W6 of Y4

Tara and Tamara FINALLY made it!!!

But, not without some trouble! The day they were supposed to get here the security and baggage company in Frankfurt airport went on strike. Their flight from Seattle to San Francisco was ok but then they were stranded in San Francisco and their flight was canceled! No one had heard anything from them and we were supposed to get on a train to go to Paris the next morning. Somehow they managed to snag the last 2 seats on a different flight at the last minute and didn't have time to call to let anyone know. They arrived just a few hours later than their original flight, but their luggage didn't make it. So, our first stop was to buy some essentials! (Check out the ADORABLE dress Tara brought back for Whitney!!! She begs to wear it every day now!)

After shopping we went to the Schnitzelhaus in Heidelberg for dinner.

Tara and Tamara had been awake for over 36 hours at this point... I couldn't believe how well they were doing!

Day 1 already down.
In the morning we leave for Paris!!

Paris

Breakfast on the train

I told the kids that they could choose to come with us to France or Italy but they couldn't go to both. Connor and Whitney chose France, and Aiden chose Italy. It was so fun to see how the kids acted differently when they weren't all 3 together. It was also fun to be able to focus on only 1 or 2 at a time. I love getting to know who they are and who they are becoming. They surprise me everyday.

You would never know that they just flew in from the US the day before.
They were such troopers!

Immediately after arriving in Paris we saw all these people yelling, bartering, buying and selling. We were wondering what all the fuss was about, it didn't look like they were selling anything special. Then someone starting yelling and the sellers wrapped everything up in their blankets and walked away. 30 seconds later the street was full of police and the street was totally quiet...

We couldn't believe that we just witnessed that whole process! Right after this happened we got on the subway to get to our hotel. Well, so did a lot of these people. The train was packed. Right before the first stop on the train Tara looked down and saw a guy with both of his hands in her purse that was completely unzipped and Tamara's backpack was unzipped. Tara grabbed the guys hands and pulled them out of her purse, the doors opened and 2 guys ran off really fast! I was oblivious to the whole thing and didn't even see what happened. Needless to say, this made us paranoid for the entire trip! The entire time we've lived and traveled all over Europe, nothing even close to this ever happened to us. Tara hadn't even been in Europe for 24 hours and was already being pick-pocketed!

After a short walk from the subway we found our hotel, the Victor Hugo.

After dropping off our things at the hotel we walked to the Arc de Triomphe

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (WWI). The eternal flame has only been put out once since 1920 by a drunk Mexican at the 1998 World Cup when France beat Brazil.

Connor thought he looked like Napolean Dynamite saying "GOSH!!"

The view of the Eiffel Tower from on top of the Arch de Triomphe.

Next stop was a walk down the Avenue des Champs-Élysées

With a quick stop for some glace!

Not sure what this place is but it seemed to be the coolest skateboarding park ever!

Beautiful! It was so great to be here with my sister!!

HAD to get some cotton candy!!

The Statue of Liberty on the Seine

Still smiling but SICK of walking!!

We finally found the perfect place for dinner... something for everyone!

First course - French onion soup, foie gras, and escargot... heaven!

Connor loves these!

Second course - cheeseburgers! ha!

So. Tired.

A French breakfast at the hotel after a great night's sleep!

Look at these two... riding the Paris subway like pros!

First stop - the Louvre

The cleaning company were striking. Whitney didn't like the loud horns and drums... not to mention the trash everywhere!

Of course, we went to see the Mona Lisa. I was more impressed with the long line just to get close enough for a picture with the Mona Lisa! wow!

And there it is!

Some of the favorites of the day: Ramesses, Cleopatra, John the Baptist, Cupid, etc...

The Arc de Triomphe de Carrousel

The perfect place to eat lunch. Delicious sandwiches, perfect weather, and excellent people watching!


Before leaving the Louvre we stopped at a shop selling fossils and rocks... Connor and Aiden have an extensive and prized collection of BOTH! We were there for 30-45 minutes because Connor could not decide at what to get. The pressure was so great and he couldn't make up his mind. He finally agreed on one but then had buyers remorse for hours later!!


The weather was gorgeous! We all had to stop to buy some new shades. 10 minutes after this picture was taken I realized that my purse was unzipped and my wallet was gone. We went back to the shop where we bought these glasses and asked everyone, but no one had seen my wallet. I was completely panicked. Then... I turn around and there is Connor, holding my wallet. He found it right at this spot by the tree. It must have feel out of my purse when we bent down to take this picture. I couldn't believe that no one took it and that Connor found it there! That was TOO close!

Notre Dame Cathedral

Crepes and a beautiful walk around the square

We even found a park

Time to leave so soon... waiting for our train.

Tuscany

Aiden went on and on about staying home with Daddy by himself... but now it was his turn to go with us to Italy!! Connor and Whitney heard about how much fun Aiden had with Daddy so they were excited to stay home and do all the same things Aiden got to do.

Our apartment was part of a medieval castle from the 1200's!! It was the oldest place I have ever stayed. I couldn't get over how cool it was!
We were in a small medieval village between Pisa and Florence - Vicopisano

The owners were great! They picked us up from the airport and had all the fixings for a delicious spaghetti dinner waiting for us at the house when we got there, which was great because we were all hungry!

Aiden was so excited to get into his bed!
He asked the owner if the paint was scraped off the walls to make the house "look" old. lol! Apparently, it is so the walls can breath.

Tamara's princess bed

The tower just outside our window.

The view of our garden

Outside our room you could see the rocks were a different color. The owners told us the window above Aiden's hand was where they used to dump the toilet onto the sidewalk.
Aiden said "I touched Medieval Pee-Pee!"

From Vicopisano we took a bus that dropped us off right outside the wall

Piazza Dei Miracoli (the square of miracles)
All the people trying to take the famous picture with the tower was SO funny!

The Cathedral, the Baptistry, and the Tower

The Capitoline Wolf

Our turn... It's not as easy as you might think!!

Aiden just kept begging to roll around on the grass. There were guards telling people to get off the grass but lots of people were still on it too. Finally I gave in and told him to go roll in it really quickly.

Walking up the tower

The steps were hard to walk on and they got really narrow the closer you got to the top






And that was it.

Fresh coconut and grapes. YUM!

We took the bus back to our village and had a Gelato in the square while we waited for our ride to our cooking workshop.

Aiden playing on the iPod in the shade. Too cute!

Gloria - our instructor
We asked the owners of our apartment if he knew of a cooking class we could do with Tamara and Aiden and he told us he would arrange something. We weren't really sure what to expect. It was such a great experience though! We went to their charming little farm house in the countryside and worked together in her kitchen for over 5 hours! It was great! Gloria spoke English very well and has traveled all over the world.

The Menu:
Starters - liver pate, prosciutto sticks
Primo - Ravioli pasta filled with lemon zest and ricotta cheese with a light pesto sauce
Secondo - Vitel Tonne (Veal Eye of round) with tuna and caper sauce, stuffed artichokes
Dessert - The Moor in a shirt, Tiramisu






Tara's looked so pretty, mine are the misshapen ones!

Gloria's husband, Gianluca. He was so sweet with Aiden. He asked Aiden if he wanted to go with him to get the drinks for the dinner. They were gone for about an hour and we were starting to wonder how far away they went. After they came back Aiden had a chocolate mouth and said they stopped to get a gelato. Gianluca is a professional photographer. Aiden was very interested in his collection of old camera's. They were both so sweet and Aiden loved it!









Such a fun day!

After we got home we were all feeling a little goofy! We laughed so hard our stomachs and our cheeks hurt the next day. Such a great feeling!

Hanging out in the garden the next morning

We went to explore the tower before leaving. The famous architect, Leon Battista designed this tower. He was brilliant!

Can you see the face?

The prison rooms. The entire "dungeon" used to be one big room where they would put the prisoners but then were later divided into "rooms". Aiden couldn't get over how uncomfortable the beds were. I thought the writings all over the walls were so interesting!

This was the toilet. Above you can see the scratch marks for a "calendar".



This was the water filtration system. The rain would fall into the big one square which was a well to be used to the animals. The water would be filtered and drip into the small square which was used for human drinking water.




Very narrow, long staircases!

Then it was time to go back home. As usual, it all went by too fast!!
(Snow in the Tuscan Apennines!)