Navydoula

Here I Go Again...

2009-02-05T10:50:00.000-08:00

...not keeping up with the blog after we get home.

Last day was in Venice, again. Got delayed at the airport from Berlin. The aircraft was late arriving from London...I guess there was a nasty storm in the U.K. that caused an hour and a half delay.

Arrived in Venice, took the bus from the airport to the city and rode the vaporetto to our hotel. We stayed at a different hotel than last week. This one was very close to the vaporetto stop on the Grand Canal. Outstanding location and internet access (free for the first 30 minutes, €20 for 5 hours.)

Rode the vaporetto line 2, not as many stops, to a stop about halfway to St. Mark's Square. We walked and shopped looking for Carnivale masks. Heather found a cool one of the hypocritical plague doctor (the one with the big, long nose) at a shop that made masks for the Tom Cruise/Nicole Kidman move "Eyes Wide Shut." Never saw the movie.

Headed to St. Mark's Square and checked on Hard Rock Cafe but it still wasn't open. Kept walking looking for a mask for me. Found one near the hotel. It's a Casanova mask (big, black hat and pointy chin.) They're expensive.

Stopped at a pizzeria and got two pizza (they're small.) Grabbed a bottle of wine, some parmesan cheese and a couple pieces of bread from a shop near the hotel. Took it all back to the hotel and had a picnic in our room while watching a movie on the iPod.

Our flight the next morning was uneventful. Stopped and collected some water from the Grand Canal for our "dirt collection." Trisha picked us up from the airport (I re-payed here and the girls the next morning at 6:45 am) and we went to get the boys from Erin's house.

Bud

Why does the Superbowl start so late?

2009-02-02T01:03:00.000-08:00

No way were we staying up until midnight thirty to watch the game kick off. But, there are quite a few bars here showing the Superbowl.

Sunday we went to the Reichstag, the German capital building, and walked along the large glass dome on top. Kind of a neat design - the people walk along the top and look down on the government and the politicians look up and see who they work for - the people.

Met a couple of Australian women who were on our Third Reich Tour. They were flying back to London in the evening. We gave them a hard time because they suggested the pub crawl the other night.

Lunch at ARoma, a coffee/sandwich joint with really good bacon, egg salad and tomato sandwiches. Free wi-fi, too, which has proven difficult to find here in the city.

On to Checkpoint Charlie and the Topography of Terror. Two cold-war Berlin wall attractions that are fun to see. The best part was the photo displays along the street with photos from before and after the wall fell. There's a double-coblestone path through the entire city that marks the location of where the wall once stood.

Went looking for a bookstore afterwards. It was more of a souvenir shop than book store. It's called Berlin Story and is on Unter den Linden street near the Brandenburg Gate. We went to Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts for a snack.

Did some more walking and shopping. Then took bus #100 to Potsdamer Platz. The bus route passes many of the sights in Berlin. Did more walking and shopping and ended up at Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. In our defense, we do live in Italy and our Applebees closed down, so there's nowhere back "home" to get American food. We split the nachos and Twisted Mac & Cheese.

Back to the hotel around 9:30 - it's just too cold out for anything else.

Bud

Saturday...Still in Berlin

2009-01-31T14:34:00.001-08:00

Started at Pariser Platz again for the Third Reich Tour. The photo above is the famous hotel where Michael Jackson dangled his baby from the balcony for the press. (That wasn't part of the Third Reich Tour...that's left over from yesterday's tour.)

This tour was a little more in depth about the Nazi party than the free tour yesterday. Worth the €12 each. Our guide was knowledgeable but he walked to fast. Those of us with short legs ended up holding the group back by 30 seconds or so every time we stopped!

Had lunch at a Doner Kebab. Decent food. Didn't know I liked lamb.

After the tour we wandered around the shopping district near the Zoo. Not an animal zoo, but a part of town in West Berlin. We priced tickets to take a day trip to Poland, but it's more than we wanted to spend. €40 and 4 hours each way on the train. We could go to Prague for that.

Had dinner and a Guinness at an Irish Pub., then met the evening tour for the Pub Crawl. We must be getting old because we got our money back at the first bar. The place was so packed with drunk college students that we could barely move. I've been to crowded bars before, but this was just stupid. All Heather could think about was the fire code!

We're back, safe and sound at the hotel. Nick called while Heather was in the shower. Not sure what he's doing up so late...but that's ok. I'm glad he called. I tried to call them earlier today and couldn't get through.

Bud

Berlin, Friday night

2009-01-31T01:51:00.000-08:00

Out of the room around 1030 today after chatting with Trisha and the boys on Facebook. We are on vacation. Had a cappuccino and a bagel with cold scrambled eggs on top for breakfast. We won't be going there tomorrow. Price was right, though. €5 for both of us vs. €18 at the hotel.

It's snowing, very lightly, but it's wicked cold.

Went searching for the U.S. Embassy. Finally found it at Parisan Platz near the Brandenburg gate. No consular services there...that's at the south end of the city. We've never been to an embassy and have read in guide books that it's not a bad idea to register if you're going to be in town more than a few days. We just wanted to check it out.

So, like any American tourist in Berlin would do, we went to Starbucks. Mostly to use the rest room. And that's where the free tour meets - so it was easily justifiable.

We're big fans of the Sandemans free tours. This one didn't disappoint. Lots of Berlin history. Started at Brandenburg gate, went by the Berlin Wall as well as several old buildings and the spot where Hitler's bunker (the one he ended his life in at the end of the war) used to be. One of the buildings was the Berlin parliament, with the new glass dome. We learned it was exactly 76 years ago, on Jan 30, 1933, that Hitler was elected chancellor and started his campaign.

4 hours later, we're frozen solid. We got on a bus to the metro and took the underground to Potsdamer Platz.

The Sony Center is just a block away. It's a large entertainment/shopping center. There's an IMAX theater and a couple of restaurants that are listed in the Rick Steves guide. We ate at the Lindenbrauhaus, a restaurant spin off the beer halls of Munich. The food was very good. Who knew we liked sauerkraut?

Got back to the hotel around 9:00 pm.

Where do you go for vacation for 5 days in the dead of winter?

2009-01-29T13:47:00.000-08:00

Why,
Berlin, of course! It's flippin' freezing cold here! The weather was gorgeous in Venice when we left this morning. I'm only now beginning to thaw out after the walk and metro ride back to the hotel after dinner tonight. Our day went something like this:

Breakfast at the hotel in Venice was good. Eggs, yogurt, bread, cheese, ham. Walked from the hotel to the Piazzale Roma - large bus lot in the north end of the city - to take the bus back to the airport. Only got turned around once, but it worked out because we got to see this huge boat-crane-barge-thing dredging the canal.

Had lunch at the airport before the flight...caprese and tortillini with a glass of merlot.

Plane ride was uneventful...smooth landing in Berlin. The control tower has anti-smash lights all over the top. I could see at least four from the plane. I've never seen a tower with anti-smash. I imagine that must get annoying if you're a controller there.

Stepped off the plane and almost got back on. It's very cold. The trees are frozen and white. There's a patch of snow here and there left over from last week.

Took the train to the city and then the metro to the wrong part of town. Asked a local for directions and got pointed in the right way. Got to the hotel, dropped off the bags and headed out for dinner.

We went to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. I know it sounds silly, but it's impossible to get a good cheeseburger at a restaraunt in Sicily. It was even colder when we left and headed back to the hotel. We're both tired from the day so we decided to call it an early night.

But here I am blogging away at 11:00 pm. I've been trying to access email all night but can't seem to read anything on yahoo. I think I sent an email earlier tonight (hello Trisha who's watching the boys for us back in Sicily) but I'm not sure.

Facebook is probably a good way to get ahold of us if anyone really needs to - but we'll probably only check once every day or two. We may start uploading photos on facebook since this blog seems to freeze up if I try to upload more than two or three pictures.

We miss the boys but are having a good time nevertheless.

I think we'll take a couple of walking tours tomorrow.

I can say goodbye in German but I don't know how it's spelled, so ciao,

Bud

Venice (Yesterday)

2009-01-29T13:18:00.000-08:00

A lawn mover shop would do miserably in this city! No dirt or grass anywhere. A mecca for doorbell ditchers everywhere and lots of small stray dogs. We only saw one cat...and it had a collar so it wasn't a stray.

(Was proof-reading and that opening paragraph sounded kind of negative. It's not meant to...just observations. Venice is a beautiful, charming town that I'm blessed to get to visit but don't have to live in.)

Flew from Catania to Venice. Arrived at the Marco Polo Airport around 3:00 pm and rode the Venzia Express bus into Venice (only €3 each). Walked to the boat and bought a one-way ticket down the Grand Canal. Got off at the third stop and wandered around for about half an hour looking for our hotel. Difficult to find, but it's really a nice place and we didn't have trouble finding it once we knew right where it was!

Rushed back to the canal and hopped back on Line 1. The boat goes all the way from the main train station to St. Mark's Square. We did the Rick Steves Grand Canal Cruise of Venice. Downloaded the mp3 off his website and followed along with the guide book. The Rick Steves tours are pretty good and his guide books are invaluable.

At St. Marks Square we did a couple tracks of the audio tour and then headed out to find the Hard Rock Cafe. The store is open but the restaraunt is still closed. They won't open for food service for a couple weeks. We bought two new pins.

Started wandering back towards the hotel while looking in the shops. Carnivale is in a few weeks and the stores are stocked with masks. Saw a few we may pick up when we go back next week.

Stopped at a trattoria for dinner - good food and low priced. Don't remember the name.

The whole town looks mucher bigger on the map that it really is. It's deciving to look at a map of the city and see how far you need to walk - but it only turns out to be about 30 minutes.

The hotel was very nice and we would recommend it. Good breakfast and sattelite TV - not that we were in the room long enough to watch much TV. No internet, though. It's in the old Jewish quarter called the Ghetto. Nice ghetto. It's in a residential area so it's kind of neat to see all the homes and locals walking around.

Ciao,
Bud

The West Side of the Island

2009-01-18T13:16:00.000-08:00

We just got home from an overnight trip to the west side of Sicily. We left yesterday afternoon around 14:30 and arrived in Trapani at 17:30 (5:30 pm.) I typed in the address for the apartment and the Garmin took us via A19 to Palermo and A29 to Trapani.

The residence was a little tricky to find. There's a small clear plastic sign on the side of the wall next to a plain brown door. No big signs or even an address plate - you just have to look for the little sign. It borders Piazza Umberto so it's not too difficult to locate. It's one of those doors on the side of the building across the piazza from the train station - so if you park in the piazza and wander around for a few minutes, you'll find it. Ring the bell and give the old man, Sasa, a few minutes to buzz you in.

We got settled and then went across the street for dinner. I don't remember the name, but it was just a block away. Good spaghetti carbonara.

The next morning we drove to Erice - about a thirty minute drive straight up. The town is on top of a huge cliff which overlooks the western coast of Sicily. Amazing views and lots of old stuff to see - including castels and cathedrals (in the Mediterranean, imagine that!)

We walked around town, had lunch in a little cafe and then got back on the road. From there, we took the autostrada south to Silununte (sp?) A small town on the southwest coast with a large archaeological preserve. There's at least five large temples - about the size of the one's in Agrigento - that are all very well preserved. It was €6 each for the adults and free for the boys (ages 10 and 12.) We walked around for about an hour and a half. You can drive through a portion of the preserve to the acropolis. There, we met a man named Egisto, who showed us a few things about the area and offered to give us a tour if we ever came back. He said he also used to sing in the opera in Catania.

We got back on the road just before dusk and headed home. Stopped east of Agrigento for some dinner (they looked at us like we were crazy when we wanted to eat dinner at 19:00!

The trip took two whole days, but was well worth it. We've been telling ourselves we were going to to visit the west side of the island, and the three-day weekend was the perfect opportunity.

Ciao,

Bud

Didn't we just go through this?

2009-01-12T11:30:00.001-08:00

Hard to believe we've been here over two years.

We're up for orders next month. I looked at what was available this month...even though I wasn't eligible: Two openings in Whidbey Island, Washington, three openings in New Orleans, and one in Atsugi, Japan. Slim pickins for sure. About a month from now I'll be able to see what's available and where we may go. I have about four for five months worth of looking before I really have to choose.

I'm still recuperating from staying up until after 1:00 am last night to try and watch the Charger game. I fell asleep in the third quarter...when the score was 24 to 10 Steelers. I was glad I didn't stay up for the whole game when I saw the score this morning.

Do you see a trend developing here?

2008-12-17T09:13:00.000-08:00

I always do that...stop posting in the middle of a trip.

Last few days in Munich:

We went on a free city tour of Munich It was pretty good. Lasted about three hours and we learned alot about the city, Hitler's beginnings and beer. That night we went on the Munich Beer Tour. The guide took us to three different beer halls and taught us about the different types and some beer history.

The next day we took a late flight home. Pretty uneventful...now I just need to post some photos.

A visit to the original SS "School of Violence"

2008-12-04T13:04:00.000-08:00

We got a late start today. Didn't get out of the hostel until around 1130. We got on the S2 train and headed north-east today to the town of Dachau.

The town was made famous for the concentration camp that was built there in 1933. It was a fitting day to visit, very cold and gray.

We arrived in the town of Dachau about 1230 and went for a short walk. Found a little cafe to eat lunch and then set out down main street to do some shopping. Looked in a toy store but nothing special...you can only see so much Playmobil and Lego.

About a block or two later we came to a luggage store. Heather found a few things. She may or may not have bought a few Christmas presents.

Took the bus to the main entrance of the camp. There is no fee to visit the concentration camp and we only paid €3 for the audio tour.

First, we watched a 20 minute movie about the camp. The majority of the footage was shot by WWII soldiers who liberated the prisoners in 1945. The footage was b&w and no sound, but very moving. Lots of bad things happened there...

We walked out into the large court yard where the prisoners all had roll call every day. There's now a large sculpture and memorials set up all over. We went down the middle of the camp past the area where the barracks used to be. At the end was the crematorium. Really eerie stuff. I'm sort of glad Nick and Tom are still a little too young to understand the incredibly terrible things that happened there.

Ahmadinejad's comments are an all to scary reminder of the very recent history. The things that happened in Dachau were only 63 years ago. Ahmadinejad believes it his his calling to bring about the end of Israel and the United States thus fulfilling Islamic prophecy. Let's pray the President-Elect Obama has learned from the past. The last thing you want to do with a mad-man is try to reason with him.

So we left the camp and took a bus back to the train and took a train to Munich city center (Mareinplatz) and walked a few blocks to the Hofenbraus brewery. It's a large beer hall where t the lady's carry 5 to 10 steins full of beer all at once! Kind of like the Augustiner we went to last night, only much larger and much more popular.

We had sausage, meatloaf, potatoes, pretzels and beer. We haven't tried schnitzel, yet, but the apple strudel was very good. It didn't stand a chance...it was gone about 30 seconds after it hit the table.

Caught the train back to the hostel, the boys took a shower and we finished watching "Atlantis" on the portable DVD player....

Bud

Winging it!

2008-12-03T14:10:00.001-08:00

We got up this morning and decided to go to Salzburg. I looked at the tourist dept website and saw that they have a Christmas Market. We knew there's train to the city but we didn't know the schedule. So we decide to "wing it." Worst case scenario we miss the last train back to Munich and have to stay the night in Austria.

We had breakfast at the Hostel and then took a tram to the main train station. As we walked into the station we saw a train leaving for Salzburg in 10 minutes. Tried to figure out the automated ticket machine but even with the English menu there were too many options. I was afraid of buying the wrong ticket...so we went to the ticket booth to talk to a real live ticket agent.

We got the Bayern Pass which is a round trip ticket for two adults and two kids for €29 and the train was leaving in 4 minutes. So we booked it back to platform 21 and barely made the train. I'm talking the train started moving as we were looking for a seat!

The trip was about 2 hours and uneventful. The boys bickered over who got to watch the latest Star Wars Clone Wars episode on the iTouch and who got to read the first "Twilight" book.

From the station in Salzburg, Austria, we walked to the Christmas Market, stopping for a cappuccino. The first market was small, but had cool gluhwein mugs. The main market was about 15 minutes farther but worth the walk. Very large and lots of people.

We bought an ornament for our tree and Tommy got a new hat (you'll see it in the video.) Got some snacks - sausage with kraut, chocolate covered pretzels and bananas, gluhwein, chocolate apples, and some really good toast with bacon - and headed back to the station. Stopped a skate board shop and picked up some stickers.

We made the 1718 (5:18 pm) train which got us back to Munich at 1912 (7:12 pm.) We had dinner at the market in Marienplatz - pasta with cheese and ham - and then took another train back to the hostel.

The boys were done with showers by 2100 (9:00 pm.) We left them our cell phone and went downstairs for a drink. Right next to the hostel is this cool old biergarten. I don't remember the name, but they've been brewing beer since 1328!

Went back upstairs an hour later and got the boys to bed.

Bud

Why is this such a mindsuck?!?!?

2008-12-02T11:34:00.000-08:00

Why haven't I updated this stupid blog for over a month and a half? It's not like it's hard to download photos from the camera, type up some silly commentary and upload a few pictures. It's such a chore just to think about it..."Crap! I gotta blog..." And know I can't get it to upload a photo! Argg!!!!

We're in Munich. We flew in last night to go shopping at the Christmas Markets. They actually call them Christmas Markets here...not some cheesy "Holiday" festival.

The first one was in the airport. We had just got off the plane and were trying to find the Starbucks. It was a good size market...had an ice skating rink in the middle. We had our first taste of Gluhwein (pronounced "glue vine") which is hot German wine with brandy.

We checked in to the hostel. The same hostel chain we stayed at in London. If fact, we made our reservations for here the day we left London.

This morning after breakfast we headed to Marienplatz, the center of town, to check out the big Christmas Market. Stopped for a coffe at Lavazza, an Italian espresso chain, and ran into a couple of people we know from Sicily! They're here on vacation as well. We actually saw them at the airport yesterday leaving Italy and figured we would run into them somewhere.

Walked around the market for a bit and then headed to the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch.

Afterwards, we went on a wild goose chase for some Rokenbok toys. Looked up a toy store on the internet that sells Rokenbok, but when we got there, the store was gone. A shop owner next door said the toy store no longer existed but suggested another one down the street. It was the bottom floor of a department store. They hadn't even heard of Rokenbok but pointed us at still another store. No Rokenbok.

So, we got a coffee and went ice skating. It was really fun! We couldn't believe we actually got Tom out on the ice. He's usually very reluctant to try anything like that. But they had these big plastic polar bears on skis with a handle to help people who aren't the best skaters. I think that motivated him...not to try ice skating but to push the bear around.

From there we walked back to the market for dinner. Heather and the boys had pasta. I went for the German sausage and potatoe cake. Took a wrong turn after exiting the train on the way back to the hostel, but made it back before 2030 (8:30 pm.) We're all pretty tired...

Bud

Giant's Causeway Cancelled!

2008-10-19T13:47:00.000-07:00

October 14, 2008

Cold and rainy this morning...just the way Ireland should be in mid October. We had breakfast at the hotel. Much better than the hostel in London...it better be for the price!

We decided to skip the drive to northern Ireland. We initially planned on visiting an area along the north coast called "Giant's Causeway." It's a very unique natural formation of hexagon shaped rocks. I don't recall what makes then hexagon shaped, and the homeschool-on-vacation-moment is lost so I don't much care anymore. I'm sure you could use the google.

Part of our decision was based on the locals at the hotel informing us the drive was about 4 to 5 hours! Which means we would have been in the car all day today and all day tomorrow as we drive to Dublin. So we skipped it altogether and decided to drive straight across on the N6 to spend the whole next day in Dublin.

We stopped in a little town called Balisone at a very cool little cafe for a cappuccino. Popped into an electronics store with the boys and found a 220v charger for their Nintendo DS' with the big, honkin' English adapter.

Got back on the, now M6 motorway, and continued east. The road turned into a "double carriageway" which Heather says sounds much more proper than "double lane road."

Listening to the radio in English was fun. We listen to the radio in the car back in Italy, but the DJ's and the news is all in Italian. We can pick out a few words, but they speak so fast we never understand what they're saying. In Ireland it sounds like there's a little leprechaun in the radio. I couldn't help thinking of having a bowl of Lucky Charms.

The Garmin Nuvi 270 (with North America and Europe Maps) came through again and brought us right to the front door of the apartment. It was a nice little one bedroom apt with a small kitchenette and a pull out sofa bed in the living room for the boys. We left the luggage with reception (because the apt wasn't ready yet) and set out for the visitors center around the corner. Bought some postcards and picked up a free map.

Next stop was the Temple Bar, an area of Dublin just south of the river, where we had lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe. Used our new membership and and everything! The burgers in London are better.

On the way back to the apt we found a big book store. We never shop the book stores in Italy because just like the radio...it's all Italian! So it was nice to browse a book shop where all the books are in English. We found a Euro coin book we've been looking for - but it was a few years old.

Made it back to the apt, got our bags and settled in for a nap.

Later than evening we headed back to Temple Bar. We heard the pubs were kid friendly until about 9:00 pm and we saw a family inside Farringtons so we ducked in.

Heather struck up a conversation with them as I ordered us a drink. They were on holiday from Wales and had two boys, a year younger and a year older than Nick & Tom. I got our drinks and we enjoyed our very first Guinness in a real Irish pub with a friendly English family!

I was admiring the Guinness bar mat - a friend wanted one as a souvenir - when the bartender told me they are free from Guinness. I guess you can't buy them from the gift shop at the brewery so he gave it to me!

We walked across the street after a couple halves (that's how the Irish say "half pint") of Guinness and had, you guessed it, pizza for dinner! A good Italian place called Botticelli. The bruschetta was different, but good.

Got back to our apt, the boys took a shower, I read a chapter of Narnia and we were in bed around 9:30 pm.

Did You Know You Can't Take a Sword on an Airplane?

2008-10-18T11:05:00.000-07:00

I know...I'm way behind - bear with me...

October 13, 2008

Had breakfast at the hostel and picked up a sack lunch from the kitchen. We got home so late last night that we didn't have time to do laundry so I did two loads at the hostel this morning. I was crazy rushed because we had to catch a flight at 1515 (3:15 pm) and you have to be there two hours early and the hostel was about an hour and a half by train from the airport...

Packed the now clean clothes, checked out of the hostel and headed for the tube. I was worried about the time so I didn't stop at the Starbucks right outside the tube station for a cappuccino. I'm kicking myself now because I can't find the London city mug anywhere!

At Victoria Station we found the train to Gatwick. After we got aboard, we hear an announcement that the train is going to split somewhere along the line. Half the train is going toward Dover and the other half somewhere east (Brussels, I think.) We were worried sick until the conducted came along and told us we were in the right cab and that the train splits after the airport.

Talked to a nice couple from Israel on the train. They had some questions about the upcoming elections. They mentioned the traffic jam during B. Hussein Obama's trip the Israel. I told them I was the wrong one to talk to about American Politics if they wanted to see more of Obama because I won't be voting for him. They gave Nick a couple of Israeli coins for his collection.

At the airport, we checked our luggage and headed for security. After the boy's back packs went through the x-ray the nice security officials wanted to search the bags. I don't mean "nice" facetiously, they were the nicest airport security people I've ever met! Very polite, "thank you for your time", the who bit.

However, when we visited the Tower of London, Tom had purchased a small, medieval wooden shield and sword. The sword couldn't have been more than 12 inches long, dull, wood and obviously a child's toy. But, rules are rules, and anything that resembles a weapon can not be carried aboard.

Heather and the boys waited for me in the terminal as I headed back to the airline check-in now armed. The man at the desk exclaimed, "Oh, you're back!" He had a huge line of people checking in but still took a few minutes to explain I could check in the sword as a separate piece of luggage but that it would either (a) end up lost, (b) get broken or (c) both. Also, it would cost me $20 to check it. Then, he gave me a piece of paper to write my address and promised to mail it to me.

The flight to Shannon, Ireland was less than an hour. We rented a Toyota Terra from Hertz and headed for the Cliffs of Moher - on the wrong side of the rode!

All of Great Britain and Ireland drive on the left side. It was easy enough to get used to after the first 3 or 4 traffic circles. They're called roundabouts on this side of the pond and they're everywhere. Right turns proved to be the most difficult because it's like a left turn back home. I was humbled only once after making a right turn and turning onto the right side of the road vice the left. I drove along on the right side, without thinking anything about it (neither did Heather) for about 10 seconds.

I immediately got over to the left and only 100 meters down the road I went around a curve and passed a couple of cars going the opposite direction...on the same side I was just on! I drove for about 5 minutes before my heart stopped racing! But you should see me now...driving on the left side of the road, from the right side of the car, shifting with my left hand and signalling all at the same time!

We arrived safe and sound at the Cliffs of Moher on the west coast of Ireland about an hour before sunset. The parking lot was open but the visitor center was closed. We briefly talked to some Americans who were on vacation from California and learned the park was closed but you could still go out to the cliffs.

Walked along the cliffs to a small castle tower. Took a handful of photos and then looked for a bathroom! The far corner of the parking lot served well and then we got back on the left side of the road for about an hour.

Our first night stay was at the Travelodge in Galway. The portable Garmin driving GPS unit worked awesome...took us right to the hotel!

Mind the Gap

2008-10-17T02:19:00.001-07:00

October 12, 2008

We finally got to tour the Tower of London. The London Pass came through again...we were able to skip an entrance line about 45 minutes long and enter through the group entrance! Saw the Crown Jewels including a scepter that has the world's largest diamond (Heather says she would use the Coronation Spoon to eat soup) and a bunch of other old stuff.

There was a display about the new 2008 coins inside the White Tower.

Toured the "Bloody Tower" named because of all the beheading that took place in the medieval times. So, Nick's customary "Stormtrooper visits the Tower of London" scene had to include a beheading.

Had lunch at a restaurant called "EAT" alongside the castle wall. Then took the RV1 bus across town to Gabriel's Wharf where we got a free bike rental (London Pass, again!) We biked past Buckingham Palace and Shakespeare's Old Globe Theater. The ride took about an hour. Had crepes and a coffee for a snack afterwards along the river.

Next, we took the tube to King's Cross station to visit Platform 9 & 3/4 made famous by the first Harry Potter movie. The was a luggage trolley stuck in the wall for tourists...

Tube back the hostel and dropped off our bags of souvenirs. Then we went down the street to an Italian restaurant for dinner. Typical Italian service (slow) but good food. Saw a bunch of cool cars parked along the road on the walk home...including this Nissan Figaro. They were made in 1991 only in Japan and there were only 20,000 ever made!

(Mind the Gap is the recording that plays several times on the subway every time you get on or off the cars. It refers to the gap between the car and platform...evidently they don't want people getting stuck. Tommy used this phrase to practice his English accent.)

Does the Queen Have to Call Brush When She Get’s Up from Her Throne?

2008-10-17T01:59:00.000-07:00

October 11, 2008

Had breakfast at the hostel then caught the tube to Victoria station. At Victoria we got on a coach (bus) to Windsor Castle.

Windsor is really a sight. It’s a real, live working castle where the Royal Family stays. We toured the state apartments and St. George’s cathedral. Took about 2 hours then we headed into the town of Windsor for lunch.

Heather says it looks just like a Fisher Price Little People Castle she had as a little girl.

Caught the 13:55 coach back to London. The boys watched the latest Star Wars Clone Wars episode (new TV show) on the iPod.

We rushed to catch the tube to the Tower of London but it was closed. So we hurried over to the London Tower but it was closing as well. So, we walked over to the gift shop at the Tower of London where Nick found the 2008 GBP coins mint set. It’s a really cool set – the back of the coins forms the shield of the Royal Arms. We’ve been finding them in circulation but we also picked up the un-circulated proof set.

Next, we took the tube to Picadilly Circus. It’s to London what Times Square is to New York…packed with people.

We ate dinner at Planet Hollywood. There was a 45 minute wait but the London Pass got us priority seating so we were seated in 5 minutes. The food was not as good as Hard Rock Café, but they had fun stuff to look at. They had the long barrel revolver from the Batman movie and the over sized Zagnut bar from "Betelgeuse." They also had Indiana Jone’s whip and the big sword from the bad guy in the first movie – the guy in black who pulls out this big long sword and starts swinging it around all crazy so Indiana Jones just shoots him.

Took the tube back to the hostel and were in bed by 22:00!

(When we were walking around Windsor Castle, we saw several large thrones in the different rooms. In the aviation community of the Navy, if you get up for a just a few minutes, and you want to save your seat, you call “brush.” Then nobody can swipe you chair when you’re gone. I doubt the Queen has to call brush when she leaves the throne, but Heather was wondering. )

Greenwich Mean Time

2008-10-17T01:38:00.000-07:00

October 10, 2008...

How did I forget to mention that we rode on a double decker bus yesterday???

Had breakfast at the hostel and the boys grabbed a roll each to take with them and feed the ducks.

Then we walked through the Science Museum for about 90 minutes. The Science Museum and Natural History Museum are both right across the street from the hostel and are free!

From there, we went North to Hyde Park and walked along Rotten Row past the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain. The boys fed the ducks and geese as we walked along the pond. Stopped at a playground for about 10 minutes before we left the park to the East.

We had lunch at the ORIGINAL Hard Rock Cafe! The very first one! Heather and I had cheeseburgers and the boys had a hot dog and mac & cheese. Best burger we've had in a while. Tom tried to order chocolate milk and our server had no idea what he was talking about.

The Hard Rock store is across the street. We went in and took the vault tour. Their store is in a building that used to be a bank, so there's an actual vault in the basement where they keep all the most prized rock & roll memorabilia. Guitars from Slash, Clapton, and even Jimi Hendrix's Flying V...plus Madonna's brassier

After lunch, we rode the tube to Greenwich to visit the Observatory. The museums and observatory were closed, but we got to stand on the prime meridian and walk around the grounds for a few hours.

Took a cruise boat back to London on the River Thames.

Got back to the hostel at 10:15 pm...

The Turner Family World Tour 2007-2008...

2008-10-10T00:21:00.000-07:00

Paris, Rome and LONDON!

Travel days can be sort of fun...

We had to wake up at 5:00 am to catch our flight at 8:30 am. But it was a two and a half hour non-stop flight meaning we didn't have to make a connection in Rome. We got our bags, bought a train ticket and were in London in about 45 minutes. Found our way to the tube and rode to our hostel, the Lord Baden Powell House about two blocks south of Hyde Park.

After getting our room settled, we rode the tube to Piccadilly Circus to pick up our London City Pass at the Visitor's Center. It's good for all kinds of sights such as the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey to name a few.

Then we walked by way of Horse Guards Road which runs by the Horse Guards Building...

...stopped to feed some squirrels in St. James Park...

....continued around a corner to catch our first glimpse of Big Ben...

...past the Westminster Abbey...

...with it's cool sundial (it was about 3:00 pm)...

...stopped for a photo in the shadow of Big Ben before heading...

...across to the River Thames and onto the London Eye.

We took the ceremonial Lego Storm Trooper photo and Tom added his Sponge Bob Lego.

Nick took our picture from the capsule. The view of London was awesome!

Stopped for a snack (candy bars and water...not a good snack) and walked over to Waterloo Station to catch the RV1 bus which took us over the Tower Bridge and past the London Tower. We changed to the #15 Bus and took it to Piccadilly Circus where we had dinner at....

...wait for it....

....wait.....

Pizza Express!! The boys had the Margherita Pizza and I had the Americana (pepperoni.) Heather chose the salad and swiped a couple of slices of pizza from the boys.

Back to our room by 10:00 pm where the boys took showers and we all passed out from our 18 hour day!

United Kingdom Tour 2008!

2008-09-26T06:08:00.000-07:00

I've been super busy with homeschooling and playing travel agent. Some of you may remember us planning a trip for London back in June? Well, tickets bought, plans made...Bud was unable to take vacation due to an important inspection at work (we were told it was going to be at a different time.) ; - (

Then the boys and I went to New Hampshire for the month of July. Yes, I know I still need to blog about our trip and post pictures. We flew Space-A into Dover, Del. via Rota, Spain and saved a ton of money. However, I spent a ton of money on a rental car and shopping!

We have finally recovered from the summer and purchasing school work. I was wanting to plan a fall trip, maybe northern Italy, but was still really wanting to visit England. After about three weeks of work we are finally set ; - ) We are sooooo excited!!!

We depart Catania on Thursday, Oct. 9 in the morning. Arrive in London by 11. We will be staying at the Lord Baden Powell Hotel for 4 nights tooling around London. I purchased the 3 day London Pass and tickets to the London Eye. We have some friends, another homeschooling family, that will be visiting England at the same time and we may meet them in Windsor for dinner. They are visiting Legoland for a few days. We decided to see Windsor Castle instead.

On Monday, Oct. 13, we head to Ireland. We are flying into Shannon Airport, pick up our car and head up the Travelodge in Galway for the night. Along the way we will be stopping at the Cliffs of Moher.

On Tuesday, Oct. 14, we'll be driving up to Northern Ireland to visit the Giants Causeway. I'm sure the boys will play a quick game of Heroscape. Do you see the resemblance? That night we'll be staying at the Sunbeam House B&B in Londonderry.

Wednesday, Oct. 15, we'll spend the morning driving south to Dublin. We'll be at the Abbey Apartments for the night and in the morning heading to the Dublin Airport. We arrive in London Luton by 9:30. Pick up our car and head north to RAF Lakenheath Lodge for the next 4 nights.

From Lakenheath we would like to explore Hadrian's Wall and maybe drive up to Dumfries, Scotland? South to Stonehedge and Avebury and drive thru the Cotswolds.

We head home on Monday, Oct. 20. Ready to get back to school and work. ; - )

I know Bud will have lots of great photos to share.

Ciao,

Heather

Look What We Found!

2008-09-21T14:03:00.001-07:00

We went for a drive today looking for new bike rides and found a Canadian WWII Cemetery in Sicily! It's about an hour away in the town of Agira. Nice drive...a bit of a climb so I'm not sure that we'll do it on the bikes (not yet, anyway.) Agira is the town on top of this hill. We stopped for a cappuccino and some gelato.

The drive home took us through a windmill farm. Those things are huge! There's a little white car on the bottom of the picture to give you an idea of how honkin' they are!

We did 43 miles on the bikes yesterday. We're still beginners with our hill training...one was 760' elevation gain. A handful of others before that. Nothing to brag about...but the scenery! Some of the roads are in pretty bad shape, so you really have to watch your descents.

Later that evening we went to a big sporting goods store about an hour south near Siracusa. You would think you can never get used to getting stuck in traffic because of geep (sheep that look like goats) but you do...yes, that's geep poop all over the road.

Ciao...

Bud

Back to School

2008-09-05T10:58:00.000-07:00

The boys are back to school and doing great. They are enrolled in the A-Beka DVD Academy. It's an accredited school out of Pensacola, FL. We get all the curriculum for 5th and 7th grade as well as DVD's mailed to us every couple months. The boys watch the DVD for whichever lesson they're on while Heather gets all their lesson plans in notebooks prepared each day. They enjoy it so far and seem to be doing much better in all subjects.

We were supposed to start Sep 2nd, but we started a week early. We're taking a trip to London in October and wanted to be a bit ahead of schedule before we put school on hold for a week or two.

Soccer season has started and only Nick signed up this year. He's just about done with the Italian baseball team until spring. He also has a "job" during the week. Every day he goes down the street to a neighbor's house and checks on their dog. They pay weekly ($25 week) to check the dog's food and water and let him out of the house for a few minutes. Not a bad gig. He's already started shopping for all the coins he plans to buy for his collection.

Tom is Tom. Playing video games, terrorizing the playgrounds, catching frogs and Cub Scouting.

Heather has been appointed an Ombudsman for the Navy base. She just went through three days of refresher training and had an appreciation luncheon today. She also did her first 50 mile ride (all by herself) last week.

I'm trying to survive another year of Cub Scouting (which starts this month.) I have more adult leaders signed up and plan to putting them all to good use!

Gotta go...we just put in "Batman" (the 1989 movie with Michael Keaton.) I need to go make some popcorn...

Ciao,
Bud

New Videos

2008-07-27T09:55:00.000-07:00

A video from the expedition up Mt. Etna to watch the lava. It's about 7:00 minutes long and mostly just crazy driving up the mountain.

This is a throw-back to early 90's when Heather was still active duty. It's her re-enlistment ceremony at NAS Brunswick, Maine.

Hiking Mt. Etna

2008-07-26T11:13:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine from work, Dax, has been telling me about this great trail on the Mt. Etna. The views are awesome and there's a great spot to see the lava coming down the east side. It didn't disappoint.

The drive up was a road I had never taken before. It was 45 minutes straight up the hill from Dax's house in Nicolosi. The trail head was at an intersection and there were about half a dozen cars parked when we got there.

We took a break a few times, the altitude really sucks the air out of your lungs! The pictures:

First is a break on the trail and some hikers were on their way down with flashlights. Next is me, Dax and another friend who went with us, Ryan. Third is the city of Catania with Jupiter up in the top left corner. Catania is the second largest city on Sicily. Finally, another shot of the lava. Enjoy....ciao!

Never Argue with the Data!

2008-07-13T01:36:00.000-07:00

Sunday morning ride....Greg, Trisha, Shane, Erin, Eric, Ray, Mo and Me. This was taken at the bar where we stopped for a cappuccino - at the half-way point. Luigi (one of the Italians Heather and I usually meet every Sunday morning) took the photo.

I set my new Garmin 305 to auto-pause, auto-lap, auto-everything...but it was in running mode. I didn't even think to check when I switched to bike mode this morning so my data is totally skewed. I hung with the EOD crowd at about 19-20 mph, average cadence 90 rpm, total calories 1,695. We went 22.89 miles - not long, but fast!

It was eventful...Trisha got cut off by a car at an intersection and laid her bike down. Her knee is all tore up but her thank heaven her bike and riding outfit are ok. It is a fashion show, after all.

Eric got a flat. We had all these cool gadgets - canisters, adapters, etc - but in the end nothing fit. So luckily Greg broke it down old-school for us with the collapsible pump.

MWR is having a family fun bike event in a couple hours. They're riding perimeter road all the way around the airfield and then playing in the pool and BBQ-ing some burgers. I told the lady who's in charge that I would go early and help out. It's in my best interest - last time they did this we had half-dozen riders take a wrong turn and rode across the runways!

Happy Birthday to Nick and Tom! Hope you guys had a great birthday...you better call me tell me what you got....

Ciao,

Bud

6:30 am Bike Ride

2008-07-06T01:11:00.001-07:00

Got up around 0600 this morning for a bike ride with Trisha and Erin. Which is quite a feat with Heather being gone! We drove to the Tamoil gas station and rode up to Motta for a cappuccino. I intended to meet our Italian riding friends so I could give Salvo his Garmin 305 we bought for him. I figured if we parked there and rode up to Motta we'd be back around 0830. It worked, but now I feel like a slug because we only rode 10.57 miles round trip! But, we did climb the hill for a snack so it wasn't too bad.

So, now it's 10:00 am - it's too early on the east coast to call Heather. Maybe I'll go for a quick run before it gets too hot.

Bud

Happy Independence Day

2008-07-04T14:27:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning about 8:30 am. I got out of bed around 10:00 am.

Had some grocery shopping to do and needed a cappuccino, so I headed over to NAS 1. Ran into Art, the new First Class I'm sponsoring, and we met up at the commissary. We bought some BBQ grub and ran into a couple of shipmates who were on the way to see the Pixar film, Wall-E. But it was the premier showing on base, and I wasn't about to subject myself to that...at least not without Heather and the boys. Art and I headed back home for a couple hours.

We returned to the Land Annex at NAS 1 around 6:00 pm. I parked by the gate so I could make a speedy get-a-way after the fireworks. Grabbed a hamburger at the PW tent and then hiked over to the commissary for another cappuccino. Picked up an Astronomy and Backpacker magazine at the NEX and then went back to the car to retrieve my beach chair. Got set up on the grass next to Trisha and her girls and there I sat for two hours. I should have taken my hat off so my head could get some sun.

I guess that doesn't make much sense...I shaved my head the day Heather and the boys left for the States. I went to the barber and told him I wanted it real short. He took it all the way down to the skin. So I just went home and shaved it. We'll see how easy it is to maintain and what Heather thinks.

Soul Sacrifice took the stage and played for about an hour and a half. They're a Santana tribute band from L.A. They sounded ok. They played an instrumental version of the National Anthem. I don't think many people recognized it because we were on a military base and only a handful of us stood up and took our hats off.

The fireworks started promptly 30 minutes late at 9:30 pm. There were a couple of really low ones and a few that exploded on the ground which caused a couple of brush fires all around. I was glad the car was by the gate...I made my escape right away.

Grabbed a glass of wine when I got home and called Heather. We'll see if she blogs soon. Then I rode my skateboard over to Trisha's to get the pictures of the fire off her camera.

Happy 4th,

Bud

"Navy Juliet Whiskey Three One Four....

2008-07-01T08:09:00.000-07:00

...departure, RADAR contact, climb and maintain one three thousand, leaving two thousand turn left on course."

Heather and the boys left for Rota, Spain just a few minutes ago. :-( They are going to try and fly Space-A to Delaware and then rent a car to drive up and visit her Dad in New Hampshire for a few weeks. I'm sure they're having a good time on their very first Space-A flight in the back of a C-130 (big, hot, stinky Navy cargo plane!)

What am I supposed to do for three weeks all by my self?

Ciao,

Bud

P.S. Sssshhhhh! Whoever's viewing our blog from New Hampshire, keep quiet...it's supposed to be a surprise to Heather's dad.

I'm blogging from work!

2008-06-30T03:55:00.000-07:00

This is fun. I'm blogging from work...and it looks like I'm working! But I have nothing to blog about.

Ciao,

Bud

Smart People

2008-06-24T14:13:00.001-07:00

We left the kids home and went to a movie...."Smart People" with Dennis Quaid and Sarah Jessica Parker. What a crappy movie! Not just because it was a sort-of chick flick, but it just wasn't all that. Maybe I'm not smart enough. Heather took Briana and the boys to the pool today. Then we had a homeschool group meeting. Heather got voted out of office - she was President - but she's good with that. She's a busy lady...
Ciao,
Bud

$8.94 a gallon

2008-06-23T11:06:00.000-07:00

That's what it works out to here in Sicily. Although we don't buy gas by the gallon, but by the liter. And, as NATO forces stationed in Italy, we get to buy gas coupons on base to use at the pumps. We paid $236 for 200 liters of gas coupons. Compare that to $152 for 200 liters a year and a half ago when we moved here...

Heather filled up today with 50 liters. When you do the math, it works out to 13.21 gallons. The total price was €76,15 converted to dollars is $118.10. That works out to $8.94 a gallon for gas here in Italy. The only SUV's are owned by Americans who bring them over from the States. But, since we get to use the tax-free coupons, we really only paid about $59 to fill up vs. $118.

Pay no attention to the photo in the upper right. That's just a reminder of what gas prices where somewhere in the mid-west on October 14, 2006 - less than 2 years ago!

I is a blog writing person

2008-06-22T08:19:00.000-07:00

Holy moley! I haven't blogged since April?!?!?! How am I supposed to remember everything that happened since then?

Well, my Dad and step-Mom came out to visit. My Dad is retired Navy so they flew out Space-A from Ohio non-stop to Sicily on a C-5! Dad rented a car and we drove them around the island to a few places. Mostly, we just enjoyed seeing them since it's been about a year and a half. Nick and Tom were glad to see them, also. They stayed four days and then went to Austria and Scotland before going home to the States.

We've been making quite a few bike rides lately - and dragging Nick along for a few. He's working on his Cycling Merit Badge for Boy Scouts. There's a triathlon club that meets every Wednesday at 5:00 pm. We usually do around 30 miles. Also, we've met three Italians who ride every Sunday morning. We meet them at a gas station nearby and ride around 30 miles with them as well. They didn't show up this morning, but we had some friends with us, so we rode up to the town of Motta for a granita and a brioce. Heather and the boys are at the beach with them now.

Our friend Trisha has gone to the states for a conference and her 10 yo daughter is staying with us this week. She's taking Tom's room and has threatened to redecorate it into a pink, girly nightmare. She mentioned something about spraying perfume as well...

The boys played baseball on base with the MWR league this year. The first half of the year all the teams were playing Little League rules (leading off, stealing home, etc.) Halfway through the season (so after 3 games) the league changed the rules. They don't keep score, they can't steal home, no leading off...

So, I was very frustrated. I looked up the Little League website and tracked down the district office in Poland who referred me to an organization in the nearby town of Paterno. They have a great program there with a AAA team (The Warriors) that plays all over Italy. There are three Americans who play on the AAA team that help coach the Little League. So , after the last game of the MWR league, we went to Warrior Field. The Little League coach is an assistant coach with the AAA team. They signed the boys up and gave them new hats! So, they practice M-W-F at 9:00 am every week. If they have enough boys, they will practice all summer before the fall tournament season. How cool is that gonna be?!?!!?

I'm sure I'm missing all kinds of stuff, but that's all I can think of for now.
Ciao

Sunday...Back on the road...

2008-04-13T01:33:00.001-07:00

We just finished breakfast and about to get on the road for Sicily. We had to buy a collapsible roof-top cargo carrier to get all our stuff home. Next time, we're taking the train so we can't bring home a bunch of junk with us! Either that, or we'll rent a cargo van. LOL!

We went to Pompeii yesterday. Always cool to walk around and see ancient ruins you would normally only get to see pictures of or read about in school.

Mom bought a book in Rome that had before and after pictures of several of the more popular ruins. This is the forum...the town center. The temple at the end is in honor of the Roman God, Jupiter...the ring leader of the Roman Gods.

The streets are have large stones across them at the intersections. The ancient Pompeians would flood the streets with water twice a day to clean them. The stones would serve as cross walks for pedestrians to get across without getting all wet. I imagine their sandals would smell funny and the bottom of their togas would get all wet, otherwise.

The ruts in the road are from chariots. The largest roads had three stones to cross, smaller streets would only have two and one-way streets had one-rock crosswalks. The axles of the chariots were all standard lengths (whatever that is) so they could fit around and over the crosswalks.

The boys brought their new bionicles and set up a battle on an ancient column. Flat Lauren had a ring-side seat. Some of the large, marble stones had little round raised surfaces that to aid in keeping them together when stacked...like two thousand year of Legos!

We saw tons of cool other stuff, but I'm tying up the only computer and we need to get on the road soon. Off to Sicily...

Bud

Rome..Naples/2+15

2008-04-12T04:25:00.000-07:00

Rome direct Naples, two hours and fifteen minutes enroute time...

We left Rome yesterday afternoon. We didn't have to leave the apartment until 4:30 pm, so we took our time getting packed. We were on the road for about 5 minutes when the rear passenger window quit working! With my Mom's help, we were able to push it up but it was still open about 1/2 inch. We stopped for lunch, got some gas and hit the road.

Thank heavens for the bike rack - we were sitting in line at a toll both when we were rear ended by an Italian. The front of his car was pretty banged up, but there was just a skid mark on the vertical bar of our bike rack. Luckily, we hadn't made it to the NEX at Naples and picked up Heather's new bike or it would have been crunched.

We pulled over and I called the military police at the navy base in Sicily where I work. Even if there's no damage, we are supposed to report all accidents. There's been horror stories of people not reporting accidents and being sued months later when the other motorist claims you hit them and it was your fault.

I was on the phone with the military police when an Italian highway patrolman stopped. He spoke very little English so we tried to tell him what had happened. Finally, I was able to speak with the Italian liaison officer from Sicily who spoke to the Italian police and the guy who hit us.

The Italian who hit us was getting upset because he thought we were going to try and file a claim and get money out of him. He kept waving his arms and cursing "f***ing Americans" (he was saying it in Italian, but I work with the Italian military so I understood. :-)

The Italian police officer was filling out a form for us. When he got to the bottom, he asked me to write on the form and describe the damage. I wrote "No" and he just looked at me funny. He asked, "No damage?" I told him that's right, there's no damage to my car. "No damage, no sheet!" The guy who hit us realized he wasn't going to jail and he wasn't go to have to pay out the nose to the money hungry Americans. Off we went...like a herd of turtles.

About ten minutes from the NEX Naples, we almost got rear-ended again! I saw him coming this time and moved forward about 2 meters...I think that saved us!

Arrived at the Naples base and had to get a pass for Mom. Did some shopping...I got a roof top carrier for the car, the boys got some new Bionicles (Legos) and Heather picked up her new bike. We got some other stuff for the bikes...tubes, a new pump, some fenders for my Trek to ride to work.

It was late when we finished, so we went to Applebees for dinner...but there was a one hour wait. So we migrated to the bowling alley and ate at the Irish Pub.

Got to Carney Park, moved into our cabins and got to bed around 11:00 pm.

Woke up around 8:30 this morning to pouring rain. Heather realized the car window was still open about an inch so she went out side and closed Tommy's Sea World poncho in the door to cover it up! Leather seats were the best investment ever...we'll probably never get another family car without leather...so easy to clean. Wiped up the water, got dressed and pigged out for breakfast at the golf course restaurant.

Headed back to the NEX at Naples to get the window fixed. Three hours later and $35 later we sitting at the bowling alley having lunch and getting ready to hit the road for Pompeii or Herculaneum...whichever Mom decides...

More tonight...maybe.

Ciao,

Bud

Rome...Friday

2008-04-11T01:48:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we got a late start (around noon) and took the metro to the train station. There, we bought a one day ticket on the open-air double-decker bus tour that goes to all the main attractions. The entire ride was about 2 hours. It's one of those hop-on hop-off type tourist bus.

But first, we walked a block or two down the street to a currency store. Nicolas was in hog heaven looking at all the old coins. He bought a Benjamin Franklin half-dollar and a Liberty half-dollar. Heather got an Eisenhower dollar circa 1971 (her birth year.)

Hopped off at the Vatican to do some drawing and mail a couple of postcards. Bought some souvenirs, walked around St. Peter's square and then boarded the bus again.

Rode the bus all the way back around and got off in Camp dei Fiori (Field of Flowers). We had dinner at a little whole-in-the wall restaurant - which they all seem to be in Rome - and then started the Rick Steve's Night Walk Across Rome tour.

First stop was the Pantheon. Its a huge temple built by the ancient Romans as a place of worship for all their different Gods. Christians took over when Christianity was legalized and it's been a chapel ever since. I think this is the most impressive structure we've seen during our visit. The first impression is very grand as you turn the corner from a small alley and enter a large piazza with the Pantheon dominating your view from every angle. The structure is in very good condition and is an engineering marvel.

Next would have been the Trevi Fountain, but were just there the night before, so we skipped it and walked down via della Corsa with all its shops. Mom stopped for a picture in front of the Prada store and Heather liked the big photo of Mathew McConaughey (sp?)

Last stop was the Spanish Steps. Heather, Nick and I hiked to the top while Mom and Tom braved the sea of street vendors to wait at the bottom. Stopped for some gelato before boarding the metro for our ride home.

We're off to Naples in a few hours. I need to pack and get the car loaded...

Ciao,

Bud

Wednesday...Rome

2008-04-09T15:30:00.000-07:00

Janel and the gang came over to our flat around 11:00 am. I took a picture of Mom on the balcony of our 7th floor apartment. You can make out the wall of Vatican City in the background.

First, we stopped at an espresso bar for a cappuccino. Mom had her first Italian breakfast - a cappuccino and a cannoli. Cannoli are not usually breakfast food, but what she doesn't know won't hurt her. Actually, I told her it should be a differnt type of pastry for breakfast, but she wanted to try the cannoli.

Our first stop today was the Vatican Museum. The Rick Steves guides are invaluable. He has self guided tours for all the big museums and attractions. First stop was the Pinacoteca, which is a large renaissance art gallery. Very cool paintings including my favorite of Adam & Eve in the Garden of Eden - it was the last painting before we left the gallery.

Stopped for lunch at the self service cafeteria and spent way too much money. We should have packed a lunch...lesson learned. We're on vacation - just have to get into the mindset of we're tourists and we're going to pay more than we should for stuff.

This is Heather and Flat Lauren in front of a map of Sicily in the map room of the museum. The room is several hundred feet long and has maps of all the regions of Italy, new and old. This one is backwards...the left side of the map is east and the right side is west..not sure why.

The museum is full of loads of cool stuff - the Egyptian and ancient Greek stuff was cool to see as was the huge hall upstairs through the palace. The halls are lined with statues, paintings and tapestries.

At the end, you enter the Capella Sistina - Sistine Chapel. There were dozens of school kids on a field trip so it was pretty loud. The docents were trying to get everyone to be quite, but it didn't work.

We took a short cut, instead of finishing the whole museum tour, and went to the Basilica. St. Peter's tomb is in the middle near the front of the church under a huge altar. The cathedral is very grand. Words do not do it justice. The place is just huge, awesome, powerful...see I can't even try to begin to describe it. Snapped a photo of Flat Lauren and then headed out to the square.

St. Peter's square is even bigger than I imagined. Again, I can't even think of trying to describe the grandeur of this place. Everything is more impressive than the last. We wandered around the square for a bit and wanted to do some drawing, but we had to catch a bus to the Colosseum before it closed.

Express Bus 40 takes you right to the Colosseum from the Vatican in about 15 minutes. In the early evening its not too crowded. The inside of the Colosseum is even more impressive. Not quite as grand as I had imagined, but very much worth seeing. I can imagine it was a big, fat, hairy deal in A.D. 80! Even more impressive is that it's still standing and we can go walk around inside this ginormous sports arena built almost 2 thousand years ago.

We took a bunch of pictures inside - wacky poses and Lego Stormtroopers. Scooped up a dirt sample from the arena floor for our collection. Arena is the Latin word for sand, which is what the ground of the Colosseum was covered with after the wooden floor was in place.

Headed back to the metro and got off at Berberini and started towards the Trevi Fountain. Got hungry so we stopped at a pizzeria. Very good margherita pizza! Watched Rome play Manchester United on TV at the ristorante. There was about 5 or 6 TV's tuned to the game all over the restaurant.

After dinner, we finally found Fontana di Trevi...chucked a few coins...snapped a few photos and then had to take a taxi home because the metro shuts down at 9:00 pm! Oh well...

'Sera,

Bud

Rome...Tuesday

2008-04-09T14:43:00.000-07:00

Drove to Naples a day early...we left Saturday and spent an extra day at the cabin in Carney Park. Flat Lauren is with us. She didn't enjoy the ferry across to the Mainland...she doesn't like boats.

Did some shopping at Ikea and the NEX at the Navy base in Naples. We got Heather a nice road bike and we're going to give her old one to Nick. He's been itching to go on a long ride with us and Heather's ready for an upgraded bike. She got a Bianchi just like mine only smaller. Will post some photos in a few days.

We picked up Mom at the airport in Rome this morning. We all got up at 5:00 am to leave Naples by 6:00. Only to get caught in traffic on the freeway on the outskirts of Rome on the way to the airport. We were about 90 minutes late picking her up.

But, we found her and then headed for our apartment. We rented a flat for €100 a night just a few blocks from the entrance to the Vatican Museum. There's a couple of really cool stores nearby - fresh pasta, bakery, fruit stand, coffee bar - and parking for only €2 a day.

We talked to the Sanders who are some good friends from Sicily and are visiting Rome as well. Met them at the Colosseum and hiked around Palatine Hill. We didn't go into the Colosseum, though, since they already visited that day.

Bought a 3 day pass for the metro which is good for the subway and the bus. The view of the Colosseum as you come out of the metro station is amazing! You have to take the metro to see it just for the shock & awe factor. Here's a photo of my mom and Flat Lauren on the subway.

Left the Colosseum and went to dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. We had a great time and saw several people we knew from Sicily! It was like a little Navy Sigonella reunion 450 miles away!

Flat Lauren wanted her picture in front of the Van Halen guitar they had on display at the Hard Rock. Sorry, its sideways. I forgot to rotate it before I uploaded...you'll have to download the photo and rotate it yourself because my internet is super slow and takes forever to upload pictures!

Got home around 8:00 pm and Mom fell right asleep. She had a 9 hour time change and stayed awake all day!

More Roman hi-jinks tomorrow...

Bud

We Made It...to Naples

2008-04-06T09:26:00.000-07:00

We're having dinner at the Irish Pub/Restaurant at the golf course.

We left Sicily at 0900 this morning...got off the ferry about 1145 and just got here to Carney Park at 1730. The new Garmin GPS worked great! A total of 7 hours and 15 minutes of driving time. The traffic and construction weren't too bad.

Pictures and more later...maybe from Rome.

Ciao,

Bud

Our first visitor in Italy!

2008-04-05T06:27:00.001-07:00

Flat Lauren came to visit us. We picked her up at the post office on Wednesday. Flat Lauren is Kim's daughter. Kim is one of Heather's good friends from high school. She got flat when she fell off her bunk bed...but now she can travel by mail!

We took her shopping Thursday. There she is in Heather's purse. We stopped on the way to get a picture with Mt Etna (Europe's largest, active volcano) in the background.

Street signs are a little different here. The green one on the top points you to the Autostrada (an Italian freeway.) Following the blue signs will take you to the cities. The one blue one the bottom says to take SS 417 and it ends at the city of Gela. The white one above it points to the military base I work at and the very bottom points to a yummy Italian restaurant across the street from our house.

At the grocery store, Nick and Tom had fun putting Flat Lauren in all sorts of silly situations...from cereal boxes to the frozen food section!

Today, we went to the town of Motta. Nicolas had a lawn mowing job which was more of a weed mowing. The whole yard was covered in weeds! Huge, monstrous weeds that rival any weeds we've ever seen! So far, Nick and Tom have saved $204 dollars...they are saving for a Nintendo Wii.

Heather, Tom, Flat Lauren and I went for a bike ride while Nick was mowing the grass. We rode down to the Old Time Bar for a cappuccino and a raviola. A bar in Italy is different than a bar in the United States. Bars here serve coffee, espresso, cappuccino - some have gelato, a type of Italian ice cream - and most have yummy desserts. Raviole (plural form of raviola) are our favorites - they're a flaky pastry with warm ricotta cheese.

On the way back to pick up Nick, we stopped and had our photo taken with a Carabinieri - the Italian Police. They have very formal uniforms that they wear daily and a little white leather bag - we have no idea what is inside of them. Maybe snacks?

We're off to the grocery store and the NEX to get some supplies for our big trip on Monday. We're going to Rome - Flat Lauren and the boys are very excited.

Ciao,

Bud

Homeschooling

2008-03-27T02:28:00.000-07:00

Nicolas "Tom, stop talking like a British person!!!!!"
Thomas "Nicolas, I need to practice my British accent for when we go to London."
Nicolas "Well it's very annoying!"
Thomas (in his best British accent yet) "Mother, when are we going to London?"
Heather "June"
Nicolas...rolling his eyes!
Thomas "Nicolas, you're just annoyed because you have to write a story with your language and I'm invisible!"
Nicolas (in his best hill-billy accent) "I am not and YOUR not invisible!"
Heather (in my mean mommy voice) "Get back to work!"

The Sound of Sirens

2008-03-26T13:52:00.000-07:00

I'm working on Cub Scout stuff, getting ready for the Pinewood Derby in April and the Pack Overnight Campout next weekend. Heather's sitting in a chair in the living room going over a marathon training schedule. The boys are in bed...the house is nice and quiet.

Along the road outside we hear sirens. They sound like American emergency vehicles. You can tell the difference in the sound of the sirens from American and Italian. I never realized how desensitized I had become to the sound of sirens.

I very good friend lost her son in a car accident several weeks ago. It's such a small community here that the sound of sirens outside actually gets me thinking. I hope everything's OK, I wonder if it's someone I know, what kind of vehicle was it...

We go to the grocery store and run into a dozen people we know. You can't go to Applebees for dinner without stopping at three or four tables to say hi to someone. Being part of such a small, close-knit community is comforting most of the time and worrisome at others. There goes more sirens...

Happy Birthday, Heather

2008-03-25T14:30:00.001-07:00

Pretty bags for pretty girls...

Heather's showing off her new Reisenthel carry all tote she got herself in Germany. She says it's her birthday gift. That's Heather's girlfriend, Trisha, in the photo.

Nick and Tom got her a book and I got her some perfume - Happy Heart by Clinique.

We went to dinner across the street at Alphio's Garden. A supper yummy Italian restaurant that opened a few months ago.

I had spaghetti carbonara and fried calamari, Heather had a salad and shared my spaghetti. The boys had pasta and nutella pizza for dessert. We had a super delicious carrot cake that Trisha made.

We're tired and ready for bed....

Market Totes Galore!

2008-03-21T07:47:00.000-07:00

Germany was fun but busy. We were in focus groups and at presentations all day. The earliest we got out was at 2:00 pm one afternoon, but then we had to be back a few hours later for a banquet so really not much time to do anything. The ski resorts didn't have night skiing and all the shops in town closed at 6:00 pm.

I was talking with one of the command master chiefs at the conference who told me the Chief's test results were available. I made board again this year...we'll see what happens in August.

We went out for dinner one night and went shopping for a new market tote for Heather. We looked all over town for those bags. I guess they're made in Germany so Heather thought they'd be in every shop. We didn't find any until we were killing time at the shopping mall in the airport on the way home! If you decide to visit the link, click on products...she got a new carrybag, a new carrycruiser and two new easy shopping bags all in baroque sand color.

We got home at midnight-30. Picked up the boys at Janell's house. They had a great time with friends while we were gone. They had made us welcome home cards.

Nick got his first merit badge at his last meeting. The Coin Collecting merit badge. We've been collecting Euro coins from all the different countries. He's still working on the camping and swimming badges. Also, he just started the cycling merit badge. Nick went with Heather and some of her friends on a 25 mile bicycle ride to Sferro and back. When Nick learned that was one of the requirements for the badge, he decided to get started.

Tom has been on the lookout for birds all week. His Webelos den is working on the Naturalist badge and one of the requirements is to bird watch in the neighborhood for one week. The boys are at the table designing their Pinewood Derby cars.

Skylar is here with us for a week. He's in Nick's scout troop. His parents are in Africa celebrating their 15th wedding anniversary on a week-long safari. So, Heather's been homeschooling three boys this week.

Our pack ordered a new pinewood derby track and I just put it together a few nights ago. Nick helped out quite a bit. We learned how useful a carpenter's square can be!

Heather's birthday is Tuesday. We're all going to Alphio's across the street from Maranai off SP106 if you want to join us...

Buona Pasqua,

Bud

It's really cold in Garmisch, Germany

2008-03-09T12:36:00.000-07:00

We just got back from the hot tub...

We spent 12 hours traveling between planes, trains, buses and cabs to finally get to the hotel in Garmisch at 3:00 pm. Everything went fine, no glitches or anything. It just took forever! There's some funky boots at the airport and we took a couple of cool pictures of the Alps as we flew over.

Heather and I are here at the Edelweiss Lodge and Resort in Germany for the Commander Navy Region Europ Quality of Life Conference. We were chosen as delegates to represent the Navy base in Sicily for QOL concerns to Navy personnel.

It's sort of a big deal because its the first time we've both been away from the boys for more than one night. They're doing fine, staying with homeschooling friends in Sicily and having fun.

Not much to report. We need to get to bed soon, we have an early day tomorrow...

Ciao,
Bud

Fine...I'll blog....

2008-03-02T10:40:00.000-08:00

Heather tells me today, "You haven't blogged in forevah! I was the last one to blog on Feb 2 and I nevah blog." Her New England accent comes out when she's talking to her Fathah.

The boys and I went camping last weekend. Nick left Friday night and I met him there with Tom and the Webelos den on Saturday night. The campsite was about 10 minutes outside of Niscemi - a mid-sized town about an hour south of were we live. The boys scouts took the Webelos under their wings and they had their tents set up before we left for a 3 mile hike. The hike took us through a cork forest - trees that are harvested each year for their bark to make cork (cork stoppers in wine, cork boards, all things cork.) Good times...

Heather has been taking swim lessons. She rides her bike to the pool - about 6 miles - does her swim lesson and rides home. So, a mini-sprint biathlon twice a week. And she wonders why she's so tired in the evening.

This Tuesday Heather starts a new class...The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. I took it a few months ago and enjoyed most of it. I'm looking forward to her view.

A few months ago I was asked my by boss at work if I to attend a quality of life focus group conference. I was a bit stand-off-ish as focus groups are a little to weird for me...until I found out it's being held at the Edelweiss Lodge and Resort. I upped the ante and said if Heather could get selected, I would consider going. The conference was looking for delegates who are prior active duty, disabled veterans, spouses....Heather, Heather, Heather. When I asked if the boys would get a plane ticket to go with us, I was told no. So I immediately agreed! LOL! Actually, we've both never been away from the boys at the same time for more than one night, so we're a little nervous. They will stay with two or three different friends here in Sicily for five nights. We leave Sunday, March 9th (a week from today) and come home late Thursday night.

Also, we have a trip to Rome coming up next month in April...so now seemed like the ideal time to make a few investments in our family's fun vacation, memory-making electronic gadgetry. I bought a new lens for my camera (18mm - 135mm f/3.5) and a GPS unit for the car. The GPS has an internal rechargeable battery so we can take it out of the car and carry it around with us in Rome. And the lens is the perfect focal length so I don't have to lug around two lenses in a bulky bag all over the Eternal City. Also, I got Heather a new point and shoot digital camera. The one she has now is pretty bulky and she wanted something smaller to carry around in her purse.

Heather attended a birth a few days ago. The second one since she's been here. It's been kind of nice her not being busy with pregnant ladies so often. It was 27 hours! Thomas asked if doulas get special training to stay up all night long.

Alright, I guess that's it. Heather's still on the phone with her fathah in NH. I guess they have four feet of snow in their backyard! He's had to shovel the roof three times so far this wintah. They live next to a small stream that's sure to become a raging river her in a few months when it all melts.

Ciao,

Bud

Better days ; -)

2008-02-11T00:28:00.000-08:00

Since I'm so far behind I'll start with Saturday, Feb.2, the Boy Scouts did a 3 mile hike up to Castello Saraceno in Taormina and Sunday marked the beginning of "Scout week." Sunday afternoon a group of us went for a 24 mile round trip bike ride to Sferro.

Wednesday, Feb. 6, Nick came in second place at in the chess club tournament, he was very excited. On Thursday, Feb. 7th we had our first homeschooling book club meeting. The kids all read The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo. While at the meeting I finished sewing on a belly cast to a canvas, I forgot to take a picture...rats. On Thursday and Friday night the boys had some friends sleep over, Skylar and Gunnar.

On Friday, Feb 8th, we went rock climbing at the Cave with our homeschooling group and then we got a sitter and went to some friends house for game night. On Saturday, Feb 9, Bud and I went for a 20 mile ride up to Motta for a cappuccino and later that afternoon was the big Blue and Gold banquet, the Boy Scouts anniversary. It was a huge success! Bud, Cub Master of Pack 53, did a wonderful job! Thomas earned the rank of WEBELOS and is now working on his Arrow of Light.

Yesterday, Feb. 10, a group of us tried a new biking route. A 27 mile ride up a very long hill and down a very fast hill on the other side!

We are all doing well and looking forward to this weeks homeschool Valentine's Day party on Wednesday.

Ciao,

Heather

Another lost

2008-02-01T01:09:00.000-08:00

There is a huge black cloud over our community. We had more bad news Wednesday. That's 3 deaths since Saturday. Michael's memorial service was Thursday, today is Mr. Gipson (the driver, he's back in the states with his family now) and then Saturday is Mr. XXXXX service. Mr. XXXXX went missing Tuesday morning, never showed up for work. His car was found on the other side of Mt. Etna and his body was found a few hours later. He leaves behind a wife and 2 teenage children. We are all at a lost!

Just to give you an idea of how small our community is, an aircraft cattier carries about 3000 people. We have just under 4000 here in Sigonella.

I don't know what else to write about,

Heather

2008-01-27T04:59:00.000-08:00

First the bad news...a very dear friend lost her son in a car crash on the highway yesterday afternoon. He was in a car with a single sailor on the way home from the paintball field. The father was on deployment and is on his way home now. The Mom and daughter are very close friends...please pray for them. This community is amazing...everyone has really come together to support them.

Ok...enough of that. Heather and I did the Base to Base run yesterday - about 7.75 miles. I'm pretty sure I PR'd - only 1:16 - slow, I know, but still fast for me. My knee was very sore yesterday afternoon and today my calves are tight. But other than that I feel fine. Heather did spectacular, as usual. She was only a few minutes behind me. She thinks she beat last years time by a few minutes.

About a week ago we went for an awesome bike ride - about 30 miles with a good sized climb. There was 9 of us. We started from the Mineo housing (bout 30 minutes west of were we live) and climbed the hill to the town of Gramichele (grah-meh-kel-eh).

The ride started out pretty flat with just a few rolling hills. The crux was a about a 1,200 foot climb to the town of Caltigerone (cal-ti-jerome-eh).

The view from the top of the hill was inspiring - inspiring enough to take a water break and snap some pictures, anyway. The valley way in the back ground in the top left of the photo is where we started. You can barely make out the road behind the power line tower.

In the town of Gramichele, we stopped for a cappuccino and a raviola, which is the whole reason for the bike ride in the first place.

The town square, or piazza, is newly refinished and is just gorgeous. We stopped for a group photo after our snack.

The E-ticket ride was the descent...1,200 feet of switchbacks, 6 miles in about 15 minutes. I was up to 37 mph at one point. Not since high school (La Jolla Shores Blvd from Torrey Pines) have I been that fast on a bike. I little sketchy but still fun.

The ride back home was short. We came down the hill fairly close to where we started. Looking forward to summer...

Ciao,

Bud

Backpacking on a Volcano in January

2008-01-14T13:15:00.000-08:00

Nick and I went on an overnight hiking trip up on Mt. Etna with Boy Scout Troop 53. There's not many times that you get to say you went backpacking on a volacano in the winter.

The trail we hiked is part of a system that goes all the way around the mountain. The round trip distance was 7.3 miles and at one point we climbed over 4,900 feet (to 4,9001 feet.)

We set up camp and then went for a short walk to a lava cave. Did some splunking (sp? cave exploring) and saw a couple of wild horses. When we got back to camp, it started raining. Just light sprinkling at first, but by 8:00 pm it was coming down pretty good and turning to big, fat, honkin', wet snowflakes.

Nick and I have a couple of small pup-tents. The tents are new but the design is old and we didn't have a rain fly. They leaked. We gathered up our ground pads and sleeping bags and migrated to the rifugio. Nick fell asleep as we discussed all the character we were building while laying on a frozen conrete floor in a cabin on the side of a mountain in the dead of winter as opposed to playing X-box all day or something like that.

I tossed and turned all night - finally getting up to go pee at around 3:00 am. I pulled my boots on and wandered outside in my long-johns to a light dusting of snow and a crystal-clear sky filled with so many stars it was hard to find a constellation. If I wasn't so cold, I would have stayed out for a few minutes.

We were up at 7:00 am the next morning, had some coffee and oatmeal and started back down the mountain. What took us four and a half hours to climb up the day before only took an hour and a half to descend.

I tried to sleep on the 90 minute drive home, but was too uncomfortable. We got dropped off at the rec center parking lot a couple hundred yards from the house and hiked home with our packs on through the neighborhood. Nick went upstairs to our bathroom scale and weighed himself with and without his pack. His pack weighed in at 26 lbs - and that's after we had ate all the food and drank all the water out of it! Nick's only 85 lbs (soaking wet) so that was quite an accomplishment for him.

We had a great time and decided that by this time next year, we will be much more experienced and prepared for a winter backpacking trip on the side of a volcano.

Ciao,

Bud

This is a test...

2008-01-08T14:02:00.000-08:00

This is a test... This is a test of the Emergency Broadcast System. The broadcasters of your area in voluntary cooperation with the Federal, State and local authorities have developed this system to keep you informed in the event of an emergency. If this had been an actual emergency, the Attention Signal you just heard would have been followed by official information, news or instructions. This station serves the Sigonella area. This concludes this test of the Emergency Broadcast System.

Ok...it works. And I've migrated, too. Yahoo 360 had acted up a few times for us (as well as some friends) and I had been thinking of making the switch.

Heather and Tom were doing geography today:

Heather (pointing to the U.S. on a map) - "We live in the western hemisphere"
Tom - "No we don't. We live in the eastern hemisphere"
Heather - "Oh! Your right!"
Tom - "We live on the other side of the world!"

Meanwhile, Nicolas had jumped ahead in his history book and was looking at castles in Germany. Why do the castles in this book look so nice, while the castles where we live are just a bunch of big square towers? How cool is it that he compares our boring castles to the rest of Europe's cool lookin' castles?!?!

The smartcar commercial is a funny one we see on TV all the time. Smartcars are these super tiny little cars, made by Mercedes and the company that makes Swatch watches. They're all over the place here and kind of cool looking in a I-wouldn't-want-to-own-one kind of way.

ciao,

bud