Germany

The family was up at 3 am on August 3rd to go the Budapest so that the kids and I could fly to Cologne Germany to visit Claudia and Kilian Hopf. The flight was uneventful except for the cattle car loading ( yuck). We spent the rest of Saturday relaxing and going for a walk. Except for Chris and Kilian who decided to go on the bus to get an Ice Cream but didn't notice that the bus didn't return for three hours. We got "the phone call' and went and got them:-)

Sunday was fun, we drove to the River Rhine and took a boat tour which was awesome! We then drove down the river to look at the different landscape. The landscape around Cluadia's house is rolling farmland with trees, around the river it is valley walls and grape vines. We stopped at a place called Lorelei, that is named after a woman who sat on the cliffs combing her hair and lead a few ships to crash into the rocks below. On the way home we hit a traffic jam on the autobahn and so we took the back way home.

Monday was swim and go to the book store day. Nicole also picked up some shoes and a dress.
I also learned that in Germany on the three lane freeway you can't pass on the right. Interesting fact I thought!

Tuesday, we went to the Modern Germany Museum, which covers Germany from the end of WWII to the present. Even though it was all in German it was very interesting and enlightening. We then went and visited some more friends that were home for the summer from Kosice.

Wednesday was Zoo day. We took about 4 hours and wondered around Colognes very nice zoo. Then we took the gondola across the River Rhine and back. Claudia wasn't happy but she went along for the ride!

Thursday we went to the Big Catholic church in the middle of downtown Cologne. The church was building the 1500's and was the only building to survive the WWII bombings. We took the 509 steps up the tower. The only thing that was annoying was the fact that it was raining!! The inside of the Church is amazing, huge and very interesting to see. We then went to Subway for lunch and then shopped!!! The boys went to the Electronics store and the girls went shoe and clothes shopping. We met up with the boys later and on the way back to the car we picked up some Starbucks ( yummy)

Friday was another pool day but this was an inside outside pool. Claudia managed to get Nicole to really swim. The boys had a great time and the hot bubble pool was great. By the end of the 4 hours we were all wrinkles!! We went out that night for some good German food.

Saturday was return home day. I would go back to Germany to visit with Claudia and Kilian again!

Driving in Europe

Well as an American living in Europe I have had to learn quite a few new driving rules. Some of them make very good sense some just scare me to death! One of the ones that I am still not used to is roundabouts with more than one lane. The idea is great but for me I still panic a bit even using the one I know. The one lane roundabouts are simple. On our vacation to Italy more than once I did take the wrong exit and had to turn around and go back through and take the right one!
T

Hike

We went on a hike yesterday to a mountain called Sivec. We first picked op our neighbor Guido and then drove about 20 minutes outside of Kosice. The walk was almost all up hill, through trees and high meadows. The closer we got to the top the rockier it got. Finally at the end we were climbing over the rocks and looking for flatter routes. It was very much worth the hike. The views from the top were amazing! You could see all the way to the High Tatras ( the mountains, think Rockies). The lake below was stretched out for miles!
The walk down was just as interesting. The whole family including Guido was trying to be careful and not fall and of course I had to be the one to fall on my butt. I popped right back up but man it hurt!! I landed right on a large rock, in fact I have a large bruise on my butt in the shape of the rock!
All and all it was a good way to spend a Sunday afternoon!

Vacation the end

Saturday and Sunday
Drive days. We went from Italy to Austria to Germany ( were I got all turned around) and then back to Austria. The most exiting thing about Saturday was driving through the western Italian Alps. Very interesting landscape, very alpine. We would love to go back and take more time to look and see more things. Saturday night we stayed in Linz Austria.
Sunday was the push home. We left Linz about 9:30 and got home about 6pm. I was very glad to be home and Angel kitty was very glad to have us home.

Vacation VIII

Friday
Another Drive day. We retraced our route down except instead of going to Venice we went to Milan. The landscape went from flat farm land to rolling hills back to flat farm land. I liked the rolling hills best as it reminded me of Idaho. We arrived in Milan in time to get all the paper work done and try and leave Milan during rush hour. We were only trying to go about 70 miles east to spend the night. It took us forever since everyone else was also going East to the cooler mountains! Eric was following us and about 45 minutes in to the stop and go traffic we decided that he would go ahead since we both had GPS's and he could go fast on the motorcycle than I could in the car. Our hotel was clean and nice and the kids got to play in the pool before we went bed as Saturday was another drive day.

Vacation VII

Thursday
We headed down to the beach late since we slept in for once. The waves weren't as big so we were able to play out in the Ocean a bit. As it was closer to the weekend there were more people but it still was not crowded.
The afternoon was rest again and then Eric and I started getting ready to host dinner. We had planned on doing it at our place but there just wasn't enough room so we used our friends place. We were making Biscuits and Gravy since it was something that our friends had never had before. I also made a fruit salad since the gravy was spicy!! I was nervous that my biscuits wouldn't puff! Well everything turned out great and they loved the different food. It was an early night since we were leaving in the morning at 5 am for Milan to pick up Eric's motorcycle.
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Vacation VI

Wednesday
This was another beach and rest day which was needed after the day before in Pompeii. We did the beach but it was hard to play in the ocean since the surf was high. So we played on the beach with the kids and Eric and I went out to play in the big waves. It was also not very hot which was a nice break. Our friends joined us at the beach after about an hour and we all decided to go back to our pool and let the kids swim. The afternoon was spent resting and doing some shopping.
That night we had a party at our friends place as it was an early birthday party for one of them. As normal we stayed late and everyone had a good time.

Vacation V

Tuesday,
We were up early and ready to go to Pompeii. The adults were excited but I think the kids, well they were less excited. We left our house and went to our friends and then we were ready to go. It was about an hour and a half drive to Pompeii from Paestum and we only got lost once. We arrived at about 10:30 bought our tickets and were ready to see Pompeii. The city was very interesting and everyone really enjoyed looking at all the ruins. It was very hot and so we were glad that we brought drinks with us. There was one thing I didn't expect, in the middle of the ruins was a little deli, a place to get drinks and food and use the restroom. We spent about 4 hours there and only saw about 2/3rds of the city. It was very large much large than I had thought. If we were to go back again I think that we would take two days to look around instead of trying to fit it all in one.
By this time we were Hungry so we set off to find a place to eat. Earlier in the day we had all decided to drive the Amalfi Coast which is just south of Pompeii and north of Paestum. So we headed off in that direction to find a Pizzera. Well we found one down this really narrow one lane road that lead almost straight down to the beach. The food was good and the kids could play on the beach afterwards. Then it was the drive home. The road was very narrow and there were sooo many scooters. Eric described it like this, think of a Formula one race, make the track about 2/3rd less add scooters, people and cars coming the other way and this is the Almalfi Coast road. Next time we'll see it from a boat!!
It was a very long day and we were all very tired but we got to see many things we had never seen before!

Vacation IV

Monday was almost a carbon copy of Sunday except that we found a grocery store ( closed from 1:30 until 5 for Siesta) and we got to see the Roman ruins. These were impressive and huge, at least the temples. The wall around the old town was tall and thick. In all there were three temples some housing ruins.
After dinner we planned our Next day which was to be the big day for our holiday. We were going to Pompeii and were going to drive along this coast raod that we had heard was a sight to see. We decided to meet at about 8:30 since it was about an hour or so to Pompeii!

Vacation III

Yeah the first non driving day of Holiday! I woke up still really disappointed in the place we were staying and really struggled to change my wants forthis holiday. All that aside we got the kids all ready, sun screened and gathered all the beach stuff and we set off for the beach. Our "place" was about a 5-8 minute walk to the beach and as it was Sunday the beach was filling up. We got all settled and everyone hit the water. Ah it was warm and the waves were small so it was fun to play in the Ocean. After playing for a while the adults ( just Eric and I at this point) went to sit in the sun for a bit. It was about this time that our Friends showed up. Their kids went to join ours in playing ( there were two boys about Chris's age that spoke English well and a girl Nicole's age that knew some English but was shy about using it). The adults settled in to keep an eye on things and to every so often go play. We stayed at the beach until about 11:30 when it started to get to hot. It was then pack up and head back to the house. After cleaning up and having some lunch it was Siesta Time. Our family slept for about 2 hours and then just hung out until about 4 when we went to the other house. We had decided earlier in the day to walk up to the Roman ruins in the center of the Old Town and to that end we got walking at about 6pm. Well on the map it looked fairly close which is why we thought we could walk. As it turns out it was about 2 miles away and most of that walk walking in Corn fields. We got to the Ruins just as they closed but got the information on when it was open and some ideas on what else we wanted to do. Dinner was again at the other house and we got home rather late :-)

Vacation II

June 23. We were up and had breakfast and on the road by 8 am, late for us as we normally try and be gone by at least 7 am on a normal travel day but we had decided to go on their schedule. All of this day was taken up with drive to Paestum, Italy where we were staying for the week. The roads were busy as it was a Saturday. We drove the whole way on the "highway" so we did make good time. The landscape went from flat farmland to the rolling hills of Tuscany back to flat farmland in the South. We drove passed Florance and Rome. We stopped on and off for Gas breaks and to use the bathroom. In Salareno we found a Supermarket to get food for the first few days. We spilt up at this point and the Romania's went to their house and we went and found ours.
Our place was a huge disappointment, not as advertised at all. It was run down, the beds weren't made and there was no towels. The pool that was advertised as private was private for the complex of about ten townhouses and was only open a few hours a day. This was not what we wanted at all. We had wanted a pool for the kids to play in on and off all day to cool off and to keep them busy so that Eric and I could relax. Well I fell apart and just wanted to go home. After Eric and I talked and talked we decide to see how it went for a few days and then decide what to do. We ended up at our friends place since they had a nice townhouse with a small pool and we hung out there most nights.

Vacation

Foreward:

Eric planned this vacation before I came over in April, we went with two families from Romania, really we joined them on the first week of their vacation but had our own place to stay.

June 22.

Got up at 3am to be on the road at 4 am. We had to meet up with the Romanians at 10ish in Pandorf Austria. There is a large outlet mall there and everyone thought that it made a good meeting point. We arrived early and took the time to look around, get a snack and some money from an ATM Machine. After we met up and introductions were made, everyone piled back into our cars for the long drive to Italy. We were stay that night in a town called Ferrara at a Bed and Breakfast. It took us about 10 hours to get there on top of the 5 hours it took us to meet up, needless to say it was a long day!! Some of the most interesting parts of the drive that day was passing through the Eastern Italian Alps. I say passed through because we mainly went under them in a long chain of tunnels. I would say there had to have been more than 12 tunnels that we went though that day. The mountains were very beautiful and the landscape was impressive. Once we reached Italy the landscape turn into mainly farmland with massive fields of Corn. An interesting thing about Italian Highways (freeways) is that most of them are toll roads. The roads aren't to expensive but it is a pain to have to stop and get the ticket and then stop and pay it when you get off the road. When we reach Ferrara and followed the directions that the GPS gave us we all realized we were lost. So Alina ( one of the Romanias) got on the phone and called the B&B. Turns out we were just a road over, easy to fix. Upon arriving at the B&B I was a bit taken back as the place looked really seedy from the outside but the inside was great. The rooms were good sized and had their own bathrooms.

Trip to Italy

I am busy getting ready to go to Italy , Paestum, for the first time. Very excited, even the long drive doesn't sound too bad. We are staying close to the beach and to the Ruins. I am so focused in fact that I am finding it hard to study my Slovak :-) More when we return.
T

At what age

At what age to you stop being called "oh your so young"? I mean at 37 and having lived in Three countries besides the US you would think that I wouldn't "the young one". I have been the "
young one" now for 16 years! Is 40 the magic age.

Alway when did it become a sin to have kids before 30. I get that all the time. "Oh you had kids so young" Well I was 26 and 29 when I had my kids. I had been married for 4 years when the first one was born. Why is that considered young? Anyone??
Ok enough rant for today.

May 5 2007

We went to see our first castle today. Very cool, it had a mummified princess, lots of swords and a punishment chamber! Very cool. I am still having some issues with overload but I figrue after being around too many people for too many days plus living in a different Country I am due :-)

Trina