the C O L O R S of cinque terre

I love the colors of Italy.

How can anyone walk into a side shop with peeling lemon yellow paint, weathered green shutters and a lilac purple door and not be happy?

The buildings are beautiful.
The doors especially caught my eye.
It was love at first sight and I took a lot of grief for it.
I'm still compiling a collage of all the door photos I took.

I am thinking all of this brightness and color might help get me through our last German winter.
I might have to print, frame and plaster every colorful Italy picture all over our house.

Or, we might have to take a mid-winter trip back to Tuscany for some sunshine and color.
Maybe, we'll do both.

the beautiful C I N Q U E terre

I think Cinque Terre  (chink-a-tear-a) is perhaps one of the most beautiful places anywhere. The pastel colors, the DOORS, the water, the cliffs, the vineyards. All of it.

Cinque Terre is the rugged portion of northern coast of Italy on the Italian Riviera. The five villages, hillside and coastline makes up the Cinque Terre National Park.

Trails, trains and ferries connect the villages.

Only about an hour from our house, we decided it would be a perfect day trip. We figured we would drive to LaSpezia, then take the train up through the villages.

Sounds easy enough, don't you think?

It's not a region that you drive through, but instead buy a daily train pass to hop on and off at each village.

Even when you think you have thoroughly researched an area, things don't always go exactly as planned.

Finding the train station in LaSpezia turned out to be one of our greatest challenges as crazy as that sounds. I not only had the address, but also had the GPS and we still went in circles.

Luckily, we found a few Italians along the way to point us in the right direction. It was an adventure before we even got started. Believe me, the boys were thrilled.

Once we found the train station, we lucked out and caught the last train of the day only because it was running 10 minutes late. Whew.

The mood changed as soon as we were on the train and on our way. It was hot and crowded, but absolutely beautiful.

Food, gelatto and toes in the water helps everything.

I had read {again proving that things still don't always go as planned...} that you can walk along the trails between villages.

Friends had even recommended we do this in order to get the most beautiful views and see the most amazing countryside.

Things quickly went from tired and hot to more tired and hot. This was not a happy little guy below.

Looking back, I think we picked the most difficult trail to hike.

 After about 45 minutes {in flip flops, of course} of straight up hiking, we asked a group of young girls passing us in the other direction if we were close to the next village.

The laughed and basically said- not even close. Plus, it continued to be straight up and down. Ugh.

Jim made the good call for us to turn back with the little guys. Once again, the boys were thrilled.

Caden had blisters starting at this point and while Coleman didn't complain, he hit a point in the trail  and said, "I'm not going any farther."

Scott, Jazz and Ty decided to go ahead and finish the hike.

The rest of us turned around and caught the train to meet them at the next village.

We met up at the beach and spent some relaxing time playing in the water. There's nothing like a little beach time to turn things around and make happy kids.

All in all, we saw the area and had a fabulous day.
I'm pretty sure we all slept well that night.

perfecto S C O M P I G L I O

At the end of a long day of sightseeing or castles or beaches, finding a place to feed hungry kids is not always easy in a foreign country.

Dinner is something that is not rushed and can take a long time to get through. Most places also open later.

We rented a house with a kitchen so we could cook some at the house. This always seems to work really well for us. Everyone is tired and hungry and ready to stay home.
We did shop at the commissary and bought enough to grill hot dogs/hamburgers for a couple nights.

We had to try some pizza.
Of course, we had to get pizza.

We also decided to have one nice dinner out.

After a day at the beach, we dropped everyone off at home and drove around in search of a nice place for dinner.


Gardens where most of the vegetables are grown

Affordable, not too fancy so everyone would eat, and open at a decent time.

As we drove from place to place, Jim would drive up to the door I would run in and check out a menu and attempt to get any other details.

After checking out four or five different places, we finally found what we thought would be the perfect spot in the center of Tuscany.

They were closed, but as I walked in and found them in the kitchen, they told me they opened at 7:00 for dinner.

Best of all, it was a ten-minute drive from our house.

I let the cute older man {who I guessed was the owner} know we would be back with our family.

It was perfect.
Perfecto, as they say in Italy.

Cucina Dello Scompiglio.

The restaurant is actually an old barn of the farmstead, once a meeting place for outside workers. We sat outside overlooking the vineyard, vegetable garden and the Apuan Alps.

Most of the vegetables used are grown there.

The water is sourced from the springs within the Scompiglio estate.

The bread is prepared by the chef using white and whole wheat flour, oatmeal, cornmeal, sunflower seeds, potato flour and Puglia grain- all without preserving agents.

It was fabulous.

I could have made a meal of the bread alone. Dipped in their olive oil and balsamic vinegar was divine.

Of course, we were in the middle of olive oil country and the olive oil was produced there as well.

It was fresh.
It was peaceful.
The view was magnificent.

We sat out on the deck and asked for the shady spot being that we were all a little burnt from our afternoon at the beach. It was hot, but cooled off as soon as the sun set.

It felt as if we were in a fairy tale- enjoying fabulous food in the most beautiful setting under the Tuscan sun, of course.

As we arrived, there was a birthday party going on with little Italian bambinos running around speaking in their sweet Italian language.

We were the only other ones there until later on in the evening. It was nice to not be in the middle of a crowd.
It was a happy place.
We were all so happy.

The service was top notch as well with the owner/chef coming out during our meal to ask how everything was and to visit with us. The older man did not speak English, but had a younger Italian man with him to translate.

He did not stop smiling the whole evening. You definitely don't find that in Germany.

So friendly. I'm the crazy one who had to have a picture with him.
At least I can admit I'm crazy!

I am in love with Tuscany.

american B E A C H

Hitting the beach is always a priority while on vacation.

In Italy, the beaches are a little different. From the street, the beaches are all named and there are separate driveways to get to each beach.

Once you get in, the beaches all lead to the same coast/ocean. The only difference between beaches once you get on the other side is the color of the umbrellas.

Most beaches charge per person to enter. They charge for parking. Of course, they charge for an umbrella.

There is a section of beach along the Italian coastline called the American Beach, which is where we chose to go.

Using our military ID to get in the gate, we were the section of orange umbrellas tucked between the blue umbrella and green umbrella Italian beaches.


It was a little crazy to me.

We loved the beach.

The water was warm.
The sand was soft.
The sun was hot.

It was not crowded.
It was perfect.
Everyone was happy.

We are thinking we had a bad can of sunscreen on this beach day. Having coated and re-coated with sunscreen, we all had a little bit {or a lot} of sunburn at the end of the afternoon. Ouch.

Either that, or our skin just has not seen the sun for a L O N G time.

Jim's cousin, Scott and his girlfriend, Jazz flew in to Pisa from Illinois to spend a few days with us on their way to Croatia. They are above in the corner picture.

the L E A N I N G tower of P I S A

Staying just twenty minutes from Pisa, you kind of have to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

We were not impressed at all with the city of Pisa, but once you park and make your way past the extremely pushy peddlers, the leaning tower is a little cool and worth checking out.

A few fun Pisa Tower facts:
* construction started in 1173 on sandy silt
* tower started to tilt even before the 3rd story was finished in 1274
* Galileo climbed to the top to conduct his experiments on the velocity of falling objects

* In 1350, the tower was leaning 4 ft, 6 in
* In 1817, the tower was leaning 12 ft 10 in
* In 1995, the tower was leaning 17 ft 6 in

Of course, we had to take the posed photos holding it up.

* click on picture to enlarge

 

Justin- flexing, of course

Ty & Caden- working together

Coleman- not in a great mood, but letting me take pictures anyway

Ashten- so strong holding it up

 

Along with the tower, there is a beautiful Dom and Baptistry in the Plaza.

 

 

I T A L I A via Austria

We are home. 

We are cold.

We are tired.

 

The itinerary for this trip was not too crazy or intense, but we still manage to put some miles on the van. Driving a total of 1930 miles in eight days, we did some traveling!

The destination for this family vacation was Tuscany- a central region of Italy.

Initially, we wanted to try to see all of Italy but quickly realized that is absolutely impossible to do in one trip.

 

Instead, we broke up the nine-hour drive from our house to our rental house in Lucca, Italy with a one-night stay in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. Rather than moving hotels every couple days to see the whole country, we spent the whole week in a 17th century farmhouse we rented.

 

It was a long drive down, but our house in Tuscany was the perfect landing spot for a fabulous week in Italy.

 

I think I'm in love.

In LOVE with all things Italian.

 

The people are friendly. They smile and talk to you and laugh and help you...

The language is beautiful. I could listen to it all day, especially the little bambinos ...

The food is yummy. Pizza and gelato all week...

The hills and countryside of Tuscany make you feel as if you are straight out of a movie.

 

Best of all, we had a SOLID week of sunshine, flip flops, swimsuits and family.

 

F A V O R I T E S  for this trip and blog posts to come:

 

Jim, Justin, Ashten and I: Cinque Terre

Ty: body surfing in the ocean

Coleman: swimming in the pool at our house 

Caden: swimming in the pool and the Tower of Pisa

under the T U S C A N sun

Sunshine. Oh, how we have missed you. We are in our villa in the heart of Tuscany soaking up some sun, culture, pool, beach and all things Italy. It's been a long time waiting for summer vacation. It was an even longer winter. Long and dark.

We already love it here.

The Italians are so friendly, at least the ones we have met and talked with.
It is perhaps our favorite country in Europe thus far.

The view from our living room is complete tranquility.
True bliss.

We have taken so many pictures and have so much to share.

A S H T E N is here

Flying international for the first time, Justin's girlfriend Ashten arrived in Germany this week!

I made the comment when Justin first met her that if he still liked her when summer rolled around, he should invite her to come visit Europe. She's HERE!

Lucky for us, her parents agreed and we get to have her for a month. Having never met us, I'm sure it was not easy putting her on the plane sending her half-way around the world. She did great- her flight even arrived 45 minutes early.

Justin is the one who seems to be a magnet for any kind of delay.

They will fly back to Kansas together the beginning of July.

After flying all night, she arrived at 10:00 in the morning- stayed up most of the day and even made it through graduation {3 hours} and our grilling party afterwards. What a trooper!

This is the last week of school for the littles and I. Then, let the fun begin!

T Y graduates

There is not much that can make this mom more happy and proud than to see my boys happy.

Graduation was Friday night. The weather was beautiful- our first week of sun and warmth this summer.

The ceremony was long {3 hours} but, really nice. With more than 200 in his graduating class, long is just part of the course.

Ty was so happy.

Once we found him after the ceremony, the smile on his face could not be wiped off.

He gave me the biggest hug while he picked me up swirled me around. Seeing him so happy brought tears to my eyes.

High school has not been the easiest for him, but he's done really well.

We are really hard on him because we know he can always do better.

Showing his work has always been more difficult than doing the work.

This last month was especially hard to keep his head in the game.

Switching high schools half way through his sophomore year was no fun, but I think both Justin and Ty now realize that our time in Germany and graduating from Ramstein High are experiences they would not trade for anything.
Change is hard, but it also brings growth.
Ty's growth has been phenomenal.
We can't wait to see what big things he does next...

We are so happy and beyond proud of him.

A great W E E K

It's been a really great week.

Justin got home.

Ty qualified and competed at  Europeans for track.

Coleman and Caden had baseball games.

The sun even came out a couple times.

Tonight is prom for Ty.
He looks really, really great.

We are off to take pictures with the parents.

Hopefully, the rain holds off.
I'm not betting on it.

44 or so D A Y S

I can't believe it has been more than a month since my last post.
More than forty days. That might be the longest blogging dry spell that I have had since moving to Germany.

It's not that anything extraordinary has been going on. Just life. Good life.

We have had a few little changes that have kicked our schedule up a notch.

Jim is now in a new job {back on the flightline, out of his headquarters office} with a new schedule, little flexibility and longer hours.
I'm in a new full-time permanent sub job in a pre-k special needs room. Most days, I love it. It is nice being at Caden's school on the boys' schedule. Of course- summer off is a nice thing too.

Both are good jobs- we both feel blessed especially with so much government turmoil to be in a good place.

Coleman turned 9!
Jim has a birthday- TODAY!

Justin has been in Spring training. He flies home in a few weeks. We can't wait. I miss having my kid around.
Ty started track {hurdles, shot & disc} and is trying to stay healthy- stinkin' shin splints. Do they ever go away? He's enjoying lifeguarding on the weekends. He's really enjoying the extra fun money.

Graduation is just over a month away- yikes!

Coleman and Caden are playing baseball. Four days out of seven, we are on the ball field. I love it now that the sun has FINALLY decided to come out here in Germany.

It was a LONG, GREY winter here. Oh, we have missed the sun.
I will try to avoid going another 44 days without checking in to journal our happenings.

V A S A museum

After a few minutes on the tram, we hopped off at our stop to see the Vasa Museum. A short walk down a snow-covered pathway reminded us so much of Alaska. Actually, the landscape {minus the history and architecture} reminded us so much of Alaska.

We had a few minutes to walk around before the English-speaking tour began.

The Vasa is some ship. The tour was fascinating.

In 1625, King Gustav II Adolf bought the materials and signed a contract for the Vasa to be built. After two years under construction, she was ready to sail and Vasa is launched.

Vasa was built of more than a thousand oak trees with 64 cannon masts, over 50 meters high and had hundreds of painted and gilded sculptures.

A gust of wind comes up and on her maiden voyage {with all of Stockholm watching} Vasa barely sails 1300 meters and is turned over after only 25 minutes. All of the gun ports were open causing the ship to sink.

About 30 died when the ship went down including families of the crew who were invited to ride on the maiden voyage.

Sunk. Unbelievable.

They tried to raise the ship without success.

In 1956, they start again with attempts to recover the ship. The final lift takes place on April 24, 1961 and Vasa breaks the surface again after 333 years.

Most of the ship is the original Vasa with a few areas that were rebuild during the preservation. I think he said 95% was the original ship. The details are incredible especially considering it was under water for more than 300 years.

Why did she sink? The final conclusion was that she was too top heavy. Standing next to her, she is massive and it seems a no-brainer that she was too tall and narrow. They said the Captain did complain that he thought she was not built right, but it was too late and the King ordered her to sail.

At the time, another ship was built and had sailed for 30 years with success. They were similar in size and build. When they measured the difference- they found that Vasa was build one meter more narrow. One meter that might have made a huge difference.

We were captivated and enjoyed this little bit of Swedish history.

D O W N T O W N

Saturday morning- it was our day. We caught the one-hour coach bus from the airport to downtown. Once downtown, we found our way through the bus station.

Public transportation is very advanced in Stockholm. We were extremely impressed.

The only problem for us was knowing where to start and which direction to go.

There were arrows pointing to the metro, the train and the busses.

We were a little lost. We found an information room and walked right up to the counter.

No one was in any sort of line, so we thought it was ok to go up to the counter. We found out quickly that there is always a "cue" and you always need to take a number.

Oops. No big deal- we quickly took a number. Once your number is up- it flashes on the screen. No one shouts out your number, no computer to let you know you're up. You just have to pay attention. What a concept.

We were re-directed down the station to the city transportation office where we bought a one-day city transportation pass. He pointed us in the direction to walk down the street to catch the tram.

We found our way {after asking one more time} and hopped on. No pushing. No craziness.
I could get used to this kind of public transportation. Plus, the view was spectacular.

With just a day in Stockholm, we had to quickly prioritize what we wanted to see. Our first stop and top priority was to make it to the Vasa Museum. Not only is it the most-visited museum in all of Scandinavia, it is a top spot to see in Stockholm.

A friend who had recently made the trip up there, recommended we go and take the English-speaking tour. I'm not sure we would have gone otherwise- to see a ship? She let me know it was some ship.
She was right.

up N O R T H

It was a quick weekend, but we were able to check another country off our list of places to see. Friday night, we drove about an hour to Frankfurt-Hahn- the small airport we were departing from with a final destination of  Stockholm, Sweden.

We took off at 9:15pm and arrived in Stockholm about 11:15- a quick two-hour flight north. It might sound crazy to visit Scandinavia in March. We figured- why not?  Ty was good with the boys and we were also blessed with friends who invited them over to hang and have dinner. So nice.

The airport we were flying into is about an hour's drive from downtown Stockholm. Catching an early flight home on Sunday morning {7:00}, we figured it might be easiest to stay close to the airport.

We booked a room at a hotel that said it was a short walk to the airport. We did not expect it to be right across the street. I had forgotten the name of the hotel we booked, but did not think it was the Connect.

We decided to walk in and ask where "our" hotel was only to discover we were actually booked there.

It could not have worked out better.
We got settled in and ready to get up early for a full Saturday downtown.

I usually kick into super planning mode before we take a trip. Being sick last week, it was all I could do to make it through each day. Needless to say, I did not plan as I would normally have planned.

Lesson learned- it's ok to go with the flow. It's ok to learn as you go. It's ok to not plan out every last second and every detail.

What we did not realize {and we should have living in Europe for two years} is that the bus schedule was cut short being Saturday. The bus we wanted to take downtown would take us down at 10:00am, and the last trip back to the airport was at 3:30. That did not leave us too much time to sight see.

The girl at the hotel did not have any options to offer us. The girl at the bus window was very helpful coming up with a plan b and even went a step further by printing out the city bus schedule for us.

Instead, we decided to take a different coach bus back to the next town, then a city bus to the airport/our hotel. It worked out and we had plenty of time to see what we wanted to see while in the Capital of Sweden and also the Capital of Scandinavia.

If I had to pick one word to describe our first impression of Stockholm, it would {maybe} be grand. It is one of the most beautiful cities- built on 14 islands connected by 57 bridges. The architecture, the colors, the water.

It snowed and was cold, but it was still amazing. We soaked it all up!