Arrivederci Italia! Guten Tag, Germany!

Okay, okay, these are the last pictures from our Italy trip, I promise!!!  We just really, really had the best time ever.  I almost (almost) didn't want to come back.  Except, honestly, I couldn't wait to have a little more room in the kitchen and for the kids to have a bath again.  Did you know that Italians (as a general rule) don't have bathtubs?  In the four places we saw, none of them had bathtubs, despite the bathrooms being bigger than the kitchens.  The bidet had a large honorary space in the bathroom along with other things, but our kitchen was so tiny only one person could fit in it at a time (and I am NOT exaggerating about this).  

Anyway, I digress!  We spent our last three days on a whirlwind of traveling--we finished seeing Florence, the Rome again before spending a few overnight hours in Frankfurt, Germany. 

When we were here in Florence 10 years ago, we missed seeing the Leonardo DaVinci Museum and I am pretty sure that, since I was the one with the guide book, that Jordan never quite forgave me for not telling him in was in Florence until the day we were leaving.  It was a good reason to come back!  The Museum was amazing!  It was so incredibly fascinating to see DaVinci's drawings recreated in wooden versions--these amazing forerunners to modern technology, centuries before their time. 

 An airplane

 A crane

 The Last Supper

Okay, so the whole time we were in Florence, we kept our eyes open for the little pizza place on the edge of a piazza where we had pizza for dinner one night in the pouring rain right before stumbling into the side of the Duomo.  As it turns out it was on the complete opposite side of where we remembered it to be!  (Gabriel took this picture)

Right next door......  J & S like it was meant to be.

Best pizza I had all trip!

After that, we hiked across the river, and up to the top of the hill overlooking the city of Florence--the best view of the city.  Jordan pushed a 50 lb stroller over cobblestones up the hill and I carried 40 lb Gabriel on my back.  I'd say we definitely had a good workout this vacation--enough to work off any calories from the delicious Italian food and any cake we may have had way back in November.

 Spectacular Florence!  So worth the hike!  And then we were off to Rome again before flying out.

Gelato for the littles. 

How we travel...  Add too ginormous suitcases (we have NO IDEA how to pack light).  In fairness, we actually wore everything we brought and were so glad for any "extra clothes" because between having the flu and no dryers in any of the apartments we rented, we needed all that clothing!

And that was it for Rome.  We had an overnight in Frankfurt, Germany and we were so thankful to have a hotel to spend the night and celebrate.   We barely saw anything, including the fireworks that were blasting off the top of our hotel from 9:30pm to 5:30 am (we could only see the reflection in the windows across the street).  We just didn't have it in us to wander around so late in the evening with an early morning ahead of us.  But we swore we would go back to Germany.  We loved it even from our less than 12 hours there. 

Germany is made with little people in mind!!!  What do I mean?  From the minute you get out of the gate, there are children's play centers made of interesting wooden structures, there are big baby changing rooms (Italy didn't even have change tables or spaces to change children).  The cars we taxied in had build in booster seats for children that popped right out of the seat and clicked into place. So, ya.  We are going back.

 

All of the restaurants in Frankfurt around the hotel were booked since it was New Year's Eve, so we had to order in room service.  Best idea ever!!   Fries and sausages and schnitzel and German beer. 

We didn't realize we would be without our luggage in Germany and ran out of diapers and everything was closed.  Diapers on a platter for us!  Hilarious!

A big bag of Cheerios and German Art.  What can I say?

Arrivederci Italia!  We loved you! 

A Carousel in Florence & Thoughts on Traveling with Little People

For the past couple of days we have walked by the carousel in downtown Florence without the littles noticing.  But on a slow Monday afternoon, we finally indulged them much to their utter delight.  I mean, really, do you have to fly all the way to Italy to get on a carousel?  Let me tell you something.  Seriously.  This is the most beautiful carousel in have seen in my life!

There were no lines, it just kept going and going regardless of how many people were on.  And only cost 1 Euro a ride, although admittedly, we did get a couple of free rides too.  Gabriel and Magdalene went around and around and around.  They just couldn't get enough.  It was lovely!

Pizza in the piazza.  Don't go for the knock-off pizza cut and served by the grams.  Go for the real thing.  You won't be disappointed.  

Best backdrop for a carousel, really.

The ceiling of the carousel were painted fresco imitations, the base of the carousel was beautiful wood flooring and the horses were elaborately decorated with glass and beads and gorgeous fancy plumey feathers on their heads.  It was sort of a piece of art!  Which suits the city, I would say!

Italy is an interesting and complex place to take children.  We haven't seen any playgrounds here...  So the streets and the sights are our playground.  It's been an interesting experience finding creative ways to help our children understand and appreciate what they are seeing but they are doing extraordinarily well so far, I feel.  It's been a lot of queuing into their interests in whatever we see.  For example, spotting the "rowing boy" in the river caused quite a bit of excitement.  As well as traveling on the "moving stairs" and the various "trains" (trains/metro).  Counting boats in the maps in the Sistine Chapel, spotting Santa Claus while traveling.  There has been a lot of carrying and cuddling and suckers and ipad/screen time (on the train or in the apartment during down time). There has been a lot of eye-spy and chasing birds and petting horses that draw carriages, a lot of watching fountains and sipping hot chocolates.  Puzzles and sibling silliness.

We've mostly really, really appreciated having other family who can take charge and be fun sometimes--playing the "Ghost Game" or reading stories and doing puzzles.  The most helpful thing was purchasing and gifting them special toys they have been asking for over the past couple of months.  We held out for so long and finally gave them on Christmas morning which was half way through the trip.  This created a great deal of excitement and new creative play.

As I sit here at 10:30, typing, I try to think of tips to give parents who may be taking their very little people to Europe.  I am not exactly sure where to start!  But one thing I have realized is that we should never under-estimate our own children's natural desire to see and explore new things.   We have been very surprised at how much they take in and understand and appreciate, especially when we are excited about what we are seeing and doing.  I feel that this is the biggest component of traveling with children.  They feed off our energy and excitement and share in our interests and passions when we share them with them. 

Bonjourno Firenze!

 

Bonjourno Firenze!  We absolutely loved our time in Rome, but were happy to arrive in Florence a couple of days ago.  Between closing up the flat in Rome and some train rescheduling issues, tracking down new our place, meeting the contact in Florence, and making sure the heat and hot water were working for us it was an all day event.  We are warm and settled and have a small fridge stocked for the remainder of our short stay in Florence.  

The city is, in many ways, what I remember it to be.  But memory distorts reality and, in our heads, places weren't in the exact same places and we discovered very quickly new sections to the city we didn't even know existed.  This time, rather than staying right downtown, we opted to stay in the "less touristy" area of Florence up on the hill and pretend we were locals by shopping at the supermarket, making some of our own meals and practicing our very limited Italian.  Earl and Derek (who both seem to be well acquainted with the language) have been helping us out quite a bit.  As aside, I would like to say that I have perfected my Italian accent with the very few Italian words that I do know! 

It is quite a bit cooler in Florence and I am sort of wishing I had brought my winter jacket, mitts and hats for both of the children.  But we are making due with blankets and layers and layers of clothing.  The evenings are incredibly damp and so we've opted to stay inside rather than make ourselves any more sick by venturing out in the cold, which is too bad, because cities are truly gorgeous in the dark, I think. 

 

Traveling with grandparents is the best!!!  So happy for the company and the extra hands to help and give us relief, especially with two sick little people, many broken nights and heaps of laundry.

We have been fully enjoying it during the daytime, walking around with the littles asleep in the stroller or in our arms for hours.  Yesterday we spent most of our day on the famous Ponte Vecchio, a bridge spanning the river with shops on either side all the way along (see the first/top picture), the Piazza Uffuzi where a replica of the well-known "David" stands and the market and piazzas around the gargantuan Duomo--one of the largest, most architecturally unique and memorable churches I have ever seen.  Jordan and I remember literally almost walking flat into the backside of the Duomo as we came around a corner in the dark of midnight on our way back to the hotel 10 years ago.  We were vastly impressed with it then and were again yesterday.

With babies asleep, we had some pizza outside on the square with the Duomo in the background.  A little date between the two of us, we might say.

Proof that Maggie did come with us, although she slept most of the day in the stroller.

Outside a Ferrari store, looking at toy Ferraris.

More adventures today as we continue to explore this beautiful city.  It really is incredibly busy and I would even venture to say it was busier yesterday than it was in the summer when we were here last!