Leaving Italy

Spent the day yesterday in Rome. Went to the Colleseum, Vatican City and Trevi Fountian. Met some of the Popes constituants, but missed the pope who will make a showing today. The ancient city of Rome is just incredible. We just love the Italian people. Thet are playful and light. They really value and love children. They dont charge to use public restrooms like the Germans. They have good coffee. American music is played everywhere. We are heading to Cittavechia today where we will catch a ship at 10pm tonight. The ship will take us on an 18 hour journey across the ocean to Barcelona Spain. We will arrive in Spain at 6 pm tomorrow. I have yet to find out the name of the ocean that we are crossing. Robert laughs at me for bringing Spencers child size life jacket aboard the ship. (when Natalie was little I would bring her life jacket on flights that crossed an ocean. (so Im getting better). We are taking tons of photos. We still havent gotten Spencers haircut. We planned on getting it cut in Italy , but he wasnt ready , I dont think we were either. Spencers common quote for the trip, "where are we now mama".

Rome, Italy

Arrived in Rome a few hours ago after spending a couple days in Siena Italy. Yesterday we rested and didnt venture out. We are pretty tired. Siena was beautiful. We have all been batteling a cold for the past several days. Right now I think mine is turning into a sinus infection as the whole right side of my face and head is pounding. Tomorrow when we head to the city I will stop in the pharmacy. Even though it is cool here Spencer and Robert went swimming here at the campground this afternoon shortly after we arrived. We continue to take photos to share at another time. Thats all for now. Aloha from Rome Italy

Florence Italy

Spent the day in Florence , a city thats a walking Museam. Took tons of photos. Saw MichaelAngelos statue of David. Will post photos later. Ate Gelatto at 3 different Gellato stands. Florence is known to have the best Gellato in Italy. We will head to Sienna tomorrow. A beautiful Tuscan town so we hear. Walked plenty. Tired feet. Ready for Sienna. Spencer was absolutely thrilled to see David. Such a highlight for him. We bought him a David tee shirt and a post card of Davids penis.

Venice Italy , beyond words

Venice is amazing, beyond words. We took many photos hopefully they will illustrate what words cannot express. We took the ferry across the bay and spent the day there yesterday. It was our best day yet. Spencer played at a park with a load of Italian children and met a little girlfriend in the pizzaria that we dined at last night before leaving the beautiful city of Venice. The population within the city is 40,000. Back in the day at its highlight before Columbus discovered America the population was 500,000. It was much larger than we had imagined. The passenger canal ferry system was amazing feeling like we were on a commuter ferry rather than a commuter train.(like we may be more accustomed to). We were rocking and rolling there until 10 PM. We did not go on a Gondala as we had planned. At 10 PM it was a little chilly and I didnt want to take the chance on a Gondala after 10 PM with a tired 3 year old. It wasnt a disappointment though it was very much the same as the Gondala we took last year in Japan. We got up late this am at 9! It is now 11 am and we are cleaning up and getting ready to leave this wonderful place that the actually call a campground. More like a mini resort. We will head out slowly taking the day exploring on our way out with the bicycles. Sometime in the late afternoon or early evening we will take the 200 mile journey to Florence. We are so looking forward to Tuscanny (the region) and everything that we heard it will be. Spencer is focused on seeing Michaelangelos statue of David. He wants to see the penis. He thinks it is very funny. I have promised himthat I will get his photo with "the penis guy".

Spencer fell asleep so now I can write

So I guess we will be eating in tonight or shall I say out, - outside on our little fold up chairs and table at our camp site. Spencer fell asleep during his quiet time while I wrote the last post. Here are a few things that Ive learned so far.

Germans are great drivers ~ driving the autobohn was delightful (as a passenger)

The wine really is good ! Wow ! At home I find it hard to find a wine that is easy to swallow. Ive tried several wines here and they are soooo smooooooothhhhhh.

European aging women are not ashamed of their bodies , they all proudly wear bikinis no matter how large or how much cellulite they have. (even pose for photos in them)

Europeans have more body fat than I thought.

Europeans seem to to eat loads and loads of cheese, sausage, and dairy products.

The food quality is 100 timed better than in the U.S. to the point that I am embarrassed of the food quality that is offered to us that we consume.

Young and old they all ride bicycles

They look at us strangely.

And as I already knew they are not particularily fond of us.

I am humbled, So far Europe has been a beautiful , amazing and inspiring place.

Thats all for now from your friendly, happy , stupid , loud, uneducated, undiscliplined, spoiled, gluttonous , wasteful, American friend..... more later

From Garmisch Partikirchen to Venice

Well I must say these last few days have been very tiring due to events that I wont weigh down this blog with. Beyond that Garmisch was amazing and beautiful. We managed to bike through both towns on Sunday, it was very quiet because everything was closed. Yesterday Monday after spening 1/2 the day at an internet cafe we were just able to catch the very last train & cable car up the Zugspitze , which is the highest Alp in Germany. It is right on the Austrian border so you can actually dine in Austria once you reach the top. The most exciting thing about that trip was Spencer got to play in the snow! I mean really play! He climbed a snow mountain , made snowballs and even a baby snowman. After that we took the road towards Italy, drove for several hours & then continued on this morning reaching Venice around noon. After getting settled and eating lunch at the campground, we took the bikes and headed for the beach. It was so refreshing to get back into a warmer climate. Spencer ran naked and swam on the beach this afternoon for 3 hours. At this moment we are contemplating heading to Venice as we all know it by boat across the bay or should we wait till tomorrow? Both would be nice but perhaps a little to much for Spencer. Maybe we will head down the road for our first bite of real Italian food. Ciao ciao for now brown cow!

A&O x 1

I dont know where we are at other than about 12 miles outside of Heidenberg (SP ? ) . We slept here in a car park and still havent left. Ate breakfast in the camper took a walk, went to to kiddy parks and now checking the internet for 10.00 per hour. it is now 10 45 am. yesterday we didnt get on the road until 6 pm, drove till 8 pm or so. The big event yesterday was when looking for a grocery store to load up on provisions we found an ALDI ! Yes the cheapo supermarket chain that we all know . The food quality was great and the price much less than Hawaii let alone Germany. We were totally stoked to fill the cart for 100.00 . Food is expensive here. 4 coffees and 6 donuts cost Robert like 60.00 in Roxanns upscale neighborhood in Amsterdam. We will now head to Heidenberg for the day, a town that was untouched by the war, beautiful that includes a castle that we will tour. This evening we will head toward Baden-Baden famous for spas. Then to Garmisch- Partichceren (SP ?) in the very near future. Been sleeping well in the camper and so far feels like we are moving very slowly. Thats all for now. plan on taking photos today if we ever get there......

Germany

What can I say, Germany is beautiful, very green, very clean. We are a little south of Koln, known to Americans as Cologne, near Dusseldorf. So far today after waking up in an awesome VW campervan I have seen a lot. Spencer has played at the park, we showered and snacked. This camp ground appears to rent space with regulars who rent long term. Some of their homes/yards are just amazing. Gnomes galore, grapes growing on vines, apple trees, very decorative yards. We have yet to pick up some groceries and get on the road heading south toward Garmisch-Parikenshen. Yes it is expensive here, but not enough to loose any sleep over. After all we are on vacation. My internet time is about to run out so I think I will update again soon! Robert is also anxious to get the bikes out before we get back on the road. .....

First Days Euro Whirl 2010

The flights were great , all 3 , Specifically because Spencer couldnt get enough of them. On the first 2 flights Spencer said "can we go on another airplane after this one? ". Only until the end of the last and final flight was he ready to "do something else". We slept much of the journey which made it easy to roam the streets of Amsterdam all day after arriving at 7am. We (Roxann & I ) even were able to fit in a stop at a "coffee shop" for some renewed energy towards the end of the day. The most eventful moment was arriving back at Roxanns exclusively located home (should we really be suprised) to realize that somewhere on our journey we lost Spencers blankie. Im sure you all know the significance of Spencers blankie. He has taken every nap and every nights rest with blankie since birth. Anyway, as of now blankie is lost forever. Robert Spent last night and a good part of today walking and biking the rainy streets of Amsterdam searching for Blankie to no avail. On the other hand Spencer has adapted very well. More of a tragedy for mom & dad. We planned well enough to have packed along "blankies brother" , purchased a couple years ago for this type of tragedy. Well, Blankies brother has been Spencers ignored red headed step child up until recently. This supplemental blankie recently earned enough respect from Spencer that he has been calling it "blankies brother" and even inviting blankies brother to join himself & blankie at bed & naptime. So to make a long story short, Spencer is totally casual about the whole event. Just totally non chalant, knowing daddy went on a couple searches, no blankie and well he is just pretty mild about the whole thing. Meanwhile watching it drizzle from the window , a few boats passing by in the canal.... and munching on cheese & meats, from a couple of the many many cheese & meat counters we visited yesterday. Can I tell you that it is absolutely delicious. Can I also tell you I think after 48 - 72 hours of the Euro deli tray I think I will be like totally over it!!! They even serve it for breakfast ! Spencer was gobbleing it up this morning and making fun of the "icky" stuff he eats for breakfast back home!! We will be picking up our camper van tomorrow & head off towards Germany sometime in the early afternoon , and at this point God only know where we will w ind up. Oh, another thing, yesterday I (with my cast iron GI) got montazumas revenges ugly Euro cousin. I had some moments on the streets, that I thought might end up disasterous, thank God it wasnt to difficult to find a bathroom. ( I wonder if it has anything to do with all this meat & cheese? ) anyway, for the 1st entry of our journey I think I have shared with ya ll all that youve needed to know & soooooo much more. & if I still have your attention I will leave it at that. Untill next time. xoxo

The departure draws near and the minutes drag like days

The house is getting scrubbed down so when we return we will lay back with smiles and just say AAHHHHH.
Well so we were out shopping today and really had a ton of fun and also trying to push on thru nap time and get accustomed to trying to go 20hours a day and sleep 4. Spencer is doing great at it but Mom and Dad will need a little more training or shots of espresso. It is probably a good thing we are not going to rent my Uncle Wayne's "Condor" since we would fill it with our house or at least a house full of clothes stuffed into a liter chugging, petrol gulping Euro depleting closet on wheels.

Well we are first focusing on Spencers big #3 B-Day party with his hiking buddies and story time and pre school pals and Ruth has ordered the food and already wrapped the gifts but I cant tell you what he got because although Spencer can't log onto the computer I think he can still figure it out figure it out because the Razor Scooter we got was stashed in the garage and I mean buried behind the bikes next to the Christmas decorations and tucked around the paint cans and I was in the house last week folding clothes and went out to the gaage and there he was with the SCOOTER !!!! He said to me "Is this mine?" "I want the scooter and you can get a skateboard and I'll ride the scooter" Could not believe it. So I said it was in the workshop because I was fixing it for the neighbor. I'm not sure he was convinced.

Anyway for all of the electronics I am taking this thing better have generators and battery back up with PV panels mounted on top since I will probably blow the grid with all the stuff I am going to haul so there should not be a reason that photos and video aren't posted daily or at the least 2-3 times a week.

So from "We 3 in Maui" like my man Don Cornelius used to say every Saturday afternoon on the hippest trip around "Until next time PEACE, LOVE AND SOUL"

Love to all...