciation of the effort that has gone into the construction of a structure this huge (I know, I need to see the pyramids.

This is behind the duomo -look at the angle on that tower.....

The front of the duomo.


A wider shot (I have no idea why this has been taken from the ground - ask one of the kids).

The amazing door on the back of the duomo - it's a romanesque panel that depicts scenes from the life of Christ and is from the 14th century.

How breathtaking is the detail on this wall?


Another door - another amazingly carved surface.

Just one of many mosaic's. We didn't take the kids inside - there were many other churches they were going to be dragged into - why over do it?

Isn't that amazing?

The walk back was down charming little streets like above. Not tough and almost deserted (guess everyone goes by bus from station to main sights).

The Arno river, just north of the central train station. Looks a bit dreary on a rainy winters day, but rustic to say the least. Stunning buildings on either side (that you can't see). Will go back when this one is a bit older.

Pompeii

We went to Pompeii on our last day in Rome. Took 2 hours on a train to Napoli and then 1/2 hour on a local narrow guage railway that goes around the circumference of Mt Vesuvius (circumvesuviana - no signs of whereabouts until almost out of central station - but only a 5 minute walk). Really cheap little railway, running on time every 20 minutes (but beware on way back, it's the 2nd last station, not the last - we almost stayed on).

When you get to the Pompeii station - you have no idea that this massive area is 2 minutes walk from the station.

We passed on the tour guide (big mistake) - but we were still smarting over having to pay adult prices for the kids. We didn't get a map either, so it was a bit of a mystery for a while (until I realised everyone else seemed to know where they were going, and a lovely chinese guy told us they handed out maps where we bought the tickets - anyway -went back and got one and that got us in the right direction). My god I am a whinger aren't I?

This is inside the communal baths - the volcano erupted in 79 AD, 17 years after they had an earthquake that had done considerable damage.

The handset tour guides were pretty good - they had a seperate one for the kids and you literally could have spent 4 hours listening to all of the seperate talks they had (in fact C girl did listen to it from start to finish - more on that later).

That's a big bath at the end - amazing preservation.

Inside one of the houses. This is where C girl was taking a video. She was listening to the whole tour guide, not following the number that we were at. We didn't realise - so when we said "no 29" we thought she would have turned to it. We were all wearing our personal headphones (in the case of J and I - noise reducing earphones). The audio started outside, and said, turn left, take the first turn to the right, walk in the door.........giving a path of where to go. C girl, busy making her video and not listening to what we were listening to, turned around after a few minutes and realised her whole family had disappeared - thousands of kilometers from anyone that knew her, in a country that does not speak english.

The first we heard about it was when the people inside the building looked up and turned in alarm - I noticed the other people's reaction, noticed there were only two kids and took off the earphones and heard a god almighty scream, followed by "MUMMY"........then another scream. The poor kid thought we had abandoned her.

We were not forgiven in a hurry.

This is a quaint little fountain at the back of someone's house.

It is quiet an eerie feeling walking around a massive town that is devoid of people. You can almost imagine people going about their business - and the preservation of some of the buildings is amazing (I don't think our house will be standing in 1950 years).

The kids found it very interesting - especially Bear, who only just finished studying archeology in IPC (international primary curriculum).

Our only wish is that there were more plaster molds of where people were found when they excavated. Not enough bodies for our liking (no it's not sick, it would help identify just how big a disaster it was).

Light rain - no problem

This is a temple that was damaged in the earthquake in 62 AD but the renovation was paid for by a 5 year old boy. His father was a former slave (who had become wealthy) but could not become part of the "high society". His son, never having been a slave, could. So with a sizeable donation to the community, his 5 year old became an upstanding member of the community and on the council. Good way to get around the system.


Can you believe J walked around with a backpack containing a video camera and our good nikon but then failed to take a single photo (these are from my point and shoot camera).

When we got back to Napoli, the train had been delayed by 2 hours (not initially, but eventually). J was feeling really sick. So I took the kids on small excursions of Napoli (well, a couple of blocks from central station). Not too exciting, but the best patisieri I have ever seen (think the spelling is wrong Manny), and a great little supermarket. Even found a ROAST chicken (yes, didn't see too many of them). Back in Rome at 8:30 - too late for crepes......boo hoo.

Was it worth the 5-6 hours of train trips and a 2 hours delay. It definitely was - the documentaries have showed lots, so it's really familiar, but there is something to walking the streets personally and watching the kids discover stuff that is pretty awesome. I think trains was the best way to go for our family (probably wouldn't be for a couple), as it was 20% the price of the tours (and didn't include a "shell factory" tour). Overall time was about the same. Definitely worth the trip though. Won't go back for another visit though - seen enough.

10 things I love about Italy

We just got home on Saturday morning. I will give a much more detailed account (with photos). But I will give my love/dislikes now to get the dislikes off my chest so I can write objectively. Overall we loved Italy, wondered why it took us so long to get there. Very glad I was born in Australia though.

10 Things I loved about Italy

1. The weather – snow, light rain, refreshingly cold, when you breath, you could see it (and not just because you were standing in front of the freezer counter at Sogo).

2. The old buildings – for the areas we saw (and yes – it was only 3 weeks), mostly old buildings, picturesque (but I’m not sure I’d want to live in them).

3. The food – lunch and dinner were a pleasure – for the first time in my holiday lifetime, we bought both lunch and dinner every day and it was a pure pleasure. Who cared how much it cost, it tasted fantastic (to the point the C girl is eating real food now).

4. The diet. 3 weeks of at least 1 bottle of wine a day and everything I wanted to eat – no difference in weight.

5. Did I mention the food – well the pasta was magnificent (I only had risotto or pasta for dinner), favorite – pumpkin ravioli with balsamic sauce. It was magic 3 weeks, 2 dud meals.

6. Ability to walk everywhere. The maps were good, the locations were close and we managed to walk a minimum of 5km a day. Yes we did the bus/train thing where necessary, but we mostly walked (big improvement on last year – mostly because Munch is now 6 ¾ and could cope (until the last few days when she kuplunked). Plus in Rome you could get on a website and it would give you the public transport/walking that you needed to catch/do to go from A to B. Easy peasy.

7. Rome – this is a city I could happily live in (in the old section), there is something amazing around every corner. Old ruins, café, every street, everywhere. I loved it. Loved Venice and Florence as well for same reason.

8. The shopping centres – we saw a total of ZERO big supermarkets (only saw small ma and pa ones), ZERO department stores/shopping centres. All boutiques and small shops.

9. The coffee – I am now a convert (we even bought home a percolator for the stove to have one very morning on way to work).

10. The Australian tourists – there I said it. We were the ones in the restaurants at 6pm (in Rome), usually every group in there at that time was an Australian and we always had lovely chats. Also ran into some groups in Florence, Pompeii (same group), Venice and Milan – all of whom we loved talking to (maybe just for the accents). Granted I wouldn’t have loved this if I hadn’t been out of Aus for 3 years, but for us it was really lovely. One group from Ballarat – now there is a freaky coincidence considering we both lived there for 4 years.

Italy - from Ski to Climb

Well the skiing is over - we all survived without anything broken. Bear got a really bad black eye - but that is it. We skiied France on the last day and really regretted it. There was a blizzard - freezing cold and snow blowing sideways. We got our crepe and hot chocolate (both not that great (and 28 euro) and headed back to sunny Italy, vowing to never return to the cold, windy depths of France again.

It really was quite hairy. Thought one of the kids was going to pack up and just sit there and freeze. Not sure what the plan was if they did. The two girls were howling with tears. So cold, there neck warmers were frozen in position and even with toe and hand warmers I couldn't feel my face, fingers or toes. But to their credit they continued on, uphill for 300m (to avoid going down a 2km run and then back up another really long chairlift. When we got back to sunny, calm Italy, the temptation was to go straight back to the apartment and watch a movie. To their credit, they let us drag them to a warm restuarant (that required going up another chairlift) and we thawed out while drinking hot chocolate (and gluwein) and eating some pretty great pasta.

We left La Thuille very happy, vowing to come back to Italy next year for another shot at skiing, this time the Dolomites. Love the combination of skiing and great food. With Switzerland we skiied and ate what was put in front of us - here - we ski, we look forward to lunch, we ski, we look forward to dinner. Food is as much a part of life here as breathing (or if I was Italian I would say smoking).

Let me rewind - C girls birthday was pretty great. She loves her Ipod Touch and hasn't stopped finding all the extras that it does. Xmas eve included a really lame snowboarding santa - the kids sobbing themselves to sleep (he only gave the italian kids presents on xmas eve) and waking up to discover that there was a total of 1 present waiting for them. They were okay about those presents (a local doll for the girls and pinochio for bear) from Santa, plus a La Thuille t shirt - wow you say. But a mountain bike (with gears) each (from us, and a pair of rollerblades, a lego cargo train and strawberry shortcake doll, plus a popcorn machine is waiting at home for them - so they can keep the xmas spirit alive for 2 more weeks and know that it is all in the waiting.

Yesterday we went from La Thuille to Florence. Went via Milan - then a high speed train for 1 3/4 hours. Spent way to much time in line waiting for the train, which was booked out - so we had to go 1st class (still had to wait for the 3rd train after we got there). Have already booked for tomorrow's trip to Rome, got it at the same time as our tickets to Pisa, so maybe we learnt something.

Oh - that's right - we went to Pisa today......Pisa, walk through very italian streets from the train station. Walk for 1/2 hour - very pretty - in the light rain - then you turn a corner and - it takes your breath away. Very beautiful, very angled, very amazing that your children are experiencing this world spectacular sight at the ages of 6,8 and 11 when you have to wait 39 years to see it, okay, 31 since I heard of Pisa, but still - that's a long time.

We got back to Florence (Firenze) at 3. Went straight to the Duomo - so we could climb the 463 steps to the top of the dome. It was pretty spectacular - got there at 5. Just enough light to take some spectacular photos of Florence. After which we grabbed an ice cream, walked the christmas lit streets and wandered to a resturant. All 3 kids tasted all of the antipasto - even liking the chicken liver (even after they found out what it was), then having something different for main. C girl had Risotto (with blue cheese) and salmon gnochi last night - calamari tonight. She is trying food without any argument. It is so unusual that we may not know what to do with ourselves by the end of this holiday.

Obviously she has been milking the whole"I don't like this......." for way too long.

Tomorrow we are going to see Michaelangelo's David - also hopefully the main museum. Got a train to Rome at 1:10. Not long enough to see everything - but as they say - you don't DO Florence, it is a place you can come back to again and again and discover new things every time.

We are just trying to not kill the magic. A lot of nutella is being consumed on this trips in the way of crepes (energy food).

PS - I am having champagne for breakfast - not because I need it, or even want it at 8 in the morning - but because it is part of the buffet breakfast - and hey, why would I knock back champagne????

Today she is 11

C girl is 11 today. How much has our life changed in 11 years. From 6 pound 9 ounces of princess who we would each hold her hand as she fell asleep (Yes, we were suckers who later paid dearly for that) to a 40kg, swimming, athletic, football playing, great skiing young lady. Basically since the day she was born, nothing has been too good for this girl.

Yesterday we ended up at the Roman ruins in Aosta. On Tuesday night we ran into Suzy who told us about the tour going to Pila the next day. Pila is a snow resort that is in the mountains above Aosta. We decided to go and were very apprehensive at 7:45 when it was bucketing down with snow here in La Thuille. Pila is called – ski in the sky. It was sunshine, waist deep in powder and very beautiful. You could see the Materhorn in Switzerland and Mont Blanc in France from the slopes.

We started skiing with the group – but they were a bit slow – so we left them at 12 and did our own thing. Kids were a bit silly though (okay, I might have said stupid). You just can’t do anything in waist deep powder snow. To add more excitement, they went further and further into the fresh powder on the sides of the runs. There were a few jumps, so I can understand some of this. But after C girl almost got stuck and realised all I was going to do was add verbal support, she then went down 20m and did it again. Only this time a lot worse. After the crying started because she couldn’t move with one ski, it took me 20 minutes to find her other ski. I found lots of tree branches, but no ski for quite a while.

We skied there until 2:30, then came down to the bus, changed shoes and went off in search of shops and ruins. We found both. Not the same atmosphere as Germany in regards to Christmas, but it was definitely better than Jakarta. As for ruins – the city is built up around them. It’s part of the infrastructure – just happens to be a 2,000 year old wall as part of this building........found an excellent football fan shop – with all Italian stuff. Unfortunately Jack (otherwise known as “I’m hungry” or Luigi) wanted only Liverpool and couldn’t understand why we would not buy it from a shop in Italy (for 65 euro) – yes there were socks and shorts – but I haven’t even tried to find it in Jakarta - the real sort that is (that aren’t there own thermal heat machine). Will try there first, then relent.

Today we are going to France – fingers crossed the international crossing is open. We really want to have crepes for lunch. The plan after lunch is to go dog sledding (or mushing). Santa is going to be around town from 4:30 – so we need to be back for that. We are all having huge issues being awake after 9 and sleeping to after 6, so there will be no church tonight (it never has been but there is a very cute tradition after of sharing “panettone, hot chocolate and hot spiced wine. For us the day will end in Roast chicken (the birthday girls favourite) and fingers crossed – birthday cake (if we can organise it).

Everyone up now - just had a great unhealthy breakfast, poached eggs, thick bacon, french bread and strong coffee (okay - kids didn't have the coffee).

Italy First Days

We got here, and it was worth the view when we got up in the morning.

32 hours from door to door. Car, planes, trains, bus and feet – we missed the boat part. Kids were brilliant, Munch fell asleep on the bus but we had to wake her up to walk the final 1km to the hotel (the bus driver kindly pointed the direction).

We had a few delays on the way. Both planes delayed leaving, plane into Milan delayed while they checked the runway for ice. Dumb train route. We tried to research the way there but everything was abbreviated. The train system here is 20 years behind Germany. Ended up wasting a bit of time and then having one train cancelled, only to the have the next delayed, to then miss a connection. But we got to Pieter St Didier after 5 trains. Time from plane landing until we reached the hotel – 11 ½ hours. Yes – 11 ½ hours. No we are not insane – thought it was only going to take 5 -6 hours.

Also – still worth the view when we woke up this morning. As J said when we were waiting in a train station in one the most beautiful station I have ever seen in Milan, we could be sleeping in a hotel only to wake up and not be able to sleep tonight (and be in a city), or we can keep awake this way, end up in our new home (for a week) and sleep all night. The people watching opportunities were endless in the train station.

We did have one very big bonus though. On our walk to the hotel we met a lovely Australian who works with Inghams (people who organise packaged holidays). She helped us with a suitcase then checked us in, then helped us to our room, then invited us to join their package tour stuff. She also gave us the English version of the town itinerary for Christmas week (that is up everywhere in Italian). Now we can see Santa in a few spots, Plus see a possessed Christmas tree that does entertainment after wandering around town on the 26th. We will report back on that Italian tradition.

Kids went skiing for two hours yesterday with their Dad. I wasn’t skiing until Monday because I wanted to walk around the village and have a look (but I forgot the camera) – but the kids wanted to start asap. They were way too tired and it was -14 degrees celcius. Two hours was it – but it was a good start.

We had snow fall last night – so now everything is covered in a blanket of snow. It’s only going to be -1 today – perfect for skiing. J has been up since 3:30 and the kids and I have been up since 5:30. He’s been doing work – kids have been playing DS – still a bit jet lagged. The plan today is to ski this morning. When they burn out we will just come home and have a nap – as we have dinner plans tonight (5 course dinner with wine included (part of the Ingham tour)).

C girl has been going okay on the food front. When we booked this in May we told her she would be trying everything when we got here because the food here is not spicy. She doesn’t like chilli or curry (only breakfast doesn’t include one of these for me) so the kids eat their boring food while we eat the fun stuff when we are at home(advantage of a housekeeper). The kids have 5 vegetables a night, so they aren’t getting away with bad food, but their menu hasn’t changed for a long time. When I asked her a week ago what 3 new foods were on her list of foods she regularly ate she named 2 things that I didn’t know she had tasted – let alone have they been added to her menu. Her mission from this holiday is to have 5 new foods that she regularly eats and that she tries food without complaint (this means eating more than 1 mouthful). This means she is to taste everything. So far so good, only one pretend choking/vomiting act. She is about to turn 11 and I think it’s a bit late to teach her that sometimes you just eat what you are given, it’s not always going to be what you feel like.

Anyway – it will be daylight in less than an hour, so we had better tidy up a bit – no one is coming in to do it for us (this could take some getting used to).