Aix-en-Provence

Lately I haven’t been very fond of riding in my carseat in the car, I don’t know why but it really upsets me when I have to ride for any length of time in the car. This is starting to stress out Mommy and Daddy and makes my travel mates uncomfortable. But nevertheless we decided to drive to Aix. This city is crazy with its many narrow one way streets and bustling traffic of people and cars. After many turns and narrow escapes we made it to a parking garage and walked around the city. Mommy really wanted to find the l’Occitaine store because their soaps in lotions are made here in Provence. She had to ask directions to the store twice but managed to take Daddy and I there.

It was a long drive back to the farmhouse again and I cried most of the way; we got back late and decided not to look for a restaurant but headed back to the same place in Roussillon – at least the gang didn’t have any trouble ordering.

Pont d’ Avignon

This morning I slept in late finally; I was so tired after all that stressful travel and the long ride from the train station to the farmhouse. We needed to pickup Uncle Darren and his girlfriend this afternoon in Avignon.

We started the tour of the city with a stop for lunch and tried out our French language skills. I think Mommy and Daddy did pretty well; they at least didn’t end up ordering anything strange and grandpa had to make sure to order wine for the group. - if you didn’t know already grandpa REALLY likes his wine.

After lunch I took the group to the Palace of the Popes, a 14th century Gothic palace built by the Popes who once resided in Avignon. I was a bit alarmed when we entered the palace that we had to leave my diaper bag behind but Mommy assured me she grabbed things that we “should” need. I say should because halfway through the tour Mommy saw liquid coming from the carrier Daddy was wearing with me in it. We had to run like we were under religious persecution back to the front to get me a fresh diaper and change of clothes; too bad Daddy didn’t have a fresh shirt too.

From the Palace of the Popes we made our way over to the St. Bénezet bridge, otherwise known as the Pont d’Avignon. This half standing bridge is featured in a nursery rhyme that all the French boys and girls learn in school. The nursery rhyme talks about people dancing in a circle. We didn’t dance but took pictures and admired the Rhone River.

We made our way back to the farmhouse and found a simple restaurant for dinner in Roussillon. I slept though most of it but it sounded like everyone had a good time.

Trainspotting

Today we started our journey from Italy to France. Mommy and Daddy woke Aunt Tracy and me up at 5 AM to get ready and get to the train station. We took a really fast train from Veneiza Mestre to Milan, I slept most of the way. Our next train was from Milan to Nice in France. I guess they don’t teach the Italians in school the correct way to stand in line and wait your turn because it was a mad rush to get on the train and nobody felt the need to let me go first – I was the youngest after all.

The train stopped in Genoa and most of the Italians got off and the Americans got on, we sat next to a couple from Seattle. I noticed the gentleman put ear plugs in partway through the trip; I wonder what that was about. I felt I was pretty well behaved. When we got to Nice we had to beg for train reservations on the TGV train I batted my eyelashes and the lady got us on the trains we needed.

Finally 4 trains later we arrived in Avignon only to have to wait another hour for our rental car lady to come back from a break. When we got our rental car we met Grammy and Grandpa to drive 45 minutes to the farmhouse. I was so tired that I cried most of the 45 minute drive. Along the way we were stopped at a random French police checkpoint and Daddy had to take a breathalyzer test. He laughed and said that it was a worthless stop because we had hardly ate anything all day much less drank anything.

The farmhouse is very rustic but I think my bed is probably the most comfortable in the house, Mommy and Daddy made me a bed with a nice blanket on the floor. I slept well and was glad to be done with the train travel for a while.

Venezia

Today I took Mommy and Daddy on the train from Sacile to Venice. As the train was pulling into the station we were immediately in awe of the buildings on the water. We walked towards the piazza de San Marcos admiring the sites and having lunch along the way. Mommy said it felt like we were walking in circles and around every turn there was another bridge.

Eventually we made it to the piazza and were stunned by the amount of tourists we encountered. We found a nice group of people from Orlando to take our picture. We didn’t go into the Bascialla because I was a bit cranky but admired everything from the outside.

After the piazza we made our way to the Rialto Bridge and had some gelato. We wound our way back to the area of the train station and had dinner before returning back to Aunt Tracy’s house. It was a nice day and easy to be in an area where so many people spoke English. I think I’ve enjoyed the train rides; I usually go to sleep for at least part of the ride. I find the movement relaxing but don’t like when the other trains pass by quickly on the side of us – they make too much noise! One more day in Italy and then we’re off to France.

Arrivederci

Buon Giorno!

It is now my 4th full day in Italy, I’m finally adjusting to the time difference and actually slept all night last night, Mommy and Daddy had to wake me up this morning so we could make our train to Verona.

Yesterday Daddy dropped Aunt Tracy off at work so we could borrow her car to go sight-seeing. He said it was really stressful driving but thanks to the GPS and Aunt Tracy’s directions we didn’t get lost. We decided to head to Nove since we had heard that they make nice ceramics there; it was a nice scenic drive through the countryside.

After visiting Nove we decided to head up the mountain to the town of Asiago. We love cheese so we felt like this is a town we needed to visit. Unfortunately we arrived in Asiago during the “reposo” time so we didn’t see much except closed shops and tourist facilities. We did have lunch at a nice little restaurant in the mountain where the owners didn’t speak any English. It was a test of Mommy and Daddy’s limited Italian but they managed. Since I’m such a handsome boy I attract a lot of attention and so they had to answer a lot of questions and I think did a good job.

Today we took the train to Verona, it was my first train ride and I found the ride to be very relaxing. We only had to change trains once but when we did we had to run for it since our first train was late arriving. Once we made it to Verona we caught a taxi to the center of town to check out the sites. We visited them all in a very quick pace because I wasn’t in a good mood today. We did see casa di Giulietta, as in Romeo and Juliette, and the Arena. I thought they were neat but since I haven’t read much Shakespeare yet didn’t fully appreciate the sites.

We ended the day with dinner at an Indian restaurant near Aunt Tracy’s house; she was tired of Italian food. Tomorrow Aunt Tracy is putting us on a train to Venice before she goes to work. I’m excited and hope to be in a better mood so Mommy and Daddy can savor the sites a bit more. Ciao!

Exploring Fuiuli

Today I convinced Aunt Tracy to drive us to some nearby towns. Mommy found on the internet that the town of Palmanova was having a food festival. When we arrived it turned out that the food festival had ended on Sunday but we visited a large market in the town instead. The town of Palmanova was a neat fortified star shaped city. Mommy and Daddy had their first of many cappuccinos while I watched the people and absorbed the local culture. We had pizza for lunch, it was yummy!

After visiting Palmanova we drove on to the town of Trieste, this town in known for its Castello del Miramare on the bay of the Adriatic. We didn’t visit the castle but observed it from the harbor walkway. There were a lot of Italians sunbathing on the shore and swimming in the water so Mommy thought it’d be a good idea for us to put our feet in the water. She didn’t realize how cold the water was going to be; but typical Mommy put our feet in it anyway. I wasn’t very thrilled with the idea but didn’t have much of a choice. I screamed as soon as the water touched my toes; I think that taught Mommy a quick lesson.

On the way back home we stopped at an Agip for another cappuccino and a quick diaper change. Finally we ended the day with a visit to an Italian toy store, we were looking for a stroller but didn’t find one that we really liked so I just window shopped for toys. I thought I had Aunt Tracy wrapped around my finger and she’d buy me some toys but I guess I’m going to have to wait until I’m bigger and can ask for them.

First Day in Italy

Wow, I’m in Italy! Today was the final day of the Bella Befana bazaar on the Aviano airbase. Aunt Tracy took us to show me off and let Mommy and Daddy check out some the cool stuff that vendors from around Europe bring in to 2 huge F-16 hangars. We had our first meal in Italy; gyros and some sort of Philipino food – I know, that’s not Italian right?! But the military personnel had prepared food to sell at the bazaar. Mommy and Daddy were so hungry and jetlagged that anything sounded good, but they did bypass the hotdogs.

Aunt Tracy’s friends and colleagues were all very excited to meet me and of course thought I was a very cute guy. We shopped around for a while and bought some Christmas gifts for people and a few bottles of wine for Mommy and Daddy.

After the bazaar we made a quick trip to the Base Exchange store and Commissary to pick up some food items, mostly bottled water for me, and stuff that we would need while visiting. We came home and I was so tired that I had to take a nap, I had screamed so much the night before that I really missed out on some precious sleep time.

Aunt Tracy, Mommy and Daddy woke me up in time to go eat dinner at a true Italian restaurant in Aviano called the Spaghetti House; no really that was the name of the place. Daddy and Aunt Tracy had pizza and Mommy had spaghetti carbonara. I decided to sleep during most of the meal, I guess I looked pretty angelic because all these Italian women were fawning over me as they would pass by. Mommy and Daddy got their first lesson in Italian as a lady tried to tell them about her grandchildren. We got home and got ready for bed, I went to sleep pretty easily and only woke up once during the night. Mommy and Daddy are so happy to now be a bit more well rested. I can’t wait to see what we do today!

Journey Man

We started our Journey to Europe with a ride from Papa Boogs to the airport; he got us there in plenty of time since our flight was delayed leaving Seattle. By the time we boarded it was close to my bedtime. There were a lot of other babies on the flight; I think Mommy and Daddy were relieved by this since I wouldn’t be the only one crying. Once we were airborne the flight attendant set up my bassinet, this was great – I had my very own bed for the 9 hour flight. Mommy and Daddy were jealous. I slept until the cabin lights came on for us to have breakfast. I did really well on the flight and really only cried when we were landing at Heathrow.

In Heathrow I got my first stamp in my passport and after trekking around the airport figuring out where to go I finally found the shuttle to the Gatwick airport. We only had a 2 hour flight from Gatwick to Venice, this time I was the only baby on the flight and no bassinet. I had to ride in Mommy and Daddy’s lap the whole trip. I was a good boy and just cried a few times on the trip but was jet lagged enough to sleep through the landing.

We arrived in Venice, I got my 2nd stamp in my passport and after a bit of waiting Aunt Tracy arrived to pick us up! It was so nice to see her, she was really excited until I cried almost the entire drive back to her house. At that point I had had enough of all this traveling and wanted to get to bed. I did not do very well and woke up a bunch at night; Mommy and Daddy did their best to comfort me but I’m surprised Aunt Tracy’s neighbors didn’t come knocking on the door to fuss about all the noise I was making. I ended up finally going to sleep in the bed between Mommy and Daddy and I woke up with Mommy around 11:00 AM, Venice time.

It May Be a While!

I don't know if I'm going to be able to post many blog entries or photos while I am on vacation, because we're not sure how accessible the internet is going to be.

With that in mind, here are some recent photos of me until I see you again.

Almost Time

Well, it's about time for my European vacation. Life has been hard lately, so, it's definitely time for a break, as you can see from this recent photo of me.

Mommy, Daddy and I leave tomorrow at 6:45pm.