L'Italia parte due...

Ah Italy.  You know you have found a very special place when your heart aches because of how much you miss being there.  It crushes me to know that this summer I won't be going back...won't get to walk up that hill and see the beautiful vine covered house.  Say hi to the neighbors.  Take the girls for gelato and wander through town.  Trekking down the steep steps to head to the little grocery stores, happy when the shopkeepers would recognize us, and then back up the steps lugging my groceries behind me. Enjoying the little park or spending a few hours at the pool or watching the girls fly over the ledge and into the lake.  I can't explain how much Menaggio and Italy mean to me...its home.  In a sense.  
Last summer I was blessed to spend a whole month there again...but this time it was just me and my girls.  Matt had to stay and finish up in Saudi, and well, none of my family could make the trip this time.  So, yep, it was just us three.  And you know what?  It was amazing.  Some days we didn't do much of anything...maybe a walk to town for groceries or a snack, then back home to hang out, cook, watch movies.  Other days we'd venture out to some of the towns we didn't visit the previous summer or back to some of our favorites, like Bellagio and Lugano.  There is something magical about Italy that just stays with me always....and I will get back there...at some point.  :)  
Something special we did that summer was get to visit with some friends of ours from Saudi.  My friend is from Italy and her daughter was in the same kinder class as Sara.  They were good buddies and so when she invited us to spend a few days with her...we happily agreed!  :)  I was a little nervous trying to figure out how to get to her though...just me and the girls having to travel by train...4 hours.  But I was able to get it all sorted and we ended up on a fabulous train ride through Tuscany and down to Orvieto.  My friend lives just outside the city, but in the summer her family heads to Montalto...a small beach town that we just loved.  Her family was so amazing and took such good care of us while we were there.  We spent days on the beach, went to see an Italian circus, went into the countryside for some horseback riding, ate AMAZING pizza that her sister and brother in law make at their local restaurant, and basically just had a great time.  It was wonderful.  
Once we got back to Menaggio, I took the girls on one last day trip to Lugano, Switzerland (we had visited there the year before as well) and then Matt finally arrived and we headed off to enjoy the rest of our summer vacation in Prague and Iceland (those posts to come soon!)  :)
I'm going to talk about the rest of the trip through the photos (many many photos) I took.  (remember, this blog is going to eventually be turned into a book for my darling daughters to have...so pix are very important!)  :D  
here we go:

My home away from home.  Our house was the little one in the center there...over the tunnel with the little Juliet balcony.  Top left is the view from the balcony.  Top right is the little market that would take place every other Saturday in the main piazza.  Bottom right...a small local market whose owners were related to my neighbors just down the hill.  The girls and I would stop there often for cheese, meats, wine, and the owners would always give the girls a little sweet.  :)  Bottom left is the little park we would stop at often; the girls had so much fun playing on all the equipment.   

Top left...They would have concerts in the piazza...I took the girls one night, they had fun listening to the orchestra..even getting up and dancing!  :)  Bottom left: the stairs.  The 155 stairs we would climb both ways to get to the grocery store and back (or well, just to get to town if we didn't want to go down the big hill)  Who needs a gym?!  Middle and bottom right:  one of the beautiful little restaurants in the main piazza and another shot of the Saturday market.  Top right:  the girls and their Italian friends...the Italian kids spoke very little English, my girls spoke very, very little Italian...and yet...they played together all the time.  :D

The previous year we never made it out on the lake unless we were taking the ferry somewhere.  This time, I was going to get myself a boat!  We rented one of the little boats and took off for an hour.  We had an absolute blast.  Went up the lake where we hadn't been before and raced back down past Bellagio and over to see the beautiful Villa del Balbianello.  I was a great way to spend an hour!  :)

Some of the amazing scenery we saw while on our boat ride.

The girls LOVED jumping into the lake!  

lazy days in Menaggio

Pasta, pizza, and gelato....oh my!

Bottom left was a dinner at one of our neighbors houses.  So lovely!  Middle pic is the girls and their Italian friends at the lido.  (aka pool)

We spent a day visiting one of the smaller towns we never went to the year before.  Bellano.  We wandered through the streets, stopping at shops, checking out churches and having lunch.  We also went to see a really pretty waterfall with catwalks through the trees.  (a few pix in another collage)

above are more of Bellano.  I love the top right...a bunch of old men were sitting outside sipping wine and playing cards...so Italian!  ;)

More of us just enjoying ourselves with friends and just the three of us.  Bottom left and top left are at the river a friend of ours took us to..a little hike through gorgeous woods and then a dip in the water!  Bottom right is the girls keeping themselves entertained outside our house.

The next few collages are of our trip to Orvieto and Montalto.  We took a train down through Tuscany and past Florence.  It was gorgeous!!  Of course, the girls mostly just watched movies in our private cabin that we had on the train!  :)

Top left and bottom right are the views of Orvieto from afar.  Such an awesome town.  And the church of Orvieto.

Some shots of Tuscany from the train.  Meeting our friends!  

Spending time at the beach, circus, and some outdoor relaxation after horseback riding.  :)

Oh man, the pizza was incredible!  They used huge scissors to cut the slices.  And the toppings were fresh and super tasty!  My friend also shared with me some wine that was 16% alcohol!  Needless to say, we sipped it slowly!    

Bottom right is where we ate dinner most nights in the hotel with my friend and her family.  Her family runs the hotel and so we would have a nice dinner there altogether.  The food was always fantastic.  Other pix of the girls just having a great time.

We had to visit Bellagio one last time before we left (and so I could get a special bottle of wine for my brother and his wife)  I enjoyed a lovely mimosa while Sara took my picture!  :) 

Top left are photos of us by the waterfall in Bellano.  Middle and bottom right are pix of this fabulous little bistro in Bellagio.  Great wines paired with cheese and meats, but the setting was amazing..carved out of stone and wine bottles everywhere.  

Just some fun shots.  We had some great rain storms followed by a gorgeous rainbow one day!  And Lily was happy to get a new doll.

We took the bus back to Lugano for one last day trip before Matt arrived.  Hiked up a ton of stairs to get a beautiful view.  The main piazza has such beautiful buildings.

Some pix of Lake Lugano.

They had a display of horses throughout the town, and of course, the girls wanted their photos taken with every single one.  :)  

Well...that pretty much sums it up!  We had a truly wonderful month and we have memories that will last a lifetime.  I hope to get back to that little house soon...though, there is so much more of the world we still want to see.  But like I said, Menaggio will always have a very, very special place in my heart. :)

Sweden, Easter, Sara's birthday

The final leg of our 2013 spring trip.  Another short flight and we arrived in Stockholm, Sweden.  It was Saturday and the next day was Easter Sunday (and Sara's birthday).  Once we made it to our apartment, we headed right back out to hit up the store for food (and drink).
**Travel Tip: we have learned the hard way and we will always ask in advance from now on...each country has different laws about alcohol.  What they can/can't sell in stores, and when the stores are actually open.  So, for your future travels...keep that in mind if you'd like to have a nice glass of wine when you get to your destination.

With that being said, we couldn't buy a bottle of wine until the third day we were in Sweden.  The local liquor shop was already closed Saturday, and nothing was open Easter Sunday.  Sigh.  We settled for beer instead.  meh.
At the store we stocked up on little items to try and replicate how our Easter would be had we been in the states.  We managed to find eggs and a few fun items. Plus stuff for coloring eggs...the girls loved that!  Matt and I had fun hiding all the goodies around the apartment once the girls went to bed.  The Easter bunny travels well!  ;)  Easter in Sweden is very different...here's a little info about it: Children dress up as Easter witches with long skirts, colorful headscarves and painted red cheeks, then go from house to house in the neighborhood and present the occupants with paintings and drawings in the hope of getting sweets in return. According to Swedish folklore, during Easter the witches fly to Blåkulla (the Blue Mountain) to meet the devil.
Small branches and twigs of willow or birch are a common sight in every Swedish house during the Eater holidays. Feathers and small decorations are also placed on these twigs in a vase.
So, yeah, a bit different than what we are used to!  :)

happy birthday and happy Easter! :)

That same day we headed to a place called Skansen.  Its an open air museum where you feel like you've traveled back in time.  Swedish time.  We loved seeing the old buildings and various animals.  We ate real Swedish meatballs...yum!  We really enjoyed the reindeer, they are kinda goofy looking actually!  lol  It was a great way to spend Easter and Sara's birthday.  We took her out to eat for her birthday and she got to enjoy a huge banana split for dessert!  Happy 6 year old girl!  (check out more about Skansen here: http://www.skansen.se/en/kategori/english)

Swedish meatballs...yum!

Stockholm is a huge city.  So we had to pick and choose what we wanted to see.  I wanted to see the old parts of town the most, so we headed to Galam Stan.  This is where Stockholm was founded in 1252.  So cool.  We found the narrowest alleyway in all of Sweden, wandered through cobblestone streets lined with colorful shops and homes.  I loved it.  :)  We also took a visit to the royal palace...I wasn't supposed to take any pix, but I did sneak a shot of the gorgeous chandeliers.  Amazing.

Matt is standing next to the narrowest alleyway, top left is Galam Stan, top right are Easter feathers, 

bottom corners are the Swedish guard.

top corners in Skansen, bottom left is another shot of the alleyway, middle is inside the Royal Palace, spring flowers and a shot of the underground.

left is part of the beautiful old town, middle is my sneaky shot inside the palace, top right is the home where Mikael Blomkvist lived from the book/movie, next two are just shots of the city.

I had already read all three books in the series of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and I found that you could buy a map and tour the places in the book and used in the movie (the Swedish version).  We just told the girls we were going to see places from a movie.  That was the extent of that explanation.  It was really fun...sort of like a scavenger hunt.  Took us through back walkways, and places we never would have sought out on our own.   

top left is where Lisbeth bought stuff for her new apartment, top right is the bar she hung out in, the others just more shots of the city

some shots around the city, Skansen, underground

The last place we visited was the Sky View.  An awesome globe that takes you up 426 ft for killer views of Stockholm.  The girls really loved it and I got some pretty cool pictures.  :)
During the trip we had a great time taking the underground where we needed to go and spent time cooking some yummy dinners at home as well.  Matt indulged in as much caviar as he could!  lol  It was a beautiful city and I'd love to go back and explore more someday.

And then, it was time.  Time to head back to Saudi.  What a great spring vacation.  ;D

beautiful girls.  :)

 

Copenhagen

I am having THE hardest time getting caught up on my blog!  I really want to make sure I keep this going because I plan to one day turn it into a book for our daughters to have.  I need to get my butt in gear and get this thing back on track!
So to finally finish up our spring trip from LAST year. (god I'm so behind)
After leaving Amsterdam, we flew to Copenhagen.  I figured it was a small country and therefore wouldn't be much to see so we only chose to stay for 3 days.  Boy was I wrong.  I wish I had done more research before booking the flights.  There were many (many many) more things we would have like to have seen... (and very family friendly) but just didn't have the time.
We stayed in an awesome apartment that was totally a typical Netherland home.  I loved it.  Simple, loads of natural light, and it just felt cozy.  We were still dealing with wicked cold weather.  The river in front of our apartment was nearly frozen solid.  But, of course, we are not the kind of family to hide from our adventures just because of a little cold...off we went in search of fun things to see.

views from our apartment

One of my (and the girls') favorite stops was at Rosenborg Castle.  I'm a sucker for castles.  Love 'em.  The castle was wonderful, but the best was seeing the crown jewels.  Oh man, do I love sparkly things and to see the size of some of the stones on those pieces, my jaw did some serious dropping.  Ah, the royal life.  ;)

Another huge favorite of mine was seeing the famous Nyhavn street with its gorgeously colorful houses and shops.  The ships pull right up (and at that time, they were maneuvering around huge chunks of ice in the water...told you it was cold).  

So, we did have a couple of hiccups in an otherwise seamless three day trip.  #1: it was Sara's 6th birthday, and I found that one of the ONLY Disney Stores in all of Europe was right there in lil' ol' Copenhagen.  Sara couldn't wait to pick out a gift!  So off we went in search of the store....and what do we find??  Yep, it's closed.  Easter holidays.  Well, you can guess what happened next....crocodile tears galore (for both kids)  I felt awful.  It was a Friday!  It should have been open!!!!  BUT!  Our last day there, the store did open!  And $75 later we had two VERY happy kiddos.  ;)  Small miracles and all that. 
That leaves us with #2:  oh, what a day this was.  There is a famous statue called "the Little Mermaid." Inspired by Hans Christian Anderson.  We had some friends that met up with us in Copenhagen and that day we had lunch, hung out, went to a museum, etc.  But the girls really (really) wanted to see this statue.  It was cold...and windy...oh so windy.  Heads down, off we went.  We could not find the stupid thing!!!!  We must have walked for over and hour and a half.  Everyone was miserable.  Our friends gave up and headed back.  We pressed on...sure that we were close.  And then!  Yes!  There is was!  A giant mermaid...with nothing covering her, at all.  Wait, what??  This is it?  Oh god.  The girls didn't seem to pay much attention.  

But, then...we found out, this isn't the one.  WHAT?  &^$%.  We ducked into a restaurant to thaw out...girls sipping hot cocoa and mommy and daddy warming our tummies with wine.  We called a taxi from the restaurant because there was no way we were walking back to our apartment.  Lucky for us, the taxi driver was nice (and spoke good English) and he drove us to see the real statue.  What a let down.  The girls didn't even like it.  It certainly wasn't created by Disney.  Ah well, it was one hell of an adventure. 

Another highlight was the day it snowed.  It was incredible.  Huge, fat flakes floating from the sky.  I thought our girls were going to go crazy...they ran around with their tongues hanging out trying to catch the flakes.

All in all I really liked Copenhagen and I'm sad that we couldn't get around to see the other must visit sites, museums and gardens.  Just means we have to go back, right???  :D

A few parting pix:

Spring Trippin' Part 1....Amsterdam & Belgium

I was SO excited for this trip.  I'd worked really hard planning it and had a hell of a time finding accommodations in Copenhagen and Stockholm.  Not just because of pricing, but also limited choices...I almost had to book a hotel! (eek!)  lol
Our first stop was Amsterdam...and by far the most unique of the trip.  We rented this amazing houseboat right on the canal.  This thing was just bad ass.  I fell in love with it online and it was even better in person.  What we weren't prepared for...it was COLD!  Here I was thinking I'd get to see the fields of tulips!  Yeah, no.  We were a few weeks too early.  Now, I was totally all for a break from the Saudi heat...but man, we just weren't expecting this.
Amsterdam is such a unique city.  I just fell in love with it...even toying with the idea of what it would be like to live there..but, the abundance of "coffee shops" made me think twice about raising the kiddos in a city like that.  Oh sure, you think there is nothing wrong with coffee shops....hence my quotation marks.  Coffeeshops in Amsterdam are happy places...oh yeah, as almost all know...weed, hash and even shrooms are legal there.  So, the coffee shops line the streets and just walking past you could easily get a second hand high with the fumes wafting out from inside.  It was really pretty impressive.  And of course, you have the Red Light District...and yes, we went.  It was a rainy, cold night and we decided to grab a bike taxi to take us home.  We thought...hey, why don't you just drive us down the famous street?  We won't get out...but I mean, we gotta see what its all about!  So, we headed off...we deftly kept the girls looking out the one window that looked over the canal in a constant search for swans...while the hubby and I peered the other way.  A whole block full of establishments...window boxes on display and each containing a barely dressed young girl.  And that was it.  Okay.  Check.  Saw it...moving on.

Speaking of bikes...I was totally in awe of the bikes!  Everyone of every age was on some form of bicycle.  They would be piled up all over the city and there was even a HUGE parking garage...for bikes only!  No matter what the weather was like...they were all out there.  It was so fun to sit on our houseboat and just watch them go by.  And...I guess this goes hand in hand...but nearly every person was fit!  You had to look really, really hard and for quite some time to spot anyone overweight...and 9 times outta 10....they were tourists.  yah, so.
The buildings are everything we hoped they would be...crooked, leaning, multiple colors, narrow...just stunning.  We were pretty lazy on this trip.  One we didn't want to leave the houseboat and two, well, it was fun just to wander around.  The food there was ok, nothing amazing...EXCEPT for the tomatoes.  Seriously.  Holland makes their own version of a cherry tomato and it is unlike anything I've ever had.  Sweet and bright red...I should have turned into a tomato after the amount I consumed.  You can't find them anywhere else either...which makes me want to cry.

views from our houseboat and one from a lovely little place we had lunch

one of the many cafes (note the signage), my gorgeous, yummy tomatoes, Matt found a lovely dutch lady, and me chillin' on our houseboat...despite the freezing temp

cold or not...we enjoyed the outdoor market (and then scrambled to find a warm place for lunch!) the lovely canals and amazing row houses

can't forget the meats and cheeses!  and more awesome architecture 

a killer night shot, a pic of our houseboat from the outside, the girls trying on the famous wooden shoes, and more pretty row houses

it was too cold yet for the tulips to be in bloom everywhere, but I managed to get some at the local market :)

We did decide to take a couple of day trips while we were there.  The first was to Belgium.  Yeah, we straight up headed over to another country for the day.  They have this famous town called Brugge.  Old and quite with a cute little canal running through the town.  It was calling to me.  So, we rented a car and headed off.  Girls content in the back with movies and Matt and I enjoying the countryside.
We arrived in Brugge and had to force ourselves out of the car.  It was COLD!  Girls weren't too happy, but we told them they could go up a tower...so, yeah, that works everytime.  I think if we had been there a few weeks later it would have been jaw dropping.  To say the least it was just lovely.  So old...cobblestones, quirky buildings...just wow.  We took a boat ride and the girls really enjoyed that.  Had a nice little lunch with some killer Belgium beer and of course sampled the chocolates and waffles!  Really wish we could have spent more time there...loads more we could have seen.  Would definately go back.

chocolates and waffles!

hot chocolate was perfect on this freezing day!!  Matt had to sport the Smitty shirt (for my brother)...he was half frozen after I finished taking the pic!

loved the architecture!

Our second day trip was to head out to the town of Zaanse Schans.  This was an absolute must because we all wanted to see real windmills.  We rented a car and headed off.  Today would be THE coldest day of our trip.  The wind was blowing and the temps were near zero.  COLD.  But, it was worth braving the elements to see these beautiful windmills in action.  The little town was so quaint, I can only imagine how pretty it would be once spring actually showed up.  We wandered through old buildings, saw the inside of a windmill in action, and watched the making of the famous wooden shoes.  After a much needed warm lunch, we headed back into Amsterdam and our lovely little houseboat.  We toyed with the thought of touring Ann Franks house, but when we saw the HUGE line we changed our minds.  Besides, not sure I wanted the girls seeing those photos just yet...they are still so young and innocent!  ;)

All in all, it was a great start to our Spring trip.  I really wish the weather had been a bit warmer and we could have seen the famous tulips, but well, I'm just happy we were able to go and that we all had a great time....
Next stop....Copenhagen!!